A Peek Inside II

I don't know why it has been so scary for me to post pictures of my own home. After all, that was the whole premise for starting this blog. After finishing recovering my desk chairs, I got my butt in gear and gave our desk area a little sprucing. I also thought I'd share some of the nitty gritty design details that went into building out this area.

First, let's start with the pretty pictures.....

Our desk area sits right off of our kitchen area. Our entire downstairs is pretty open and besides our bathroom, there isn't a single room that is completely sectioned off. For a reference, if you turned directly around from facing our desk area, you would see this.) Therefore, everything has to have a place and look nice. In other words - no messy desks for us. Yes, of course it happens, but the design had to be made so that it would be as easy as possible to keep it tidy.

Open shelves kept the area open and airy, which has been a theme around our house. The silver vase was a flea market find and it is patiently waiting for an orchid. The brown, craft magazine files are from Border's when they closed down there location here. They hold all of my design concept photos.

My grandmother has been doing a little bit of cleaning out, and asked me if I would ever want this little gold Tiffany's clock - of course my reaction was "YES YES YES!!"

Now on to the nitty-gritty details....

The shelf brackets are from Ikea. We painted them white and had two shelves made. It's a simple, clean, open look.

When designing this space we had to get creative with all of the small details (chords, printers, external hard drives, etc.) Because we went with a built-in top, there was no space left for chords to fish down the back of the wall. We had our installer cut a 3" hole and placed a plastic, chord fitting inside.

This keeps our chords bundled together and out of site. Moving on to the lower chords (underneath the desktop) - those are out of site as well. At first glance, you wouldn't know they're there.

From a standing position you can see one outlet with a single chord. We built a track system that sits right below the desk top. It's almost like a trough that cradles all of our chords. There is a small hole that runs between both sides our desk to run chords.

That whole mess - out of sight!

For all of the computer "extras" (remember - I'm married to computer nerd...who I love dearly!) we found a ledge that mounts on the back of the computer and offers a space for those extras to perch.

Again - out of sight!

There you have it - all of our desk area details! One of these days, I might be brave enough to share David's side. : )

Bamboo Chair Redoo

This post is LONG overdue since the first time I did a post on my bamboo chairs was way back in April! The reason they have been sitting is that I just wasn't convinced that my original fabric selection was the right choice. I've been trying to be patient and wait until the right fabric came along. About a year ago I was introduced to a fabric that was the perfect fit but at about $65 per yard, it was the not the perfect fit for my budget. While poking around the Internet a few weeks ago I came across the same fabric for $10/yard!

It's soft and subtle with the perfect punch of my favorite green. I know that the ikat print is sort of a trendy thing right now but the covers are very simple to remove and could easily be swapped out in the future. But for right now, I love them!

Here's a look at what these chairs started out looking like, along with my original fabric selections. There were 3 layers of old fabric under that light blue floral fabric. It was fun to imagine the life these little chairs have had before us. That dark blue ikat ended up going here.

I bought the chairs for $5 each, the fabric for $10, and purchased new foam for about $15 (for both.) The grand total for both of our desk chairs{$35}

The rest of our desk area has received a little update this weekend - stay tuned for pics later this week!

We've Been Featured!

Hi Everyone - I hope you're all having a great start to your week! David and I received some exciting news last week.....our wedding was featured in Ceremony magazine this quarter!

We feel so honored to be included in their magazine. It was fun to relive that day again and seemed especially fitting since Monday happened to be our sixth month anniversary (WHEW we made it!) No - we don't really celebrate our month to month anniversary. : ) I know I've already shared most of these photos but here they are they are in magazine form.

{My favorite pic is still of the bridesmaids crying : )}

Breakfast of Champions

I woke up this morning in need of some inspiration and something different. Normally I would be sharing pictures of inspiring interiors or current design projects and ideas in the works. But, this morning I'm cooking instead. I find cooking to be extremely therapeutic. Some of my favorite moments are cooking in the kitchen with David who happens to be quite the chef. In college whenever I had late design classes - I'd always come home to wonderfully home-cooked meal. His signature dish was pork chops with an apple chutney. Cooking together always takes me back to our little tree house apartment.

I took inspiration for this morning's meal from Sara at Sprouted Kitchen. Reading her blog is definitely a treat. Her talented husband, Hugh is a photographer. Hugh happened to have gone on Semester at Sea with the Best Man in our wedding. We desperately tried to book him for our wedding but someone had already snatched him up. Lucky them! : )

The ingredients for this breakfast are pretty simple.

Whole Wheat Tortillas (you can use flour or even corn)

Eggs (or egg whites would be a good healthy option)

Jack Cheese (or any cheese)

Spinach (for big muscles)

tomatoes

onions

basil

avocado

Cut the tomatoes in half a roast them in the oven at 325 for about 20 mins or until the onions turn slightly brown. Do this in the beginning while you're preparing the rest of the meal.

I forgot about mine and they turned a little more than slightly brown - still good though!

I warmed the tortillas straight over the stove flame to get them nice and toasty.

Pile it all in and enjoy!

All photography by our incredibly talented roommate/dear friend.

You can find him at Trevor Vieweg Photography

Remember these? They were Trevor's handy work too!

Happy Heart Day

{Happy Heart Day}

Hope your day is filled with LOVE

To Die For

Is this little Sydney cottage not to die for???

{Image via Inspired House of Wright}

A Simple Day

Today was complete bliss. Not a penny was spent, other than a quick bite to eat. As some of you know I don't have typical Monday through Friday work schedule. I'm at the store Tuesdays through Saturdays which leaves me with every Monday off. Normally I spend this day running errands and working on various projects that are in the works. I haven't shared this yet, but our schedule has changed around our house just a bit. We took the plunge earlier this year and David has decided to go back to school full time for a second degree. His heart and passion are in computers and at 18 years old when we were all asked to declare a major and choose what it is we're going to do with our lives - he didn't know that yet. After months of talking about going back, life threw us a curve that launched us full swing into our plan. One of the good things about our new schedule is getting to spend TWO full days with my partner-in-crime. We haven't had this schedule in a long time and it's simply blissful. I'm lucky enough to have a husband that's always up for an adventure - even if it involves antiquing. We hopped in the car and headed south to Architectural Salvage - a rusty, crusty, chippy, heavenly shop in downtown San Diego.

{Bin full of old chandelier crystals}

{This pair of doors was the most beautiful shade of sea green}

{If only I had a spot for a pink tub!}

I'm off to make a delicious Quinoa salad for one! : )