Oh heyyyy

Anyone out there?

I’ve been on a blogging hiatus, but I assure you work has not stopped at the Wee House. That said, turns out this Wedding Planning thing is rather involved, so I’ve neglecting my blogging duties whilst working on our promises-to-be-fab wedding (we’ll share some pics after, but mum’s the word until then) and dreaming up ways to be a Size 4 svelte and healthy by May 19. But I digress.

I present to you here an 84 High Street (cell phone) photo dump. I promise better photos in the near future!

Though we didn’t get the fireplace in for Christmas, we did indeed Deck the Halls. Ryan got his Pappa Bear chair and I got my starburst mirror (and it looks as fabulous as I knew it would).

We had the Gentes for silly times on New Year’s Eve and had the most beautiful New Year’s Day on Crane Beach. Gosh we’re so lucky to live where we do.

Hanging the flat screen proved to be an experience. I put it right up there with hanging drywall on the fun-o-meter. I had to excuse myself in the middle of the process and go for a run for fear of our engagement. But we got it up there, just in time for Pats playoffs

The built-in was completed and painted.

We’ve run the Wee House version of crown molding (a petite bed molding) across the living room side and all but one of the windows has been trimmed in (and now, primed!).

We have some other exciting developments, but I will wait to share some decent photos. I will leave with a promise of pictures of a (nearly) finished and furnished dining room sometime next week!

Go Pats!

Mirror, Mirror

(Design nerd alert… you’ve been warned.)

I think starburst mirrors are just de-lovely.

I was interested in their background, and did a little Googling (I cringe… I have the design books in the barn, but really it is just so much easier to type in some key words and get an answer… as soon as that built-in is done, it will be filled up).

I’ve always thought the classic starburst in gold looked rather Louis XIV, but apparently it is much more recent. This article says that while the convex mirrors date at least back to the Venetian Republic, starbursts are straight outta Hollywood Regency (1940s).

The convex mirror, I learned in this article, actually met its end thanks to Louis XIV. In the 18th century, French glassmakers figured out how to press plate glass into large flat mirrors; the grandest example of this new technique is the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.

Before that breakthrough in mirrors, almost all mirrors were blown by hand. I remember Professor Curran lecturing on Jan van Eyck’s use of the convex mirror as a perspective tool in Arnolfini Wedding (1434) in Art History 101. Apparently, it is also the first known image of a convex mirror.  And what do you know, it’s a (late Medieval) starburst.

The convex mirror was popular also in the Neo-Classical period in the early 19th century. Oftentimes, it was accompanied by eagles and surrounded by little spheres. Some of the fine homes of Salem seafaring merchants no doubt had this version.  The museum I work at also has a couple beauties.

But back to the starburst surrounding the (sometimes) convex mirror. Apparently, after initial popularity in the 1940s, the now-antique versions went up for bid at high-end auction houses in the early 2000s.  The starbursts sold like gangbusters and as is so often the case, mainstream retailers took notice and began producing them (a trickle-down phenom that a delightfully vicious Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada explains here).

Like all popular designs, you get different riffs on them.

Here’s the one I’ve been dying over at Crate & Barrel:

Love the use of the driftwood. Classic, but with a seaside spin. I added it to our registry, just in case someone was looking to gift us with that certain je ne sais quoi statement piece, and also because we personally couldn't justify the $200 price tag (that's a Home Depot lumber run!).

But today, as I was innocently Christmas and birthday gift shopping for others, I went to the store I should not go to unsupervised and found this beauty. (Urban Elements on Washington Street in Salem, Massachusetts should really start paying me for the plugs I give them… or at least a store credit here or there!  See what I did there?)

I love that it is salvaged wood. I love that unlike the C&B version, it has a convex mirror.  And I love that the distressing just happens to be in blue and grey (our living room color palette for those not keeping up with the conversation). Also, it's smaller than the driftwood mirror, which in our Wee House, we like to call right-sizing.

Meant to be?

I had to ask how much the mirror was.  I was just scouting.  Sourcing, really.... for when the front room was done.  But the entire store was 10% off! And with the discount, the mirror was $60! What a deal!

Unpaid store plug: Urban Elements has all sorts of Very Reasonable, Very Chic pieces. Alright, I'll stop with the flattery... but it is so true!  It's one of my go-to stores.  I also wasn’t surprised at all to see that the discounted club chair had a big ole “SOLD” sign on it… you gotta snap steals like that up!

And so, though the front room is not yet fully done, I have begun to deck the halls walls. ‘Tis the Season.  Right, Ryan?

(After I break the news in person, pictures to follow...)

As Promised

After the Jordan’s Experience and a stop at the neighboring Home Depot, we arrived back to 84 High Street.  After a couple days away, it was nice to be back in the Wee House.

First order of business was to hook up one of our very first wedding presents (a delightful associated benefit of marrying the love of my life, which is the very best wedding present)!  When we visited Mo and Jim, Ryan’s aunt and uncle, for Thanksgiving they surprised us with this fantastic speaker.  Not only is she a looker (with a built-in leather carrying case), it is wireless and hooks up to all our Bluetooth devices.  After reading the directions three times, we linked up our iPhones and are now enjoying our iTunes, Pandora, and I finally have my NPR while I cook.  Music (or informed, non-biased news reporting) to our ears.

For now, we have the speaker set up in the kitchen, but I have a feeling it will eventually migrate to the BUILT-IN, and thanks to Bluetooth, we’ll be able to hook it up to our future Apple TV and all the rest of our media.  And when we say hook up… no wires, Dear Readers!  Another thing that is music to our ears: digital storage of our music, DVDs, et al (we’ll probably keep the hard copies, but stowed away somewhere not-so-convenient).  Thanks so much Foster Family – this speaker is fueling home renovation and home cooked meals.  Both Very Good Things.

Also of note – the tasty beers we scored at Wegmans, which recently opened in Northborough.  Miracle world! It’s like a Whole Foods/Trader Joes/Costco hybrid.  With a food court.  And microbrews.  Lots and lots of microbrews.  And sushi.  Essentially, many of my favorite things.

But I digress…

The built-in is starting to really shape up!  Check out the “crown molding” (actually bed molding… our wee-proportioned house would look silly with full crown) Ryan put up.  Faaaancy. 

We also installed a hardwired fire and carbon monoxide detector.  I’m very excited about this for a number of reasons.  One, we no longer have the modern art piece/possibly live wire hanging above the threshold to the front room.   Additionally, by hardwiring it, we avoid the "Battery's Dying! BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!" alert every six months.  Oh, we are also glad to make our house safer.  Another Very Good Thing (we had one upstairs already, moms and aunts!).

For the rest of the weekend, Ryan worked on the built-in and I wood puttied and put up painter’s tape behind him (two very time consuming activities, thankyouverymuch).

We also observed some paint samples for the built-in over the course of the day and evening.  Here’s the one that we are leaning towards. 

It’s a little lighter than the blue in the rug, but the perfect match to the rug looked quite dark at night. 

I’ve been cooking up a plan to put some fun wallpaper on the inside of the bookcase.  Ryan says I’m the “wallpaper girl,” which I think means he’s okay with it.  So I'm running with it. 

After discovering that one roll of this drool worthy wallpaper I found on a home décor blog is $150 a pop, I began looking into other options.  What if the wallpaper girl makes a Terrible Mistake and is unhappy with her selection in a few years?  That’s when I remembered reading an article about temporary wallpaper using fabric and starch.  So I will be keeping my eye out for a fun material…

We have a busy upcoming weekend, but we are hoping to get the Christmas Tree on Sunday.  Hooray!

Ryan’s Papa Bear Chair

We had a wonderful time celebrating Thanksgiving this year with the Smith Clan (Cait’s side of the family). On Friday, we hit up Southborough to visit with various McSheras and catch up with Ryan’s high school friends.

On our way back to Ipswich, we stopped at the massive Jordan’s Furniture off 128. Wowie. As promised, it was an Experience, complete with “liquid fireworks,” a trapeze for the kiddies, some sort of candy land, and oh, also some furniture. Okay, lots of furniture. Furniture galore! Furniture of all shapes and sizes (and prices…)! Furniture to delight the eye, to ease the weary soul! You get the picture.

We stopped to price out Papa Bear chairs, ie: the coveted leather chair for Ryan’s corner to the left of the fireplace. Ryan and I had both fancied one at the same amazing store that we got our couch at, only to find that the price tag was $1,875 (yikes!). (An aside, that same chair – the floor model with some wear and tear – is now on sale for $875, but still too rich for our blood.) We’ve also been perusing Craig’s List and found some promising listings, but even so, leather club chairs are no chump change.

Enter the Jordan’s Furniture Discount Factory Outlet. Nestled between showrooms of every leather chair, couch, ottoman and sectional you can think of, we stumbled upon the factory outlet. There, we found something we liked and after walking away, pondering, and feasting our eyes on many other options, we returned to it.

Meet Ryan’s Papa Bear chair:

Not what you were expecting, is it?

Here’s why we love this chair –

1. It’s a rip off riff on an Eames chair, which was designed by the husband and wife team Charles and Ray Eames, who together created absolutely beautiful, modern designs. Based in LA, the Eames worked collaboratively together for nearly 40 years. He, the architect. She, a furniture and textile designer. Wish we could afford the real one, but until we hit the lotto, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...

2. It is awfully comfortable and reclines.

3. Ryan wanted an ottoman oh-so-bad.

4. It’s the right size for its destined corner and the swivel makes it a more versatile piece of furniture.

5. Tela can’t jump onto it (one of her favorite things in the world is a comfy over-stuffed club chair in the window).

6. About the color… who’d have thunk? But it works! The reason why it works is because of the modern design of the chair. If this color leather was used on the club chair we’d originally had in mind, it just would have looked tacky. But with the modern lines, it works. To boot, it will go with our cream (slip covered, Scotch-guarded) couch and the Oriental rug, which also has cream in it.  The five-year warranty that covers stains, punctures, etc. also didn't hurt.

Just trust me on this one, guys.

We also made progress on the built-in this weekend.  Stay tuned for that update, but I will leave you with a picture for now.

Feeling Thankful

We’ve been a-bustle with activity the past few weekends, but I’ve failed to update you Dear Readers on it!  My apologies.

I’ve added the clear plastic insulation layer to almost all the windows downstairs and have a few more to go.  It’s quite easy and I’m convinced is helping keep the house warmer.  Improved insulation, unseasonable temperatures, and a fully functional spiffed up single-loop radiator system also probably are contributing factors.

Ryan’s Mom told me to start from the top and concern myself more with the seal (the kit includes double-sided tape) than shrinking the plastic.  I did notice that because it was chilly outside on the days I put up the insulation, it was hard to get the plastic fully shrunk even with my hairdryer kicking off some serious heat.  And so, I need to revisit a couple windows to tighten up the plastic.  

We’ve also added a braided rug from L.L. Bean to the family.  We’ve placed it in front of the door to the cellar to collect some of the dust from the dirt floor downstairs.  I opted for an indoor/outdoor rug, which in addition to being Much Cheaper, is also easier to clean than the wool or chenille versions.  This is Very Important, given our Very Dirty basement.  I’m also loving how this rug plays with our Oriental… and this slate blue/ochre palette we’re rocking.

Ryan also hooked-up the freshly painted radiator in the kitchen and brought back in the one for the living room (which we removed to lay down flooring).  After an annual service visit from HVAC Mike and identifying one leaky component, we are 95% up-and-running heat-wise.  (And my architect-plumber hubby-to-be has a plan to get it up to 100%.)

That all said… I’m very proud we made it until the snowy Halloween to turn on the heat.  

(I’ll take any excuse to post the crayon pic again!)

We killed it this past weekend.  Yours truly is still Rather Sore from raking the entire yard (don’t judge).  I also spent a good deal of time painting the TOP COAT of trim in the kitchen and behold – removing the painter’s tape!

I also painted the base of the breakfast nook bench.  We had originally planned for it to be high gloss white like the rest of the trim, but after seeing six months of wear and dirty shoe marks galore, we decided to go for marine green.

Ryan spent all weekend working on the window seat/entertainment system/bookcase/hallelujah-we-finally-have-some-storage unit. 

The open space under the bench is to accommodate baskets for additional storage.  My window seat will also have a wall washer to eliminate the shadow the bookshelf casts (as you can see).

We are so so pleased with how it’s looking, and we have decided to do something totally outrageous and paint it slate blue (just like our planned sideboard cabinet facing the dining room). 

Happy Thanksgiving, all!  This year, I am thankful for my amazing (and handy, and handsome) fiancé, my family, my friends, Tela the wonder dog, built-in storage, and a Christmas tree ready living room… with or without that damn fireplace.