House Tour Part I

So I know I have been lagging on showing you our new home, but I wanted to wait until we had put down roots and everything was in its place. Once I came to the realization we would never be fully settled & the house would always be a work in progress, I quit worrying about bookending everything, and decided to open my door to you! I'll have to follow up with our bedroom, my craft space, Luca's nursery and Miles' office because they aren't quite finished yet, but for now here is the place we call home. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Here is our front entry way, facing the door from the living room. We wanted a door that would stand out and flow in order with feng shui. Since our door faces towards the east, green was our best option, and so I chose the most subtle of greens, chartreuse! It's loud & bright, I know, but we all love it and it adds that small pop of color that sets our house apart from the others on the block and gives us some character!

I found this print at the paper source and I knew its home would be in our entry way. If you're ever looking for a print for a frame, the paper source has countless designs and colors of wrapping paper you can cut down to whichever size you need and pop them in a frame :) 

I found this Nazar at mother's market. The Nazar is an eye-shaped amulet that wards off evil energy. It's a good symbolic piece to hang in your home or car if you're into that kind of thing & If you aren't, it's still really pretty piece to look at.

To the left of the door, we hang our keys because we can never find them! & We found this accent cabinet at Target and we love it! It was simple to put together, was extremely reasonable price-wise, and is really sturdy which is a definite must when you have a toddler in tow. Lots of bang for your buck with this piece!

We love keeping fresh flowers in the house at all times, it just makes your house a home and they just smell so lovely when you walk in the door :). 

Monogram everything! I love monograms, whether it be my initial, Miles' or Luca's. I especially love our "W" initial because it encompasses the three of us!

I found this "W" at Anthropologie, which is unfortunately sold out! But you can find a similar & (on SALE!) version here.

Facing the front door and walking into the doorway to your left, you come into our favorite, most used part of our home, our kitchen! We have cabinets on cabinets on cabinets--truth be told, you can never have too many cabinets!

I spy our beloved boon lawn drying rack, do you?!

Don't ask me what's going on in our looking glass because my guess is just as good as yours. I can't quite figure out what I want in there just yet, so temporarily it's a smorgasbord of a mini bar, a cookbook shelf, and a trinket hoarder. 

Gotta love the good ol' fashioned micro, but not enough to display it on our counter. This dinosaur has stuck by us through many moves and although its wattage may be low, it takes double the time to heat anything up & cost a whopping $25 at the D.A.V, I can't get rid of it. I like its persistent little self and although it may be weird to say this about a microwave, it has a spunky little attitude. It best can be described as the little engine that could! It just keeps chuggin' along, & if it ain't broke why fix it?!

Here is the counter we travel to most frequently, primarily because it's where our tea/coffee station lives! Yes, we have a section devoted just to coffee & tea. Caffeine is queen in this house! (I'm back to drinking coffee, but only the Trader Joe's brand cold brew concentrate because it's low acid and doesn't murder me. I'm not totally back to coffee, more so these days matcha green tea soy lattes are my jam! I can't wait to try out the recipe for these green tea protein fudge bars I found! I just wish the heat would settle so I could get in the mood to fire up the oven and bake.

Veganomicon is an awesome vegan/vegetarian cookbook. I haven't found a recipe in it I haven't liked so far--though I've only tried a couple!

Here it is, behold, the infamous coffee station!

It seems totally lame like a trend, but it actually pays to drink your coffee through a straw. It helps lessen the chance of coffee stain to your white teeth!

Mile's loves brewing his coffee in the chemex. This is a must have for coffee lovers, once you have this, you won't go back to your electric machine--well maybe you will if you don't have a percolator or are lazy as all hell--but really, best coffee maker ever and fashionably nice to look at! (post not sponsored by chemex)

Robofan is making a cameo in this shot & you my friends have a small peek into the wonderful wall mural that is the NYC skyline in my husband's office, excuse me, man cave.

There is also a fabulous sketch of Miles and I that was drawn at his company Christmas party two years ago. The absolute worst thing ever about this portrait is that there is a mole the caricature artist drew on my cheek that is non-existent...THAT MOLE WAS A PIMPLE YOU JERK! And now I am forever reminded that when people tell you "oh it's not even that bad, your concealer totally conceals it!" they're lying. Every. Time. We were in a dark bar with bad lighting and my pimple still made the cut. I was pregnant and emotional about it then, now I just think, hey if I had a mole there it wouldn't look half bad. Learn to love it all, the good, the bad, the ugly. But back to house talk, this kitchen I love!

This chandelier was a DIY project, and I must say that it is by far the best, least costly project I've ever completed. And bonus, I love the design it makes on the ceiling! Don't you love the satisfaction you get by doing something yourself?

We couldn't find a dining room table we liked so naturally, I had Miles build us one! Then, to put my part in to the project I stained and sealed it. The color came out a bit more red than I would have liked , but as soon as I saw how it played against our beach wood flooring I fell in love.

The acrylic dining room chairs are a knock of version of these Louis ghost chairs. I wish I could afford the real deal, but even if I could 300 bucks is crazy steep for a throne chair.

This is our living room, don't mind the vacuum, it's basically part of the decor since it's out more than it is in. I'm constantly vacuuming something, crumbs, postpartum hair, toys, etc. It's a staple, I should just fuse my hand to it & call it a day. 

And here behind the couch, we have the greatest invention of all time, the sofa table toy box!

I was tired of staging things only to have them thrown about, broken, or finding myself sweating over whether or not the displays were childproof, so I decided to stage Luca's toys instead. Now Luca can touch & play with all of it and it keeps him occupied (for now anyway!). We also did this in the kitchen. We left one drawer unchild-locked & filled it with Luca's own kitchen gadgets and trinkets. I find it keeps him out of all the other drawers and he thinks he is contributing to helping me cook. I love watching him pull out all the measuring cups and spatulas and wonder in awe why I'm not acting quick to take them away. Hey, maybe one day I'll have my own personal chef ;)

The Native American watercolor painting was an original piece painted by Miles' friend & extremely talented artist, BB Bastidas. I was definitely nervous about it at first because of it being such a big ticket item, but once Miles convinced me, and I saw the painting in person, I knew it was worth every cent. In fact it has become one of my favorite things to look at on our photo wall. 

I introduce to you...Air plants! Ya heard it right. These little diamonds are the best plants ever if you have a black thumb like me. All they need to survive is air! They say you should spritz water on them once a week or so, but I forget all the time and they're still goin' strong! Simplistic & drought friendly, they check off in my book!

You can see our prized moose making a vignette in this one!

Mark my words, we will move before I figure out the coffee table situation. I found this tree stump at West Elm and I'm thinking of assorting two other different sized sized side tables and currently have my eye on this white bubble stool from the container store & this "peekaboo c" table from CB2. For now, this stump stands solo. I spotted this beautiful Nate Berkus three-legged stool at Target the other day and started second guessing all my decisions, so things aren't looking optimistic for the lone ranger. Unless I'm absolutely certain about something, I can't take the plunge, which is why so much of my house is still incomplete. I may just be the most indecisive person alive. If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears!
Also, I am obsessed with my moira zucchini bread candle from Anthropologie! It smells like autumn, like I spent all afternoon baking when all I did was nap. Although it isn't officially fall yet, we had some rainfall yesterday and I nearly croaked--all I wanted to do was run out in some rain boots and stomp on some leaves only to come in, light up a fire, and curl up with a hot cup of pumpkin spiced anything. Regardless, I dubbed September the official unofficial start of fall & in my opinion, the most wonderful time of the year!

Luca's anywhere chair is by far his favorite seat in the house. He'll climb in and out, in and out, until he finds that soft spot. Then, once comfortable, he'll settle in, curl up and hum as he flips through a board book or use his feet to bring the nearest toy on the floor to his hands, and my heart melts.

Oh and don't you worry, those are flameless candles! 

This spinal shelf is one of my favorite pieces in the house. I love that you can constantly trade out items on the shelves according to holidays and seasons. This is a selling point for me on almost everything we own. Is it fall compatible?? Yes? Ok, grab two. 

This painting was the inspiration behind all the colors in our home. We used it as a focal point to make each room cohesive. We took the colors from the painting to paint each of the other rooms. The dark grays went into Mile's office, the butter yellow into Luca's nursery, and the hues of blues in our master bedroom and bathroom.

Well, there you have it, a small peek into our home! Now we are ready to decorate for fall! Can you even handle the cat ear beanie on Lu? I can't. Hope your Monday is like ripping off like a band-aid, quick and painless! Were having another rainy day and I'm about to roundhouse kick my leg in the air and do a backflip, but before that I'm gonna park Luca's coupe under the porch, you know how men are about their cars. This weather though! I have that feeling inside of me like I'm falling in love! Sending all that love and sprinkling pumpkin spice like pixie dust your way!
XO.
Chelsie