Getting to know your home

After you have lived somewhere at least six months, the walls start to talk.  You know exactly what you should do to make the house feel perfectly balanced for you.  While I loved our Navy Blue dining room, I was really struggling with trying to balance the three adjoining rooms.  I decided that the room was meant to be a darker grey...and I was right!  It is as close to perfect as it is going to get.  Now we continue our search to find the perfect light! 
The color is Benjamin Moore Kendall Charcoal - HC-166

 

When we got the brass chairs, the room was blue,  and the chairs were perfect.  I'm now wishing we would have gotten the black steel chairs instead.  That is the way it goes! These will have to do for now.  Too much other furniture to worry about!

I'd like to find a large Oval Mirror to put over the fireplace.  I feel like we have too many square and boxy things.  An oval mirror will add a few more layers.

The adjoining fireplace room is painted with Valspar Vintage Gold and we love that color as well.  

DIY Wedding Invites

For those of you that know me, you know how much I love paper!  Making cards has always been a favorite hobby.  I learned that not only is it a hobby, it's an obsession!  I have a hard time working on anything else once I bring out all my paper and pens and scissors.

I knew I wanted to design our wedding invitations.  I found a lot of different invites on-line, but all were pretty detailed and required expensive software.  I downloaded the free trial of photoshop and spent hours playing with the design.  I learned so much about photoshop that I never knew before!  I also learned that I loved it!  I could have spent six months on the invitations alone.

I used vintage Post Cards as the RSVP and had the stamps made at Zazzle.com to mimic a vintage post card.  I'm really happy with the results!

Our Yard - Before and After

Here is a grainy picture of our yard last year.  It was so much work and there wasn't much open space to just lay around in the yard.  We wanted to get rid of the chain link fence and all the other stuff that was so much upkeep.....and we did!

And after....

In the near future we will add a garden bed and a birch tree.  We are so happy with the new space!  I can't wait for summer BBQs.

And here is a picture after the sod had a chance to root.  It grows like crazy and looks more like a carpet.  I'm so glad we decided to use sod and not plant seed.  We are really happy with it.

At Home for Christmas

This is my 4th year in Portland and it's the first time I've been here for Christmas.  While it's going be hard to be away from my immediate family this year, it's exciting to spend it with Aaron in our new home.

We went to a tree farm to hand pick and cut down our tree.  It's a beautiful Nobel Pine and it's over 7 feet tall.  I can see how going to the same tree farm every year could easily become a family tradition.  It was a fun day.

Cinnamon scented pinecones add a little extra holiday warmth

Our Upstairs Bath

(please excuse the grainy photo, this was from the original house listing)

Before:

After:

I am completely in love with this mint color.  It is a refreshing yet relaxing color.  Perfect for an old bathroom

Our Dining Room Makeover

Here is what our dining room looked like when we first moved in.  While I like this pumpkin color, it wasn't the look I wanted.  

Primer can be helpful.

Not at all attractive!

Dark Blue is so much fun, but I had no idea that I would need about 5 coats of paint.  And this is one ugly light!

Notice the new light!  This isn't the final lighting choice for the dining room, but it will do until we can afford to purchase the one that we want.  This light will then move into the fireplace room.  It was a great purchase from a rummage sale - and all the credit can be given to my man for finding it.  Great find honey!

The back wall picture is a silhouette picture of my family.  I wasn't sure how it would look, but I'm happy with the result.

I've always liked the look of plates on walls.  I spent an afternoon finding a few plates that I liked.  The common theme?  Gold edges.  It feels finished to me, but I imagine if I find a plate that I can't live without, I will replace a few that are currently in the mix.

I searched all over town for a long buffet table.  Aaron and I both liked the look of old merchandise counters and so I was bound and determined to find one for our dining room.  I felt lucky when I found this piece!  This is actually the back of the merchandise counter - The front is all glass.  It's a perfect piece for our dining room.  A few hours of sanding is all it took to make it look amazing!

So far, I've found the two awesome metal chairs and this amazing old church bench.  The blue chairs are for another table that we use on our porch in the summer.  They are a temporary fix until I find a better match.  Finding the perfect chairs can be a difficult process!

What's missing?  Curtains & a Rug!  I have my eye on the perfect ones, but they aren't cheap.  We've gotta save for a  bit before the room will be completed.

Here is a picture I took on Thanksgiving before everyone came over.  It was such a warm feeling to see the table all decorated for a holiday.  This is what a home is all about!

2011 Holiday Card Design

I had a lot of fun designing our Holiday Cards this year!  We enjoyed an extra long fall here in Portland and I wanted a card that gave a feeling of a little fall, winter and warmth.  Each card is made slightly different of course, but here is an example: