Flushed

Well thats technically how I should look with a bathroom looking like this. It all started with the shower curtain which I had a temporary crush on (it has since faded away). I decided that I wanted to be a rebel and not getting a matchy matchy rug and that I would "pull the blues out of the curtain." Uhhh no blues in sight, well except for that rug. Time for a re-do. The bones of this bathroom are pretty much perfect, I'm just not thrilled with my decor thus far.

The one thing I do like here is my little cluster of stuff. The Neiman Marcus frame was given to me for Christmas last year by a good family friend. I got the little yellow vase from a store called Dutchmans, the flowers from Pottery Barn and the blue vase was my great-grandmothers. The little soap dish is a pretty new addition from Mast General Store.

Things we have left to do here:


1. Get a new shower curtain - As much as I hate the price of $120 for a shower curtain. I love this shower curtain from Anthropologie, the bustling makes it so feminine. I guess I will either have to suck it up or try to find something similar that I like just as much.

2. Get a new bath mat - The one we have is pretty shabby looking (see So Fresh and so Clean, Clean for what happened) so I want to update what we've got. Once again Anthropologie wins out.

3. Get art for above the toilet - I want something nice and colorful which I think could help to brighten up the whole room as it will be reflected directly in the mirror across.

4. Get 3 assorted sized glass pieces - I'd like something like the below to hold sample soaps, cotton balls, you know the typical bath supplies. I'm sure I can find something similar at a flea market or antique store. I may even pick up a few for our bathroom because I like them so much.

5. Get "oil-rubbed bronze" faucet - I think I'd pretty much like something similar to what I'm planning on replacing the faucet downstairs with. Here is a reminder for ya.

6. Place a picture in that frame...finally - I was waiting for one of our wedding pictures and lately I just keep forgetting to do it. I already know which one I want to feature, the one of us leaving is one of my favorites. Luckily I work at an ad agency and have someone I can get to retouch it in order to remove the petal from my eye and pull my dress up a bit. The starch got a little loose by the end of the night due to all of the dancing...

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.

All Clean

I originally said that I would blog Mon - Fri at least while I'm showing you our house but I've decided to take the night off from a normal post. You see, back in January, the hubs was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer and today we got back the results of his first completely clean scan. Chemo still isn't complete and we still have a long road to go with lots of testing left to do but this is a HUGE step towards getting this monster out of our lives once & for all. So I'm sure you understand that I have a need to go celebrate this big occasion with my amazing hubster.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

The Great Outdoors

In honor of a picnic by the lake that Tim & I will be taking tonight where we will get to enjoy a jazz concert  I decided to blog about the outside & yard of our humble abode.

You've seen this image before but here is a refresher of the front of our house.

And now the back.

The sides. A friend joked the other day that we shouldn't consider the people moving in next door as neighbors but roommates and that we could add a gangplank between our houses to visit each other, isn't that a lovely idea?

Here is what the view from our front door looks like. They are starting to build some houses across the street. I have mixed emotions about this, I'm pretty excited about getting new neighbors but the idea of enduring hammering, sawing and drilling at 7AM, 7 days a week is not my idea of fun. At all.

Here is what the view from our back deck looks like. Our property line goes all the way down to the corner of the white fence and over through the woods a little. We've got a GREAT backyard that I can't wait to fence in and get a little more use out of although our grass is still working hard to grow!

Things we have left to do here:

 1. Get a Fence - This is both for a practical reason as well as aesthetic reason. Practically we need a fence so our curious little one doesn't wander off without us. Aesthetically we can't afford as many trees and bushes as I'd want to make our yard a private little oasis but we are allowed to put up 4 ft of solid fence and 2 ft of lattice and I'll take it. We're planning it putting it about halfway up on the sides of the house and all the way down through the yard to the very end of our lot. This is going to be a ridiculous endeavor to stain but will be completely worth it when its all said and done.

2. Paint the garage door & the vent - We (i.e. I) were pretty specific on the color we wanted our trim to be and the garage door didn't come in that specific color so we've got white. Not a huge deal but at some point I'd like to paint it and the vent way up above the door that is also white the same color as our trim. I don't think it will take that long and I'm pretty sure we still have a good amount of that paint leftover, I just haven't gotten around to it just yet.

3. Landscaping - This is more in regard to the backyard. I'm wanting to add in a ton of trees to give the yard some shade and again more privacy. As much as I'm not a fan of yellows, oranges and reds in my house I love it when trees change so brightly in the fall and want to get a lot of those in there.

4. Flatten out the dip in the yard - You can see it a little in this photo back when the house was still under construction if you look where the line of the shadows is. Its essentially a drainage ditch and I have this feeling that its either very expensive or just not feasible to do but we'd like to put a drainage pipe in and cover it with dirt and sod to make everything a bit more level to install our privacy fence, plus that is the perfect spot for a future firepit.

5. Build a firepit - Cold fall & winter nights (ok maybe not the dead of winter but the beginning & end perhaps) would be made so much better with a firepit to hang around, roast marshmallows in and just relax in front of. I love this one and how its actually almost in the ground. All we'd have to do is place some Adirondack chairs around it, throw some wood in and we'd be ready to go!

6. Get a hammock - I have the perfect shady spot that will be nice and private once our fence is put in. I'm so looking forward to stretching out on a cool summer day and taking a nap while pup plays in the yard...oh bliss. (The water would be a nice addition but that's not happening)

7. Waterproof the upper deck & screen in the bottom - They have these really neat systems that waterproof the area underneath a deck by grabbing the water and funneling through a channel system and to downspouts. You can then add decorative paneling so no one ever knows the difference. Ever since we saw how amazing our porch was going to be I've been dreaming of leveling out the bottom portion of it, cementing the ground and putting up screening. This is a very long-term goal but I'm already super excited about it.

8. Build in steps - This is actually in regard to the side of the house. Its quite the workout to walk up it much less to have to mow it even with one that is self-propelled. I've envisioned something like this but I'm thinking its way above our price range and we'd never get that investment back but I'm sure we can figure out a less expensive fix to make something similar...eventually.

So Fresh and So Clean, Clean

Our Laundry Room is just what we need. It fits the washer, dryer and some essential cleaning materials although there is probably a way for me to get it a little more organized. I leave the pup's bowls in there so she has plenty of space where she can splash around and make her mess. I actually caught her in the act, check out that guilty face.

Things we have left to do here:


1. Put in tile - Out of all of the rooms, this is the one that will most likely be tiled first, as it only makes sense to do this as we switch out the washer and dryer (more on that later). I'm planning on putting the same tile in throughout the house and with so little area to tile we can actually get some good stuff without paying way too much for it. So the slate is back for this one.

2. Get a new washer and dryer - Our washer and dryer are more leftovers from Tim's college days and although they were new when he got them I don't think being in storage for almost 4 years did them a lot of good unfortunately because they've been giving us a hard time. The washing machine likes to shred things as they get too close to the top and the dryer likes to give them slight little burn marks. Nothing we can't deal with in the short term but I have a feeling they are close to their last legs. Home Depot has some great deals on front loaders with the little storage bins for the bottom that we may have to check out although we do have a Sears Appliance Outlet Center where all of the appliances with the smallest dints & dings go with some huge discounts. They always have some amazing deals so we may have to check that out as well. I've been avoiding doing research on the best ones in the hopes that I can pretend we won't have to do this, doubtful but so far its working!

3. Get a new storage - I'd like some cabinets that I can hide our cleaning supplies and such, plus cabinets also have more shelves to store things. I orginally thought I just wanted cabinets hung a little higher with a small shelf underneath for regularly used items such as the pup's special food, detergent, softner, etc but then I saw this picture and I'm really rethinking those pedestals, maybe getting shorter ones...or building a custom height platform. Hmmm...

Self-Control of the Remote Control

The Family Room. I saw these definitions and had to add it in because at our house there is a conversation about constant channel flipping that happens every night after Tim has selected 5 shows to watch in a period of 10 minutes.

REMOTE CONTROL (ri-moht kon-trohl) n.
a. female...A device for changing from one TV channel to another.
b. male...A device for scanning through all 175 channels every 2 1/2 minutes.

Remember that infamous porthole I discussed here and here. Well you FINALLY get to check it out. My friend Andrea told me it doesn't look as bad in person but I have a hard time believing that especially with Tim's smart little comments when it was first put up (i.e. walking in the room saying "Ahoy matey" and saluting me...thanks babe!). Regardless it was on clearance, non-returnable and such a pain to put up that its staying there until we upgrade the TV.

Tim's mom passed down the rug to us, the couches are from Tim's apartment in college as was the coffee table turned console table and the coffee table was given to us by our friends/builders when it wouldn't fit into their new home.

Things we have left to do here:

1. Get a new rug- I already found one I like from Pottery Barn and its already all sold out. Any surprises? No? Good. My next search will be for the Taylor Rug with its milky chocolate brown and soft blue tones.

2. Get a new couch - I want a sectional. I love laying down to watch a movie as does Tim and a sectional would allow both of us to do so without either of us having to literally get the short end of the stick and curl up on the loveseat or the chair. Surprise! Its brown.

3. Get a new coffee table - I'd love to get a round tufted leather ottoman, in my traditional brown of course. Ethan Allen has a great looking one that actually seems to be fairly reasonable (although its in the cheapest cloth the offer so it may not be so reasonable with the leather).

4. Get some side chairs - I found this one when my cousin Amy & I were out shopping one day and after we went to so many stores I have absolutely no clue where I saw it but everything about it is what I want except the feet but those have to be easy to change out, right? It had a low-profile but was incredibly plush, had the soft blues I adore and has arms so you really can relax and lean back without falling off the side without being too large.

5. Get a side table - I've loved this one since I first laid my eyes on it over at Pottery Barn. Its the oil-rubbed bronze that I've put throughout the rest of the house and the shape is so incredibly similar to our light fixtures. They are meant to be together.

6. Add in some built-ins - I want some display cases and some places to hide and store some of our DVDs and such. We will build these after expanding the wall out and will have them come up right below the windows to either side of the fireplace.

7. Get a new TV & surround sound - Tim is convinced he "needs" an incredibly large TV. In fact the size he wants is so large that we have to expand the wall around the fireplace a little. It turns out we didn't plan well by not having a cable and power hook-up so we will have to open that wall up anyways so expanding it out about 6 inches on each side won't be too big of a pain to do. If you noticed the random wires handing from the ceiling, those would be where we pre-wired for surround sound and got too lazy to do anything after until we have speakers, etc. Oops!

8. Build a new mantle - Our mantle holds quite a bit of significance to me. Tim and our builder did a great job building it for us and it looks incredible. Unfortunately we will have to pull it down to expand the wall in order to get Tim the TV he wants so badly. We will most likely go with something simple and traditional, similar to the below.

9. Get some curtains - Because those really seem to help finish off a room so well. I think these light blue stripes are so pretty but have a bit of a masculine touch to them for Tim as well.

10. Add a light kit to the fan - I don't want anything special, just something similar to what we have in the bedroom in order to add a little extra light. Its not dark by any means but gets a little dim at night and I don't have any plans to add in lamps anytime soon.


11. Add some art to the back wall? - I don't know if I should add something and if so what that should be. I'm still waiting for inspiration to strike. I guess I will go sleep on it now.

UPDATE: Hallway...well because its easy

As I said in my last post I'm letting the stairs steal the decor from the hallway but no worries I have an even better idea. Errr, if I can actually pull it off that is. So here is my original description of our hallway: Hallway...well because its easy. To be perfectly honest I'm kind of working on taking the easy way out again.

CONFESSION: My house is not nearly as clean as it appears to be in all of these photos. In fact as of right now its a hot mess and I'm not really feeling the whole cleaning thing just this second. So day off of the picture taking and I'll be back at it again tomorrow. For clarification "back at it" means hiding the mess behind any crevice that will not show in the picture itself.

Somehow I was thinking about gates the other day (yes its incredibly random and I can't tell you how I got there). Irregardless, I started thinking about how neat iron gates are and how well that dark iron used to show up in the images I would process in the darkroom back in school. FYI: I minored in photography, my dad told me to do something off the wall that I enjoyed so I did. I was not the best (by far) but I loved it.

From there I started thinking about some neat gates I've seen and came to the realization that I believe there may be a gate at every important place for Tim & I.

There is a pretty gate where we both went to college but there are a few options in that same area to choose from.

Although Tim & I "officially" met after college, we did initially meet one another in high school. Long story short: he and friend tried to corrupt some friends & myself with Mike's Hard Lemonade, he decided to hang out with one of my friends (much to my disappointment), his friend attempted to stalk me (I kid - he is a VERY sweet guy who played a large role in our wedding) and down the road his friend completely called me out at our rehearsal dinner in front of a lot of our friends and both of our families. I digress again, the point being that we still kid each other about that initial meeting and hold it dear. There is a great little iron gate at the pool that would work well within this ensemble.

After college Tim coached at a smaller university that my grandfather once taught at, my parents attended and I grew up as a big fan. A friend talked me into going to meet him one night and the rest really is history. I wanted to get married in the chapel there but for some reason our wedding date was incredible popular around here and another bridezilla got to it before this one could. I can certainly see why, that campus is renowned for how absolutely breathtaking the beauty of it is. It also has an assortment of gates, big ones, little ones, pretty ones but the one I want is of the entrance to that baseball field. That one is undoubtedly one of the ugliest but it holds so much significance as that is where I met the hubs.

I'm convinced that there HAS to be a gate somewhere around where we got engaged. I think I may have found one by googling (best. invention. ever.) but still need to go check it out. I mean I guess it counts if its in the same vicinity right?

A few years ago my church created a remembrance garden which is really peaceful and beautiful. We did the majority of our wedding pictures out in that area and it has a most excellent gate. I actually really wish that Tim & I had met up with each other before the ceremony in that garden as well. Looking back I would have loved some pics of us checking each other out over this gate...oh well...the gate will look pretty on my wall. You can get a glimpse of it from this wedding photo. Also, take a moment to check out those fabulous blue shoes (may they rest in peace - my poor toes will never be the same again).

So now that you've gotten a peek at some of these gates just imagine them photographed & lined up in 16x20 frames across that wall. I was so excited about the idea that I almost went out to start taking the pictures that day, but it was night and raining. I've already checked out some great frames they've got over at HomeGoods and am just waiting on that next paycheck to go pick those bad boys up!