My inner interior designer

I don't claim to be an interior designer or anywhere close to it. I wish I had that knack, but I don't. We still have unhung pictures, rooms that aren't quite "finished", and an office that we kind of scratch our heads and try to figure out how not to keep making it into a storage space. I guess one big reason is that things aren't done are because we have two one-year olds running around and I also think that I'm picky and it takes me forever to make a decision about big ticket items like furniture.

Maddy, Libby, and I went on an outing yesterday (it was to buy frames so I can finish up one project), and I decided to hop into a nearby furniture store to look around. We are in need to more seating in our family room and they had a great overstuffed chair and ottoman for a good deal.

I started doing a little research on some different furniture store websites and I found this one that had this awesome room planner. You can plug in the dimensions of your room, add furniture, add features like windows, doors, etc. I was able to lay down rugs, coffee tables, overstuffed chairs and the best part is ... you can even put little people and dogs in the room! By the time I was finished playing around with what furniture I think we need, adding two dogs, two babies, and two adults ... I had managed to make one crowded room!

Check it out ... it really did help to get a feel for room layout.

Blue

So I guess you could say I'm on a blue kick. Maybe it comes from my Piscean nature and I've always found shades of blue and green so soothing and calming.

To back up a few steps and make it all make sense, here is what I think happened.

1. I volunteered for and attended a Designer Showhouse and one of the rooms (the bar), had about 30 small prints all framed and hung together. I loved the look of it and wanted to find something to do in our home.

2. I hunted on eBay for some kind of vintage print to catch my eye and remember, I posted about the eggs? I ended up not bidding on those and then ...

3. Jillian contacted me and she found some great eggs by Morris for me. These were by the same designer as the ones on eBay. She had a few of her own in her house. Once I saw the pictures, I knew they were the exact thing I wanted. She was wonderful to work with and she coordinated matting and had them shipped right to my door. Jill, your check is in the mail!

4. Now I have these lovely eggs prints and mats, so I need to get frames, but I also need to paint the entry way leading into our living room so all of this will coordinate. Hubby is probably reading this saying "I need to paint?! More like Hubby needs to paint." Anyway, remember the post about paint colors, etc? I've also realized that I also need new throw pillows to coordinate with all of this new blueness.

5. I'm planning to hang the eggs on the blank wall over this sofa. This sofa was my Mom's sister and I had it upholstered a few years ago. It's an Ethan Allen and I love the tuxedo style of it. From the age of it and how well it has worn, I'm amazed it has lasted this long.

6. So now that this living room will be getting all coordinated, I also need to decorate the mantle. Why is this so hard? I love my mercury glass candle holders (missing candles), but I have no idea what to do with the rest. A mirror over the mantle? Pictures? A collection of pacifiers? The dog bone since Maddy is obsessed with it and won't leave it alone?

7. Blue hydrangeas. I'm loving them this year. My white ones are also in bloom and I noticed that one bush has a few that are a shade of pink. So pretty and I wish I could enjoy them all year round.

Organization

Just spent the last 2 hours putting away summer clothes, and separating the other clothes into throw-away, consignment store, and thrift store for the Junior League piles, oh and the pile to actually hang up in the closet or put into drawers. I really put a lot into the giveaway piles, which makes me feel good, but also feel like I need to shop! I did pick up a few things over the weekend...This outfit, but I won't tuck the turtleneck into the skirt (ewww) and I'll probably throw on a blue jean jacket as well. I also found another skirt and top from a little boutique without a website for photos.

Since Hubby and I moved into the new house, 2 months ago, I've kind of been living out of a clothes basket, a dresser that is downstairs and a few other stacks in between. Pain in the ass, so I finally decided to do something about it.

We have decided that while we have ample closet space in the two upstairs bedroom closets, the space is kind of awkward and really needs California Closets or some similar business to tell us what to do. Our house was built in '39, and our bedroom is in what used to be the attic, so about 1/2 the closet is at an angle. There is a long pole and one shelf, but nothing else. I think I failed the spatial relations portion on the ACT, so I really need someone else to figure out how to arrange it. Since we aren't using the other upstairs bedroom closet, I went ahead and set up my stuff in that one until we figure out the master. Fun & games, I tell you!

Maybe I was wrong...

I had wondered out loud to Hubby several times about our Japanese maple tree in the back yard. While other trees in the area were turning into brilliant yellows, oranges and reds, this particular tree - smack in the middle of our back yard - stayed green.

Other trees were losing their gorgeous leaves and this one stayed strong, full of leaves and still green.

Over the weekend, I noticed that it was finally turning a beautiful shade of reddish-orange.

While it still isn't the flame color of some that you see, I really happen to like it. Plus, I can see just the treetop out of our bathroom window when I'm getting ready in the morning. Whattya think?

And a close up...

Our latest addition

Is the Crosby. Isn't she cute? My grandmother, affectionately known to me as Meme had this phone (but had the real-deal version). I wish we still had the old rotary dial one, but this will do.

And for just $25 and easy to find at my local Target, it was a steal.

Our neighbor

We have been settling nicely into the new neighborhood - meeting neighbors, stopping to pet new dogs on our walks, saying hello, waving when you drive by... It's really nice, because we've met more people in the 2 weeks here than we met in 3+ years at the old location.

One neighbor that I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting is a hawk. The house to the left of us is under renovations and the woman in charge of the work has seen him several times and thinks that he may live in the backyard, in one of the huge trees. Last week, apparently, he swooped down into our front yard and then perched on the roof long enough for her to grab a shot with her camera phone. She is supposed to send it to me, so as soon as I have it, I'll post it.

I do think hawks are magnificent, beautiful birds. Am I glad that Zeus & Zoe are 80+ pounds each? Yes. Hopefully nothing like this could ever happen... I do think there are a shortage of squirrels in our yard, but I'll try not to think about that!

Is it just me?

Or does anyone out there have a thing for doorknobs? I have a friend who nearly caused a divorce over changing out every single knob in her home with $50 doorknobs. Ours don't match, but we have several that I think are original to the house. They just add charm.


So, some of the oldies look like this..

And our front door, like this...

We have a lot of these cool old keys that actually still work...

It's not really inside the house

I love the many hydrangea bushes that have been planted at the new house. The landscaping that was done looks extremely natural, but so much work has been put into it. I can't wait until spring to enjoy the azaleas, camellia and gardenias that are also planted. One of our goals is to keep it up since at the old house, our backyard pretty much consisted of a race-track where Zeus & Zoe would run, oh and eat the hosta plants.

Even this late in the season, we still have a few good blooms on the hydrangea, so I decided to bring some inside to enjoy.

Why I (heart) the new house

I thought I would try to share a few photos of the new house this week. Of course, I'll be sure to try not to get any half-empty boxes in the shots or the rooms where nothing has been unpacked!

Some of the details in this home really stood out to us, like the built in cutting boards in the kitchen. Not only one, but four cutting boards are located throughout.

So, this morning, when preparing to slice strawberries for my cereal, it was a breeze.

I just realized that this photo doesn't really do it justice, but the cutting boards are actually built in like a drawer, so all you do is slide it out to use.

What I've learned in the past 4 days...

Closing wasn't as bad as I expected... other than handing over a large sum of money and lots of signing, it was fine. I'm sure I should have been reading every line with extreme concentration, but that's why we have a good lawyer.

Professional packers and movers are the way to go. I think we've reached the age that we can no longer buy beer and pizza and expect a few friends to move us. The actual move was pretty stress free.

Until we realized that our queen box spring was not going to make it up our new flight of stairs. They are rather steep. So, Hubby & I have set up camp in a downstairs bedroom for now & lucky for us, we found out that queen box springs are available in a split option.

Zeus does not like the stairs either. After coming back from a few days of "doggie daycare", we were walking them around the house - letting them sniff and get accustomed to it - and we decided to take them upstairs. Zoe, the dog that has no fear quickly bounded up the stairs so she could continue her sniffing. Zeus, not so much. He would get about 2 steps up and freeze and revert to the landing. The steps do have a runner, so I thought he would have enough traction, but apparently not enough for his liking.

And, I never realized how much CRAP we have accumulated. Word of caution - when two independent thirty-somethings marry, they come with lots o' crap. I've been unpacking and quickly separating items into a keep, throw, or yard sale pile.

Moving Announcements

It just wouldn't feel right if I didn't get excited about finding cute moving announcements to send to friends and family to let them know about our new address. I wanted something simple, cute, and let's face it, inexpensive. At this point, if I were to plop down several hundred for the adorable Kate Spade moving announcements, Hubby would kill me. Love, love, love these. But for $439 for 50 cards, it was just a tad too steep for our 3-days before closing budget.

So, for around $40, I found these online today.

So, it's not Kate, and it's not Crane, but honestly, don't these just get thrown in the trash after a couple of days? Sad, but true.

Countdown..

I will be out of commission for the next several days. We are counting down to closing and our move. And, in the meantime, we are:

• having our current house inspected (just so we're aware of anything that may need to be fixed)
• dealing with turning on utilities (Hubby is still bitter that we had to get a new phone number and I will note for the record that cable was 1st on the list)
• still packing a few boxes of items that I don't trust the movers to take
• picking up a washer, dryer, microwave, and I'm sure several boxes from my former landlord's house that he was nice enough to let me store for almost 2 years.
• dealing with last minute things with the mortgage, insurance, ordering a house survey, etc.
• being super busy with both of our jobs

It is so exciting even with all of the little details - we saw our new house yesterday for the re-inspection & everything turned out great. Can't wait to get there - it just feels like we have so much to do before that can happen! I'll try to post next week with exciting packing & moving pictures!

My updates have been a bit sporadic and this week, frankly has been a bit "off". My parents left on Sunday, so it's been nice for it just to be Hubby, myself, and the big black dogs. The dogs seem to have settled down, even though we are still in a bit of pack/clean/move/declutter mode. We have to make time to call realtors and list this house, but it just seems like the week has gotten away from us. I think I'm just anxious to list this house, knowing that in about 3 weeks, we are going to be the owners of a new house. While I'd like to think that one day, we may possibly have the luxury to own two homes, I didn't want them to be 10 minutes away from each other!

I was on one of our local morning news stations this morning to talk about the magazine. My editor and I went, while it's always nerve wracking, it's also kind of fun. They loved the latest issue, so it made it really easy. I felt like all we said was "thank you". I'm fairly used to being interviewed, but I had never been interviewed at the TV station set, so seeing the teleprompter, talking to the anchor (and noticing that he has a helluva lot of make up on), is just kind of surreal. We left, immediately called the office and husband's to make sure that we didn't sound or look like idiots, hit Starbucks for a much needed caffeine boost and headed back to work.

Hubby and I also thought that I might be expecting this week. From my calculations, I was about 3 days late, which is pretty late in my book. I bought my first EPT 3-pack ever, tested twice (both negative), and then had a visitor later that day. It's OK. I will admit, we were disappointed, but would have been shocked if we really were. But, as some of my friends have said, it only takes one time.

Not sure what Labor Day holds for us. I have a short day at work tomorrow and we may head to the lake, but we feel like we need to work on the house. Possibly a compromise, and we'll go up for a day.

Plug it in, plug it in...

This is also a must have for the new home office. In black, I think. We can finally have the mobile phones, iPods, Garmin, and digital camera all in one place without cords plugged in everywhere. This make me so happy! From Pottery Barn, of course.

My "new" 1939 kitchen

In the new house, the kitchen has a cute, built-in plate rack. To go along with the year the house was built, I'm trying to find coordinating dishes. I'm considering Fiesta Ware, since it has been around since the 30's. I was also introduced to this wonderful site today by a co-worker. I am now so in love with the pantone plates. Apparently, these were used by salespeople in the 40's to show the pantone colors. I'm thinking that these could be really cute in the new kitchen. Our regular dishes are Emma by Pottery Barn in white, so I would want to use something that could possibly coordinate.



Of course, this part of the kitchen is actually new, but I still think it could work. I would love any retro ideas that may fit in.

Also, we have this cute little phone cubby. Hmmm, to use as a resting place for flowers in a vase, or this? Decisions, decisions...
I promise to post more photos soon, but probably not until we move in. I feel strange about showing photos while it's not yet our home.