{inspired} rugged beauty

As I mentioned Wednesday, I was out of town this week for work. The destination: eastern Oregon. Eastern Oregon feels like an entirely different world from western Oregon. Where western Oregon is green, lush, and full of life, eastern Oregon is dry, rugged and feels a little unsettled. When I was younger I didn't see the beauty of this landscape. But as I've grown up, I've come to not only appreciate the rugged beauty, but actually stand a little in awe.

It's hard not to be in awe though when you're surrounded by these mountains. It's hard to tell in this photo, but remnants of the Oregon trail are on the right. This is the site that greeted travelers upon entering Oregon. It's crazy, for me, to think that not even 200 years ago this area was *unsettled*. Oregon is so young :).

We stayed in the Geiser Grand hotel. I love staying in hotels with character, and this 1889 hotel is over flowing with charm. It's also rumored to be haunted, but I never ran into a ghost ;).

Details:

I also had a little time to explore the town, Baker City, on my morning runs. Lots of beautiful and historic brick:

 

Our actual destination though, was this:

Even though I love, love, love living in a city, there's a tiny part of me that would like to move to the middle of now where and buy a farm. That tiny part of my emerges when I visit beautiful peaceful remote areas.

We also stopped at this crazy spot. It's a dredge. Like, a gold dredge. I've seen photos before, but let me tell you that photos don't come close to doing it justice. It's a bizarre and fascinating structure.

And speaking of farms, I found the one I would like to own:

Hmmm. Now to just convince Chris to come with me :).

I hope you enjoyed my brief tour of eastern Oregon. And, I hope you have a great weekend! All you mom's out there ... happy Mother's day!

ps. Remember how awhile back I mentioned I was training for a half marathon? Yeah, well said half marathon is this weekend. So think happy thoughts that I can still walk come Monday :).

{create} shelf style, part two

Friends, I hope you're having a great week! I'm actually traveling for work this week, so I'm writing to you from lovely eastern Oregon. I'll show you around the area with photos on Friday. Today though, I wanted to share with you my latest attempt at styling. I don't have a natural knack for styling, so last fall I decided to start practicing. My first challenge was a shelf in our bedroom (you can read more about that here). Even then I knew what my next styling challenge would be: the bookcase in our living room. I've always struggled with this small bookcase, and after Christmas it was looking even worse than usual.

Why yes, that is a home improvement book laying out on display. At least it's easy to access? :) So my goal was to make these shelves come alive with $0. I had to only use items found around our house.

I started by clearing out what I didn't want: a few books. (As for that home improvement book ... it was added to our *library*, which is in the downstairs guest bedroom.) Then I added a couple colorful cigar boxes I found to add height under the frame. The picture in the frame is of my grandmother and great aunt from about 1960. I love it. I also found the glass container with green soap it in. That was also my grandmother's. I'm not sure why, but I've never been able to part with the soap. It brings back memories of summer's spend in her house.

To represent Chris, into the big space on the bottom shelf went a mold. We're not sure what it's a mold OF, but it was a gift from one of Chris' close friends and we really both really like it. While it fit the space well, it made the bottom shelf way heavier than the top shelf.

To *soften* the space up a little, I pushed the mold back and added my gurgle pot. I also added a spare ampersand that's been floating around our house for some time to the top shelf. I really like how the gurgle pot draws your eye forward, balances with the ampersand, and lessens the weight of the form.

Let me back up and give you a picture of the finished product. The shelves are looking more full and lively and the books and radio on top also do their part for balancing things out and creating a complete picture

So, what do you all think? Form to heavy? Not enough weight on the top shelf? I'd love to hear your responses! 

{renovate} let there be light

Happy Monday! Hope you all had a great weekend!

We had a busy weekend working on little projects around the house that we'd like to finish before spring actually hits and we don't want to be inside any more. The room that dominated our attention this weekend was the living room. As a reminder, here is our living room as of Friday.

In all the living room pictures I've posted, I've never shown the ceiling. While I'm sure no one's even thought twice about this (because really who care about a ceiling?), there was actually a reason.

We had this lovely character hanging smack dab in the middle of the room. From this angle it doesn't even look all that bad. In reality, it's electrical wires that have been taped over with blue painter's tape and then painted to match the ceiling. That's how we roll :).

See? Here's Chris removing the blue tape. 

Exposed live electrical wires = bad news.

We've talked forever about hanging a drum shade from the ceiling. First we talked about buying one, and when that proved to be more money than we wanted to spend, we talked about the best way to make one. But making one takes time and it hasn't been a top priority.

A couple months ago I ran across the Eden Pendant Lamp from CB2, I knew it would perfect for this space: afforable, stylish and had incredibly high reviews online. I've also noticed it  looking amazing in a couple other bloggers' homes and that sealed the deal. It needed to come home with me.

We knew we wanted the shade to sit close to the ceiling, so we had to create our own system for hanging it. First, we installed a box and a light bulb hanger (technical term, obviously). We ran into a slight problem when we found the ring that holds the shade up was actually a little too big for the hardware we had installed, which made the shade wobbly.

But it was nothing a little tape couldn't handle. MacGyver Chris simply wrapped the ring with tape to add bulk and make the opening more snug.

Which worked perfectly! Once the shade is all put together, you can't see the tape.

And here it is all installed. I love this shade because the bottom pops out incredibly easy so you can change the bulbs. It's also a great size for this room. It's over-sized, but not massive.

I don't know how often we'll use the light. I shy away from overhead lighting in general, but it's incredible how *finished* it makes the room look. Plus, it's a whole bunch better than the painted painter's tape :).

How was your weekend? Have you replaced any lights lately? How do you feel about overhead lighting?