Friday, January 31, 2014

Boone with a View (and a Bone)

So we're not done painting, not even done assembling our Ikea spoils, but I really wanted to share our progress with you.


Yeah, I'm as tired of the iPhone pics as you are, but my birthday is just around the corner (hint, hint Pato).

As you can see from the unpainted area, pile of junk, and empty shelves, I still have a lot of work to do. I'll be sure to share full deats when it's all pulled back together in time for this weekend's Super Bowl XLVIII party. I just threw that in there because I love roman numerals.

But there's something that's stalling me.

Both Oxygen and E! are doing Sex and the City Marathons....let me remind you:


Yeah, I own the entire series.

Anyway, how has no one noticed that Charlotte York was Kate Middleton before Kate Middleton was Kate Middleton. Okay, maybe not, but definitely before she was Duchess Catherine.


Seriously.

 
Like really, for serious.

 
How did the rest of the world miss this?

Sunday, January 26, 2014

So this happened...


Yep, we pulled the trigger on a new entertainment center (we have the towers and bridge, too). Seems like as soon as we get comfortable enough to live with something for a while, we decide it's about time to reinvent. So, less than a month after we settled into an imperfectly perfect entertainment center, we ventured into the scary world of Ikea to find a new home for our new TV.

And here she is...the same color as our walls. It's all very beige.

As soon as I saw how close the colors were, I resigned myself to repainting the living room. Even so, it's been painful to wait until I can buy a couple gallons of paint. I even tried to make it to Lowe's tonight, but they closed early since it's a Sunday, so I'm writing a blog post instead.

One more day, friends. One more day.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Is Rustic-Classy-Warm-Eclectic a Style?

I guess it's confession time: I'm having a home-decorating-style identity crisis. I've always thought I loved really warm feeling with lots of neutrals. Cozy, comfy, and unpretentious. The decor equivalent to a Golden Retriever. So far, this is what I've been going for.

 source 
I'm clearly not there yet. Turns out it's really hard to make neutral areas feel not-boring.

Luckily I have two other "preferred' styles I can try and incorporate. Both could be layered on top of the current progress in our home. Not-so-luckily, they don't mesh well together. At all. Those two styles are: kinda rustic arts and crafts (probably from growing up in the mountains) and slightly vintage, unique details, and colors on a neutral background (very Anthropologie meets Lauren Conrad). I feel like I need to pick one to run through the whole house or risk looking like a misguided yuppie city-girl gone camping. And we all know how well that always turns out.

Come to think of it, the two Lindsay Lohans from Parent Trap kind of personify the two different styles I love.

Rustic (Cali LiLo):

So cozy and warm, like living in a vacation home.  I love that this style adapts well to all seasons and seems relatively timeless. Our house is far from a cabin, so finding the right degree of rustic influence would be key. I don't want anything to feel out of place; the people who picked the traditional exterior right outside of the city are the same people who live inside it, so the experience needs to be seamless from inside to out.

Anthropologie (London LiLo):

Classy, elegant, and some whimsy. I know it wouldn't feel like me if I went full blown, but I love incorporating a bit of it. I hate saying this style is described by a store. Don't get me wrong, I love Anthropologie, but it seems very cookie-cutter to say I admire it as a trend. Seems like every twenty-something girl is on-board this bandwagon right now. I could describe this style 1,000 other ways, and you'd be kind of like "what is she talking about?" But as soon as I say Anthropologie, I know we're all on the same page.

I'm taking my time and thinking this over. I keep trying to tell myself I don't need to pick a "style" and I should let our home evolve naturally. Likely our home will end up with elements of both, but with two very different inspirations I need to set some ground rules so it doesn't end up a hot mess like post-Parent Trap Lindsay Lohan. Here's hoping.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

How Peyton Bought Us a New TV

How do I put this nicely...Pat loves Peyton Manning as much as I love Boone [read: more than we love each other during football season]. So with the Colts Broncos going to the Super Bowl, Pat has decided we're going to have a Super Bowl Party. And 46" just wasn't enough.


I just now noticed how off-center the rug is. Ugh.

Enter Best Buy and a sale that was too good to pass up.


That's a big TV.


And of course, we made a mess between Point A and Point B. Note: as much as I love our jute rug, it still leaves a think layer or dirt/dust on the floor underneath.


As soon as we get some new furniture, this configuration will move to the man loft to hold our old the TV that was on here until yesterday. The challenge is going to be finding something that can hold a 60 inches of football fun.

Thanks for the TV, Peyton!

Also, sorry for the poor quality pictures for the next couple weeks/months. My not-so-great camera just bit the dust, and my iPhone is even less-great. But we work with what we have.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

RIP Alphabet Mug

It's a sad day around here.


My K mug has passed. She had a cracked handle when I received her last Christmas, but a replacement could not be found and I loved her none-the-less; her handle had disconnected twice previously, but she was able to recover following super-glue surgeries. This time, she was not so lucky as her handle cracked into multiple pieces and is irreparable.



She was one. K mug is survived by her soulmate, the P mug, who has long known her days were numbered.

...

Wow, weird day when I write an obit for a mug. I mainly don't want to throw away a beautiful once-mug, so I'm hoping one of your brilliant/crafty minds can help me give her a second life. Any ideas for ways to smooth out that broken handle or use the "K"?

Meanwhile on the Woodward Pup, Boone is quoting movies he can't legally watch for another 15 years.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Hooks to Hang Blankets

Seems like everyone has been talking about how chilly they are, instagramming pics of a thermometer, and complaining about the polar vortex. This isn't a new topic around our house, because I get cold really easily. The hubs is comfortable with the thermostat about 4 degrees cooler than me, so rather than constantly fighting over the temperature, we just have lots of blankets scattered around our living room.

That's a fair solution, except that I'm kinda lazy when it comes to folding said blankets, so most of the time our living room looked like this:


I think the bag of cough drops and box of tissues really add to the mood.

In thinking about ways to tidy up the everyday state of our living room without being guilt-tripped when I unfold a blanket my husband just folded, I thought, what about hooks? I do have several empty corners that could be the perfect alcove for blanket storage.


I know, I know, hooks are usually relagated to bathrooms, mudrooms, and other utilitarian spaces.

But why not a living room? After all, hanging and unhanging blankets for frequent use is, in essence, no different than having a coat rack by your front door for quick trips outside.

Eventually, I would love to have a big, beautiful hook like in the drop station above, but I also didn't want to break the bank. The interim solution is this small but solid hook from Target, $10 for 2.

All it took was three hooks, a level, and a drill and I've transformed the dead corner into blanket central! Plus, since they're in sets of two, I have one hook leftover to use somewhere else (maybe Boone's new room to hang his leash).


Ta-da!


Finally, a organization program I can stick to! Plus, it looks so cozy and says to guests, "help yourself."

And I know y'all are dying to see how this looks with our "new" "entertainment center" (yes they're both questionable labels), so here you go:



Is anyone else using hooks in uncommon places? I'm 100% onboard with the hook trend and would love to incorporated more in unexpected ways.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

It's an Entertaining Entertainment Center!

As I mentioned in the last post, we rearranged (just a little) after throwing out our Christmas tree. As it was, we just had the TV stand and one bookcase, leaving the wall feeling very empty.  I had also failed to commit to any wall decor, trying to figure out how to accent - but not compete with - our TV.

See that blank wall, behind the barstools?


That's really the best pic I have of that wall. Of well, wasn't worth photographing anyway.

I kept putting it off because I had visions of the Pottery Barn Fairy coming and sprinkling some magic entertainment-center-dust. After about 3 months of plenty of non-magical dust but none of the good stuff, I realized we might be a ways away from buying a new piece of large wood furniture.

On the to-buy list, it falls just behind: fence, master bedroom furniture, office furniture, sitting area, laundry room overhaul, pantry redo, and maybe the master closet.

 And here it is now:


Yes, that's a Property Brother. In my house :)



I re-imagined the furniture layout to give us an focal wall featuring two bookcases, a TV stand, and a floating shelf. I was very averse to combining these pieces because they are all slightly different tones of wood. So if you're picky, you're not invited over...it bothers me too.

I have the most unscholarly, undecorated bookcases in all of Blogland. The one on the left is full of DVDs; very little room for knick-knacks and what-not. The right bookcase is for books, and it's nearly empty. The only shelf that's close to full is the Harry Potter/Hunger Games/Twilight shelf... I'm also storing our board games here for now. I have an adorable plan for those, but it does involve a minor furniture purchase. The kind you can sneak up the to-do list if there's a sale.

 I know there's a pretty way to house all these not-so-pretty items, I'm just not there yet. For now, I'm calling the prettier layout pretty enough.


Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Goodbye, Christmas Tree. Hello Pine Needle Free Home.

I promise, promise, promise I'm not the type of girl to take down her Christmas tree on January 1st. Because I love Christmas. And taking down the tree is basically acknowledging that Christmas is done and over with and it's another year until the next one.

But this year, I did it. Our tree was gone less than 18 hours into the New Year.

And, strangely, it feels good.

Yes, I know I'm more than a little late sharing this tale.

The reason our tree didn't make it far into 2014 is because three strings of lights burned out and I forgot to water it for like, I dunno, eight days. It was dunzo.


I did use a Christmas tree bag for easier removal this year. While it didn't make the removal much easier or cleaner, it kept inflating under our ceiling fan and that made me smile.


What surprises me is how refreshing it is to be sans tree. As much as I love Christmas, no one can tell me the house doesn't immediately feel cleaner once the tree has hit the curb.

And it doesn't hurt that we moved around some furniture to make our living room feel more, for lack of a better word, permanent. I finally wised up and realized that the new entertainment center I've been dreaming of is at least a few months away. I've been trying to pull together the contents of our new set-up, but pictures will be coming soon.

Promise.

Friday, January 3, 2014

the Woodward Pup

What the hell guys?! Boone starts a blog and gets more pageviews on his first day than I did for my entire first month of blogging.

 I know he's really cute...


....but cute only gets you so far.

If you haven't seen what Boone is up to, click the Woodward Pup at the top of my page (because I'm a good mom) and check it out.

A Very Berry Blue Bedroom

There's not much to say about our bedroom and I really don't feel like writing a crazy long intro so that I can eventually say nothing, so I'm just going to lay it all out there: our master is now navy blue!

And here it is:



This room currently leaves a lot to be desired but it is going to be our next big undertaking. The wall color is just the beginning. Overall, everything else is going to be light, bright, and airy. I'm putting together my mood board and Pinteresting up a storm to prepare to this project.

Be on the look out because this wheel's a-turnin'.