The Search for Home: The Treehouse

So we've put in an offer on a house & are waiting to hear back. eeeeeeeek!! I'll wait to post a photo of the front of the house until I know if we're getting it or not. Below is an inspiration image (of Chaffee Braithwaite's home featured in Cottage Living) for the feeling I'm going for in the house: natural, textural, clean, airy, and comfortable. I really want to bring the outdoors in. It's imporatant to me that the focus of the house be the views of the outdoors.


It's a bilevel home from the 70s & is very contemporary (shocking for me, right??) But it's really a blank slate with clean lines, lots ofs space, an insane amount of windows (you feel like you're in the trees, hence "treehouse") and tall ceilings. It's situated on a culdesac and backs to trees and a creek & feels really private. I strongly dislike the outside of the house. (more on that later)



Below is the entryway which leads up to the main level or down to the lower level. I think I've got room for a small console. I'll probably do a hodgepodge of art on the main wall going up because there are so many windows in the living room, I don't have much space for art. Also, an oversized chadelier will work wonders here. New hardwood floors need to go down... (White carpeting going up the stairs will so not work for this messy family.)

Below is another view of the entryway from the living room. Need new railings but I think that will be one of the last things we get to. And who knows, they might grow on me since I'm going for the indoor-outdoor thing?

Below are photos Pam's (owner of Red Ticking) living room. Most of her pieces are antiques but she's really made them work beauitfully in her contemporary home. (This is what I hope to do with my furnishings)

Here is the living room. I love it for its 5 (one is on another wall) huge winows, cathedral ceilings, and spaciousness. It's directly off the kitchen which is a must for us.

(My photos are the gloomy ones- we've had a lot of dreary days lately.)

I think for the living/ dining room I would pretty much use the whole thing as a living room since the kitchen is large enough to be an eat-in kitchen. I'll most likely do some sort of library table or pedestal table that we'll use for books, projects, etc that can do double-duty as a dining table.

Or maybe something like this (Chaffee Braithwaite's again)

Here's Darryl Carter's Farmhouse living room (again, I know! :) But I love the room and it's breakdown of space. Eventually I'd want to do some white paneling & beams on the ceiling too.

Below is Lee Kleinhelter's living room and I love the layout of it as well.

Here is the kitchen in it. I wish they hadn't even put this "new" kitchen in because I just feel that it's all wrong for the house. Argg.. the arches in the cabinets, the maple, the color.. everything. So not this house and so not me.

I would really want to redo it right away but that's not really in the budget. I'm having thoughts of tearing down the uppers & going with a really cool tile backsplash up the wall and maybe some shelving for a temporary (as in a few years) fix:

For this house I like the look sans-shelving but I don't know where I'd put everything & I also have dishes I'd love to show off.

Below is the color scheme/ feeling I want. (my favorite kitchen again.) Clean lines, white, weathered wood. We're going to attempt concrete countertops ourselves right away until we can afford a "real" kitchen redo.

Below is the view from the kitchen into the living room. I'd want to have that little area be a little bar spot from the other side so the part of the wall needs to come down. (Looks like a great little blogging spot to me! ;)

I think I might still be able to pull in some farmhouse details if I really want to go that way. The simplicity would fit this house.

There's a huge space under the window:

I'm planning something like this:

Or more of a window seat with a table pulled up to it:

I think we'd be going with some type of indoor-outdoor fabric for the little ones:

Here's the view of the backyard from the living room on a very gloomy day:

Here's the master bedroom (below). There are 2 huge windows (pic only shows one) and it's a really nice size. There's a walk-in closet & bathroom suite and the view faces the back yard. So, do you see the pickled paneling??? Well, I was first like- eeesh it has to go---- but in the weirdest way, I'm now questioning... maybe it would stay till I got sick of it??? I love grayed wood & it is real wood... I can always paint it later... can I please have your thoughts on this? Am I just totally transfixed by the time warp of this house? crazy???

Anyway, when I walked in here the first time, I immediately thought of Atlanta Bartlett's room that I love so much. Can't you see that feeling in here???

So let's go down to the lower level:

It's the same setup as the upstairs living room with a lovely 70s stone wall (help!! I need ideas here!!!) except where the kitchen is there's a funny room. It's is fenced off and up a little step & there's a drop ceiling in there. The fance is definitely leaving & I've got to see what posts need to stay for structural reasons. I'd really like to ditch the step too. Anyone have any thoughts?? (That's my mom in the pic)

I'd like to put a sitting area & my office in there and make the ain part of the room be our lounging area/ with TV & huge comfy sofa. (Christian will have toys- hidden away in hutches, don't worry- on both levels so he can be with us wherever we are & have funs on both levels of the house.

Below are some inspiration pics (cottage living) for the lower level:

Below is the patio which really needs help.

Dave (my husband) has promised to build a pergola which I'm SO excited about:

I really love the thought of wisteria covering it:

There are 2 bedrooms on the lower level. One will be the guest bedroom & our 4-poster will go in there because it has really tall ceilings, and the other bedroom will function as storage for work & the Workbench & my husband's weight bench/ workout stuff.

Here is the bathroom on the lower level. Oh boy.

Here are some thoughts:

Here's the (huge & sunny!) laundry room:

Here's what I'd love it to look like: (this is the laundry room in the same house as my favorite kitchen)

And that's it for now. As you can see (if we get it) we'll have our work cut out for us. As I said before, when loking at comps it seems the owners are asking a bit much for it so right now we're waiting to see if they'll take our (very reasonable) offer.

xoxo,

lauren

The Search for Home: The Deal

I'm sorry there are no pics again today, but today is kind of tough. We're dealing with price. We've gotten the opinions of our real estate agents and our families and are figuring out our offer to go in today. We love the place, but don't want to overpay. It seems the owners may have overpriced the house for the market according to the comps. ugh.

It's a buyer's market, but they don't seem to see it that way. just our luck. really??

Here are some details: This house is a bilevel home (they don't sell well) and has been on the market for 2 years. (Yes, 2!!) Their agent has said they have rejected offers & are not very flexible on price. AWESOME. They also recently did some work on it & reduced the price, but not enough to make it a smart buy. If they accept our offer, it will be a good buy... so we'll see...

So anyway, I'm just praying & worrying today. :( I'll post pictures if they accept our offer or not.

xoxo,
lauren

ps- Sellers, if you're reading this, please know that we want your house badly, but can't overpay for it. (financially or logically)

The Search for Home: Putting in a Contract

Ok, I have no time to write & post pics right now, but I just wanted to let you know that we found it. THE house. We both absolutely love it & the neighborhood is awesome!! It feels right in every way. My heart just sang when I walked through the door.

Just to warn you, THIS HOUSE IS UGLY. But don't be scurred. I have plans.

xoxo,
lauren

Spring Table Setting

A few months ago, I was at the Old Lucketts Store in Leeseburg doing some shopping for a friend when I came accross this (beautiful!!!) set of china for only $64!!!! We had gone all the way out there & hit traffic and the store was closing & they were nice enough to let us in for the last few minutes while they closed up. It was fate. ;) ;) hahaha


There were 6 place settings along with servingware & a pretty little creamer.

I LOVE transferware & was not in the market for new china (my own is in storage!!) but I couldn't pass it up because this is my color (greeny-aqua-gray) and the price was too good to be true. The are by J &G Meakin and are a series of "Romantic England" and feature different castles & estates in England. I went to replacements.com and found that it would have cost me $260 for the set! (Here they are: http://www.thefind.com/kitchen/info-england-dinner-plate)


And, do you remember that I was attempting to use all of my leftover fabric? Well, this aqua linen tablecloth is leftover & was such an easy no-sew project. I just cut it to the right size, frayed the edges & washed it:



And please excuse all my wrinkles. They're usually always there because I can't stand ironing. It takes a very special occasion for me to break out the iron (actually mine's in storage!!) & I knew you'd all understand. (hahaha in my mind I've sort of started to like wrinkles, but I think it's just me convincing myself it's okay not to iron!) Below is a pitcher of mine that I found at a thrift store & just move around all the time:

So anyway, I decided because it's time for Spring, to do a Spring lunch tablesetting and play with all of my pretties:

I like things to feel informal & fun & also to be a happy & realxed hostess, I often make things easier on myself by coralling silverware in little pitchers for a casual lunch:

Below is a pretty little dessert stand that I piled up napkin rings on. It really serves no purpose other than being decorative but you know how I love quirky arrangements & I do love the juxtaposition of the silver & white porcelain, which is what the whole tablesetting is about:

Below is one of my favorite items. It's a pitcher I got from Target. It's just so practical & I love its lines. (I've seen antiques for much more than I paid!)

My husband surprised me with the hydrangeas & I just love them :)

So there you have it. Now, what's for lunch? carry-out?? haha is that ok?? ;) ;)

have a beautiful weekend!!! (and come on Spring!!!)

xoxo,

lauren

ps- check out Seleta's great giveaway this week!!! :)

The Search for Home: The Bungalow

This is a house that's been on my list for over 2 years & it's gone down over $120,000 since I've had my sights on it. (Funny how in-demand my favorites are, right?!! ;) It's a bungalow built in 1911, is in the same town my husband works & is about 20 minutes away from my family (parents & grandparents) & where we'd like to be. It's situated on half an acre (wahoo!!!) is I LOVE IT. Below is more how I imagine it would look if I could get my hands on it:

Here is the living room (below) which is really tiny & I would definitely want to knock the right wall down (which is a bedroom) & have it expand the width of the house. How gorgeous are the floors?!! 10 foot ceilings and all of the original details!!! Floor to ceiling windows!! It's been in the same family all of this time.

Here's another view of the living room:

Here's the adorable vintage bathroom with the original fixtures, most of which I would keep:

Love the tub but would have to go with those wraparound clawfoot rods for function:

Here is the dining room & this is the room that does it for me. I LOVE those uper windows & al the woodwork. Although I have to admit that bungalow-lovers would probably hate the crime I would have to do to this house: It would go white... da-da-da-dun! It owuld just have to. sorry.

Here's the kitchen which is situated in the back of the house. It's prettyold, but I think would be pretty easy to fix up.

I'd want it to feel something like this, below (This is maybe my FAVORITE kitchen ever... you will see it again ;) the wall of windows is on my kitchen wishlist.)-- country living

Upstairs there's this little room: A child would go here since they're little people ;) ;) hahaha but seriously I think it's a really cool room even though it's short. The eventual plan would be to put an additon on the house to get it more liveable space-wise.


There are 2 bedrooms on the main level which I would eventually want to open up into living space (once an addition went on.) I drew the floorplans for the addition this past summer & have that all planned out but won't bore you with it.

And finally, here is the awesome screened-in shed:

I think I would want to do something like this (country living) to it:

Isn't that just one of the best little secret spaces you've ever seen?!!! I just want to be there right now. really. They added glass to an old potting shed & I think this would work out with the structure on the property:

How beautiful?!!!!Anyway, my husband says this house is a no-go & I've been working on him for a long time with this one & he isn't budging. He won't go for the neighborhood. :(

"Branch In!"

As I looked out the kitchen window yesterday morning, I saw it: Spring!!! The teeniest little lime green buds on the trees had appeared over the weekend!!! (I think it was that 80 degree weather!!) And they're even bigger today. So, it got me thinking of reaccessorizing & one of the easiest & cheapest (I apologize to those that hate that word but i love it ;) ways to do this is to bring in your yard!! (Or nice, unsuspecting parkland/ public property.... hahaha ok I probably shouldn't have said that! but as long as you cut carefully!)



Even right now before the buds have really even started, look how beautiful the branches in the image below (from House Beautiful) look!








To keep branches alive, cut the stem with sharp pruning shears and put them in warm water containing fresh floral food. Floral food helps keep nourished the branches and also keeps bacteria from growing. (check out http://www.stemsflowers.com/aboutflowers.asp for awesome details on different types of plants.) I'm saying to put floral food in the vase because I just learned this great tidbit of info from the site above, but I've always done it without floral food and had luck! (Also, sometimes they wilt for a bit & come back!! odd.)




Below, I love what I think is a maple branch (correct me if I'm wrong!) and how easy it is to do. It's so striking and probably took all of 5 minutes:

Below is (not a branch!) but a snippet of (evergreen) clematis vine from my old house and it was super-easy to do & they lived for over a month!! (I put them everywhere!!)

Here's some flowering quince from Jenna Lyon's apt featured in Domino:

And some more:
Forsythia is one of my absolute favorite things to bring in!!! You can really force the buds with the warm water & they look so gorgeous when they branches are huge!! (My aunt in NJ has a home office that's floor-to-ceiling windows on 3 sides and it's surrounded by forsythia bushes- can you imagine that in the spring?!!! I'll have to get pics from her!!)

Below on the mantle, I used rhododendron branches to fill up the antique pitcher & since then I really hope to have a rhododendron bush one day!!!

And finally, I couldn't resist this beauty from House Beautiful, although I doubt many of us will be bringing in olive branches from our yards this year ;)

Good luck with your pruning & I can't wait to hear what you do with your branches!!!

xoxo,

lauren