Making it Lovely

Honor Roll

Making it Lovely — Fri, 24 May 2013 22:08:26 +0000

Eleanor had her last day of nursery school (the kids all sang songs for the parents — it was adorable), and then we went house hunting. Wait, that needs more exclamation marks. We went house hunting!!! We are so giddy about this. The kids keep saying that we’re looking for our “rainbow house”, so fingers crossed, we’ll find it.

Eleanor would like some secret passages in the new house too. (We’re working on it, kid.)

And now: Babble! The things I write all over the interwebs!

The new IKEA Stockholm 2013 collection has debuted at ICFF. A green velvet sofa? Oh yeah.
Eames fiberglass chairs are back in production! This is pretty exciting news for design nerds. Rejoice, friends.
Lovely abstract art for your home (and at a variety of price points).
Free finger puppet bird printables! Let the swooping and squawking begin.

Our Organized Bathroom Storage Area

Making it Lovely — Thu, 23 May 2013 14:33:57 +0000

This post is sponsored by Glad®. Take small steps to reduce waste and earn a chance to win big. Sign up for Glad’s Trim Your Waste program here.

I’ll be starting on bigger changes to prepare for moving soon, but until an agent comes and I can go over my ideas for what we will do, I figured I should start small.

Our home has 2.5 baths — one full bath upstairs by the bedrooms, one on the main floor, and a half bath that we added to the basement when we finished it. The bathroom upstairs has storage directly outside of it. It wasn’t bad, since the system I put in place six years ago is still working for us, but it needed a little attention. Do you think we should add doors? There were bi-fold doors when we bought the house, but they were broken when we moved in, so we took them out. I don’t mind having the area open, but what would you prefer in a house?

Here’s the space now.

It’s not a huge difference (hence no “before” shot), but I was able to consolidate some things. Brandon’s stuff was on the other side before, along with the extra toothbrushes, bars of soap, and assorted other sundries. Now it’s all together, and the other side can be devoted almost entirely to linens.

We keep a small garbage can in the bathroom but when we have something recyclable to throw out, like a plastic bottle or the cardboard tube from a roll of toilet paper, we bring it downstairs to sort in the kitchen bin. Trim Your Waste with Glad has more green ideas, and by signing up, you can be eligible to win prizes like $2500 to green your home, or make a donation to Keep America Beautiful. (More information and rules can be found here.) We do try our best to live cleaner and greener. Sometimes that means going through fewer paper towels by using cloth instead, and sometimes that means buying refills for cleaning products, soap, and anything else we can. My giant shampoo and conditioner refills are comically big, but I use them to refill the smaller ones in the shower so we are buying less packaging in the long run. It’s a small step, but it helps.

A quick aside: I remember that I wrote years ago about not caring about what shampoo and conditioner I used, and that I just went with the cheap stuff. That was before I fried my hair, trying to bleach it and go red. When I went for a hair cut the next time after dying it, my stylist used Kevin Murphy and my hair was instantly better. I’ve used it since.

I know it’s a little thing, but having my storage areas organized makes me happy.

Let’s Go!

Making it Lovely — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:25:19 +0000

Today is our anniversary! Brandon and I have been married for nine years. We’ve been parents for four of those years, and homeowners for six. It’s been good.

I’ve been trying to push him toward a new adventure for us and our family, but we weren’t in agreement. I wanted us to pick up and move to San Francisco for a year.

I love it there! You will too, and the kids will think the streetcars and trolleys are the best things ever! Plus they haven’t settled in with school yet! You’re home now, and I can work from anywhere! We’ll just rent the house out while we’re gone! We could afford it for a year! It will be fun!

And so on.

Brandon is more practical.

It’s an expensive city. It’s hard to find a nice place to live, especially when you’re new to the area. We have a dog and three cats — that’s not attractive to renters. We have a lot of stuff. Our family is here.

And so on.

Eventually, he relented, but it was not an excited let’s go! kind of thing. More like fiiiiiine, let’s go. I was disappointed. I’m not going to drag us all out there if he isn’t into it. An exciting year in another city would be marred by resentment, don’t you think? If we’re going to make a big change, we need to all be on board.

I’d been looking at real estate listings for months, finding amazing homes in the Chicago area that were way out of our price range. I wasn’t really looking for something, just browsing the same way you might watch House Hunters. Of course, it’s all too easy to type in our town, start narrowing it down by budget, number of bedrooms… You know. Just to see what’s out there.

Then I went on that Housewalk, and oh boy.

There are still things to do to this house, and I think Brandon would be happy staying put. It’s a great house, and we’ve made it really nice over the last six years, but there’s only so much we can do before we start to over-improve a property. If we knew we were going to stay in our home for another six years, we wouldn’t worry about it, but I’m ready for new projects. A new adventure! And when I talked to Brandon about it, he agreed that he was ready too. We’ll be looking for a new home, here in Oak Park, but hopefully in one of the historic districts.

We’re going to see what our house is worth (I have an idea, but I’d like an expert’s opinion), and we’ll start preparing to sell. I mean, I love pink paint in my living room, but I’m pretty sure that’s only going to appeal to a very small segment of the market. I think the Edison chandelier in the bedroom is probably pretty taste-specific too.

Our house should be ready to hit the market in a month, if not sooner. I’ll be sharing our progress here, of course. We’re excited!

La La La La Lovely Library

Making it Lovely — Tue, 21 May 2013 16:35:43 +0000

Sometimes I can’t come up with a snappy title. Sing it to this.

Hey, I can finally share more pictures of the library! I took these photos last month, shortly after adding the new coffee/play table to the space. Then my computer died and the little laptop I bought to work on while traveling (since I was doing so much of that last year) wasn’t powerful enough to edit RAW photo files. Luckily, my old computer was still under warranty, and I’m now working on a brand new replacement. It took a while to get it, but it’s here and it’s zippy!

Anyway, wide angle shots.

Got your bearings? Good. Let’s get closer.

Eleanor and August each have toys in their rooms, but we also keep a fabric bin full of stuffed animals for both of them in the library. It eliminates some of the “mine!” dibs to have them on neutral ground. That’s why it’s so good to have the castle out there too.

Clearly I put the cutest toys on top.

The fiddle leaf fig is still doing well. We had a rough first couple of weeks, but now it’s thriving.

I’d wanted a Michelle Armas painting forever, and when the one I really wanted sold out before I could commit to buying it, I was disappointed. When I spotted that smaller pink and orange one, I bought it right away, even though I wasn’t sure where I’d put it. Turns out it was just what I needed for the library. I also picked up one of those cube sculpture things I featured here.

And look! Decorating with books, in a library! What will I think of next?

House Touring in Oak Park, IL

Making it Lovely — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:22:47 +0000

I went on the Wright Plus Housewalk here, in Oak Park, over the weekend. There were nine private residences on the walk, all built between 1885 and 1925, with three homes by Frank Lloyd Wright.

The tour also includes admission to the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio, and Unity Temple. I just toured the home and studio recently, and I’ve been in Unity Temple before (our rehearsal dinner was held there!), so I skipped those on the day of the Housewalk. Plus the ticket for the public spaces is good through the end of 2013, and also includes the Robie House and The Rookery.

Interior photography was not allowed, so the only photo I can share is the one from the Cessna house (below), which was on the Housewalk’s site. There was so much woodwork in the homes — lots of rift and quarter sawn oak.

Next year, to mark the 40th annual Housewalk, the homes will be “All Wright.” Tourists visit Oak Park from around the world, and I imagine that the chance to tour eight private Frank Lloyd Wright homes will be a big lure.

My favorite home on the tour was the Flori Blondeel House II, built in 1914, by John Van Bergen. An addition in 2005 doubled the home’s footprint and modernized it, while still keeping the original style of the house intact.

All of the homes on the Housewalk were amazing, and it was interesting to note how many of them had undergone significant remodeling or restoration. Brandon and I are happy with our home after six years of working on it, but I also feel the pull to find a new house that we can fix up. (The dollhouse doesn’t count, of course.)

Brandon grew up in the Frank Lloyd Wright Historic District of Oak Park, and after walking around the area all day, I was charmed. We like our side of town, but if we can find an affordable house in the historic district that will work for our family, we’ll go for it. The smaller/outdated homes do pop up occasionally. We’re not in a hurry to move, but I suppose we ought to start preparing our house so that we’ll be ready when the right house hits the market.

Honor Roll

Making it Lovely — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:50:32 +0000

Advice from Magnum photographer, Alec Soth.
“…I’m always wary that the advice is like “you need to put together this promo package that you send out to these 100 people.” No, you need to do the work, and worry about that later.”
For the hardcore gardener.
A great house tour (and not just because there’s a pink couch).
Portraits of a smart, strong young girl.
The Frank Lloyd Wright Housewalk takes place here in Oak Park, tomorrow, with access to private homes. (I’m looking forward to it!)

The new Moroccan-inspired collection for FLOR is so good! The vintage vibe rug is a smart take on the white criss-crossed berber we’ve been seeing all over the interwebs lately.
Loving the new lighting from One Forty Three.
Clever bookshelf!
Have you seen the Conran Shop at JCP yet? I wish I had a good place for this console table.
Get the look: a geometric headboard.

This week on MIL’s Facebook page, enter to win a $50 gift card from Gleeful Peacock. Good luck!

A Few Updates for the Front Porch

Making it Lovely — Thu, 16 May 2013 16:54:55 +0000

The nice weather kind of happened all at once here, and now I’m realizing that the front porch needs a little sprucing up. New pillows, a few new planters, and a wire bunny I’ve had for a while will do the trick. I’m going to spend the day out there cleaning, and also tending to some landscaping out front.

Wood Doors, White Trim

Making it Lovely — Wed, 15 May 2013 17:54:42 +0000

I left the doors unpainted in the front entryway. (Thanks for your feedback.)

The door between the living room and the stairway shows its age a little (it’s original to the house, so 100+ years old), but I think it has character. We, or a future owner, could paint or refinish it someday.

And with that… hooray! All of the trim in the house has been painted — upstairs, downstairs, and in the basement! Happy dance time. I can finally cross that one off my list.

Eleanor’s Fourth Birthday Party

Making it Lovely — Tue, 14 May 2013 18:16:42 +0000

There’s the birthday girl, approving of the party decorations before her guests arrived.

Eleanor requested a Play-Doh party this year. Brandon’s mom, a former preschool teacher, came through with some fantastic ideas for pulling it off. She whipped up homemade play dough in several colors, and also came up with the idea to create little chef’s hats for the kids to wear (which they did all wear at various points). Everyone had their own station to work at.

The Play-Doh birthday cake was Brandon’s genius idea. He asked a couple of local bakeries if they could pull it off, and most of them replied that they don’t do custom cakes (what?), but Reuter’s Bakery came through. It was pretty spectacular.

I told the kids that we needed their help to make the birthday cake (they hadn’t seen the real one yet), so they each made their own out of play dough. I gathered their creations, thanked them, and they went off to play in the living room while we cleaned off the dining room table. We called everyone back over after their places were set, we brought the real cake out, and everyone sang Happy Birthday.

Four-year-olds are awesome, because they’re still young enough to fall for a cute trick.

Brandon and I are glad that we had the party at home. It was fun to have Eleanor’s friends over, and later, family came by too. We made one long day of it!

(Hope you had a great birthday, kiddo.)

Wood Doors with White Trim?

Making it Lovely — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:39:29 +0000

I’m painting the trim in the front entryway. It’s the last spot in the house to get a coat of paint, so I’m finally getting on that.

Would you paint either door there? I’m thinking of leaving them as-is, even though I’ve painted all of the other doors in the house. The front door is kind of cool, and the door between the entry and the living room (off its hinges and leaning against the wall while I paint) is the prettiest in the house. It’s not weird to leave them wood, right?