Creativity

Apartment Therapy had an interesting article the other day about how to cultivate creativity in your everyday life. I liked the article itself but one of the comments is what really stuck out for me. I often find myself staring at tax forms or at the greige walls of my cube wishing I had a 'creative' job where I was immersed in colors, fabric swatches, and light fixtures all day. I never really thought about the opposite - someone living my dream life wishing they were an accountant.

I know there are other ways to find creativity in a job that's otherwise pretty black and white, but in my case, "creative accounting" has a whole different meaning (and not necessarily a good one). There is the obvious suggestion of developing your passion on the side or as a hobby, but the all-or-nothing in me thinks I would be better served by focusing on one or the other. For instance, as far as career development, I should be spending my nights and weekends studying for my CPA exams but instead I opted to spend the last three weekends on the kitchen cabinets.

Mike lucked out with a career that has components of each embedded in his job description, but for those of us on the extremes of either side, how do you make it work for you?

Putting our Wedding First

Now that our wedding is less than nine months away, there has been a very big shift in our home. Our list of house 'to-dos' has not just stopped in its tracks, but it turned around and ran the other way. Mike and I knew that buying a house and getting married in the same year was kind of a crazy idea. One I really don't recommend but we knew we wanted to get our foot in the door as housing prices, interest rates, and our rent was skyrocketing. So we made the decision to go for it knowing that we can live frugally if needed and that we are lucky enough to have families that always have our backs.

As much as I love design and interiors, weddings are a whole different ball game. I feel like they get lumped into the same pile sometimes as they both require planning & a good eye but, for me at least, they are vastly different. The interior of your home is always a work in progress which means you don't have to get it 'right' every time. Weddings are a one-day, seriously important and expensive event that will be forever memorialized. Hence, the difference in stress level.

I definitely am excited to have our friends and family there to celebrate our special day and admittedly have gotten more into the planning aspect as things have fallen into place but having a new house and no budget to do anything to it at the moment has been a little crushing for me. I actually sat down and made a comprehensive spread sheet the other day that encompassed all our vendors, contracts, who is paying for what and when, and compared it to our income. Including what we feel comfortable pulling from our savings and the generosity of our parents, we have about $600 to spend every month after mandatory expenses (mortgage, HOA, utilities, student loan, etc.). For two people, it's doable but it's going to be crazy tight.

I feel like I'm complaining but please know I still feel like the luckiest girl in the world. I met the love of my life who is going to be my husband and have a wonderful home in my favorite neighborhood. Our home will still be there next year and no one is going to judge us for not making it perfect right off the bat.

Anyone else putting plans on hold to save money for the Big Day? Want to join me at Costco as I stock up on a 9 month supply of Top Ramen?

Quick Trip to Tahoe

As a break from the house and all the things that have been stressing us out lately, last weekend we stepped away and headed up to Tahoe with my dad. I had never been to Tahoe during the fall but absolutely loved it. You wouldn't even notice all the Aspen's in the summer but their beautiful yellow leaves were hard to miss! The smooth waters, fresh air, and lack of people had Mike and I almost giddy.

We both worked from home Friday morning and got on the road around 1:00 - just in time to hit Sacramento traffic around 3:30 - but once we got past Auburn there was almost no one heading up the mountain. We stopped in and grabbed groceries to make dinner for us and my dad on our way through Tahoe City and finally made it into Chinquapin just as it was getting dark.

Chinquapin is small community on the Lake a few miles North of Tahoe City made up of .... townhomes! I didn't get a proper picture of our family's unit, but there are a few different models ranging from 1-5 bedrooms. I've been coming here for a week almost every summer since I can remember and have some of my best memories of staying up late with all my cousins or just spending time out on the lake with my parents and sister.

It's also the future sight of our wedding!

The small cottage behind us is the Dollar House (named for Dollar Point) and was built in the 1920s. The house itself has been redone over the years to include a modern kitchen and has an amazing flagstone patio and private dock where our ceremony and reception will be held. I wanted to get married someplace where we visit often so we can stand in the very spot we said 'I Do' and remember the wonderful day we had.

Other highlights of the trip included meeting our caterers (and deciding they were the one!), strolling along the Lake with my dad, and checking out possible restaurants for our rehearsal dinner. I haven't quite gotten in the habit of taking pictures often, but here are a few other good ones from the trip.

It surprises me how all it takes is a day away from my everyday life to 'reset' my mood and outlook on life. Anyone else been able to sneak away lately?

It's the Little Things

Part of what extends a one-weekend project into two full weeks are all the little things that go wrong. I already talked a bit about the spray-gun debacle, but added onto that list were buying the wrong shelf holders, having to travel to a few different home depot's to get all the hinges we needed, and not getting a clean edge where the cabinets meet the ceiling. That last one had me so frustrated as I peeled off the painter's tape last night that I ended up removing the old blinds in frustration with a lot of cursing thrown in there. If I can find the right can with the left over ceiling paint this should be an easy-enough fix, but I'm just so ready to move on to the next project. On top of that, we didn't really get the sides of the cabinets with the spray gun so I have the pleasure of painting all those by hand. I figured it wouldn't be too hard once the doors were hanging but I forgot the hinges are mounted on the outside which means I need to at least paint that edge first.

Back to the store with both of you.

Really?

Bleed through

Lots of it.

It would be so nice to get things right on the first try, but in the end it's worth it. Luckily none of these 'mess-ups' were that costly. Anyone have a story where things went horribly wrong?

Looking Fresh

Last weekend was another long one spent on the kitchen but the good news is we are almost there! After two failed attempts at buying a paint sprayer, we finally bit the bullet and bought a good one. We had a 10% off coupon for Lowe's so Saturday morning we headed over there to get it... and then proceeded to visit not one, but two Home Depot's and an Ace Hardware. Ace is the only one that carries Benjamin Moore paints and I knew the color I wanted was from their line but I am a Behr paint girl through and through so we opted out of buying with Benjamin Moore since their paint is twice as much as Home Depot's and they didn't carry the Advanced line that I kept reading was a good one for cabinets. The second trip was to get more semi-gloss ultra-white because we didn't realize that the gun guzzles paint (but for good reason -- a coat with a spray gun is equal to two coats by hand). Unfortunately I didn't get a good action shot of Mike spraying the cabinets since I was inside rolling the cabinet frames while he was busy outside, but this is the model we got and at $180 on sale, I highly recommend it!

Graco TrueCoat II

With the cabinet and drawer faces done, we spent most of Sunday focusing on the interior. I can't get over how fresh and clean the insides look with the white paint. One little trick I used to give the interior of the cabinets an even cleaner look was using painter's caulk to fill all the gaps.

One less place for dirt and dust to hide? Check. Once I was happy with the insides of the cabinets, I started on the frames. Anything that requires a detailed hand and a lot of patience isn't really Mike's deal so usually that means he leaves the 'cutting in' to me. I like to use a nice 1.5" angled brush with the paint lid as my 'pallet'. Just call me Picasso.

Once I had made a nice border around all the edges of the cabinets where they touch the ceiling/walls or have an interior angle, I used a foam roller to tackle the larger area. I never knew about these handy small, high-density, foam rollers before this weekend, but they work really nicely on cabinets and don't leave as much of a texture as traditional rollers.

Starting with the highest and farthest out cabinets, I worked my way inwards and then moved on to the lowers. I accidentally started with the lowers when I was priming and ended up brushing up against them frequently while climbing up and down my step ladder. After one coat, this is where we were at:

Pretty big difference right?

After a second spray-coat on the cabinet doors last night and a full day to dry, looks like we should be good to go with installing hardware and putting everything back together tonight. I am so ready to have our kitchen and entire house back in working order!

Living Room Conundrum

I have a serious crush. On this couch:

The Murphy sofa from Room & Board in Indigo. I spotted this lovely piece over at Oh Joy! when she teamed up with Emily Henderson to decorate Joy Cho's new office. The stock color is also one of my favorites - a rich emerald - but Mike isn't sold on a green couch even though he likes the lines of the Murphy sofa.

Oh Joy

Lately I'm really loving the look of jewel toned furniture, neutral walls, natural elements, and lots of texture. A new couch probably isn't in our cards for this year, but our comfy sectional from the apartment is just not working for either of us in the new space. Our living room is long and skinny which makes it hard to figure out where to put furniture.

This is the set up of our current living room now. The corner triangle is the fireplace which is pretty hard to decorate around considering it sticks out into the middle of the room. The two large rectangles are our couches which just feel massive in this space. Plus, I like sectionals when they can be put into one big comfy area that kinda "zones off" the lounge area but split apart like this, they just look a little funny.

Current Setup

Possible Setup

I'd really like to remove the TV as the center of attention but it is what we use this room for so I don't know if it's completely practical. Mike and I agree on most things when it comes to home decor (or he just lets me do what I want), but the TV is the one place he has put his foot down. Like most guys, he wants an overstuffed sectional to spread out on and have people over to watch 'the game' -- which I totally understand but 1) we don't have any type of cable and only get very limited reception with our rabbit ears and 2) no one puts on a better game-day lounge & feast event better than our good friends (who we affectionately call Double D), so why even try to compete? I suggested making our second bedroom as a sort of 'den' but it didn't really stick.

Until then, I'm focusing my attention on finishing these cabinets and dreaming in jewel tones.

Emily Henderson

Apartment Therapy