little messes

there are so many new moments for the senses round this house.

right now, as i bounce little v in her seat i can see as her eyes get just a little too heavy for her gentle face. with m against my chest in a post-nurse stupor i can feel his fine (barely-there) hair so soft against my face and hear a tiny whistle escaping with each deep breath he takes. his body is so warm against mine.

we’re in a holding pattern at the moment. soon it will be time for our daily walk with the pup. can’t leave henry out of this equation. he drags us to the park each afternoon, past the falling leaves, through the mud and with only a quick stop off for coffee delaying our trip.

i so love these days. knew i would, but never could have guessed how much.

henry and i set off this morning just as the snow stopped falling, which to be honest, made me a bit sad. i love snow. and i love walks in the park with snow even better.

what i love about my fellow dog walking wanderers is that when the city took over the main portion of a path leading from our neighborhood to the park, they met up on consecutive weekends and built a new path to circumvent the project. they even made three step areas out of stones and logs. brilliant. i forgot to take photos of them of course. not so brilliant. guess i was busy just enjoying the air and watching henry run around in the leaves.

on the way home we spotted the very best lost and found sign i’ve seen. thank you fellow litter hater.

our work on our house started within the hour that the sale was final. we found out quite quickly that though deconstruction goes fast and is wicked super fun, putting things back the way you want them takes what some would consider a lifetime. so when it came to the dining room that we began working on, hmm, was it really this long ago, yipes, well, we just finished. and by finished i mean i’m too tired to reconsider the wall paint one more time at the moment.

we actually went from this:

to this! and i can’t tell you how much lighter my step is when i come into this space now

and from this:

to this! ahhhh.

and just to pause for a second to again tell you how much i love the auction, the newest additions to the room were scores we made over the last few weeks. first off there’s this great pinball art from the back of an old broken machine:

and last but not least, new companions for our new dining room table:

the table was not an auction find but is also a new addition, this lovely teak vintage table with two hidden leaves came from my favorite mid-century store in town, home anthology. just try walking in there and coming home empty-handed. i double dog dare you. torture this place.

now we only have one room left on the main floor of the house. and it’s a small one, but perhaps replacing the roof on a small room isn’t necessarily a small job. but i’m going to pretend that it’s going to be really fun and fascinating… oh and it helps that we get to tear stuff apart first! let’s just hope it doesn’t take us 2 years to actually finish the job. i’ll keep my fingers crossed if you don’t mind.

so here you go, and this time with a few days to go before the bidding begins.

i love old photos and ephemera and these are just so great:

as it starts to get cold i always get the itch to focus on some winter pasttimes, maybe this year i should finally learn how to actually play mahjong, how about you?

or maybe do some organizing:

or just sit back with good old movies and pop some popcorn:

that’s it for this week, just a few bits and bobbles, and if you fall in love or want to see more of what jeff’s been finding in lots of old boxes lookie here at Woodward’s site.

i forgot to add to my list yesterday, get off my arse. that’s a big one for this coming year. my only problem is that i am a terrible exerciser unless something is ridiculously fun. soccer used to be my bag, but being on blood thinners is not too conducive to contact sports, swimming is my obsession all summer long but i have a hard time when it’s chilly to get myself into a pool, and so when i got an email from my friend noelle about her newcomer hoola hoop class, well i mean come on, how can you say no to that.

needless to say i’ll be having a bit of trouble getting out of bed tomorrow morning, but class tonight was so hilariously fun and silly. just what i needed. can’t wait until next week, got to practice traveling while i hoop, oh and get better at transitioning from belly to arm above my head, i nearly decapitated the girl beside me when i lost control. oops.

see the new year is already full of fun suprises… and a very sore upper back.

so our folks came on down to baltimore for a weekend of fun, but instead i locked them in the house and bade them work on my kitchen… ok, well not quite but sort of. and geez did they work. my dad and jeff’s dad and i formed a team and put in those countertops we did. they even gifted us a beautiful cast iron sink and a new faucet to boot! how lucky are we. not only to have such amazing family but to get to spend time with them and get to use their elbow grease! bonuses all weekend.

from the conversation and laughter to the food and drink and even a bocce game right after dinner at la scala (who ever decided the bottom floor of this restaurant needed a bocce court is a genius)… it was a super-duper wicked fun weekend.

so… who’s coming to visit next? we still need to install the backsplash and paint those pesky doors! he hee!

well i finished the first half of the kitchen. somehow it makes me feel just a little bit better to walk into to all that bright shiny white. the kitchen has needed some love for time, but only a little, well i say a little, but after painting all those moldings and cabinets over a two week period and only finishing HALF… well, not so little but still not as overwhelming as previous projects. so here’s a wee peek into the light.

from this:

to this:

got rid of the red/blue/gold motif and went with a clean white. with a bit of pumpkin to keep me smiling…
oh and we ditched the off-white tile in favor of good ol’ wood countertops. it’s amazing how much it’s warmed up the space and i can’t stop the ogling and cooing every time i walk in. i still have to finish painting the doors for the top and bottom cabinets on this side… but you get the idea.

and hopefully soon the other side will get the same special treatment… right jeff?!!

is it wrong that i’m already trying to figure out the color palette for the dining room? it’s a sickness.

hey kids our little house made it to the fall colors contest at apartment therapy!

give us a vote if you can!

i recently had the pleasure of being let loose inside an abandoned 1830’s building here in baltimore. the top floor once served as a brothel with little tiny rooms running the length of the hall. adrienne and i could have spent an entire week in that space i’m sure. the layers of time inside that space gave us goosebumps. have a look.

decay within decay, an old piano inside an abandoned dollhouse inside an abandoned house.

see the whole set here