_______Nesting, Phase 1 Complete: Rearranging

And what have I been doing that has been distracting me from pursuing my passions lately?  Nesting!  Yes, I finally talked Adel into helping rearrange the furniture.  We opted for the easier switch of exchanging the TV room for the living room furniture.  I guess when we have large dinner parties, we'll just move a table into the living room so everyone can be together.  I also scored a new bench from my mom, who was looking for an excuse to buy a new couch for her upstairs game room (win-win situation!).

The theme of my house: make-the-best-you-can-out-of-hand-me-down-and-gifted-items.  I have been super, super blessed with relatives who have good taste and just the right timing as they were redecorating their own homes and needed to give away their "old" furniture.  Most of the stuff I've collected is much nicer than I would be able to buy on my own, even if it's not exactly the style or color I might choose.  Beggars can't be choosers, and I am grateful for EVERYTHING!

So, here's how it stands right now:

Living Room - With my Uncle Tom's red couch (that used to be the only piece of furniture in my TV room) and my mom's bench, there's plenty of seating.  Mom brought over those lamps too and bought me the trees at Michaels (they were $30 each, and 50% off one item, so not too bad).  Still wanted: curtains and a bigger rug for Isaac to play Legos on.

TV Room - I LOVE having the blue couches (DD and Papa's) in here for comfy, cozy seating in our most-used room.  Still wanted: curtains and Mom is going to give me her coffee table (rectangular and larger than my little one) now that she's got her new couch and doesn't think her table fits (bummer, right?).

New feature: I bought these two big pillows for added coziness and for extra floor seating when we have small group (would have grabbed more if they had them!).

Bedroom - Exchanged the hand-me-down bed-in-a-bag that we've been using for the past three years for this quilt that was given to us by one of Adel's aunts.  Adel wasn't too keen on having a PINK bedroom so I bought some pillows that brought out more of the green color.  (PS, that bed is one of the few items of furniture we bought ourselves that is not from IKEA.)  Still wanted: curtains, a green throw for the bed, and some wall art.

So, there's a lot of nesting left to be done, but I've decided to cool it and budget for it month by month.  This month it was the pillows (6 pillows and one basket at Marshals for $125...not an absolute steal but not too horrible either).  Next month's goal: the living room rug!  I need a coupon for Marshals if anyone has a spare!