My Little Office Update

Despite positive reviews for my little office, I did a swaparoo to accommodate a little credenza I found at the salvation army and painted with leftover paint from the kitchen. I love it, though it's sort of so small that it's not that practical for storing the boxes I have full of decorations, supplies and photographs.





I paired it with Elliott's pelican, a poster I found at a store in Portland for $4, a thrift store print of Mt. Hood and the portraits of my grandmothers that I love so. I'm also trying out a succulent I had sitting outside. Not sure if there's enough light in there. And, of course, Hazel likes to squeeze herself in anywhere she can.

Anywho, I put it against the wall that the desk use to be against and now the desk is on the other side, though it needs some major tlc so it doesn't look so sad and alone over there.



I'd like a nice chair to cuddle up in next to it. And I'm still searching for the rug that went missing after our move because I think it would be perfect for covering up the wall to wall.

I love this little room. It clearly used to be a sleeping porch that someone walled in at some point. But it feels like a little tree house. In another life, this would be my bedroom.

My Little Office

I set up a little office in the bonus room at the top of the stairs. This is the stuff we had on hand so it isn't yet what I envision. I want to paint the desk either charcoal or white, add a rug, get the seat cushion recovered in a new fabric and get a little daybed or cozy chair for the other side of the office. I thought I'd be really into the lamp, but I might swap it for a task lamp and then get a globe light for the room.

In the frames are pictures of my grandmothers (one is weaving and the sad girl is one of her weavings). This was my solution for getting all the framed stuff up off the floor and hung. There's still more but this is what would fit, in the meantime, on this wall.

It is so nice to be able to shut the door to a separate office. And also to make a big mess and only have it affect me!

Have a great weekend everyone. I'm running in a 5k on sunday and then planning to indulge in a host of sugar related treats!

Living Room Inspiration

I'm shopping for a sofa for the living room and I'm still in the brainstorming stage. I have a danish modern chair and we have a giant TV and a simple white ikea TV stand at the moment. Otherwise, everything else is up for discussion so I'm really able to start from scratch. We've got two little girls and a lot of video game action happens on the sofa so it needs to be durable/comfortable and stain resistant. But it's also the first thing you see when you come in so I want it to look amazing!

Please chime in with favorite styles because while I love mid century and all things modern, there's a vote over here for tufting. Yes you heard that right, Big E thinks something with tufting would be....awesome? So here are some living room ideas in no particular order:


Here's our living room for reference. It's not huge, but there's room for something awesome.


A bright color and neutral furniture from apartment therapy.


My original inspiration via Domino. I love that it's modern but warm.


Total Mid Century Inspiration with lots of color from apartment therapy.


Sophia Coppola's place is glamorous, modern and well... comfy.


Lydia Pearson's Home in Vogue Living is chic and simple. Via Happy Mundane.



I'm a sucker for anything Swedish like this living room from desire to inspire.


Beautiful Parisian Mid Century apartment on Design Sponge.


A bold burst of color in a sleek room. It's fun, it's liveable, but it's still risky. From flickr.


AB Chao's living room is crisp and white and modern but with cozy traditional elements.



Love love love Jeana Sohn and her cute living room with little plants and plenty of empty space.


I like some glam elements like the coffee table in Cassie's Living Room.


And I want to make sure it stays light and bright like this image from Domino.

Valentine's Day Weekend

I just had a lovely weekend filled with old friends, lots of baking, LOTS of eating, a beautiful hike, a good run and time with my sweetie.

We attempted red velvet cupcakes using a mix and our wits and only sort of succeeded, next time we need more red food coloring and more chocolate. We'll use this recipe if we do it again.

They sure looked good before we baked them, though.




Most impressive were these heart shaped pear and raspberry tarts that Jamie and Thea made using a recipe from the last page of the February issue of Martha. They came out light and fluffy and delicious.





Then we all sat around the table, eating and catching up for hours. It was great to have my oldest friends over to help break in the house and fill it with good cheer. Here's the dining room, it's coming along slowly:

Dark Bedroom + Curtains!

I spent a good amount of time over the last two days getting the curtains done for the bedroom and it's finally starting to come together and at least is a serene place to rest my weary unpacking eyes!





The walls in the bedroom are a dark grey (Kendall Charcoal From Benjamin Moore in the flat Aura Finish) and the curtains are just from Ikea. I wanted to keep the bedroom dark and simple (see my inspiration right here).




I'd like to get a rug to put towards the bottom of the bed and we still haven't figured out night stands (um, yeah, that's a moving box I'm using). I love that we get so much sun in here during the day and that we can see the neighbor's orange tree from bed!


UPDATE: Here's a before picture (oops, forgot it the first time)!

Grey Paint

I did a post over on AT on Grey Paint colors and a lot of people chimed in with their favorites. Kind of wish I had done that before I painted things 3 times. Anyway, it's a great resource for some good greys.

(Image is from Max and Gen's House Tour)

First Days in The New House

So, we're in the new house! The move was epic. Literally 8 hours. We have a lot of stuff and there were a couple of glitches, but phew, most everything is here (with the exception of food since the fridge isn't working).



Here's the rainy view from the upstairs office. I'll be working from the dining room until I find a desk I want to use up there. I just love this view of the magnolia tree outside, it feels like you're in a tree house.


Here's where I am, sitting at the Herman Miller Dining Table I'm borrowing from my dad (if you can believe it, he has no use for it at the moment). We still need to swap out the lamp above the table and there's a credenza that will probably go underneath those windows, then lamps, curtains, etc.

The grey worked out in the end (though, it's just a teeny bit purpley in certain light. But anyway, it's good enough (I'm learning to not let perfect be the enemy of the good). For those that track these things the color is Ben Moore Stone Harbor.

Oh and please don't mind that hanging curtain rod. I guess the last tenants accidentally took the braces?

And since we're all friends here, I will share a picture of the kitchen as of this morning. It actually looked better the day we moved in, but since then we figured out that the fridge doesn't work and that kind of...threw everything off. Look at how confused Hazel looks.


We have a lot of work ahead of us, but I'm going to take it easy today, it's been exhausting!

How was everyone's weekend?

Black Kitchen!

I went by the house today to take some measurements and all I can say is thank god all the colors are looking right, finally. This is the only peak you're getting for the moment, but that's my new black kitchen and it is totally badass.

For those that track these things, the color is racoon fur (I swear, I couldn't make that up) and it's Ben Moore. It's definitely black but with just the slightest hint of navy in there.

Happy Weekend Everyone, I'll be back next week with some updates.

P.S. I added a new category over there on the right in the talking about section. It's 'new house' and if you click it you can see all the posts about this new house adventure I'm embarking on!

(The Day Before) Moving day.

We're down to the wire, movers come tomorrow morning. Today I'm doing dumb stuff like throwing out the dead flowers, remembering to leave out some clean underwear and socks and I'm buying a microwave, curtains, shower curtain, curtain rod and supplies for some of the diy's I'm planning. I was also planning on working on the revamp of my photo site but I think that will have to wait! Stay tuned for pictures and thanks for all the support and tips on the paint debacle.

Speaking of grey: I'm also helping E design his new office space which we painted grey yesterday and, of course, that one turned out just fine. I'm thinking of stealing a container of it to paint in our house!

The Paint Debacle

So...we had a little...issue with the paint. Turns out Ben Moore Green Mist is actually...light blue and not a greeny grey like I thought it was from the chip. And I did NOT want a light blue house. And we move in on saturday. So, yeah I've been dealing with finding the perfect color grey that does not turn blue or purple once it's on the walls. I have spent a fortune. I have spent time. I am spent.

BUT, I am still maintaining excitement for the move (thanks mom for coming over and helping pack today!) and really excited to see what 'racoon fur' looks like in the kitchen.

More images soon!

New House Inspiration

Aaron Hom

We picked out paint colors (it was epic) for the house and it should be all painted by the end of the week (except for the kitchen which I plan to paint either a dark grey or black and will do myself so that the landlords don't freak out right away). Here are some of the images I was pulling from for inspiration.

Overall I wanted to keep the walls a nice soft grey, darker in the dining room, kitchen and master bedroom (which is by no means master sized) so that I can throw in colorful accessories for an accent but will have nice contrast between the wood floors, grey walls and white trim. it's the quickest I've ever chosen colors for an entire house. Normally I agonize, but I'm getting a lot faster at decision making and knowing what I want. I also know it's just paint ;)

Domino Magazine

Live Well Designs (Kyle Schuneman)

Jessica Helgerson via Design Sponge
Cannot Remember!

Domino