dc.

there were houses, there were shit holes, and there were more houses.  there were lots of low blood sugar moments that resulted in fewer squabbles than i would have guessed.  there was good food, and then there was bad (though, the bad came mostly during the low blood sugar emergencies and sometimes just made things worse).  there were three FULL days of house hunting and learning of all of the neighborhoods one tends not to visit while *just* visiting dc.  there is still no home, but there is a serious front runner.  there was also furniture :

well over 15 houses into the weekend we came across well built and promptly started decorating our new city diggs before we even really have a new city OR new diggs.  i'm totally pumped that this place is exactly 1.2 miles away from where we want to be living in a few months, and maybe after we re-coup all of that money spent on a place to live we might actually be able to furnish it.

{hepburn modular sofa via well built}

a time to simplify.

i'm feeling a bit crowded with all of the shit we've been carting around for the past few years.  it really is amazing that despite the massive piles we've taken to the goodwill, we still have ended up with things we DO NOT NEED, or really even want.  i mean, that giant dog cage that's been sitting in an attic since we left chicago?  or the yellow and white polka-dot sling backs i purchased while still living in a city, and was apparently under the impression that white fabric flats were worth it.  those flats have been worn once for about five minutes (which is perhaps the only reason they are still white) and that dog cage, well it's just sad.  also we've suddenly become the owners of two desks and THREE dining room tables.  oh and then there is that couch that i talked a big game about ... it's still it's ugly, and green and gold, and somehow, in the last move, lost it's canvas cover.  so this time, FOR REAL, we are going to down size.  we just have to.  or else i will go crazy.

living room image from fernlund + logan architects via fine ting og sjokolade via ideas to steal on pinterest.

perfect outfit via totokaelo, all items can be found and linked on that page.

*i will obviously be wearing my hasbeens instead of these apc sandal-ey clogs

housewares.

i used to be nearly violently opposed to ceramic plates, bowls, mugs and really anything that went on a table. i think it is mostly due to the fact that i spent a decent amount of time growing up in the mountains of western north carolina, BEFORE, the hipsters came out and took over.  it was a time when everyone hawked the ceramic shit everywhere.  it was all brown and blue and blandly terra cotta, boring and ugly.  but recently, i've been coming around to the art and beauty that is ceramic pottery. the throwing and the shaping and the glazing. and so our collection has started, we have five ricebowls.  but now i'm thinking we could toss those anthrolpologie plates i found on super sale about 8 years ago and then the chipped cb2 plates that were a christmas present for mas six years ago (a time when we were somehow short on household goods so agreed to purchase only housewares for each other for christmas) and replace them with the likes of these.

{soda fired shallow bowls and wood fired plates part of the motley collection curated by ashes and milk}

now. please.

it's been a while since i've fallen so quickly in love.  and so i suppose it's only fitting that i've fallen hard.  i need this.  now.

ps - there is also a muskrat skull available...

{porcelain coyote skull by beetle & flor available at magpie & rye}

pretty and white.

doo.ri spring 2011 and crepe paper in my office, i think i need more of both.

he can live with us ... if he wants.

because honestly, he would look auuuhhhhhhhhhhhmazing on our dining room wall.  you know just to the left of our new liquor closet (have i mentioned that our new house is fantastic?  a mess, with practically nothing in it's proper place, but fantastic never-the-less).

{tapestry sculpture by frederic morrel via pattern people}

knitting.

with really giant needles and chunky yarn. 

{images here via a merry mishap}

the move.

we're moving! again! erm, yay?! it's just down the street and around the corner ... into a *maybe* ridiculously large, recently restored, very old home.  i'm not sure how i feel about the largeness of it all, but i'm in love with these things :

+  it won't leave the musky odor of mold on everything we own.

+  on the second floor there is the most amazing bathroom (original sink/tub/toilet set, complete with black and white tile from way back when).

+  my office is quadrupling in size.

+  we are chucking our ikea malm bed (you served us well, and lasted three moves, but that paint job i gave you really cheapened/ruined you) and are replacing it with the fancy sleigh bed we found in mas' parent's basement after they moved from avl.  you should know i am also planning on sanding the sleigh bed and staining it black ... which might be cause for some concern due to my past experiences, but i'm much older and more mature now.  plus it's made of ACTUAL wood and i would use sandpaper and real wood stain, not floor paint.

+  our washer and dryer will now perform magic tricks (i LOVE a nice washer and dryer).

+  knowing that the day after we move everything in and paint the walls, we will get a phone call letting us know that we are moving to japan - this summer.

+  also knowing that it is very nearly too late to receive such a call, landing us in the new house for a whole year, and then freeing us up to live wherever in the world we want ... which might be japan, but more likely somewhere like, um, say .... california?

+  walking the half block to our most favorite restaurant ... as opposed to walking three.

+  not having to worry that our landlords (not so) secretly hate us for not purchasing this house.

and then there will be the things that i will miss, as with all houses that become homes :

-  our insanely large fenced in side yard and our insanely large not fenced in backyard (frances will miss the fence the most, or maybe it will be us, at midnight, in the rain, when we can just throw her out the door anymore).

-  being 15 seconds from the public library.

-  the weird eight inch gap between the bottom of our bedroom door and the floor.

-  the attic, that allows us to store all sorts of things we DO NOT need.  it certainly is easy to just leave them alone and not have to see them ever.

{image found on abandunce due to following a link from color collective}

office supplies.

i wish i had not come across this little shop.  you see we, are moving in just a bit more than a month and my office is being upgraded from it's 5x7 nook to a complete room with space for tables and desks and the press.  which means, obviously, more room for stuff.  but you see, i don't need more stuff, or do i?  i definitely don't need any more washi tape, definitely ... right?

{terrier, tape, dispensers}

why don't we have two of these?

we tend to live in small places in small towns.  we don't like for things to get too big, it leaves too much to clean and too much that is never lived in.  so, what is the point?  that being said we also have four bikes between us, and if i had it my way it would be at least five*.  anyhow they all live out in the shed because we have nowhere inside to put them.  that could change.  our pretty bikes could be hanging on our walls under our pretty books or pretty flowers or pretty sculptures.  i like this very much. 

*two mountain bikes, two road bikes and i long for one of those cruisers everyone is talking about these days, unfortunately our small towns are not very bike lifestyle friendly.  they tend to be 20 miles from the grocery or in the south where people seem to want to kill you (just don't see you) if you are exercising in public.

{bike shelf by knife & saw via cool hunting}

a little something i've been working on.

it's almost time to tell you exactly what these images are of, ALMOST!  the big day will be sometime during october, but for now, you should maybe get excited.  i mean i'm getting excited!  very, very excited.

chalk board.

if mas would let me i might paint every flat surface in our house with chalk board paint (or at least all of the walls) i would. but apparently he thinks that is a tad extreme so i'm covering all of the not flat surfaces with the stuff (read : candle sticks, jars used for storage, boxes used for storage, god only knows what else ... i'm not saying for fear he might be reading and suddenly realize what i've done). anyway, i think he might be wholly on board with a chalk board globe, i mean, wouldn't you?

yes, yes, yes please.

a few rows of these for the bathroom
(maybe 2, for all of the stuff that has no home)

and then one of these for the kitchen. i'd have to splurge on pretty pots and pans, but i'd be ok with that.

{items by produce}

remember that couch i wanted to reupholster?

well it is in the early stages of actually changing. right now it's only in the stage of throw some drop cloths over it and call it a day, but that is pretty significant for our household.

ps - anyone have any awesome sources for lampshades? we are in desperate need of a few and can't find anything that moves us. we also need a new coffee table, but that is an entirely different conversation.

you have no idea.

i want a ceiling like this so badly i can nearly taste it, which is weird because what would a ceiling of lights taste like? i like to think ginger ice-cream.

{amazing ceiling can be visited while in new york at the gramercy park hotel}

happy friday.

do you have plans for the weekend? i told mas it was time to get serious about cleaning our little cottage (we call it a cottage now, the bennett cottage to be exact). while i'm sure you can imagine his excitement, i can imagine our cottage will be just as much of a shit hole once monday comes around as it is today - but i am sure that means we will have a fun weekend. perhaps a trip to chapel hill for falafel and grocery shopping? maybe a bike ride in the uwharrie national forest? we've been meaning to go for a while now...

funny thing, when i say clean mas always comes up with really fantastic things to do, and how can i say no to that?

{image by michael schnabel}

no point in stopping with the housewares now.

i've been spending quite a bit of time researching housewares recently. i swear you would think that we were in the market for a complete home makeover ... we're not. so for now maybe i can just add some placemats to the mix? placemats that i LOVE? placemats that are dying to live in our house, and um maybe a tray(the wee chick, obv)?





all placemats and goods by a most fabulous find, simrin.

and a few for our kitchen.

i've been obsessed with jorine oosterhoff ever since i saw her tea set (one day i will own the entire thing) but now she has to add snout cups? oof is she trying to KILL ME? i would like one of each please, thank you very much.

i kinda feel like i live here this morning.

except our house is tinier, and light grey instead of yellow. but we do have cats running around and i want a striped awning over our porch. also we have a huge bush of fuchsia flowers blooming and some pretty magnolia trees, isn't that lucky?

{sketch by karen soderquist}

terracotta, strawberries, spring.

after i finished eating my tomato sandwich for lunch i tucked into a nice bowl of *local* strawberries. the first strawberries i have purchased here that have been worth eating. you see, everywhere other than california is plagued with these things called seasons, and strawberries do not grow in all seasons. they hardly grow in any season here, but for now they are sweet and red and fragrant. and i am so pleased that i live a season-y life again. i always thought i missed the seasons when living out west, and now i know that i did (even if that means our produce is mostly lack luster).

oh and check our terracotta bowls ... straight from el salvador by way of mas' stepmother. i love them, they scare mas as they are made from mud ... i know.