It's Thursday Already?

Wow! Where did this week go? I had some long meetings at the beginning of the week and then a massive headache for that last 4 days straight that has pretty much drained me of all energy. We are laying the rest of our main floor hardwood today with the exception of the family room so I should have some pictures to update with in the next day or so. We definitely need to make sure it is all done before the trick or treaters start ringing the door bell on Friday evening!

Also, if anyone knows where to get these PLEASE tell me!!!!!!!!! My coworker brought me back a package from Taiwan last week and they were the most delicious candy I've tried in ages. They are flavored marshmallows and melt on your tongue, need I say more?

Weekend Update

As expected, we had a blast on Saturday! Our first stop a was handmade glass bead fair that was held by a group of local glass bead artists where I picked up these adorable little beads! I want to put them on a simple silver necklace as charms. My mom also picked up a whole bunch of really adorable beads that she has asked my Aunt to turn into a bracelet for the baby so I will share pics of that once I see the finished product.

Toadstool:

Hedgehog:

I also found some great things at the Antique Mall. There was a wide variety of bevelled mirrors so I happily bought some for a feature wall I would like to either do in our master bedroom or in the baby's room (pictures to come). Several larger pieces of furniture were very tempting to take home but I held off for further mark downs and to do some measuring before hand. I also snagged this original oil painting that I fell in love with called "Lonesome Cove". The only problem was the old dingy frame, which a fresh coat of paint and some distressing easily turned into a perfect fit for our living room.

Before:

After:

Distressing on detailing:

NOOOO!

I was saddened to learn that one of my favorite places to treasure hunt, my local antique mall, is closing it's doors! I still have until December to enjoy a few more Saturday afternoons wandering around looking through all the wonderful goodies. The only silver lining to this cloud is that there will be even better deals to be had until then, as evidenced by the reader board outside their warehouse that reads: "EVERYTHING MUST GO!". My Mom, Aunt and I decided to make it a girls day out and will be stopping in tomorrow after we browse a local bead makers bazaar that we were planning to check out. Here is my list of things I will definitely be on the hunt for:

1. Antique Christmas Ornaments:
I LOVE antique Christmas ornaments, and I have been collecting them for the last 3 years. I only collect the HOT pink, teal, baby blue and silver ones but I will definitely be loading up on as many as I can find.



2. Bevelled Mirrors:
I love the look of vintage bevelled mirrors, particularly when they are grouped together on a wall or over a mantle. The more unique the shape, the better!






3. Unique Pieces of Large Furniture:
It doesn't matter if there are a few dents or scratches because we will just be painting it anyhow! The key to these finds is price, the lower the better!



It is times like this that I am thankful my husband went against my better judgement and bought a pick up truck last year.

Autumn Enchantment

If you love the colors of fall and look forward to bringing them indoors this season here are a few cool ideas and crafts that would be the perfect way to pass an Autumn afternoon.

1. Cloches aren't only for your garden! If you have these glass domes outside all summer and don't know what to do with them come winter this is the perfect solution, fill them with various mini pumpkins and squashes. This would also look great in a collection of apothocary jars as well. Try thinking outside of the usual orange varieties and go with a cream or green mixture for a new take on this idea!

(photo credit: Country Living)

2. Do you have a pile of pinecones littering your yard? Bring them inside with a seasonal wreath or mantle garland. They don't just have to be for the holidays anymore and the various shades of brown add a flare of earthy fun to any interior.

(photo credit: Lifetime)

3. Not great at carving pumpkins? This creepy, yet simple idea from Martha Stewart will spook up even the least crafty person's porch. Just carve circles in your pumpkin and have a family of mice poking in and out of all the holes!

(Photo Credit: Martha Stewart.com)

4. Check out a couple of Halloween Blogs for some great inspiration! Here are some of our favorites:

http://anostalgichalloween.blogspot.com/

http://aglitteredhalloween.blogspot.com/

http://allhallowsevening.blogspot.com/

http://sleepyhollowcraftcompany.blogspot.com/2008/08/all-i-want-for-halloween-is.html

http://halloweenaddict.com/

http://vintagehalloweencollector.blogspot.com/

You Don't Know What You've Got Tile It's Gone

Sometimes I think that boys just like to make the biggest mess possible with the biggest tools they can get their hands on. Yesterday I *thought* the plan was to finish the baseboards in the living room, but I guess the message didn't make it to Sean on time. I got home from work to find our entry way tiles all chipped up with a giant tile scraper he went out and rented for a few hours. This is the tame version of what I arrived home to and was taken after all the tile cuttings and splinters were mostly cleared away (I hope the garbage man actually take them because they are already sitting at the end of the driveway in a garbage bin and I will not be moving those in the garage if he doesn't!):


I guess this is all in the name of progress, but I will definitely be bumping up our deadline to finish all the floors now that I am forced to walk on a dirty, grouty subfloor everytime I want to go up or down the stairs...

How Romantic

Yesterday was our 1 year Wedding Anniversary and we did the most romantic thing ever (NOT!), we picked out our baseboards and starting installing them. We also managed to head out for a lovely dinner at one of our favourite local restaurants so the day was by no means completely unromantic, but let's just say that humming and hawing over different baseboard patterns and sizes is not most people's idea of romance. Our final decision was on 4.5 inch baseboard in the "modified" style aka the one with the little bulge on the top like the ones on the top of this chart, and because we have been buying all our supplies at a local contractor supply store we got an amazing discount of 25% off on this and any of our future purchases (which means more $ to decorate with *insert evil grin here*).

Time to Decorate

Ack, I can't believe how fast that ticker on the side of this blog is going down! With a million and one things on the go these days I decided it was time I came up with a final plan for the baby's room so we can get rolling on the finished product already. We want to keep it simple, not too girly, and definitely not to baby-ish so it can easily convert to a toddler/kids room in a couple years.

Where's my bed???

We had a very productive weekend over here at our household (thanks to a lot of help from my parents!). We got about 500 sq ft of our hardwood installed in just over a day, which we are mighty proud of considering we were complete amateurs going in to the job. We are no where near finished the living/dining room yet but here is a little sample of our progress:

Mom and Dad making headway

Our Fearless Foreman

All laid out

Sean is taking Monday and Tuesday off and hopes to have the light fixture changed out and all baseboards in which means I may get the A-OK to start decorating in the next week or two!

I also managed to get some fun projects done for the baby's room that I will definitely be sharing in the next few days as well.

And in honor of all our hardwork we are now off to spend the rest of the evening relaxing in front of the fire and catching up on some movie rentals we have been anxious to see. I am sure we will both be hurting tomorrow LOL

Starting to get really excited

Yesterday afternoon my 8 and a half months pregnant coworker left 2 hours early in a cab to the hospital after having slight cramps all during lunch, and this morning I come in to work only to find out that she had a healthy 7 pound baby girl 2 hours after arriving at the hospital. Talk about lucky! It is still so weird to think that just yesterday she was sitting here like me and today she has a new baby, and it is even weirder to think that it will be us in only a few short weeks.

Since I am not really comfortable wearing high heels right now that makes a lot of the cute fall boots I see in stores unpractical, so I was extremely excited when I found these Hush Puppies 2 weeks ago. They are the perfect mix of casual and dressy and are the most delightfully comfy shoes I have bought in ages. And here I thought Hush Puppies were just for nurses and grandmas...

And last, but not least here is my contribution of cuteness for the day: a picture of Mung Kee enjoying a leisurely car ride with his granny last Sunday.

Loving Linen

I wanted to share some scans from one of my all-time favorite editions of Country Living Magazine, the February 2007 issue. What I love most about this house that was featured is the contrast of the dark floors with the various tones of white and cream, and most of all, the owner's use of linen. It has such a natural, organic looking texture and I am definitely looking for a few small, but impactful ways of integrating it in our own spaces (may drapes or throw pillows?).

Gotta Love Long Weekends!

It was a long weekend for us and even though we spent much of it with family and necessity required a half day spent on picking out and picking up a new dishwasher, we managed to make a lot of progress on the house (I have the circles under my eyes today to prove it!). I patched and primed all the walls and even got our first coat of paint up (we chose Seed Pearl) while Sean ripped up all the baseboards, carpets, underlay, and staples. We have to let the hardwood adjust to the interior temperature and humidity for 5 days now and then we begin installing on Saturday.

I also wanted to share this lovely tablescape from the folks at Blueprint. I have been in love with the lotus blossom wall paper for about 2 years now and love the idea of a wide length of cloth as a runner all the way down to the ground.

Making Progress

We still have so far to go, but we are finally getting somewhere! Our living room is finally wall paper free (but now has a lot of drywall patching to be done!). It was basically the wall from hell since the original owners wall papered directly onto drywall, no priming or painting first. This weekend we are going to begin our painting, which should be fast and easy since we have no worries about taping trim or covering the carpets before we begin.

Before:



Now:




Sean will be happy to get the flooring in and out of the garage soon too as it is getting cooler outside and unfortunately he has lost his parking spot in the garage to all this wood flooring.





And as far as perfect timing is concerned, last night our dishwasher decided to die. So now we are on the hunt for a new one, and since we know absolutely nothing about dishwashers let us know if you have any recommendations. We definitely want stainless steel and it is probably worth while to invest in a top of the line water and energy efficient model.

The Look For Less

If any of you are planning a kitchen renovation or been through one recently, you know how much $$$ nice appliances are. The kitchens shown in all my favorite decor magazines always seem to have about $30,000 in high end, professional grade appliances.

Well, with a baby on the way and plenty of other work to be done before this place even starts to resemble a finished house, the price tag on most professional grade ranges just don't seem to fall into our kitchen renovation budget.... until we stumbled across the appliances at Ikea! 6 burners? Check! Gas range? Check! High end looks? Check! This thing seems almost too good to be true and the best part is that it is less than a third of the cost of your average professional range. See for yourself!

High End Range:

Ikea Range:

And if you really love the look of professional style kitchens you will love the idea of stainless steel cabinetry, even if just on the bottom cabinets to make prep and clean up quick and easy!

(photo credit unknown)

Let's Paint The Town!

We are in our final phase of wall paper removal (ironic that it seems to be the last wall seems to be the toughest wall yet...) and then we are doing the painting followed by the massive hardwood installation project. I want to keep the palette very neutral and calm but would like to use warmer shades of greyish-cream instead of the bluer-greys I used at our last house. I can see that we will definitely need to buy the handy 2 oz. color samples Pratt & Lambert offer and do test patches on the walls so I can see the room with all 3 options at different times of the day. These are the 3 colors we are liking the most right now and we would love to hear which one you think would look the best against the wood (we have yet to buy furniture for the living room or dining room so we have free range on color choices at this point!).

I'm Hooked!

I loooooove to read. I go through a book nearly every week, and enjoy spending an afternoon in my favorite antique book store at least once a month to load up on a variety of genres from mystery to biographies to adventures. In my opinion, they really don't quite make them like they used to, at least that was what I thought until I recently picked up the novel Twilight. No, it is not the next Pulitzer Prize novel, but it is juicy, exciting, romantic and completely addicting!!! If you have not read it you could just wait until November to catch the big screen version, but trust me, you will not be disapointed in this story.

Only 15 weeks left!

It sounds like a long time, but it still feels like we have so much to do in these last 15 weeks before the Baby arrives! Besides finishing the hardwood throughout the house in the next couple of weeks we need to install wainscotting in her bedroom, buy a crib and rocker, and finish decorating her room (I am sure there are about 100 other things to do as well I am forgetting).

We are going to Orlando in the next couple of weeks and I am hoping my bathing suits all fit still by then so I can get some sun and hang out at the pool!

Welcome to Atlanta

At our house we prefer the look of a little less "clutter" and simpler lines (less is more!). A few years ago I stumbled across my "Bible", a book called At Home With White by interior designer Atlanta Bartlett, which featured amazing rooms comprised of flea market finds, modern lines, and great textures. Here are a few of her spaces that have given us inspiration for our home and hopefully it will inspire you as well!