I’ve been dreaming about owning my own house for so long.

For years, I’ve been waiting to buy the things I want to buy and decorate the way I want to decorate, because I knew that we’d eventually buy a house. And it’s so much easier to have a house before you decorate, you know? Decorating before you buy a house is like buying an outfit to match your shoes. (Don’t get me wrong — sometimes it works to go shoes first, especially if they are really great shoes, but it’s usually easier the other way around.)

As of today, we are have officially entered into a contract to buy a home. Because the act of home purchasing is far more complicated than any normal (non-real estate educated) human cares to understand, just know that being under contract doesn’t mean that we own the house yet. There are still approximately 4,039 more steps left before we have keys in our hands and a mortgage to pay. Nevertheless, I feel that now since we’re under contract, I can be cautiously optimistic about the outcome of this pending deal. Okay, fine. I’m just optimistic. I have no caution. You all know that.

And you know what not-really-all-that-cautious optimism means, right? It means that I’m mentally decorating the house. And by “mentally,” I mean that I’m decorating the house on my pinterest.

A butcher’s guide to dinosaur cuts.

This tree trunk print would be cool enough in and of itself, but the fact that it’s comprised of a billion little animals makes it umpteen times cooler.

World map, as dictated by airplane flight patterns. I love this for a thousand reasons, including (but not limited to) the simplicity; the fact that the boarders of each country aren’t really there, but are only implied; and the fact that it reminds me of Zack’s dad, who is a pilot. I like it enough that I don’t even begrudge it for reminding me of Geometry class.