So long, Woodward.

Well, it's nearly impossible not to notice, but I've been AWOL from this blog for over a year now. Life got in the way and things got busy. I missed you, but I'm not sorry.

 

The biggest thing that's changed is we have listed the house, accepted an offer, and are moving out shortly. No joke, this gem had 2 showings and got 2 offers. Batting 1,000. Closing is just one week away, so time to pack my boxes and get out.

That's right, the old gal is moving on to her new owners next week and I hope she makes them as happy as she made us. We've loved living in Brightwalk, with it's great location, great neighbors, and our great little house.

PS, I feel like you all should know, I totally stole the pictures from our MLS listing and updated the house tour. You. Are. Welcome.

It's been a blast being a part of the gentrification of this area, what is now officially known as North End. Big things are coming to this area including the light rail, a brewery, a new pool, plus a grocery store, shops, and restaurants not too far in the future. I'm excited to see where this neighborhood goes and I guarantee I'll be stopping in to check it out.

Everyone has been asking - and honestly I don't know - "what is next for you?" I'm hoping to settle into a small house in the suburbs, maybe a cute little fixer. With any luck, it will be a place I curse late into the night, simply because it wasn't as perfect and easy as this home. When that happens, I'm sure I'll pick up my blog pen again.

Until then, thanks for reading.

Closet, Closet, Closet!!!

Our closet is finally in and installed. I guess technically it's been installed for a few months now, but I took too much time to organize it and then even more time to photograph it and then I needed to relax a bit. But she's here and she's beautiful!

This has quickly become one of my favorite spaces in our house and easily ranks near the top of Best Things We Spent Lots of Money On, right there with the window trim and the fenced backyard.

I love how functional everything is. I have labeled drawers for all my delicates and jeans, pull out shoe storage, boot storage, space for care items, like my steamer and Febreze, and too much overhead storage space. We even added a valet hook so there's a convenient place to steam or lay out tomorrow's outfit.

I also finally got around to boxing up the less used items into bins on that top shelf. They are still accessible but out of the way. I sorted into "Out of Season" (right now it's summer items), "Swim", and "Bags." I'm sure some women couldn't live with all their bags out of sight, out of mind, but since I seldom carry a bag other than my everyday purse, having the extras in a bin works perfectly. I hope to add another out of season bin, one for items that I want to keep but currently don't fit (think fat jeans and too tight sweaters, which would clear out half of the clothes you see).

Of course, I've already shared my accessories storage which I'm head over heels for:

Pat's side is also pretty neat. In addition to the same pull-out shelves and glass front drawers, he got a pull-out pants rack, which I love and he hates. Go figure.

Plus, there's one happy coincidence that worked out more perfect than I could have planned: the end of Pat's side backs up right to the closet entrance, which I worried make the whole closet feel cramped and blocked off. In the end, it provides the perfect spot for an unobstructed full length mirror, something we previously had to walk to the guest bath for. It might be a solution to a first world problem, but it's a solution, no less.

And with all this amazing awesomeness, something had to give. As always, Leo spends a lot of his time hiding in our closet and this set up has a perch for him to chill that allows him to rub up against all the clothes.

Everything has little ginger hairs all over. #FML

Uh. So worth it.

Accessories Storage and Laundry in the New Closet!

If you follow me on Instagram, this isn't even close to a surprise, but I'm so head over heels I gotta mention it: I lurrrve my new jewelry storage. It's all gold and sparkly and looks more beautiful on the wall then any of my pieces do on me.

Previously, my necklaces just hung on 3M hooks and all my earrings were stored in a jewelry box on our dresser that also houses our wedding rings...and my Princess Kate knock-off from back in 2011 when I was "Katie Middleton" for Halloween. #TBT

hahaha, never gets old.

Back to the issue at hand, both the earring holder and the necklace corkboard were really easy semi-DIY pieces. One afternoon, some craft paint, and a little bit of fabric gave me both of them.

The earring holder was actually a boring ring holder I picked up from The Container Store. I kept trying to come up with a better way to store earrings than the little foam semi-circles, but since I wear studs almost exclusively, I couldn't think of any better way to securely hold them on a wall.

Since this piece and everything similar are just solid colors that are too neutral, even for me, I decided to take a little bit of fabric and just tuck it in. It only took about one quarter of a fat quarter, so roughly 1/16 of a yard. Once everything was tucked nice and tight, I spritzed some spray adhesive heavily enough that it soaked through the fabric and made my tuck-job extra secure. Done!

The necklace organizer is just an old corkboard that I stenciled with gold paint and then some hook tacks (also from The Container Store). To take it up a notch, I modge-podged/stapled some black ribbon around the perimeter. Gives it a little extra texture I wouldn't have gotten from painting it.

To finish it off, I hung a belt rack diagonally and spray painted a basic wire hamper gold.

Considering this was the corner of the closet I previously used to hang seldomly worn coats and dresses (including the rest of Katie Middleton's get-up), this is a HUUUUGE upgrade in terms of both style and functionality.

We should be getting the last piece of the closet next week so there will be a lot to share in the very near future! Tootaloo for now.

Closet Update

Woot woot! The closet is here, it is in, and it is ready to be loaded up!

It took three long days, a few late nights, and 4 hands blistered from all the screwing, cam-locking, dowel-hammering fun! And, out of 43 pieces, we only broke one part (albeit a big one and we're still debating whose fault it was; we'll say it was Ikea's fault for the sake of our marriage.)

What you see is only my side. Pat has half a side, but the other half is the piece we broke. It'll take about 2 weeks before that piece's replacement arrives, so until then he has to live in three and a half very small-yet-well-organized feet.

Here's a quick look at the journey we took to get to this point:

This is definitely, positively, absitutely (who got the HIMYM reference?) not a reveal. There's still a lot to be done in here and many more pictures and updates to come.

Until then, friends...

In the Meantime...

Yes, yes, yes, all the excited and commotion around our house is about the arrival of our new closet next week. We have a lot to do to prep, mainly taking out the old set-up so we have a blank canvas for the next unit.

On the to-do list:

• Purge contents
• Pull down wire shelves
• Patch holes
• Paint
• Build units and install
• Fill 'er up again
• Add molding (eventually)
• New light fixture (eventually)

Buuuuuut... we still have to live and function around our current closet for 6 more days, so there's really no sense in starting those projects until just few days prior to our closet's delivery. While we wait, I shifted my attention downstairs where (instead of putting away Christmas decorations) I decided to move the dining room set into the breakfast area.

I've really, really been avoiding this as a possibility since we moved in. I'm a hardcore, ride-or-die formal dining room fan. You can't have Thanksgiving dinner in a breakfast nook. I guess since we're currently about 11.5 months away from our next formal dining room meal, I broke down and said, "it's now or never." Might as well be now.

It was a simple shift really, just Pat and I lifting a table with 4 minutes to spare before the Bagel Bites came outta the oven. But the change is ah-mazing. I don't know why we didn't do it sooner (I mean, I do, but I didn't wanna...). The whole area looks much more done, even though it's totally not.

Ba-da-da-da-da! I'm lovin' it!

The only downside I can find is this leaves our dining room empty. I'm swimming in ideas to get the office downstairs and re-purpose the other bedroom. I guess we'll file this one under To Be Continued...

Note: I took all these pics around sunset, to serve as a flawless example of bad lighting. That's why they all look really yellow and grainy. I'll redo them sometime soon, when I'm not in the middle of a Love It Or List It marathon.

Our Closet's Coming Out Party

Our closet has a dirty little secret that it's been trying to keep locked up inside. It can't keep this to itself anymore, it needs to come clean and everyone will be better for it.

Our closet is ugly, y'all.

Not like Cameron-Diaz-as-Ms.-Hannigan ugly (and, who are they kidding?!). We're talking, first-page-of-Google-search-results-for-the-word-ugly ugly.

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I bet Skinny Hitler snapped that selfie cause he felt cute that day.

Take a look for yourself:

Our closet is a good size, slightly above the American average for a walk-in closet. The down side is it just has wire shelving that runs the perimeter, with tons of wasted space above and below. "Ugh, we can't use our 7'x10' closet efficiently..." #firstworldproblems

For me, the worst part is that the part you hang the clothes on is divided every foot or so. You can't shift anything left or right at all! Something so small makes me so angry every single day. #morefirstworldproblems

I've been nagging Pato for a while now, but explaining how much closets cost has been a bit of an obstacle. Not just for Pat; I'm not even sure why I custom closet costs as much as a small kitchen reno. I wanted something that felt nice (not cheap), organized efficiently, and didn't require our firstborn child as a down payment.

I looked at The Container Store, Closet Maid, and any other out-of-box solution I could think of. I had purposefully been avoiding IKEA, because I did not want a closet full of Billy bookcases. Plus the thought of piecing all the components together then assembling it sounds like a nightmare.

But then I broke down and decided to give them a shot.

Much to my surprise, they had some really nice solutions. IKEA's Pax System (what all those beautiful wardrobes are) look more solid and custom than Container Store's Elfa system, but for literally less than half the price. Sure, the nice bits (glass shelves, pull out trays) are all at the higher end, but IKEA's higher end was surprisingly affordable.

What really sold me, was the Pax System Planner, which allows you to build the closet (or wardrobe) of your dreams while it keeps tabs of all the parts. Then, I can either take the itemized list (with self-serve locations for my store) and pick it all up in store, or just purchase it online. It was like playing the Sims and coming out with a closet design. SOLD!

(Also, sorry if this is sounding like an IKEA endorsement, it's not. I'm just really stinking excited.)

I toiled and labored and finally worked out all the kinks. I double and triple checked my measurements. I printed out a pamphlet for Pat so he could make an informed decision.

The next morning, before I even had the chance to discuss it with him, I found this:

It's on like Donkey Kong! Our new closet arrives January 12th!

Merry Christmas 2014

Just wanted to pop in for a minute to tell everyone MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

And because you've been good this year, I'm leaving a little gift in your stocking: our 2014 Christmas card!

May your day be merry and bright!

Have Yourself A Rainy Little Christmas

Well friends, tonight is the night. Christmas Eve. So much prep has gone into this moment.

Nope, still not the Christmas card...

This year, my family celebrated Christmas a day early because my brother, the valiant fire fighter, has to work on Christmas Day. (Someone has to be there when you drink too much wine, scorch your ham, and almost burn the house down.) That means I'm living in the aftermath, while everyone else is still waiting.

There's nothing like the mess you make on Christmas Day.

I figure since I have barely talked about The Most Wonderful Time of the Year this year, now is as good a time as any to show you around our festooned home.

Yes, we live here. This is what things look like after a night of five people eating and laughing into the wee hours. No time to clean up stockings or extra giftbags after that chill sesh.

One of my favorite Christmas decorations was the garland on top of the cabinets. Not too gimicky, but it fills the space and add some merriment to an otherwise normal area.

Looking at these messy, late-night, noisy photos, I'm reminded that life isn't about stopping everything to get the perfect picture. It doesn't matter if your IG isn't always beautiful because if you're present in the moment, your memories will be more magical than any picture could capture.

I hope everyone is loving the last bit of the Christmas season.

Tree Pickin'

December is a busy time for any retail worker, so it's no wonder I've been playing blog-hooky lately. With any luck, I'll show some Christmas decor before the big day next week.

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I've haven't been procrastinating in every way; our tree has been up since just after Thanksgiving. Continuing our little tradition, we packed up Boone and his scarf and took a day trip to...wait for it...Boone!

Choose and Cut is like the No.1 way to get in the Christmas spirit and is practically a religion in western North Carolina. We planned on taking Christmas card pics here, but the sun was really harsh and we ended up with a lot of weird shadows.

This is the best we got, and we're both pretty squinty, Pat looks bald, I look lopsided/chubby, and Boone looks startled. Look out next week for the (awesome) picture that made the Christmas-Card-cut.

And of course, we picked a tree farm with a Dood, since I'm trying to win the "what breed should the next puppy be?" debate. He latched on to Mr. Boone right away.

We also picked out what looked like the smallest tree on the lot. Then we got home where we discovered it is friggin' enormous. We even had to rearrange our living room furniture.

Any-(Cindy-Lou)-hoo, that's a recap of our weekend, three weekends too late. Hope everyone else is getting in the Christmas spirit. Save me a cookie.

Foyer Art Project

Ahhh. I bet you thought I forgot. That's assuming you even remember.

I mentioned over a year ago that I was putting together a small gallery of our house's construction. Since it was basically all I thought about in 2013, it only seems right to commemorate not just the end result, but the process. The three shot set features a pic from just after our foundation was poured, a pic from when it was framed, and a look at the final thing.

It hangs in our foyer (hence the name...) kinda behind our coat rack. Construction pics are not Glamor Shots by any measure, so I wanted it somewhere that I would regularly see, but wouldn't be a huge focal point.

To me, it's such a cute little memento of a really big part of our lives. It's something that feels distinctly ours, not bought at HomeGoods or made off someone else's brilliant Pinterest idea.

Plus, I always love a good Boone photobomb.

A Less-Than-Planned Update

We have a coffee bar! Kind of...

I don't want to call the progress in our pantry "unplanned" because I've been sorting this all out for the year that we've lived here. The most accurate way to describe it is "not what I thought we'd be tackling next."

It all started because I actually had a weekend off with no commitments(!). Pat and I decided on Friday night that we were going to be super productive this weekend. We wanted to do some heavy-duty cleaning, winterize the house, and knock a project off our never ending to-do list.

I'm deadset on replacing every inch of wire shelving in our home and was fully prepared to start in the laundry room sooner rather than later. When I mentioned my plans to the hubs (cabinets, solid shelves, and hanging space), he said it was unnecessary, expensive, and we don't have the know-how (two of those are true...). Being as I was feeling particularly motivated and I wanted to get something done, I blurted "what about the pantry?"

Once again, "unneccessary, expensive, no know-how."

"Can we at least do the coffee bar?"

"We can look."

Now I hate wire shelving everywhere, but the section holding our Keurig is especially frustrating. Every time I close the Keurig or refill the water, the whole thing shakes violently. And when I'm adding my sugar, I have to perfectly balance my mug on three wires so it doesn't fall to the side. I have it down to an irritating science.

Looking back, I'm not sure why I wanted to start with the laundry room.

Initially, I had little luck finding the perfect piece of furniture (I had decided long ago to use furniture over installed cabinets for both aesthetic and financial reasons). Very few things were tall enough, not too wide, and not ridonkulously priced. The few things I did come across were clearly geared at wine, and I couldn't think of an alternative use for the slots clearly intended for bottles and stemmed glasses.

Then, by sheer luck, I stumbled across an the webpage for an "island" from Target's Threshold line.

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At first look, I wasn't sure it would fit our space or our needs. But if we left that back leaf folded down and took off the towel bar on the left side... yes I think that'll do.

So we took off to our local Target to do some grocery shopping with a side of furniture hunting...and she came home with us!

As I got to work assembling this behemoth, Pat got to ripping out the shelves in that section of our pantry.  He was so fast, I couldn't even snap a before shot, but here's a halfway peak:

It's amazing: as many anchors as those shelves have, they're still remarkable weak, bowing under the slightest movement.

Then, she was in!

This is a really tight corner to photograph so please withhold judgement.

I can't believe how much I love this space already. The first cup of cider I made, I literally squealed with glee. It immediately feels more custom and spacious. Distinctly non-apartment.

Obviously, we still need to paint, especially after I patched what felt like 400 anchor holes. Since I wasn't quite planning on this addition this weekend, I really have no clue what color to paint in here, other than something light. And that top shelf still needs to go but Pat's help ended as The Walking Dead began.

I also want to add some shelves/hooks for our mugs so they're conveniently located where they're always used. In the end, we ended up not installing the leaf on the island, so we have a slab of leftover butcher block. If we can finagle it, we might have some matching butcher block shelves soon.

While I never look forward to waking up, this upgrade might make my morning routine a little more bearable.