pewter+sage

silver + gold + evergreen

2009-12-16T22:30:00.002-05:00

Hi! Got another paper project to share with you...this one is related to the holidays and not weddings:)

One of my readers, Allison (hi, Allie!), got in touch asking if I do other things besides just wedding invites. Of course I answered "For sure!" and then "Thanks so much!". She was wondering if I'd make her and her husband some custom holiday cards. As its just her and him (no kids yet), they don't do the photo card thing (P and I either) and she thought something hand-crafted and unique would be a special way to send warm wishes to their family and friends.

I was super excited to take on this project...I've only done custom wedding paper stuff the last few years, but I've always wanted to branch out into other celebratory life events, babies, birthdays, Christmas! I sincerely want to thank Allison for seeing the potential in my work and trusting me with the opportunity to try something new. Plus, now I've got a brand new internet friend:)P

Allison told me a bit about her holiday style...she loves silver and white with touches of gold, is drawn to snowmen, wreaths and trees, and was looking for something "a bit unexpected and slightly nontraditional, but not too modern". After chatting a bit more, I discovered that Allison and Dan live very close to the shore...he surfs and fishes, she has a side business creating hand-painted nautical infant apparel. It was obvious that the water played a big part in their lives, so why not go for a coastal Christmas?!

After a first round of card concepts, we settled on the idea of sea shell ornaments - in a classic, hanging on the tree, naturally elegant sort of way. A wide border of silver metallic card stock (along with a matching silver metallic envelope) added that holiday shimmer that Allie was looking for. We brought in a touch of seasonal color to the metallic mix by making the tree branch a subtle green.

What do you think? Did we nail a sophisticated nautical Christmas? Would you mind terribly getting this in the mail, with a hand-written note in silver pen from Allie? I sure didn't:)

PS. For some more silver, gold, and green holiday inspiration, go check out this gorgeous holiday dinner soiree photo shoot that Kathryn over at Snippet and Ink posted today...so beautiful!

Holiday Home Tour: Part II

2009-12-13T22:21:00.003-05:00

Hi! Happy Holidays!!! Today I'm psyched to be joining in on the Nester's Christmas Tour of Homes 2009. This is going to be big, people (last year when Boo Mama hosted there were over 900 participants!!)...head over and check it out, then settle in for some great holiday cheer, you could spend all day looking at these wonderful links.

On Friday I posted the first part of our Christmas decorating...spots like the foyer and kitchen. Today I'll show you around the rest of the place...and I'll try not to talk too much:)

******living room*******

{I hung this square wreath from Target over the mirrors above the sofa}

{I love mercury glass for the holidays}

{gotta display the Christmas books...that's The Polar Express on the bottom}

{the mantel}

******family room*******

{the black ledge shelves above the couch}

{more empty boxes wrapped up as presents}

{branches from the yard in a mercury glass vase, DIY art}

{love my new mercury glass ornaments I received from nestie wade-n-maria in the thenest.com Decorating & Renovating Ornament Exchange}

{real pine and white cedar garland on the entertainment center}

{my Willow Tree Nativity Set that I cherish...I love putting these guys up every year, I talk to them as I arrange them!}

******dining room*******

{real 14" pine wreaths on the french doors...I love having fresh greenery around}

{more ornaments and fresh greens}

******downstairs bath*******

{star ornaments from Target hung on the shower...nobody showers down here!}

{fresh winter berries}

Thanks so much for stopping by! (And for having me over.) Lots of thanks to the Nester for hosting us, its been a lot of fun. Hope everyone has a great holiday:)

Ps. Urgghhh...what is up with my centering? I have everything set to centered and its all off - text, photos - its been like this for awhile. Anyone know what could be going on?

Holiday Home Tour: Part I

2009-12-10T22:25:00.003-05:00

Hello! Happy Friday! Christmas is 2 weeks from today!!! Wow, hard to believe. About the only thing I have done is our holiday decorating:)

Julia is having her Hooked on Holiday House Tours over at Hooked on Houses today, so thought I'd join in with some pics of our foyer and kitchen. Can't wait to spend some time peaking in at everyone else's place.

On Monday the Nester is having her Christmas Tour of Homes so I'll post some more pics for that (like our living and family rooms, etc.). I was not part of blog land this time last year, so it's so fun to see how much everyone around here gets in the spirit.

Well, come on in!

{these are the huge lanterns I snagged at HomeGoods last year. Usually they're inside, but I put them outside and lit the candles for our party this weekend and they were beautiful...got lots of compliments}

Don't be a hater, but I just buy my wreaths instead of making them! (What? This is a skill too!) I can't help it, I love fresh greenery. And there's something about boxwood that I am just drawn to...so I treat myself to a fresh circular wreath from the local nursery for our front door every year.

And it goes on our silver engraved wreath hanger from Pottery Barn. (I asked for it one year for Christmas!)

Mini pumpkins came down from the transom window above the front door and up went these silver ornaments on green grosgrain ribbon.

I did a kind of green, brown, silver color theme for the bookcase in the foyer.

My somewhat small but still lovable collection of mini-trees goes on top.

My best friend from college gave me the one on the left. He's got little tin cookie cutter ornaments hanging on him. My mom gave me the Christmas weeping willow (with stars) and the burlap guy with spots of snow.

One of my favorite easy holiday decorating projects to do is to wrap up random boxes as gifts with pretty paper that matches my color scheme. (I love paper and pattern and have a ton of it hanging around, so its free too.)

{I swapped out the fall colored books on the bottom shelf for green and brown ones.}

I've got this garland on the bannister going up the stairs.

I don't really do much in the kitchen, but it took just a second to put some more of my wrapped boxes from last year onto the ledge shelves.

It's become tradition that while I'm at the nursery getting the boxwood, I buy a few real pine wreaths (these are 14") for our inside doors too. I just use wide satin ribbon and a small nail in the top of the door to hold them. Here's the door in our kitchen that leads down to the garage.

Thanks for stopping by!! Check out our holiday mantel here or the centerpieces for our holiday open house last weekend here. I love this time of year:)

Ps. Duh, its Friday. That means its Holiday Linky Friday over at the Inspired Room...I'm linking up to that too. Thanks, Melissa!

Update: My Blue Mason Jar

2009-12-09T15:10:00.000-05:00

Hey there! While decorating for the holidays I finally found a spot for my lucky #13 blue Ball mason jar I got this September at the Brimfield Fair. Figured I'd show you guys where he ended up.

When we first bought and put together our huge entertainment center from JC Penney, I just kinda threw anything in there to fill it up. The bookshelf to the right of the tv ended up looking like this. Kinda blah.

{the before}

Here's the much better after:

{the after}

When I took down the fall mantel to put up the holiday mantel, I was left not knowing what to do with this great photograph I purchased this summer on our trip to Prince Edward Island. I decided it would look good over here on the entertainment center in place of the lantern I had there. But it needed to be a bit taller....insert books in the right color and it was looking much better. Then I remembered my blue jar and how I didn't know where to put it. Bingo! Now this side of the EC has a more coordinated color scheme that really plays off the pale green walls in here:)

Greens, Berries, Burlap and Ticking

2009-12-07T23:37:00.000-05:00

Hi! Well, we had another successful holiday open house at our place on Saturday! We had about 50 friends, family and neighbors over throughout the evening for appetizers, desserts and drinks. This is our 3rd year hosting in this house and then we did it a few years before when we lived in P's 1 bedroom condo. Each year I am slightly more prepared and slightly less like a chicken running around without a head during the actual party. Mostly this is because my sister (you remember, the infamous MOH) comes up from Manhattan to stay with us for the weekend and acts basically as my slave (thank you again, Laura!). I have also been taking virtual lessons from a genius in the entertaining department - the hilarious, generous and super talented Katie of Good Things Catered.

So, as a testament to how much more together I was this year than last year, I actually have pictures to share! Of course, they're not pictures of like everything all ready right before the first guests walked in the door, because well, that happened while I was still doing stuff (oops) but they are of the "centerpieces" I "made" for both the kitchen and dining room tables.

{the kitchen}

We've learned a good set up that works well for our party...all drinks (beer, wine, sodas/waters, both signature punches - one champagne based and one vodka based) are in the dining room. This gets people to actually enter this room and walk around:) The kitchen table is the desert table..since its right in the middle of where everyone hangs out we figure its easy for them to grab a cookie or cupcake. Cold apps on the kitchen island and family and living room coffee tables, hot apps are passed by the previously mentioned slave, the MOH.

So I wanted "centerpieces" for both the kitchen and dining room and I wanted them to coordinate. I don't own that many table linens so I figured I'd rig up my own with some fabric. I ran into Joann's Fabrics one night in search of some burlap and ticking...I wanted a somewhat rustic natural vibe but with a bit of whimsy. I got a big piece of burlap for the dining room (I wanted to protect the table) but didn't think I needed it for the kitchen table as its already a natural wood color and been pretty beat up over the years. I also bought one long piece of red ticking fabric that was wide enough that I could cut it in half and use it as a runner in both the kitchen and dining room.

{the dining room table...see, I told you I didn't have everything out and ready yet. But here's the backdrop for all the drinks. Picture lots of pretty glasses, a big galvanized bucket of sodas, punch in a huge glass container, etc.}

You have probably noticed by now that I love nature, and I love incorporating it inside for the holidays. I also love to pretty much just leave it as it is, let it sort of speak for itself. I had a vision of lots of fresh greens in different containers. I went to the local nursery and got bunches of white cedar and boxwood. And lots of winter berries. I picked pine boughs from our yard. Then I just arranged them in different things...this tall white ceramic pitcher, a galvanized tin bucket, a white tea pot, the mugs from my white beaded dish set, mason jars, glass vases.

I also wanted lots of candlelight. So I randomly placed little mini glass votives (that I've had forever and just put a new candle in each time) and these pretty mercury glass gold and silver votives I found last week at Michaels around all the greens. I also saved, washed and peeled the labels off a few jars of food we ate over the last few weeks and put a votive candle in each of them. Of course I took these photos during the day, a few hours before the party had started, so you don't get to see everything lit and glowing. It was so pretty:)

In the dining room I hung 2 mercury glass ornaments from the chandelier. I looove these ornaments...they are from Crate and Barrel and were actually a gift to me this year from an online friend (over on the Decorating and Renovating board of the nest.com we do an Ornament Exchange every year, these were 2 of the 5 beautiful ornaments I recieved from nestie wade-n-maria - thanks, girl!!).

One of the new menu items I made this year were the Chocolate Candy Cane Cupcakes I found floating around blogland (yum!). I made these little tent signs (in brown script with green dots) for each food item so that guests would know what they were getting themselves into:)

So unfortunately that's all you get to see of our Holiday Kick-Off Open House! But I promise next year that I'll be even more prepared and vow to be ready a whole 10 minutes before the party starts so that I can take photos of everything actually set up!!! Did you guys go to any fun holiday events this weekend?

I just realized its Tuesday and so I'm going to hook this post up to DIY Day at Kimba's:) Yay!

Mood Board Monday: Holiday Version

2009-12-06T23:00:00.004-05:00

Hi! Welcome to the 3rd Mood Board Monday!!! So glad you could join us. The first ever Mood Board Monday was the work of the wonderful Pk over at Room Remix...check out that party here. Then Tracy from Comfort and Luxury hosted the second party...check it out here.

Now we are back for the 3rd installment...and its holiday time!! This week's challenge was to design a room of your choice around one (or more) of these holiday throw pillows:

{Hand-Painted Snowman Linen Pillow Cover from Pottery Barn}

{PEACE Holiday Hemp Pillow from NestaHome's shop on etsy.com}

{Tidings Pillow from Crate and Barrel}

{Present Pillow by Olive's shop on etsy.com}

*********

Here's my Mood Board for the week. I was inspired by the PB Snowman Linen pillow cover as well as NestaHome's PEACE hemp pillow (I love anything with text!). They're graphic style and rustic textures inspired me to design a family room that's soft and airy with pops of dark and fun pattern. It's a comfortable and cozy room with hints of elegance and sophistication. I'd use a ton of natural greenery...nature is one of my biggest inspirations no matter what season it is:)

1. The palette: light, airy and neutral with dark pops of black/brown. Paint color something soft and taupey like Benjamin Moore Edgecomb Gray.
2. Bayside Sofa from Crate and Barrel in Snow (fitting, huh?)
3. Hand-Painted Snowman Linen Pillow Cover from Pottery Barn
4. PEACE Hand-Stamped Pillow by NestaHome on etsy (hand-stamped using antique text printing blocks)
5. The infamous Brickmaker's Table from Restoration Hardware
6. Rustic Wood Accent Tables from Pottery Barn
7. Nautical Stripe Rug from William Sonama in black
8. I'd use tons of natural greenery, garlands, wreaths all around. Maybe even pick it from my backyard, since this room is in a fabulous farmhouse somewhere in the country:)
9. Wire Christmas Village from Ballard Designs
10. I'd also wrap gifts and use them as decor with paper like the Moss Winter Berries and Moss Flourish from Paper Source.
11.Sterling Forest Wall Art from West Elm
12. Chloe Lantern from Pottery Barn
13. Must have tons of mercury glass accents like these Hurricanes and Demijohns from Ballard Designs.

*********

Now its your turn! Here's what you do to join the party:

1. Create a mood board using one of the above inspiration pillows.
2. Write a post about it, including sources (with a link back to this post so others can come look).
3. Add your name and project to the MckLinky here on this post (for example - Sarah's Rustic/ Elegant Family Room).
4. Then add the link to your SPECIFIC MBM POST, not your general blog address.
5. Have fun checking out all the other wonderful rooms.

Thanks so much for joining the party!!!

Our Holiday Mantel

2009-12-04T10:41:00.001-05:00

Happy Friday!!! Thank you so much for all your comments, advice and suggestions for our flooring dilemma. I really appreciate you sharing your experiences and opinions with us, this is definitely going to help going forward. I guess I need to look into each option more, get some quotes for refinishing the floors, etc. I'm terrible at this part of a project, I just want to be doing it!! I'll keep you posted and probably ask a lot more questions:)

*********

Just a quick reminder that Monday (the 7th) is our first Mood Board Monday MckLinky party over here. We're doing a sort of holiday throw pillow theme, here's the original post with the inspiration pieces and rules. Hope a lot of you can join us, its wicked fun! If you have any questions, let me know:)

*********

Ok, and now for some Christmas pics! Most of our decorating is done (our annual holiday open house is tomorrow, please wish me luck), but just had time so far to take some photos of our mantel.

It's mostly the same as last year with the addition of the mercury glass tree I scored at the after Christmas sales last year at HomeGoods. I started "swagging" my garland last year as opposed to just running it straight along the top of the mantel and I'm really liking it.

This is just a fake garland that I strung lights on. I also added these little ice crystal things for some sparkle and some gilded magnolia leaves for some warm tones.

I've been loving mercury glass lately, so I've started myself quite a collection:) More sprinkled around the house that you'll see soon.

Hope everyone has a great first weekend of December!!! Hopefully I'll have some pics next week from the party...if I'm ready in time and remember to take them:)

The Great Floor Debate Part II

2009-12-02T21:55:00.001-05:00

Hello again! Wow, thanks everyone for all your great input on our flooring dilemma! It is awesome to come to blogland and find so many people who share a passion for the same thing, who have different experiences and ideas to contribute. Thank you!!

For anyone just joining in, you can catch up here...but basically we are trying to figure out the best way to solve this problem:

No, your eyes do not deceive you...that's 4 different types of flooring in our downstairs. Yikes! This means we have awkward and unsightly transitions like this between the living room and entryway/kitchen:

And like this between the entryway/kitchen and the dining room:

The great floor debate started because we really need/want to replace the carpet in the living room, family room and stairway (did I mention it's nasty?). First we considered new carpet...these will be play areas eventually when we are hopefully blessed with children (that's a whole other post!). But now we are leaning more towards hardwood for the ease of cleaning and general aesthetic. (Can any of you moms out there chime in on carpet vs. hardwood for kids? We would of course have area rugs in both rooms which would hopefully give us that soft, roll around on the floor with the kiddos feeling.) Plus if we put in new carpet, we would still have the same problem - too many types of flooring in one space.

{said nasty carpet in the living room}

So we assumed the next logical option would be to rip up the carpet and put down the same solid hardwood floors with a cherry finish that the previous owners installed in the kitchen and entryway. We found an extra box of hardwood in the garage, so we had a flooring guy we know search around until he found a supplier who could give us more of the same stuff. What we didn't realize was how expensive this stuff was...seems like the previous owners didn't skimp on their new floors. (Maybe they couldn't afford to continue them into the dining room?!) So, we could put the cherry floors in the living room and family room, it would just cost a lot. Which is totally fine, I completely see the value in this and think its worth it, its just that these are not the floors I would have chosen if I was starting from scratch. I really like them, they're a beautiful color, very unique...but not what I would choose if I had my druthers.

{the kitchen now}

Hmmm. So should we spend a whole lot of money on something we are only 75% happy with? Or should we spend less on floors we really like a whole lot? But then we are back to square one.

Paul mostly goes along with whatever I want in terms of home stuff (he has good taste...for a guy) but he has a strong opinion when it comes to what kind of hardwood floors he likes. He wants a dark finish. Darker than cherry. Like an espresso. I think Holly of Life in a Fun Lane's floors might be slightly too dark for him, but they are alot closer to what he wants than what we have.

{gorgeous, no?!}

So if a darker finish were all we were after, then I suppose we could:

1. install new dark finish hardwoods in the living room and family room that are the same width as the kitchen's cherry floors (3 1/4")

2. sand and refinish the kitchen/entryway floors in a darker stain to "match" the new new floors

3. get the dining room on board by either installing the new new dark wood floors in there or also sand and stain the oak to be darker even though it would be skinnier planks

What are your thoughts on this? Speaking of darker finishes, can anyone out there with dark floors comment on how hard they are to keep clean?

But, besides a darker finish (or maybe we should just say less red!), I would really love a wider board. And something with a bit more texture to it. Remember this pic I posted a while ago from Rate My Space?

I love how the wide floors look. I've been inspired a lot lately by a more coastal, farmhouse, pastoral manor vibe (I have no idea what to call this combo but I like it!). I think wide floors would help this look. (It's ok that we have a colonial, right?)

I found some solid hardwood I loved at Home Depot on one of my recent research trips (and it was a couple of dollars cheaper per square foot than the cherry floors). It wide, medium to dark brown, with a slightly darker variation at the edges of each board, and it has some distressed areas, dips to it that add that look that its been there forever. Then I realized they're pretty much the same floors that Janell of Isabella and Max Room's has! And that confirmed that I really like them, because this woman has style and supremely good taste. (Janell, hope you don't mind I borrowed a couple of pics - thanks!)

So if I had my druthers (at this current moment in time), these are the floors I would choose for our whole downstairs. But that would mean completely ripping up 2 other sets of floors (the old oak in the dining room and the new cherry in the kitchen). That seems sort of sad and that's still alot of money.

Do you think there's any way that we could get these new wide floors and still make our other wood floors somehow work? Sand and refinish both the other 2 sets...so then we would have 3 different width floors with similiar tones? Or we could also put the new wide floors in the dining room, then that would only leave the kitchen and foyer?

Now, completely unrelated to any of the options above, here's something else I'm throwing out there. I have considered...wait for it....don't freak...painting the dining room floor! Ever since I saw this image on design*sponge, I can't get the idea of a patterned painted floor somewhere in our house out of my head.

I know lots of people cringe when you mention painting over wood floors, but obviously in this instance, these dining room floors are going to be messed with either way. It would probably be bad for resale, but we are not going anywhere anytime soon, so I'd be doing this for me/us. Maybe it could be a temporary solution? Maybe I'm crazy?!

Ok, so I should probably stop typing soon and probably just post this already, right? If you are still with me at this point, what do you think about all this? Do any of these options seem viable? Does this post even make sense? What would you do? Have any of you out there had your wood floors restained a new color? Help!!!! Thanks so much, you guys are the best!

The Great Floor Debate Part I

2009-12-01T15:55:00.003-05:00

So P and I need your help with something. The Great Floor Debate. Let me explain. We currently have 4 different types of flooring in our downstairs:

1. Kitchen and Entryway: new solid hardwood floors in a cherry finish (3/4" thick by 3 1/4" wide) that the previous owners installed

2. Dining Room: old hardwood skinny floors that the previous owners left alone when they redid the kitchen floors (not sure if they are oak, pine, etc...any guesses?)

3. Living Room, Family Room and Stairs: very old and nasty cream-colored carpet. mysterious stains seem to pop up daily.

4. Bathroom: lovely (and I mean not so lovely) green tile that we can live with.

Here, look. I made you a visual:)Now that you're caught up on the background info, I think I'll make this 2 posts. Come back tomorrow to help us decide what to do about this debacle. Because we all know how inconsistency in flooring makes a space feel smaller and more chopped up. And nobody likes nasty carpet. Thanks!

Real Rooms: Mom and Dad's Holiday Decor

2009-11-30T13:55:00.000-05:00

Hi!! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and holiday weekend. We did, it was so nice to have 5 days off from work and get a chance to recharge, spend some qt with the family. I'm going to have to go on a diet for the next month to counteract everything I ate over the last few days though!!! I guess its back to the real world/daily grind now, but with Christmas less than a month away, there's that spirit in the air that makes everyday feel a bit more special:)

While we were home at my parent's house for Thanksgiving, we helped Mom and Dad put up their Christmas decor. Thought I'd share a few pics with you guys.

Garland on the stair banisters is a must in our house. To this one we added white starfish and red satin bows.

Mom hangs these faux cranberry small wreaths on every other step. Once it gets closer to Christmas, she'll hang our stockings off the alternating steps since the fireplace doesn't have a traditional mantel.

Larger berry wreaths hang on these wreath stand things, the closer one in the main entryway at the bottom of the stairs, the farther one in the corner of the dining room.

Here's a shot looking back at the entryway once you are inside the house and on your way to the main living area. One of the things I love about my parent's house is that they had all the interior doors in the downstairs painted high-gloss black. I love how dramatic the doors are now..to me they make the house feel like its in the middle of a European estate or something.

I've posted about my mom and dad's living room before...check it out here if you want to see it sans holiday decor. Their tree is gigantic...there are full 2 story ceilings in here, so they make the most of the vertical space. When we were growing up, we would go and dig up a real tree (root ball and all) and after Christmas my dad would plant it in our yard (amazing to watch them all grow there year after year) but now they have this very tall fake guy. Here he is while we were fluffing out all his smooshed branches and adjusting the lights.

And here he is all finished...we only ended up putting up about half of the ornaments we have this year.

Added a couple of holiday candle rings to Mom's collection of candlesticks and its beginning to look a lot like Christmas:)

So, have you started your holiday decor yet?

A Few Days Off

2009-11-24T16:15:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post to say that I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! P and I are heading out of town tomorrow morning for the holiday and the rest of the weekend. I can't wait! I'm looking forward to spending some relaxing time with these guys...

This is the wrong holiday (Easter) and was taken oh around 1985 or '86...but that's me in the plaid get-up, my sister Laura with the bowl cut, and my little brother Tom in the suspenders and bow-tie. When I get home tomorrow I'll yet at my mom for making us dress like this:)

Happy early Thanksgiving, everyone!!! Have a great holiday and see you next week!

My New Pillow

2009-11-23T10:00:00.000-05:00

Remember these grey plaid pillows I spied and wanted while shopping at Target a few months ago? (If not, read this!) I thought they would look great as fall and winter pillows in my family room. They were $19.99 back at the beginning of September.

Guess what? I'm the proud owner of one now...and I scored if for half price, only $9.99:)

I ran into Target one night after work a few weeks ago for some toiletries, and took a quick stroll down the seasonal accessory aisle. To my surprise and good fortune, they were clearing out all the "fall" stuff to get ready for the holiday stuff. They had 4 of these pillows left and they were reduced down to $9.99. I figured it was fate. But to be good, I bought only 1 instead of 2.

This weekend we started putting up the Christmas decor (I wouldn't normally do it this early but we aren't going to have much time once we get back from Thanksgiving and our party is the following weekend). I took down the brown and orange fall pillows, and now the new plaid pillow is sitting on the sofa in the family room...right where I envisioned it.

I love it next to the black pin-striped wool lumbar pillow I snagged a few years back at Crate and Barrel. These two don't scream holidays, but their texture, color, pattern and fabric say cozy winter to me.

********************

Speaking of the holidays and throw pillows...just a reminder that the next Mood Board Monday is 2 weeks from today on Monday, December 7th.

Design a room decorated for the holidays with 1 (or more) of these 4 inspirational throw pillows as your starting point.

{Hand-painted Snowman Linen Pillow Cover from Potter Barn}

{PEACE Holiday Hemp Pillow from NestaHome's etsy shop}

{Tidings Pillow from Crate and Barrel}

{Present Pillow by Olive's etsy shop}

For my original post with all the rules, click here. Hope to see you December 7th for the Mood Board Monday McLinky party!!

********************

If you want to make a mood board and maybe win something (the above is just for fun and to see what we all come up with), check out this mood board contest that Susan of Love Where You Live is hosting. She's pairing up with The Green Plum, a home furnishings boutique, to reward the top 3 designs with fabulous prizes. Head on over to see the 4 beautiful one-of-a-kind pieces that you get to choose from to kick-off your room. Deadline is December 5th. Good luck!!!

Rustic Elegance

2009-11-20T09:30:00.001-05:00

Thanks everyone for your super nice comments on our living room yesterday. It is the room in our house I'm the least happy with, so thanks for the encouragement:)

Phew, TGIF!!! Uh oh though, this means our annual holiday party is going down exactly 2 weeks and 1 day from now! (Usually we have it the weekend before Christmas, but this year we had to change the date and are doing it way early.) That is not much time to get everything done. So, I'm starting today with a holiday decor post..which means I can also link up to Melissa of The Inspired Room's Holiday Linky Party. Head over there to check out lots of holiday projects, pics and posts:)

Here are some inspiration pics that speak to my holiday decorating style. I love using natural greenery and I don't like to do much to it, just let it be. Wreaths, garland, berries, boxwood, branches. I also love using metallic at Christmas time...silver, gold, copper, bronze and especially mercury glass. Mixed with white. And some rustic, organic brown elements. Plus paper, I love paper. With its unlimited possibilities of color, pattern, sheen, texture, its perfect to use at the holidays. Doesn't take much to make me happy:)

{above images all from BHG}

Thanks for hosting, Melissa! And have a great weekend everyone!

The Living Room

2009-11-19T11:59:00.001-05:00

Hey! How's your day going? So I realized yesterday that I haven't shown most of you much of my living room yet. Oooh, goodie, instant new post:)

Our "living room" is the room directly to the right and at the front of the house off the foyer when you come in the front door. Here's what it looked like on move in day. That opening on the left takes you down a step into our "family room", which was part of an addition to the house before we bought it.

You've seen my fireplace. Right now it looks like this for fall. It will change soon for the holidays. (Every year we host an annual holiday open house...its like our thing. Usually its the weekend right before Christmas, this year we have to have it on Sat. Dec. 5th, which is in like 2 weeks!! Yikes. I'm thinking I have no choice but to start the decorating this weekend. Sorry, Thanksgiving.)

The living room has a bit of an awkward layout but we tried our best to work with it. There's 3 doorways and 3 windows and 1 fireplace...lots of things to arrange around. We ended up with 2 club chairs in chocolate brown leather (from Boston Interiors) on either side of the fireplace, facing away from it towards the wall with the sofa on it.

I took most of these pics sometime over the summer (oops), so a few things are different now. Above was summer, below is fall.

If you back up and take in more of the room, it looks something like this. (Not the greatest pic, sorry.)

Turning around, the only place we could see fit to put the sofa was on this wall, opposite the fireplace. (That doorway on the left leads out to the foyer and the front door. There's another doorway on the right that you can't see that leads into the kitchen.)

{the sofa is from Bernie and Phyl's...here's 2 of my favorite things in the room, this hand-made wool throw my mother-in-law brought us back from Ireland and my Pottery Barn little knubby stitched floral pillow covers}

The coffee table and end table are from Target. We bought them 3 years ago when we moved in and before I really got more into home decor/design, started figuring out my style and what I like. So I'm not thrilled that they both match completely and I think they are a bit too much dark brown/espresso in this room with the dark brown leather chairs. But they're not terrible either.

Another issue with this room is the flooring. Right now its this nasty cream carpet. See the foyer in the back left down there? It and the kitchen have hardwood floors in a cherry finish. We are currently debating about what to do with the floor in here and the rest of the downstairs...this will have to be a separate post).

I've painted this room twice now. First I did Benjamin Moore's Danville Tan which turned out to be darker and greener than I wanted. Now its BM Smokey Taupe which I like alot better. The family room on one side a soft yellowy-gray-green (Sweet Spring) and the kitchen on the other side is a warm beige (Barharbor Beige), so I wanted something to bridge the gap in this room.

Does anyone remember the Crate and Barrel Dubois Mirrors? They're square, with a beveled edge and an antiqued look to some of the glass? These were my cheap knock-off finds at Michaels one day, mine were $14.99 each, the C&B ones were $150 for 2!! I flanked them with these botanical prints from HomeGoods.

I suck at window treatments. They totally scare me. They are expensive and permanent. When Layla from the Lettered Cottage made her drop cloth drapes, I loved the color and texture of them. Of course, I don't sew, am impatient and don't have alot of extra time on my hands..so instead of buying the drop cloth panels for $9.99 each and turning them into curtains, I just purchased these lineny drapery panels from Target for $19.99 each. Hee, hee.

I didn't want a lot of contrast between the drapes and the wall, I just didn't realize these were going to be the exact same color as the walls when I hung them. Hmmm. The windows in here are a longer story than just this, so I also think this requires another post.

So for now, this is our living room. There's some things I need to work on, some things I want to do, a whole wall I didn't show you because its frankly just too embarrassing:) But at least now you've met.

Thanksgiving Inspiration

2009-11-17T09:30:00.001-05:00

I know its that weird time where we all start thinking about the holidays and want to get a head start, but we still have Thanksgiving to get through..yum! So here's a few inspiration pics in case you haven't figured out what you're going to do for your table yet:)

{Country Living}

{Country Living}

{Yankee Magazine}

{Yankee Magazine}

{BHG}

{BHG}

{BHG}

{BHG}

{BHG}

{BHG}

{BHG}

The Next Mood Board Monday

2009-11-14T17:35:00.001-05:00

Hi! Thanks for stopping by. I've got some exciting news...I'm extremely honored and flattered to be taking over the hosting of Mood Board Monday:)

This really fun McLinky party was started by the fabulous Pk over at Room Remix. For me, it's been a great way to hone my mood/inspiration board skills, to find new and different shopping resources, to see the enormously different ways people interpret and use the same things.

To check out the first and second Mood Board Monday parties, click here here and here.

If its ok with everyone, I'm thinking we'll have Mood Board Monday maybe once a month. The next one will be Monday, December 7th. For our inspiration, I'm combining two of my favorite things...the holidays and throw pillows:)

For this challenge, design a room decorated for the holidays with one (or more) of these 4 inspirational throw pillows. (Sorry, I found too many good ones and I wanted everyone to have something they liked!!)

A. Hand-painted Snowman Linen Pillow Cover from Pottery Barn ($35.00)

B. PEACE Holiday Hemp Pillow from NestaHome's shop on etsy ($23.00)...hand stamped with antique text printing blocks on a hemp/cotton blend

C. Tidings Pillow from Crate and Barrel ($34.95)...poinsettias, berries and vines embroidered on red felt

D. Present Pillow by Olive's shop on etsy ($29.00 and she'll even make you a custom "To:, From:" tag at no additional cost!)

Just to remind you or in case this is your first time playing, here are the rules/guidelines:

1. This is not a mood board competition for designers (althogh designers are more than welcome to participate). This is a fun way to share all of the creativity out there and showcase how we can all start from one inspiration point and end up with a variety of ideas.
2. To be a participant, you need to create a complete mood for a room of your choice using at least one the four inspiration pieces shown here.
3. On Mood Board Monday party day (Monday, Dec. 7th in this case), you will need to include your sources in your post and give a brief description of the room and how you used the inspiration item(s).

Sound good?! Spend as much fake money as you want, do this room for you or a made-up client, just have fun! So I'll see you back here on Monday, Dec. 7th for some holiday throw pillow goodness. Feel free to spread the word. And thanks again to Pk for this original idea and for allowing me to be involved:)

************

While we're at it, wanted to remind you about some other holiday home happiness going on around blogland for the next month or so that I can't wait to participate in:

-Every Monday Roeshel at the DIY Show Off will be hosting a DIY Show Off Holiday Highlight McLinky party. Head over there on Mondays for your daily dose of holiday DIY projects and inspiration.

-Every Friday starting this week, Melissa of The Inspired Room will be having her annual Holiday Linky Love Fridays. So go on over on Fridays and link up with your holiday inspiration or decor posts.

-On Friday, December 11th, Julia of Hooked on Houses will be hosting her Holiday Open House Tour:)

-And on Monday, December 14th, the Nester of Nesting Place will be hosting Boo Mama's old Christmas Tour of Homes...last year there were over 900 participants!!!

See you there!!!

Tablescape Thursday

2009-11-11T23:33:00.000-05:00

Today I'm going to participate in my first ever Tablescape Thursday over at Susan's Between Naps on the Porch! Yay! Head on over to check out tons of beautiful tablescapes. Hopefully I'm not breaking any of the rules by posting pics from last year's Thanksgiving dinner at our place (let's face it, my mom did most of the cooking though!). Yikes. I've been saving them to show you now. On a Thursday. Just 2 weeks until turkey day 2009!!

Last year, we had just my immediate family over, so there was only six of us (a nice, quiet relaxing dinner). I didn't go very crazy with the decor, mostly because I procrastinated by accident like usual...and I don't really have very much in terms of lots of china or table linens or antique flatware.

We use our white Staccato dishes from Crate and Barrel that we registered for for everyday and special days. White goes with everything:) I bought fresh flowers from Stop and Shop in oranges and browns and whites and put them in vases inside my 2 Birch sleeves from Pottery Barn. Used little white votives for ambiance and mini-pumpkins and gourds for color.

I tied the taupe napkins with jute and tucked a pressed leaf inside each one. Super easy.

And this is not part of the table, but I made a circle garland to hang on the fireplace (copper cardstock circles cut out with a circle punch, letters printed on cream paper and cut out by hand, all mounted with glue dots on chocolate satin ribbon).

Thanks for having us, Susan!

This year P and I headed home to Pa for Thanksgiving. Can't wait! What are your plans?

Secretary Set Up

2009-11-10T22:24:00.001-05:00

Remember Eddie Ross' gorgeous and totally fresh secretary make-over?

{the before}

{the after}

Ever since then I've wanted one of my own...to buy cheap and redo. Hmmm...as you might have noticed, I'm not the fastest when it comes to accomplishing things on my to-do or would-love-to-have list. (Case in point - the trim in the office which I need to paint, posted about sometime in early September and have only done 2 out of the 4 walls by now, mid-November.) So, needless to say I have not gotten my hands on a secretary:(

But I did have a run in with one this weekend. Too bad it is already taken...by my aunt. My sister came up from NYC this weekend so that we could help said aunt move in to her newly built townhome. The movers brought everything over to her new place on Friday, and then the MOH, P and I showed up early Saturday morning to help her unpack and move things around, etc. (Her new place is really great...beautiful hardwood floors, bright white trim with tall baseboards, huge windows, a soft creamy paint - a perfect and classic base.)

This is what we walked in to:

Do you see what I'm talking about? Not the mess (the lady just moved in yesterday for pete's sake.) Forget all the lampshades and upholstered cream chairs...focus on the far wall. My aunt has one of these secretaries? Where have I been? I know I've been over to her old condo tons, how did I miss that thing?! Do you think she'll let me have it?

{the other side of the living room when we got there - kitchen's on the right, over that half wall, fireplace is behind where I'm standing, slider to the left}

What? Oh, I'm supposed to be helping my aunt get settled in, not stealing her stuff?! Fine. Party poopers. We set out to arrange the living room, using only what she already had (which is lots of stuff that she claims she's had forever and doesn't like). All apparently, except the secretary. She still likes it. Figures.

First we placed the long yellow floral sofa a foot or two in front of the windows, facing the fireplace (there's not going to be a TV in this room). Then we decided to move the secretary next since its the second largest furniture piece and would probably dictate how the rest of the room would go. In true HGTV style, we put a rug under him and moved that big boy around in hopes of finding the perfect spot for him. First we tried that nook right next to the fireplace - it seemed the perfect size and what a cute little cozy spot to pay some bills or do some work.

{anybody need a small area rug?!}

I actually kinda liked him here. But we figured it might be overkill to have the 2 grandest things in the room right next to each other. So then we tried sliding him over to the opposite wall, to the right of the windows and backed up against the kitchen.

We put him closer to the window as opposed to centered on the wall because my aunt likes to keep the desk top down and that chair with it, and if we moved it more to the right it would interfere with the sofa. As it was, we had to move the sofa forward toward the fireplace (away from the windows) even more to fit the secretary here. And we didn't end up liking how far out in the middle of the room the couch had to be for this little set up to work. It made a long runway that probably wouldn't get used much in between the back of the sofa and the windows.

Doh! So basically we ended up moving him back to his original spot and liking this arrangement the best. Now if you sit at the desk you are still sort of a part of the main sitting area. And when you walk into the living room from the kitchen and the entryway, this wall is the wall you see. Get 'em right from the beginning!

Aunt Peg...if you're reading, I'll take the secretary off your hands anytime. Congrats on your new home and thanks for a fun weekend!

What do you think? Would you have put the secretary somewhere else? Or do you think we made the right decision?

Mood Board Monday

2009-11-05T21:40:00.002-05:00

I am loving Mood Board Monday! Today is the second Mood Board Monday McLinky Party...hosted this time by Tracy at Comfort and Luxury. Pk over at Room Remix started this awesome new blog event a while back and I have had such a good time participating.

Tracy's challenge was for us to pick one of these 2 chairs from Anthropologie (that's the Antwerp on the left and the Bertram on the right) and design a room around it. Fun, huh?!

I went with the Antwerp chair, because I loved the pattern and unexpected combo of bright colors. It's slightly out of my comfort zone, but that's what makes for a good challenge. I choose to use this chair in a bedroom.... a girl's gotta have a place to sit and read, to put her shoes on, to throw her clothes when she gets home late. I wanted this room to be sophisticated and elegant, but with fun pattern and lots of color.

1. the color palette, with a lovely shade of teal/turquoise for the walls
2. Jameson Upholstered Bed from Restoration Hardware in Sand Belgian Linen
3. Audrey Organic Duvet Cover and Shams from Pottery Barn
4. Kendra Pillows in Violet and Absinthe from Crate and Barrel (sari-inspired brocade on raw silk)
5. Lambert Pillow in Peacock from Crate and Barrel
6. Clairemont Side Table from Crate and Barrel (antiqued bronze-finished forged metal and glass)
7. Antwerp Chair from Anthropologie
8. Villaine large floor mirror from Ballard Designs
9. Dupioni Silk Tie-Top Drapes in Lemongrass from Pottery Barn
10. the Montego Extra-Wide Dresser in mahogany from Pottery Barn
11. Mid-century modern Saffron Yellow table lamp from Lamps Plus
12. lots of books like these from Waterstone's Hardbook Classics/Penguin Designer Classic with beautifully designed graphic covers from Coralie Bickford-Smith
13. Fluted Mercury Glass Candle Holders (Ballard Designs)
14. Limited Edition Framed Botanicals from Wysteria (real pressed plants from an antique French collection)

Thanks for hosting, Tracy! Can't wait to head on over to the party and see what everyone else has done with these chairs:)

Hope everyone has a great start to the week!

Memories of Rome Part III

2009-11-04T18:59:00.000-05:00

Buon giorno!! How is November going for everyone so far? I can't say I'm loving how dark it is now when I leave the office and walk to the train station:(

{strolling through the Villa Borghese park}

Thanks for coming along on my trip down memory lane. Its been fun for me to relook at all my photographs from my trip to Rome this time last year with my sister (and remember all the good times we had). So glad I took the time when we got back to label all the pics, otherwise I would have not remembered half of the names of the various plazas and monuments we were at!!! If you missed my first 2 posts, check them out here and here.

First stop today...the Pantheon! The funniest thing about this place is how you just randomly stumble on it as you turn a corner into the Piazza della Rotunda...its tucked among restaurants, fountains and other much taller buildings...I guess the city just grew up around it. See it there, just poking out? (The thing with all the columns, people!!!)

It's been there for thousands of years (circa 25 BC)!!! Originally built as a temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome, its been used as a Roman Catholic church since the 7th century. What really hit me about this place though is how much of an architectural marvel it is. It's still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. And the diameter of the rotunda is the exact same as the height of the dome. The 9 m diameter oculus (hole) in the top is the only "window" and its completely open, so even the rain gets in (the floor is slanted down so that the water flows to a central drain). Watching the play of light through the oculus was pretty fascinating.

Ok, let's head across the river to Vatican City (maybe just a quick gelato first?!). We signed up for a guided tour of the Vatican Museums, I would highly recommend this. The collections here are ridiculous, I especially loved seeing Raphael's masterpiece The School of Athens in person. And of course, the tour culminated with the Sistine Chapel.

Then we went into St. Peter's Basilica (on our own), which has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world. It was really beautiful. You pretty much just walk around in hushed awe.

On a spur of the moment whim, we climbed to the top of the cupola at the top of the dome (you can walk all the way up or you can ride an elevator part way and walk the rest). The view is spectacular:)

{the cupola}

{St. Peter's Square from the cupola}

I'll leave you with some shots from our travels around the city (we walked everywhere). Someday I'll go back and show P around:)

{Piazza del Popolo}

Memories of Rome Part II

2009-11-02T15:35:00.002-05:00

Hi! Hope everyone had a great Halloween weekend! Just to give you all a laugh, here's a pic of us in our costumes for the party we went to on Saturday night..it was an 80s and 90s TV theme. I'm Velma, the one with the gigantic glasses! My friend (Daphne) even made us a huge Scooby Doo foam board cut-out:)

And now let's continue our trip down memory lane with some more pics from Halloween 2008, which I totally boycotted in order to travel around Rome for 4 days with my sister! If you missed my first post, check it out here.

Today I'll show you Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum (which are both right next to the Colosseum and equally as impressive). We toured the Colosseum in the morning, and in the afternoon we walked up and around Palatine Hill. (We bought a joint ticket that allowed us access into both places).

Palatine Hill, an archaeological area, is one of the seven hills of Rome (the centermost) and one of the cities most ancient parts. On one side it looks down on the Roman Forum, and on the other, Circus Maximus (an ancient Roman chariot racing stadium and mass entertainment venue). Probably some of the first settlements of the city were here (ruins date back to 1000 BC), and later emperors and the rest of the ruling elite built their palaces here.

Perhaps the best part of Palatine Hill though is the view. It is lovely to slowly meander your way among the ruins, always keeping an eye out for what beautiful sites are in the distance or just down below.

Just in case you ever go - be careful, we almost didn't make it in because we got there late in the afternoon and they close the entrance gate an hour before they close the site (somewhere around sun set). At the end we were sort of rushed and aggressively herded out the exits (which meant we had to go to back to do the Forum the next day). But look at this gorgeous view of parts of the Forum and the city. So great to see everything at this special time of day, I love the lighting at sunset!

The Roman Forum (the valley of ruins at the base of Palatine Hill and behind Il Vittoriano and Capitoline Hill) is simply amazing. It was the heart of the ancient Roman civilization. The political and economic centre of Rome during the Republic. It was the central hub where everyone gathered for justice, faith, commerce and matters of the state.

Give yourself enough time to wander the Forum at your leisure. We actually ran into an American grad student studying in Rome who was walking around giving tours for free. We fell in with his group and learned a ton that we wouldn't have on our own.

{loved all the ornamentation, the gorgeous relief work and the detail that has survived for so long}

It is completely surreal to walk on the same stones that Julius Ceasar and his contemporaries did! Of course, it is always sworming with other tourists, but just try to ignore them...and instead imagine
yourself thousands of years ago coming to buy something at the marketplace here, worshipping at one of the temples, or listening to the latest public declaration.

{snapped a shot one night while we were walking by}

Thanks for letting me reminisce!

This Time Last Year

2009-10-30T17:02:00.001-04:00

I was not getting ready to dress up or give out candy...I was in Rome...with my sister!!!

Thought I could share with you some photos of our trip since I wasn't blogging this time last year. And because there's just way too much beauty in Rome for one post, maybe I'll break it up into a couple of back to back travel posts:)

P and I really want to go to Italy and travel around the country for a few weeks, but for now we don't have the time or the money. My sister however, is a very lets-do-this-thing kinda girl and we've traveled together before (a few years back the 3 of us - P, my sister and I - did Ireland together and had a fabulous time..maybe I'll show you those pics someday too). So the MOH (we'll just call her that, since that's been her nickname since my wedding 4 years ago -yes, it stands for Maid of Honor) and I decided to go for a short trip to one part of Italy, just to get see something and to satisfy our traveling itch for a bit. (P stayed home and let us have a girls trip...we invited him but he declined...no idea why!)

We decided on Rome and met each other at the Leonardo da Vinci (Fiumicino) Airport (the MOH lives in Manhattan). We were there for 4 days/5 nights but thought it was the perfect amount of time to spend in one city...long enough to not feel rushed and to become familiar with the area so that it sort of feels like home but short enough not to get bored and to leave knowing you want to go back to hit up some of the things you missed the first time round.

We stayed at the Marriott Grand Hotel Flora on Via Veneto overlooking the Villa Borghese Park. Travel tip: if you or your spouse travel a lot (especially for business), totally sign up for all the frequenty flyer miles, Amtrak miles, Starwood points, Marriott rewards, etc. It's worth it. P has gotten us free hotel rooms at least for some of the nights on every trip we've take together since we met. That's why we were able to stay here. And we got our Pottery Barn dining room table for free after converting all his Amtrak points to PB gift cards:)

{we had the best room, the one right between the 2 flags...there's me on the balcony!!}

Back to our awesome hotel - it was a great location and with views like these (taken from the rooftop when we splurged for brunch up there on our last day), we lucked out!

{Villa Borghese}

{yep, that's St. Peter's Basilica over across the River Tiber!!}

Rome is a place unlike any other. The history, the architecture, the food, the drink (well, I don't like wine, but I do love cappuccinos!)...mostly it just leaves you in awe.

I thought I'd start by showing you some photos of one of the most famous Imperial Roman landmarks and one of my favorite sites to have seen...The Colosseum/Colosseo. It was completed in 80 AD. Enough said (that's almost 2000 years ago!!!) Although I don't agree with the way this huge elliptical ampitheater was used back in the day, it is amazing to see and explore. Do not let the long lines to get in dissuade you, stick it out, the wait is worth it. (We paid for the audio tour, the kind where you follow a map to specially marked spots and listen to the recording when you get there...I like to hear all the information about a landmark when I visit...it makes the experience so much better.)

Unbelievable, no?! Check out how different it looks later on in the day when we came back as the sun started to set. These are once in a lifetime moments. Thanks, Moh, for such a great trip. And thanks, P for letting us go:)

Sigh...oh how I wish I was there now. Halloween is not really my thing...although P and I are attending a party tomorrow night as Velma and Shaggy of the Scooby Doo gang (the friends we are going with are going to be Fred and Daphne). I'd take Europe over trick-or-treating any year (although this could change when we have our own kiddos).

Posts to come on other wonderul spots like the Roman Forum, the Pantheon and the Vatican (if you get bored, let me know). Have a great weekend and happy Halloween:)

Boo!

2009-10-28T19:24:00.004-04:00

Setting: middle of October, 2008. around 7:30pm on a cold, blustery weeknight. in a quiet neighborhood street somewhere in New England. are you scared yet?

Ding dong. "Huh, who in the world could be ringing our doorbell now? I'd better go see who it is." When I open the front door though, there's no one there. Then I look down...and find a cute little package sitting on my stoop. But there's no one in sight. I snatch up the package and bring it inside and yell to P "Hey, look what somebody left us!" Inside I find 2 pieces of paper, one with a cute poem explaining what the heck is going on, and another with a cute picture of a ghost on it. And lots of fun fall and Halloween related stuff - candles, candy, a photo album, dish towels. Apparently we'd been boo'd by some of our neighbors:)

I'd never heard of this before, have you? It's a cool neighborhood game - if you are Boo'd, you had to pass it on by preparing 2 Boo packages of your own and delivering them, in stealth, to 2 other neighbors who had not been hit yet. It was all explained in this poem (which of course I can't find now), and to let our other neighbors know we'd already been boo'd, we had to put the picture of the ghost on our front door. So the next night I ran out to Target and found a bunch of cheap, fun fall/Halloween stuff. I also found these cute buckets to put them all in. Tied up my poem and ghosts (that you had to photocopy as part of the passing it on process) with some orange rafia and I was ready to go old school ring-the-bell-and-then-run-away-really-fast on these peeps.

{the neighbors we boo'd had kids, but I also included some good fall decor stuff in the buckets for the moms}

Paul drove us around the neighborhood the next night and I ran out (in the pouring rain) to deliver the baskets. It was pretty hilarious to put the basket on the stoop, ring the bell, and then scramble to hide behind a bush or something so that they couldn't see me! And I loved watching their expressions (I probably looked just as funny) when they opened the door and no one was there. Classic! So by the time Halloween came, if you drove around the neighborhood, at least 60% of the houses had ghosts on their front door (not bad for over 70 houses)!!

Anyone ever done this before in your neighborhood? And now the boo party has hit the web!!! And guess what?

I Have Been BOO'd!

The air is cool, the season is fall,

Soon Halloween will come to all.

Ghosts and goblins, spooks galore...

Tricky witches at your door.

The spooks are after things to do,

In fact, a spook brought this "BOO" to you.

The excitement comes when friends like you,

Copy this note and make it two.

We'll all have smiles on our faces,

When we see who Boo'd who's places.

Fun! So I've been boo'd by Roeshel at the DIY Show Off. Now...the following 4 ladies have been officially Boo'd by me:

1. Katyo at The Green Door - she's from my neck of the woods and is doing some major renovations on her Cape Cod style home.
2. Lauren of Doodles by Lauren - the mom of three adorable kiddos, she still has time to have her own business creating super sweet custom childrens' art.
3. Karen at A Day in the Life of Karen - she has a fabulous house and makes one really good looking pregnant woman, can't wait for her little girl to get here!
4. Jodee of Follow the Leaders - I love reading about Jodee and her husband and their 2 kids, they really know how to have a good time...plus she actually says I inspired her to do a home decor project!

This BOO party was started by Toni@The Tattered Cottage. Please keep the fun going by following these instructions.

1. You have 24 hours to work your spell.
2. Copy and post the Halloween Boo Poem with the instructions for playing.
3. Pick 4 blogs you enjoying visiting and tell why you enjoy visiting them, with a link to
their blog and remember to link back to me.
4. Go to the original BOO Party post at the Tattered Cottage and add your MckLinky.
5. Let's see how fast and far this spreads between now and Halloween!

***Editted: Here's a link for how to start the Halloween Boo in your neighborhood!

Stay tuned for a post soon about what I did last Halloween:)

A Cool Moment

2009-10-27T16:00:00.003-04:00

If no one minds, I'm going to do a bit of horn tooting. I recently had my 15 minutes of fame!!!

I think most of you are familiar with thenest.com, right? (If you aren't and can find more time to chat online, prepare to become addicted). I'm a regular on the Decorating and Renovating community board, there I'm known as mrspaz. This summer, the nest contacted me about being in the fall issue of their magazine, a subscription only that they publish quarterly. They were interested in including as much reader-generated content as they could...so they wanted me to answer some home related questions that other nesties had asked. Cool, huh?!

I did my best to answer honestly, creatively and without sounding like too much of a moron. Upon receipt of the actual thing in print early in October (a very proud moment), I realized the editors took some liberties with the text I sent in (I suppose this is normal?)...so most of the wording and ideas are mine, with a few catch phrases added or sentences rearranged done by them.

I am very grateful for and flattered by the whole experience. Thanks to the nest for the opportunity:)

{cover of the fall '09 issue}

Here's the intro/page 1, page 2 and page 3 of the "article". Right. So apparently my hair does not convert so well over into a silhouetted little avatar. (See my head, very wide nose and helmet hair next to the little subtitle that says "Nestie mrspaz has spent the last three years decorating..."?)

The all caps screenname immediately after the question is the nestie who asked it. Then the larger text is my answer. There's 8 questions all together (although the nest editors answered the last one because I have never vacuumed my hardwood floors and didn't feel comfortable taking that one).

What do you guys think? Did I do an ok job? (I hope you can read most of the text, I'm still a beginner when it comes to blog formatting, I wish I these would blow up to a larger size when you clicked on them, but they don't.) Anything you would change about or add to any of these answers?

I can't wait to see Layla, Kevin and The Lettered Cottage on the cover of the nest's winter issue! Congrats, guys! (And congrats to any other nesties who've made it in over the years.) Thanks again to everybody over at the nest!

Rate My Space Rockstar

2009-10-26T12:07:00.000-04:00

Hey! How's everyone doing? I haven't stalked the HGTV Rate My Space website in a while, so I was checking it out again this morning. I found myself a new favorite poster, TABCAD.

{Cottage}

{Cabana}

{Pool Area}

{Master Bedroom Overlooking Pool}

{Dining Room}

{Breakfast Nook}

Uhm, hello, TABCAD! Will you be my new best friend?