The Cozy Cottage.: My cozy 'new' home

I'm excited for this post because its been really fun to be living in my new place. I have been living here since October 2012 and its been fun putting it all together. After college, I moved home with my parents for awhile(thanks mom and dad). Saved some money and then after starting my new job in Minneapolis, decided to find a new place.

I began searching Craigslist for some apartments nearby. I knew I wanted to stay in my current town, so I contacted some potential places. Sidetrack....one of the more exciting parts about this was the thought that whatever I moved into, would be Hart and my first place together after we got married. Hart was willing to look at places with me and give his honest input.

Entrance to my apartment. January 2013

So, pretty soon after looking in the area, I found this adorable little apartment (now called the cozy cottage) that seemed really great online. Hart and I went to look at it, and I remember him saying, "I reallllllllly like this place. Wow this is so cozy, I reallllly like this place." All within seconds of stepping in the place. I really liked it too. It felt comfortable, had cute accents inside(more details to follow), was quiet/secluded, and also was recently re-done. The owner was really wanting to rent out the place, so I was able to bring down the price by $100 a month. This was a huge help for me, and also the only other thing I needed to worry about was electricity. All heat, water, etc was covered in the rent.

My backyard view

My apartment is the basement of a much larger older home. I like the fact that it is secluded because it is tucked back behind a windy driveway and lots of trees. Its nice and private. I have my own little spot to park and bonus: I'm super close to my parents so I can stop over there any time. :)

Front view of house

I moved in quickly after signing, and started to realize how much I needed to start making it feel like home. I think the very first day I went to 6-7 different home stores, just buying tons and tons of items. I even bought a whole new set of dishes, HA! No worries, most of the things were returned the next week as I had more time to thoroughly think things over. :)

One of my most exciting projects was the bar stools that I refurbished. I was looking at Goodwill and found two matching bar stools. They were in really rough shape, but had a great idea to re-paint them and change the fabric on the seats. I went to Lowe's and found some black spray paint, and then went to JoAnn Fabrics to find some new fabric for the seats.