A birthday list...

via Patterson Maker

My birthday came and went, quietly again, like last year.  I guess that's what birthdays do as you get older.  Of course, no birthday of mine is complete without a list of lofty goals and ambitions for the coming year. 

I make a list every year and I feel like I tend to add things that are maybe just a tad bit unobtainable, maybe I'm too optimistic about the future and what I can realistically get done with my current schedule.  Last year was a total fluke because I had no idea what life was going to be life after having a baby and seemed to think maternity leave would allow for all kinds of free time...ha!  This year I have tried to set extremely realistic expectations for myself and have even come close to obtaining several items on the list already...yay!

1. Work out and get into shape
        - Getting there, almost all the baby weight is gone and now I'm working on getting my stomach flat again
2. Create a photobook of L's first year
        - Hoping to have this complete for her birthday party
3. Take a trip with Mike sans baby
        - Scheduled for the end of next month!
4. Pay down a good portion of our debt
5. Set up a short term and long term savings account
6. Go on a hike
        - We are visiting Vermont soon and hoping to get in a couple of hikes with the baby!
7. Visit Morocco
         - This is tentatively set for March
8. Plan a trip to Paris with my mom
9. Spend a couple of days hanging out in London
         - Hoping to do this en route to Morocco in March
10. Create a cute holiday card this year
11. Implement my new business plan
12. Hang up all the artwork in the house
13. Create a family wall and hang more pictures of us
14. Bathroom renovation
15. Refinance our mortgage
        - This is in the works now
16. Make plans to attend Brimfield
17. Invest in the stock market again
18. Stop eating out so much
19. Put more time and focus into the vintage shop
20. Finish the wall of cabinets in the kitchen
21. Make/sew something
22. Make a photo/coffee table book of our best travel photos
23. Start taking family videos
        - We shot 3 this weekend!
24. Meditate at least once a week
25. Completely finish decorating a room
26. Make more time for myself
         - I'm scheduling a day to myself sometime in the fall
27. Clean and organize garage and keep it that way
28. Work on an outdoor/backyard project
29. Drink more water
30. Have people over to the house and entertain more, spend more time with our friends. 

Reclaimed wood shelving

I've become obsessed with a new (to me) design show on DIY Network called A Bryk at a Time.  Have you heard of it?  It features Danielle Bryk, a stay-at-home mom who is going back into the interior design business after spending the last 15 years at home with her kids.  It's super cute and feels more like a reality show then a design show as it features her kids, her actor husband Greg and other various family and friends.  It reminds me of the Novogratz family but with less kids. 

I've been getting a bunch of ideas for my own house from things I've seen in the show.  The one thing I'm obsessing over are these beautiful reclaimed wood shelves.  I first spotted them in her kitchen, then I saw her make something similar for a client's bathroom.  I've been looking for a shelving option for above our bar.  If you can believe it, we still haven't unpacked everything from our renovation last year.  This means that all of our bar ware is hanging out in boxes in our second bathroom when it should be hanging out on really beautiful reclaimed wood shelving, don't you think?

This weekend we went to an architectural salvage store and picked up some old oak planks from a Kentucky horse farm and we plan to build some shelves soon.  We're sort of stuck on brackets right now.  I really like the floating shelf look but that really limited us in terms of wood thickness.  The hardware for a floating mount requires a certain thickness that we were having trouble finding when shopping for wood.  I also believe that you are limited to how much weight a shelf can bear when it isn't supported by brackets.  Not really an issue for glasses and bar ware but I didn't want it to be a concern down the road. 

I really love this option.  It's more ornate than most but it adds some interest to the shelves and I think you can get away with something like this when you are using a really beautiful aged piece of wood because it draws attention to the shelf and also gives it a more modern feeling. 

I like these brackets for their simplicity.  Their functional and don't draw a lot of attention to themselves allowing the shelving to really stand out.  With our navy paint color, the brackets would probably blend right into the wall.

Here is the floating shelf option from Danielle Bryk's house.  The picture really doesn't do it justice - it's absolutely beautiful.  She has mounted some wine glass hanging racks to one side of the shelf which you can't see here. 

These brackets actually look like a very simple track system that you might find in a closet.  Not something I would ever gravitate towards for open shelving but I really like the way it looks here. 

I actually love this bracket but Mike isn't a fan.  I think it gives the shelves a modern, industrial look.  These are probably totally out of the running but I thought I would share it anyway, you know, for posterity's sake. 

So those are my choices.  Anyone want to weigh in?  I'll keep you posted on what we finally decide on.  Ikea has a lot of great bracket options so I'll be checking in with them to see if anything stands out as a must have. 

Choosing artwork for a child's room

As soon as we found out we were having a baby I started daydreaming about nursery decor.  Mike and I knew from the start that we wanted to create an art collection for our little one and hopefully pass on our love of art to our future babe.  

When curating a collection for little ones, think about what role you want the art to play in the room.
We wanted a collection that would complement the decor in the nursery and that the baby wouldn't outgrow.  There are a lot of really sweet and playful options out there for children - alphabets and fairy tale images are cute but will they have staying power in a few years when your child no longer wants a "baby" room?  We wanted to make an investment in pieces that would grow with L.  My intention was to choose pieces that a 6 year old or a 16 year old could enjoy.  With every piece we chose for her room, I thought to myself - would I hang this in my living room?

Here are some tips and guidelines for choosing artwork for a child's room.

Watercolors - Watercolor is a great medium for a children's room.  The subject matter tends to be less serious, and there is an overall softness and sense of playfulness to watercolor. 

Ampersand print by Michelle Tavares / Calamari Studios

Inspiring words or quotes - Looking at a quote every day for years can be a great source of motivation and inspiration for your child. As lovers of travel and adventure, we chose a print quoted with the words "Adventure Lives Outside your Tent" If you have some hand lettering skills you could even create your own inspiring words on canvas.

See the World Globe print by Kristen Vasgaard 

Maps - We are avid map collectors and tend to pick up vintage maps on our travels. Maps are a great choice for a child's room. They tend to be bright and colorful and can be a great tool for invoking a sense of wonder and curiosity in your little one.

World Map Banner by English Muffin Design / Land of Nod

Handmade art by parents or family and friends - What's more special than a few pieces of art that you've made yourself? If you're a photographer, frame some of your favorite pieces to hang over the crib. We have a mild obsession with England so we painted a Union Jack on a small canvas to sit on a shelf in Linden's room. As a fun weekend project right before the baby was born, we also created silhouettes of ourselves (and the dog!) using photoshop.

The Cho Family portrait by Rifle Paper Co. / Oh Joy!

Animals - If you're trying to keep with an animal theme, of course there are lots of nursery themed animal prints available, but try to choose something with a more sophisticated flair that your little one can grow into. 

Giraffe print by Berkley Illustration

Abstracts - Abstracts are a fun option for children.  Options can be bright and bold and you can easily find something that pulls from the color palette in the room.

Abstract Organic Shapes print by Ammiki

Photography - Photography is one of my favorite mediums.  I especially like it for a child's room because you can easily choose a subject matter that is relevant to and has meaning to your family.

Sheep print by The Animal Print Shop

In general you should probably avoid extremely expensive or priceless works of art and anything on canvas that isn't protected behind glass.  Kids are messy and at some point one of said messes will end up on the wall, potentially ruining a treasured piece of art.  I also suggest keeping your art budget small, don't go overboard on any one piece because one day that child of yours is going to haven an opinion of their own and it might not be the same as yours (remember when you were 16!) so either love the art enough to hang elsewhere in the house, or be ok with getting rid of it.  Parting ways with a $50 print will be a lot easier than parting with a $5000 work of art, this logic works well with the mess part too.

Stay tuned for a nursery tour where I will be sharing the artwork we chose for L's room.

Sorry for the quietness

Wow, sorry it's been so quiet in this space for a little while.  We sort of hit a brick wall after we painted our dining room and haven't been doing much creatively or otherwise.  As I look back on my last posts they almost exactly coincide with when our little one became mobile...game.changer.  Seriously.  When parents tell you things like that, you think yeah right but it's no joke...she's into everything! 

Of course, we're starting to get the itch again (to decorate, not to have more kids) and I'm buzzing with house projects, honey-do lists, and tons of inspiration and ideas.  We're still recovering from the financial shock of last year's renovation projects so everything we have in mind is budget (and kid) friendly.  If you can believe it, the nursery never did get finished and while it is awfully cute, it still needs a few last minute touches - before L is able to start telling me what she wants in there!

Here's my current project list:

* finish wall of cabinets/desk area in kitchen

* curtains for dining room

* find cabinet/storage solution for glassware over our bar

* find a shelving option for dining room above credenza

* blackout shades/curtains for L's room

* finish organizing L's closet

* find shelving for L's room

* new pillows & bedding for our bed

* refinish chair & mirror in our bedroom

* style our new nightstands

* curtains for our room

* finish painting bookcase in living room / add backing / style

* make coffee table book of our travel photos for the living room

* artwork - framing projects, L's room, dining room, family photos

* buy white frames for family photos to hang throughout the house

* clean & organize garage

* work on backyard & patio

We are still a bit of a way off from our kitchen renovation but I'm collecting tons of inspiration.  I can't wait to rip out our upper cabinets and create beautiful open shelving like this...

Fabric options & dining room updates

I pulled a few John Robshaw fabric samples from his line with Duralee (and a couple for L's room - I'm already thinking about how I want to make it more girly!)  I'm thinking of taking some simple, ready made curtains and adding a band around them in one of his darker, indigo fabrics.  I'm also considering making some cushions for our Bertoia chairs.  I love the look of them but they aren't the most comfortable chairs to sit in and I'm not a fan of the pads that come with the chairs.  I do like the simplicity of them and would definitely mimic the style, I just think it would be better in a different fabric other than vinyl.  I want them to blend into the chairs and not stand out so I like one of these white options.

Oh, and I found a settee I love from Ballard Designs.  It's kinda pricey so I'm saving my pennies because it is perfect and exactly what I had in mind.  It's also customizable in one of their fabrics or my own.  It would look pretty amazing in one of the lighter fabrics, don't you think?

My Dining Room makeover

We are in the process of giving our dining room a little face lift.  If you've been reading for a while, you might recall that it has looked like this for the better part of three years.  Ok, it hasn't exactly looked that bad but after Mike removed the cheap 70's wall paneling, we tried covering those liquid glue squiggly lines with every kind of paint you can imagine but it bled through...EVERY.TIME.  Our painter at some point suggested using an oil based primer so we gave in and let him have his way with the walls. 

We also got crazy and told him we wanted navy blue walls.  This has been a decision I've been contemplating for months but ever since the words flew out of my mouth, I've been in sheer panic mode.  I've asked Mike like a hundred times if we are making the right decision (he thinks we are).  I've told everyone I know about my plans seeking some kind of desperate paint color approval, I even showed our pest control tech my inspiration pics....clearly I'm panicked! 

While he performs his paint magic and turns my dining room into what might be the best or worst design move I've ever made, I've been busy putting together all kinds of design ideas in my head.

Valentine's Day Finds

Valentine's Day is a holiday I usually tend to skip over...Mike and I don't do much more than cook a nice meal at home with a bottle of wine and I think it's one of those holidays that's just a bit over commercialized. Blame it on the new babe, but this year I'm kind of getting into it. I imagine in future years I will even go as far as decorating the house a bit but this year I just created a roundup with some of my favorite finds from around the web.

I'm curious, is this a holiday you tend to skip over as well or do you make a big to-do about it?

Sources: 1. Heartfelt Garland via Terrain / 2. Heart mugs via West Elm / 3. Hello Heart by Darling Clementine via Blissful B / 4. Mini Valentine Packages via In Honor of Design  / 5. Love ring via Fabulous Wire / 6. Heart Hole Punch via Lark / 7. Growing Hearts Pillow Cover via Classic by Nature / 8. Waterwave Throw via Beyond Half / 9. Helena Cutout Bra via Journelle / 10. 'Come to Bed' Nail Lacquer via Butter London / 11. Pucker Up Lipstick via Nordstrom / 12. Martha Stewart's Valentine's Sorbet Sandwiches via Blissful B / 13. Veuve Cliquot Champagne via InStyle / 14. Simplicity Flute via Cb2 / 15. Lace Insert Drape Dress via Miss Selfridge