Our Home

My friend Nikki has been requesting photos of our home for quite some time (thanks for being so patient Nikki!) I finally took some and can now post them. After all, it has only been close to a year! Presenting our humble, little home:

This is looking down our hallway to the front door. I have photos of our beloved family and friends on this wall. The photos are in dire need of updating!

This shadow box is one of the frames in the hallway. I recently completed it. It contains photos from our wedding, one our wedding invitations, two little pinecones, and part of the fuscia colored ribbon from my bridal bouquet. I loved my bouquet. It was all fuscia and tangerine colored dahlias; my favorite flower. I bought the ribbon during a trip to Marin for Mother's Day with my mom.

Here is our entertainment center. Our colors are black, red, and sage green. The deco style I am striving for is country/cottage. Hopefully I am achieving that somewhat! On the shelves I have some of my favorite things: photos of our family and from our wedding, a vase I coveted in the holiday 1996 Crate and Barrel catalogue that my mom bought for me, the Willow statue my mother-in-law bought for Todd and me when we got engaged, some of my favorite books, crystal vases and a crystal bowl that were engagement gifts from the Lopez family (whom Todd has known since he was five), a candy dish that belonged to Todd's Nana, and a sign that says "Happiness is being married to your best friend". If you asked Todd what his favorite possession in this photo is he would say, "the TV!"

Here are some totchkes from the coffee table in the living room. Our wedding photo sits on three books. The bottom two are historical photo books of the city we live and the town I grew up in. The other book is 1,001 Places to See in the U.S.A Before You Die. I love to look through this book and check off all of the places I have been. It also serves as inspiration for new places to visit.

Here are the photos on top of the fireplace mantle. The wedding photo is one our family friend, Noel scanned and Photoshopped. It was originally all color. He did a phenomenal job and is incredibly talented! My in-laws, Noel, and his wife Joanne took us out to dinner and surprised us with this framed picture. It was very touching. The memory still makes me want to cry. The other is a family photo that was taken at Baker Beach in the San Francisco Presidio by Ryan Bates. He is an amazing photographer!

This chair and rooster are next to our fireplace. The chair is an antique that belonged to Mary's (our second mom) father. Todd painted it red and surprised me with it. So sweet. I bought the rooster at a great store in town. He seems to like his new home!

In our dining room we have our hutch. The base is solid maple. Both pieces have been in my family for close to fifty years. It was my uncle's bedroom furniture when he was a child. Then my grandma had it. It was passed onto my mom who later gave it to me to use as bedroom furniture. It had decades of furniture polish on it, as well as six coats of white paint. When we decided to use it in the dining room it became a labor of love for Todd and me. We stripped it down to bare wood and re-painted it. Words cannot begin to describe how laborious the stripping process was! Fortunately our friend, Jerry came to our rescue. He helped us with the stripping and painting. After all of the hard work that went into it, I knew it needed beautiful hardware. So I splurged on Restoration Hardware pulls and knobs. Then I filled the shelves with my collection of Jade-ite glassware. My first pieces were from a trip to Green Bay when I was nineteen. I have mixed old and reproduction pieces. My grandma bought the beautiful pitcher for a Christmas gift. Although new, it is one of my favorites because of the memories.

We have three windows in our dining room. I made these curtains for all three. I am quite proud of them because my sewing skills pale in comparison to my mother's. She is a very talented sewer. The curtains are a black and white gingham decorator fabric I scored a fabulous deal on ($3 a yard!) The red toile was a gift from my mom's fabric stash. The finials I made because I could not find anything I liked.

This farming print is hanging in our dining room. I bought on that same road trip to Green Bay. This was a great $2 find at a thrift store in St. Cloud, Minnesota. It has been with me ever since.

Here is our bedroom. The photo is from the same Bake Beach shoot. I looooove it! Ryan did a great job capturing the moment and making us look good. You would never know Todd and I were suffering from horrendous colds, were freezing in forty degree weather, it was unbearably windy, our feet were numb from the ocean, and our noses were so runny we got snot on each others' faces every time we kissed. But to everyone else, Ryan captured a romantic and tender moment being shared by a couple in love. And they say the camera never lies! Ha! The antique plates were a Christmas gift from my parents. Todd's reaction to seeing the plates on the wall was a dry, "Yay, we have plates on the wall..."

This is our bargain bed from Ikea. It was so pretty and so cheap. I love a high bed. The mattress hits my ribs the bed is so tall. I also love "fluffy" beds. They look so inviting! To get the fluffiness factor we have a pillow top mattress that is a dream to sleep on and a down comforter that was a wedding gift from my aunt, uncle, and cousin. Mmmm...nothing beats burrowing under that comforter in a bed made of fresh, 600 thread count sheets! Yummy! Even Tilly loves to snuggle in our bed!

This is one of my favorite pictures in the house. I found it at an antique shop in Chico, Ca. To me it represents a beautiful utopia. It is as if this boy has accidentally stumbled upon heaven. This picture brings me great peace and smile to my face every time I look at it. Therefore it is on my side of the bed and is one of the first things I see when I wake up.

So this is our home in a nutshell. The kids' room is "under construction" since we are making room for baby. I am also redecorating the downstairs bathroom. Our other home project is the backyard. We are redoing the landscaping. So hopefully I will have some new home photos to share with you in the future!