New

Remember when I went to IF for the 4th of July (more on that adventure next week!) and left my home looking like this?

Everything I owned had to be scrunched into my kitchen because my sweet landlady, Lucy, decided that I needed new carpet. And I was sooooo happy that she decided that because, while I have always loved everything else about my cute little hobbit hole, the 37 year old gold and blue carpet was a bit dated. And a bit, well, grimy. This is Cow Town after all, and doormats can only help so much.

I was extra excited by the prospect of new carpet because I had recently made a few other changes to my living room decor.

Take my couch, for example. I love this couch. It lived in my parent's living room for years before moving to Cow Town with me. It is a good TV couch, a great reading couch, and a wonderful sleeping couch.

When it started looking a little tired, I got it a cover and some pretty pillow to try to snazz it up a bit. That worked for a while...

...but over spring break, after a couple years of fighting with a canvas couch onesie, I decided to use some of my tax refund money to get it a nicer, kinder, less ornery cover.

Kristie totally approved.Which really, is the most important thing.

And while I was couch-cover-shopping, I decided that it was also time to update the living room curtains. I am sure that those curtains had some serious swagger when Lucy put them up 37 years ago, and they were really handy when I moved in about five years ago and curtain money was not in my budget, I was really, REALLY ready for a change.

So my mom helped me pick out these great panels: grey blue with brown tree-branch details on the lower half. I knew they were meant to grace my living room windows. After all, the design is called "Alton"...

... and in my experience, anything called Alton HAS to be super cute.

 

Like, seriously cute.

The curtains didn't disappoint.They fit in nicely with the new blue and brown theme I had going on.

And just when I though I couldn't get any happier with my hobbit hole's redesign, the heavens parted, angels started singing, and Sister Woodhouse appeared in a pillar of light. She had redecorated her home and brought me some of the things she didn't need any more.

The yellow and gold items that she donated to the "Save the Mindy" fund added the pops of color that I didn't even know I needed. Sister Woodhouse is just oh, so very wise!

I was pleased with the results of the redesign, as were Bubba and Kristie, but there was still one obstacle in my pathway to complete home happiness: the 37 year old gold and blue carpet.

Fast  forward a few months and one giant cramming-everything-I-own-in-my-kitchen-weekend later and Voilà! The whole place looks brand new!

Sister Woodhouses' lamp? It looks brand new! My grandmother's antique desk? Looks totally new!

This adorable sparkly end table? It looks perfectly new! 

Wait...it is new. 

I just bought it. 

But still, you get the point, right?

My cute little hobbit hole is beautiful. lovely, of good report, praiseworthy, etc.

So the next time you are in the neighborhood, you should totally stop by and take a tour!

I am loving showing off my new carpet to everyone. The cable repair guy was very complementary, as was Val, my visiting teachers, the mail man...

... and the other members of our NEW ward Relief Society presidency. We had our first meeting in my NEWLY redecorated living room atop my NEW carpet. I guess my NEW carpet was just a harbinger of another, bigger, NEWER adventure.

Tracy (2nd Counselor), Rosana (President), Mindy (1st Counselor)