November, December, January...

For the first time since moving into this house, I went into our attic/crawlspace. It's not so bad, but I definitely won't be converting it into a lounge anytime soon.

November is always my busiest travel time, so the items on our project list are mostly small chores. Except this one:

One sleepless night, all i could think about is repurposing our extra bedroom. Right now it's being used as all-purpose storage and the home of our ironing board. The closet is half the size of the other closets in the house. Turning this space into a walk-in closet room definitely piques my interest.

Don't get me wrong. I definitely don't have enough of a wardrobe to warrant a closet room. However, I like the idea that everything has it's own place. 

My official November project is shelf styling and art. With some of our bigger art now framed and our photo shelves up, I've been rearranging our knick knacks and decor. I've been collecting prints and fun things from my travels and it's nice to have somewhere to display them.  

There are still some blank spots, but we have plenty more travels ahead and a few more things to frame. 

Inside Inspiration

With the unofficial start of Fall, I find I have much more time on my hands. Although the work travel doesn't let up, both Troy and I are now telecommuters, spending much more time in the house than ever before. If there was any remorse in buying a house, it's gone. If we were still in our two bedroom, subterranean apartment, we might have killed each other by now.

After getting a handle on the yard this spring and summer, I can focus on the interior projects as it gets nippier. With all this time inside, we might as well make the inside a much more fun place to be.

Here is some new inspiration going into the last quarter of the year:

So You Want to Live in a Nancy Meyers Movie

I love Nancy Meyers and all of the beautiful houses in her films. I'd even hang out with Jack Nicholson if that meant I could hang out in Diane Keaton's Hamptons house in Something's Gotta Give.

The 10 Things You Must Have In Your Home By Age 30

I love a good checklist, and was pleased to find I have accumulated most of this already (except the whole plant thing).

I'd like a piece like this from Bungalow 5 to go in our office.
Printer on top. Organized stationary and office supply storage in the drawers.
An office clean and polish is sorely needed.

An overstuffed chair for the bedroom and
curtains for almost every room in the house...

I've said this at least three times, but "Get frames for the gallery wall" is in sight.
Find a way to display a collection the represents you and your style.

I also like to have a second "Spring Clean" in the Fall, mostly to prep the house for winter. That includes:

• Seeding the yard and spraying last minute weed killer
• Replacing any dead light bulbs, inside and out
• Going to Costco and replenishing bulk supplies, cleaning products
• Replacing candles and toiletries for the Guest bathroom
• Clean out closets for donations

Last but not least, I can finally get a pumpkin this year for the house. You think the neighbors would mind if I spray painted it gold?

Deferred Maintenance

I just got back from two weeks of work travel. Thus, the flower beds needed a serious overhaul, the mountain of laundry needed to be conquered, and all the little things that build up over time needed some serious Clorox.

In the middle of my trip, I got to spend a couple days with some family and friends in Illinois. After a comment of why I haven't updated this blog in awhile, I started thinking about all the house projects we've been putting off since February.

Here's the list so far…

This past weekend was a huge step in the right direction, as far as having a organized plan to tackle our home. I went through a ton of Pinterest articles and photos, and Troy and I went over the list point-by-point over coffee; our semi-new Friday night date at our favorite coffeehouse. 

We purchased a chainsaw attachment for our trimmer/weed wacker and trimmed all of the low hanging branches. Also, don't call me un-Southern, but I dug up almost all of my azalea bushes. They were planted a 3-4 years ago and haven't been pruned since. Only two of the bushes bloomed this spring, so instead of having bare leg bushes, I tossed them. It looks like I have giant gophers…

It's been a good time to do yard work. The rain hasn't been nearly as bad as last year, and the house across the street has undergone some major renovation. It was a small catalyst to getting our yard looking good, and most of the neighbors have taken the same cue. 

A couple weeks ago, I dug out our mailbox bed. It was pretty much hopeless trying to keep it maintained and the stones were not keeping the grass out. After removing the stones and first layer of dirt, I spread some Wildflower "Butterfly and Hummingbird" mix and fresh topsoil. Now we are seeing the first blooms.

And with that, I'm getting back to work.

Spring turns to Summer

In my grandparents' basement, they have an entire wall papered in a map of the world. They and their four sons (my dad and 3 uncles) have color designated dots, and those are placed in every city they've visited or been stationed at. Since most of my family has served and/or flies planes, the entire wall is pretty much covered in dots. 

Since I was little, I've always felt cabin fever; either from moving every two years or just always wanting to be someplace more exciting. Maybe it's because of the wall, but I've always wanted to be everywhere. 

We've now been in our house for 10 months. Closing and starting this big project was a turning point for the two of us, not only in our relationship but in our lives. Troy turned 30 this past January, and I will turn 30 at the end of next August. We are both out of the growing stages and into the "Summer" of our lives. 

With that in mind, we had two big things happen in the last week. First, after a lot of talk and negotiation, we decided to take an extended vacation next spring. This very much changes our mindset on spending, as well as the future plans for this house.

Second, Troy will now be working full-time remote. So both of us will be working at home, every day, just the two of us, all the time…

One decision requires us to save money and cut back on recreational spending. The other calls for required fun time out of the house, just to say sane.

Everything now has to be prioritized; including getting married, remodeling, our social schedule and commitments, future vacations, etc. So while there won't be any big projects near the caliber of what we did upon moving in, I can swing little nips and tucks here and there: frames, cleaning and replanting flower beds, hanging curtains.

Any tips on juggling the two without feeling like poor college students living off of Ramen?

Spring Green

We started off the month with this. A very big Bradford Pear tree, knocked over from a storm. Despite being told that it couldn't have fallen more perfectly, it was still a good $565 to get it cleaned up. 

We also got a quote to remove a giant maple from our not-so-big backyard. We're going to wait awhile before footing that $900 bill...

Also from this photo, I want to repaint the exterior of the house to a clean white, build a trellis above (hopefully) new garage doors and new outdoor lighting fixtures.

One the bright side, literally, our small side yard will now have enough sun to grow grass. I'm hoping to replace our swing, but after we have a clue as to what to do with the extra space.

Lastly, our fall toils paid off. We finally have grass in the backyard. As you can tell from the giant shadow, the giant maple has to go if we plan on using the yard in any functional way. There is too much shade to do garden boxes or even hang out down there, especially in the summer when the mosquitoes come. 

Guilty + Spring Awakening

I confess. After the bridal shower in February, I took a very deliberate hiatus from doing any more work on the house. The shower was one of my mile markers to have a certain amount of progress done on the house, and this accelerated timeline cost a lot more than I had originally planned. 

So after two months of traveling and crazy cold weather, I spent the last week polishing up our landscaping and planning projects for the spring and summer. 

This is our insanely huge camellia bush. It's two stories up, and I had actually get into it in order to do some pruning. At least now it doesn't look like it's attacking the back deck. 

This started growing in our front yard about two weeks ago. I have no idea what it is. Please help. 

Our azaleas finally bloomed. 

It was a very nice surprise, since we moved into the house in August and had no idea what these bushes were. The house is quite pretty (and pink) this spring. 

The side walkway. We should be getting solar path lights for these this season. I do plan on cleaning out the front flower beds and laying down mulch, not pine straw. The next blooms should be the now-clean rose bushes.

As for the inside, I got to put this up for a Bachelorette party two weeks ago. For five girls on a Bachelorette sleepover, this was a fun Photo Booth. 

I also put together these girly, high school sleepover-themed gift bags for the weekend. They had: Ring Pops, Fun Dip, flavored Lip Smackers, mini Bonne Bell nail polish and a mix CD for the Bride, put together by the bridesmaids.

One Friday night and my Mobstr project is done. Yes, this is a reproduction from London graffiti artist, Mobstr. Since you can't really buy his work, I made this myself. Not exactly how I pictured it. I wanted a little more modern, less finger paint, but it fills the space nicely. 

I also got to Ikea in time (kind of) to snag one of the last white Ikea Expedit shelving units. It's now a floor-to-ceiling unit for the office. Strangely, the office now seems like it need more work to bring everything together and not look completely cluttered. 

Next up will be the finishing touches on the guest rooms, getting back into furniture refinishing, and trying to find more wall decor. It feel like we have the house "half together". 

Until next time…

The Bridal Shower

Sadly, I did not getting any photos of the shower before the guests came. I'm hoping to snag them from the sister-of-the-groom later on. 

However, it was the first time the house seemed to come together and I received many compliments on how "darling" my home is. I put it in quotes so I don't toot my own horn. 

We picked up another IKEA Expedit unit and some attachable table legs. We now have a new sidebar for our dining room. All of our glassware is now on display, and the table top served as the shower cupcake and candy bar. 

Our bar cart in the kitchen served as our bellini bar. I had Simply Orange, strawberry and peach purees in glass litre bottles, along with coolers of cucumber-mint water and southern sweet tea. We picked up 8 bottles of different proseccos and champagnes, and the ladies made their own bellinis and mimosas in  mason jars with chevron straws. 

The theme for the shower was lovebirds. We used the wedding colors (navy and yellow) and used paper lanterns around the house for decoration. I also had 30 white and blue balloons around the house and tied in the yard. 

This photo was after the cleanup, but we had yellow and white chrysanthemums on the table in short vases.

The cookie favors were on the front entry way table, along with hurricane vases filled with yellow lemons. 

Hopefully, more pre-showers photos to come, but in the meantime here are some photos from our Pinterest board that we used for inspiration. 

Dollar Store cake stands that one of our bridesmaids made.

The invitations that we had made via Etsy. Our birds were yellow to match.

The Thistle House

Last week presented another first for me. I've slept in all the dorms, as well as spent time in a almost all of the faculty houses and apartments. But after over 10 years of being a part of the St. Margaret's community, I got to spend the night in the Thistle House. The alumnae house is across the street from campus and is open to all alums visiting the school. 

The Thistle is a beautiful old house, as are most SMS houses. It has some quirky features and classic structure. As part of my alumnae presidency, I have some ideas to make this house warmer and more welcoming, a place where alums are happy to visit. It's the perfect blank canvas.

Every class gets a class compilation, framing our senior portraits. I read that there should always be a portrait hanging, if only just to never feel alone. These classes of girls gave me some pretty awesome company when the house randomly settles.

Girls in White Dresses at Mayball.

It would take a bit of rearranging, but I would love to have a nice bookcase with all of the books published by alums. I'd also request a much bigger TV that actually works.

All the rooms have twin beds. There is also a nice-sized dining room, a small kitchen and 2.5 baths. Most of the house has been decorated with furniture that has been given or left to the school.  

 What would you do with a house like this? 

Snow in ATL

It hasn't substantially snowed in Atlanta since 2011. So when it started coming down yesterday afternoon, I was very excited to see the house covered in snow. 

Since we've been house-bound for the last two days, I started a couple paint projects. 

There's a great wood-working store down the road called Woodcraft, and they've been a huge help with my furniture refinishing project. This time, we picked up a couple different wood stains from General Finishes. 

So far, I've painted our living room bookcase and our stairwell bannister. When I get back from my next trip, I'm hoping to also update our bathroom cabinets. Still very confused about which door hinges to get.

I hear the Gel Stain is much better, but my patience is limited.
I picked the water-based so I wouldn't have to deal with oil-based messes.

The Black is very, very black. But, it does anchor the room much better.
It also puts getting new couches higher up on the list. 

This project took about three days to complete, mostly because I could only do it in the evenings. The spindles are Whitewash and the bannister and stairs are Espresso. I went back and forth on whether or not I loved it, or if it didn't work with the carpet, or the floor, or any other random house-flipping factor that I might not have thought hard enough about. 

I do like how it turned out, if I don't pay attention to little smudges or not perfectly straight lines. Overall, our house is starting to split between very, very white and very, very saturated color. Still waiting to see if it will all come together.