So while I've been hunting around the internet for some ideas for the house.. and some kind of art to go above the fireplace.. I keep seeing these....

This whole fake deer head craze confuses me. Am I the only one? Maybe. Oh well... but I do have to say the one below looks very evil.

*Images via Apartment Therapy and Kaboodle.com*

For S..

I found this image (via the lovely Elements of Style) and thought of Steph who is thinking of doing her guest bedroom in blues and whites with an orange pop... which I love. Look how amazing this room looks!!

Tis the season...

I started decorating the house for Christmas today for the first time ever... and realized #1.. I don't have as much Christmas stuff as I originally thought... I guess that's what happens when you go from apartments to a big house and ..#2 I have plenty of things to put on tables... but yet have almost no tables to put these things on. So while I figure this whole decorating the house thing out... these are some things I'd love to have to decorate with.

*images via Pottery Barn*

*image via West Elm*

*image via Williams Sonoma Home*

Pie love

A very good friend of mine (who I also get to work with) ... found this on Williams Sonoma the other day... and I think we stared at it for 10 minutes imaging the beautiful pies you could make in this. Then we both realized all we really know how to do is buy the pre made pie crust.... at least it would be beautiful!!!


By the way... working on a few new posts about various rooms of the house... most likely will start posting them after the craziness of Thanksgiving parts 1 and 2 have worn off (will explain that later) and before the craziness that is going to be December starts.

Blog design blues

You may have noticed that I now have a polka-dotted blog. I got bored with the old layout. But I'm not sure if I love this one either. I need to figure out how to do pretty headers, fonts, and different layouts.... help anyone??!?!?

Zebra love

Everywhere I look I am seeing all kinds of beautiful things covered in Zebra print! While J is not a huge fan of it... I cannot help but love it. Am I crazy?!?!

*images via the West Elm and Burnham Designs*

Favorite thing from the weekend

My new Christmas tree from Crate and Barrel.... sigh... it's love at first sight! Too bad it's not quite time for Xmas decorations yet!!! I can't decide if I should leave it as is.. string some small lights through it to make it sparkle ... or put a red bow on top!!

Living Room Part 1 of many

This is the living room as of today... pardon the shoes and the fuzzy picture. The two wingback chairs are from my mother. They are some kind of printed blue fabric that are an old, semi stained, mess. M has had these chairs since way before I can remember. They used to be a light blue velvet (back in the 80's) until Ames found M's red lipstick and nailpolish... you can picture what happened afterwards. The table is old as well. To the left of the picture are two huge windows.

So below I'm going to try and do a semi inspiration board of things I think I want to do with the living room. Since most of you haven't seen the house I'll explain something about the color choices (as of now). Most of the first floor is pretty open and airy and I want to keep it like that. So I'm thinking keep everything is some paler tones to keep that same feeling. I'm afraid colors that are too dark might make it feel boxed in.. especially in the two front rooms where the sun comes in from morning till early/mid afternoon when it goes behind the house.

Living room color: I think I've pretty much decided I want to do some sort of pale pale yellow. Since the living room and dining room are directly across from each other whichever colors I choose need to compliment each other. I love the color in the first picture... it's that shade of yellow where in some lights its more yellow and in some its almost white.. but I have no idea which paint company makes it, let alone the color name!

I like this color below... but think it might be too yellow for what I want.

Furniture: I am totally loving these chairs I've found at Pottery Barn and the chocolate brown one at Domino magazine. I just cant decide which I like more.. the armless... or the ones with arms. I sat in both at PB and they were equally as comfy... but both have a different feel. I haven't even begun to decide on fabric selection! I want to get 2 chairs like this and maybe put them either near the windows or one on each side of the entry way into the living room.

By the way.. I saw one of those decorator shows where the decorator actually used two different chairs so that it wasn't so matchy matchy. Thoughts?

As far as a sofa... I saw something like this at a shop in Lewes, De (this one is from Restoration Hardware) But I was thinking of having a two seater. I may have to measure out the size before deciding.
These next two images are from one of the model homes here in the development. I was thinking of doing either one of these. Against one of the two walls in the living room. I love the large mirror above the table in the first. But totally adore the second with the table and the two little ottomans underneath for extra seating when needed!

So for now that's what I've got. Fabric choices/window treatments/maybe an area rug/ and art are kinda off in left field. Thoughts/comments/ concerns are always welcome!!

Random Pics

So in between writing some posts I came across these two adorable pics that I must share.
The first is of Miss Samantha... laying in her Dad's freshly washed tshirts. What you can't see is the rest of her.. she is as long as Zoe now! Still lean.. but slowly gaining weight.

The next picture I'm sure I will get killed for posting (love ya!) but it's just tooo cute not to share. M, and Q, and J, and I all went to the Oktoberfest in Newark back in September and we all immensely enjoyed ourselves... while walking around we spotted some German hats and well... here is J's best German look...

Fall projects

While at work in Smyrna (which tends to be rather boring I might add) I started looking through a Country Living magazine. As a side note I am not much of a country design type person so this tells you how bored I was. So I continue flicking past each page until I find these images....

I think I stopped breathing briefly! I needed to learn how to do this! So I read the entire article... decided that I did not want to wait to order the designers kit (even though it looks fabulous) and I made up my mind to do these. In a smaller scale. I am obsessed with the wreath. As in I want it and I want it now. However I decided it was a little out of my league at the moment. But I could totally do that on my door because it looks the same with the windows above and everything (minus the fact my door is not black).

I read the directions.. figured out what I would need for the small fake pumpkins I found... headed to Michael's.. and came home and worked on this for a good few hours. And the end result is...

They turned out so cute! I let them grace the mantle with some fake fall foliage (thank you Mom!) and then they became a centerpiece for a family dinner. I think I'll slowly attempt the large wreath for next fall. But since we needed a fall wreath I embarked on this next project...

Which turned out amazing and looks super cute on our door along with the vibrant orangey red Mum Jason bought me for fall.

This next "project" wasn't really a project.. but more of a way to express my inner 10 year old self. For about 3 weeks we had two pumpkins, the mum, and the wreath welcoming whoever to our house. But about two days before Halloween I decided we couldn't have just 2... nope we needed 3!! So I picked out two stencils and decided to do one freehand.. guess which one that is.. I swear it took me like 5 hours to do this.. in the semi freezing garage....with sore fingers and a runny nose.. and it was so worth it when I could here all the oooh's and ahh's from kids and parents who came trick or treating! The little tiny pumpkins are 3 orange metal jack-o-lanterns that my mother gave me (cause she was tired of them) so we put them on three black stakes along our walkway and put little tiny flameless candles. I don't think we took any pics from outside because they really weren't showing up right... but here they are the night before Halloween...

I'm back!!!

I have SERIOUSLY been blog slacking... I've tossed the idea back and forth about deleting it...but I don't think I'm ready to do that just yet. I get totally inspired in the fall and winter months so we'll see how this goes. I can't promise daily or weekly updates... but I will give it my best!

So what have I been up to since the begining of Sept? I (technically we) have not managed to do much of anything to the house other than yard work and cleaning. Two months left till I can paint a wall in the house! Which means I have put up and taken down multiple paint choices. I've carved pumpkins, made a fall wreath, and gilded some pumpkins (a post about all this is in the works).

In one week I celebrated the future birth of "niece or nephew"... (will find out in January!!.)... and mourned the loss of a wonderful and caring Aunt to ovarian cancer. In that same crazy week I was able to laugh,scream, and relive a part of my childhood, with 7 wonderful ladies at a New Kids On The Block concert (yes I went and IT WAS AWESOME!!!)

We celebrated J's 34th Birthday and our first Halloween in the new house all on the same day. Samantha turned 1 on November 1st and has grown immensely (wait till you see the pics!). She has also stolen J from me. We have put up birdfeeders in the backyard (J's obsession..and slowly becoming mine!) and enjoyed the fall weather.

So a lot has happened... and still happening... can't wait to show you all!