31 Days: Challenge Accepted!

One of my favorite bloggers, The Nester, has been doing a "31 Days" in October for the past 3 years.  She posts every day in October around a theme.  Past themes have included: "31 Days of Lovely Limitations", "31 Days to a Less Messy Nest", and "31 Days to a Better Dressed Nest".

She has thrown out the offer to all of her readers to do their own 31 Days series during the month of October, and I thought it would be a great way to keep me on track to blogging every day.

We're still hoping to be moving in / closing on a house (any house!) by the end of October, so it should be a challenge to continue to blog daily with everything that has to go on with house hunting / packing / moving into a new house.  All of the potential chaos that could come our way during the month of October prompted me to choose the theme:

I think that it will be a good way to keep my head from exploding - a gentle daily reminder to keep things simple, do my best to eliminate needless chaos and reflect on the things that really matter in my life.

I want to incorporate a lot of the elements that I love in life:

Interior Design

Cooking

Fashion / Style

Photography

I could even break it up and do one week for each category.  I need to start thinking ahead and coming up with 31 days' worth of ideas to keep me going!

If you want to do your own 31 Days challenge, and create your own button, here's a link to her post.

Good luck!

Happy Hunter Day!

No, it's not a national holiday that you're unaware of - (although there probably is a National Hunter Day).  Today is the day that my new Hunter rain boots arrived!

Thanks to my lovely UPS man for delivering them safely to my doorstep!

I've been wanting a pair of these for years - since at least Fall 2008 - but have put off buying them because I never thought I needed them.  I remember sharing an elevator with a very tall, glamourous-looking model after a fashion show in Chicago.  She was wearing the bright yellow glossy tall Hunters, and I remember being so jealous!  I want to be a tall glamourous model in Chicago with skinny legs and Hunters!

Original Tall Gloss in Vintage Yellow

                         
Price also kept me from buying them.  With a $135.00 price tag, it's not the kind of purchase I can afford to just buy without a lot of consideration.  And saving.

Let me assure you, the thrill of opening the box today was worth the price.

What a beautiful box!

Original Tall.  Women's Size 9.  Dark Olive.  Perfection.

Let me itemize the reasons why this was a great day (and a great purchase - finally!)

-  Hunter has been making these boots for the British since 1856.  There's a link to the Hunter brand history here.  They've been making them pretty much the same way ever since.
-  They will last forever.  They have the official seal of  Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh stamped inside.  The Queen doesn't just go around endorsing products left and right.  Hunter even made over 1.1 million boots for the troops in WWI.  If they can handle combat, they can handle a little snow and mud in southern Ohio.

The Official Seals of the British Monarchy.  There's Also a Spot for Your Name and Phone Number!

-  The color and style I chose is completely classic Hunter.  Dark olive reads as a neutral - neither black nor brown - so I can wear them with a variety of colors.  The Classic Tall style will never go out of fashion.  It's the same, original style since the early days - no trendy footwear here.

New Boot Day!

The Logo is Backward Since I was Shooting into the Mirror

Once it gets cold, I'm getting me a pair of these puppies, to be really warm.

Moss Cable Cuff Welly Sock in Cream

"The cuff of these welly socks features a new cable knit design, which wraps horizontally round the top of the cuff complimented by a finer moss stitch underneath. Our welly socks are made from soft fleece to keep your feet cozy and give a snug fit in your Original Boots."

At just $40 for snuggley, fleecy socks, I figure these'll be a good Christmas/Birthday gift idea for myself.

I can't wait to wear them this fall and winter!  Is it boot weather yet?!

Inspiration Boards

Even though we are new-house-less, I've been compiling mood boards for the new house that we'll have (someday).  I find that it really helps to have an overall view of what you're going for - a big picture.  That way you can see how things will go together and plan for a cohesive look throughout the room, and from one room to another.

We did this all the time in design school.  In the old days, we'd pour through catalogs and magazines, carefully using Xacto knives to cut out photos of furniture and accessories, and glue them down to foam core boards with actual fabric samples, paint chips, and wood finishes.

These days, it's way easier to do it all digitally.  You can hunt around online for limitless options for furnishings and materials, copy and paste the photo and resize and crop as needed.

I use Powerpoint to do all of mine.  It's what we used when I worked at the Giant Cabinet Conglomerate for our photography sets, and it's what I continue to use now for my personal life.

So far, I only have three rooms finished for our (someday) new house: the kitchen, dining, and living rooms.  I started with these because they are all in the same area, all open to each other, so I wanted to make sure I had consistent themes throughout.

These three rooms have several common elements:

1.  Wood planks and beams on the ceiling.  I want to paint them all white, to give the whole area a county cottagey vibe.  Tongue-and-groove planks are easy to install with construction adhesive and a nail gun, and the beams are just 2x4s installed on top.

2.  Dark-stained hardwood flooring.  I'd really like to have wide planks, with some knotty texture (like oak) that will show through the espresso or walnut colored stain.  I also want high-shine on them, so that they will reflect natural light, visually expanding the floorspace.  The dark finish will also help to create the illusion of depth, since dark colors recede visually and contribute to the open feeling I'm going for.

3.  Jute rugs.  Rugs help to define areas, create a cozy spot for furniture to sit and gather on, and add visual texture.  This is a big way to bring natural elements into your home.  The photo I used is from Ballard Designs, who has a really wide variety of sizes at good prices. 

4.  Rustic metal.  In addition to the wood floors and jute rugs, I plan to use a lot of weathered, aged metal through accessories.  A good example is my old milk crates.  I also like the look of galvanized steel, like on these chairs from Crate and Barrel.  The help to lend the rustic vibe I'm going for, and will hold up for a really long time.  The leather couch is the Austin Leather Sofa from Pottery Barn, and I really like the way the dark color of the leather will contrast with the jute rug it will sit on, then echo the dark hardwood floor underneath.  This is a basic principle of design called repetition - repeating a similar color, texture or shape contributes to overall harmony in a room.

Don't be afraid to mix finishes in metals, too.  I always used to be so matchy-matchy and thought that all of the metal finishes have to be the same.  Not true!  I love a lot of different finishes, and you'll notice that I have brushed nickel in the kitchen (pendant lighting, pulls and faucet), rusty metal (milk crates, wire baskets and base of the coffee table), and black iron (in the light fixture for the foyer and the chandelier for the dining room).

I can't wait to post the rest of the rooms once I've got them all done.  Earlier this year, we purchased a bed and two dressers from Ikea, so I need to work those into the master bedroom board, and work with our existing couch for the finished basement.  Lord knows I'd love to go out and buy all brand new things, but that's just not the way life works, folks.  Creative interior design comes from using what you already have and with the budget you have, no matter how restrictive it is!

Rustic Chalet

So the house that we'd put the offer in for back in early July has fallen through - for now.  The current owners have been going back and forth trying to get full rights to sell the house in order to avoid having to be in the same room together, so that whole deal is in limbo right now.

We've continued looking and are going to see one tonight.



Listing photo

It's a chalet-style house and has a lot, I mean A LOT of interior wood.  It's a little overwhelming.

Listing photo

And the kitchen is tiny, as you can see in the photo above.  According to the Sibcy Cline listing, it's only 9' x 9'.  I'm going to take field measurements when we go look at it tonight to be sure.

I've been exploring options for this house today, mainly for what to do with all that wood.  I like the wood as a textural element, but think the walls need to be painted white. 

Layla from The Lettered Cottage has a great post with a reader question who has a guest bedroom that looks just like this house.

Image from The Lettered Cottage

The reader's husband doesn't want to lose the look of the original wood, so she suggested a few options.  Read the full article here.

This was my favorite solution, and the option I would do with the house.

Image from The Lettered Cottage

I like this image the best because it keeps the wood on the floor and ceilings, and you would still get the texture of the individual boards and the woodgrain even with painting the walls white.  Plus, the house gets a lot of natural light, and the addition of our existing white furniture and light-colored accessories would help to brighten things up.

Listing Photo

The above image shows just how much beautiful natural lighting the living room and kitchen area get.  I also love the open floorplan and the open staircase. 

Another great feature of this house is the lot.

Listing Photo

It sits on 1.27 acres off of a country road, just outside the city limit of Lebanon, Ohio.  The acreage is mostly flat, with the exception of the walk-out basement you see here.  It has a line of mature trees that border the lot to the east, to block traffic from the nearby highway.  I'd say 1.27 acres is plenty of room for a few chickens!

I really hope that this one is as good in person as it is on the website.  Who knows, by the end of the night, we might have put in an offer on it!

Wish us luck!

She's Gone Country!

Oh how things change with time and maturity!

As we get older and our lives change, so follows the evolution of our style and design philosophies.  Once the pets and kids come along, ultra-modern furniture no longer seems practical or comfortable.  Soon we're concerned about the scrub-ability of the fabrics we're choosing, and after a long day working, want to come home to relax on a sofa we can really sink into.

I think it's ironic that since moving to "the city" my own personal style has drifted more into the Country / Rustic genres, and I'm more concerned about incorporating natural materials and colors into every room.

I've realized that living in a home that's filled with only man-made, modern objects can feel sterile and unwelcoming.  So to bring the nature in, I've been incorporating a lot of natural and found elements into each room:




Deer Horn with Driftwood in a Jar




Gnarly Driftwood in the Bedroom

Abalone Shells Collected from the Little Miami River

I've also been buying a lot of antiques lately.  Adding items that have lived a life before you encountered them adds history and a sense of rustic comfort to a house.  I really like looking for antique crates and baskets to help corral the everyday items that can get disorganized easily.  Plus, they tend to be cheap, so you can pick up multiples at one time.

I have an antique metal milk crate in the bedroom that keeps all my magazines and catalogs together.  Then when it's time to recycle, I can just take the crate outside.



Milk Crate Magazine Holder

I also picked up a couple of wooden crates at the Tri-State Antique Market to keep around the house as organizers.

This one is a cranberry crate and it sits just outside the kitchen so we can kick off our flip-flops before walking on the carpet.  Plus it hides our dirty shoes and looks a lot better than having them sitting out on the floor.



Cranberry Crate for Shoes

The Schweppes crate I picked up because it says "Cinti, Ohio" and is from the factory here in town.  Plus, I loves my gin + tonics with some Schweppes.

I don't have anything in the crate just yet, but when we get the house I think it'll go in the kitchen to hold either recyclables or potatoes and onions. 

The basket sitting on top of the crate is from the Newtown Farm Market and it was just $0.99.  I use it when I go out to the garden to pick vegetables.

So I've decided to call my new mix of styles:

"Modern Rustic Vintage"

Because it incorporates my persistant preference for shiny surfaces and clean lines and simplified forms (Modern), the new addition of varied textures like worn wood, natural fibers, patina metal and muted colors (Rustic), and antiques or items that have been used as something else in the past (Vintage).

It may not seem important to define one's style, but it helps to focus your vision a bit, in order to make sure that what you add to your home becomes a cohesive element and works with items you already have. 

Styles change and people change, but I think that this is a design theme that I'll have for a really long time, since it allows for a lot of flexibility and changing out of indiviual items to freshen things up every so often.

Happy antique hunting!

Finally! A Plant I Can Manage!

I will admit it freely: I am notoriously bad with plants of any kind.  Indoor, outdoor, in a pot, in the ground - it doesn't matter - it won't live long in my care. 

My past experiences seem to have no effect on my perpetual need to have something green around the house.  So earlier this spring I headed off to the Home Depot and grabbed 12 cute little hot pink geraniums for just $0.88 each.  I bought two planters to put on the front porch and a couple of smaller pots for my office and the kitchen.

Here's what they look like now:

Geranium in my office.  At least it still has SOME flowers, right?

(Here's a link to the cute robin's egg blue pot in the photo above, just in case you were wondering.)




Geraniums Beware!

 

My biggest problem has always been remembering to water them.  I am usually really good about doing it for the first 2 - 3 weeks and then they're on their own.  I occasionally remember here and there, but I've just never been able to adhere to a watering routine.
Like everyone else in the design world right now, I've been seeing terrariums everywhere.  These are just simple plantings in glass containers with a few succulents and some rocks.  Finally something I could manage, since succulents are arid climate plants and only need to be watered every two weeks.

The instructions I used to plant my terrariums are from Martha Stewart's website, which you can find here.

Martha's Terrarium

Below is a picture of my terrariums when I finished planting them:

3 Lovely Terrariums!

And here is a closeup:

I already had the largest vase, and picked up the other two for less than a dollar each at a thrift store.  I decided to go with all cylinders, to keep the shapes similar, but to vary the height, knowing that I was going to put them in a grouping together on my coffee table.

For the river rock, I used actual stones I gathered from the Little Miami, about two blocks from my house.  But you can buy river stones from the garden center at Home Depot.  I used Miracle Gro's Cactus, Palm and Citrus Soil, also purchased from Home Depot.  I used a comination of Echeveria and Mimicry species.

These little beauties have lasted all summer long with very little watering.  They are also an idea for an easy hostess or housewarming gift.