First Snow in the New House!

Nothing brings out my inner child more than a snowfall followed by a snowball fight! I am loving the winter wonderland outside and the warm fire inside!
You can see Poof's cute little paw prints on the deck :)

In the closet? Out of the closet? I say all that really matters is that there's a door on that closet.

And our office closet now has a door. We ordered the thing FOREVER ago and it just arrived. The guy at Lowe's apologized for it taking so long and claims there was a 'holiday rush'. Hmm...a holiday rush for closet doors? Riiight. I think they just forgot about our order until David called to check on it a few weeks ago.

Here's a look at what the closet looked like when we moved in (eww):
Dave installed the new shelves and racks in October and we were just waiting for that door to arrive...
The closet opening needed to be lowered slightly for the closet door to fit:We decided on a mirrored door with trim the color of the floors andd here's the finished product:

And the wall came tumbling down!

One of the many mysteries of our house was a wall we presume to have been built along with a permanent staircase up to the attic. The stairs take up less than 1/2 the length of the room yet the wall continues along the entire room cutting off much needed space and a window from the master bedroom. This weekend it was time for that wall to go!!

Here's a few before pics:

Our handy friend Sean came over to help us with the demolition and he quickly discovered another old house mystery. Not only was there a lathe & plaster wall but there was sheet rock over the lathe & plaster...double the strength, double the fun?
David having a manly power tool moment.
Here's where we crossed our fingers. While we knew the wall wasn't structural, we didn't know if any pipes or electrical were housed in it. Lucky for us, it wasn't hiding anything unexpected in that department!
We saved the trim and door from this wall to use between the master bathroom and bedroom which the house was missing when we bought it. I'm so ready to get this door reinstalled in its new home so we don't have to use a blanket as a bathroom door anymore.
I haven't seen David this happy in photos since our trip to Panama. He is REALLY happy to be removing this wall!

And here's the wall all gone:

We ended up with around 36sq ft of additional space but it feels like twice that! The next phase will be to patch the ceiling and walls, and trim it all in. When we have the floors downstairs resurfaced, we'll have the gaps in the floor left by this project filled in.

Thanks again to Sean and to Paul who also came over to help us with this project. You guys are the best. :)

A little more home in our house

I finally got some of our family photos up on the walls in the hallway. I have always been a fan of white frames haphazardly hung so I bought all different frame styles and went to town. I love the way it looks.

Now I just need a perfect console table for the far wall under the photos. The work is never done. :)
And just for the record, this is what the hallway looked like when we bought the house in April. My how far we've come...

Pretty Things in Pretty Spaces

Spent some time looking for design inspiration online and am currently obsessing over these Sally Conran designs:

I am loving these curtains in contrasting damask-ish fabrics. Curtains couldn't be that hard to make, right? Maybe I'll try my hand at something like this...
I LOVE dark navy/charcoal spaces. Also loving these flowers, might have to grow them in my garden...that doesn't exist yet.
I have never been a fan of wallpaper in the past, but lately I've been digging large patterned wallpaper in subtle colors. I think it would look fantastic above the woodwork in our dining room.
Loving the shelf idea in this bathroom because it creates so much more 'counter' space which would be great in our small master bath! This crib is incredible.

(images: Sally Conran)

Project Insulating the Attic

We embarked upon another winterization project over the past two days which was to insulate the attic. We wanted the space up there to remain usable in the future (I'm hoping for an art studio for mwah!) so we opted to have the insulation put in under the floorboards. We weren't too keen on the idea of dealing with the insulation ourselves so we hired our trusty handyman Enrique to do the job for us.

The attic floor only has 7" of dead space which meant the highest rated insulation that would officially fit is R-19. However, we decided to squeeze in R-30 which officially needs about 9". By condensing it we will lose some effectiveness but it should still give us more insulation than R-19 would have. We were hoping to get some Energy Trust credits for this project but that doesn't apply unless you install R-38 or higher which wouldn't fit.

This project was SO anti-climatic because you can't see anything is different. The attic floor looks exactly the same as it did before. The only proof was the rolls of insulation that were in our entryway and are now gone. Hopefully more proof is coming in the form of lower heating bills!

These are a few of my favorite things...

Pottery Barn velvet curtains and white faux-fur throws...
As we'll be knocking out a wall and gaining a window in the master bedroom, we needed to match the third window treatment to the other two we already finished. Pottery Barn to the rescue...got one more velvet panel in pewter. I also had to have the coziest throw EVER in white to keep me warm this winter. I can't wait to curl up in it by the fire with my babes.

I also have my eye on two other fantastic PB finds that are over the budget for now (here's hoping for a sale!):
-The velvet curtains in espresso for the living room. We need two 100" x 96" panels and PB actually carries this size.
-The new Cecil rug. Love it! Love it! Love it!
The design is such a unique take on the Arts &Crafts style, combining beautiful shades of greens, oranges and reds in a graphic yet sophisticated pattern.

Window Shopping

We are getting closer to an overhaul of the downstairs. With this in mind, I've been looking for some fabulous ceiling fan options for the living room and chandelier options for the dining room. I'm trying to stick to the mission theme and incorporate the stained/beveled glass from the house windows (and something that matches our lamps wouldn't hurt either). I also want to stay away from the typical 'Rejuvenation' options because I see them everywhere and want something more unique. If anyone has any good sources I'd love to know about them! Here are a few I am loving right now:

57" Mission Bronze Advan Touch Ceiling Fan
Tahoe 6 Light Chandelier in Bronze
I can't get enough of House of Antique Hardware. They have the most wonderful period items and they ship from a warehouse in Portland so local buyers can pick-up their items.

Project Demudification

After we had our wonderful french drain put in, the strip of property on the East side of the house became a giant mud pit. Over the past few weeks we dropped in a stone walkway, planted hostas and ground covers, transplanted a few ferns from the woods at my dad's house and spread lots of seeds from of a mystery shade-loving plant that grows at my mom's house.

I look forward to seeing how this pathway garden shapes up come Springtime!