Six Simple Steps... Yeah Right!

Tomorrow: A final and a quiz and a five hour drive
Saturday: Apartment hunting (for our first HOME!)
Sunday: Engagement picture shoot (weather permitting!)

And the excitement continues!

Today was a great day! One of my mom's friends is downsizing and sold (practically gave) these two beautiful pieces of furniture plus a couple of lamps and some wall decor to us.

I am SO thankful and completely excited because these are the first pieces of furniture we have purchased for our new home!


This buffet is one of our new-to-us pieces and I am so excited to have a nice central piece to decorate around, rather than just Ikea-ing everything (not that I have any grudge against Ikea!). She also generously included this table with the buffet to help us get started :)


I am so excited because ideas are finally starting to flow. Due to our small budget, we are getting more and more resourceful. And on top of all of that, this weekend we get to find a space for all of our plans to live. :)

We are going to use his current bed and dresser, I am going to try and redo his bedside tables, and my parents are lending/giving us a dresser, sleeper sofa and coffee table. With this buffet and computer desk, we are pretty close to set in the furniture essentials area for our small apartment. I of course hope to "pick up" some end tables and such, but for now, I am not in need of anything but...

A round kitchen table and some sturdy chairs are what I will spend my January through March scouring Craigslist and garage sales for! I fell in love with this table redo that I saw on Kendra's blog.

She took this sturdy yet out of date table:


And refinished it into this gem:


I figure I will give this making over furniture a try, if I fail, I will take it to a professional and we will be no worse off, but if I succeed, that is further budget stretching success :)

Now the big question is (aside from where this table and chairs will come from) whether or not I try and re-stain the table top. Gabrielle has a beautiful table make-over on her blog, which gives me hope! I would LOVE to be able to make something beautiful like she did! Here is her amazing transformation:
She took this:

And transformed it into this:


Wouldn't it be beautiful to re-stain a table top to match the buffet and desk? And then do a white bottom with white chairs? I am getting SO excited!

So...
Step 1 - finish this semester
Step 2 - research re-staining and re-finishing furniture
Step 3 - find table
Step 4 - find chairs
Step 5 - convince myself I CAN do it :)
Step 6 - GET TO IT!

If anyone has any advice on refinishing furniture, apartment hunting, used furniture buying, decorating, wedding planning, newlywed living, budget stretching, or anything else in between, I am all ears and wanting to learn! :)

Anyways, back to studying Sport Psychology and Nutrition! Due to some distractions, I am thinking this might be a 3.0 semester rather than a 4 :P

I hope everyone has a great weekend!