on being married . . .

Me: One week from today!
Chris: What?

Me: Our ONE YEAR anniversary. One week from today.
Chris: Oh. I was thinking it's the day we move into the garage.

Me: Where are your priorities?
Chris: Clearly practical things.

Um yeah. What do you even say to that!?
Garage update coming soon.

fall decor

It's officially fall! I've touched on fall's decorating trends that are making me swoon. But what about fall decor? Specifically, halloween.

Martha has an ENTIRE section dedicated fall decor: *Halloween Central*.

I think this is a slippery slope. Halloween decor can quickly go from classic fall to oh-no-cheesy.


Festive fall.


Lovely. And, simple.


Creative.


Great seasonal update for a planter box.

]
Um, no. No, no and no.

So, spill the beans. Halloween decor: yes, or scary, no!

oh, romeo

romeo & juliet . . . . . . duvet cover + shower curtain. For Becky. *via Apartment Therapy*

kitchen love

Really? What's NOT to love about this kitchen?



Swoon.

*photos via Home Sweet Home*

antique fair finds

As I mentioned yesterday, Chris and I hit a fabulous antique fair this weekend. There was so.much.great.stuff. Tons of inspiration, but ultimately, we were on a mission.

I have never lived in a house with so little storage. I know, I know. People in 1928 didn't have as much stuff as we have. But, c'mon.

The sad state of my storage: one small closet in each bedroom. One built-in in the hallway. One hall closet. A very small amount of kitchen cupboards. That's it. No storage in the bathroom. No linen closet. No coat closet. No pantry.

So, the hall closet *with.no.shelves* becomes storage for mops, vacuum, small kitchen appliances, etc. The built-in becomes the pantry. And the medicine cabinet. And the linen closet. Our bedroom is too small to hold my dresser, so that is relegated to the living room. Panties and all.

So this weekend was all about storage. And, on a budget. A super tight budget. Remember, we're currently under major construction.

And, this my friends, is the answer to the majority of my storage problems:

Cute, right? The best part is that the dresser is IN.MY.CLOSET. All my clothes were moved out of the living room *hurrah!* Don't you love creative use of space?

This means the dresser in the living room is now home to all my linens. Which mean the pantry is holding only my food. Because:

This awesome piece of furniture is holding all the medicine/toiletries with room to boot.

** And, what did I tell you: large furniture whore. This is just the beginning my friends. **

Besides these two lovely and great storage solutions we picked up a few other useful pieces.
Rolling cart for the garage. I think Chris was feeling left out by my furniture finds.


And, our dream light for outside the garage. We've been searching for one of these for months, and the price on this one was just too good to pass up.


Overall I'd have to say, a very productive Sunday.

scenes from the weekend: antique fair

I look forward to the Sunday after Labor Day all year. Why, you might wonder? That Sunday marks the annual Coburg Antique Fair.


On the corner of historic depot st. and awesome lives hundreds of antique dealers and thousands of antique goodies for one.day.only. Chris introduced me to the event and we've gone every year since. Three. But, each year I've come home with fabulous pieces of furniture at even more fabulous prices. I mean, come on, Coburg solved the great kitchen table debate.

This year was no different. There were some completely amazing finds and inspiration galore.


Great shabby-chic bench. Love the pails -- especially the painted stripes.


Love the white table with a #2 added.


Um, didn't I just post about how much I LOVE these. The dealer must have consulted Restoration Hardware though. The prices were way beyond our budget. Sigh. Looks like I'll be planning a covert trip to London to nab one.


I have a confession. I happen to be a large furniture whore. Maybe it's because I've never had either the money or the space, but I lust to fill large rooms with large furniture. Someday.


Pails. For my future farmhouse.


Chris *bargaining*. This is how we roll. I pick out the great items to purchase. Chris gets us a lower price. It works well. Although, I'm pretty sure I didn't pick out the tools he's discussing in this picture. Hmm.


I wonder which he chose.


Beautiful canoe.

And we did, once again, come home with some amazing treasures. You'll have to come back tomorrow, though, to see our finds and hear how they solve a couple unique storage problems.

inspired

Tonight I'm sleeping in a hotel in a small town in eastern Oregon. Far, far away from my lovely bed and bedroom.

I wish that I were sleeping in this bed.


Sweet dreams, indeed.

*photos via Apartment Therapy*

inspired: fall

Happy beginning of fall!** I can already feel it coming. The warm days. The crisp, cool evenings. The leaves just beginning to change color. I. Love. Fall.

**Note to summer: I love you in June with your glorious warm days and endless rays of sun. But when you reach 102 degrees and torture those of us without air conditioning for days on end, my love wanes. Quickly.**

I also love fall shopping. *Back to school shopping.* No, I'm not in school. Yes, it's been a few years. But, it's a habit I can't break. Especially when sweaters like this begin appearing:

Yes I bought it. And yes, I'm anxiously awaiting a cool enough day to wear it.

And, I'm loving fall decor this year too. Especially Restoration Hardware. I haven't seen much interesting from them in a couple years, but a casual flip through their new catalog the other day turned into studiously marking page after page of swoon-worthy rooms and items.

These chairs. Oh.My.Goodness. Every time I see them I can't help but think *Alice in Wonderland,* but still I can't get enough. They look like the perfect spot to curl up with a book.


I've been seeing old subway posters floating around for a few months and I really like them. What a great large piece of art.


No explanation needed. I'll just import the entire room into my house and be happy, thank you.


Love the desk and chair.


This kitchen is perfection. The stools and island are amazing. Do you think the fire/fireplace is included if you order the set?

update: entry

As I've explained before, *my* summer project was adding entryway charm.

You can tell from the pics that the screen door is open.

That's because I couldn't decide if I wanted to take that plunge. Chris was nervous, and it was influencing me. But when the screen door was shut -- always -- the red door didn't pop. And um, that's the point of the red door.

So a couple weeks ago I threw caution to the wind (oh yes, we're just that exciting around here) and I painted the screen too. Way more pop-py! And, exactly what we were going for to begin with.


Great, right? *Hello. Welcome to our cute home.*

in the closet

Last weekend Chris removed a shelf from my closet. It had bit me in the head one too many times. And, he moved it to his closet.

This morning I opened his closet to grab his laundry and discovered . . .

. . . that his closet now resembles a GAP ad.

Um, hmm. I think I'm just jealous that his closet now looks better than mine.

you can call him Al

Are tomatoes supposed to grow noses? Because look at this guy. He has a nose. Quite a long nose, actually. We think he looks a bit snobbish. But even still, we can't eat him. I mean come on. Could you eat a face that looked like this? So he's sitting contentedly on our window sill. Watching us. Because that's how he rolls.