Little by Little, Bit by Bit

We made it through the wilderness 

Somehow we made it through

Didn't know how lost I was

Until I found you 

Like a Virgin

~Madonna

Yeah, nothing like a well thought-out opening. Realistic and appropriate.

But it's true. We made it though what seemed like a very long winter-season (Game of Thrones anyone?) and we made it through a remodel. Here is the space. I'm tinkering always with stuff placement and the large and very 90s areas up near the ceiling made me have to think pretty hard, but I'm loving living here. It's bright even on a gray day and the vibe I'm getting is relaxed even if I'm not. Heh~

Excuse the refuse on the island, the random cat - of course we NEVER let our cats on the counters! We would NEVER let our dog on the furniture! - and just the mess in general. House Beautiful has nothing on me. There's only two of us living here, but you'd think otherwise with the mess we manage to make. I'll post more appropriate and staged photos in the future. 

Are You Ever Done Decorating?

I have a popcorn ceilings with sparkly sprinkles in my house.

I have the mellow yellow hardwood floors with small planks. Old as hell. In a couple of our rooms we think the wood is either over 100 years old or nearly.

I have slatted blinds, some plastic, in every room nearly. Oy vey the dust.

I have rooms that have not been repainted since 2003 or so (I think).

I have newish rugs in the living room and dining room that I regret getting.

I have a loft bedroom that is not not not cute. Could be. Is not.

I have telephones you have to dial.

I have some furniture from Ikea.

I have a bathroom that can only be described as a mashup of the unpopular.

I have a set of antlers up in the Big Room from a deer I hit with a Jeep Wagoneer in the 90s. Just read on a decorating site how "tired" this look is. Sigh!!

~~~~~~~~~

I love to decorate. And I hate it. No, that's a lie. I love it.

This list is not a complaining list. It's just a list. I love my house. But after the holidays you can't help but look around and see a few things that could be changed, things that you will never change, and things that you can't wait to change.

I'm picking slowly!

Meanwhile, here is what I landed on for the new pendants in the kitchen. I'm now on the hunt for some type of different light bulbs. Regular bulbs cast a very harsh light since there is no translucent shade to buffer it. Ideas?

Cat on counter. Don't judge. Mess everywhere. Judge away!  :)

A Pendant for Your Thoughts

Do any of you guys Houzz? It's one of my favorite ways to relax and ideaize. Along with Pinterest. Hanging out on Houzz, getting ideas, placing ideas in your idea books, can be the best place to research and relax.

During our Pup Family Christmas, (35 to 40 people I think) along with the normal chaos, one of my kitchen pendants got broken in a can't-ever-replicate-that kind of accident. I did kinda love my pendant lights, but the opportunity to get something new is never a bad thing in my mind.

Seeing this, I am really going to miss these globes. It will last one minute after I put the new ones up. 

So I'm paging through Houzz and Pinterest looking at globe after globe.

Pup wants to go for something similar with what we had in the beginning.

I say he doesn't get a vote.

:)

Okay - of course he gets a vote. Although we all know what that means. No vote. Vicious!

I say switch it up Deborah! There are two newish globe styles that are interesting to me. The problem is, as it always is, to not fall into trend-traps. I'm highly gifted there. At spotting trends. I start doing and wearing things a bit before they hit main-street. I don't know why I have this gift. Maybe there is a little bit of the Psychic Network working in this vast noggin? Or I'm a bit of an idiot savant in this. Although I do not have a good memory. Okay - I'm just an idiot.

Either way - I have a gift. Hey - I avoided those bowls on top of sink cabinets didn't I? Brilliant! And I've only bought a vintage leather skirt and saved about $200 on that particular trend. Sexy as hell.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Happy New Year Friends-in-My-Head!

Hot Friday - The Firm Edition

. . . just because. I do love showcasing hot guys, but women are hot too yes? And other things are hot. Shoes are hot. Fall fashion is hot. Yep. There is a lot of hot around. We shouldn't be so stingy!

I've been at The Firm (let's try this name out for a while) for a couple of weeks now. We're heavily into transitioning files and reorganizing. My office is coming together bit by bit. Right now we're moving out ugly vertical filing cabinets and replacing them with lovely lateral filing cabinets. New ones arrived yesterday and we installed them into Pup's office and they are BREATHTAKING. Yup. Who knew this stuff could give me design-boners? Hmmm? Everything is a design opportunity apparently.

We will be moving the laterals we have in our home office into my Firm office over the weekend. So my time has been spent transitioning the client files we bought into the filing system and folder system we prefer. Pup is biz as usual and transitioning all of his client files into the software The Firm will be using. Very dry stuff. But necessary.

So everything looks a hot hot mess at this moment. You know how transitions are. At first everything is flying through the air until it all lands in place perfectly. Like Samantha Stevens' witchcraft. Oh I love that woman.

I have one shot of the office. Don't judge just yet. This is just the first piece. I'll take some better photos when I'm further along.

It will be lovely.

See that globe in the bookcase? I found that thrifting with Deb-oh-rah. It lights up. Touch the base 1-2-3 and it the brightness goes dim-medium-bright. I love it! So tacky.

Offices are tricky to arrange. I redesigned Pup's office last year with new furniture and I made him rearrange. He kicked and screamed, but had to admit in the end it was a good change. Much more efficient set up now. And his office furniture is lovely! He's a professional and his office should look that way. The next step in his transformation will be his style! Heh! He likes me to style his daily look. So we're going shopping for him soonly.

My office fashion has so far been cuffed jeans with t-shirts or the occasional casual long summer skirt. Mostly because some of the time I'm on my hands and knees rummaging through a box or running back and forth between our offices with armloads of hard files. It's fun though.

I've been listening to music through Spotify (smooches to Lorenzo) and one day it was all John Legend and one day it was all Amy Winehouse. Love love love.

Here's a little tribute to working in an office. It's all about distraction.


Amy Amy Amy

Attracts me, till it hurts to concentrate,
Distract me, stop me doing work I hate
Just to show him how it feels;
I walk past his desk in heels
One leg resting on the chair
From the side he pulls my hair.

[Chorus:]
Amy Amy Amy
Although I've been here before
Amy Amy Amy
He's just too hard to ignore
Masculine you spin a spell
I think you'd wear me well
Amy Amy Amy
Where's my moral parallel?

It takes me half an hour to write a verse
He makes me imagine it from bad to worse
My weakness for the other sex
Every time his shoulders flex
The way the shirt hangs off his back
My train of thought spins right off track

[Chorus]

His own style, right down to his Diesel jeans
Immobile, I can't think by any means
Underwear peeks out the top
I'll let you know when you should stop
From the picture my mind drew
I know I'd look good on you

[Chorus]

Creative energy abused
All my lyrics go unused
When I clock black hair blue eyes
I drift off I fantasize

[Chorus x2]

And one more just because. I know y'all won't, but you guys should take a few minutes and watch this one. Fantastic song and if you were/are an Amy fan, very very touching. Kick it up this weekend hooches.

Eames and Shoots

My dream recliner, not the one we bought.

We are redecorating our living room. Slowly, but surely, getting the bits and pieces we need.

It started a couple of months ago while we were watching Breaking Bad and Pup was squirming away on his end of the sectional.

"Babe, I miss my recliners," he said.

"You mean from the white marshmallow couch," I said? (Retired into pieces in various rooms.)

"A man needs his recliners."

I looked over at him. At his big-manness and his uncomfortable repose.

"Can we look for a recliner that doesn't lose small children and pets in its cushions? One that is a bit sleeker for my eyes," I say?

Does a hockey player wear a nutcup?

So, I was off on my hunt for the perfect recliner.

Found one, we ordered it, it took WEEKS to be delivered. It was a pile. A sorry pile. When Pup sat in it we could just tell it wouldn't last through football season.

sigh

Back it went with a bit of whining from me to the customer service team that guys that like recliners generally don't weigh 150 pounds and what was the point of a dainty recliner? She didn't laugh.

So, off the two of us go to find the perfect recliner.

We trotted off to furniture stores. Many furniture stores. We were getting crabby. The chairs he was loving were so very very POOFY. Large smushy arms perfect for resting snacks on. Large squishy seats for napping.

The chairs I was loving were not right.

"Oh look baby"! He has spotted something.

"This one has CUP HOLDERS right in the arms"! His eyes were shining with happiness. He was immediately reclined in the cupholder-chair and dangerously close to nodding off. Or was I dangerously close to bumping him off? Kidding . . . I think.

"Oh my friggin' god Pup! I can't have furniture with CUPHOLDERS! You want to turn our living room into an SUV"!

A standoff.

He's Pup-pouting. I'm pouting. We're now beyond crabby.

Again I say, "You need a man-den." It's true. Our house is just one little room too small.

So, off to chi-chi furniture store, where I, of course, find a perfect chair. In my eyes. Pup isn't seeing it that way.

"Babe, it's $2,300. I am not paying $2,300 for a RECLINER"!

"Sweetie, furniture costs money."

"The cupholder chair was only $1000"!

I stare at him with guns in my eyes.

Smarmy salesman runs over with leather samples. Oblivious to the malevolence snapping in the air like lightening.

So, off we go to another furniture store. Where, a few weeks ago, we had found the perfect couch with no arguing. And where a few recliners had been rejected outright by both of us.

We walk around the store, tired and CRABBY.

Pup remembers a chair that he rejected back then. He pulls me like an unruly child to the recliner.

We both stand there looking at it. Why had it been rejected before? It's great. We can pick our leather. And get this . . .

we both fit in it! We can watch and recline together. Or he can recline alone in man-glory.

I'm as happy as a dog licking his balls.