city girl —> country girl

♥

We have been EXTREMELY busy lately with travel and our new apartment buildout.

My boyfriends parents made an offer for us to remodel their 2000 square foot basement and to move in (temporarily).
Sooooo later this month, we are moving out of the city of Chicago and in to their house which is located in a small suburb about 45 miles away from the city.
happy face.

While Chris does the buildout of the basement (almost single-handedly), I have been at our Chicago apartment cleaning up and packing up. Chris & I cherish and nurture the little time we get to spend together these days, on the weekends he’s often at his parents house while I’m at home sleeping all alone. Throughout the week, Chris is at his parents house while I’m on the road for work.

We’ve got very little time to finish up the remodel, pack, and be moved in. We’ve already rented our Chicago apartment and these people are ready to move in ASAP. In fact, they are moving some furniture over next week!

Call us crazy, we booked our trip to Costa Rica smack dab in the middle of this buildout and move.
While we’ve got 22 days to finish up the remodel and to get moved in, 6 of those days will be spent vacationing.

Because of all this busy-ness my eating habits have suffered, my workouts have suffered, and my poor blog is suffering.
sad face.

sad face or happy face, this move will be well worth it in the end for us.
We have been given an opportunity of a lifetime to pay off some debt and save a lot of money. It is important that we do this prior to getting married, having babies, and buying a home (in the city of Chicago).

We’re beyond excited.
And his family is excited. On a daily basis, they express their excitement, “I can’t wait until you guys finally move in.”
In fact, Chris’ dad has allowed us to do this buildout exactly how WE want it done. WE pick out the paint colors, WE choose the kitchen cabinets, WE choose the flooring, etc…. I’m almost certain he has allowed us to do this because he wants us to stay there for a very long time.

Chris’ mom & I have worked very hard at putting together Pinterest Boards, collecting inspiration for the buildout. I’m thinking this place will be pretty badass. Here are a few photos that have really stood out as inspiration for us:

one of the walls in our living room will be made of barnwood, situated similar to this wall. we have actually pulled wood off of an abandoned barn ourselves…..

instead of barstools, we are putting swings at our dining room peninsula… inspired not only by this photo, also by the swings at Molly’s Cupcakes

our bedroom is already made up of similar colors (greys, silvers, purples, damask patterns) and we plan to expand on it

my favorite room: the bathroom. i have taken it upon myself to decorate our bathroom in mermaids. naturally, our bathroom will be constructed around this theme. we love the colors in this photo.

aaaand these are the bathroom cabinets we are inspired by but ours will be slightly different… while we will still construct a double sink, we will also have a lowered area in the middle that will act as a vanity (so I can put my makeup on like a princess) 

Chris is obsessed with the color “matte black” so of course we will incorporate the color in to our new home. there you have it, matte black kitchen cabinets

Wish us luck as continue the grind.
…more pics and details to come….

Photo Credits: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

♥