new addition

So...I have been a terribly bad blogger lately. Blame it on the over 100 degree heat in our neck of the woods. Blame it on the fact that my honey has been home all week which has meant lots of family time. Blame it on me just not having the energy to get it all done. I love blogging. I really do. I have a zillion ideas and inspiration floating around in my head at all times. But working full time, raising two kids and trying to be a good partner sometimes just takes all I've got and doesn't leave much time for blogging. Sometimes I guess its just good enough to be thinking about the blog - rather than actually blogging!!

Right now, it appears that every room in the house has some unfinished project lurking about. The kids new a new dresser/clothing receptacle. The bedroom needs curtains and a decent duvet. In fact, every room needs some new curtains. I've got a garage full of furniture I'm meaning to refinish/reupholster. You get the idea...

Our newest addition is no different.

We added an old wine barrel to our cellar. Plans are in the works for moving some junk out and into the garage, adding some stools and hanging up various posters I've collected from some wineries we've visited.

Looking forward to getting it squared away and then giving the full reveal.
Speaking of which, I've been asked to share a little house tour on a friend's blog and I'm hoping to get a few little projects done to make it photo-ready.

What projects do you have lurking around?

XO,

Chelsea

bedroom eye-candy

Have you checked out Lonny Magazine yet?

With the demise of Domino (thankfully I have all the back issues!!) and Blueprint, glossy-paged inspiration can be few and far between for those of us looking for real and attainable home decor. Most readers have taken to the internet for inspiring spaces and Lonny fits the bill.

I meandered on over to Lonny today looking for some above-referenced inspiration for our bedroom. While I'm more than pleased with our simple furniture, the mismatched drapes and worn-out duvet could use some updating. When we moved in, there were already some white drapes on the large picture window in our bedroom that is also at the front of the house. Fast forward to a few days after our move-in and I walked by our room from outside at night and realized you could see right in! I threw up some raw silk drapes I had previously used in lieu of closet doors and they seemed to work fine. Until I realized they made our whole room look red. Suddenly, "Roxanne" by The Police was on constant replay in my head. I figured we could live with it until a friend pointed out that we were likely going to go insane looking at all that red all the time. Here's some bedroom eye candy to help you get "Roxanne" out of your head. You know you're humming it right now. 

I'm feeling especially inspired by the all-white beds I'm seeing and thinking that may be the route to go considering the fabric I found for drapes is busy, busy. However, I'm still drawn to the image below, which is a nice mix of patterns. Could be the stripes, as I am a sucker for those. Or that dreamy light. Sigh.

What about you? 

Do you like your bedroom calm, serene and simple? 

Or do you like to use creative license to go wild with patterns and color?

XO,

Chelsea

two things Tuesday

Happy Tuesday to all!

Kassi over at BacWoods Fern is back with her two things lovin' link up so I decided to play along again. Moving has definitely made me re-appreciate some of my beautiful and cherished things that had been stored away for some time. Since last week was a break from the two things, this week there is sure to be lots of McKlinky's. Check out Kassi and all the fun links to see what everyone's loving around their homes!!

This week my first thing is actually a collection of things. I love my collection of pottery and glass - a good deal of it is midcentury and some of it is new. Its all handmade items, some by friends and family, and in yummy shades of green, blue and pink.

and I absolutely love Mr. Fish.

I've found that people either love him or hate him.

Its taken Carl some time to warm up to him, but he's beginning to see why I love Mr. Fish so much. 
My friend Trent Watanabe painted the fish many years ago and I have treasured him ever since! He's hung in the living room of my past four homes. I've debated on framing him several times, but I think I like him just the way he is for now.

check out some of Trent's other artwork. I love his crisp, graphic paintings.

Mr. Fish likes the light of the discoball reflecting upon him...

 

Speaking of home lovin', I have promised to post some house pics and have since failed on all accounts. 

But yesterday was such a gorgeous evening that I just had to get outside with the rascals and enjoy the sunshine and air. 

And snap a few...

one of my favorite places

herbs awaiting a new home...

i love our camellia bushes

and I love our view (sorry its framed by antenna wires)

This week is already whirling by pretty quickly. I'm enjoying the extra hour of daylight. Not enjoying that its still dark at 7 am. Its been a beautiful 75 degrees the past few days, the rest of the country is eating their heart out right now!

I'm also looking forward to lots of celebrating this week! More time with Axel and Inga, celebrating a very special man's birthday, a house warming shindig and enjoying a show by my friend Rusty Lindsey. If you have a moment, check him out. His voice is soulful and amazing. And he's a pretty cool guy too.

What are your plans for the week??

XO,

Chelsea

all you need is love

Moving.
Its chaotic, its draining, and if you have as much crapola as I have, it takes a really long time.

And if it occurs on a much-hyped holiday revolving around showing your loved ones love, it could probably suck pretty bad. Lucky for me, it didn't.

We spent a lot of Saturday moving. And a lot of Saturday night trying to arrange (and rearrange) furniture until my honey's back finally gave in. I stayed up until 2 am trying to put the kitchen away and when Valentine's morning rolled around, I wasn't feeling too festive. But my sweetie knew just how to perk me up.

Nothing beats waking up to this

The rest of the morning was spent exploring more unknown boxes of stuff, trying to remember where I had put things in the kitchen and mundane stuff such as gluing (and regluing) stuff that came apart in the chaos.

We decided that all work and no play made for a bad day, so we paused the moving in favor of sailing for the afternoon. Beautiful Santa Barbara weather, friends and champagne dusted off any sense of stress about getting it all done!

And when that was all said and done, we kept the party rolling by having our friends over for some show and tell about the new house, homemade pizza and wine.

I promise some house pics to come shortly. As soon as I can find the charger for my camera...

In all the chaos, I couldn't find Carl's card. And his real gift is still rolled up in a tube in the back of the trunk. It really does need a frame to be a proper gift, so I guess we'll call it a belated one. I'll admit, I was not really on my game this weekend, though I was responsible for the heart-shaped espresso set in the first picture.

Honey, pretend you don't see the following picture of what your gift will look like once framed...

love these prints from madebygirl

There is still lots of nesting to be done to really be settled in to the new house. In the meantime though, I've been enjoying the sprinkling of love all around the house. After all, isn't that really all we need?

XO,

Chelsea