Under a Blue Moon

Welcome back to the tour.  I hope this is interesting for you.  It's starting to feel a little self indulgent at this point.  But soldier on, shall we?  

There is Grace in the window, watching the world go by from our master bedroom.  I haven't introduced you to Grace and Rosie yet but I will.  They came to us after Belle passed away.  

This room is really hard to capture in a photo. because it is on the North-East corner of the house where the lighting is always a bit low.  It is a very calm and peaceful room, all done in greys, taupes and white.  We used to have a massive mahogany sleigh bed but it overpowered the room so we replaced it with a white iron headboard.   Because the light is low we added several mirrored pieces to help reflect as much light as possible.  I've had the mirrored vanity for a decade but the mirrored dresser (just visible on the right) is a fairly new addition.  

I'm really wishing I had turned the white chair to the right a bit.  It gets pushed over every time I open the blinds.  

The chair is the Jennylund from Ikea.  Not super comfortable but it is a perfect size for a bedroom.  It does make for a nice spot to sit and put on your shoes.  

Next up is the guest room.  

If you come visit us I can promise you a comfy bed with freshly washed linens and a cat or two for company.

The champagne button doesn't always work though.

Next up is my office.  Brace yourself – I don't keep this space very tidy.  

Okay that's not so bad.  But for full transparency it doesn't really look like that for more than 10 minutes after I've tidied it.  Not entirely obvious in this picture is the fact I still haven't painted this room.  It is a pale pink except for a small portion to the right of the door where I was testing out a more neutral color.  

If I was a more thoughtful photographer I would have removed the cat pan but it is what it is.  And there is the mess on my work table.  If it weren't for the branches painted on the walls I would just leave the room pink but I have to paint over those so I might as well paint it a color I really like.  That Ikea Expedit sure has served me well (now replaced with the Kallax.  And no, this post is not sponsored by Ikea.  Although it should be…).  I've had it for about a decade too.  I recently added the drawer units to corral all my fleeting crafting phases.  So at least I have one place in my office that is nice and organized.  

And there you have it.  Our humble abode.  I haven't shared either bathroom but I'll do that in a separate post.  We did a major update on the main bathroom so I'll show the before and afters.  

I hope you enjoyed this tour around the house – thank you for indulging me.  

 

This post will be picture heavy so buckle up and let's get started.

I wanted to kick off the restart of my blog with a pictorial tour of our house.   I will break it up into two posts because of the number of photos.  I'll also do a separate garden tour as well.  We have done a lot of work out back and it deserves its own post.  

These pictures were hastily shot using my tablet because my camera is on the fritz but I think they'll serve their purpose in getting you orientated with our home.   The busybody in me always loves these types of posts so I'm hoping you do as well.  

The picture above was taken from our little foyer.  This is the view that greets you when you walk in the front door.  I understand granny chic is a thing now which is good for me because that's pretty much my decorating style.  

 

As you step into the house further you have the living room to the left.  A few of my favorite things:  The mirror above the mantel was found at the Alameda Antique Fair and I made my sister Kate help me lug it about eight miles from the vendor back to my car.  She won't go to the fair with me anymore.  The other favorite thing, and you'll see this throughout the house, is houseplants.  I think they are making a comeback in the decorating world.  I love the energy live plants bring.

 

Stepping in further and looking to the left of the foyer there is a library table which has been in my life since I was ten years old.  It was in my room growing up and when I moved into my first apartment it came with me.  The étagère came from Ikea.  I painstakingly gilded it using a metallic paste and my index finger.  More houseplants as you can see…

 

Now we are standing in the hallway looking back into the living room.  You can see my tiny little foyer.  And the television.  Sigh – not much you can do about that.  We did find an interesting architectural piece to hang over it.  And the sideboard that it is sitting on?  My best DIY project.  I'll do an entire post on that.  It was attacked by a lunatic and I rescued it.   No one in the house plays the piano but I do love a piano worked into a decorating scheme.  Sorry about the scratching post.  I don't even see it anymore.

 

Let's move into the kitchen.  This is one of my favorite rooms.  It is just cozy and homey to me  It has the original 1940's cabinets but the counter tops were replaced sometime in the last decade.  They are a serviceable granite but I would love to replace them with Carrara marble or something with a similar look (white/pale grey).  I love having all my cookbooks in here.  

 

I really should have moved that chair for this picture.  Behind it you will see the very best part of the kitchen – our Wedgewood stove.  We bought it about a year ago and got a fabulous deal on it.  

 

Here is a better picture of it.  Isn't it pretty?  It was in great shape and only needed its innards refurbished which is why we got it for such a steal.  I made the pie sign above it after seeing the World Market version.  I wanted something a little bit larger for the space.  I know it is overplayed but I do like the look of it.  

 

This is taken from the other side of the kitchen.  I love the rounded shelves on either side of the kitchen window.  I have some of my milk glass displayed on them.  It's impossible to be in a bad mood in this kitchen.  It is sunny and cheerful.

 

We'll finish off for today in the sitting room.  This is a hard room to photograph because it is all windows and doorways.  We believe that this room used to be a breezeway between the garage and the house and at some point was closed in to create a room.  It was originally larger but then another remodel carved out a corner of it that I am using as my office.  Again please ignore the cat tree on the left.  It's one of the realities of living with cats.   We are going to recover the plaid Bergere chairs in something a little more subdued.  The plaid worked really well in our previous home but here?  Not so much.  

 

This is the door to the courtyard.  This is the other side of the door with the welcome mat.  Our house is long and this door confuses people to no end.  We'll get solicitors ringing our front doorbell, being politely sent on their way, only to have them show up at this door half a minute later.   

So we have seen the public areas of the house and next week we'll finish up with my office (now that I have a week to clean it up…), the bedrooms and the bathrooms.  I hope you enjoyed the tour.