Life lately

Purple hair just long enough to get it out of my system. Baby wearing. First time in a big kid swing. First time In a high chair. Puppy love. Bed time stories. What you don't draw mustaches on your kid when they fall asleep?! Sitting up all by himself. Green beans!

xoxo, mama

More projects!

   I bought this the other day.

   I figured if I wanted this feature wall in our new house I would have to learn how to Matt a picture or else I would spend an arm and a leg paying a professional to do it. AND I don't have any extra arms or legs.

    At first I bought this.

 

   Haha. Lol. Lmao. I practiced for a whole 30 minutes when I decided to invest in a better set up. This sh!t is hard. I think I'm going to start buying framed art already matted at the thrift store and just put our pictures in it to keep my sanity.

Update on house; We are now waiting for our home appraisal, which will take up to ten days to get (UPDATE within a UPDATE; We get our appraisal on Wednesday!)  After that, we will have numbers to work with and our mortgage broker will write us an approval letter AND then we will be able to make a sound offers on any houses we find! We have looked at 8 houses out of which 1 was PERFECT. As in I wouldn't have had to do ANYTHING to it. The others had at least two to three things I would want changed immediately. Like, black appliances, Barf. Or tile in kitchen... It's not bad just not for me. Unless, it's a black and white tile or even linoleum. Weird I know. I really just want wood floors through out. The other thing that drives me crazy is marble fire places. Don't ask me why, maybe because its too traditional, IDK. I like a nice brick fireplace. It's the little things and when you've seen a perfect house it's hard to settle. That goes without saying if we found an amazing house and the only hang up was a marble fireplace I'd be okay with it. Anywho, have a good week people!

Xoxo
Mama

My next project

   The time has come. As we make progress on the home front, I have been editing. YES, you heard that right. I, Natalie Marie Sullivan have been purging and editing all my belongings making room for our grown up more sophisticated child proof home. I wanted to start with one key piece of furniture, the big mac daddy Chesterfield sofa.Since I was going for a bargain vintage chesterfield I had no idea what it would end up looking like. Now that I have it I can buy and decorate around it. The sofa I ended up with is a mossy green leather with brass nail head trim. The rug we will use is orange with black, royal blue, chartreuse, and tan. Because of all the color and pattern in the rug I want to keep chairs and pillows in the black and white family. I'm more then likely going to re paint one of my favorite dressers in an aqua. I plan on making a farmwood coffee table and upgrading to some fabulous gold lamps with Edison bulbs and no shades. Simple, sweet, and sophisticated is my new motto. 
   With all that said my  hang up is in my precious and adored Eames style lounge chair. Do I try and sell it? or do I reupholster it? If  I did reupholster it I would want to do a fabric because of the leather couch. It's not a real authentic one, so I don't feel bad changing the style of it. I found this DIY guide that seems to be very manageable. I hope I'm not getting in over  my head. I found these photos of some patterns used to reupholster the lounge chair and I love them, but will it be to much with the rug? I was thinking of playing it safe with a black tweed. I guess if it doesn't look right I can always throw it in the baby's room.  

 

Plaid Lounge Chair via Today and Yesterday

                             Ikat covered Lounge Chair via Commune



I would love to hear your opinions!! It will either be plain black or something similar to these two... That is if i decide to keep it. 


XOXO mama

It happened.

I feel like this blog should be called meet the Chesterfield, all about finding the perfect Chesterfield sofa. I promise this will be the second to last post about this stupid couch I'm obsessed with. The next and last post will be when this beauty arrives to our new (not yet found nor purchased) house. I found, let's call her "GiGi" on ebay today. I quickly put a call into the store once I saw the "ask us about our layaway program."  I put my deposit down and will be paying it off over the next few months. I got a really good deal and I am really pleased. I mean check her out! She is the perfect mix of funky and sophisticated, just like me! I can't wait to wear her in over the next 40 years.

  Update on the house. There is still no house, BUT we met with the mortgage broker today filed out our application and gave him all the needed paper work for the loan approval. He said within the next two weeks we should be able to make an offer on a house. Exciting!!! I can't begin to describe all the emotions that go into this. Between my impatience and high hopes to Tyler's one day at a time attitude and working around his work schedule and trip to Mexico We have had many arguments and tons of tears shed. I believe this next process will be much more fun. Hopefully we wont get into to many bidding wars or have to many offers denied. I have total faith that we will find the most perfect home for our family.

xoxo, mama

My new Jam!

Seriously y'all! This song is about my life, I mean replace "da club" with the park and it's me! ha! ENJOY!

             xoxo, mama

I'm feeling lucky!!

Don't you just love it when you are finding everything you need/want?!!!! I must say that it comes in waves for me, Sometimes I go weeks with out finding anything. Not this week. I have found many Mary's for our "Mary/Jesus" bathroom. The tall skinny one I saw at the Fremont Sunday Market, but they wanted ten dollars for it and I said "no No NO" then guess what I found at the thrift store today?!!! Yep, that's right the tall skinny Mary AND she was only 5 bucks. 

I sold Varga's old rug in his room. It was just way too big and collected every thing. I ended up going with this Ikea rug. Funny enough I found these pillows at Ikea as well and thought "hey these might work for the cushions (which I was not looking forward to making) for the pod chair I bought at Goodwill!" and sure enough they look great! I just have to sew on some ties to keep them in place. I was also able to grab some poster frames for some surprise pieces I have in store. Of course they didn't fit perfectly with the mat that came with so I ended up buying one of these. I figured I can use it for all my future framing projects. Oh, did I tell you guys I have a serious plant problem? I do, yes I do. I bought a Ficus tree and hopefully it grows big and tall! along with my plant problem comes a tin can problem. I use them for everything from storage to planting plants. I just love them. I also picked up some fabulous fabric here and there. I cant wait to make some one of a kind treasures for friends and some pillows for myself. I can't forget about the two apothecary dishes I scored at Value Village for $4 buck each. I'm thinking some kind of cactus in a tea pot as a center piece on the farm table I will eventually get around to making. Here are some pictures I snapped real quick. I seriously can't wait to move so all my new projects finally have a place to live and not linger in my closet room. haha.

xoxo, mama

Queen of the Thrift Store

As we get closer and closer to either buying or renovating or new home I can't help but dream of decorating it. I have my kitchen all planned out; white subway tile, crazy counter tops with gold flecks and a handmade island with wood top, aqua lower cabinets, mint colored uppers, gold vintage lighting, eventually a viking range, cool gold knobs, and Organized to the gills!  I want to keep the walls simple white with black base boards and molding. I want to throw in some funky side chairs that can be moved from room to room.
 I am constantly checking Craigslist and all the local thrift stores. I have a confession. I go to Good Will almost every day, sometimes TWICE a day. I live right by it so it's nice to walk there. Today I stopped by when they opened and found a couple little trinkets. Who doesn't need a wooden peace sign hand?! I got about spending about 5 bucks. I ALWAYS drive by it on my way to work to check out the goodies that have been dropped off. Today was one of those slam on the breaks and put her in reverse days!!! See, I had been eyeballing these crazy wicker pod chairs on Craigslist. I couldn't really decide if I liked them or not. AND wouldn't you know it there one sat calling my name to at least check the price. $20 TWENTY DOLLARS! of course I got it! now to pick out a fabric to recover cushions! oh the choices.

 The yellow one is going for $75 and the black one is $125

xoxo, Natalie

Must Haves For New House

   I have requested a "decorating Budget" for the new house. Here are a few of the things I will buy with said budget. Note I hope to find some vintage chairs that might need some loving. AND I saw some towels at TJ MAXX the other day similar to these Anthropologie ones. I have also be scooping out cool lights on the inter web. I have been coveting this quilt from Urban for over a year now. AND who can't live without coffee right?!?! I would die for this Le Creuset set. SERIOUSLY though. I can just see all my plants sun bathing on this amazing ladder shelf from Urban.

 new bedding

 cool comfy chairs

espresso machine 

 cookware

 awesome lighting

 shelving

 towels

Kitchen Aid Mixer 

UPDATE: We are meeting with our realtor on Friday to go over our options. We have been talking about selling and buying a newer house. I have been looking at listings online and am getting pretty excited about a move in ready house!!!! One of my favorite pass times is going to open houses! I will for sure take and post pictures of our adventures. 

XOXO, MAMA

The Key To Craigslist

    I can't tell you how many times a day I search Craigslist. Once my mind is made up that I want or need something I immediately go to Craigslist and search search search. I have found most everything I own since moving to Seattle on Craigslist or at the thrift store. My couch, which I loooove so much....It's the most comfortable thing ever. I have never been to keen on the color red, but I knew the shape was something I wouldn't see ever again so I couldn't pass it up and for sixty dollars you're damn right I got it! I even hired a moving guy to pick it up and deliver it to me. I can't wait to get it reupholstered. I was thinking turquoise?!?!! Remember my Eames Style Lounger?! I searched For about a year before I found the cheapest one.I have also scored lamps, curtains, rugs, lockers, even PLANTS.
   The other day I was reading one of my favorite designers blogs, Mrs. Emily Henderson. I just love her funky, collected, vintage, crazy style. She had the most fascinating post on the 10 secrets to vintage shopping on Craigslist, which made me pee my pants a little. I thought I knew everything there was to know about Craigslist, but was I ever so wrong. I had seen the picture view on the side, but couldn't figure out how to get my computer to do it. haha. Thanks Emily! I also never thought about searching different categories for items, I usually just search under the For Sale category. After I read her post, I quickly went back and searched for my ever so dreamy Chesterfield couch under several different categories and different names. For example, I searched for old leather couch, 90's leather couch, tufted couch, funky couch. Then I went back and changed couch to sofa. I did this under antiques, furniture, for sale, FREE (don't forget to search under FREE, you never know who is cleaning out an old garage or man cave, they probably don't care OR know what they have and just want it gone). I still haven't found my dream couch, but I did notice couches that I hadn't seen when looking under all these different name.
   I hope Emily's post helps you as much as it helped me. AND Happy Craigslist shopping!!! Here are some pictures of my most coveted Craigslist finds.

I found this red locker and that dresser for $40 

I spray painted the locker red and covered dresser in fabric and painted it.

These Pier One curtains are one of my most favorite finds. I paid $30 for 8 panels.

This couch was so cool I'm not entirely sure why I sold it. 

I think it was $35 and I turned around and sold it for $60.

Free dresser painted in a chevron pattern.

This Mid Century Arch Lamp was the very first Craigslist buy when I moved to Seattle $10

This is my beloved couch. Think all turquoise in a neutral room with different pillow.  

The Plant we scored for $15 in this amazing pot!!!

AND the Chair.

These chairs I painted pink and covered in some estate sale fabric. I bought two for $10

Little Green Notebook

   I tell you what, that Jenny of Little Green Notebook is amazing! I feel like I will be referencing her a lot on my blog. I mean why didn't I think up matches cup (she got the idea from a different blog or magazine, but I don't care I wouldn't be able to do it if it weren't for her sharing)...

   OR this simple Ikea dresser makeover .

   I can't wait to share my own DIY projects and watch these unfold as we start the remodel. If you have any must have DIY projects or tips for a major renovation please feel free to share! I love and welcome feedback!

xoxo,

Mama

UPDATE Papa made a phone call today and set up some meetings for next week to sign some paper work! I love when we make steps forward, even if they are tiny baby steps.