Holiday Home Tour

It's our favorite time of year again, and we've been busy decking the hall of our little home. We usually wait until the weekend after Thanksgiving to start putting out the Christmas decor, but this year we needed a little bit of holiday cheer earlier than usual and we went for it. Like the weekend after Annual Meeting went for it. #noregerts

Now that most of our renovation work is done, we took Christmas all over this place. We still have some trim (OK, and doors) to paint, but we are living in every inch of our little cottage and loving it. At some point we need to address the (awful) stairs going up to the second level, and we have longer term plans to man cave (and wine cave) the basement. But, we have GRASS out back, and candles burning, and hot cups of tea in hand, and we're happy to just nest for awhile now.

So here's how we're holidaying #wheatleystyle this year:

Grading the back yard

Shannon had a lot of fun with this toy, getting the last of the grading done in the backyard before we seed grass!

Backsplash (finally)

The Library

Sunporch

Breakfast nook

The painting is a reprint of Van Gogh's Irises, one of my all-time favorites, and one I was lucky enough to see in person at The Getty during my IOM years in LA (I love the Getty, and the Getty Villa, because... what's not to love? Their full collection is available online). Shannon bought it for me as a housewarming gift in 2010, when we first started work on the house. Luckily, the frame - a side-of-the-road freebie find - fit it perfectly. I had glass cut for it several years ago, and it's hung here, complimenting our palette in the kitchen flawlessly. The checkered bench was our very first piece of furniture - and tiny as it is - was napped upon frequently during our reno months in summer 2010 (from Ballard backroom). The table is wayfair, as are the chairs (not pictured), which allow for a sweet little eat-in, or a comfy spot to sit while one of us is cooking, or a comfy napping spot for Riley.   

Spring cleaning

The weather lately has been absolutely gorgeous, and we've been taking full advantage. But we did take a little time this weekend to spruce up for spring! With a side of chihuahua-napping of course... 

Dining in

April showers

April showers bring May flowers... but they also bring all the deck furniture cushions inside for days on end.... We'll survive! 

Cozy reading nook

Loft fun

To celebrate Liz and Andrew's upcoming nuptials (they got engaged last weekend!), Mary hosted a girls weekend for Liz and her two besties in Atlanta. We created a staging area for the girls to enjoy a bridal-themed slideshow, with champagne and sweets of course, while they got ready for a surprise bridal shower!!! It was so much fun dressing up our loft area. We loved the projector so much we've left it set up and look forward to enjoying many a movie night here. 

The full monty

From this panoramic view, you can see how theater suite connects to the bath (door #1 on the left), the hall (door #2), and the chihuahua bedroom (open doorway). 

Final lights hung

Loft

In vino veritas

Finally finished priming and painting our upstairs wine rack -- to keep the good stuff on hand as opposed to digging around in 'the cellar.' ;) The tray on top is an old pan used by soldiers in the Civil War era to cook over their campfires. Within, we've gathered some vintage liquor bottles found in our attic (!) during our initial renovation phase (way back in 2010), and some not so antique wine paraphernalia. This little guy (the wine rack) fits perfectly in the corner of our small dining room and has come in quite handy. The artwork above is of Mary's beloved camels, procured from India, and is painted on antique paper (that's actually obsolete government documents on letterhead!).