Party Party Party

This past weekend a group of my girlfriends hosted an engagement party for us. The theme of the party was "Celebrate the Night in White." Most of our immediate families traveled in for the event (Sheridan slept 14!) so we had a house full. It was a nice preview to what we can expect for our upcoming wedding weekend. It was great to have the opportunity to spend time with friends and family throughout the weekend in different settings. I didn't get a shot of everyone at the party, but here are a few pics of the event.

That's batty!

Last spring Alex ventured into the attic to figure out what was preventing our whole-house fan from opening. His head and shoulders were just barely in the attic when I heard a high-pitched yelp and he jumped down. He saw a bat. He described it as a very large bat with a pig nose that slowly turned its head to stare at him.

The bat must have liked her little habitat because she invited some friends to join her. This spring we heard what sounded like baby bats moving around and squeaking. We also saw bat guano and other drippings on the front of our house near the attic vent. Our guess was our little friend had a few babies. Alex insisted that we couldn't do anything about the bat and her babies until September. If we removed the bat from the attic now her babies would die.

So, we did nothing.

Tonight, Alex decided to sit out front at dusk and wait for the bats to fly out. He expecting to see one or two bats. I thought he was being silly.

About 40 minutes into his bat watching he called me out to see a little bat flying above our house. We weren't sure where it came from but thought it was cute. Then, suddenly, I saw a big bat fly out of our attic. Then I heard the clicking of another bat climbing up the vent to fly out - and it did. And another. And another. And another. 25 in total. 25 BATS!! The babies probably aren't flying yet so who knows how many more are up there. We love sharing our home with others, but I'm not sure how I feel about this bat situation.

Where you been?!

Despite the silence, there is a lot happening at Sheridan. We've traveled a bit, made lots of wedding planning progress, and bought a new house. A house we hope to make our forever home.

Here's our next starting line:

Cave Progress

The downstairs living room is still far from done, but it is a much brighter and more enjoyable space than before. We finished painting the walls white in mid-March. I've been hesitant to post any pictures because it's still not a very pretty room, but it is what it is for now.

Like I said, still far from done. However, it's a huge improvement over where we started.

We considered painting the trim but decided to leave it for now. Neither of us is thrilled to take on the tedious task of painting the windows. We are hoping to paint or whitewash the fireplace, remove some extra furniture, add new window coverings, and potentially paint the ceiling. Given that 75% of the weekends over the next three months are already planned out, I'm not sure we'll be seeing any changes anytime soon....

Family Fun

Sheridan home improvements were put on hold for the last few weekends while we've focused on family. We spent Easter weekend with Alex's family in Maryland and then spent the following weekend with my sister, Jill's family in South Carolina.

We had a big crew for Easter:

Friday and Saturday included a trip to Alex's Dad's farm, lots of Settlers of Catan, a long stroll in Baltimore, and an annual crab dinner.

On Sunday morning 12 Easter baskets were found, bunny ears were modeled, and a delicious brunch was shared.

I don't have as much photographic evidence of our South Carolina trip, but it was equally as entertaining and exhausting. Alex and I always enjoy time with family, but Tad was especially happy. He loved being loved. We all do.

Talla's Black Thumb

Have you ever heard the term: "A green thumb"?  In case you have not, it means that you are good at gardening, or you have a way of making things grow.  Well... Talla has the opposite of that.

This week, I was in Austin and Dallas from Tuesday morning to Friday afternoon.  When I returned, the vegetables that I had been nurturing looked significantly different.

What my plants looked like before I left:

What they looked like when I returned yesterday:

Hopefully I can nurse them back to life, but more than likely, we are going to have to wait until October to get our tomatoes again.

Also, the English Ivy in front of the house has seen better days.

Spring, 2013: 

 As you can see, the Ivy is lush and green.

This is about the same time a year later.  You remember all that lush green ivy?  It's all dead now.  Not really sure what happened...  

Another picture of post ivy apocalypse.   You can see the white azalea about to bloom.

Inspiration

Before I start decorating any room I roam the internet for inspiration photos. Once I get a clear vision I rarely revisit the inspiration photos. It's fun to compare my current results with what I was thinking about over a year ago.

Dining room: I loved the light airiness, splashes of red and aqua, and eclectic choices these dining rooms. Similarities in my dining room include - red chairs, random glass bottles, plates on the wall, aqua accents, and lots of sunlight. I was originally planning to incorporate some stripes and armchairs but they didn't make the cut.

Bathroom: I was at first perplexed about how to work with the blue tile. I found a few inspiration photos using lime green, coral, yellow and orange as accent colors, but ultimately decided to keep it simple and go with white and grey.

Office: We haven't really done anything to our office since moving in other than an initial arrangement of available furniture. I'm hoping it will look like a combination of these inspiration rooms sometime soon.

Here is a peek of what the office looks like now (this pic is from March 2013):

I'm looking forward to getting our office, basement, and kitchen looking more like our inspiration rooms!

Blue Bathroom

I was excited to move in with Alex but also a bit nervous - I like my own space and enjoyed living alone. Maybe it's because I grew up with so many siblings. Luckily, Sheridan has plenty of space and I was able to claim a bathroom as "mine" and repurpose one of the bedrooms into my closet. This left Alex the master bathroom and closet.

My bathroom started out looking pretty out-dated. We spent a weekend removing wallpaper and lots of chrome accents. The result is a much more pleasant and spa-like bathroom.

Other updates included:

• removing the blinds and frosting the bottom window using this technique
• re-caulking the seams between the tiles and walls
• painting!
• replacing the mirrored doors with a double shower curtain
• creating custom canvas art using a photo I took

My mornings are usually pretty rushed so I really appreciate any calm moment I can get. Alex often surprises me with a latte to help coax me out of bed (he's amazing, right?). I like to sip it in the shower - but you'll notice I had to add a clock so I don't linger too long in the warm water.

There are a still a few things left on the list to do before the room is officially complete:

• wall repairs (if you look closely at the photos above you'll see what I'm referring to)
• complete caulking
• update light fixture
• do something with the mirror (frame it or replace it?)

Tigers and Pandas

"The tiger in you says go go go and the panda in you says slow down, relax, enjoy. Which one is dominant in you right now? Set your intention to bring out the other." Alex and I heard this in a yoga class some time near the end of 2012. After class we laughed about how Alex is the tiger in our relationship and I'm the panda. We bring the opposite out in each other and this is one of the many reasons we work.

2012 was a great panda year for me. I took the year off and traveled the world. When I got back I spent loads of time with friends and family and with Alex in New York. It was wonderful. I took the year off because I felt I needed a break. I needed to learn how to just BE. I didn't have a particularly tough life leading up to 2012, I just let my inner tiger run the show and it was time for my panda to take the lead. By the end of 2012 I realized neither should be in charge, they need to co-lead.

Around this same time Alex was visiting his mother's home and sent me this picture of a balance she has on her entryway table.

He said she keeps this in such a prominent place in her home as a reminder to seek balance. I found this inspiring, especially in light of the tiger/panda reflections, and set BALANCE as my 2013 theme.

I prepared this next picture for the blog in January 2013 but it never made it up. It seems I quickly got wrapped up in the new job and forgot about my quest for balance...

It's kind of hard to tell, but Alex is wearing a tiger hat and I am wearing a panda hat. We snapped this photo during an "Ultimate NYC Christmas tour" when Alex was still living in New York.

I did not achieve balance in 2013. I probably never will. But I won't stop trying.

A couple of weeks ago Alex and I received a package in the mail. It was his mom's balance. She sent it to congratulate us on our engagement and to remind us to stay balanced. It was such a nice reminder (to stay balanced and to finally publish this long overdue post!). It now has a prominent place in our home.

More vegetables please!

Last February, Talla and I talked about growing some vegetables in a space somewhere in the back yard.  With the other projects in the house, we didn't get anything in the ground until early April, and most things didn't get planted until early May.  Since it was a little late, there wasn't a whole lot of planning on the layout of the garden, and we just kind of put them in rows... transplanting when things got over crowded.

April 12th, 2013 - I started digging for the patch of earth that would become our garden.  This is directly outside the kitchen window about 10 feet from the house.  It is one of the best spots for sun in our back yard in the summer.  I transplanted the sod I dug up to a bare spot in front of the shed.

 June 7th, 2013 - By June, most successful gardeners in Charlotte have 3ft tomato plants with green tomatoes on them.  Well... ours were just sprouting, along with the yellow squash and okra.  The peas were well along though, producing a few handfuls of peas.  This was me picking some peas in the rain.

July 21st, 2013 - As you can see, we got A LOT of rain last summer, and our garden didn't drain very well.  The okra produced well, and out of the 4 plants, we ended up getting enough okra for a few dinner and breakfast side dishes throughout the fall.

Lessons learned:

1. Start earlier
2. Fix the garden area so it can drain properly
3. Figure out the proper layout of plants.

March 14th, 2014 (Pie Day) - Here is the jump start on this year's garden.  They are in egg cartons on a table in the sunny spot between two windows in our living room.  This year we have: sugar snap peas, okra, pole beans, ozark pink tomatoes, lemon basil, parsley, cilantro, cucumber, sweet peppers, zucchini, and yellow squash.

 March 19th, 2014 - Something tells me we are going to have a much better output this year.  The sugar snap peas are thriving!  (They are the ones in the picture with the stringy vines reaching out from them.  We are going to have to transplant soon, but with another arctic cold snap headed our way on Wednesday (3/26), I don't think we will get anything in the ground until next weekend.

Where the magic happens

Alex told me the title to this post was inappropriate. I innocently titled it this referring to the magical transformation of our bedroom (also referenced in this post). I'm not sure what he was referring to...

Over the last month or so, we installed the chandelier, fixed the mirror on the dresser, added a rug, created elephant seal art (more on that here), and purchased new duvets. Over a year ago we painted the walls and ceiling, refinished the floors, and replaced the blinds with curtains.

As for the other stuff in the room: I had the bed (another Craigslist find), lamps, and one of the side tables in my old apartment. We purchased and stained a second side table after we moved in. We found the large cedar chest at an antique place in Charlotte. My old landlords/neighbors gave us the antique dresser in exchange for dog-sitting for them one weekend. The chair and chevron rug were purchased for our living room but didn't quite work - so they made their way in here. I bought the other rug in Dubai back in 2009.

Stick a fork in it...or a daffodil

A few weeks ago we hung a picture and some plates in our dining room and called it done. Maybe not well done, but medium rare. Done enough, anyway.

Here is where we started compared to where we are now:

You can read about the wallpaper removal here, the chandelier here, the chalkboard here, and the flowers here. 

I love having fresh cut flowers on the table. Here is a close-up of the most recent flowers Alex murdered for me. Aren't they sunny?

Living Room Update

Remember our list of living room projects? We crossed a big one of the list this past weekend - we finally have something hanging on the big empty wall behind the couch! And we love it.

After our Christmas tree was gone I decided it was time to transition the living room from a transition state to a more complete state. My initial ideas were captured on this mood board.

The topographic U.S. wall map in the picture is from School House Electric. I had it in my online shopping cart ready to buy but paused. I wasn't quite sure it was just right.

Fast forward to this weekend and boom - we found the same map mounted on foamboard and already framed. The only problem was it was behind cracked glass.

After carrying it home, Alex carefully took apart the frame so that we could remove the glass. A quick wipe down and it looked brand new. This is by far the easiest and quickest home improvement we've made so far.

We paid about $35 for the framed map. If we would have went with my original plan it probably would have cost us $200+ ($52 + shipping and a custom frame job). Saving $$ is almost as exciting as having this map in our living room.

If you look closely at the picture above you'll notice our seedlings in the window and Tad near the bottom. I'm sure Alex will update you on the seedlings soon. As for Tad, he was laying in the sun and finally posed for some pictures! Now you can see his handsome face.

Cave Be Gone!

When we first spied this house, the living room looked like this.

It's probably my least favorite room in the house. I kind of like it in the winter, at night, when the only thing I can see are the flames in the fireplace. Otherwise, I steer clear.

Here it is with our stuff in it. Not much better, maybe even a little worse...

I dream of it looking more like a combination of these rooms:

In an attempt to get it a little closer to this dream state, we embarked on painting the walls white about a week and a half ago. We'll have guests the weekend of March 14 and 21 so our goal is to get the painting done before then.

Additional "wish list" items (I'm not sure we'll ever actually get to them, so they're not quite "to do" items...) once the walls are painted:

• painting the ceiling a navy or dark teal-ish color
• paint/white wash the brick fireplace, maybe something like this
• upgrade the fireplace mantel
• mount the TV above the fireplace

Clark's "Antiques"

One of my favorite stores in Plaza Midwood is Clark's Antiques. It's poorly organized, dusty, over priced, and the only true antique in the place is probably Clark himself. However, there are always unique, fun things to look at and every so often I walk out with a good deal.

Google Street View - Clark's Antiques

Past finds include an old red cabinet we currently keep in the office and a frame we repurposed into a chalkboard.

Red cabinet in my old apartment - still need to photograph current placement...

Alex and I popped in there yesterday to look for a frame for the elephant seals print we just got. We found the perfect frame along with a large topographic U.S. map and a small plant stand. Originally, Clark wanted $95 for the frame (artwork included...), $44 for the map, and $11 for the stand. We talked him into selling us all three for $75. They may look pretty pathetic now, but wait until you see the "after" shots!

Topographic U.S. Wall Map (notice the big cracks in the glass)

Tiny Plant Stand

Framed Art

New! Old posts

Two posts that were drafted a long time ago, but just now got published.

http://sharingsheridan.blogspot.com/2013_07_01_archive.html

http://sharingsheridan.blogspot.com/2014/03/i-love-flowers.html

Elephant Seals

Each year, Alex and I take a May-cation. Last year's trip was a road trip in California. We started in San Francisco, drove South down the coast, turned East around Cambria, went to Sequoia National Forest, up to Yosemite, North to Sonoma, Napa, and Point Reyes, then ended back in San Francisco. We did almost no planning (we were still planning accommodations while on the road...) so we came across many wonderful surprises - like the elephant seals!

The California May-cation was our best trip together so far. I thought a picture from this trip would be a nice addition to our memory-filled walls. I just ordered a 2'x3' print that I imagine will look something like this once framed:

I started this project thinking this picture would end up over the couch in the living room. The blues and greys match nicely with the rest of the room and the yellow highlights play on the yellow dashes in our connecting dining room. However, I worry it's not quite big enough for the space. I don't think I have the scale right in this mock-up:

 

Another option is above our bed. I'm not sure this is the right spot either. The trip was romantic but the elephant seals are not...

We're planning to paint the downstairs den this weekend. Maybe it will make it's home down there. Any votes?

A note on the pillow cases, Alex's side of the bed is closest to the door and mine is on the window side. I have the "his" pillow because I'm his, and he's mine. (geeky smile)