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Jumat, 18 Februari 2011

Kamis, 17 Februari 2011

First I just want to say THANK YOU to all of the amazing comments you left on the last post. We're definitely not alone and it's nice to know that. I nodded, laughed and even teared up at some of your comments from yesterday's post. Each & every piece of advice is awesome so if you didn't get the chance to read the comments, check them out.

On a totally unrelated note, things have been progressing with the DC Design House. In case you don't know how it works (I didn't until just a couple of months ago) I thought I might explain the process. In December, just before Christmas, the house was open for two days so that designers could drop by, choose a room and measure & photograph it. (Like I've mentioned before, the house is amazing.) I was seriously nervous. It's an interesting feeling to be in a room with other designers, measuring the same space. Everyone was really nice though & there were no reality-TV drama moments or anything like that.

{See the balcony?!! Looooove this house... and this room.}

We had a couple of weeks to put together a design proposal & board for the room we'd chosen. We scampered around making phone calls for donations and getting everything just right. We had an artist do renderings of our proposed space and we submitted the board and portfolio to be reviewed by the Committee. That was on January 7th.

We had to wait until January 31st to find out if we had been selected or not. Twenty-four days doesn't seem like a long time, but by the last 3 or 4 days I could barely stand it. I got a phone call that I had been selected (eeeek) and then it was time to get to work. I got a different room from the one I had submitted a design for (I am thrilled with my new room!! :) so I had to change the design a bit. (The room determines its design just as much as what someone wants to do with it.)

I got the chance to measure the new room and meet there with our contractors. The new room needs something a little different than the what the first room needed, so I tweaked the palette and of course reworked the floorplan & furnishings to fit the new space. Here's a quick pic of the original board being torn to bits as we tried to salvage the pieces of it that we are reusing in our new room:

{Don't get too attached to anything other than the Peter Dunham Fig Leaf fabric you see in the pic}

I created a new plan for the new room and we finished up the board today. It'll be shown on Bare Bones Day, which is when people can tour the house to see it "before." I'll be there and if you live in the area & are free, you should come check it out! (info here) We've spent the past couple of weeks sourcing the pieces that will go into the room, finalizing plans, and securing donations from generous companies & contractors. It's been crazy because it's not a normal house you can just go to whenever you need something. There are specific times you can go & meet with contractors and everyone needs to be on the same schedule.

{design house room before}

The Bare Bones Tour is next Saturday and work begins the following Monday. Our rooms need to be finished by March 31st. Press Day is April 1st and the Design House opens on Saturday, April 8th!!

I'll keep you posted as our room progresses. First up is removing the current wallpaper!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

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Rabu, 16 Februari 2011

Casa Love Part 2: the gardens

Landscape designer: Art Luna in Santa Monica. Images featured in Traditional Home.

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Selasa, 15 Februari 2011

What happens by Thursday...

...By the time Thursday rolls around at our house, it's trrrrrrrashed... Bad.
In need of detox:

{There is this much food on the floor underneath my one year-old's high chair after every meal.

Thank God I have a dog.}

Sometimes I look around and just wonder how in the world it happens? How does a house get so destroyed in just 3 short days? And the scariest part is, today's only ~~Wednesday!~~ Tuesday! (oh wow. I totally wrote Wednesday and believed it until I realized my husband had class tonight, and he has classes on Tuesdays... eeek) We haven't even hit detox day yet!

{Clean me mommy! Clean me!}

I sometimes wonder, "how do people do it?" I only have two kids and it's madness here! Last night my husband & I were hanging out in the kitchen attempting to make a yummy Valentine's Day meal, just enjoying each other's company for a few short minutes, when the dog came in, soaked and covered in PINK stuff. And she smelled like strawberries!!

We followed her wet trail down the hall to our bedroom to find Christian (3 1/2) & Justin (1). Justin was also covered in strawberry-flavored pink stuff literally from head to toe.

Kids' toothpaste. Awesome.

It was really hard not to laugh- especially when after a quick glance around my bedroom I could see that my room was okay (only half-kidding)... And especially when it was one of the nicest-smelling messes our house has ever seen. So I sort of laughed and hid my head and this time Dave got to be the stern parent. All was well.

Christian has started reminding me of a little boy from Lord of the Flies. His hair goes wild at night and when he wakes up in the morning he rips all of his clothes off for his bath... but way earlier than need be. We just need a fire.

{Christian... }

But anyway... my question... how in the world do people do it?? I imagine nice calm breakfasts like in Lady & the Tramp where the family sits and eats and then everyone goes on their merry way. Each dish is put into the dishwasher and the beds are made. We rush around like crazy people in the morning and trash our house. Why??

Case in point: my husband just walked downstairs to where I am now writing, saying "I cleaned and I picked up, and I cleaned and I picked up, and I cleaned and I picked up..." (I got all excited here) "...and it's still trashed." oh. And then he walked down the hallway and I heard, "ooooooooooohhhhhhhhhh!" and I will not tell you what he found because I still have maybe half an ounce of self-respect left but let's just say the dog's in trouble.

The strangest part about all of this is... I'm coming to terms with the mess, which is a little scary. I know we fix it every week and I know it comes back every week. It's inevitable and I've found it interesting to observe that Thursdays really seem to be the culmination of the mess. (And a little freaked out to realize that today is only Tuesday and it looks a lot like a Thursday around here.)

So anyway... every so often I bring up this topic on the blog, because every so often I need to make changes. Sometimes I just want to sit down and give up on fighting the inevitable mess. (Ummm... and sometimes I do.) BUT, it's at times like this when we need to FIGHT THE FIGHT. (Yes, I'm pep-talking myself here.) I have to remind myself that if we don't keep cleaning, the goverment would have to come dig us out of our house. No really though... if we don't keep trying, life wouldn't be as great. It's hard to enjoy the people you love when the mess is eating them. We have to periodically come up with new solutions to force ourselves (and our family) to keep the house neater... to change our natural tendencies into ones that don't require detox Thursdays. I'm too tired to come up with any enlightening solutions right now, but my question is- how do you do it all?

xoxo, Lauren

ps- This post here from last year is a bit more helpful (as are the comments) if you're looking for some solutions to this problem! ;) More Info