Someone has a Case of the Mondays...

So I did not have a good day today. Just call me Ms. Crankypants. Today I am wondering why the heck I am not in Hawaii and glaring at my pantry for the audaciousness of not having a bottle of Moscato in it for my crankypants consumption.

So I know I promised a house tour and unfortunately, my weekend consisted of watching my two nephews on Saturday, followed by a day of what was either a mild migraine or a very bad headache. So I did not get much done, which includes picking up the massive mess that somehow magically appeared on both levels of my house. We did watch the Cat in the Hat... I wonder if I can blame the mess on him...

I finally caved this past weekend and purchased my first ever digital camera-the EOS Rebel SL1. I opened the box with much trepidation. Digital + "SL1" makes me think of that movie with Will Smith and the robots. Yeah. This camera can probably kick my tush.   It came with a gigantic lens, 3 discs (software, a software instruction manual and a camera instruction manual), two manuals (to be fair, one's in a foreign language. See, I told you this camera could kick my tush--it's bilingual!) and a computer cable.  I unpacked all of that stuff and wondered what I'd gotten into. For now, until I get some cojones, I am sticking to the dummy auto feature. Yes, yes, baby steps.

In the meantime, while it is not a full house tour, or very professional images (obviously I have quite a bit to learn about lighting and flash...), I thought I would share some of the snapshots I was able to take of my living room after a very quick pickup of the mess caused by the tornado--err, boys (and girl).

You'll have to forgive me... absolutely nothing is styled. Just keeping it real, right? I guess I'm signing off with a promise of "more to come..." 

In the Works

Just a quick post today with the promise that this weekend I'll be taking pictures to post a full house tour on Monday-finally!  A couple of exciting things in the works right now that I thought I would share.

Remember this hugely expensive designer fabric that my heart just went pitty-pat over?

Welll, after stalking several vendors on Etsy for a few weeks, I finally saw a price that (while it still made me gulp) was affordable, so I bit the bullet and ordered one.  When I got it, I literally squealed--it was beautiful and exactly what I wanted.  I heard angels singing an aria all around me. 

Then my record scratched. There was a very heavily noticeable tear in one side of the fabric. I almost cried. I reached out to the vendor with a picture and asked her if she would send me a new one in replacement. She was kind enough to say she would, though I had to pay for the shipping to send it back. I told her I wanted to order a second one since it was exactly what I wanted. So I shipped it back and placed the second order.  A month later, I am still waiting. Apparently the vendor she ordered the replacement fabric from went unresponsive, so she had to finally place the order with another vendor.  So now it's another two weeks of agony--I mean, waiting. 

Also in the works is what I'm calling my new "Command Center." I wandered into a consignment shop one day and a huge custom built desk and hutch and immediately I could see it being a decorative and efficient storage hutch and command center in my dining room/kitchen. So I bought it. It was very heavy and carrying the bottom desk piece gave me cheetah legs (covered in bruises!) but it was oh-so-worth it.  I am working with another Etsy vendor on some custom vases to fill my new shelves. As we get further along with the collaboration I'll be sharing. It's very exciting and she does gorgeous work--I pretty much want everything of hers and I've already bought a few pieces. I am impatiently waiting to get them! 

And for my final piece of news, the kitchen is moving (baby steps) towards my vision I shared the other day. I painted the kitchen island a dark gray and ordered some new brass pulls to glam them up. Next up is a new counter-top for the island and then it's on to painting the cabinets! 

I promise--pictures coming soon!! Check back Monday for a new house tour!  

Taking the Kitchen in a New Direction

Since my basement is on "pause" until we get a professional in to mud the new drywall, I've been eyeballing my kitchen most recently. Less than one week ago, my plan was to paint the lower cabinets emerald, and the upper cabinets cream, and I was going to do this gorgeous wallpaper over the current chevron wall. Cuz you know, Chevron is everywhere now so that makes it kinda boring. 

Hygee & West Petal Pusher wallpaper

So I ordered a sample of the wallpaper, fell in love, and thought I had committed to my plan of a fancy emerald and gold kitchen. But even though I love emerald, I couldn't see how I could make it play nice with the other colors I had going on with my art wall (pink, yellow, teal). I kept thinking my house would look like the color wheel threw up.  So I stalked images on Pinterest looking for colorful kitchens and while emerald is not heavily used in kitchens, the few images I did find were very... country. And with the old dated finishes in my kitchen, I worried about it looking more country than glam. 

All of the images of kitchens that I truly liked included white and gray cabinets, rustic wood, marble counter-tops and gold hardware. Like this one. 

Image found here

So that's what I'm doing. Since I haven't made a mood board in ages, I whipped one up below to show what I'm thinking. 

At least it won't look like the color wheel threw up in my kitchen.

Hello, Again

Would you believe my dog ate my mouse.. keyboard.. computer? Considering he is only ten pounds we had to take him to the vet to have his stomach pumped and if you're buying that, I have some swampland in Florida you can buy.

Yeah, there really is no way to avoid a faux pas and say, hello, oops I forgot I had a blog and what was my password again? Yeah, moving on. Life happens.

Quite a lot has happened since I was last on. So, like snapshots, in no random order: my dad finished the drywall in the basement and we're just waiting for a professional to come in and mud the basement; I got rid of my old sofa and several other pieces of miscellaneous furniture and cleaned house (not literally, there are still some dust bunnies making friends with the dog); Peyton got her ears pierced; we had Christmas, Peyton's birthday and my birthday. And in February, I lost my grandpa to cancer.  Sometimes the months go by so quickly and you don't notice the days because you're so caught up in the nonsense. That's where I feel I've been, in the nonsense, and I just want to hit "pause" and forget about everything for awhile.

We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a shadow, gone so soon without a trace. 1 Chronicles 29:15 

We are only passing through.

And like that one scene, I have felt like Alice, falling down the rabbit hole upside down and then flipping over to slowly float down.

So on that note, hello, I'm back, moving on.

Monday Morning Eye Candy

Happy Monday! Here are some images I found on Pinterest. I am always lured to the dark colored rooms-especially when you pop jewel tones against them! 

Dalliance Design

Miles Redd as seen in House Beautiful

House Beautiful, link found here

Boxwood Interiors, Pinterest link here

Design Crisis link here

I'll be back this week with some updates on the projects I started tackling this weekend: organizing my closet and paperwork. And of course, looking at those gorgeous images above, I'm desperately taunted to repaint my charcoal wall. Teal, anyone?

Inspired by: Dalliance Design

You guys. I was on Pinterest the other day and looking for images of dark rooms (because that blasted charcoal wall is staring at me in the face every day and I still can't decide if I am going to keep it) and I stumbled across this image of a teal and pink combination and I fell hard. The gorgeous jewel tones are stuck in my head! So I started shopping around for ways to bring this look home.

Manchester Chaise, Grecian Gilt Accent Table, Brooklyn Leather Ottoman, Julian Apothecary Floor Lamp, Sunburst on the Scene Mirror,  Grand Marquis Console, Softest Throw Ombre, pillows from Etsy

Now if only I could figure out how to fit a chaise in my bedroom.... 

Holiday Gift Guide for the Dog Lover

Hi, everyone--I'm back with another quickie post today, since this week is very crazy for me and by the time I get home, I'm too tired to do anything but entertain my kid until bedtime. When it's her bedtime, it's been my bedtime! Here's another Holiday Gift Guide, this time for the Dog Lover... I'm crushing on the "Woof" mat and the uber posh doggie bowls on the mat. (Though, really, if you get the bowls with the mat, you don't need another mat under it.... Woof.



(Sorry the pictures are so small--this week for some reason when I import Polyvore boards to Blogger, it makes them too big and they overlap into the sidebars, so I have to make them smaller than usual since I have no time to figure out the technical glitch... anyone else have this problem before?!)