New & Old


As I mentioned a few weeks ago, we found a dresser for our master bedroom at a nearby antique store. Our former neighbors (who own the store) explained that they found it at an old house in McKinney. Now, it's in a new old house in McKinney!

We searched at a number of other stores before finding the piece we settled on at The Bear Market. First, we saw the pieces below at Gray Living. I loved the white dresser (pictured below left) but decided to go for something a little bit darker and heavier since the dresser was going on Rodney's side of the room. It was also $1200 which was a bit more than we were hoping to spend. 

The other dresser I really liked from Gray Living (below right) was a finished metal, not wood. I thought Rodney might like this one better than the white one, but it was $1000 and still out of our budget. 



After looking at Gray Living and a few other places, I thought I would walk away from my trip empty-handed. However, I then stumbled upon this piece at The Bear Market and found it was only $299. I was immediately sold, no bartering required!


We initially had plans to paint it, but we decided that the dresser's crackle old green paint finish were too great to cover up.




The drawers were all very dirty and needed a deep clean, so I cleared them out, lined them with a striped Ralph Lauren drawer liner I found during our move, and filled them up with a few of Rodney's things that were cluttering our closet.


I really like how it contrasts with the other pine pieces in the room like the armoire shown below. 

Finally, here is the dresser, now bedside, in our room. I am very pleased with this old dresser which has found a new home in our house! 

Our New Neighborhood

When we left our old neighborhood, I was afraid I would miss the wonderful route I walked on a regular basis. However, our new neighborhood has not disappointed. I went on my first long walk through our area yesterday and loved exploring and seeing all of the interesting sights we have just blocks from our new house!

Here are a few of the beautiful houses and interesting sights I discovered on my walk:

I would love to see the inside of this house!

New or old? What do you think?

 So many great houses to see!

 Abandoned? How sad! This house is precious.

 This one was fun to see since we are considering painting our house antique white!

 Molly discovered this cute little "free library" while on a walk this weekend, so I had to pop by to see it for myself! Such a sweet idea.

 Downtown McKinney Square is a 5-minute walk away! Luckily I didn't have my wallet with me during my walk or I would have been tempted to shop. 

 I ended my walk by enjoying some time with my neighbors on their front porch swing. Rodney was finishing up some work, but if you look, you can see our house just past the school!

Our new neighborhood has already been so much fun. There are young kids who live on each side of us who are always playing in the yard. Plus, we have good friends who live just around the block! Living so close to the Square means a quick walk to great restaurants and fun shopping. And as you can see, the neighborhood is filled with beautiful homes! I can't wait to see what else I discover as we get the chance to explore the neighborhood more and more. 

Escape Artist

Meet Max.


Max is our black lab and an experienced escape artist. In our last house, we received many calls from neighbors and friends who had found Max wandering the neighborhood or their backyard. 

Today when I was running errands in Plano I received a call from an unrecognized number. It was a new neighbor who said Max was in her backyard.  He had jumped the picket fence when he saw her walking this morning. He followed her home 10 blocks away. Luckily Rodney was at his office in the square just a few minutes away. 

He brought Max home and then immediately went to Home Depot to buy longer pickets for the fence.

He put me to work tracing the pattern of the top of the picket. 39 slats later, he began cutting and started putting them up. My next job will be to paint them white today.


Hopefully our quick completion of this unexpected project will prevent any further escapes by our little escape artist.