Wallpaper hung!

Before

Before {the floor}

installing FLOR carpet tiles for the floor

AFTER

BEFORE {the wall}

During

AFTER

Hang wallpaper has been in my list for 3 months. I assumed I would do it over the Christmas break, then I assumed I would do it before the baby came and then I assumed I would just "get it done one afternoon after the baby came." Well, it was number 3 but I didn't do it alone. With the help of our handyman/gardner and a sleeping 4 week old, I had 30 minutes to get it done today. And we did.

Lessons learned: 

1. Glueing wallpaper on uneven, semi-bumpy walls sucks

2. Hire a professional if you need it to be perfect

Our first set of French Doors

Before

Really, I wish you could have seen this. This stunning, duct taped attempt at a refrigerator. I wondered how one can put a house on the market with appliances in this state - but then I look at the rest of the house and smile. Oh yeah, that's how.

However, aside from the duct tape, it worked. And our motto for these first few months, "if it ain't broke don't fix it" applied. Until we had all the cabinets painted and the hardware installed. Because then, well, it just looked really bad.

So off to Sears and the fancy appliance store we went.

From $8000 Miele's to $10,000 SubZero's to $1000 seconds at the Sears outlet, we saw them all. Side by side, French door, freezer on the bottom, ice machine in the door. And well, at the end of the day, a super sale at Sears gave us this Kenmore Elite winner.

Now if only I could figure out how to not run out of apple juice.

A cabinet in the corner

Before

After

Just a piece of the October 2011 kitchen remodel

Stay tuned for more to come!!!

Rainy day art space

We have all sorts of "Harry Potteresque" nooks under stairs in this old house - so it seemed only appropriate to make one nook an art space.

And the best part, if the nugget paints on the walls, I just smile.

For more pics on our rainy day art space, click here.

A grown up living room

Aside from the leaopardesque rug, I think I want everything single thing is this living room.

But then I remember that I have a toddler, a husband and new baby boy. That makes 3 guys. Which means dirt, trucks, flying helicopters, soccer balls and paint.

But a girl can dream and I certainly can take this image out of the new Ballard Designs catalog and use it as my inspiration when we finally do get around to redoing the living room.

A place for peanut to sleep

The moses basket arrived.

For more pics and the rest of the story, click here.

A toddler sized kitchen

BEFORE

AFTER

DURING

Sometimes things just fit perfectly. I knew when I saw the built in wine rack that it would have to go as having glass wine bottles at toddler grasping height would be no good. So out went the built in and then there was just empty space. 

You can imagine my glee, when the play kitchen fit right in.

Under the stairs

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

From the quality of the pictures, you can tell that the lighting is bad. But for a reading and play nook under the stairs, it works just fine.

The massive oak staircase is going to be replaced at some point so for now it was a matter of making the most of a totally weird and unused space. You should have seen the way it was staged while on the market! I should have taken a picture!

Everything was transplanted from the reading nook in our rented house, plus I added some IKEA shelves and papa built a swing. A lamp, a toy chest and some toys - just about write for our little man.

Friday night window shopping

Taza Rug from homedecorators.com

At some point in the last year, I had actually cancelled all of our catalog subscriptions and though the daily trip to the mailbox became much less exciting, it felt extremely rewarding to see so much less waste and be less enticed to consume.

And then we moved.

And then I must have ordered something from some home store or website and baby, the catalogs are starting to roll right on in. In fact, yesterday, it was like a gold mine - Serena + Lily, Ballard Designs, Restoration Hardware baby and child. Let's just say it's a pile of eye candy just waiting for me and in my oh so pregnant state, I can't think of anything more fun.

So what does my Friday night look like?

You can see the fruits of my exploring in my Pinterest - my home wish list, great textiles, and interesting furniture details. The trouble is I started with the catalog from homedecorators.com - a cleverly marketing wing of Home Depot, with some treasures amongst the mundane and downright tacky. The problem is the quality, which I can't speak to as I have never ordered anything. But for inspiration of design and at least some fun web browsing, it was a good place to start.

New home, new blog title, new year...

After a long hiatus of "what to do with my blog"?, I finally have the answer: a new title, a new topic and a new look.

3 months ago, we looked at a house. We saw its potential. We bought it. We gave the kitchen a facelift. We moved in. And now we're living in it, just the way it is. This is the chronicle of turning an old house into our home, one project at a time.

All of the pause. posts are still here and I am certain I will meander into the topics of parenting and motherhood and meditation because at the end of the day, it is all always connected.

For now, as I reflect on 2011 and prepare for 2012, the boxes are all unpacked, pictures are hung and the dust is settled. My feet, though I can't touch them myself, are planted firmly on the ground.  My priorities for today and for the next few months as baby number two arrives, well those are planted firmly on the ground too and don't include the word "renovate" in any way, shape or form. That means that for now, haus and home will be more about the being, than the doing.

Welcome to project: haus. Welcome home.

Artist date: A touch of green

Somehow I just knew that I would love it here. I just didn't know how much.

Tucked away, far off any place that you would just drive past is Green Door Design. Small, organic and really just right, this treasure full of orchids and succulents has just been added to my "don't need to ever go any place else" list for my greenery needs. Funny how a wrong turn can end up being exactly right.

As a little Christmas present for myself, I took two of my favorite unused containers to them (a service that they provide) for the cost of the materials they use and a day later I got this...

and this...

I am absurdly attached to this succulent display as it has brought this box out of hiding. We used this wooden contraption to hold the utensils at our wedding buffet and for almost 6 years I have been trying to figure out what to use it for. It barely survived the de-cluttering and simplifying of our last two moves but something in me wasn't quite ready to let go.

Now I know why...it was waiting for this.

Mama, Baum wek?

Before

After

After

Before

After

Before

After

Cutting down trees in Mill Valley is a huge deal. Redwoods are totally off limits and the rest are usually subject to the sentimentality of one's neighbors or in our case at the mercy of our neighbor since what we actually needed to cut down was not on our property but on the property of the neighbor behind us.

But we needed to do some safety pruning and then just some aesthetic pruning. So in our first weeks in this new house, I invited over a handful of tree trimmers.

And a few weeks later and several trips down down several steps with several pieces of cut cypress, the job was done and the team left as quickly as they had arrived.

Nugs came home just in time to watch the pile of debris disappear into the mulch machine. All he could say was "Mama, Baum wek?" (Mama, tree is gone?" and all I could do was say yes and cover his ears.