Meet Our Furniture

We now have our first pieces of together, real-life furniture.  We spent *several* days scouring the vintage emporiums for upholstered furniture.  No luck in our budget/DIY skill sets.  So we drove an hour up the road and we'll be bringing these home to our new place in February:

The Louisa and Mona, both from the Mitchell Gold & Bob Williams outlet, both an additional 20% off.  The actual fabrics/legs are slightly different, and match better.  We also got a couple pillows, in the same fabric as the chair, to put on the sofa and tie it all together.  You know.  As we wandered around the showroom Jack exclaimed, "I've fallen in love!" about the sofa.  I had a similar feeling about the chair.  Anyway, we're feeling pretty pleased with ourselves and happy to find a compromise between retro/modern/traditional that will hopefully go well with other styles and pieces.  Now we just have to wait to bring them home and stretch out our thigh muscles, which are still aching from the excessive amount of sitting down and standing up that we did yesterday.

Babies Eating Lemons for the First Time

I know this has been around... but I find it hilarious and strangely moving.  I was a lemon eating baby, so I probably would have been among the happier reactions...

How perfect is this hat?

With this skirt and on this girl?  Pretty much.  Could I pull it off?  Never.  Does this make me less attracted to it and the becoming way it complements the stripe on the skirt?  Not at all.  (From the ASOS lookbook via Bluebird )

Simple Inspiration from Claire Morris

I saved these images from the Design Sponge Sneak Peak of Claire Morris's home in Australia .  The white and natural wood work together to create a space that's fresh and airy.  I love white and blue stripes.  This kind of luminous simplicity is where I want to live. Seeing it all put together is helping me focus and regroup after an overwhelming, but marvelous, trip to antique furniture mecca.  I'm trying to commit to only buying secondhand stuff this time, within reason.  It will be good for my budget, good for the environment and hopefully we will end up with unique, aesthetically pleasing and durable pieces.  These pictures show a space that is well curated and interesting.  I imagine everything you see is well-loved and handpicked, which is as it should be.  Wish me happy hunting and if you have ideas about good, green and reasonable mattresses...

Asheville in Bohemian Color

We have driven and walked around a lot recently, soaking in the atmosphere of Asheville's neighborhoods and the mountain views.  It's amazing how much character each street and house has.  We're especially impressed by the bungalows and the bright colors they wear.  The little staid houses of the '20s have discovered some hippie flair and it suits them.
It's been alternately freezing and balmy, despite the fact that there's still snow on the ground.  We walked around one particular neighborhood when the weather was up near the 40s.  Children were sledding down a hill and guitar riffs were echoing between the houses.  We could just imagine that same neighborhood in the early spring and the lazy days of summer.  We didn't know it then, but a couple days later we would be signing a lease for a townhouse around the corner.  Today we've got the contract tucked in a folder and couldn't be happier about our new home.  We have until February first, however, until we get to move in.  This would be frustrating, but because we're starting from scratch, it means we've got some time to hunt for furniture.  In the interim we're staying in a "Swiss chalet."  I kid you not.

  The above reminded me of Asheville's particular style.  I wish I knew where I found it.

Falling Deep in Love with Asheville

We arrived in this small, mountain city and think we have found "the one."  Jack and I have been driving around giggling with excitement at how beautiful everything looks and the life we could build here.  So now there is a lot of hoping and dreaming going on as we race from property appointment to property appointment, trying to find a rental that suits us.  For now we are based in an extended stay hotel.  Only Lyle appears to be a little morose and confused.  He was just courting the miniature poodle that lives next door to my mom when we left.  Now he sits in the middle of the room, looking like a weary subject posing in a motel in middle America for a fine art photographer.
I can't wait to do more exploring and to unpack the wonderful homewares that Mom has passed down to us to start out.  I am always, always in nesting overdrive so I could not be happier about all this.

New Times

We did it.  We moved.  We left snow on the ground in Paris to fly into what family said was one of the most dramatic blizzards of the decade in Boston.  Now we're at my mother's house, biding our time until we make a move.  What was once familiar is slowly becoming familiar again.  It feels so right to have made this transition, but that doesn't make it less bittersweet.  The beginning of 2011 marked the beginning of this new chapter in our life and it only remains to be seen where we will be next year at this time.  So now we are doing lots of administration tasks and dreaming.  We'll be moving on soon and I have a certain city in mind, so hopefully I can begin blogging about making a new life there.  For now, however, I expect it will be a little quiet.  Wishing you all joy and peace in the new year.