For now....

I can't imagine there are many of you left, still reading my abused blog. I've come to a tough decision, but one that I think is necessary. I'm going to temporarily put Seagrass Interiors on hold and do all of my blogging on Bixby & Ball. I'll be posting all of our design projects, you'll get to see Betsy's wedding and event projects and we're working hard to sprinkle in some personal stuff too. I would love for you to follow me there and update your sidebars if you'd like. : ) For all of you have followed me on this journey - thank you. This blog has introduced me to some amazing people (some of whom I've had the incredible pleasure of meeting in person and some who I have not - but feel like I have.) I'm going to try this for a bit, and see how it works. Until then, I'll still be blogging and hopefully more frequently!

Bixby & Ball Blog

"And then cried Max, 'Let the wild rumpus start!'

It's that time of year again - and this month (like all the others this year) has completely snuck up on me. Christmas is by far my favorite time of year. While I'm completely a beach girl - there's nothing I love more than snuggling up in front of a fire during the Winter. Normally I'm one of the crazy people out on the Friday after Thanksgiving picking out my Christmas tree (honestly I'd go on Thanksgiving if my husband would allow it.) This year, however, we hopped in the truck and arrived at Home Depot to find everything completely picked over and only the sad, Charlie Brown Christmas trees left. We're a little behind schedule this year but we have our tree! It's still outside drying (are we the only ones that hose down our tree before we bring it in??) but I wanted to post the beginning of Christmas around here!

My mom, sister, Jenn and I all made what I'm thinking will now be an annual trip to Roger's Gardens yesterday and I came home with two Euro trees for our mantel. I actually love how they look even after Christmas. The brass candle holders were a gift from my sister and Jenn last year, and they're one of my absolute favorite things. They found them in an antique store back East.

{Close-Up}

We keep it pretty simple around here - but that's the way we like it! : ) Happy Decorating!

'Round Here...

Anybody there?? If you are - thank you for hanging in there with me. I've been struggling with my little blog and what to share. I've mentioned it before but we officially have a blog up and running for Bixby & Ball and it's been tough to merge, manage, fill, nurture both blogs for me. I started Seagrass Interiors as an outlet for everything in my head and in my life. David and I were just moving into our house and beginning to piece together our home. I've been building a career and trying to have some from of a life at the same time. Bixby & Ball has become a huge part of that life and the struggle comes with what to share there and what to share here. I'm probably about to step all over some sort of blogging etiquette but I recently shared a project that I finished over on the Bixby & Ball blog - but thought I'd share it here too (GASP!!! I KNOW!!) : )

This was a collaboration with a dear friend and fellow blogger, Amber of the blog The Girl is Craftee. Amber emailed me and asked if I would help her out with a game/family room is her house. She had an idea of the direction she wanted to go in but needed some help with the execution. Just because I love having the first photo on a post be a pretty one, here's a sneak peek of the after:

*Excuse the slightly blurry photo*

Amber had a vintage, paint-by-number painting that she had found while scouring a flea market and wanted to base the room around it.

{Photo via The Girl Is Craftee}

We came up with a plan and went to work.

The goal was to create a space that looked like it had been there a while. Amber wanted it to feel a little worn and not at all new. To help achieve this, we covered the drywall with horizontal planking. We used imperfect wood, that contained a few knots for character.

We also added a built-in around the main window for books, games and a little reading bench. (Have I mentioned that Amber has the sweetest daughter that made this project even more fun??)

Next up was flooring. We did a worn brick in a herringbone pattern.

{Photo via The Girl Is Craftee}

Check out that natural light!!

We finished off the room with a few vintage pieces, a new sofa and some fun fabrics that Amber had been collecting.

{Photo via The Girl Is Craftee}

For more photos (and facts) on these fun, vintage picnic baskets that Amber has been collecting, click here.

And for the BEFORE photos, click here.

Day Date

I have a standing, beach cruising, day date with David today! We're off to Coronado to do a little cruising (and probably a little house stalking : )

How are you spending YOUR weekend?

Painted

We officially finished the paint process downstairs and I could not be happier that we decided to do it. Just as a fair warning - this was NOT a big change so no dramatic "after" photo here. It's just a good example of what a little bit of tweaking can do. So, without further adieu....here's the after!

Not a huge change but made a huge difference. (David still can't entirely tell that anything has change. : )

The biggest difference is next to our painting. No more green fighting with our painting.

**Our painting still needs to be ru-hung so that it's not sitting right on our picture rail.

The color we ended up going with is Benjamin Moore's Gray Owl. Gray's are tricky because they can turn, blue, green and even pink very easily. Gray Owl is the perfect balance, and tends to pick up it's surrounding colors.

It looks much darker in this swatch than in reality.

I couldn't quite part with our "mystery green" that we had before. So, we kept it in our desk area but I think we're going to end up painting over it with the Gray. I'm just determined to crack the mystery and figure out what color it is. Until next time....

One Year

David and I snuck away last weekend to celebrate our first year married. As cliche as it sounds - I can't wrap my head around the fact that a year has already slipped by. In May we actually celebrated 11 years together - and he still manages to give me butterflies. This time last year we had grand dreams of spending our anniversary in Paris (in our dreams!) Instead we went to one of our favorite places. We drove up to Mammoth where my family has a cabin and spent the weekend, just the two of us. It was heaven.

{Twin Lake, Mammoth Lakes}

We spent an entire day biking around all of the lakes, went on a sunset horseback ride, and had a lakeside dinner. I couldn't think of anywhere I would have rather been.

On our way home we drove off the highway to the Bristlecone Forest. It's the home of some of the world's oldest trees. Some even argue that the Methuselah Tree is actually the oldest tree in the world. The best part about our detour is that there wasn't a single person around. We stopped on the side of one of the dirt roads and had sandwiches for two.

While we're on the subject of anniversaries, I had to share these two gifts we received. Both are so incredibly thoughtful and are a great idea for anyone special you may know with an important anniversary coming up.

The first is from our dear, dear friends Kathy and Micky. They were the one's that gave us our very first wedding gift here. Micky was the officiant at our wedding that married us. To say they are important people in our lives would be an understatement. On the morning of our wedding, Kathy snatched up the paper from the day. She's been saving it and wrapped it up for us for our anniversary. It's such a simple, thoughtful gift. I love knowing that I'll be able to look back and read about what else was going on that day.

Our second gift was from my Mom & Dad and has a little bit of a back-story. Growing up , probably starting at the age of 7, my Mom pulled out an old demijohn bottle as a place to throw extra change. Over the years it slowly filled. It's where hot lunch money in elementary school, quarters for arcade games in Jr.High, and laundry change in college all came from. We always talked about what we were going to do with the money once it was filled. The jar is finally a few weeks away from being completely filled and my mom has decided that whoever is closest to guessing the correct amount in the jar gets to choose an activity the entire family can do.

The Friday we left for Mammoth we had a jar with a small pile of change in the bottom waiting on our doorstep. David and I now have our own change jar to fill.

David - Happy Anniversary. I love you always. zo

New York Gift Show

Betsy and I just got back from a week of buying in New York at the New York International Gift Fair (NYIGF.) We had such a fun time (probably a little too much fun!) I'm back though and will be back up and posting soon!

{image via Conde Nast}