Updated Hallway

As promised, I'm back with some updates...

I've been desperate to get one room in our house finished. I never realized just how expensive & time consuming decorating a house would be. For us its been a combination of lack of funds & lack of time that have really kept our house from becoming what I want it to be. Thanks to my Uncle Sam savings plan (aka paying more into taxes than I should just so I can get a fat little check once a year - I know, not the best idea ever) I finally have (almost) finished up a room - all that is lacking now are the pictures & crown molding (moulding?).

So in case you've forgotten, here is what the hallway looked like originally as well as what my plans were. A family gallery wall may be something we work on later but for now it's gotten the kibosh. Instead I decided to combine a few of my ideas from around the house into this area. I've been looking for a runner everywhere I go for this space but a 2.5'x14' runner is not an easy find (FYI- when building a house make sure you look at what size rugs will fit in each room & make sure standard sizes fit. Trust me on this one). I finally found one I liked at West Elm, unfortunately it was exactly half the length of what I needed.

Lucky for me, inspiration hit. Why wouldn't this look just fine lying next to another with the patterns butting up against one another? I ordered 2 during their 20% off rug sale and waited for delivery. I rolled them out the second I got home & got lucky that my plan worked pretty well. Its been a few weeks and they are still settling a bit but so far rug pads seem to be holding them pretty steady although I think I may use some carpet seam tape to make sure they are really secure. They've also held up pretty well for being so close to the entrance and with a puppy and husband who come in the house with who knows what on their feet.

That same weekend I went to an event called Artisphere where lots of local artists have tents and sell their creations. I found one painter whom I loved and he happened to have a framed painting he was selling of the area where Tim & I took our mini-honeymoon called the Cullasaja Gorge. It (obviously) holds a special place in my heart so although I walked away at first I came back and snatched it up. Lucky for me, it fit perfectly next to our office door.

I've also been obsessing about having a map with pins in it showing places Tim & I have visited together. For our anniversary I found a vintage map of the US and had it mounted to foam core then framed with a linen frame inset within a wooden one and opted to leave it without glass. I bought some gold-headed map pins off of Amazon and dipped them into wood glue before placing them on my map (look for the little sparkly dots on the map picture). That piece finished out the office door side of the hallway & it was time to dive into the big blank wall.

For the large blank wall I went with my second plan of 16x20 photos of gates on the wall. Just bear with me for this one. I bought 5 16x20 frames matted down to 11x14 pictures from Target & went to work figuring out the spacing, then I threw all of that out. I found the middle of the wall, figured out the height of my middle piece and hung it. Then I went to the side of the wall with the light switch & hung that one. Based on how far away from the edge that was I hung my far left piece. From there I measured from nail to nail, split that number in half & placed the last two on those measurements. Clear as mud? Oh & I used a laser level to make sure they were all at the same height based upon the first center piece I hung. Basically it was a good deal of guesstimating & hoping which luckily worked out perfectly to give me this beauty.

Now I have to take the pictures that go in these, I have a few "for sures" so far but still trying to figure it out. I know I want the pictures to be of gates that have some significance to Tim & myself but still working on the finer points of that. Anyways, here is the final space with my lackluster camera skills.

Its Spooky Out There!

So now that Fall is almost here that means that it is almost time for Halloween as well. Ok, technically a month and a half away but its heading in that direction! I'm not a huge Halloween person, I don't love getting dressed up in a costume. That may/may not have anything to do with my mom putting me in black garbage bags with a black pointy hat, painting my face green and calling me a witch as a child. (Their interpretation of snow boots was even better, just envision gallon-sized ziploc bags and duct-tape)

This is our first year in our new house and with there being kids in the neighborhood I'm really hoping we will get some trick-or-treaters this year. I'm thinking we are just going to carve pumpkins and call it a day this year so that money can be saved for Christmas ornaments and the like (oh just wait for that post - Tim usually gets bored/irritated halfway through the pumpkin carving and the results are classic).

I think this kit could be a HUGE help in the pumpking carving department. We always end up buying the cheapo carving kits that cost about $7 and are wrecked after a year so it actually would make sense to invest in a decent carving kit for once.

My other idea for carving this year is something I could swear I saw on a blog but perhaps it was in a magazine. I'm not really sure. Anyways they took a pumpkin, marked little dots on it for a pattern and cleaned it out. After drilling a big (about 1") hole in the bottom they got a drill bit about the size of a Christmas lightbulb (see where I'm taking this yet?) and drilled out each little marked up hole. they brought the string of lights (orange of course) through the 1" hole and put one light in each of the pattern holes. You end up with this ridiculously cool looking glowing pumpkin that I may have to try to do this year.

Eventually I want to get a spider web to cover the front porch and hang these bad boys in there.

I'd also like to get a few of these guys to be perched up on the rails and maybe above the door ready for "attack"

Tim has mentioned that he would like to dress as a scarecrow and surprise people. I mentioned to him that if he chose to do that to people then I hoped they gave him a similar reaction as this video you may have seen on America's Funniest Home Videos a few years back.

I thought about getting this guy but I'm getting goosebumps looking at it on the computer. I don't need it at the house too.

Of course we need to get a doormat to go with all of the other decor.

And my porch just isn't done unless there is a wreath on the door. Etsy seems the way to go with this task if I don't end up making it myself.

Finally as far as decor I want a strobe light. All of the scary houses had them. Other than that we just need a candy bucket and we are ready for our little ghosts and goblins and princesses and superheros to come for a visit!

Fall Is In the Air

My mailbox is full of updated catalogs, the night is bringing with it a crisp in the air and I've seen the first signs that the changing of the leaves is imminent. Guess that means that fall is on its way. My feelings about the fall season are slightly muddled. I LOVE the summer, growing up it always meant my birthday party, beach trips, shorts and t-shirts and best of all no school! As I've gotten older I still love summer but typically now its due to the fact that works usually slows to a manageable pace rather than going at light-speed. I'm still pushing for the European style 2 month long vacation but for some reason I seem to be alone in that sentiment. Oh well!

Back to fall, its nice but it always leaves me feeling pretty nasty due to my terrible hayfever allergies. I have the choice of sneezing, coughing and having a stuffed up nose or being a zombie due to allergy meds. After twenty-some-odd years I still haven't decided which I prefer. It also means that winter is ahead (which I am not a fan of). We live in a pretty temperate region of the country so its not like winter hits us too hard but its more than plenty for my tastes.

Fall does allow you to wear cute long sleeved shirts with shorts (one of my personal favorites) and it keeps you from always having the "sweaty look," some can pull it off but I am not one of those lucky few. My favorite thing about fall though is the gorgeous colors of all of the fall trees. I have a few plans to spiff up the place (well just the front porch) for the fall season as soon as those leaves really do start changing.

1. New wreath - Our pretty little green berry wreath has now faded to a nice neon green color. I mean that doesn't scream "I'm fake" or anything. I think its time to change over to a fall version and I'm stuck between these two options I've seen. Do I go with fall leaves (which I love) or with berries and twigs (don't let your mind go to the dark side ;)) or berries and leaves or maybe fall berries? (on a side note I believe I found a great option for next summer - see told you I can't get it off my mind)

2. New pillows - Tim will kill me for this one but hey, gotta make everything coordinate right? Have I mentioned how much I love the pillows from Restoration Hardware? The ones I got earlier this spring have held up fantastically and they still have some in stock for only $10.99. I already ordered 2 of these...

3. Update the dead as a doornail flowerboxes, yes they have gotten worse since I took these pictures: Death Penalty. I don't even know if its worth getting pots to place these into for next year or just count my losses and start anew next year. I think I want to put some fern type things in these but need to do some research to see if any could (if I don't kill them first that is) make it through winter outside. Otherwise I'm just going to remove them and have an empty rail until I decide what my next victims will be.

4. Update the table accessories - I love what we have but may make at least the little bird an indoor piece once our bookshelves are done. Regardless I want some more fall appropriate decor for the table.

Perhaps a lantern:

or two:

and a little Firepot:

or maybe a little pumpkin:

Personally, I think all of these little changes could add up to a pretty big effect on the look of our home.

Be Our Guest: Part 2

Bedroom #3, its the poor forgotten little thing that was completely empty save for Tim's PlayStation 2 console and games for awhile. We showed it a little love with a bed and leftover pillows, blankets and etc but it still can use a lot more, bless it.

I have absolutely no idea where the pillows are from, I want to say Target but then again I think Bed, Bath and Beyond. Regardless I got them back in college and the blanket, mattress, lamp and TV table are from Tim's college apartment yet again.

The closet has some medical supplies from after Tim's surgery, leftover wedding decorations, Tim's mom's wedding dress and my wedding dress (the lady at the dry cleaners told me it looks like a corpse all laid out in the box...gee thanks). It also has the comforters for both guest beds that I need to get some duvet covers for but can seem to make a decision on yet. Shocker.

Things we have left to do here:

1. Get a bedframe - I'm not crazy about/not locked into the way the bed is set up right now which leaves me completely open to getting a new bed. I've always wanted a metal bedframe but am afraid I'll get my arm stuck in the middle of the night. I'm not a peaceful sleeper, ask poor Tim how he gets so many bruises. Putting one in a guest room lets me still get it but saves my extremities from trauma. The majority of my friends are much more coordinated than I. Ballard again has a great one that would work perfectly.

2. Get a nightstand -  everyone always has something they need next to them at night, whether it be a cell phone or an alarm clock. We need a nightstand in this guest room so that our guests have a place for their things at night. Ballard Designs (shining yet again tonight) has a neat one thats pretty inexpensive.

3. Get a TV stand - Once again the Durham end table would have to be my choice because I can do so much with it in the man cave later (i.e. place the two of them together to make a coffee table, yes please).

4. Get curtains - The view from the window in this room is all shingles which wouldn't be an issue except they have these little windows that allow anyone to peer into this room. Curtains it is. 

Just a heads up, I have to say that I'm SUPER excited about my post for tomorrow so stay tuned :).

Be Our Guest: Part 1

First I just wanted to show that I actually am making progress on one thing...I still have no idea whats happening with this though.

Ok so back to the real reason we're here, Bedroom #2. This is my favorite because it actually has my old bed in it. That thing was so incredibly comfortable...until I tried to share it with a 6 ft. 200 lb man. Then it felt like a cot but up until that point it was amazing. 

I got the pillows and coverlet from Target a few years ago as well as the nightstand currently posing as a stool. The lamp came from Tim's college  apartment, yes the kid had a fully furnished/decorated apartment in college. The trunk was a gift from Santa back when I was a kid and the frames are leftover from our wedding and have photos of our loved ones that have passed away.

Otherwise the room is incredibly empty with just a TV and outdoor table from Tim's patio.

The closet has our nicer stuff that will be displayed as soon as we get our hutch in the dining room and that dresser has the majority of my college sorority t-shirts that I will someday (hopefully) turn into a quilt.

Things we have left to do here:


1. Get a headboard - How sweet is the little bird perched on this headboard? I love it! Thank you Ballard Designs...

2. Get a nightstand - I found this at Ballard Designs too, technically its a side table but I think the height would work with the tallish bed plus I like the pull out shelf for people's stuff to sit on while they are sleeping.

3. Get a TV stand - I don't know that we necessarily need a dresser in that room, just something to put the TV on that would also work in another caliber later for the "man cave". I think the Durham end table from Ballard Designs (yes they are hitting it out of the park tonight) does the trick and because we need 2 of them (for the other guest room) they will fit into my plans for later perfectly.

4. Restain/recover the trunk - This is a super nice piece of furniture that I'm actually not even going to take the risk on redoing myself so I'm going to have to hire someone one of these days to get it stripped and restained to a nice dark color...maybe if I wait long enough I'll just like the light stain again. I also want to recover the fabric on top with something a little more updated and less scratchy to sit on.

5. Get curtains - With how close we've seen that they are building the house next to us we need some curtains over every window of the house...desperately. 

How about another hallway? Some more doors?

That's what we've got for you today...I'm kind of going easy because I recently decided I want start trying to crochet again...we will see how long this new hobby lasts. I'm notorious for starting things, getting into them 150% and them completely dropping them right before I finish. I'd like to thank my dad for this lovely habit of mine. There was a portion of a beautifully carved stool in our garage for a very long time. Apparently he started it when I was born due to my mom having these visions of me standing on it to brush my teeth...I think he finally threw out the 1 piece he made about a year ago. He's promised to help build my built-ins as soon as he finishes redoing all of my mom's kitchen cabinets. I'm thinking I might as well start saving up to hire someone to take care of it for me as I'd like to have those done before I retire.

So here is the hallway at the top of the stairs also know as the 2nd hallway of doors.

I know, its stunning...I mean how couldn't you like all of that neutral and all of those doors. Don't be jealous of our $5 Target night light...ok so to be honest its kind of bland. There really isn't much that needs to be done, or to do but here we go!

Things we have left to do here:


1. Put up some art -  Ok, really this is all we need to do. I've seen a great DIY project in which you take an older map, some push pins and a frame and make a travel map out of it where you can mark the places you've been. Tim & I both love to travel so I think this could be a really neat project for us to have. With this hallway being a little more narrow I may actually use a shadow box so pins don't get knocked out.


...and thats about it...I'm going to get back to my cross-stitching now.

Micro-Management

I have to have a workstation, somewhere to put the printer, store the files and get my head around all of our bills. To be perfectly honest I'm too lazy to be running up and down the stairs for that sort of thing so when we saw the opportunity for a little closet under the stairs we went for it and asked for a light and an outlet. The only thing I wish we had added was a cable outlet for our "network".

I got the pictures from Garden Ridge back in the day, the organization baskets from Crate and Barrel and the furniture is leftover from Tim's childhood days. My long-term plan is to build a desk for the space but in the short-term I'm planning on spray painting the desk, chair and drawers and finding some fun knobs.


Things we have left to do here:

1. Paint the walls? - Don't get me wrong, I love how the slightly off-white color actually makes the space feel less crowded but I've seen some really cool treatments where people have done some tone-on-tone horizontal stripes. I have some amazing topcoat paint from Sherwin-Williams that would make some excellent shimmery stripes but I haven't committed to that idea 100% just yet. John & Sherry from Young House Love (what inspired me to get all of my ideas down on this blog, and what made me believe that Tim & I actually have a chance to become DIYers) did it to their guest bathroom and it looks amazing so I may just suck it up and make this happen.

2. Get a rug - anyone surprised? No? Didn't really think you would be...I want something fun and bright and cheery and a little different from the rest of the house. I found one at Company C that fits the bill, I know, for once it is NOT Pottery Barn, what a shock. They actually had a lot that I'm a huge fan of but this ended up being my favorite.

3. Build in a desk - I want something custom, L-shaped, with drawers and high enough that my knees don't touch my ears when I sit in it. I want pretty little knobs from Anthropologie and some impressive detail work but most of all I just want it done. The office works as it is, for now but to be honest I can't last too long in that little chair before I start to feel all of my 20-something years creeping up on me.

4. Upgrade my chair - Yep I'm back to my old friend, Pottery Barn. I love the caned back and the rosette details on this, plus white and tan really fits into the color scheme of the house oh so well. But the best part, I can sit up properly, it doesn't get much better.

5. Get some wall art - I saw these when they were on sale at Target a few months ago and wanted to get them then but couldn't think of where I could put them. The other day it hit me that they would look great coming as a little cluster down from the point of the ceiling over the pictures. I love how you notice them through the shadows they make upon the wall rather than as the objects themselves. They'd also be a great little stocking stuffer this Christmas in case anyone such as a sweet little husband I know were to read this.