From Brooklyn to Manhattan

One overcast day in January, we walked from Brooklyn to Manhattan. Nearing sunset, the light made greens and grays off in the distance stand out amongst the collection of buildings and the brick, steel, and wooden slats contrast against the light sky above and moving wheels below. That day, for the very first time, I saw New York City from the outside looking in. 

Read more about our New York Adventures here: Grand Central Station, A Grey Morning at Coney Island, House of Small Wonder, To Being Adventurers, The Brooklyn Flea. 

Guest Bedroom | Before

When you have one week from the day you move in until your best friend comes to visit, motivation settles and you get the guest room organized. With a south facing window, this room gets such a pretty light in the mornings. Pretty light means bright and cheery. And with the mix of florals, yellows, and whites, it helps bring in that spring time feel, year round. I mean, that's like an ideal feat - spring all the time! Whites, woods, and gold are the palette right now. This room reminds me a lot of my mom, who is a huge yellow gal (her whole house is shades of yellow!), and that makes me happy. :)

I just put up the curtains a few weeks ago, since it had no furnishings at all. Our whole house came like that: nice new windows with polar opposite furnishings (or none at all). The blinds in the master look like a shark took a bite our of them. And the drapes down stairs might still be the original from when the house was built in 77'. Anywho. Guests don't really want to wake up to neighbors peering at them through their windows, typically, so white linen curtains for the win. They are from the Threshold line at Target and the clean crisp look is just what I want in the rooms upstairs. Especially the rooms with south facing windows. I'm a sucker for the morning glow they tend to make. I love this room. Even in its plain state, it has so much potential already.

Upstairs Guest Bedroom Tour:

  

And to end this post, the most lady-like photo of Shelby:

Family Room Den | Before

I like calling this room the den. I've never had a room in a house that is sunken with windows at ground level. This room is that. What would be the formal living room, I'd really like to be a cozy feeling once we get furniture in it, also another reason why this room I am calling the den. There are so many idea that I have bubbling up for this space. I'm going to save those details for another day, and just give you the tour of this room. Location wise, this family room/den is situated on the first level, down from the kitchen, dining room, and front door area that opens to the living room. The garage, powder room, closet, and entrance to the basement are right in the hallway that is off this room, as you'll see in the photographs. This room has been completely untouched since we moved in, only adding our things - but I am so pleased with the warmness it has even without any decor really added in yet. We're going for a really warm feeling achieved through mixing of neutrals and textures!

Family Room / Den Tour:

Most importantly Shelby does all of her rolling around and shaking of toys in here. She pretty much has claimed post to this room, and runs laps around the coffee table. 

The Dining Room | Before

My life is no longer a pile of boxes. Furniture has made claims on walls and decor is slowly finding its way into permanent rooms. Upon moving in, the carpet was already recently redone and the walls repainted. Now, tans and browns aren't really my jive, but its livable for the time being. There is some major exterior work to do this summer, like jackhammer demo status, which means painting and interior projects are less of a priority. Although, the highest on my list right now? The dark brown wall in the dining room! I have convinced Matt to let me paint this space at least in the next month--because the adjacent living room is completely empty and that dark brown is so not my favorite. And that chandelier, oh boy, thats a redo (as are half the light fixtures in our home, spray paint and new hardware to the rescue!). But how I love that we don't have furniture in the living room. It makes for such a blank canvas. And the natural light that pours in from the South facing window in the dining room makes this my favorite morning spot. I've never had a dining room, and how wonderful it is to sit down for a meal somewhere other than a crammed kitchen. (Hence, why our little Ikea breakfast nook table is stretched to the max to accommodate more seating.) In the works for the dining room would be a DIY dining table, DIY chandelier, some handmade artwork, and a fresh coat of light grey walls. I've also considered doing beetle kill on one of the walls or white wash plywood planks (like this, but on a wall rather than the flooring). 

Dining Room Tour:

Honestly? I don't even really care if I have empty rooms and colors that clash my style. We have a house, a house, and that is over-joying to me. So empty rooms it is, we have a stinkin' house. :)

Thrifting Lately

On the same trip to Goodwill that I found the cane back chair, I also left with a bounty of office decor. One of the finds was this globe. We have been collecting different maps and types of travel momentos for our future gallery wall in the office / studio that we will have upstairs in the new place, and this globe will just be the perfect little extension of the travelesque vibe. A few other goodies from that trip to Goodwill were a pair of embossed gold sail boat prints and an oval mirror framed in a grey marble that was a steal. Gosh you guys, thrifting is just the best. the. best.

In the spirit of thrifting, reused, and vintage, here is a post that I really enjoyed by Jenny over at Little Green Notebook: Vintage Furniture Shopping Tips and Tricks. Jenny sums it up perfectly, and its just so true that frequency is key to finding diamonds in the rough!

Our New Home

It's happened. We've bought a house! I have been wanting to tell you for so so long, but you know how these things go. I was hesitant to share until we officially closed. And closed we did, last week Wednesday! 

This weekend we moved the large items, and everything is falling into place. I've become quite a list maker, writing down the top to-do's for making it live in friendly: install dog door, calk window cracks, set up washer and dryer, patch up holes in fences. You know, priorities. But then, I've been making wish lists as well: make a pendant chandelier, hang curtains, change out hardware, search for the perfect skinny side tables. How amazing it feels to have a home that is ours. 

I'm still super under the weather with what I've donned as the mega cold-flu combo, and I'm only at Starbucks to use the WiFi so that I can do a bit of work and emailing; SO consider this post as a little bit of a sneak peak. I am not sure when I will get to blog next, but when I do I promise to get more detailed, room by room, project by project, idea by idea. We are still trying to get settled and have company coming end of the week (all while I try and get well!), but I've been showing bits of our new place on Instagram (@lauren_tien), so you can see what we're up to over there. Happy Monday!