FF 2015

march madness

You can stop pinching yourself, this isn't a post about college basketball (although I am kicking ass in my March Madness pool, thank you). It's actually about the design madness that consumes me, without fail, every March. It creeps into every waking thought and I find myself still browsing blogs, websites and Pinterest at midnight planning out the changes I'll make to every part of my house. Last year's madness ended in the complete overhaul of our dining and great room. What could the aftermath be of this year?

Quite frankly, a whole lotta nuthin'. This year's design madness has actually manifested as actual madness as I'm tired of still being in our town home, tired that the market won't rebound and tired that we have another year here. Well, tired probably isn't the right adjective -- I'm mad as hell. We're so ready for a space we can mold into our own, beyond painting walls and "styling." We're ready to tear down walls, create new spaces and see the dreams we keep talking about come to life. And a little curb appeal wouldn't be too bad either. But my hands are tied, and I'm doing my best to stay focused on our goal of listing our place by this time next year.

And through being mad as hell, the design madness has still found ways to creep into and mingle; it's a scary combination. The outcome is the plan to make over our guest bathroom. We have to retile before we can sell, and I figure it's a good opportunity to try out the wonderful world of restaining. In addition to that I've been trying to figure out new combinations of my tons of accessories in an attempt to quell the urge to do something bigger. It's kind of working.

I'll also be getting new countertops in our master bath, but it's not exciting -- just simply another thing that needs to be done before we sell. I wish it were something pretty, but we have old almond sinks, etc. and need to find something that works with them and won't turn off potential buyers. So it's boring-as-hell beige. Yay?!?!?

But, today is the last day of March and I'm hoping that means this madness is just about at its end - Evan's about ready to strangle me.

Oh, right. I have a blog ...

Hi there to the three people who might still follow my blog. My apologies in the extended delay in posting. And by extended, I mean a nearly four-month disappearing act. In my defense, life has been busy. I started a new job and have been busy kicking ass and taking names. Summer took over, and I suddenly didn't have any free time to spend waxing poetic in blog-land.

Well, I'm back ... ish. I'm really hoping to spend some quality time on the blog writing and sharing what's going on in my life, but obviously am not making promises or committing to a posting schedule. Regardless, it feels good to be typing again, thinking about blog topics again, and I'm excited to dig back into being a "blogger."

happy birthday mom!

Sending my wonderful mom very happy birthday wishes for her 60th birthday! Love you Mom!



One-year-old Breanne enjoying time with a lovely 30-year-old Mom.



june goals

May recap: May was a good month goal-wise for me. I stuck to my workout goals of starting the 30-Day Shred (although I haven’t been as consistent as I would like in doing it) as well as attending yoga 4 times/week. As I already blogged about, we hosted a mainly amazing family dinner. I just spent this last weekend redoing our back patio and it looks great! The only goals I fell short on were getting my butt out to a farmers market—which is why it’s on the list again—as well as organizing our closets. We’ll get there eventually.

davis home makeover: the great room

Picking up from where we last leftoff ... the dining room makeover, we move over the the great room makeover. I promised more info on relocating our family room in the cave to the great room (like how the bigger, better room get's a grander name?).

Naturally, some backstory. A year into buying our townhome, Evan took on the huge task of finishing our 800 sq. ft. basement on his own to allow us more room to stretch. Naturally, we loved the brand new space and purchased a sectional, flatscreen tv and could always be found hanging out there. It worked perfectly for about four years, until I realized that we never knew what was going on with the weather unless we walked upstairs to either a) get something from the kitchen or b) use the restroom. We were living quite literally, in a cave. So when I approached Evan about a new dining room table, he had the brilliant idea to get out of our cave and start enjoying some sunlight. So we hauled everything upstairs to the space that was our pseudo dining room and absolutely adore it. So, drumroll please, a tour around the room (and view all the pictures here). Photo disclaimer: despite the photos, our walls are a lovely latte/sandstone color. Stupid camera.



Looking into the room from the entry way.



Looking into the room (the TV nook is behind me).



Looking up the stairs into our office.



The server separating the entryway from the great room. Still accesorizing a bit. It looks different
today than when I took the picture.



The TV nook, don't mind the slightly crooked photo. Trying to figure out if something
needs to/can go above the TV.



Looking at the door to the guest room (guest bath is down the hallway).
Also a great shot of the updated baseboards.


So, where did we start from?


Looking into the room from the entryway.

The wall the couch and pictures are now on. The bookcases were relocated to the guest room.

The old home for our new server.

Our old server, which is now in the guest bedroom.

The bar (now in the basement in our maple sideboard) which is now the TV nook. We also painted
the nook three shades darker than the walls to make it pop.

 Looking at the before and after, I realize how happy I am that we made the switch. My lovely friend Lindsay told me it looks like a page from a Crate & Barrel catalogue -- made my day. But I'd really love to know what you think.

may family dinner

Every month my favorite group of people get together for something we’ve dubbed Family Dinner. Each month we alternate hosting responsibilities, and May, fortunately, was Evan’s and mine. It was the first time we really got to show off the dining room (with everything in its place), and I loved being with friends and enjoying dinner in our little nook. One of my goals this month was to host an amazing family dinner, and while parts of it were definitely amazing, we definitely missed two couples from our happy little family, the Laustens and Stewarts. So I’m sharing a couple pictures from the dinner (oddly there aren’t any with people in them, which is beyond weird for me) so you can feel like you there, kind of. 

Our new table all ready to go.



The delicious antipasti.

Bringing a little spring into our house.