Farmhouse Industrial Modern?

Last year I told you about my Suburban style. “Real” decorators – especially those on TV –- seem to think “Suburban” is a bad word. I happen to think it’s lovely and warm and so ME.

Oh, the horrors! ;)

Over the past year or so, I’m drawn to different styles and feel like mine is changing a bit. I just have no clue what to call it now. I don’t know if it’s all the lovely blogs out there or just the natural ebb and flow of my decor taste, but things, they are a changin’. 

The other day I was looking around at some of my purchases over the past few months and they just showcase my decorating confusion. I thought I’d share a few of them with you. :)

I visited one of my favorite spots in Indy a couple of months ago – a salvage and architectural shop that I don’t think I’ve blogged about yet. (I will soon cause it’s amazing!)

We were in a bit of a hurry, (it’s the kind of place you need at least an hour to look through) but I did find this old crock:

I’ve always been drawn to all things old and full of character. I absolutely LOVE it and the light blue “6” on the front. The price was crazy good too – only $20!

It sits next to the sofa and I fill it with blankets:

Score one for the antiques! Or farmhouse style? Cottage? I have no idea.

For months and months I’ve been trying to figure out what to put on the wall to the left of our stairs. I can’t find a good picture of the scrolly iron thing that I had up there, but you can see a smidge of it here:

I’ve used those iron jobbies forever and a day to fill wall space, but I’m trying to move on and change it up a bit.

The iron piece was way too small for this wall anyway – but figuring out what to use instead was stumping me big time. I didn’t want a gallery wall, cause it would be too busy with the one on the stairs. I didn’t want to do a mirror, cause I have one over the foyer table. So what the heck else do you do?

Well…a find at a small town antique shop nearby solved that problem…at least for now:

(Yes. The Halloween mice are still out. I’m throwing in some spooky style into the mix.)

I found a few old antique windows, cleaned them up and hung them on the wall. I love the colors – they came in the white, blue and brown – perfect for our house! And I love how they fill up that large wall. I may do some adjusting but I’ve already got eleventy billion holes in that wall as it is.

Sooo…old stuff, two points.

Over the summer I found this little beauty at HomeGoods:

It’s the cutest little stool I ever did see! The grey color and metal legs lean more toward an industrial look, but the cute little number on the top is more farmhouse style:

Half point industrial, half farmhouse. I’m so confused. ;)

Finally, I totally blame blogland for this one. My friend Chris made my multiple decor personalities issue even worse. She found a lovely table at World Market and I was smitten.

I was sitting in a waiting room when I read her post, and it just so happened I was about 50 yards from a World Market. Curses!!!

So I went. And I got it:

(Yes. Those are seashells still on display. In November. I told you I’m all over the place.)

Dang her and her awesome taste!! I got it for a great price because I found a coupon online (they took it off my phone – hurrah!). You can find the table here.

I’m IN LOVE with it’s modern look – the shape, the design, the glass top. I swoon every time I walk by it. I’m still thinking about taking some Rub n Buff to it to change up the color a bit, but we’ll see about that.

Sooo…score one for modern style.

That leaves us with…uh. Major design confusion. ;)

I wouldn’t even call my home eclectic cause I when I hear eclectic I think funky – maybe I’m wrong? Who knows what’s going on in my head and house. All I know is I LIKE IT!

I love the different pieces throughout our home and that they change up the look up around here. I’m just more confused than ever on what to call my style.

Modern farmhouse industrial old stuff suburban? It’s got a certain ring to it.

Has blogland influenced your style? What would you call yours? I hope it’s easier than  mine. For your sake. ;)

Our new backyard!

Well, I’m kind of cheating. I’m not really showing a fall mantel for Layla’s party. Just a fall fireplace.

An outdoor fireplace. ;)

I figured I can show you the indoor mantel any time – but the final touches on the backyard and the new patio were made today, so I just couldn’t wait to show you!!

Is this allowed Lay? :)

I hope so! Cause it rocks my world!!!

OK, there are a serious amount of pics on this one, so bear with me. (And I thought the deck post had a lot – HA!)

Let’s start with the piece de resistance – the outdoor fireplace:

We almost didn’t add this – at first it was just going to cost too much. But our landscaper worked with us and we figured out a way to make it happen.

And we are SO GLAD we did. It just makes the whole space – it’s the focal point, no doubt!

They used a travertine stone on the hearth and for the details on the front, instead of the brick on the sample we saw. He wanted to pull the colors from our house, and it does just that!

The stone works with the house too, and has some bits of grey and red tones that work with the patio:

It’s been raining on and off for days, and finally today it was just beautiful! As soon as I pulled out the camera, the sun went behind the clouds, again. (Some of the stones on the patio are wet – that’s why they are darker.)

Let’s check out the before and after shall we?:

  

AWESOMESAUCE!!! ;)

We got all of the furniture on clearance at Menards and I LOVE IT:

I think it looks SO much more expensive than it was – all four chairs and the sofa (we have a outdoor SOFA?!), were less than $800:

We got the fire pit at Menards as well (on clearance – notice a trend here?) a couple years ago.

All of the pillows are placemats from World Market – I also used them as placemats (who would have thunk it?) on the table set on the deck:

I adore the colors and the designs – and that I can flip them around for a different look.

Here’s a little tour of the backyard – the before on the left, the after now:

 

We are trying to bring the grass back – it was covered with the deck furniture (while they stained) for so long, it pooped out. We had the drain spout put under the ground – which makes hubby VERY happy. He moved that thing every single time he mowed. ;)

They planted a winding row of burning bushes, which I LOVE, between our trees, and then a couple large arborvitae at the end for privacy. They are so tall and thick – I love them!

You can see how the patio looks from the yard from this angle:

I love all the thought they put into the design of the walls – it could have easily been a plain wall and we would have been happy. But they look so custom with the bullnosed detail around the bottom.

We planned all along to put the grill down on the patio, but in the end hubs wanted to keep it up on the deck. So I put the DIY potting bench there instead and now I think it’s the perfect spot!:

That big black bucket is actually for fireplace ashes, but I keep my potting soil in it. :) Hopefully it will hold up outside – I may spray it with some kind of sealer.

Have the potting bench there couldn’t work better, because my plan all along was to use it for entertaining as well – now it will be a great spot for food, drinks, ice buckets, whatever.

You can see the fireplace from the back here:

It’s hard to see, but on each side of the fireplace are pee gee hydrangea trees. I got them for half off at my local True Value and I’m SO excited about them. Hopefully they will look something like this eventually:

(source)

Isn’t that gorgeous??

Next summer they will frame out the fireplace perfectly. Can’t wait! :)

We especially love how the landscaper used the natural stone throughout the space – like in the landscaping above, and the stepping stones through the mulch:

And the “steps” up to the patio are large stones:

They make it feel like everything has been there forever!

Here’s a before and after from the other side:

You’ll notice the garden is gone. It was a very, very sad day. I’m not kidding. They had to rip the cucumbers from my clutched fists.

OK, OK, it wasn’t that dramatic, but it was hard.  ;) I don’t know yet where I will put it next year, but I have a couple spots in mind.

You’ll also notice that there’s not many plants in the ground. That is simply because we just had to stop! (Our bank account was starting to freak out a little. OK, a lot. ;) ) We’ll budget for that next year. I can’t wait to plan all of the landscaping – I think the plants will make it even more of an oasis!

At first I wasn’t sure how to set up all the furniture on the patio, but I searched “outdoor fireplace” online and noticed most of them had the chairs set up like this:

I didn’t want the back of anything to be facing out, so this works great. 

And there’s still plenty of room to get around them, to the potting bench on one side, the firewood on the other:

The lovely folks at Wuslu.com sent these baskets too me, and this one was the largest. It’s just LOVELY as a firewood holder. :)

The massive mums were a STEAL – my BFF and I found out one of the local fruit farms offers $5 mums if you dig them up yourself. We got HUGE plants for so cheap – usually this size would cost (at least) $30! I plan to plant them later and we’ll see how they do next year.

I just love mums. I just love fall. Sigh. :)

Today the landscaper came out and cleared out a TON of the brush in the back – we didn’t think he would do that till next year, and it opened up our backyard SO MUCH:

I mentioned here that our next phase will be to clear all of this out, plant more trees along the back and mulch most of it.

This land is why we built our house here and it’s one of our very favorite parts of our home – if not our favorite. We have been so spoiled by all the green space and privacy. I absolutely love it, and now we have another 20 feet of yard to explore, now that we can get back there!

Since the last minute touches were finished up today, we celebrated by lighting a fire this evening:

It’s no surprise that the evening is the best time to enjoy this space. :)

We grab cold drinks, warm blankets, light the fire, listen to the crickets and look up at the stars:

And it really does not get any better than this.

I feel so lucky I could burst. I don’t know what I did to deserve this, but I sure do appreciate it. :)

I hope you enjoyed the tour of our new backyard! And I need to give a HUGE shout out to our landscaper and his staff – Bill at Eagleson Landscape did an incredible job. They did such an amazing job and took such pride in everything they did – especially the guys who put the stone on the fireplace. We were so pleased with every bit of it! If you are in the Indy area and need anything done outdoors – give them a call!

Be sure to link up your fall fireplace (mantels?!) at Layla’s – I can’t wait to see all the goodies! 

I’m such a rebel. :)

 

I was one of the bloggers selected by True Value to work on the DIY Squad. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as my writing about my experience. I have also been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY project. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.

If I had a million dollars…

OK, I know I’m not the only one who daydreams about winning the lottery. I think about the healthy college and savings accounts we could create, paying off our house and of course, because I’m a house nut and nuts for our house, I think about all the projects we would do around here.

It makes me giddy!

But there’s a little bitty issue. We don’t play the lottery. And like we’d actually win if we did.

DRATS.

So unless money starts falling from the sky, I will stick to dreaming. :)

But I do love thinking about it. What would we do to our house if said cash fell from the sky? It really doesn’t have to be meeeellions. Just a few extra grand. I’m not picky!

I’ve had a mental list for years. You know, just in case. :)

I would start in the kitchen. Because I like our cold food COLD -- call me crazy.

Our fridge looks great:

(Actually, most days it doesn’t look nearly this good. I cleaned for you.)

But the freezer door doesn’t stay shut anymore. Pretty much daily I’ll open it to find a layer of ice forming over everything. And the whole side by side thing is great, if you like to visit the grocery every three days.

Cause that’s all the food that will fit:

Of course I’ve found a way to smash the box of mini ice cream drumsticks in there. ;)

Me at the grocery store:

“Meat to make dinner or ice cream drumsticks? Meat or drumsticks? Hmmmm…drumsticks please.”

My priorities are crystal clear. :)

And you’d think the door not closing is due to my fantastical freezer organization, but it’s not. The food isn’t the issue. The door just doesn’t seal unless we close it just right.

I dream of one of these beauties:

With big, wide drawers for frozen stuff. Big enough for a pizza! Or FIVE. Whatever.

My appliance dreaming continues into the laundry room. Sometimes I feel like the only house left in the country that doesn’t own a set of these babies:

And Ugg boots. The only house without a fancy washer and dryer…and Uggs. :)

But our seven year old set is still kickin’.

Can you tell I cleaned for you in here too? No?

I’ve pretty much given up on this space. :)

I’ve mentioned before we plan on  moving our washer and dryer to another spot in the house, and it would be awesome if I had mucho dinero to turn it into this:

I don’t ask for much people. Three washers? Pushaw…I MUST HAVE THEM.

You know our family room has been a thorn in my side since day one. I dream of pushing out our window wall about five feet:

And installing some beautiful French doors instead:

And if I could buy the skinny, I’ll take that too. :)

Since we’d have the doors there (can you tell I’ve thought this all out?), we wouldn’t need the door in the kitchen bay window anymore:

It can get a bit tight maneuvering around our kitchen table, so I have to keep our chairs pushed in all the time to move around comfortably.

But with our money-from-the-sky, I could create my dream bay window, with bench seating all around:

Isn’t that beautiful? Loverly! I can just see it!

And because money wouldn’t really be an issue, let’s throw in a finished basement, just for kicks:

And if Candice herself could come help me decorate it, that would be fun too. ;)

Well, that’s my short list. I haven’t even touched the outside. My outdoor plans include trying to fit a pool in our tiny backyard. I have it all figured out in my head and it totally works. :)

You all know how much I adore our house by the way – I’m full out in LURVE with our home. I appreciate every inch of it, but it never hurts to daydream, right?

So what would be on your short list if you had plenty ‘o cash to spend on your current home? Not a brand new one – the one you’re working with right now. Or have you made one of your daydreams a reality? Do tell! I am SO determined to get our washer and dryer moved – I can barely contain my excitement!!

P.S. You will now have the Barenaked Ladies song playing in your head all day. You. are. welcome. :)

Why we’re not moving

Didn’t know we were thinking about it? We were.

But…we’re not.

It started last year while we were attacking our debt snowball. We looked into refinancing our current mortgage into a 15-year. To do so, we had a realtor come out to the house to give us an idea of the value.

The news was not good.

When I say not good, I mean…not. good. We were expecting it to be bad, but not that bad. And the longer I let it set in, the more it got to me.

You know our house is my hobby. It’s also now a big (HUGE. MASSIVE.) part of my business. So to learn that what we’ve done to the house didn’t really mean much, well -- it was hard for me to take.

I’ve poured my blood, sweat and tears into this house because I love it, I enjoy it and it’s my passion. But I was hoping my improvements would help the bottom line a little bit too. At least right now, they don’t.

There’s a number of reasons why – first of all, if you haven’t noticed…uhhh…the market pretty much sucks right now. Royally. We live in one of the best areas in the country (based on schools, incomes, jobs, yadda yadda), in a fantastic location, in a great neighborhood.

But the neighborhood is part of the problem. No one ever moves. Seriously. Our realtor had, like, five houses to compare us against in the past two years. That’s a good thing, in that it’s a great place to live. A bad thing because there’s so few comparables.

Another issue was that we built this house –- picked all the fixtures, upgrades, elevation, all those fun goodies. But those goodies are so inflated when installing them through a builder and rolling them into your mortgage, compared to buying them outright. A $100 light fixture is going to cost you a lot more than that, for the convenience of having it done for you.

And there’s that whole mental thing -- “What’s another $120 on a 30-year mortgage? Let’s do it!!”

(We didn’t do a lot of that, but all the little things certainly added up.)

So off the bat, I’m quite sure we paid more than we should have for our house. We were also in the first, say 25 percent, of homes to be built in our neighborhood. So there were plenty more built later that were a LOT bigger for less money.

So our square footage compared to the others in the neighborhood really dinged us. We’re tiny compared to most of them, but we paid more for our house.

DANGah Gina!

So when we got the news about the value of our house, I wallowed for a couple of days. Boo hoo’d a bit. Got really mad. Then decided we just needed to move. Pronto.

Like, rightthisverysecond.

But there was an itty bitty issue. We had no money.

We were still in major debt back then. We didn’t have a down payment. And we weren’t moving with tons of debt and no down payment.

I looked at houses online for about one day. I was freaking out people. I felt like we had to cut our losses and get out of dodge. Please remember, we had just gotten this bad news, I was emotional, and was not thinking clearly. At all.

So anyway, looking at houses didn’t help things one bit. Or maybe it did.

I didn’t find one house we would want to live in. Not one.

Cause, oh yeah…WE LOVE OUR HOUSE.

We built it, remember? We picked out every little thing. I took a second job for a bigger down payment, we saved like fools, I drove by the lot every. single. day. to check the progress. I had our superintendent on speed dial and he was my BFF for five months. We watched it go up bit by bit, falling in love a little more every day.

One day, I visited after they had finished spraying the walls with our Beechwood Grey color. I stood in the middle of the house, taking it all in and SQUEALED very loudly. Then added a fist pump and screamed “YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!”

And my BFF superintendent walked out of one of the rooms just a few feet from where I was standing. :)

We love our house.

One day after we got the bad news about the value, I had a long, emotional conversation with my Dad, and to say he put me in check is an understatement. And after that hour on the phone, it’s like the clouds had parted and it had all clicked in my head.

We are so, so, so insanely fortunate to have this HOME. A house we love, that’s the right size (probably a bit too big, really), in a beautiful neighborhood.

We aren’t upside down on our house. We can afford the payments (our mortgage is well within our means). And if we’re intense with it, we think we can pay off our house in five years or so.

How many people do I hear call into the Dave Ramsey show every day who can’t pay for their home anymore? They are quite literally walking away from it. It breaks my heart for them. Kills me.

So basically, I told myself to BUCK UP BUTTERCUP. You know…to shut my (own) trap.

We’re not moving.

But here’s the thing – we’re still going to spend money on our home. We’re not going to live in it and not live in it. We’re going to finish the basement (which will help the value), we’re going to install new faucets, plant more trees, make it what we want it.

Is that the best idea? I don’t know. But it’s what we’re going to do.

Who knows what the economy will bring? I know for certain the value will go up again. I have no doubt in my mind. What I don’t know is if it’s ever going to be where we want it to be.

But right now, I don’t care. We don’t know if it’s our forever home, but it’s our forever home for right now.

Just without the pumpkins and corn stalks. (I just love that picture.)  :)

Of course, please know…if you’re thinking about moving, you just moved, your getting ready to move – I am NOT talking to you. I’m just sharing what we’ve experienced with our specific situation and how we got to our decision. (I’ve heard Dave Ramsey tell plenty of people to sell and take a bit of a hit on their house, just because they can make it up so easily on a new purchase right now. It is definitely a great time to buy.)

And if you are moving I’m so freakin’ excited for you and I want you to blog about it so I can see pictures of your new house. Seriously. Moving to a new home is daunting and overwhelming, but it’s also pretty darn exciting. :)

So, I know I’m not the only one who’s gotten bad news about their biggest life investment – their house. Anyone else been through it lately? What did you decide? Stay or go? Are you happy about it? Sad? Frustrated? Excited? Do tell.

Luxury & Beautiful Property in Whistler with five en-suite bedrooms

Luxury & Beautiful Property in Whistler 

Luxury & Beautiful Property in Whistler 

Here is Luxury & Beautiful Property in Whistler with five en-suite bedrooms (all gorgeous, as the pictures show), a huge modern kitchen, a luminous and spacious living room and even a heated pool near the outdoor living space, which is also heated by the way.
Add to all these (and more) the fact that theproperty has its own private room, beautiful gardens and it is only 10 minutes away from the famousWhistler Village and you’ll see that the offer is absolutely perfect.