House Hunting

Not sure if I should really call this house hunting since we aren't technically looking very seriously.... We know we want to move within the next couple years and it took us 7 months to find our current place and we were looking at houses almost every weekend of that time. Now that we know the area, the schools, the roads, this house hunt is defined in a way the last one wasn't. Also, we've learned a few lessons with this house (some hard, some funny) and so we have a list of things our next house absolutely must have, and a list of what would be awesome. It's evolving over time, but to give you an idea here is what it currently looks like:

Must Have	Would Like to Have
4 bedrooms, 3 ½ bathrooms	5 bedrooms, 3 full baths, 2 half baths
2 car garage	3 car garage
mudroom off garage entrance	back deck off back to yard
1st open floor plan: eat-in kitchen, breakfast area, large family room	butler’s pantry between kitchen and formal dining room
separate formal dining and office	formal dining, formal living and office
separate laundry room	1st floor laundry room
heating and cooling systems	Geo-thermal and solar
walk-out daylight basement w/high ceilings	finished basement
walk-up attic space	finished attic space
good sized yard - mostly level	private yard - ie end of a cul-de-sac or rd
room to expand - either within the house or add on if needed.	mature trees/ landscaping
wood burning fireplace(s)
hardwood first floor, tile in baths	heated tile in baths
double sink in master bath, sep shower/tub

Here are some pictures of houses we've looked at lately:

Which one do you like best?

Case of the Mondays?

Something fun to do on an otherwise stressful Monday! 

A quiz on Interior Design Terminology!
http://projects.wsj.com/quiz/?uid=ODquiz0111&type=flat


PS - CrossFit is totally kicking my butt - I have not had a day since we started (Matt and I joined a local CrossFit gym) that I'm not sore in new places! We've gone four times and I only kicked butt once - the other times were a struggle - but each struggle pushes me to be better next time around so we'll see how I fair tonight! 

What have you all been up to?

Second Floor Switcheroo!

Designs are being finished for our basement project - but since we are headed into fall and the project might spill over into the winter season, we needed to get Matt's office space out of the basement. He can't sit down there, wrapped in blankets with a space heater on his feet for another winter!

So where can we put his office/computer desk? It certainly won't fit in my study..... then I had one of those light bulb moments (think of Despicable Me!)...... what if we swap the guestroom with my study and then add Matt to the bigger room - ie a shared study? I measured.... and thought about it..... and measured again. I ran it by Matt who wasn't sure the difference in size of the rooms would be enough.....and then, I decided to just do it!

Here's what the study used to look like - on a messy day!!

only pictures I could find were when we put the bookcases together

And here's what the study looks like now! TA-DA! Super cozy, but totally work-able guestroom!!

OK, you say, but what about Matt's theory with the other room?

 Here's the first version of the guestroom...

Before we get to the after pictures (unless you want to cheat and scroll down first!) here's the moving process. I first moved the bookcases because I could move them into the guestroom with moving very little furniture out. But as I was moving the empty bookcases, I took the opportunity to finally put the backs on!

 This one even got a fancy treatment of paper down the back!

 After it was emptied, back put on, moved into place and loaded up again....

 I moved the 4-drawer file cabinet. 

No, I did not empty this first. No, I did not use floor sliders.

I used pure muscle :-)

 Then I emptied bookcase 2, put the back on, moved it into place and 

re-loaded it with all my craft & paint supplies. WHEW!

I do not have pictures of moving my writing desk as it was a bit of a puzzle. I didn't want to take the legs off like I did the last time, so I finnagled it until it worked! :-)
OK. So is there room for Matt? The entire wall to the left of my desk (where the Queen bed and two bed side tables used to be) is completely free and waiting for Matt's stuff :-) Plenty of room!! Success!!

Now we just need to move Matt's stuff up from the basement. I'm even thinking we might have room for a comfy chair and a small TV :-)

HGTV Quiz!

I was never a fan of quizzes in school - they made me nervous and stressed - but this is a FUN quiz! PROMISE!
HGTV currently has a style quiz up for 'What's My Style?'
http://my.hgtv.com/style-finder/stylefinder.esi

I found there were several rooms on some pages that I liked, so I took the quiz 3 times so I could pick each thing I liked :-) LOL

Round 1:

Your style is Mediterranean-Inspired

Vibrant, yet tranquil. Rustic textures and soothing colors echo the sea and sky. An ornate space inspired by nature. Tuscan and Mediterranean stylings.

Round 2:

Your style is Classic Casual

AKA Transitional. A mix of contemporary and traditional. Usually updated, graceful, enduring.

Round 3:

our style is French Country

Rustic, casual and welcoming. Cheerful combinations of deep, rich colors. Full of natural materials and handcrafted flair. My home is French Country.

My conclusion:
I laughed out loud for a while, to be honest. I mean really, Mediterranean + Casual + French Country?!
But they all have similar elements which are me: comfortable in colors, fabrics and furniture with a blend of old and new.

What is your style and are they right? ;-)

Weekend Visit from Mum!

A few weekends ago, my Mum came up for a 2-day visit. We spent most of the first day relaxing at a local spa and enjoying dinner in Portsmouth.
I'm sorry about the delay but this post is picture heavy and trying to get everything in order and not completely on top of themselves was quite a challenge!

MMmmm! facials, mani-pedi's, I had a heavenly neck and shoulder massage before fun blow-outs at the Adagio Spa in Barrington.

For dinner, we ate at Poco's on their outside patio by the water. Delish!

This is one of my favorite shops in Portsmouth! They have wonderful hats, accessories and little sparklies :-)

We did enjoy some fun hat-shopping as well as other window shopping before heading home for the night. We had a big day planned for Sunday: The Quilt Show in Manchester!


As you can see, most of the quilts are more artwork than a blanket for a bed. This above swan quilt is from Japan.
A close-up so you can see the level of detail in this movie-travel inspired quilt.

We walked through two large halls at the Marriot in Manchester, filled with nothing but quilts from around the world - and a few vendors filled the middle aisles.

This design was quilted and then hand painted. It's all one piece of fabric! I've also included a close up so you can see how the dye went down into the stitches and help create the water-colored effect.

I didn't take photos of everything. We didn't really think we could take photos at all but a lot of people were, so these were sort-of snuck using my camera phone. It was truly like walking through a museum filled with art.

We spent 4 hours just walking and looking at all the quilts and displays. It was overwhelming!
At the end of the show, we realized we hadn't eaten anything since breakfast! So we walked over a block and ate some yummy pizza at the Portland Pie Company before heading out into the drizzly afternoon.

All in all it was a wonderful weekend - mostly relaxing thanks to the Spa trip - and a nice change of pace, since usually when Mum comes up to visit we are working on painting rooms or making curtains - ie something house related!!