Embracing Fall

I woke up one morning and decided to embrace fall before the rain comes. Right now the sun is shinning, the air has just a hint of crispness to it and they are selling pumpkin ice cream at Prince Pucklers.

Life is Good.

So you want to see the house?

Bought a new batter charger Huzzah!

These pictures were taken during our final walk through. Don't ask me why I didn't a picture of the master bedroom, closet, retreat, playroom or office.

I think I was exhausted and brain dead from packing.

As you can see.

Let me re-phrase, Here are SOME pictures of the house sans furniture and things.

Enjoy.

Hello House

Living Room

Dining Room

34

Kitchen

(Carla our Realtor she was Fantastic!)

View from dining room so you can see how they all fit together

(Ben and Mike the contractor Looking over paperwork)

Mike was also Fantastic

Back Yard

Back Side Yard

(The tree in the background is the one you can see in the foreground in the picture above)

The Upstairs

(there is a beautiful window going up the stairs It's just hard to photograph)

Enjoy the picture of the playroom (the yellow room) because it is the only one.

Upstairs Bath

Upstairs Landing

Hall Bath

(It's not this yellow in person)

Guest Room

Laundry Room

Girls Room

Master Bedroom

Not pictured

Master Bath

The Tub

Master Bath

Shower

Master Bath

Counters

The End.

Almost there

Yesterday was our final walk-through.

If everyone does what they are supposed to do as quickly as possible we will be able to move in on Friday.

If not...

Lets just say there is a hotel down the road.

But everyone think happy thoughts for Friday.

You have no idea how many times I have very seriously considered, sneaking over and taking a bath in the middle of the night.

Master Suite Ideaboard

So I know I said I wasn't even going to think about my room until I had the girls rooms figured out, but I couldn't help it.

So instead of spending the day packing...

I made this!

I am going for an updated New York Hotel vibe.

What do you think?

And what type of curtains would you pick?

Patio Furniture* new one added

Today we found six patio chairs and a table for $100 bucks at a garage sale today.

I am going to spray paint them black and then make some cushions and pillows.

What color combinations of outdoor fabric do you like the most?

I think this one is the most us.

1a

1

2

3

4

5

POW 15

This is from the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas.

I took a few pictures of it with my Nikon.

I have plans for them in the new house.

It was just so beautiful.

POW 1

Cleaning up Christmas...

Putting things away till next year...

It's therapeutic...

.

.

.

I like that.

I do it by myself, kids sleeping, Ben working on research.

Just me and the tree, saying goodbye until next year.

.

I like looking at each ornament as I put it back away.

Ones from my childhood,

Ones I stole from my Mom when I was first married,

New ones that Jocelyn and I made this year in preschool.

Silly ones that the Professor and I bought on fun trips.

Flowers, crystals, thrift store Christmas lights.

.

I look forward to next year and the years to come,

Adding more ornaments, more colors, more stories and memories.

Judy, we need some ornaments from Ben's childhood too.

You see, I plan on having multiple trees.

A grove in the living room,

Full of lights and different styles.

I like them all.

.

Until next year little friends.

Picking Colors Outside the Box

This is our most recent picture of the house. I believe they are pouring foundation today.

I woke up today excited. Like really excited.

We are building a house. A beautiful house. I hope.

I am sort of stuck.

Its the Lights.

You see the problem is when we first met with the good people of Quail Homes we fell in love with the floor plan. The style of the architecture, the view and location. We loved how many bedrooms there were and that the laundry room was upstairs. However, when they showed us the materials we had to choose from, my heart sort of sank. They are making beautiful, rustic, boring houses. Not the materials I would pick for my home. Materials I wouldn't mind living in if the house was already built, materials I would save up to change in seven years. But when I have the opportunity to pick what I want... We decided to start looking outside the box.

Which is scary.

We have picked an entirely different color pallet, different kitchen materials, an entirely different bathtub. The house has sort of a cool, beach cottage feel. Which means we are making a custom home with out a designer. I think this will all work out but, I am nervous.

~The Downstairs~

The walls downstairs are this color. With a white chair rail and white picture frame molding around the whole bottom of the main level.


Sort of like this.
image

The floors downstairs.

The Kitchen, White cabinets, Black granite countertops.

And check out the back splash.

Anyway, our last big thing is the lights.

We have been given two options.

Nickel and bronze.

Nickel is the standard.

Bronze is an upgrade.

Exactly.

Click here to view Bronze.

Click here to view Nickel.

I think the bronze would be fantastic downstairs, but I am weary of upstairs. The girls room with bronze lighting? I am also unsure about the bronze clashing with the black countertops, Its on the fireplace too.

I would love your input.

There is a third option.

We go with the Nickel in the house and then get these guys from PotteryBarn.

Above the island.
For the dinning room table. We always loved this one.
But then I saw this one today... but is $100 dollars more. :(

Or we do Bronzed downstairs and Nickel upstairs?

Is that weird?

Does the hardware need to match the lights?

What about the door pulls in the kitchen? (we went with nickel.)

~The Upstairs~

Colors upstairs.

Master bed room accent color and retreat.

The rest of the room is the same color as the downstairs.

Master Bath

Master Shower and counter top.

Master Bath floors.

and the Tub...

I am in love with this tub!

The Hall, Bedroom and Playroom colors can be found here.

Type in the codes and check it out.

(If you are still reading this)

Hall: Zircon Ice 0664

Bedrooms 2 and 4: Dillards Blue 0685

(for children girls and future children)

(I'm not pregnant... but someday :)

Playroom, upstairs bath and laundry: Pure Laugher-0846

So what do you think?

Nickel or Bronze?

Or Both?

happy friday

It's been a little while since I posted about

Happy Fridays

We had a little play date today with our new friend Gracie.

We made some fun fall masks out of the beautiful foliage falling to the ground.

And then covered it in glitter... because everything is better with glitter.

Have a Happy Weekend!

halloween decorations

Since our home here is temporary we decided to forgo decorating the apartment with our regular home decor. No books, the art or mirrors. Just walls, lots of walls.

Then it was October and I got antsy.

I wanted to do something fun, easy and not too scary.

And we all know I love scrap paper for everything except scrap-booking.

So I made these.

They fly all around the house. The girls love them.

I felt like I needed a little more so I went bigger in the dining room.

total cost = free

The letters are just printed out and glued to thicker paper to keep from curling. Next time I will get some card stock. They are not attached so I can make the little buntings say anything. I liked the look of the old-school typewriter font. I found it for free here.

Trick or Treat!

the chair before and after

If you ever came to my house in Maryland you know you remember my dinning room chairs.

They were a stupid purchase.

Ikea, you kinda failed me on this one.

I always new I was going to recover them I just didn't think it was going to take so long.

BUT!

Now they are finished and I am ready to start having dinner parties here in Oregon. There was no way I was going to let strangers into my house with chairs like this. (Marylanders you don't count because by the time they looked this bad you were already family)

BEFORE

I believe at one point we needed to bribe Wyatt to sit in the chair.

Watercolor, spaghetti, chocolate milk. You name it and it's on there.

AFTER

The best part is that they are laminated cotton, and can easily be wiped up after every meal. And have been multiple times. Plus I love the pattern. I bought the fabric here. All I did was cut the fabric three inches bigger around the edges and stapled to the back of the seat.

Now, who wants to come over for dinner?