{inspired} etsy at west elm

Happy Monday friends! Did you all have a great weekend? We ended up at a fun event on Saturday afternoon that I wanted to share with you.

I've been incredibly impressed with West Elm for the past couple seasons because in each catalog they've featured incredibly talented Etsy sellers. It makes me very happy to see a store that can easy be labeled *big box* reach out to, and promote, independent artists. I really wish more stores would take a cue from West Elm on this one. 

It just so happens that Portland has an incredible supply of talented independent artists. When I heard there was going to be a *We Heart Hand Made Art Event* our local West Elm this weekend featuring Portland Etsy artists, I knew I couldn't miss the chance to support my local artists, and check out West Elm's cute summer line. And, there's a chance I drug my husband. :)

I didn't take pictures. I'm really weird about bringing a camera out in public/retail places. Eeps. But, luckily, West Elm had set up a fun photo booth. I'll give you one guess who was holding the control (and it wasn't me!).

So what else was there? A handful of GREAT Portland artists!

My favorite, Rachel Austin, was there. So I got to drool admire her lovely art.

I also discovered a few other new-to-me artists that I love.

Moufelt and her lovely table runners were in attendance.

La Petit Vie was on hand with her line of AMAZING-smelling all natural cleaners and beauty products.

Seriously, I want the entire line.  

I was also completely captivated by Anna Joyce Designs. Her pillows and sweatshirts were so cheery and fun, and I admire anyone who can applique with the quality that she pulled off. Great stuff.

Of course, West Elm has lovely goodies as well. There's a chance this bathmat might have ended up in our bathroom.

So, West Elm has absolutely no idea who I am. But I'm telling you about this event because if there is one happening in your area: GO! Support your local artists! And, have a great Monday evening :).

{renovate} curb appeal, update

It seems like the NW is one of the few places getting sun this week! It's been so lovely, and is the perfect time to update you all on our landscaping. See, this weekend last year, we started working on our front yard landscaping. You know, in an effort to bump up our *curb appeal.*

As a reminder, this is what the house looked like when I started this blog. No curb appeal whatsoever. You can read more about that adventure here and here.

And, here's what it looked like after we finished landscaping last spring. Teeny, tiny (= inexpensive) plants. Have you guys ever noticed how long it takes for plants to grow!? I knew it would take a few years to fill in. And, admittedly I'm an incredibly impatient person. So it's nice to look at photos and see that things are. actually. growing.

Here's what it looks like today. The growth is especially noticeable in the fullness of the Mexican orange plants against the foundation. As you can probably tell, I purposely chose low-maintenance perennials. I really don't want a high maintenance yard. Especially front yard. All my dreams for the backyard revolve around some sort of maintenance, but I tend to forget about the front.

Here's the other side of the front last year. It's incredibly hard to get a good head-on shot of the house because a HUGE plum tree sits in our parking strip, right where I'd need to stand to get a good picture.  (On a side note, I really should post a picture of it here. Chris gave it a *haircut* two years ago, and the poor tree is still trying to recover. It's a pretty funny story.) The side angles are me trying to angle my way around that tree.

And today. I didn't realize until looking at these pictures that our grass looks SO MUCH BETTER this year! The crazy part about that is last year I used fertilizer and this year I've completely neglected the grass. Hmmm. Maybe chemicals aren't all they're cracked up to be?

 

The part I'm most excited about is that both our trees (the big ticket items!) came back! Above is the dogwood, which still hasn't actually flowered, but seems healthy.

The Japanese maple not only came back, but is also a much more brilliant shade of red this year. LOVE it.

We amazingly only lost one plant over the winter. We had two of the above. One didn't come back. And, this one actually looks nothing like what we planted, but we think it's the same plant coming back. Can you tell how little I know about landscaping?

One of my FAVORITE plants is the gardenia, above. LOVE the smell! We planted two, and I was worried about them at first, but they actually are coming back.

This year, I have a couple holes to deal with. The first is on the side of our house. We weren't sure what to do with it last year. And I'm still not sure this year. But, I want to get it figured out soon because I don't like weeding it!

 

The second hole is right in front. It's hard to see it when you're looking at it from the front, but when you're walking up to our door, it's completely obvious. 

The problem is that I'm terribly unconfident about landscaping. I know in landscaping it's okay to experiment and even moving things, but I'm terrified I'm going to completely mess it all up.  It's funny because in the house I'm never worried about taking on a project or messing something up. But once I start thinking about plants I get all nervous. Sigh. So, any landscaping lovers out there? Any tips on what I can do with the holes in my yard? 

I hope you all have a GREAT WEEKEND! Thanks for stopping by and saying hi this week! 

{a home in the making} for sale??

Good morning friends! Might I suggest you grab a cup of coffee and settle in for this post? It's a biggie! We've had a lot of things brewing behind the scenes of A Home in the Making, and I thought I'd fill you in with what we've been up to lately. Earlier this month, we came this | | close to putting our humble abode on the market. Before I tell you why we decided not to sell now, let me back up a bit. Some of you know this, and I talk about it a little in my about page, but this house wasn't exactly my choice. When I met Chris, he had owned this house for a couple years. I LOVED that he owned a house - I had always wanted to - until I moved in. Actually, starting this blog was a little *push* for me to start working on the house and creating a home for us out of the stark, all-white-wall, in-need-of-so-much-work house.

The plan was never to keep this house, though. Besides the fact that I drive an hour EACH WAY to get to work and back, our neighborhood is incredibly transitional. Our street is great, but there have been 5 shootings within a half mile of our house in the last year. Um, NOT OKAY.  The housing marketing took it's biggest fall though, right after I moved in and we'd refinanced. We've been feeling a little stuck for the past couple years.

In January, driving home from a weekend at the beach, we decided that this spring our house was going up on the market. We knew there were things that needed to be done before we could put the house on the market, and we committed to tackling those projects. So we set out refinishing our hardwood floors, updating our back entry, changing out lights and installing molding in an effort to get our home shiny and pretty for the listing. I'm not sure how the rest of the country is recovering economically, but Oregon's housing market is only in the very beginning stages of recovery. We knew we were going to lose money from selling, but we'd been saving up, and we were okay with this. We were completely committed to getting out.

And friends, we were so excited. We looked at potential houses to buy nearly every night - we even went and looked at a few. We found a real estate agent we love. We set the listing day. May 8th. We even went through a pre-inspection (and discovered we have radon! But that's a whole different post). And then I started to get panicky. And, for possibly the first time ever, I was incredibly sentimental about our house. I LOVE the updates we've done in the past couple years. We'd worked so hard to make it *ours* and we've made so many incredibly memories here. Did I really want to sell before we'd had a chance to really enjoy it? I chalked my feelings up to how much we had going on during the listing weekend: Chris' sister was in town, my half marathon, Mother's Day, big car show, and prepping for a job interview. I was completely overwhelmed.

Frowny. And stressed.

So we rescheduled the listing day. May 15. And the panicky feeling actually got worse. Much worse. What I finally realized was: I'm not ready to leave our home. I have wanted out practically since the first day I moved in. But when it comes right down to it, I don't feel like we're done here. I also didn't feel like it was worth losing money when we don't HAVE to move. It just seems silly, really. Chris and I spent a couple days talking through it, and amazingly, he was relieved. I have a sweet husband friends. He wasn't ready to sell the house, but he hates my commute so much he was willing to do it, for me. Awww.

Love this one!

After all that, we're staying put. For now. This really isn't the neighborhood we'd like to live in forever. I'll still be spending two hours in the car each day. But, I don't feel stuck anymore. I know that if we really wanted to sell, we could make it happen. That's huge. It's strikes me as a little funny that it took something as extreme as putting the house on the market to make me realize I actually do love this house. And we're so excited to enjoy the spaces we've created and to tackle some other projects that are high one our list: namely, the bathroom, and some major kitchen updates. Right now, I'm relieved to take not be thinking about it - actively- anymore. It's amazing how much time and energy putting your house on the market takes!

So, wow, this turned into quite a story! But, that's what's been up in our world this year. I know I don't go into a lot of *behind-the-scenes* info here, but I wanted to share all this because I think it's important to let you know where we're at with this place we call home. I'm truly glad we went through an exercise to evaluate where we're at and reconfigure our goals. It's amazing how one single goal kept me from seeing the bigger picture for so long. Anyway, THANKS for reading this crazy post! :)

What about you home owners out there? Anyone in a similar situation? Any one trying to sell their house right now? We'd love to hear!