I was right all along...

From the first day my sister offered to let me "borrow" her apple-green, antique cabinet, people questioned my sanity. My mom said, "are you going to paint it a less-hideous color?" Josh swore up and down that he would not live in the same house with it. Even my wonderful Father in Law was overheard threatening to break the cabinet on moving day.

From what I can remember, the cabinet was lovingly restored by friends of Elsie (my sister), and presented to her on her birthday. But now that she is living at home with my parents again, she doesn't have room for it. So I kindly offered to keep it at our house (little does she know... she's never getting it back). Sorry Els.

(Kyle, Elsie's cute BF who helped paint the cabinet, my sister and me)

OK, the real point of my post is this: I went to Anthropologie a couple of weeks ago and found a cabinet that was Exactly.The.Same. They could have been twins. It was even painted a similarly fun color.

The price tag? $6,000.00

Ha!

P.S. It's going to look way better once the pukey color of the walls is gone...

Little Things...

I stayed home sick from work today. I have some sort of massive headache, possible ear-infection and stomach issues. After sleeping until 11 am, and then lazing around like a zombie for a few hours I just had to do something.

So, I made a new pillow for our bed. Actually, I recovered the old one we had because the fabric just wasn't exciting enough anymore!

I have been trying to tie in some more modern patterns/silhouettes with all of our antique furniture. Also, our room really needed a brighter accent color with all the soft grays, blues, and browns. I am trying to add little bursts of orangy-red here and there.

Did I mention how much I love owls?

For my next project, I saw some cute fabric initials at Anthropologie that I would like to try my hand at making:

(image found here)

I think making these a little larger with some fun fabric would add some more color. I saw some 3-D, cardboard letters at Michaels craft store that would be a good base, from there I think it would be pretty easy to add fabric. We'll see...

Owl Obsession

Ever since I can remember, I have loved owls.

Before I go on, I must note that I am not really an animal person. When people meet my husband and I they inevitably say, "You aren't animal people, are you?" No, we are not. I like dogs/cats/gerbils, but they are either too needy or give me hives or just smell weird so none of them will be coming into my house. We aren't neat freaks or anything, but the thought of sharing my living space with something that drools is just not appealing.

But moving on to my love of owl paraphernalia. My husband calls it an "obsession" and for some reason feels the need to say, "Please, don't bring more owls home," whenever I leave the house. I only have, like, ten owls. Well, maybe 12. How could I resist a cute owl figurine (on sale at Goodwill for $0.99), or an Owl towel for the kitchen?

However, despite his lack of support for my Owl collection, I came home from work the other day to find this wallpapered on our computer:

(image found here)

He just said it reminded him of me and he thought I would like it. Do I detect a softening towards the owls? Who can resist their chubby feathered cheeks? Apparently no one.

things that make winter more bearable...

Living in Minnesota has it's ups and downs. I love the seasons, the beauty of Fall and the warmth of Summer. But now is the time I start to question myself... Why do I still live here? Christmas is over, the snow is uglified by the sand that is caked everywhere, people insist on driving like maniacs even when black ice is covering the roads, and my fingers freeze to spray paint cans when I try to do crafts... Despite all the madness, I have developed some coping mechanisms for dealing with the bleak midwinter.

The first thing that makes Winter bearable for me is God's word. Somehow, it seems to sink in deeper when I'm snuggled on a chair with a piping hot cup of tea. It's those serene moments that warm me up deep inside and help me have the strength to get through each day.

Since getting married in August, I am finding that having a husband around helps with the warmth too. Thankfully he likes to snuggle and lets me put my icy fingers on his back. What sacrifice!

One of the other ways that I cope with winter is by drinking copious amounts of hot beverages. Hot chocolate does not normally appeal to me, but in the dead of winter it's a wonderful treat. Especially when there's whip creammm...




On a side note, my wonderful Mother-In-Love gave me some gorgeous little mirror ornaments for Christmas. They don't look specifically like Christmas ornaments so I plan to keep them up for a while... for now they are hanging on a shelf in my hallway.

I had some fun taking pictures through them and playing with photo editing...



Hmm, now I'm thinking about painting my walls bright yellow...

A Pretty Shade of Blue...

We have been living here in our townhome since August, and I have been constantly lamenting the paint color in our living/dining/kitchen areas. For some unknown reason, the previous owners decided to paint everything the same color. Unfortunately, the color they chose is pretty awful. At first glance, it wasn't too bad. Just a non-committal shade of tan/taupe/blah. But once we moved all our furniture in, I realized that this color was not just blah. It was soul-sucking. It ate up my couch and my curtains, and changed the shade of our chair to a nausea-inducing green.



Do you see how the couch, curtains, and wall look like they are all the same color? I swear, the walls are trying to eat my decor. My husband is safe so far, but who knows how far it will go?


And now the chair. See what I mean? I am choking back my lunch.

Needless to say, it is time to get some paint on these walls! I have hemmed and hawed for a long time, but I am giving myself a two-week ultimatum. In two weeks, we will have a 3 day weekend so we can paint and then recover from the painting and enjoy our new space.

I am thinking a shade of blue or blue/green to bring some light and color in. I scrounged around on the internet for some inspiration, and here's what I found (all pictures from Apartment Therapy):



I have lots of green in my living room- and I like how the blues and greens play off each other in this space (above). I am also trying to find ways to bring some more modern influences into our space. I love the granny-chic look but right not our living room is a little more on the granny side!



I love the bright bursts of yellow in this room! I really adore yellow and I'm always looking for ways to pull it in, in my wardrobe and my decorating! I know these walls aren't really blue, but you still get the picture. I also love how the room still feels bright and airy even with the dark woods of the built-ins.


And, although this is not a living room, I love the play of color here. This is a happy room!

So, I have 2 weeks to decide what color to use. I also need to find a complimentary color that will work for our kitchen/dining room as well since it is all open. I will try to put pictures of that area as well up here, I just ran out of sunlight today!

I think it would be so much easier to help someone else pick out a color for their walls. Since it is our house and our stuff it seems harder and more complicated. So, if you have an opinion please share! I am definitely open for suggestions.

Happy New Year!

Oh Goodwill... How I Love Thee

Oh, Goodwill. I love thy aisles filled with junk. I love the crackly loudspeakers that the employees use to announce the sales. I love sighting a Banana Republic top from afar and clawing my way through the crowds of elderly women in polyester pantsuits to reach it.

I love paying 4.99 for an Ellen Tracy purse that normally cost over $200. (Sorry for the garbage bin in the background. I refuse to edit those things out though, they are a part of life!).



I love my new sweater with little beaded flowers.



But I think most of all, I LOVE the hand-appliqued picture of chickens that I found. Josh (my dear sweet Hubby) may not agree, but I think it will look great in our kitchen once we paint. Who knew chickens could be so, well, cute? I certainly did not.





The frame definitely needs a little TLC, but I think it will look great over our sink! And nothing says "kitchen" like a bunch of colorful chickens pecking at each other. Nothing.

Now that Christmas is over, and the sky is still turning it's lights out at 5 pm, I think I am going to need a LOT of Goodwill therapy. The next three months will be... interesting. Sometimes I wonder why I still live in Minne(snow)ta!

Til This Time Next Year

This Christmas was filled with family, food, and laughter. I can't remember a Christmas that was more crammed with people and good things to eat. It was overwhelming in every way possible, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

One thing that made it more interesting was the huge amount of snow that God blessed us with! 12 beautiful inches! And boy, it made driving really interesting. But somehow, we managed to get everywhere we needed to go. There were lots of fun memories made this year...


My wonderful siblings. They never fail to make me laugh (and cry).


My parents got the fattest Christmas tree in the world. It reminds me of the Ghost of Christmas Present. I feel like it should be holding a fried turkey leg or something.


Elsie serenaded us with some beautiful music, and dancing.


As insane as I can be, I always manage to keep it in for photos. My sisters, on the other hand...


We made Pyroghies (you can spell it however you want, apparently) for dinner on Christmas Eve. Don't ask me how or what, I just know they were filled with potato and fried in butter and onions. That's all I need to know.


There was apple pie (made by me!) for dessert...


Lots of hubbub and commotion occurred around the kitchen (the men always run away at this point, I wonder why?).


Iain, the Coffee-Mug-Model, made an appearance in a striking argyle sweater.


My hubby got to immerse himself in his favorite hobby for a while.


And of course, there were lots of naps.
Merry Christmas!