Musings on Moving, Life, etc.

Following a 6-hour packing marathon on Friday night, we spent about 10 hours coordinating the movers on Saturday and another few hours unpacking and cleaning -- thanks for the help Babs and QG! Yesterday was spent recovering and trying to fit out our closet (which, alas, is smaller than our old one). But we're here and (almost) everything made it in one piece. So far, our only casualty has been a glass cake stand, which was infrequently used and easily replaceable.

For me at least, moving has a way of making everything seem so temporary, so impermanent. It's such an odd thing to see everything you own packed tightly into one (not-so-big) moving truck. Suddenly, it's just "stuff" -- and I'm left with a big empty house that feels a whole lot less like home and a whole lot more like just a place where I used to live. A house that, on Friday, will no longer be mine. The only evidence that we'd ever been there will be some paint and a few extra scuffs in our soft pine floors. I haven't yet met the future owner of our place, but I wonder what she's like and what the house will come to mean to her. I do hope she comes to appreciate and love it though; after all, it was a great home to us.

Out with the "old"...

I thought in some ways that I'd feel more nostalgic for the old house -- and I do, but I suppose I'm at the age where there's more looking forward than looking back, and so I tend to embrace change with the optimism of youth. But when I allow myself to look back, I know that this home was an important milestone for Dave and me: it was our first house...and it was a huge learning experience. For example, I remember about 6 months after we first moved in we noticed that ants had invaded our kitchen. Up until that point the thought that we'd need regular pest control hadn't even occurred to us. In our defense, Dave and I had only ever lived in our parents' homes, dormitories, and apartments. What did we know of the regular maintenance and upkeep that owning your own home entails? So in many ways I will look back on our old house as the place where Dave and I really grew up. Where we learned what it meant to own a home, how live on our own, and how to live together.

...and in with the new!

So today I'm staying at home to settle in a bit more, get my bearings...and wait on the alarm guy. While much of our stuff is still in boxes scattered throughout the house, it's already starting to feel a bit like home. I look into the empty upstairs' bedrooms, the vacant family room and I wonder: what's next? Will this room someday be a nursery? What important milestones will be celebrated in this dining room? What will the people building next door be like? Will they become our friends? So, while this place doesn't yet feel completely like home, it most certainly feels like my future.

{P.S. - For some wonderfully poignant musings on a recent post of mine responding to a color quiz in House Beautiful, decorating, and what either one has to do with the more important aspects of life, please visit Gannet Girl's Search the Sea.}

If you can't buy it, make it.

Jonathan Adler in House Beautiful

One of the easiest and least expensive ways to give your old furniture a new look is with a few new throw pillows. And so, in an effort to "work with what I've got" while still sating my desire to start fresh, I've been doing some online browsing for a few pillows for the new house. And while I've found some absolutely beautiful choices (like some of the Jonathan Adler pillows shown in the picture above), I'm just not willing to shell out hundreds of dollars on a throw pillow -- especially when I've got empty rooms to furnish. Besides, with three pets and a fondness for eating in front of the TV, I don't particularly want a pillow that I'm petrified will be ruined. On the other hand, I've been sorely disappointed with the more budget-friendly options, which all seem to be (a) boring, (b) poorly made, (c) too trendy, or (d) some combination of the three.

So what's the solution? Make my own? Yes, I could easily buy a 1/2 yard of fabric and whip up a pillow cover on my mom's sewing machine...but I'll be honest, that's probably not going to happen anytime soon. So I think I'll let Inmod do the dirty work while I get to play designer. Inmod's website lets you design the pillow of your dreams in just a few easy steps -- and it's really quite a lot of fun to play around with their program. You simply select the pattern, fabric (anything from cotton to silk dupioni), size (18" square or 26" square), the fabric color, and finally the embroidery colors. Yes, you read that right: embroidery colors. These images aren't just screened onto canvas, they're embroidered, which means they'll last you a good long time.

A few of my favorite "experiments" are above. Inmod's patterns range from more traditional damasks and florals to modern pop art, though I'd describe most of the patterns as geometric or modern. I wish the color choices for fabrics was a bit broader, but their embroidery colors are more varied so you'll still probably be able to find just about any color combination that you're looking for. The prices for the pillows I "designed" ranged from $45-$85, depending on size and fabric choice. While I can't speak for the quality, I'm thinking about ordering up one just to test it out. If I do, I'll be sure to update you on how it turned out.

Happy designing!

Week Fifteen: Nearly There...

This weekend felt far more productive than last weekend. The fridge (finally!) got installed, we polished off the last of the hardware installation, the painters painted both the master bedroom and Dave's study/man cave/media room, and (most importantly) we managed to get quite a bit of packing done on Sunday.

With the last of the hardware on, the kitchen finally feels finished. I like the sleek modern handles juxtaposed with the more traditional style of cabinetry.

Dave's "man cave", painted out in a lovely shade of blue-green (Benjamin Moore's Slate Teal to be precise). In person this color is really quite fabulous, going from blue or green depending on the light. The heavy undertone of gray really adds a lovely depth to the color.

The master bedroom's walls were treated to Farrow & Ball's Parma Gray while the tray ceiling was painted in Ralph Lauren's Iron Gate, a lovely gray metallic with subtle blue undertones. Ralph Lauren's Regent Metallics' series is shown with a rather ghastly texture that RL suggests you apply to the paint to give it a crumpled effect. I ignored them though and just had this paint applied with a standard roller. Metallic paint is bold enough without layering on additional "effects".

I think the painters did a great job of creating a clean transition between the ceiling and wall colors, though it certainly would've been easier if the Parma Gray had been taken up to the inner molding. Ah well. I'm contemplating doing this myself to make the ceiling a bit more subtle, but I think I'll live with it a while and see how I feel. Besides, once the furniture goes in, both wall and ceiling colors tend to be a bit less "in your face" since there's so much else to look at.

A view of the family room from the open hallway above. No plans to change the current paint color (I've had my fill of painting for the moment!), but at some point when it comes time to repaint I'll probably go for a slightly grayer tone to work with all the cool tones throughout the rest of the house. A few weeks ago I happened to win a free design consult with PK over at Room Remix. I've asked her to help me out with this room and I can't wait to see what she comes up with -- especially for those niches on either side of the fireplace.

I'm going to go ahead and ask for your patience over the next couple of weeks as I anticipate posting to be lighter as I finish packing, moving and unpacking. Juggling work, moving, and the rest of my life is proving to be something of a challenge lately and unfortunately blogging may have to take a back seat for a bit.