THE ARCHIVE
A VISIT TO MAGNOLIA + MY FAVORITE PICKS
At the end of 2019 I made a bucket list… when I made the list I put 3 things on it, haha! 2019 was a tough year and it was difficult for me to think past some of the pain we experienced… and to be completely honest I didn’t want to hope for too many things either. One of the things on that list was going to Magnolia Market. When we were in the states for Christmas we had to make a quick trip to Texas for a wedding, you can read more about that here. We initially considered flying from Missouri, but between the cost of tickets and the actual travel time, we decided to drive. Once we figured out we were driving Tyler reminded me that we would drive right through Waco and I was over the moon excited.
We knew we wouldn’t have a long time there, just a few hours, but it was worth it for me. We decided to stop by on our way back to give us more time if we wanted. Tyler tried to get me to stop on the way there, but I said no. I didn’t want to drive by and halfway see it. I wanted to really experience it. To give our selves enough time at Magnolia we left Kerrville, TX at 6:00am. We made a small detour to drop someone off at the airport and we were to Magnolia by about 10:00am.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Usually, when I write these types of posts, I usually include a lot of different tips, like where to park, etc. But you can find everything you need to know on their website. We parked on their 8th street lot, which is currently closed due to construction, but check out their site for updates. We also arrived at a pretty good time too. Their operating hours start at 9:00am and we arrived at 10:00am. There were still plenty of spots in their free lot and it wasn’t too crowded.
A few things that stuck out to us the most… They really did create a place of community. I’ve seen plenty of pictures online, but I didn’t really get it until we visited in person. There were kids and families hanging out on the lawn playing games. There were plenty of food trucks (we bought food from three different ones.) There are plenty of places to sit and eat and there is lots of shade too. Their operations are also on point. Even though there were plenty of people visiting the Silos we rarely waited in line.
PICKING UP A LITTLE HOPE
When we walked through the Market, I wasn’t really sure if I was going to buy anything. We’re in such a weird season right now, buying something didn’t really make a lot of sense, because we wouldn’t be taking it to Canada, it would go into storage. Something I’ve been working through and letting go of is the idea that we might not ever have a normal life with a house to call our own. That might sound dramatic, but Tyler and I have worked really hard to hold everything really loosely and hold to Jesus tightly. If I never have a place that’s ours that I get to call home, that’s okay, because we have Jesus and that’s all we need. Now I’m not saying I don’t want or desire those things, but I need to be okay if we don’t. So, back to walking through the Market, I was standing in an aisle looking at some throws and Tyler asked me, “what are you looking at?” My reply, “I was thinking about whether I should buy this throw for a house we don’t have.” His response, “YES.” He didn’t even flinch, he picked it up… he didn’t even ask the price. 😭 Most things that we buy like that these days feels like hope. So I ended up with a throw and mirror for a house we don’t have, but with the hope of one we may have.
For fun, I put together some of my favorite things from the Market below! Including the throw we picked up and the mirror too.
MY FAVORITE MAGNOLIA PICKS
MAGNOLIA TABLE WAS PACKED
Before we actually made it to the Silos, we stopped at Magnolia Table. This place was busy! This is the one place I would suggest going and having lots of time. We would have loved to eat here, but we just didn’t have time. They do have a Magnolia Table food truck at the Silos, so even if you don’t eat at the restaurant, you can try some of the food at the Silos. That’s what we did. We had heard good things about the biscuits, so that’s what we got with strawberry butter and they were worth it!
Lastly, the Bakery was amazing! This was one place with a line, but while you are waiting you fill out a card for your order, so you’re ready once you get to check out. They get you in super fast. We actually got a bunch of cupcakes and cookies to take home for New Years Eve and they were so good! We tried 4 or 5 different cup cakes, but the Strawberries & Cream and the Lemon Lavender were our favorites! xo. Samantha
FLOATING BEDSIDE TABLES FOR TINY LIVING
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We’ve lived in very expensive places in the USA needless to say, we’ve unintentionally become tiny living enthusiast. When cost of living is high and you’re trying to pay off student loan debt, you get incredibly good at living small and doing without. Our first tiny house experience was when we moved to New York and we lived in a 325sqft cottage. After that, we moved into a small apartment, gained a few more sqft and a bedroom. I was over the moon happy to have a bedroom.
While our space is tiny and we’ve given up things like a conventional stove and oven, we’ve figured out how to really make things work, and keep our stuff to a minimum. Because our space is limited we get creative with furniture or the lack of furniture. When we went looking for a new bed frame we knew we needed something with storage and we found this Brimnes storage bed from Ikea and it was perfect. The large drawers meant we could avoid having a dresser, saving us space in our bedroom.
Our next step was to figure out some kind of bedside table. We wanted to find something inexpensive, easy, and that would work with our bed. We knew we had to find something that we could easily attach to the wall, and allow us to open the drawers in our bed. We headed to Target and found something perfect, a wood file organizer. In its simplest form, it’s a wood box and that was just what we needed. Installation was easy, we simply anchored the crate with a few screws to the wall.
We have loved these creative bedside tables and I found some amazing alternatives that I think y’all will love. Wood filling or organizing boxes are easy to find and they are just as easy to paint to suit your decor aesthetic.
FLOATING BEDSIDE TABLES FOR TINY LIVING
Organizer Crates : This crate is just like the one we have, it just needs a coat of paint. This one is super fun and creative with the wood slates.
Wood Storage Cabinet : I stumbled upon this wood organizer and thought it was so cute and perfect as a bedside table. I love the little drawers in it.
Wood File Organizer : This wood file organizer is another amazing find that would work great as a floating bedside table. Again, this could easily be painted any color.
Keep in mind that all of these options are on the smaller side and are ideal for small spaces. We have a full-size bed and our bedroom is small too, so having small bedside tables worked for our space.
HOW TO DOWNSIZE TO A TINY HOUSE
This past fall I did my very first periscope and it looks like it was my last, because I haven't done another since, ha! My periscope was a tour of our tiny house. It was really fun and I loved getting to share our small space with all of you. At the end of my periscope I did a small Q&A. One of the questions y'all asked me was how we downsized to our tiny house.
At the time the questioned stumped me and I could only think of how we currently manage living in our tiny house. I thought back on our experience and I wondered, "how did we do it?" How did we go from living in a two bedroom, two bathroom apartment, to living in 325squ. ft?
IF YOU'RE NOT IN LOVE, CHUCK IT
When we moved Tyler and I had been married for two and a half years. During that time the items and furniture we accumulated were mostly hand-me-downs, garage sale finds, or cheap Ikea pieces. Not that any of those things are bad, I love hand-me-downs, garage sale finds and cheap ikea furniture, ha! The only thing was that a lot of the things we had we weren't in love with. We had no idea what kind of place we would be moving into next, but we did know that wherever we landed we would start fresh. With that in mind, we donated ALL of our furniture. Every single piece. We had a friend come over, who was in need of lots of furniture, and she put sticky notes on everything she wanted. We had other friends in our Bible study come over and make claims on the rest of what we had left. We gave it all away.
If you're thinking about moving into a tiny house, spend some time thinking about your current furniture pieces. What are the items you're willing to let go of? What items may work in a tiny house?
We currently only have a few large furniture pieces; a love seat, a tv cabinet, a storage bed, and our standing desk/cabinet. That's it. Because we started with zero furniture it was easy to settle into a tiny house. It was also cost effective because we only had to buy a few things, ha!
PURGE
People talk about purging all the time, right? Go through that closet, go through that drawer, ect. ect. In our experience, this was the purge of the century. We were only living in a two bedroom apartment, but once I started going through everything I couldn't believe how much we had. I thought about our stuff in two different ways. One, if we hadn't used it within the last 6 months, it had to go. Two, if we weren't going to use it within the next 6 months, it had to go.
When we purged, we went room by room and we did multiple sweeps. We kept the same mindset for this purge as we did with our furniture. If we didn't love it, we didn't keep it. We went through clothes, books, dvds, dishes, craft supplies, fabric, odds and ends... everything you could think of.
Our downsize was very intentional. We decided we would be moving with a 4x8 trailer and nothing larger. This really forced us to think hard about what was really important to us. When downsizing it's important to not let sentiment get in the way. Moving into a tiny house means the items you keep, are the items you need...you keep the items that you use most.
Living in a tiny house cuts down on having people stay over and indoor entertainment. We really miss both of those things, but we kept that in mind when downsizing. We knew we wouldn't need to the same amount of kitchen items and I let go of things I used for parties and big group get togethers. We know that living in a tiny house isn't forever and we have loved the experience. Living in a tiny house has really forced us to be intentional with our purchases and only buying what we need.
Have you considered living in a tiny house? Have you thought about downsizing? xoxo. Samantha
WELCOME TO OUR TINY HOUSE
Hi guys! Welcome to our tiny house! I hope you feel like you've stepped right into our home and are getting your own personal tour. We've spent the last few months making this tiny space home and aside from some tiny missing details things have finally come together. For those who are just learning about our tiny space, I'll share a few details. We live in a 325sqft tiny house in a tiny little village named Pleasantville.
When ever I say 325sqft, our tiny house no longer feels that small. It has turned out to be a perfect space for us and we have worked hard to utilize all the space we have. Within our 325sqft we have been able to create 5 different spaces; a living room, a bedroom, a work space, a dining space and a kitchen. We think we're doing pretty good. :)
Our living space consistent of two main pieces. Our couch and our TV cabinet. We spent a lot of time thinking about couches and our space. We were hoping to find a couch that included some kind of storage sleeper, but was also small. That turned out to be more difficult then we hoped. We found a cute good size love seat at Ikea and we were good to go. We also found this cabinet at Ikea. We stumbled onto it in the kitchen department because technically it's considered an "island" but we knew it would be perfect for our living space.
One of the first things we built for our tiny house was a custom storage bed. We have one closet and we knew that one closet would house all of our clothes, including all of our coats and winter items. We didn't want to have any dressers, so we worked hard at getting all of our clothes in there. Because we only had one closet we knew we needed at least one another space for storage, so we decided on creating a storage bed. We wanted our storage bed to not only provide storage, but also include shelving.
Everything about our work space had to be custom because we were creating in a small space and we also needed to create storage. We started by building a standing desk. I'm all about standing desks so Tyler built one custom to my size. We had different pieces we wanted to incorporate into our work space, so we got creative and used our vintage crates as drawers. Tyler also built us a custom cabinet with drawers.
Our kitchen and dining space are opposite the "bedroom." The kitchen was one of our favorite things about the space. With granite counter tops, nice new appliances, and tons of storage, there wasn't much more we could ask for. Our dining bar came with chairs which was nice and we love the hanging lights. We also really loved the cedar back splash.
I feel like I should have more to say about our tiny house, but things are pretty simple. There are only so many things you can talk about with 325sqft. One thing that I am most proud of is that everything we own is in our tiny little house. We spent a lot of time going through items and purging things we didn't need and we're still not done. We have plans to keep going through our stuff and continue to minimize. All in all we really do love our tiny house.
Have you been in a recent move? Are you trying to put your space together? What are your thoughts on tiny living?
related : TINY HOUSE INSPIRATION