Home Show 2011

My mom decorated a home for the home show this year. She had a great time pulling together all the pieces and I had so much fun giving my opinion about each and every item. :)  Here is a preview of her work. 

The front of the house. Even more charming with all the new flowers and the benches and porch furniture. 

I love the rock on the exterior

The front entry

Living room on the left. Such a sweet little room. 

Walk through the entry into the family room/kitchen

The mantle

Dining room

View from the other side of the dining room

Table in the family room looking into the kitchen

View into the kitchen

The back patio

The kitchen

Kitchen sink looks into the back yard

View of the kitchen from the entry

Adorable child's table at the end of the island

Looking from dining room/kitchen to the stairs

The hallway off the kitchen/dining room

Green bedroom

I love the white and green

Bench in the hallway

Bathroom

Second bedroom is the gray bedroom

Beautiful bed! I love that headboard

Master bedroom

Sitting area in the master bedroom

Master bathroom

Mudroom, the door at the end leads into the two-door garage

Laundry room

Other side of the laundry room

 It is a sweet, charming home. I would buy it if it was the right time for me. There is also a full unfinished basement with big windows. It has a cold storage room and places for a bathroom, two bedrooms and a family room.

What do you think?

Bonus points to anyone who can name the two pieces of furniture that come from my house or to anyone who can name pieces that came from my mom, sister, or sister-in-law's homes. Most of these are major pieces of furniture---*hint, *hint.

More Rearranging

Can you tell what is different in my little place? 

It is big and white and takes up quite a bit of room.

The fridge! You guessed it! I moved the fridge out of the pantry/storage room where it has resided since I moved here. I just never thought there was enough room in my tiny kitchen/living room. The apartment came with the tiny fridge you see in the picture below.

The first week I went grocery shopping and came home and filled the little fridge thinking I would make it work just fine. Until the little fridge froze everything--all the meats, veggies and fruits. So, I bought my own fridge and brought it in but the only place I could find for it was in the storage room.

The storage room/pantry door is the one that is open. I was making that trek from stove to fridge or fridge to sink a thousand times every day. Uggh. Also, don't worry about the door behind the fridge. That goes into my landlady's storage room. She has another apartment in the other half of her basement with a door into that same storage room and that is how she always accesses that room. I think that particular door behind the fridge has only been opened twice since I have lived here.

Well, a few weeks ago, I realized the thing that drives me crazy, crazy, crazy is when I cook, I have to haul everything in from the fridge in the storage room first and then I make a million trips back and forth the whole time I am cooking. While the regular-sized fridge was a step up from the little fridge, it was still inconvenient where it was located but I've been living with it, thinking that I just didn't have enough room to accommodate that fridge in my kitchen space. Plus, wouldn't it look really weird to have a fridge jutting out into the living room and sitting next to my yellow chair?

Well, all that changed several days ago when I realized it mattered more to me now to have a convenient, more effective use of space when I am cooking. I would move the yellow chair out if I had to do it. The kitchen arrangement was more important now. So, I did it--with some amazing help from my mom, the guru of all things homemaking. She is a whiz and made the project fast and easy--and clean. I want to grow up some day to be like her.

I am so thrilled with this change. It makes my life more pleasurable in a thousand tiny ways. I want to cook more and clean up faster. I am so happy with this decision.

House Inspiration

Just a few of my favorite images lately. All have gone in my Dream Home notebook in Evernote. If you haven't heard or used Evernote, check it out. Such a great online, organizing tool. I've used it for a year now and I'm not quite sure what I did without it. 

A photo of my future dining room. 

I love the huge windows, the transom windows, the moldings around the windows, the dark table and the light chairs and the view of the lake. I dream about sitting in a room like this on a Sunday morning enjoying breakfast and welcoming the day ahead. 

 A study that I love. 

Again, I swoon over the architectural details, the moldings, the built-in shelves and desk. I imagine this kind of space in my family home with kids racing up and down the stairs, the kitchen nearby, and me in my study keeping watch over everyone's doings. 

Can life really be this beautiful once in a while? 

A Little Rearranging

This has been the arrangement of my living room for at least the last year. The table across from the couch, the large yellow chair in the corner by the front door.

I had concluded with my limited space and with other failed rearrangements in the past that this was the best working arrangement for the room. The yellow chair is so big that it tends to swallow the space it is in and the table is petite enough that it fits comfortably on the short wall between the door to my storage room and the unused, locked door to my landlady's storage room (which she accesses from a door in the other part of her basement).

The table was adequate next to the wall especially if I was only feeding one or two or even three people. But when I invited people over for dinner (like our roommate Christmas party above) I had to pull the table out into the center of the room. Which worked fine once every few months although it made it awkward to get around the table and I had to make sure I was always seated closest to the kitchen so I could serve the food.

Then it really started to be a bother me this fall and winter when my weekly Sunday niece/nephew ritual with the littles grew to the number six. With six kiddies running and playing and building blocks and legos, floor space was at a premium. But if I was going to feed them lunch, we had to pull the table out from the wall which reduced the floor space. We tried to eat picnic style in the kitchen but the smallest of the littles have a hard time handling food in bowls and cups of water on the floor, so a table was necessary. So, we would haul the table out, reduce the floor space and squish our traffic patterns around the table. It wasn't practical. The table had to be more accessible for my sanity and our combined enjoyment.

And this is the result. I made the living room area more intimate and cozy by putting the yellow chair directly across from the couch and put the bookcase in the awkward space next to the unused door.

There is now room for the table to be out from the wall and put four chairs around it and when I need to feed six kids I pull out two folding chairs and everyone has room and the table doesn't impede traffic, so the kids can eat lunch comfortably and run around and play without either activity hindering the other.

I even put in the two leaves that I've never used for the table and stretched it out to its full length and what do you know? I can seat a party of eight now if I really, really want to! Anyone want to come for dinner?

That's when my rearranging felt inspired.

I'm still thinking I need that art intervention though. The bare walls could use some love.

Living Room Outdoors

Six months ago on a cold Tuesday, I woke up early, got ready and went and stood in line at 6:30AM and then spent an hour waiting to vote in the presidential election of 2008. While I'm grateful I could vote that is not the most memorable event of that day.

I had been watching the weather reports closely and I had a pretty strong inkling that we were going to get our first snowstorm of the season. I had one last task that needed to be completed before that happened--clean off my patio for the winter and store the outdoor furniture. 

The reason I waited so long to complete this task is that I love, love, love my little patio and I don't like to shut it down until I'm positive I can't use it because of the weather. It is so useful because it nearly doubles my living space. While I love my little place it isn't loaded with elbow room so this patio effectively doubles my square footage. 

Photo from last year. The couch and table have both been refurbished and there is a little more art on the walls but seriously I think I need an art intervention. The bare walls are begging for it.

During the spring, summer and fall evenings it is so pleasant to sit out there and visit or read or even just sit and listen to the crickets singing. When the n&ns come over on Sunday, they love to play and eat out there too. It effectively opens up the entire backyard to them for exploration as well which I love. 

So, here is the patio this morning before I unpacked the furniture and prepped it for all its summertime joy. 

And here is the patio after. Ready for visiting, sitting, chatting, and eating. I realize it doesn't look as wonderful in the photo as it looks to me in reality, but I bet you understand my excitement. Tomorrow the n&ns will play out here after church while we eat apples and green hot dogs (meaning lettuce-wrapped, I just called them green hot dogs the first time I served them and the name stuck). Tuesday night our little supper club will sit out here and chat while we sample yummy food and recipes. And one night I will sit out here and blog too! 

Yes, the patio is open for service. Welcome to my official start of summer.

What Santa So Generously Deposited under the Christmas Tree

Santa made an appearance early this year at my house. Around the first of December he showed up with a very big present. He said that he was making deliveries early this year and while I could enjoy my new present for the whole month of December, I had to keep my mouth shut about the gift until after Christmas. 

I know how to keep my lips zipped when necessary. 

You would too, if you liked your present as much as I like mine. And I really, really, really like what he gave me. 

This is a couch that I was generously given after my grandmother passed away. I feel lucky to have a piece and part of her life in my home. It is a gorgeous camelback sofa that sat in her living room for nearly twenty years and was the center of every conversation, visit, and excitement that transpired there. 

It has detailed wooden trim and ornately scrolled arms and curved legs. 

And at six feet long you can pack several people on it for a visit or stretch out and take a nap rather comfortably on a quiet afternoon. I slept on this couch for several days after I moved into my tiny apartment as I unpacked all the boxes stored in my bedroom and finished painting the place. 

Well, after twenty years of service the fabric on the couch was fraying on the cushions from years of love and use. In several places the fabric was getting worn to a nub. So, if I wanted this couch to have twenty more years serving as the centerpiece for every visit from friends and family, I would need to inject it with a TLC. And Santa knew that is just what I wanted. 

Here it is refurbished and updated and ready for service. 

The fabric is soft and textured and a muted green. 

The woodwork was stained a bit darker to a rich mahogany. 

And it sits beautifully in my living room ready for afternoon visits, sleepovers with the nieces and nephews and even a Sunday afternoon nap. 

Santa made one little girl very, very happy this year.