Category — Our Home

 images are from Hulya Kolabas

We are working our way to becoming home owners.  What a scary, exciting, thrilling process all at the same time.  We are so excited to finally be in our home.  The ideas going through my head our endless and I am looking forward to every minute of it.  We are purchasing a gorgeous cape that was built in the 1960s.  Its in a rural suburb about 50min outside of Boston.  I did get over my anxiety attack about living outside the city a few days ago, and now I am good.  I’ve lived the urban life for 15 years and I am ready to let it go. 

Our new home is a gem.  Its in a large town, but the country roads are endless and the greenery is breathtaking.  It sits on almost an acre and requres little, to no, work.  Except for the ocassional painting and a few light fixtures here and there.   

I’ve never really considered my style at home.  I always like vintage modern mid-century, but the ocassional farmhouse always gets me too.  Anything Scandinavian, forget about it. I’m excited to put life back into this blog to track our adventures in our new home.  Much inspiration to come…..

i’m back and posting! the raffman and i are moving to some new digs (temporary) till we find a place to buy, so i’ve been packing and purging. a perfect time of year for it. because the place we are moving into is getting a little renovation of the kitchen (taking out the old porcelain sink), i get to pick the paint color. at first, i was super excited. after all my rentals, never once did i paint a wall. ever. as soon as i headed into the local citypaint, i started to get the sweats. i was thinking of a nice calming blue-grey, but how was i supposed to know that there are 27 different shades of blue-grey? its crazy! now i see why so much blood, sweat and tears go into choosing the “perfect” shade. so i left the store with 700 paint chips in hand and headed to my blogs.

i found a gorgeous color = benjamin moore’s pale stone. i decided to google the color to see if anyone had any pictures out there of the shade and low and behold, i came across the great blog of four beds two baths. she has great taste and a beautiful eye. i get so jazzed when i discover new blogs and look forward to hers.

as far as the paint chips go, its currently between

pale stone

and

Arctic Gray

i know, i know…. there is not a huge difference, but god, it took me 3 days to narrow it down to 2! i’ll let you know how it works out and stay-tuned for shots of the new digs.

the beau and i were reminiscing about how when we were little we both had silhouettes of ourselves up on the walls of our house. i thought it was just what parents did to “capture” there kids profile so young. i remember sitting in front of the projector being shined on my face as this person traced it on black paper and then cut it out and wham. me on the wall. well, come to find out it was always done throughout time. i’ve been seeing so much about silhouettes in the decor magazines and on the blogs.

beachbungalow8 mentions the decor fad here and has some beautiful examples. she even mentions karl johnson who is a master at cutting and takes custom orders on his website. i love beachbungalow8!

absolutely beautiful things has confirmed my feeling that silhouettes are going crazy through the blogsphere. anna spiro is an interior designer from brisbane, australia who has some of the most unbelieveable taste i have every seen. i was drawn to her blog almost a year ago by the wonderful photos and inspirations she shares with us all. she makes me want to buy a ticket around the world just to visit her shop. had I known about her back in 2004 when i went “down under”, i would have asked her if i could work there for the rest of my life. its beautiful!

here are a few on ebay i have my eye on….

we are working on getting our profiles from our mothers at the moment, so when we do i’ll post them up here.  can’t wait to see the one of the beau and his ‘fro.

I usually go to ikea once a year. its all my wallet can handle. plus, i make sure i really really need the items because we all know that going there can easily cost you $100. Its fine if you spend that much, but make sure it doesn’t sit there like the 3 ikea frames I just put on ebay because I don’t use them and never will.

what i’m liking right now:

lack table in white

Strind table

LUNS writing/magnetic board

KNIPSA basket

KASSETT magazine box

FORMAT work lamp

IKEA STOCKHOLM easy chair

gotta love ikea…….

here are a few of the great items i’m loving over at pearlriver in addition to some nice home accessories, you can also pick up cutting boards, dishes, and an occasional Chinese lantern.

foo dogs from $39-$97

mini round vases $14

placemats $6.95

bamboo placemats $4.50

lacquer serving tray $14.95

two-toned lacquer serving tray $44.50

while sitting at my local Starbucks having coffee with my good friend Maureen today, i was captured by the art on the walls. these beautiful fish prints were so big and colorful, i couldn’t help think that i wanted at least three! the pictures on the artists site don not do them justice. they are beautiful! if you have a wall that needs color, i picture putting two or three together.

striped bass

red snapper

the artist, John Doherty, spends his summers on Cape Cod, and after he catches his fish and creates a print, he washes it off and fillets it for the grill. his love for the fish of the Atlantic shows and no two are alike. his style of rubbings is known as Gyotaku, which began two thousand years ago in the Orient. it was originally done to document species and sizes of fish. it then transformed into an art form. the Gyotaku technique allows for a truly accurate image of all the details in each fish.

not only are they gorgeous, they are affordable! check him out at Fish Aye Trading Co.

why is it that if i could i would change the rugs around my house the way i change my shoes? if they just weren’t so damn expensive. i’ve always felt that a rug was such an investment. having to spend between $600-$2500 for an 8×10 for my living room always left me in shock. rugs are such a commitment, as with any piece of quality furniture or furnishing for you home. i just change my mind so often. when we first moved into our large 1400 sqft. apartment almost 2 years ago, all i saw were empty walls (lots of them) and bare bare floors everywhere. so i went to the Crate and Barrell outlet furniture sale (they have them 3 times a year) and bought a basic 8×10 RED rug. i needed color! Well, now i am stuck with it. its been a wonderful rug, and we get compliments on it, but i long for style and i want to fall in love. i’ve now fallen in love with Madeline Weinrib Atelier. her designs are beautiful, simple, gorgeous and can be added to any room. my dream rugs:

someday…..

Thanks to brownturtlenecksweater for showing me this super cool store. I wish I lived in England to visit, but in the meantime I’ll have to dream over their website. RE has some wonderful finds. Recycled objects, homemade goods, vintage textiles.

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”

~ William Morris

We all have our little things we do to get ready for the new year. Some of us start going to the gym again (also on my list). Some us vow to never have ice cream again (this I could never do) For me, its to clean the apartment. So while looking at all the gorgeous blogs that I look a at every day, i found this quote on Modern Country. I think it describes our home beautifully.