February 25, 2011: Land Down Under

Finally... a look at the basement. There's not a lot of stuff down there yet, but we like how it's coming together so far...

I have claimed the space to the left of the stairway. It's perfect for my bookshelves and other arty items:

This next pic shows how big the space really is - standing next to the bookcase and overlooking the rest of the "Man Cave" (love that it gets a good amount of natural light!):

The furniture down here comes from a wide variety of sources: a great reclining sectional that we found at a fantastic price at Costco, coffee & end table handed down from a friend, a TV stand that used to be Mr. S's at his original apartment (and then temporarily owned by my sister and her family), and the red chairs are from the bar/restaurant/club Mr. S's great-grandmother owned for most of her life:

Never fear, the tiny TV is only there temporarily - it will eventually move to the baker's rack in the morning room once we get a man-sized screen for down here.

We especially love the baseball theme going on down here - the panoramic prints are of Camden Yards (Orioles), Washington Nationals Park, and Citi Field (NY Mets), all taken by my brother, and gifted to us for Christmas. They're perfect, and we hope to add to them over the years (hint hint, brother!)

February 22, 2011: Snow Day Updates - Outside

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand... the snow is back:

Poor Mr. S is sick, sick, sick, and yet he was still out there shoveling (we learned our lesson about how much harder it is to shovel if you wait, since it all turns to ice):

And I couldn't resist another go at the backyard hill on my fun purple saucer. Good times, folks:

At least we know our backyard is graded properly - the hill shoots you straight down to the drainage thingy, every time:

Ready for round 2:

Happy Snow Day!

February 22, 2011: Snow Day Updates - Inside

Almost exactly a week after the last stubborn patch of snow melted from our front yard, we got another storm last night with 5" of fresh powdery stuff (nevermind that it was 70 degrees on Friday). So I'm taking advantage of a bright, sunny snow day to work on some long-overdue computer items. First up - new pictures for the blog!

Our morning room dining area is finally about finished - I realized I'd never posted a pic of our beautiful new table & chairs, and we hung the fun colored tiles just yesterday. We're now contemplating colors to paint this room... thinking of the grayish-blue from both the rug and the tile on the bottom left. Any other votes?



(In classic bargain-hunting fashion, these metal wall tile things were on sale at Old Time Pottery for $8 and change each. My sister found a version of the same thing - different colored patterns printed on paper and framed - at Crate and Barrel for over $400 for the set. Score!)

I also finished painting Mr. S's old coffee table, giving it a fun decorative finish on the top with painted metallic squares. It fills the space in our family room much better than our old table, and paired with other new decorative finds there and on the mantle, we're really happy with how warm and cozy the room is. Next up, window treatments... still figuring out what to do there, but as you can see, with all that sunshine coming in, we need something sooner rather than later!

We've already done a fair amount of entertaining - I had a bunch of girlfriends up for a fun and festive weekend overnight, and we had Mr. S's family down for an open house of sorts. The kitchen just works so well for having people over:

And just for fun, one other Old Time Pottery find - this great metal tree/leaf wall hanging, which found a home over the towel rack in our main level powder room. Perfect!

An update from the basement coming soon...