Oh, Martha.

Thanks to my little sis, I now have something new to marvel over.  There's a whole set of communities that are designed around the great Martha Stewart.  As the site says, these communities have homes that are "high quality" and "inspired by [Martha's] very own homes."  SERIOUSLY??  I can live in a home that's been inspired by Ms. Stewart's own homes?  Sweet.

Here are a couple of pictures of the kitchens of a two of these homes.

I'm thinking you're probably thinking "wow, B.  Those kitchens are sooooo different."  (is there a sarcasm font yet???)  Well, while they're not completely different, they ARE both lovely.  There's just something I like about the light and dark wood, plus the white countertops.  The mostly-neutral pallettes of both rooms are at once comfortable and stylish.  The slight splashes of color in there give just the right amount of life and breeziness to make me want to spend a lazy Sunday alternating reading and trying out new recipes.

To tell you the truth, I think I found my kitchen.  This little light-and dark is a trick that should be easy enough for me to do to my kitchen.  Because we're not planning on living in this baby forever, we don't want to dump a ton of coin into it, only to end up barely getting our money back when we sell.  It would be easy enough to stain the existing cabinetry to be a nice, rich darker color, and switch out the countertops that I HATE anyway to something white and clean-looking.  PS - IKEA has countertop service now.  Ta-da.

Soon enough, this  is going to look more like those.  And I can't wait!

PS - we're painting this weekend - get ready for some serious before-and-after pics!

Paint! It's not just for sniffin'

So, I've been doing some thinking lately.  I've been thinking that I'm ready to finally take on the challenges of sanding down and painting a lot of things.  Like, a LOT of things.  Such as my Nana's dresser that I'm planning on transforming into a sideboard in the dining room.  And FINALLY finishing painting the oh-so-70s side table-slash-magazine holder of Nana's and putting it to use in the living room.  I've also decided (just today, as a matter of fact...) that I'm going to paint this coffee table that I've had since...my Junior year of college (!!!) a blazing white to go with the black and white thing I'm going with for the living/dining rooms.  I don't even take the care to wipe the water off that thing when I water the small jungle that lives on it.  It's just that ugly.  So ugly that a few water stains might improve the look.  Ouch, table.  I'm hoping that a fresh coat of white will help encourage me to take ownership of that baby, and keep 'er looking good.  :)

The biggest and most challenging change of all?  Painting the trim.  Now, I have to be honest here.  I hate our trim.  I really do.  I both hate the color and the style of it.  It would take me $.99 a foot to buy new stuff.  BUT, Thrifty Husband doesn't want to buy it new ("What would we do with the old stuff???"  Ummmm...burn it?).  I truly think, actually, that he just wants to teach me a little lesson about how hard it is to sand down and paint some 2300 square feet of trim.  I get it.  Lesson learned well in advance.  But I truly hate golden oak.  And this place is coated in it.  From the kitchen cabinets to the trim to the wooden blinds.  But, baby, that's all going to change.  STAT.  One of the major selling points of this house was the fact that the original owners hadn't upgraded a thing - making it the perfect price for us to be able to put a little sweat equity into it by doing it ourselves.  Golden oak baseboards?  Consider yourself warned.

And world wide web audience (of two...), seat back and tray tables in their upright and locked position.  The renovation plane is taking off!!


Oh, and to anyone who might have their panties in a bunch over the blog title?  Cram it.  Jokes are for laughin'!

paint love

Okay, I know I just posted another blog, but look at this!!!

I am NUTS about this paint color!  Well, other things too, but let's start there.  I think this is the gray we've been looking for!!  The only hitch in the giddy-up is that it's a Martha Steweart color, not a Sherwin-Williams color.  I'm hooked on SW paint because of its fantastic pigmentation and the fact that it's available at a small store dedicated only to paint, but I might be able to make an exception.  Or, bring the swatch to the local SW and find its counter.  :)  Either way, LOVE.

Next, I love the pops of orange with the gray.  Wait, what's that?  My kitchen is orange?  Huh.  Whaddaya know?  So, you're saying it's practiceally made to complement my kitchen????  Yepper.  I also love the red in there - which is the color I think I'm going to use as an accent in my kitchen.

I'm in love, and THIS TIME it's for real.  :D

Closet!

Yepper.  This is probably the best picture I've found that shows what I'm looking for for the closet in our entryway.  I'm not into the wire shelving, but I like the general setup of the closet, and like the baskets and all the different places to put stuff - all that storage!

I love the three shelves for shoes.  I wear roughly four pairs of shoes.  I have well over THIRTY.  Why do I only wear four?  Honestly?  Because those four are in the closet downstairs.  In a heap.  With Mr. Peavs's stank-ass man shoes, a pile 'o' sand (um, we *may* need to sweep the entry more often...), a box of other stuff, a couple of stacked baskets of, you know, other stuff...  I think you get the idea.
Another shot:

Mostly, this shot was about the hook in the corner (hello, dog stuff!), another view of the BASKETS to hold all my stuff, and that sweet mat under the wet shoes.  I'd put that kind of a mat on all the shoes, because the thought of having to empty out my shoes every time I put them on bugs me (back to four pair I'll go!), and I think the mats would look fancy and great.  Plus, having a solid shelf appeals more to me for concealment of stuff in the baskets - since the baskets are all about wrangling the stuff - as well as the overall look of the space.  I've never been a wire shelf kind of girl.  I kinda loathe them.
Enough about the shelves.  How about those stripey walls???  I love the idea of lovely painted closet interiors.  I've been bugging Mr. P to let me paint our master closet a bangin' hot pink (not gonna happen.  I've come to terms with that...) since we moved in.  I want to paint things that most people would prefer to ignore.  Like the garage.  I want that sucker to have some kind of great color (maybe yellow??).  And the insides of all my closets.  I like the stripes too because they're kind of unexpected.  Since our entryway is going to eventually be a nice dove gray, I think a pop of color like brightly-striped walls would be fun and interesting.
Here's the top shelf:

I like that extra little shelf in there.  I have no idea what I'd put on it.  Wait.  Are those bags?  BRILLIANT.  I only have a million of those little bags to wrangle.  I think I've found my option!  But, you know, not wire...

And, for an added bonus...

This mirror was part of the article.  I like.  I don't know where it would go - our entry doesn't have room for anything like this unless it's attached to a door (hmmmmm...that's an intriguing idea...) but I like the idea of a mirror in the entryway.  And the family logo on it is cute.  I've been looking for some kind of "est. 2006" piece for a while because I think it would be great to have something to showcase the year that we officially established our little union.

Images taken from this Apartment Therapy article.

If I were able to be a neater person...

...I would have a house like this.

As it stands, I could have a house similar to this, but probably less stark and slightly warmer.  And with piles of magazines and random Coke cans from the hubs.  I kid.  But, seriously.

Things I heart:

• those walls!  Between the red and that great dove gray (hello, lover), plus the nice white on other walls creates a clean, calm feeling for me.  Even with the red, it doesn't feel too bright or crazy.  It just kind of feels like more of an accent color than the statement wall.  I like that.
• those windows!  I would hate to clean them, but would love to look out them.  Plus, the brightness they would bring to the house would be incredible.  I'm not certain, but I think the top of the windows are maybe giant roman shades.  AWESOME.
• that lamp!  Okay, I know this isn't really that big of a part of the room, but I love it!
• and, is that celing concrete??  I'm IN.

And some shots of the outside of the house:

It's so peaceful and beautiful.  I'm not certain if it's part of the interior or the exterior.  Or, I guess if this house even really has...an interior and exterior separation (see the dining room picture on the link below).  All the stairs and concrete and everything else...it's just lovely.  Lovely and mod and fantastic.  WANT.

So peaceful.  I just wanna nap on the grass.  Lounge in designer glasses and swimwear.  Sip something bright and colorful.  With an umbrella in it.  Yum.

I just really dig this place.  WANT.

Images taken from this afticle at Apartment Therapy.

MAN

I see why the Young House Lovers are so popular.  They. are. frickin. BRILLIANT.  I really love today's posting about tabletop decor.  It's crazy how just a couple of items can be used so multipurposefully (is that a word??) to create so many different decor tricks.

This one is genius.  I'm trying to figure out where I would put it in our house.  On a side table near the couch in the kitchen?  As a "centerpiece" on the island?  Maybe even on the desk in the kitchen?  Either way, I'm going to be finding a vace and a candle and some rice.  Done and done.  And in love.

I mean, it's rice and a hurricane and a candle.  Why can't I think of things like this??  I guess I'm just the one who steals the ideas from the geniuses.

Speaking of stealing things, this next one is SO going to be making an appearance in my house come Christmas time.  Again, it's just so clever and simple.  And brilliant, of course.

What a simple concept.  And what a beautiful one.  I know that the YHL folks have said where they get everything at their casa, and I need to look up where they got this great lamp.  Fill that and a vase full of sparkly, beautiful Christmas balls.  And the moss in there is great!  I'm kind of thinking maybe even a giant pile of pine needles.  I suppse we probably wouldn't be able to reuse the Christmas balls if they were all kinds of full pine sap.  BUT, since you can get those in bulk at Target for super cheap...meh.

And, last but not least...a Halloween beauty.  A little Gothy, a lot good looking.  I just wish I had a "real" entryway to do something like this.  I'll file it away for later.  :)

I really like this piece.  I like the items on the table, but even more I really like the table itself.  I need to figure out where to put something like this.  Hrm.  I love the knobs, and the shelf underneat.  The color...  I like all of it.  Perhaps I could do something like this on the front step with an older table and some weather-resistant fixin's.  I can't wait till Halloween now.  :D