Goodbye summer- you've been good to us

It's hard saying goodbye. It's been a fabulous summer. Probably the busiest we've had since being married. Rob and I got away by ourselves to Florida in June to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary, Maine in July, and Ocean City NJ a few weeks ago in August. With lots going on in between- play dates, weddings, parties. It really has been great, and we feel blessed to be able to have taken the time to go away and spend time with each other and family.

{photograph by BucksCountyFrames}

However, I am looking forward to things getting back to "normal", whatever that is. We have already started to adjust to Rob's new weekend work schedule, which so far hasn't been too bad. In fact, in some ways, it's been nicer. But there are some difficult things about it that we are figuring out. Rob is also going to start taking classes this fall to work towards his Masters in Nursing. Even though these are really big changes for Rob, and our family, I'm so proud of my husband and his motivation to provide for our family and his desire to challenge himself in his career. I also know that I will need to learn some new ways to support him in these changes.

The one nice thing about Rob's new schedule is it gives us more time to work on house projects. Last week we started on the bedroom project by getting the bedroom painted. I also found the perfect rug for the bedroom, that only cost $40. Rob and I are heading out to Ikea later this week to pick up some things and to do some planning for moving the closet into the bedroom. I don't want to post any bedroom pictures yet because there is still a lot to do. But, it is coming along, and I already love it so much more than before.

I'm starting to work on the details in the bedroom that will really make the space. I've decided that I want to use some vintage fabric in the space to soften the modern lines and tone down all the white. Etsy has been a great source to find things like this. I've been trying to find inspiration through blogs and other online sources.

Also, this book, which I got for my birthday, has some great ideas too.

I hope everyone has had a great summer, and hopefully you are doing something really fun this labor day weekend as a last hurrah.

I'll be back soon, hopefully with some bedroom progress and some Etsy Fridays again too.

home again, but not for too long

We got home from a great vacation in Maine on Monday. It was lovely! We had beautiful weather and Aiden was so good on the long drive, which was one thing I was really worried about. But, it is always nice to come back home.

I've been doing lots of thinking and planning about our bedroom and closet projects, but I'm not going to be able to start anything real soon. We leave for the shore in another 2 and a half weeks, which are already filling up with busyness. I am hoping after our shore vacation that things will slow down. Aiden is going to be starting pre-school 2 mornings a week in September, which will open up more time during the week to get some things done.

So, here's something a little random, since I have made no progress on my project. In this month's "House Beautiful", I was immediately drawn to this article about this little beach bungalo...

I love the beach, and I always dream about having a little bungalo to decorate. I always feel that in a vacation home, you can do something that maybe you wouldn't necessarily do in your own home.

Which is why I love this space. All the pattern and color, I find it so charming.

I love how everything else is white, the walls, the cabinets, so that she could do whatever she wanted with everything else.

I love this wallpaper in the kids' room

You can read more about the house here.

I'm not sure that I will ever have a little beach bungalo of our own, but my wishful thinking makes me think maybe some day, someone will want me to help decorate theirs

Feeling good

Over the past few days, I have taken a lot of time to think about a bedroom makeover. I have been gathering lots of inspirations from other blogs, and talking it over with Rob to figure out what we want. I also realize how important it is not to rush into things, so we can make sure we know what we want.

I realize this style furniture is way different than our bedroom, but I just love all the white and gray that is going on in here.

{Little House Blog}

One thing that is hard with our little abode is storage. There is not a lot of closet space, and with 3 bedrooms, we are limited.

I've said this before, but I keep coming back to the fact that we have this little walk through closet in between our bedroom and the bathroom that needs to be used more efficiently. ( I realized it is really hard to take pictures of the closet because it is so small)

Through talking about our bedroom makeover, I realize it would be best to be able to use this space as an office/creative/ place to store things that are currently in the spare room closet. I have always wanted a place to be able to sew, or do the bills. I also want us to be able to have all of that kind of stuff in one place, now it is tucked into little places all over the house. Rob is also going to be going back to school in the fall and I want him to have a quiet place to work. The only problem is that if we don't use it as our closet,we need a place to hang our clothes.

The inspiration on what I want to do with the closet comes easily....

{images from apartment therapy}

But we can't get into that until we have a place to hang our clothes and we are not exactly sure how to make a space for that in our bedroom. We have had bad experiences with wardrobes when we lived in our apartment. We also don't want something extremely permanent in case we try and sell the house some day and the buyers don't get my whole philosophy of giving up a walk in closet.

Enter IKEA....

We would like to do something along the lines of taking one of the walls in the bedroom and installing something like this...

We would install some kind of track system on the ceiling around it and I would make curtains out of fabric, and voilla. But, somehow, I don't think it is going to be this simple.

Luckily Rob is really good at researching the best way to do something like this and I totally trust him to help make this vision work.

We put a time frame on this whole project (since it has now become more complicated than just painting the bedroom) of finishing by Christmas. That includes the makeover of the closet space as well. I am super eager to start, but with all we have going on this summer, we may only get the bedroom painted, but I am ok with that. I really feel like these past few days I have been able to take some time to enjoy what I like to do- getting inspired, planning a project. And along the way I have realized I am not alone in wanting to re-paint my bedroom, even though I like the current color.

We're heading off to Maine this week, so I may not be here for awhile. Hope everyone is having a great summer!

Be prepared for a long post....

I can't even believe how busy this summer is and every time I go to my blog, I just sit there and stare, not feeling like doing a post, but feeling guilty about the date at the top of my lost post. Then there is usually a dialog in my head that goes something like this, "no one reads or looks at this blog anyway, so does it really matter? ...But you're not supposed to be doing this blog for anyone else, it's supposed to be for you". I have been learning a lot recently about grace and through that, a lot about guilt. So, I am going to first apologize for my lack of posting to you and to myself, because when I am consistent on this little blog of mine, it means that I am being creative, and focusing on things I enjoy, taking a break from things like potty-training. But, I am not going to feel guilty about it. I am moving on, and if it is another month that goes by without a post, I am ok with that.

So, here I am....

In my last post I mentioned the re-decorating of a room. That room is our bedroom. I have struggled with our bedroom since moving in. A little over a year after moving in, we bought a new bedroom set, the Malm set from Ikea. We wanted something that was modern-feeling, and simple.

I always have all these good ideas which usually include pattern, fabrics, colors. But then when I try and execute it, it's always a disaster.

I painted our bedroom this lovely color blue a little over 2 years ago. I love this color, but am having a hard time making it work. The blue doesn't connect to anything else. Every time I try and make it connect, it never ends up working out, and I get tired of it after a few weeks.

Here are the things I like about our bedroom:

the white- white chair, white comfy bed, white curtains. I want our bedroom to feel calm and clean, a restful place- and I think white can help accomplish that.

the furniture- I love the Malm set from Ikea, and at the time, when we bought it, we didn't (and still don't) have the money to invest in really nice bedroom furniture. I already have my dream bedroom furniture picked out, well the bed anyway, and I do believe someday it will happen, but I am perfectly content with this Ikea set right now. I also was able to score the bookcase from the Pottery Barn outlet- it's West Elm, and the finish matched well with the other furniture.

the reading nook- ok, it's not really much of a nook, but more of a chair, stool and lamp on the one wall. But, I like it. This chair is also from Ikea, but it is from the AS IS room and was $35. It was marked wrong, as a side table- muahahaha. I don't feel guilty that I practically stole this from them- I know that legally, a store cannot mark something and then say that it was marked wrong and try and sell it at a different price, they have to give you the marked price. I really like having a chair in the bedroom, even if at the moment, Bailey uses it more than anyone else.

my dresser- the lamp, the mirror above it, I just like how it looks. It doesn't always look this neat though, there are usually papers, magazines, monitor, etc., thrown all over it.

the curtains- in this picture below, you can see that there is actually a design on the curtains, which I like and makes it feel acceptable to only have one on each window, and to always have them closed because they let light through. We have room darkening shades behind them that we use to sleep and in the summer it hides the air conditioner in the window when it is not in use- you can't even see it in the left window, can you?

Here are the things I dislike about the room:

the rug- I think I've mentioned before how much I dislike this rug. It's old and it is going, once I figure out what I want to replace it.

the wall space- that poster above the bed is coming down. Rob is not too happy about that fact, and it is one thing that we completely disagree on. I hung it there one day because I needed to hang something there, but it is literally from my college dorm room, and it is in a frame with no glass- real classy. Rob thinks it looks cool for some unknown reason that I really don't understand. The wall with Rob's dresser and the reading nook needs something on it. I also want to take down the 3 hooks to the left of the chair.

I would also love to have shelves above the TV, but I am not sure if that wall can handle it. Our walls are weird, and it is difficult to hang heavy things.

organization of the bookcase- I love this bookcase, but it is tricky for storing books, kind of ironic. I actually have no problem with how the books are on the shelves, but I always struggle with the top part, where the magazine boxes currently are, and those 2 random picture frames need to not be there, they look awkward.

the blue- I know I already said why I struggle with it, but just to reiterate. I really do love this color, and I want to make it work, I just don't think I can, so what I want to do, is paint the room white. AHHHH I know! What is wrong with me? I am always painting and changing things. I always love white bedrooms, and painting the room white (or the palest gray you can imagine), will pull everything together. I realize there is a lot I need to do, like get a new rug, but I think painting it white will help with all those other little things. Right now all I see is the blue, and every time I try to do something, I am always trying to make it work with the blue, and I just can't.

My hope is to do the bedroom, then move to the closet, and then to bathroom. I am thinking maybe I could use this blue in the closet or the bathroom somehow because I really do love it.

I am a little scared to paint the room. I think I am embarrassed to be changing another room, and I really hate painting, but it is the most inexpensive way to make a big change, and I really think that by doing this, it will help me in the other areas where I am stuck.

So try not to judge me, and instead, look at these white-walled bedrooms and try and understand where I am coming from.

I am hoping in my next post to explain some of my ideas in the problem areas I expressed above. Also, I have no plans to paint our room in the very near future. We leave for Maine in a week, so at least not until we get home.

(all images from apartmenttherapy)

home again

It is always nice to come home again after being away. Rob and I returned from our trip to Florida a couple days ago, and while I miss that Florida sunshine and the smell of the beach, it feels good to be home.

I realized I took similar pictures upon returning from Maine last summer.

Since returning home I have a strong sense of motivation for a new decorating project. Maybe I just needed some time to relax and clear my head. I will inform and keep you updated when I actually start doing some things, but for now I am just in the brainstorming stage. But here is what I am using for inspiration- see if you can guess what room I will be working on?

Bubble

I really want a George Nelson bubble lamp.

I realize that they are EVERYWHERE, but I just can't help it. I love them. I think I first fell in love back in 2006 when Jessie Randall's apartment was featured in Domino. I love everything about this apartment and have used it as inspiration many times. Here's a picture of her living room with the George Nelson saucer lamp, which is my preferred shape.

I want it for over our dining room table. I realize that the cost is a bit crazy , but I feel like it would be a good investment- we would have it FOREVER, and maybe it would even be passed down to one of our kids, who will hopefully appreciate modern design as much as we do.

So, maybe someday we will have one. The good thing is that Rob is TOTALLY on board with this one, he loves modern design. We've talked about how over time, we would like to collect some of the quintessential modern design pieces, like an Eames chair, or Rob's favorite, Saarinen's womb chair- which I still need some convincing of. Maybe because every time I see it, it is in a bright red color, which I am not too fond of. But I have sat in one and they are ridiculously comfortable.

Etsy Friday

I know that Father's Day is a few weeks away, but things are so busy around here that I know I need to be planning ahead. So, I picked out a few things on Etsy that I thought were fun gifts for dad. I know that I always have a hard time buying the men in my life gifts, so hopefully this will give you some inspiration if you are in the same boat.

I thought this t-shirt was so cute, especially for new dads- you can customize the year.

{Vintage Dad t-shirt}

Bathing in Guiness? I know Rob would be a fan!

{Guinness stout handmade soap}

Rob is not a golfer but I thought this was pretty clever!

{Golf Club Laptop Decal}

I thought these were snazzy!

{Custom luggage tags}

We are pretty hardcore Phillies fans. To say that we are obsessed would probably be an understatement. We even took Aiden to the parade when he was a baby. So, I know anything to do with Phillies is always a hit. I thought this panaromic photo of the field would be nice framed in an office or in a grouping with other pictures.

{Philadelphia Phillies Panoramic}

And lastly, has anyone seen the Miller Light commercial about the guy getting a beer at the bar and he has a "satchel" or man purse?! haha, I laughed so hard when I saw that. But, anyway, here is a nice "satchel" if your man is confident enough! Or, to just use for work :)

{City Messenger}

Hope you all have a nice weekend and stay cool!