Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Transformers

I'm talking about curtains.  Curtains can make a room that is so bare all of a sudden seem so lush.  I'll show you what I'm talking about...


Here is a picture of our bedroom the first night in the house, back in July. Isn't that air mattress so awesome?  It has a headboard and everything.  Some of our friends let us borrow it since we were in the house a few days before our furniture got here. 















Now here's our room a few days later with furniture in place.  See how bare the walls and windows look?  



In an effort to get window panels up as quickly as possible, especially on that side window which looks over into the neighbor's backyard, I picked some up one day while at Target.  

Matt got them up and they were definitely not what I had in mind.  The fabric looked like a cheap 90's prom dress and also had a terrible sheen to it.  The packaging said they were lined but they let in a ton of light and cast this weird glow over the room.  


I took them back (without ever taking a picture of them) and proceeded to explore other options.


Window treatments are the kind of thing where you can drop a lot of money.  Like a lot. That's not at all what I was after but realized I needed to spend more than $25 a panel. We ended up deciding on West Elm's velvet pole pocket curtains in dove gray, 96" long.

Sidenote: At first we tried West Elm's platinum velvet curtains because that's what our local OKC store had in stock.  While they were pretty, they were waaaay too shiny. We found the dove gray online and they're much more subtle. 



Here they are going up, Shep monitoring of course, and looking very official in her Razorback jersey.


We actually found the curtain rods and rings down in the basement so that was a nice surprise.  They're a pretty deep gold color and fit the windows perfectly.  Not sure where the previous owner's had them hung because there weren't any holes above either of these windows. 


So much better!  Doesn't the room just look more grown-up? It feels deep and thick now where as before it was just kind of jarring.  


The curtains on the side window unfortunately stay closed most of the time since the neighbor's can see directly into that window.  I don't love the look of closed curtains but function over form in this case, otherwise things might get awkward. 



See?  That's their house. 













The panels on the back window though are pretty much just for looks since we love waking up to the view of the backyard. At first I actually only ordered 2 panels for the side window since these aren't really necessary but within a few days of getting those up I ordered 2 more.  This window just looked so naked in comparison.  

On another note, this is one of the only rooms in the house that doesn't have crown molding.  Kind of strange.  We'll probably add it at some point. 


I wanted to leave with a photo showing that Shep's bed is below a portrait of herself. We're nothing if not crazy dog people. 


Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Down With Bland, Up With Pretty

The Study is moving right along.  This room is really a third bedroom, but since old houses don't typically come with home offices, bonus rooms, or man caves (ohhh the treasures you miss out when you don't go with new construction) it will be used as the study.

For the most part, the light fixtures in this house are pretty neat.  Some of them are original to the house and the lighting that has been updated are canned lights on dimmers, which I love.

But then we had this...







Have you ever been more bored looking at a fixture?  Did your eyes just glaze over? So bland.

The dome wasn't even glass, it was plastic.  It wasn't worthy to live in the same room as our amazing new desk.  Something had to be done.

So something was done...


Matt picked out West Elm's 3-Jar Chandelier and it fits the room so well.

It even makes the black crown molding, window trim, and baseboards tolerable.  The fixture plate against the ceiling really makes all the trim pop.  It's actually a bronze plate, but it completely reads black in this room. 


























It's a chandelier presumably meant to hang over a dining table so the cords had to be shortened quite a bit.  I was home with the electrician the morning it went up and when Matt came home for lunch he said "it's great, but I can't walk under it."

Right. I didn't even think about that seeing as how I barely clear 5 feet.  I called the electrician and he immediately came back over to shorten things up, he didn't even make me feel crazy.  I think I'll only use him from now on.

The light bulbs are filament bulbs which don't give off as bright a light as regular bulbs, so even though there are three of them completely exposed it still gives off a soft warm glow.  Not too dim though, plenty of light to brighten up the room.  

The study still needs bookshelves, a rug, stuff on the walls, a chair and ottoman {that couch will be relocated}, and  some other random things; but I think we might be on track to have one room 100% completed within 6 months of moving into this house. Yeah, we move pretty fast. 

And Shep thinks 4 throw pillows is excessive. 

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Desk Monitoring

First off, look at that amazing header!! Made by my she's-so-effortlessly-cool-I-don't-know-how-she-does-it friend, Becca. She was one of my Boston besties and now lives in Atlanta with her hubby and cute boys (and I can't leave out the fact that she's also the mother of Shep's Boston BFF, Bailey).

Last Friday, Shep's day went from zero to hero.  It was raining most of the day so she was stuck inside, bored. Then a truck pulled up, we were getting a delivery and there's nothing she loves more than needlessly monitoring things around the homestead.


After the delivery guy left she kept a close eye on the box to make sure of the following:

1. Squirrels weren't hiding inside
2. It didn't turn into a hunk of cheese
3. It didn't try to run away 


She was successful and when Matt got home it was time to switch to another couch to adequately monitor the assembly. 


After all that monitoring, this is what we ended up with: the most beautiful desk I've ever seen.  Matt found an Etsy shop, Elpis & Wood, who makes masterpieces like this. 

It is a solid piece of walnut on hairpin legs.  It's heavy and dark with the neatest striations and almost seems to float on those skinny legs. 


Just look at that color.

And look at those legs (not Shep's, the desk's).  

That box in the corner is the new light fixture that should be going up later this week(!).  {I'm excited about the fixture, but an exclamation seemed over the top so that's why it got parenthesis around it}.

Back to the legs, as with most older houses, the floors slant a little.  So instead of all three points coming down to the floor it was made so that we can adjust the legs as necessary. 


This room, we call it "the study," still has a ways to go {as does pretty much every room in the house} but this desk was the major player.  Everything else that goes in here will center around this beauty.

And I would like to sign off with a shout out to Shep, she monitored the heck out of this desk.  Putting those skills learned at business school to work.  


Friday, September 12, 2014

Fall Reminiscing: Have I Peaked Already?

I love the fall. Who doesn't? Summer is oppressive and heavy and thick. Honestly, I kind of hate it. Fall is heaven, cool and crisp and energizing. 

Everyone says this Oklahoma summer has been mild.  I guess? But moving from Boston to Oklahoma in June was just rude.  I routinely check Boston's weather on my phone and feel a constant pang for the cooler weather.  

It's funny how much weather affects my mood, today the high is in the 50's and I feel like I'm floating on a cloud. I won't get too far ahead of myself, it's supposed to get into the 80's again next week. Ughhhhhh. 

Sidenote: the air was so refreshing this morning I thought it might be nice to introduce some jogging into my and Shep's usual walk.  I should've known. She's a neurotic herding dog and we never jog, I ended up being shrieked at and jumped on until I slowed down to an acceptable crawl. 

Anyway, in honor of this first cool day I thought I'd do a little fall montage. Get ready for some grainy iPhone pics: 

Maine in October
This wasn't a pumpkin patch, I guess you could buy pumpkins if you wanted, but this thing was just parked alongside the road. Adorable. 


Ogunquit, Maine





^^Nothing really to do with fall, but look at how emo Shep is being.


Fall beach day in Maine.


Concord, NH

Concord, NH



Cambridge, MA





Harvard Business School campus

{The above 3 photos are by Brittany Strebeck: http://brittanystrebeckblog.com} Love that girl!
Shep and her Boston BFF, Bailey.

More dog pictures. Obvi.



We also got to go to Germany last October: 


Neuschwanstein Castle











And this is the real reason we went...

Oktoberfest 2013, Munich.


Our tent, Hippodrom, at Oktoberfest.

It was so fun. A few weeks later the Whole Foods down the street from our apartment had its own Oktoberfest. Gahhhh, if I'd have known about that beforehand it would've saved us so much money. Oh well. 

So until we move back to the northeast or into that castle, neither of which seems very likely, it looks like my best fall days are behind me. So sad to have peaked so young.

I'm off to drink a PSL. Basic. 


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