Our New Paintings

My mom was nice enough to hand down a couple paintings by Maurice Utrillo that were my grandma's from back in the day. We're pretty sure they are prints or lithographs, but they certainly look original to me! The simple gal in me went with a very basic brown frame and off white mat and I think both choices make the paintings pop! We opted for a "museum style" hang, so it's hanging from our crown molding ledge. At first I wasn't so sure, but now I'm really digging it!

Thanks for sharing with us, Mom! They fit perfectly in our home. And it's nice to have a little more Nama in our home :)

A Belated Mother's Day

I'm finding it hard to keep up on the blog these days, especially in a timely manner! But with time, I make it happen. So catching up from a week ago for Mother's Day, both of our folks came over for lunch on the deck. I made fancy schmancy sammies (because our moms only deserve the best!) - including one that was pear, brie and caramelized onions (grilled and served warm) and another that was pepper turkey, ham, white cheddar, avocado, tomato, red onion, arugula and lemon mayo. Served with a side of fruit salad and a glass of wine, it was scrumptious. After lunch, we walked to Bleubird Creamery for a scoop of ice cream - their snickerdoodle ice cream is one of my faves! 

All in all, a great Mother's Day. I am so blessed to have such an amazing mother and pretty soon, a mother-in-law! Love you both :)

P.S. Last Mother's Day, we showed our parents our home for the first time! It wasn't quite ours yet, but we got to peek in the windows and show them the back deck. Fast forward one year and we got to picnic on our deck! Can't believe it's been a year...

 

Family Heirloom

Let me introduce you to the newest member of our family: our new dining room table and bench! They. are. AMAZING. I cannot even begin to tell you how absolutely perfect they are. When my dad and uncle said they would make us a table and bench, I expected something beautiful, but maybe a bit more rustic. This isn't rustic in the least bit - it's a true work of art.

If I saw this on any furniture store floor, I would be mesmerized. But since it was handcrafted with love by my Dad and Uncle Brad - it's even more special. It's hard to tell how many man hours went into this table, but I don't think it would be a stretch to say in the hundreds. Needless to say, we owe them BIG TIME. Thank you both for the love and time you poured into this project - we are quite fortunate, to say the least!

P.S. Here's an in-progress shot and our first table.

 Beautifully polished.

Just perfect.

Goose approved.

Did you notice my cute little Owl Salt and Pepper shakers? They were a gift from my Mom :)

Dreaming

We have a fun, little bonus room right off our bedroom and as you can see, it's a bit lackluster. It's a bit dark, has paneling and well, it has red carpet. It almost has a church cathedral-like feeling. We currently use it as an office/storage hybrid room, but I'm always dreaming up what we might eventually do in that room. Architecturally, it could be beautiful. While the space is a bit smaller, I'm loving the bright white room with wooden beams. The colors and simplicity are perfect. (If only we could have that view too!) At any rate, it's something to file away for the future!

The Before: Bathroom

It feels like many moons ago that we gave our bathroom a little facelift. I don't call it a remodel because structurally, the only thing we changed was the mirror cabinet. But dang, the little changes we took on made a world of difference. When we started, we didn't realize how much of an undertaking a simple "facelift" would be, but it was still so worth it - the bathroom finally feels clean! But let me count the reasons this old bathroom had to go.

1. The wallpaper was dirty and dinghy. It was splitting on almost every seam and on the black wallpaper, they masked the cracks on the seams by coloring the wall with sharpie. Clever? Yes. Classy? No.
2. The vanity was also dinghy.
3. The mirrored racetrack lighting was just not pretty.
4. The outlets only worked when the lights were on. 
5. The mirror cabinet didn't open well without a yank, which always made me think it would shatter in my hands. 
6. The chair rail looked weird around the outlet. (As you can see above)
7. The ceiling was wallpapered. I mean, that's less of an aesthetic problem and more of "pain in my rear for trying to get it down" problem. 

So I'll just let you soak in what we were up against. One of the many things I took away from this experience: I will never, ever use wallpaper. Seriously, it's the devil.

Like the hole-in-the-wall toilet paper holder?

Under the wallpaper, we were surprised with many years worth of paint. Pink, orange, and even some purple flowered wallpaper!

 

The original floors are great. The dirty vanity on the other hand, not so great.

This is after the first layer of wallpaper was off. Then we had to do 1-2 more rounds of scraping and sanding! I wouldn't wish this process on my greatest enemy.

Coming soon: The Finished Bathroom!

I covet

Wouldn't this just look perfect in our dining room? It fits the period of our home. It's not to gaudy, yet still has a classic look. And it sparkles. What girl doesn't like a little sparkle?    

Pre-Thanksgiving

A few years ago, I learned that taking the week off between Christmas and New Year's was pure bliss. After today, I'm thinking that taking the day before Thanksgiving off is also quite nice. Today has been a combination of relaxing and getting stuff done. I made the mashed potatoes so I can easily throw them into the oven tomorrow and even prepped the stuffing. (The recipe requires you to let the french bread and cornbread stay out for 24 hours, so it gets a little crusty.) Next up, play with the kitties before I get the carpet monster (i.e. vacuum) out and they run away.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Secret Message

Remember when we started remodeling our bathroom back in SEPTEMBER? Well, I'm pleased to announce that it'll be finished soon! (It'll be nice to use the sink again - brushing our teeth and washing our hands/faces in the kitchen has been interesting) And a blog reveal will most definitely happen. But let me just tell you this: It's turning out to be gorgeous! It may be my favorite room of the moment. (Well, second to this room, obviously.)

In the process, I left a secret message for the people who remodel this bathroom next because it sure as heck won't be us; we'll either be gone or hire someone next time! We also put a dollar bill in the wall because it's honestly one of my dreams that good ol' Judy (former owner) left a giant stash of money somewhere - she was elderly so you never know, right? And I realize that a dollar wouldn't be considered a "giant stash" by any means, but sorta fun!

Oh, and we found more evidence of different wallpaper. Judy just loved her wallpaper.

Goodwill Gold

The same day I picked up my lamp, we also came across this little number at Goodwill. I wasn't completely sold on it at first because there were some dirt smudges and the frame was just plain ugly, but since I grew up on the water, it felt like an ode to home. And for only $13, I decided to take a risk and see if I could spiffy it up to fill the void on an empty wall in my living room. At least until I could buy some art that I really, really loved.

So we brought it home, even though Joe remained skeptical. First, I used a damp rag to rub off the dirt marks, which worked wonders - it came off and even make the paint wet again, so it looked like an original brushstroke. Then, I used some brown paint we had laying around to paint the frame. What a transformation!

Now it's hung proudly on the wall and completely complements the room - with the greens, blues and browns - it's the perfect fit. I'm not sure I'll even need to look for a replacement any time soon. What do you think?

P.S. It's signed by a Hendrickson, dated 1965 - it's like a little piece of history! Fun, huh?

DIY: Lamp

Since our living room doesn't have overhead lighting, we have to rely strictly on lamps. Luckily, we have a floor lamp from my apartment, but there was one little corner that needed a little lighting oomph. So I've been keeping my eyes open for the perfect lamp. Turns out, the perfect lamp is ridiculously expensive. I mean, come on, it's a lamp, why you gotta charge an arm and a leg? So until I could find this quintessential "perfect" lamp, I thought I'd bring a little light in our lives on the cheap.

Enter: Goodwill.

I figured if we could find a nice, functional lamp, and add a little paint and a new shade - it would bring it to life.

This was the winner. A $7 ceramic lamp with bent-up shade. (Fifi really liked it.) Please disregard the base, I had already taped it up to prepare for Operation Spray Paint. We picked a really pretty blue-green for a pop of color, but still tie in with our green walls and navy couch.

But Operation Spray Paint wasn't perfect. Some flecks of something from outside got into the paint and there were a few drips. So I had to let it dry and do some sanding.

But after a little TLC, it all turned out fine and dandy. Look at this beauty! Spray paint for $5 and a shade for $16 - with the lamp, that makes $28. This similar lamp goes for more than 20x that!

And little did we know, a lamp shade provides endless hours of entertainment for the kitties. Double score.

Labor Day

We took Labor Day seriously by laboring away in our bathroom. What started as "hey, let's take down the wallpaper and paint the bathroom" turned into a much bigger project than expected. First, this wallpaper was clearly designed by SATAN and consequently took a dozen hours to fully remove (and we haven't even finished the ceiling - yes, they had wallpapered the ceiling, who does that?!). It also did a fair share of damage to the walls, so we'll have to do some patching.

One thing led to another and we were dreaming up big changes, but we're holding back and just replacing the mirror/vanity for now. But even that will take more labor than expected - changing wiring to move the lights on each side of the mirror, patching a part of the wall because the Ikea model we found doesn't quite fit into the hole in the wall, etc.

But don't worry, we also got some quality water, sun and BBQ time in this weekend - more to come on that! In the meantime, if you know of anyone who does pro-bono bathroom work, send them my way :)

Good Morning, Seattle

One of my absolute favorite things about our new home is the view from our bedroom - a peek-a-boo view of Green Lake, the mountains and city homes. As someone who has only lived in homes that get sunset views (crazy, huh?), it's been fabulous to experience the early morning sunrise.

While I'm not always up at the crack of dawn, I occasionally sneak a peek of the view once the sun starts filling our bedroom and waking me up. It's been so pretty lately, that even in my bleary-eyed state, I grab my phone to snap a quick picture to capture the moment. I don't really have the energy (read: I'm halfway asleep still) to actually get out of bed to frame the picture nicely, so these pictures don't do it justice. But I'll tell you this: it's lovely.

Cat Lady

If you know me well, you know I have a weakness for kitties. For most of my life, I've had a little fur ball around. In fact, I technically have my little Lissy at my parent's home - if she wasn't so dependent on the Great Outdoors, I'd bring her down here in a heartbeat. But coming from a very quiet dead end, surrounded by acres of woods to a street lined with houses and a smaller backyard, well, that might be a little too much for her.

So a few months ago, I tried to convince Joe to get a little kitty. He held strong on no, but said we could get one when we finally got a house. The night we signed our final papers on our home, he said, "you know what this means? We can get a cat now..." Imagine my reaction and times that by 10 - that's how excited I was.

But there was one more hurdle - our upcoming vacation. Cats are easy to care for when you go on vacation, but kittens are a whole different story. So we had to wait some more until we could invite a fur ball or two into our lives. When I saw the latest litter on the Itty Bitty Kitty Committee, I just had to ask when they would be take-home ready. And guess what? It was right after we got home from vacation! Perfect.

Now the hard part: which one do I choose?! Turns out, there are many, many valid reasons why it's better to adopt two kittens rather than just one. That made the decision a little easier - we got to choose two! Yesterday, we went to visit the litter - which inevitably made me want to adopt all five - but decided on two little babes to invite into our home. These two were always playing together and seemed to gravitate to us the most. They have already been named through an amazing fundraiser, Sherman (orange boy) and Pheona (tabby girl). To respect the fundraiser and those that donated hundreds to name these little ones, we plan to keep their names in some capacity. 

So meet Fiona and Gustav Sherman.

Seriously, aren't they the cutest little buggers you've ever seen?!

 

pics from Itty Bitty Kitty Committee

Mystery Gardener

Dear Mystery Gardener,
First of all, thank you, thank you, thank you. As new homeowners, we're still trying to collect all of the things that apartment or condo living has not required. Exhibit A: lawnmower.

In an effort to not be the neighborhood's weakest link, I have hand cut the front lawn to help the curb appeal. The backyard, on the other hand, was a total and complete jungle. I'm talking, "Honey, I shrunk the kids" jungle.

But last night, much to my surprise, I noticed the front lawn had been mowed! Me-oh-my, I thought to myself and I quickly ran to the backyard. Wowza, this is what I remember the backyard looking like when we visited the open house and fell in love with out little home! That was exactly two months ago and the lawn had clearly not been mowed since. But more than just a mow, someone had weeded!

Mystery gardener, I don't know who you are and I don't know where you come from, but I like you. I'm just going to pretend you were a sympathetic neighbor who saw me hard-at-work cutting the lawn - then decided to fill your random-acts-of-kindness quota. For that, I thank you kindly.

Sincerely,
Petes

P.S. Look at our backyard now!

Flower Power

Yep, this is one of our bathrooms. It's a beauty, huh? I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I've heard, "Never, EVER change this bathroom" when people see our flower power bathroom. And to be honest, changing it is at the very, very bottom of my list of home projects. In fact, I may just keep it like this for the long haul. Granted, if it were our everyday bathroom, then I'd be singing a different tune. But this bathroom is in tucked away in the unfinished basement and will likely just be, well, let's just call it what it is, an "emergency bathroom."

Please note the striped wallpaper too. That is what covers the other wall - you know because crazy, bright flowers and stripes go so well together.

Please also note: this is not the only room with red floors. Oh don't you worry, I'll get to that later.

Peaceful Blues

 

As a new homeowner, I can't spend more than a few minutes in a room without envisioning what it will look like someday. I squint my eyes and see an area rug there, a painted wall here, a table lamp there, a mirror here. (Joe usually says, "I can see the dollar signs in that stare", so I quickly flash back to reality.) It's a slow process, but over time, it'll get there. We've decided (well, I decided and ran the idea by Joe, who happily agreed) that we'll do peaceful hues of blue and gray in our bedroom one day. Now, everything I see is a pretty shade of blue! It's like the universe knew that I have the blues... on my mind. 

Any other beautiful blue or gray bedroom pieces out there that I should know of? 

 

 

pics via 1 2 3 4

The End of The E.N.D.

A wine bar that offers complimentary champagne when seated? Has over 100 bottles of wine to choose from? Delicious, delicious small plates? Laid-back, casual atmosphere? Yep, that's my kind of place. And thanks to Stephanie, I was able to experience The E.N.D. Wine Bar before it closes at the end of the month! I wish I had discovered this gem sooner because it was a complete delight.

We went to cheers to the new home and catch up on everything under the sun. You can't really go wrong with celebrating and girl talk, huh?

Stephanie, thanks again for a fabulous evening! You can bet your bottom dollar there will be many wine nights on our deck this summer :)

P.S. Stephanie gives the full rundown of their seemingly simple, yet brilliant concept. 

It's celebration time!

 

The instant we got home last night, we loaded my car with a few early-packed boxes, packed a picnic dinner and headed to our new home! We even decided to bust out some of our road trip wine from a couple years ago to make it a proper celebration.

Oh my goodness, I'm in love. I felt like a little kid in a candy store. While it has its imperfections (what house from the 20s doesn't?), it's perfect in my eyes. A blank slate - we'll be able to decorate, paint, design and remodel how we want. It'll take time, but that's fine by me - I'm up for the challenge!

 

Excited in our backyard!