Up up and away

Wren has always been enthralled with things in the sky. When she was only barely a year old she would point out the moon and smile. As she's gotten old her love of the moon has grown significantly. There are days we are driving around and she screams at the top of her lungs from the back seat "MOOOOON!". I nearly swerve, losing focus and wondering what could cause such a loud, frantic scream from the girl behind me when she will point out the moon hiding behind a cloud a 3pm on a Wednesday. If the moon is out, my girl won't miss it. She has since become interested in airplanes and can hear or see one no matter how far away. She is a sky watcher.

So we went and got her some kites this Summer. We had one last year that lasted exactly 1.5 flights, but even that half flight was fun in her eyes. So I loaded up, anticipated many crashes. 

Getting ready for flight.

I guess I didn't really need to load up because this girl's got skills with a kite. Not one crash! 

I think her kite is on autopilot here.

 

We live a short walk away from an open grass field so it is nice to march over with our gear mid afternoon on a rare slow day.

 

 

Enjoying the sun, wind and watching the kids at school get out for lunch.

 

Always the character, she usually turns our standard kite expedition into a yoga/dance/kiting hybrid.

Her trusty princess kite, my Brobee kite which lasted only 4 minutes before a strong gust of wind tore the string from it. 

It is not surprising that she finds so much joy and peace in something like flying a kite... she is a bird after all.

Have a safe and happy weekend!

Shopping my own home

I am notorious for not unpacking. It is one of my dirty little secrets... we can go on holiday and two months later the items I don't use daily will still be sitting in the suitcase on a chair in my closet. My most embarrassing evidence of this trait is the 4 boxes of random office items/books and papers that are STILL fully packed up in a corner of the basement from our last house (which we moved out of 4 years ago!!!). Not cool, but on my giant to do list these things usually rank near the bottom.

I made a little personal pact with myself that I wouldn't pull these shenanigans with all the stuff coming home from Lexington. Mainly, the more stuff I took over there the more I realized I could use a little more fluff and filler in my own house. But also, why stuff such fun, beautiful stuff in bags in the basement? 

So I've been a busy little bee, feeling like I just went on a mini shopping spree! No major changes, just little additions to add some warmth and color for Fall.

 

Think I found the new wall color for in here!! Can't wait to get it up on the walls.

 

The sheets have all gone back to warm, cream linens. I LOVED the crisp contrast the navy bedding had for Spring/Summer but want the familiar, softness of all white for the coming Winter months.

 

This $30 clearance TJ Maxx mirror went from one foyer to another. As many of you on instagram know, I am thrilled to bring in the pros to finally finish up our stairs with wood. I think we've made a wise decision, after nearly two years later we just aren't making it happen. I am hopefully they will be done before Winter.

 

The mirror picks up all the blues from my 'ship wall' (which has grown by 2 since this photo!). Once the foyer is 'done' I think it *may* just be my favorite part of the house. I was sold on the house 15 seconds after walking in just because of the foyer, it has always made me so happy to walk through the door every day.

 

I just have to share my funny little guy photobombing my shot! He's perfected the innocent look, but I know he was being a rascal.

Stay tuned later today for the winner of our SaSea pillow giveaway!!

Welcome to Parkview!

Hi Guys!! I hope everyone had a safe and relaxing long weekend. It's weird how just one weekend seems to separate Summer from Fall... but sure enough I even broke out my Uggs on Saturday!

I am sorry I went MIA last week! It was moving week at Lexington. All the furniture found new homes (Hi to all the fabulous people who came by!!), but I kind of forgot just how many small items I had there, as well as moving the mattress and larger things we are keeping. And if that wasn't exciting (yet tiring!) enough, we also got the keys to our next project on Friday!!!!

I want to welcome you all to Parkview.

She is a not all that pretty, but I think it might be a classic ugly duckling story. We just have to make her a swan. 

I am happy to not be tackling this project alone, but together with my sister, Torri, and my Dad. Both of them were so much help at Lexington that we decided to band together and start a new little company all together. I am still going to be working on my own project(s), but think it is going to be a really fun adventure to do projects with them too! 

I am not even going to go into detail today with what all needs to happen here because it is obviously A LOT. But again, you guys will get the moment by moment progress. Which reminds me, would you like more reno posts than Lexington, less, the same? I don't want to turn the blog into a crazy construction site but if you want more than one weekly post let me know or if you want special posts on certain projects!

As bad as the outside is, you won't believe the inside!!!!

Business meeting/family reunion taking place in the hallway?Powder room? Laundry room? We don't even know at this point... It is a weird, weird house that we are completely re-working as far as layout goes.

I am so happy the last owner was kind enough to paint the ducts... it definitely makes everything look a little less crazy. not

What I'm guessing was the kitchen, but will become the family room.

Standing in the current dining room (which will become the kitchen) looking into the living room (which will become a living/dining room).

Still in the future kitchen. It should be a big one!

Looking into the mud room from the hallway.

 Large den off the mud room?! which will gain entry from the front hall as well eventually.

The ONLY thing worth saving in here: the wood stairs.

Upstairs hallway. Centering and enlarging the window is one of our first projects.

There are four good sized bedrooms upstairs, but only ONE bathroom in the WHOLE HOUSE. so we are adding a powder room downstairs as well as converting one bedroom into a spacious ensuite/ closet off the master. 

It won't look all that glamorous for quite some time, but it is so much fun to watch it all come together. Our first projects start up in the next week or two: all new windows/doors and siding.