Since we sold our townhouse in April and ceased paying two mortgages, we (I) have turned our (my) attention towards making this house our home.
The first thing that had to go was the paint colour in the living room. Oddly, a lot of people favourably commented on it. It reminded me of baby poop and I felt it gave the carpet a yellowish tint.
We also had to purchase new furniture, as the sofas we had in our townhouse were too bulky for the new house. In our townhouse we had built a gorgeous theatre room and had purchased a huge u-shaped sofa for it.
The only room the sofa would fit in was the living room. Between the colour of the sofa and the carpet, it looked like the oatmeal room. Not pretty. In addition to the colour, the room became the sofa. There was no space left for any other furniture. So sadly, less than a year after purchasing, we sold our big comfy couch.
We painted the room in a colour that I loved and which the Hubs felt was inferior to the original colour. However, an independent study proved otherwise. (Ie. I texted our friends and asked which colour they thought was better.)
We also found a profoundly expensive sofa bed that we liked. After much trial and tribulation, it found it’s way home to us. Beautiful sofa, fantastic quality, incredibly disorganized company! The salesperson had ordered our sofa in the wrong colour (the colour of the carpet!) and we didn’t find out until the week it was to be delivered. Which wouldn’t be so bad, but the sofas are custom-ordered and we had already waited three months. Another was ordered on a rush and did arrive rather quickly. The week afterwards, the store called us and tried to deliver our sofa to us, again….
The rest of the furniture are items we already owned. I think it has come together rather nicely.
Our Cape Cod is blue, so I felt the blue-grey of the walls would help to transition from the outside to the inside of the house. The living room is situated just inside the front door. I wanted to have a dark-toned sofa (despite owning light-coloured, perpetually-shedding dogs) to contrast the light carpet. As our furniture is all quite dark and heavy, I plan to keep the decorations light.
Next project – The Master Bedroom!
Currently listening to Jolene by Cake
I could give you plenty of excuses as to why I haven’t posted in nearly a year. Blame it on moving, the new job, coursework, or plain old procrastination; it doesn’t really matter, whichever way, I’m feeling in the mood to post again today!
Today I built up the nerve to wear my obnoxious daisy print skirt to work. I knew when I first laid eyes on the fabric in the thrift store that I had to own this skirt. Sadly, I have only worn it once prior to today for fear of looking like a crazy cat lady.
My fears appear to be unfounded, as I received plenty of unsolicited compliments today.
t-shirt - Smart Set, Skirt – Susan Bristol (thrifted), Shoes – Payless, Necklace – Hill Tribe, Belt – Suzy Shier
Though the temperature is cooling, it was a beautiful afternoon to enjoy on the front porch.
Please excuse the messy hair. I took these photos after work and my tresses had survived a day of juggling three different desks, as well as being put through the rigours of a lunch hour BodyPump class. That’s enough to de-curl the curliest of curlies!
Currently listening to Santeria by Sublime
I don’t believe I am much different than most other people. So, I am sure that no one will be surprised to hear that I love receiving packages in the mail and that that love is compounded tenfold when those packages contain free (yes, free!) jewellery!
Back in September, Alana over at Good Girl Gone Blog had a fantastic giveaway. InPink had offered to give to her readers 50 $40 gift certificates! And amazingly, (I think you know where this story is going), I was one of those winners!
I received my order yesterday, and was very pleased with my purchases.
The boxes were packaged like gifts, so I couldn’t help but take a few shots of them. It’s such a little thing, but it really made me feel special; like it was my birthday.
Inside, the bracelets I ordered were wrapped in very pretty, InPink logo-ed tissue paper.
And here are the goods!
I love the mix of hard metal and the feminine flowers in this cuff. I have a ring that is similar, so I knew this piece would be a perfect addition to my humble collection.
This set was my first pick when ordering. I love the soft colours and the wood bangles. Alone the floral bracelet would feel very Spring-like, but the addition of the wood bangles really transitions this piece into Autumn. I can see myself pairing it with ultra-femme outfits, as well as with jeans and a cute, cozy sweater.
Oh and just an FYI; it was not a condition of the giveaway for me to do this post. I don’t often win anything and was overly excited, that’s all! Anyway, I can definitely see myself purchasing again from InPink. Especially for gifts, as the packaging is too sweet not to be shared.
Our family LOVES Halloween. Forget Christmas, New Years, or Thanksgiving. Halloween is the big holiday around these parts. Unfortunately, we won’t be decorating much this year, as we move into our new house the weekend of.
No worries though, thanks to Pinterest, I’m already planning for 2012!
Holiday Decorating – Halloween
Source: etsy.com via Shannon on Pinterest
This personalized treat dish is too sweet. And how easy to make? I’m keeping my eyes peeled for the perfect dish… maybe thrifted? Then just add some paint (stencils or decals?) and a ribbon. Though, with my (lack of) painting skills, I may be better off just ordering one from Etsy.
Source: pinksugarphotography.typepad.com via Shannon on Pinterest
I love just about everything here. I may have to add a grey wall to my new house. One living room wall in our townhouse is painted grey and would look so sharp with the ghostly frames and spiders. Must also make Halloween pennants and painted pumpkins! Oh, and the Jolly Rodger doormat? That would be simply perfect year-round if you ask me!
Source: bhg.com via Shannon on Pinterest
That’s one sexy pumpkin!
Want to gather your own holiday ideas? Come join me on Pinterest!
With all the hustle and bustle of moving and prepping my townhouse for sale, there hasn’t been much time leftover for outfit photos. Although I am not the most reliable of bloggers… I’d still rather not put my poor, neglected blog on hiatus. So, in lieu of the usual, I present to you random images that are inspiring me via Pinterest!
Today, let’s take a look at :
THE Laundry Room
So my new laundry room is kind a teeny, and is shared with a big ‘ol boiler, which is great for keeping us warm, but is going to really cramp my clothing-cleaning style. Anyway, you work with what you got, right? Regardless of the size, I am determined to personalize this area with more than my dirty duds.
Source: eighteen25.blogspot.com via Shannon on Pinterest
Source: kitchendinner.com via Shannon on Pinterest
If you’re not already a Pinterest addict, head on over an join me!
It’s been a hectic past few weeks in our household. You would think things would have calmed down after our wedding, but no, we had to decide to go buy a new house!
It really wasn’t in the plans, but a real estate agent had a client who was interested into moving into our area. Since we were considering selling in the next year, we gave her a call and her client came and had a look at our townhouse. Of course, this prompted us to go looking for a new home ourselves and we ended up falling in love with a beautiful cape cod.
After almost two weeks of water tests, septic and home inspections, offers and counteroffers, the deal has been completed. Sold sign goes on today! We still have over a month until we move, but I can fill that time perusing Pinterest for home decor inspiration.
Oh, and the lady that looked at our house; she’s not interested. Go figure. Our current home went on the market yesterday. Wish me a speedy sell!
Just quickly popping in to say hello! We’ve had a tremendously busy weekend. We attended my cousin’s wedding, made a month worth of meals, cleaned our entire house top to bottom (all six floors!), had a real estate agent peruse our home, and ventured out and looked at some houses ourselves.
Needless to say I was exhausted heading back to work today, despite the long weekend. So when I managed to cut my head completely out of my outfit photos tonight, I wasn’t really feeling up to retakes.
Shirt – Banana Republic (thrifted), Dress – Mossimo (thrifted), Shoes – American Eagle (Payless), Pearls – The Hubs
My dear hubby is working late tonight, so I was left to entertain myself. I ended up making up a batch of these delicious little tidbits!
Healthier Double Chocolate Muffins from Once a Month Mom
Ingredients
- 1 cup oat bran cereal
- 1 1/3 cups low fat buttermilk
- 1/4 cup applesauce
- 1 large egg
- 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cups unsweetened baking cocoa
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cups miniature chocolate chips
Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a 12 regular-size muffin tin with paper cups. Place cereal in resealable food-storage plastic bag; seal bag and crush with rolling pin or meat mallet (or crush in a food processor). In medium bowl, mix cereal and buttermilk; let stand 5 minutes. Stir in applesauce and egg. Add remaining ingredients except chocolate chips and mix until just blended. Stir in chocolate chips. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Immediately remove from pan.
I didn’t have buttermilk, so I just used skim with a tablespoon of lemon juice. I also made mine mini muffins. All in all, my batch made 24 mini muffins and 3 normal sized muffins.
Currently listening to Heartspark Dollarsign by Everclear
