Monday, May 27, 2013

My Time Capsule House

Things happen for a reason. My husband and I have been wanting to move for a while but it just never seemed like the right time. Our little house was great, but as our family grew up it seemed to get tighter and tighter. While I had made improvements for storage it still always seemed  a little cramped. So, I dreamed of moving a lot. I checked real estate constantly and drew up plans to build a dream house...okay so I drew up 3 different sets and couldn't really decide between them. But, that's all it was, a dream.
Then after making the decision to stay put for a while so we could make smarter financial decisions, a voicemail changed everything.
A close friend of mine called and left a voicemail that a house in her neighborhood was up for sale. When I called her back to talk to her about it I said, "Lara, you know Brandon is going to say no right now."
But, I looked online and thought it was great. The houses in that neighborhood are older, but they have lots of space, sizable yards, are well built, and most importantly have close friends and acquaintances there.
So, I sent my husband a text expecting to be shot down and his reply was, "roll"
Since then it has been a whirlwind. A blur of time when our house was shown 3 times a day pretty constantly, sold in nine days, and we had to be out in a month.
Here we are in the new house. So many people are wanting to see what I got myself into, I get daily requests to show pictures. I have big, bold and beautiful plans for this house. This is our forever house so I really get to do exactly what I want and really make it US!
For now though...for now it's my 1959 time capsule. Small changes are already being made, but most of the pictures I'm showing to you are from the real estate ad for the house. 



The front: while it looks quite charming, it needs paint and those flowers are fake...yes, I said fake. My daughter and the daughter of a friend and now neighbor, pulled all the fake flowers out - set up a little stand-and sold those faded fake flowers. 






Laundry/Mudroom




The Kitchen - yes my oven is original to the house...1959 enamel



Family Room


Formal Living Room and Formal Dining Room


I had to show the closet doors in the hallway - I laughed out loud when I saw them in person


The mirrored wall at the end of the bedroom hallway is also vintage


These brass vertical blinds are beyond words. They were also in a full length version on the mudroom door to act as the divider between it and the kitchen...I have fun white elephant gift ideas in mind with these blinds.


This is the Hall Bath or Kids Bath


Jade's Room


Jade's Closet


Dylan's Room


Master Bedroom


Master Bathroom



Back yard - this alone (in my opinion) was worth the price of the mortgage


Yes, that is a custom 5" backset on my front door. Just another one of those fun little vintage details that are all over the house.
And this is the day we moved in. Furniture and boxes everywhere! It looks much better now.


The fun part about this house is, I will reveal it room by room as we renovate, update, and turn it into our dream home. Wish me luck! I have a feeling we're going to need it!




Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Saying Goodbye

So on May 19th we said goodbye to our first little house. 

The house where we brought home Jade



The house with so many memories of my precious mother and children together - of me and my mother together.

The house with so many firsts for Brandon and myself as a couple.

The house where I found my design passion and turned it into a job I adore!

The house I poured my soul into.

I will admit I cried. Teared up and then eventually bawled my eyes out. But those are the parts of that house I get to keep; the memories.

So I snagged the camera and took the last pictures of my kids under the oak tree out front.


When did they get so big?

Then I walked through the empty house and snapped some pictures of how I left it for the new owners



Jade's first room



The bathroom renovation where I found my style



Dylan's room


The hallway harlequin labor of love




The kitchen facelift and cabinet addition that evolved twice while we lived there


The floors I already miss (for all you carpet lovers out there, I'm sorry but I HATE carpet)


The built-ins that were my design vision and the smartest solution for storage in a smaller home. I miss those too!


The master bath renovation that I never made it to before we left.

Then we walked out, looked at our first little house, and left in a huge u-haul.


So many amazing things are coming. I really am so in love with the new house. I have a little bit of bittersweet feeling because of all the love, blood, sweat, and tears I invested into that first little house.
Just you wait! You will either think I'm insane or you will be as excited as I am about this new house. Stay tuned for what's to come, and keep your memories with you!




Thursday, May 9, 2013

Chaos

Chaos is the term that best fits my life right now.
I'm packing like a madwoman and still trying to keep my sanity while working, being a mom to two VERY busy children, keeping a few children, and organizing a move that was quite unexpected. So I'm going to strip it down for this post.

I sold the china cabinet - I think it turned out great and I am pretty sure I have a very happy customer!





I'm feeling nostalgic and so tonight while we loaded a trailer full of our holiday decorations, the extra big dog house, and the contents of our storage shed, I looked up and my daughter was climbing in the oak tree...she does this daily, but it suddenly hit me that this is almost the end of that. It's one of the last times for her to climb in that tree. I turned and grabbed my camera out of my purse (that's where it lives) and started snapping away. 

My son playing with his beloved dinosaurs and my daughter climbing higher and higher.









In the middle of all this chaos - that was my peace

But I can't leave you with just that. It IS dance recital season for the little Duchess in this house. This is one of my favorite times of the year. Not because she's adorable when she dances, or because she is so excited for about a month that she practically vibrates. No, I love it because I get to do this: