Friday, May 27, 2011

Home Sweet Home

....for the week at least. To leave this place is going to be difficult to say the least. It is absolutely breathtaking here. It's quaint, historic, and simple. I have so much to share but I have to start with our humble abode that we're calling home for the week. Like, many of the homes here - it has a name: Treetops. Named for its' perch on a hill just grazing the treetops and revealing a sweeping view of the Atlantic. Welcome to Treetops.

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The house was built in 1910 and functioned as a "tea house and ladies gift shop." The last part is in parenthesis as the current owner, Eric Drey who also happens to be one of the founders of the town's Historic Society, as well as others speculate on evidence that the building was actually a brothel.

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The layout of the house seems to lend itself to that theory. There is one large middle room, surrounded by numerous, curiously small "bedrooms."

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Eric has meticulously gathered vintage and antique pieces to furnish the home. Before he left us for the week, he added that it is still a work in progress.

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The layout of the house is very unique. The large center room acts as the living room, complete with the original brick fireplace. The ceiling is two stories with exposed beams.

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There is a small platform with a railing that runs around the perimeter of the second story with a small room at either end.

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There is one teeny, tiny bathroom at one end of the upstairs.

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The walk way surrounding the the second story was put to use as a well-stocked library.

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Possibly one of the best features of the house is the original floors. I don't know if you can fully tell in this picture but you can actually see through the slates in the floors to the area below.

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Below is the staircase leading up to the second floor.

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The kitchen has the original wood, slat siding. No back-splash needed.

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Although I don't believe that the lights are original to the house, they are definitely appropriate for the era.

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It's going to be beyond difficult to say goodbye to Cape Cod, and our little house.

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For anyone who is thinking about a vacation to Cape Cod I would HIGHLY suggest looking into renting a house. We went back and forth between a hotel and a house and by the time we did a little number crunching, a house made the most sense. There are six of us, which means approximately 18 meals a day. The house gave us the ease to cook - which was actually a ton a fun!

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We traded off eating dinner on the enclosed porch and the family sized pine table.

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Thank you all for your Cape Cod suggestions. I think we've done just about everything that was suggested. (I'll post pictures of those next!) The only thing we will be leaving without doing, is a trip to Nantucket. I'm really bummed but that just means we'll have to come back! : )

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Cape Cod

I'm popping in for a quick post and hello from.....Boston! I don't know how I didn't manage to post on this earlier. My sister graduated from her master's program at Salem State this week and the whole family made it out to celebrate! We've been in Boston where Heather lives for the last two days and tomorrow AM we're packing up the car and heading to CAPE COD for a week!!! I have never been and I'm so incredibly excited. If I had to describe my personal design style I would have to say Cape Cod is it.

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This definitely isn't the time of year for lounging on the beach, but that's just fine! We have tons of exploring planned.

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I can't wait to soak up every last minute and load up on inspiration!

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I've gotta run! David has never been to the East Coast and we can't leave Boston without a trip to Fenway Park. The Red Socks are playing the Cubs and we're squeezing in a trip!

If anyone has any tips or must-visits in Cape Cod I'd love to hear them!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

I Survived!

Thank you for all of your Happy Birthday wishes and words of encouragement to get through the weekend! Good news - I survived!!! That being said, I don't think I need to do that again. : ) Having 700 people come through our house was a very bizarre feeling. We had 3 offers (and by offers I mean we were told that when we sell our house they would be buying it) to buy our house. It wasn't a bad experience by any means, just not one I think I need to do again. As some of you know, I'm not exactly known for having a green thumb. I would really really like to have one, but I just don't. It doesn't mean I don't try though. And I'm proud to say that I had a least one plant to be proud of for the Mother's Day Garden Tour.

I have discovered that I can grow artichokes.

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....and a lot of them!


{I know I waited too long to harvest some of these}

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This is actually not even half of them. In less than nine months we have grown a 6 foot artichoke plant. I'm actually borderline afraid of it. It's huge!

In other updates around here - it's been another busy week. Last Saturday Bixby & Ball hosted its' very first Pop-Up shop. And who better to pair with than the beautiful and incredibly talented Bianca of Bink & Boo! It was such a fun day and Bianca completely transformed our little patio.


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We celebrated a successful day over Sangria and Bink & Boo pocketbooks (mine's on the left!)

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On Sunday Grace, Amy and I hopped in the car and headed to the Pasadena Showcase house for the last day of tours. To say it was amazing would not be doing it justice. Pictures were not allowed but I was able to sneak a few here and there.

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This is actually the outside of the guest house, which was hands-down my favorite part of the tour. The cottage was so well done, cozy, and classic. The gardens were stunning!

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The little vignette above, was from one of the bedrooms in the guest cottage. I love the collection of old photos.

No visit to Pasadena would be complete without a little house stalking. This is Grace and Amy scoping out Pasadena housing prices.

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We only set one property alarm off. Whoops!

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Cinco De Mayo, Birthdays, and A Crazy Weekend

{Happy Cinco De Mayo!}


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We've got a busy weekend ahead of us. A quick Cinco De Mayo celebration tonight. Tomorrow is my birthday (woohoo!) and we'll be doing another quick celebration and then preparing for a LONG, BUSY weekend. David and I were asked by the San Dieguito Art Guild if we would volunteer our house for the annual Mother's Day Garden Tour. (Ironic since I'm NO gardener!) One of the artists is a family friend so we of course said yes. I'm a little nervous as we will have up to around 800 people coming through our house. Yikes. I'm beginning to wonder if this was a crazy idea. I'm thinking the answer is possibly yes. Wish me luck!