Okay, it’s probably the question that you’ve all been asking, “When are Stephanie and Darren moving in?” I get it, I get it, we feel the same way, it’s been four whole years of love, and as I told Darren only the other day, I’m feeling all of 25 and oh so ready to build my nest (I’m not talking babies…not yet anyway)! I am, however, feeling very ready to decorate, and to buy our own Christmas decorations, and to have a favorite kitchen cleaner, and a favorite recipe, and to see Darren every day!

While we’re both ready to get a place, we’ve decided to wait a little bit longer, because of everything going on in my life, with my dad being sick and all. And I should mention how amazing and understanding Darren has been while he waits for me to spread my wings. We have, however, started an ultimate furniture wish-list to make it feel a little more real and to have a few ideas when the moment strikes, which I wanted to share with you guys, of course.

All of my current furniture is IKEA, which people say is cheap, and hard to put together, and while both of these things are true, I’ve been really happy with everything from there, and do plan to bring along my desk, dresser, and nightstand, which are all part of the MALM line! I know it takes a long time to disassemble and reassemble, as I think the first time I built most of it I watched the Lady Gaga documentary, which I think is like two days long.

The things we’re really focusing on are a bed, and stuff for the living room, a couch, storage, and so on! Let me know your favorite places for furniture and any recommendations about moving in!

My favorite website to look at for housewares is West Elm, for me, it’s the perfect mix of mid-century dreams, cozy velvets, and modern looking pieces. Admittedly, they seem a bit expensive for our first place, but they also run CRAZY sales, I’m talking 20% off furniture, or if you spend over a certain amount you can get up to 30% off the entire order, so I think it works out to be reasonable! Also, I really would rather invest a bit more and have pieces that last a long time, versus stuff we’ll have to replace in a few years! Also! Since we’re not moving in tomorrow, we have plenty of time to save, we even talked about “gifting” each other some of the stuff for Christmas this year.

First things first, bedroom furniture. Like I said, the first thing we would need to buy is a bed! I love this Grid-Tufted Upholstered bed from West Elm and think that gray is the perfect neutral for a bedroom, the walls can be any color and so can the linens. I also think this just looks cozy! I also looked at some light wood bed frames, but like the idea of a fabric bed because it just seems a bit more snuggly.

I’ve also been eyeing these cute peach sheets from Urban Outfitters for forever, but don’t want to buy the twin size for my current bed, only to rebuy them when we move in for a larger bed!

I also love these nightstands for either side of the bed and think that mixing textures is what makes a home look modern, while still having a bit of charm, so I like the idea of doing an upholstered bed, with two of these wooden mid-century nightstands.

I already know Darren will laugh at this, but I’ve recently declared myself a plant mom and am obsessed with succulents, sure, I can’t keep them alive, but I like the idea of having some greenery and house plants in our future place and love these plant pots too.

This may seem too practical for a dream housewares list, but if you’re thinking that, you obviously hadn’t seen Darren’s shoe collection. I literally own all of like five pairs of shoes, but Darren, he’s got enough shoes for both of us! He has a shoe rack that he’s happy with that he got on Amazon, but this shoe rack is a bit nicer, and I think it looks a little more sturdy and contemporary, I might order it for him as a Christmas present, because he needs this!I love this dresser for all the stuff that doesn’t have a place to go, like chargers, or last season’s unburnt candles, or mail that doesn’t need to be opened right away, or just things that don’t look very nice laying around, think remotes! I also like that it looks industrial and could add some masculinity to a space. It kind of reminds me of something to hold library cards, and that makes me feel cozy too!

What’s a home without twinkle lights?! These are soft and perfect to cozy up any space!

A couch is probably the thing I’m most excited for, do I sound old?! I’ve wanted a velvet couch so badly, for so long, it’s one of my most saved pictures on the internet, and this one is all of my velvet dreams realized. While I do actually love this yellow-green color, I think the navy blue velvet is beautiful and lasts the test of time, this is the Lola sofa, again from West Elm. Darren says that this can be the sofa no one ever sits on, but we also need something cozy too, which I kind of agree with. Is it weird to be this obsessed with a sofa? Like it just looks so chic and stylish, and I love these pillows, and you better believe our first Christmas tree is going to be near enough that this sofa makes it into the Instagram picture; I just love it so much!

Like I said, we’re not moving in tomorrow, but hopefully in the very near future, and when we both are ready to make the move, we’ll have a really good idea of how we want our first home to look and what we’ll need to buy. So, we’ll keep brainstorming for now, and looking forward to the day that we get to come home to each other, and snuggle up on the ugly couch near enough the velvet couch that I can stare at it and feel happy and snuggly and enjoy the aesthetic of our first home, and of course our wonderful life together!