The other day (in this post), I gave myself 36 hours to make a decision and order counter stools for the kitchen. Well, I am very pleased to say… I did it. I actually did it!
Last night, we purchased two of these lovely Rustic Barstools from West Elm. Our local West Elm was closed a few years ago (boo!), so we had to order them online. When I clicked to order a “Set of 2″, it said “This item is on backorder until January 9, 2013″. Nooooooooo… We really wanted them in time for the holidays so I sat and pouted a bit but then got to thinking. If I purchased two of the single stools, it would only be $1 more. So, that’s what I did. Estimated shipping ended up being around November 8th. Much better than 2013.
I’m beyond excited about these stools. I cannot wait to actually see them in place. Until then, we’ll just have to enjoy this Photoshopped version…
Funny thing, I didn’t realize this until we already placed the order, but one of the product images for the dining chair version is staged in a kitchen that looks similar to ours…
Pretty similar, right?! Right down to the farmhouse sink. Obviously, we’ll post pictures of the barstools in our kitchen once we get them in. We’re still waiting for the blinds to come in. Hopefully it will be soon. Once those two things are crossed off the list, this turkey kitchen is DONE. About time, right? ; )
I’ve always loved topiaries by the front door of a house. It’s just “one of those things” right up there with white hydrangea and yummy-smelling candles. As I’ve mentioned before, my parents live right across the street from us, and I lived in that house since I was 10 years old. I remember thinking when I got older – and actually started paying attention to things like interior design and landscaping – that the house across the street would look nice with topiaries by the front door. Little did I know that 7 years later I’d be married to that geeky guitar player from youth group and living in that very house with our son little dog. Crazy!
Needless to say, I’ve been on the hunt for topiaries. While keeping my eye out, I’ve had a few things on my “topiary wish list”: at least 3-feet tall, double round balls, faux boxwood, and (though not a necessity) pre-lit for Christmas.
While at Tuesday Morning over the weekend, I lucked out! Sitting right in the window were two 3-feet tall, round, double-ball, pre-lit, faux boxwood topiaries… everything on the wish list! Their original price was $200 each, and they were marked down to $99 each. Not bad, considering that other topiaries I’ve been looking at were anywhere between $200 and $400.
I couldn’t get them home fast enough! When I got home, I realized I didn’t have any planters for the front porch, we moved the ones we spray-painted for the carport a while back to the front. We haven’t had plants in them for months (remember, I am a plant assassin), so to the front they went. I set my newfound unkillable leafy friends down in the planters and did a tiny happy dance – in my head.
I love the look of them and the fact that the faux boxwood looks pretty real – even in an iPhone photo!
That’s all fine and dandy, but with the nice, new, tailored-looking topiaries, the rest of the porch is screaming for help. Within the next few weeks, we’re planning on removing the storm door (which is a nasty green color and likely as old as the house!) and installing a new light fixture (which is as equally nasty). That will make a huge difference and add to the curb appeal of our house. After that… landscaping, but I’m getting a little too ahead of myself. One weekend at a time, one weekend at a time.
In other outdoor news, we finally got around to having the trees in the front yard trimmed back. They are gigantic trees, so this a project to be done by the pros. There were huge limbs touching the house, and the shade was choking the dogwood trees. Every time a big storm came, we would hope that one of the big limbs wouldn’t take the gutters off the front of the house. As you can see from the above Instagram photo, everything is cleared out, and there’s a bit more sunlight in our front yard. Three cheers for progress!
These days, it’s looking like a semi-empty, a tad less of a hot mess…
Knowing we’d be in the market for a new desk eventually, we went ahead and donated it along with the two small hutches. We also moved the small thrift table to another room in the house (it’s currently floating between the guest room and Greg’s office), and we put the second orangish/redish chair in our “holding room” (aka Greg’s office). So now the room is feeling more and more like a clean slate. Yep, and I’m oh so pleased to say that we finally pulled the trigger and ordered the Craft Space Storage Cabinet and a Eight-Drawer Flat-File Cabinet by Martha Stewart Living in addition to a matching hutch to go on top of the Flat-File Cabinet:
Even though they took forever to put together, I’m really happy with them! Like, really, really happy. They are solid as a rock and there seems to be a place for everything – even a perfect-sized compartment for legal pads! And Sharpies!!! Oh, Martha, you do know the ways to my heart. And check out how DEEP these drawers are…
So you can get an idea of how big the drawers are, those are full-sized legal pads.
The major thing that sold us on these were the extra deep flat file drawers. They are the perfect width for storing the destination prints we sell over in our Etsy store and have proved to come in very handy when keeping everything organized. When we get a new order, we know right where everything is and how many we have of each print.
I haven’t even begun to fill up the furniture, which is awesome! When I do, I’ll be sure to give you guys a “behind closed drawers Cribs edition” post.
Now that the big storage pieces are in place, it’s a lot easier to see the vision for the rest of the room. The plan I sketched out before we bought the storage furniture (the first photo of this post) is still on the to-do list, just reversed (the tall piece will be on the right and the shorter piece will be on the left). As for my desk, I’ve had a doozy of a time trying to figure out where to put it. Do I put it on the same wall as the door to the kitchen, or on the outside wall so my back is to the dining room, our out in the middle of the room… or on the ceiling. I want to have a comfy working area, with lots of space to spread out whatever I’m working on while having optimal storage. After a lot of brainstorming, pinning, and bouncing ideas off my mom (yes, I’m a mamma’s girl), I think I’ve finally settled on a floorplan that will meet all my needs and wants…
Now that I look at it, I think, “Duh, that’s how this office was meant to be laid out.” I just wish it hadn’t taken me so long to figure it out, haha! If that wasn’t enough revelation, I then came across this photo on Pinterest:
Done deal. Now if I can only make an awesome metal desk like that! Hmm… I should totally take up welding ; )
