{renovate} a house history

Part of the fun of renovating a house is learning it's history. Each layer you peel back reveals a different era, and it's fun - and sometimes incredibly funny (!) - to discover previous owner's decorating choices.

I mentioned on Monday that Chris' best friend, and his wife, came over to help us with the back entry. Erika and I were planning on helping the boys, but it turns out the space is WAY too small for all four of us. We were ready to get our hands dirty and had no project! So Erika suggested we pull up my hallway carpet. Girl is crazy ambitious. 

Background: See, when Chris moved in, he pulled carpet out of the living room and front bedroom. But nasty, stained, baby blue carpet remains in the hallway and the back bedroom. He thought there was tile under the carpet, and then for sure hardwoods under the tile.

Turns out, it wasn't tile under the carpet. It was some sort of vintage linoleum/plastic material ... with fun shapes in-layed!

First up, crescent moon and star. And further down the hallway ....

A compass. You know, just in case we get lost walking out of our bedroom in the morning. Friends, it was hilarious, and completely weird and creepy at the same time.

Do you think it leads to a buried treasure in our house?! :)  We're thinking this was 60's/early 70's style. All I know is I can't wait to see what's under the carpet in the back bedroom! 

Hope you all have a super weekend!

boston: barking crab

One of the highlights of our Boston trip? Dinner at the Barking Crab.

A friend introduced me to this restaurant when I lived there (okay ... it was a first date. blushing.) and it is completely amazing. And first date worthy :). I have taken all my friends and family that visited me back east and it's one of the first places I recommend. You know, to people who like seafood. :) So of course it was on the agenda for this trip.

I love the atmosphere here almost as much as the food. The restaurant is in a big tent on the river. There are tons of sparkly lights and picnic tables. It's such a laid-back vibe.

And of course, accompanying your meal is this amazing view of the city!

I'm not going to lie. Chris was a little hesitant at first. 

I think it was because this ROCK was our utensil for the evening :).

But we found a lovely bottle of wine to split. At every restaurant we visited, we ended up ordering northwest wines. This one claims Washington, but is bottled in Oregon. We're Oregon elitists ;).

Once we had wine and his meal, he was all smiles. Chris tried King Crab and I had my default Dungeoness. Yum!

Um yeah. Me too :)

I love having amazing nights like this to remember with this wonderful guy. It was our last night our east and it was the PERFECT end to this fun trip.

Texas (!), part 2

I have a story to tell you all. I coordinated a week-long conference. And then, my brain turned to mush. For about two weeks. The end.

So, when we last chatted, I was telling you about my fantastic trip to Texas!

You see, while the botanical gardens and downtown Fort Worth were fantastic, the real reason behind our jaunt to Texas was so that I could be in one of my dear friends weddings! I love seeing my friends happy and being in there weddings is truly an honor. 

Plus, I love getting all glammed up! It doesn't happen near enough in my *real life*.

Special occasion hair = wow. It's not like I haven't been through it before. But I forget. My hair is still recovering nearly a month later. I get my hairs cut today. FINALLY.

The wedding was completely ah-maaaz-ing. And the bride was so beautiful!

And the flowers, quite possibly my favorite decoration ever? Completely gorgeous, of course.

I love the pops of black in these anemones. So unique and really complementary to our black dresses.

The room glowed, friends. With the windows, mirrors, chandeliers and candles the reception was stunning and completely elegant.

I love a good wedding theme.  Both bride and groom are big readers, so this wedding's theme was *A love story* and the bride wove the theme seamlessly from the initial announcement through the big day. So it was only fitting that on half the table vintage *love stories* were used as centerpieces. No two books in the room were the same. Perfection.

And of course I have to show you the cakes. 

Yum! One was beautiful ...

... and the other so clever!

It was such a great ending to a super fun trip. 

Texas (!), part 1

Happy friday friends! I wanted to share with you one of the fun things we've done lately. Because despite working a million hours each week (I'm only slightly exaggerating), we've been having so much fun too.

We went to Texas! And it was green!

Really green. In fact Chris looked out the window when we were flying in and said *wow, it's really green*, and I didn't for a second believe him.

 In my defense, last time I was in Texas it was brown. It was a very different time of year.

Relaxed and enjoying the WARM sun.

We went to the Fort Worth botanical gardens. They were beautiful!

I'd be worried too if giants were tapping on my home!

You guys, not only do I know what Biosphere 2 is, I've been there! Weird.

We stayed in downtown Fort Worth. Have you all been there? I was a little surprised, I'll admit. It's super charming!

Across the street from our hotel.

And we ate lots of really awesome food.

All this was fun, but it was not the reason we visited Texas. Monday I'll give you the why of it all!

the story of the green monster

Last week, a terrible event occurred in my kitchen. I made myself a green smoothie to fuel cleaning out our junk drawer {which is liberating, btw}. Half way through cleaning, the smoothie jumped off the counter and spilled all over our rug. Okay, my elbow might have helped. My black and white rug, which I adore, was coated in green. Into the washer it went with lots of oxyclean. It faded, but it didn't come clean. My rug looks like it went rolled in the grass. Sigh.

On a side note, green + white cabinets = super mess. Needless to say, my junk drawer was NOT the other thing that received a thorough cleaning that afternoon.

The thing about this rug is that it's from IKEA. So it was fun and affordable, which is perfect for a rug that takes the chance of collecting projectile green smoothie. The sad part of this story? While the IKEA website still lists the rug, it hasn't been in stock in months and months.

So now I'm on the hunt for a new rug. I really love the graphic nature of this rug. It really draws the eye away from how hideousness of our linoleum. 

My initial thought is that I'd love to try a Flor rug. I've been eyeing Flor ever since I came across this rug. *Love!* Plus, in a kitchen what could be better? The next time there's a smoothie incident I'd just replace a tile! I designed this one on their handy configurator: 

I love that it' more muted. Specifically, it's pewter/oyster.

What do you guys think? Any experience with Flor? Especially Flor in the kitchen? I don't want a fluffy living room type rug under my sink and I've never seen a Flor in person!

a starry night indeed

Okay, don't laugh. Today, I'm featuring a prom mood board. That's right. Prom. See, my brother is a teacher and class adviser. His class is now in their junior year, which means: prom. hosts. So my bro asked me to come up with some ideas for decorations. He has a decorating committee, but I think he's a little worried about their attention to detail, and he is, admittedly, completely clueless. 

This was way more fun than I thought it would be. I don't even want to know what that says about me ;). Their chosen theme is Starry Night. Doesn't that just scream prom?! Hilarious! And, their colors are black, white and silver.

This is the room:

I've been to a wedding in this room and it is GINORMOUS. Beautiful, but huge. You can probably tell by looking at it, but it sort of *eats* any decorations. So my goal in looking for decorations were to 1. make this super affordable (this is a public school, after all) 2. make it tasteful, just because this is prom doesn't mean it has to be cheesy, 3. make an impact, and 4. close the space off a little and make it appear more intimate. Because that's what high schoolers need at prom, right?  Intimacy. Oh, I don't even want to think about it. Let's just say, for the teachers sake, make it appear more cozy.

And here is what I imagine a *starry night* to be:

1. The tables will be covered in black, which is perfect backdrop for setting everything off. Silver fabric as runners would make a great impact.

2. The ceiling needs to be brought down a bunch, visually. White hanging lanterns are perfect for this. I especially love them bunched, as above. A bunch over the dance floor, a bunch over the food table, etc. would really make an impression.

3. Balloons! What's a good high school event with out them? I have a couple ideas for balloons. The first is to add bunches of them, on really long strings, to a few of the centerpieces (more on this in a minute) to draw the eye up and close off the huge gap between table and ceiling. The second is to make some sort of *photobooth* wall - the type that is all the rage at weddings right now - out of balloons and provide lots of props for kids to pose and have fun with.

4. Next, add lots and lots of twinkly lights. One idea I have for these is to create a pergola of sorts around/over the dance floor to create a wonderful romantic *starry* vibe.

5. For the table decorations, like I said above in the balloons section, this is a great spot to add needed height and drama. I think these table decorations are a great starting point for inspiration. A simple silver spray-painted pot filled with shooting stars and branches is easy to dyi and makes an impact. Completely simple, yet striking against the black and silver fabrics on the table. 

6. Stars similar to these, which I've seen at craft stores, would also be great painted and used as low-level table decor. Stars could also be grouped, by sizes, on common tables, such as food and beverage.

7. And of course, they can't forget candles! Tealights on tables is always a nice addition. On the common tables -- food and beverage -- larger hurricane candles would add drama and make a little more impact.

So, what do you guys think? Did I meet my goals? Did it take you back in time to your prom? What was your prom theme?

weekend projects galore

Friends, I have a confession.

here

We don't celebrate Valentine's Day. I know some people say that, but really secretly love it. I'm just not one of those people and, luckily, neither is my husband. See, I work really hard to show the people in my life that I love them every day. Every.single.day. With that said, I find it hard to know what to do with a day dedicated to this. Hmm.

But never fear. I have a couple awesome projects planned for this weekend.

1. We're attending a birthday party on Saturday night and at the request of the birthday girl, I'll be making this beautiful red velvet cake: 

2. I will attempt to turn this IKEA blanket:

Into cafe curtains for these windows:

Because this is how close our neighbors are:

We really like our neighbors, but we don't need to see right into their kitchen window when we're eating dinner, which we do. Check back on Monday to see if I can turn my vision for the curtains into reality.

Until then, I hope you all have a fantastic weekend filled with lots of love and happiness!

images of a lovely weekend

How was your weekend friends? This morning I'm having some trouble getting going, because I want to be back here:

  

Taking in more of these views:

  

While watching the sun set over the Pacific Ocean.

 

We had a simply amazing, relaxing weekend. 

Oh and to top it all off, on our way to get dinner last night we found TWO beautiful bentwood chairs in a trash pile. Of course they came home with us. Makeover and pictures soon!

ode to an ikea curtain

Oh IKEA. How I doth despise you at times, with your tiring expansive of inexpensive goods, and yet love thee when I find at item I love.

Oh IKEA. In how many ways can your perfect Merete curtains thus grace my home?

To beautifully frame my living room windows.

To make precious bags o'gifts to delight my loved ones.

And to create smaller curtains for a window in despair.

You know, I don't always love IKEA - mostly for the shopping experience - but wow, I got a lot of use from those curtain panels. I'm thinking of buying a couple more just to have the fabric on hand!

purse envy

I clearly have flowers on the brain this week. But really. How cute it this bag? Great size. Great shape. Love the wool felt. Love.the.flowers.

 And insides stripes? Yes please.

 

Will now spend the evening thinking of all the wonderful uses  justifications for this bag.

**Found here**

weekend goodness

Happy weekend!

Isn't it amazing how fresh flowers immediately brighten a room? *Love*

What are some things you do to give your room a quick change and refresher?

In my head . . .

I can't get this song out of my head!
But, I have to admit, I don't really mind. I heart Pearl Jam.



Have any of you heard the whole album? Is it as amazing as this song?

calendar giveaway

Happy Monday!
Hope you all had a great weekend. Mine was FULL of lovely Christmas activities. I love this time of year.

Just want to let you all know about the fantastic day planner giveaway over at Cecily Ink's blog.



This planner is simply amazing. All the illustrations are hand-drawn and then scanned to add color, texture, etc.


My favorite? August. And, not just because it's my birthday.


So, this planner is not being sold either online or in stores. But two lucky people will win their own - one for you and one for me, right??

Enter HERE.
Check out all the amazing illustrations HERE.