I spent a lot of time in my office this weekend - cleaning, sorting, organizing, and finally creating. It's one of my favorite places to be in our home, in large part because anything goes in there. Sometimes it's tidy; sometimes it's a mess. I don't restrict myself in any way when it comes to decorating. There's wood boxes, wire baskets, glass jars, and just about every color you can imagine. That room is a true reflection of me - all parts of me.
our home
autumn around the house.
I'm not big on lots of holiday decorations, but I do try to bring the seasons in our home in more subtle ways. I love all of the warm colors and textures of fall, and have been bringing pumpkins in our house on a nearly daily basis.
- My favorite vintage cart has been filled with pumpkins, and lots of orange, white, and purple flowers greet you at the door.
- This box is a recent favorite of mine. Surprisingly, I found this crate repurposed to hold flowers at Home Depot. And for only $20! I'm not sure if all Home Depots are carrying these, but our store has plenty of different crates filled with plenty of different flowers. I had a hard time choosing just one, and went back and forth a few times before making my final decision. I'm pretty happy with my choice.
- I recently planted some tall purple grass against our back fence, and love clipping these wispy stems to tuck into fall bouquets. The green quilt poking out in the bottom left corner was handmade from my sweet grandma. It's perfect.
- My vintage thermos collection usually lives in my office, but were brought out to line our entry way windowsill. I love the textured metal bases, but I think the orange plaid is my favorite. Mini pumpkins and gourds are in between each thermos, of course.
- A little Halloween package that's waiting to be mailed soon to a very special recipient!
Happy Fall!
The next project is our renovation list is the big one - the kitchen remodel. It'll definitely use up the biggest piece of our renovation budget, but will also make the biggest impact. Our current kitchen is a little comical. This is a photo from our first walk through of the house:
It's best features include:
- two-tone teal cabinets
- floral knobs (with circular plastic protectors - handmade, I think)
- trash compactor and cassette player
- mirror wall tiles with a lovely ivy design
- floral linoleum flooring
- drop ceiling straight from the 70's
We have our work cut out for ourselves! We're hoping to start the project early next year so I've been gathering plenty of photos for inspiration. I have a hard time committing to any sort of big purchase, so I need all the help I can get. [Click photo for source.]
Things I love:
- lots of white and dark wood, with just a splash of color
- big ol' farmer's sink
- sleek, industrial lighting
- white subway tile
- plenty of jars for storage
- open upper storage (but I might be too messy for this!)
Does your kitchen have any features that you couldn't live without, or something you can't wait to get rid of ASAP? I'd love to hear what works and doesn't work for you and your kitchen! I'm jotting down any and all ideas!
home sweet home.
This weekend our house started to turn into a home. We received the keys to our new house in early April and starting working on it right away. I've mentioned before that it was stuck in the 70's and not in a cool, vintage way. There was teal everywhere, cottage cheese ceilings (with glitter!), and a good dose of crazy wallpaper. Our house is starting to come around to 2010, but the only downside is that all of the work means living in a construction site for awhile. We replaced the teal carpet in the front of the house with hardwood (which we installed ourselves!) in May, but the new floor has been hidden under protective paper ever since. After finishing all of our messy and potentially harmful projects in the area we removed the protective paper this weekend! This step alone instantly turned our house / construction site into a home.
Take a peak:
There is still plenty of work to be done in the area. I am not even going to try to crop out the closet full of junk or the little wood pieces that are there until we finish the molding. But at least we don't have to walk on ugly paper anymore. And we have a place to eat rather than the kitchen island.
I'm excited to start working on the rest of the room, starting with the wall behind the dining table. I want to put together a collection of prints along with some vintage pieces.
Here are a few inspiration walls:
Emily from the latest season of Design Star shared this glimpse of her office. Love the mix of items, especially that big H!
This project from paislee press is more clean and simple than what I have in mind, but I still love the way all of the smaller elements make one great big statement.
I'd be thrilled if my wall came out even half as pretty as this one from art as life.
I've already bought a few pieces I hope will look good against the dove gray wall. Here is what I have so far:
I like the bold and graphic nature of these vintage price tag numbers from lacklusterco on Etsy.
And a few pieces I am thinking about:
Ork Print: Little reminder of the Bay Area where Lance and I grew up and still have family.
Danni at oh, hello friend shared this custom portrait she commissioned from Nan Lawson. Perfect way to incorporate a personal element in your collection of art. Looking forward to get one of my own!
More than anything, I just really like this golden orange color in this print from Ryan Kapp. Plus a good friend of mine moved to Chicago recently so the Chicago skyline reminds me of her.
I think it's a fun little collection of different pieces. Love the reds/oranges/yellows with the pop of green.
I'm a little nervous about putting it all together, but will be sure to share the results once it's up!
Hope your weekend was as exciting as mine, even if it was just little things that made you happy! One last little thing that made me smile this weekend:
I had to share because Lance made sure to ask me if the token of affection was "blog worthy". Sure is!
lessons.
Top 10 Lessons I've Learned in My 4 Months of Home Ownership
#1 - Despite what everyone says, it won't look a lot darker than the sample. When choosing paint we went with something a little lighter than we wanted. It didn't look any darker once on the wall. When choosing hardwood we went with something a little lighter than we wanted. It didn't look any darker once installed in the room. Ditto on the carpet.
#2 - Do believe the advice to plan on spending your budget plus another 20%, and working your scheduled time plus another week or so.
<Despite the front receipt, we're really Home Depot people.>
#3 - When you live in an apartment and an appliance stops working you head down to the office and file a maintenance request. When you own a home and an appliance stops working you freak out and head down to Home Depot. Your tool collection will grow very, very fast.
#4 - Living in a bright teal house makes it very easy for deliveries. You tell them the address and give some basic directions, but really all you have to say is "the bright teal one on the right".
#5 - California earthquakes are no longer fun and exciting when you are part of the 88% of homeowners without earthquake insurance.
#6 - I now understand why my mom and grandma love their gardens so much. There is something incredibly gratifying about planting seeds and watching them grow.
<Please ignore the dead grass around the planter. It's a work in progress!>
#7 - After living in a 650 square foot apartment, a 1325 square foot house seemed like a lot of space. Until we started unpacking all of our boxes.
#8 - Despite some bad surprises (like a leaky pipe and terracotta tile that won't budge even with a mini jack hammer...), there are also some good surprises. All the vines of grapes growing in the side yard counts as one of these good surprises.
<Almost ready to pick! I think they could use a good pruning as well.>
#9 - You age a good 7 to 10 years when you buy a house. You not only have a mortgage now, but you also spend your time mowing the lawn, reading home improvement books, and staring at paint chips. Forget trips to the beach or catching the latest movie.
#10 - It feels really, really good to be able to call this place "our home".
<etsy: ishootnouns>
