My friends, I am SO EXCITED to roll out our first official reveal of #TheOmHome!!! We are first-time home buyers, so this series of reveals is by far the most special since it’s finally OURS. I’ve moved into a different apartment almost every year for the past 4 years, and we always made the most of it. However, I can’t tell you how amazing it feels to know we can stay put for a while and settle into our space, make it our own, and take our time with it. If you’re looking to buy your first house, be sure to check out our Q&A for first-timers.

Now, before we dive in, I want to answer a big question we’ve received quite few times…

How Did We Budget?

It’s no joke saving up for a house downpayment AND then proceeding to furnish the darn thing. My best advice for anyone is to pace yourself. Prioritize the rooms you spend the most time in and go from there. For us, we knew starting with the living room and kitchen would be the best way for us to feel settled sooner rather than later.

When deciding on our budget for furnishing our entire house, we broke it down room by room. Our designer, Erika Dale from Decorist came up with a low, middle, and high end budget for each room, taking into consideration the furniture we already owned from our last apartment. Once we broke it down, I went in and adjusted specific line items I’d rather splurge on and which I’d rather save on.

All in all, for our entire house, we set aside around $20k to use for furniture, decor, shades, lawn care, indoor and outdoor plants, and any additional expenses/services that pop up within our first year. Keep in mind, this budget factors in already owned big ticket items from our last apartment like our West Elm couch, Samsung Frame TV, media console, and most of our bedroom furniture (you’ll see it in our next reveal!). Also, our house purchasing price included most of our major appliances, minus our fridge + washer/dryer which were gifted from Samsung.

Alright, let’s get down to the DESIGN-diggity.

DESIGNING #THEOMHOME

Last year, I worked with Decorist (@decoristofficial), an online interior design service, to design our apartment. We were over-the-moon with the results, so I knew we had to work with the team again whenever the time came to buy our first house. Specifically, we wanted Erika Dale as our Decorist designer, so I’m very jazzed that we were able to keep in touch and reunite with her for a second year in a row.

Scroll through the carousel above to see a bit of the design process - from conceptual mood boards to final design!

Psssst… lookin’ for help on design? I pulled some strings, so Om & The City readers will get 30% off a Decorist room makeover with the code: 'JULES30'. You can also request a designer, so I highly recommend Erika Dale! Feel free to leave any questions for me about the process down in the comments.

The Entryway + Kitchen

When you first walk in, we wanted our space to feel fresh n’ crisp. There’s a lovely little set up to place your keys on our entryway console to the right. It feels both functional, yet still visually inviting. Bonus points if you recognize the wall hanging that used to be in our apartment bedroom! *Sadly, this wall hanging is long sold out.

Hands down, my favorite part of our entire house is the kitchen. A bright open kitchen was one of our three non-negotiables we set while house-hunting (watch our Q&A to hear our other two non-negotiables). We’ve already hosted several friendly gatherings, and the flow of the room just feels so natural.

You can see more details on our kitchen appliances + partnership with Samsung here.

Shop all Entryway + Kitchen products below:

The Living Room

As I mentioned, we wanted to utilize as much of our previous apartment furniture for this house as possible while still keeping it feeling fresh. The only thing ‘new’ in the living room is our gorgeous pillow set gifted from The Citizenry, our marble side table, our Lechuza self-watering planters from My City Plants, and our Nuloom rug.

Funny story with the rug… some of you might recognize it from our old Brooklyn apartment. We had this same rug in Brooklyn, but when Luna was a puppy she peed on it a zillion times and eventually ripped off the side of the rug with her savage baby teeth. There was no way I was going to haul that pee pee rug to Austin, so we had to get rid of it. When we bought this house, I knew exactly which rug I wanted. I missed the rug so much, so I’m happy to be reunited with it.

As for our planters, My City Plants and I go way back (see my NYC apartment tour from 2017). I love their beautiful + sturdy planters, because they have a built in sub-irrigation system which allows plant roots to absorb water upwards from below the soil surface. This feature means you don’t have to water as frequently, which is great if you travel frequently like we do. Check out their website + contact them directly if you’re interested in purchasing any planters.

Shop all Living Room products below:

Woo, so that’s it for our living room and kitchen! We also have a small laundry closet on the first floor (see how we optimized the space here) as well as a lovely gold and white bathroom, but I’ll just share that one on the ‘gram @omandthecity. We still have a long ways to go when it comes to fully settling into this house, but that's the beauty of homeownership - we can take our time since we'll be here a while! Stay tuned for more #TheOmHome reveals. Up next is our master bedroom, and then we’ll move onto my home office which is by far the room I’m most excited to design!

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy:

A Quick Guide to Houseplants for Beginners
How a Minimalist Mindset Impacts My Financial Wellness
Easy Swaps for a Sustainable Kitchen

And big thanks to...

Decorist, My City Plants, The Citizenry, and Samsung for gifting your products/services to make our dream home a reality! Don't forget you get 30% off of a Decorist room makeover with 'JULES30'.

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