Show Us Your Life - Guest Rooms

Even though my last Kelly's Korner post included some guest room pics since it's also our office, I took a few new ones and have actually made a few little updates to our guest room since that post.  Our guest room doesn't get a whole lot of use...probably Jefferson our dog uses it the most when he lounges there during the day sometimes to watch birds and neighbors' cats in the backyard :)  My family usually comes to visit once or twice a year from Atlanta and stays there, and we've had a few friends and extended family members visit and use our guest room as well.  And, a couple of times when I've been sick, Billy has stayed in there because his arthritis medication (he was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, which is an auto-immune disease, a few weeks before our wedding 4 years ago) basically knocks out his immune system and he tends to pick up whatever little sicknesses are going around.  That really confuses Jefferson, and during those couple of nights, he goes back and forth between the bedrooms, staying a little while with each of us :)

So, here's a look at the transformation of our guest room over the last 3 1/2 years...

Like our master bedroom, this room was blue EVERYWHERE (walls, trim, baseboard radiators, ceiling, windows, doors, carpet)

Six months after moving in (still a major work in progress :)).  We went with Lowe's Seaside Retreat Light Khaki for the walls in here, used white for the trim/ceiling/doors/windows, and ripped up the blue carpet to expose the well-kept hardwoods.

Almost two years after we moved in...I added some pictures we took in Europe and switched the lingerie chest and bookcase placement...and the two Euro pillows from our bedroom had made their way into this room after Billy said that having seven pillows on the bed was too much :)  ha!  We also changed out the dated blinds for faux wood plantation blinds.

These were my updates from this summer that I've already posted on my blog...hand-me-down bedding, switching around art (again!).  By this point, we had replaced the windows as well, which has given every room in the house a much cleaner look. 

And here is the current state:

Love the inviting, cheery look and how my botanical print I had gotten my second year of college goes great with the bedding! We have mostly neutral colors throughout our house, so this room has some fun brighter colors to change things up. One thing I probably need to do is add a dust ruffle, but I haven't gotten around to that yet!

Super soft bedding from Pottery Barn

 

Sweet angel pillow my mom gave me :)
(and behind that is a pillow I got several years ago when I lived by myself on clearance at Pier1 that is beaded, bright, and fun)

Great storage in this little rattan chest from Pier1...picked it up in college with a gift certificate I'd gotten from a babysitting client.  I keep all of our stationery in there, as well as a little sewing kit, extra buttons/thread, and other random things, and it makes a great bedside table.  Little white lamp is from KMart ($10 special!), and I found the metallic frame on clearance at Target.  And I love the sweet picture of my younger sister, my big "sister", and me from my wedding.

I bought this bookcase at Target when I first moved to Norfolk (have the matching desk as well, which is in the attic for now).  I have finally updated our pictures here, and the bookcase is filled with a hodgepodge of frames, painted pottery, photo albums, and other decorative items.  The colors seem to go well with the rest of the room, though, which is a plus about having the bright patchwork quilt bedding!

Lingerie chest that was Billy's grandmothers...I use this to store cloth napkins, placemats, tablecloths, CDs/discs for the office area, and have one "seasonal" drawer for myself that I either put gloves, hats, and scarves or bathing suit coverups in depending on the time of year.

And unfortunately, our guests have absolutely NO closet space because most of my clothes that aren't in our dresser are in here! 

I finally printed some pictures out to update my memory board over the desk

Office area of guest room...love our desk (Bombay Company floor model!) and office chair, which was Billy's growing up

New pillow my mom and I found at TJ Maxx...this floats between our guest room and master bedroom, as I love the sea blue/green stitched shells and it goes well both places!

Hope you enjoy your tour!!

Back to OV

Last night, we made the trek to East Beach for Homearama 2010...and I still can't believe I managed that commute for over a year after I moved to Suffolk without going totally nuts.  But, my time there was definitely worth it!  And seeing the neighborhood in its current state brought back lots of great memories and made me continue to appreciate the team out there and my work with them over the almost 4 years after graduating from college.  It's such a beautiful, peaceful, aesthetically pleasing place, and they've managed to continue quality design and intricate details even in this rough economy when not as many new homes are being built, especially quality homes.  Now, hopefully in the future the rest of Oceanview will continue improving, getting safer, and drawing in a population that wants to better the area!   


We met Billy's running coach and his wife out there for a tour, so that was fun to hang out with them.  They're doing some fairly large-scale home improvements right now, so they enjoyed getting some ideas and seeing how different features play out in certain spaces.  We also got to visit for a few minutes with a couple of my old co-workers (who graciously comped our tickets into the show), so that was fun to catch up a bit! 


I didn't take any pictures, but the Homearama website has good virtual tours of many of the homes that show some of the neat features and details.  In this economic climate, the builders have adapted by providing more affordable homes (at least compared to the prices they were trying to get a few years ago...not necessarily affordable to us :)  haha), and for the most part, they haven't sacrificed design and details in doing so.  One thing we did notice was that the kitchens were not as awe-inspiring as some of the homes in previous years, but I think that's just a sign of the times, and also these homes are on narrower lots that can limit the size of certain living areas.  Some of the design details that stuck out to us were the outdoor living spaces at "The Charity House" and "The Little Pink Cottage" (both had firepits/fireplaces, outdoor kitchens, and the former even had a dipping pool), unique ceiling designs (exposed beams, not-so-typical coffered ceilings, steep vaulted ceilings, etc), the use of leatherized granite for several of the kitchen countertops, shutter-clad front porch in "Twin Oaks", big showers with lots of different showerheads, small porch off the master bedrooms in "The Charity House", unique finishes on fireplaces, bathroom tile in "The Oktoberfest Haus".  And, of course Billy loved seeing (and testing out) the no-slam drawers that were in most, if not all, of the houses :)


I think the favorite house of the group was "The Charity House" with its unique design that looks like it was pulled right out of Alys Beach, open floorplan, clean stucco finish, the contrast of the exposed beams in the ceiling to the white everywhere else, the spacious kitchen with huge island, awesome outdoor living area, carriage house apartment, vaulted ceilings, and beautiful flooring.  It's such a different design for East Beach, but it's kind of fun to change things up a bit in a neighborhood where a very traditional house with a one-gabled roof and front porch(es) is the norm.  Here are a couple of pictures from our local MLS...

So, it was a fun evening, and I'm excited to go back out there for a tour again before too long! 

Fall Weekend

We went to C-ville this weekend for the UVa game, which did not turn out well, but we had a great time enjoying the BEAUTIFUL weather and doing some of our favorite fall activities in the area! 

We got up there late on Friday night, grabbed a quick dinner at a Mexican place, and headed to the hotel.  We debated about going out but decided that we'd probably go out the next night and decided to take it easy since we were already pretty tired from the drive and coming straight from work. 

Saturday, Billy went on a run with one of his friends from college while I did some errands, walked Jefferson, and dropped him off at Pampered Pets.  After Billy got back, we grabbed a Bellair sandwich and headed to Veritas for some wine tasting.  It was pretty crowded, but we still had a good time and came back with two bottles of wine to enjoy at home.  We usually just have a bottle of their wine on hand, and we always wait for a special occasion to drink it, so we decided that if we have a couple more bottles around, we can enjoy it without worrying that it won't last a long time.  It is (and probably will always be) our favorite winery, not only because it's in a gorgeous setting and they've done an awesome job with the building inside and out, but because of all of the wonderful memories we have from our wedding reception.  We loved celebrating with so many family members and friends and are thankful that we were able to have our reception at such a beautiful place!  I can't believe that was almost 4 years ago!!  Time has flown by. 

After we got back from Veritas, we headed to the tailgate area with Billy's family and met up with some friends as well.  It was so fun to realize that one of my sorority sisters and her husband have a tailgate in the same lot!  So, whenever we go back, we'll be seeing lots of them!!  We saw several other friends, many of whom we hadn't seen in quite awhile, so that was great! 

The game was not great, but we had a good time getting to sit in the president's box.  It was my second time sitting in a box for a game (first was before I was even in school there), and they really take great care of you there!  We had lots of yummy food and enjoyed the seats that have backs (much more comfortable than the bleachers :)).  It was a little weird since you feel more removed from the game, but we had a great time doing that with the whole family. 

After the game, we headed to the corner for a bit with Greg, Erin, and Kendall. Our first stop was The Virginian, and it made Billy and I feel very old because it was super crowded and crazy, which we did not have the patience for :) haha! Once Kendall met up with her friends, the four of us headed to Michael's Bistro for a drink, and then grabbed a sandwich at Little John's before heading back to the hotel. It was so fun catching up with our good friends and spending the evening out in C-ville!

Sunday, Billy and I grabbed breakfast, he headed out for a run, Greg and Erin left, and I went to pick up J-Terrier. We went to Carter's Mountain for some apple picking, and Jefferson sported his cute Halloween costume (thanks Mom!!), so we had a little photo shoot in the orchard with him :) We got lots of great apples, most of which Billy climbed up a tree to get. The orchard was so crowded, which wasn't surprising since it was beautiful outside - mid-70s and sunny! Perfect weather!

 

More physically intensive apple picking than normal

Jefferson was watching Billy climb the tree :)

Our cute little pumpkin!

Hiding out in the grass

Trying to get the apples

Tired of apple picking :)

So, it was a fun weekend with friends and family, and I'm excited to do a little baking this week with our spoils from Sunday! 

our "office" - show us your life fridays

I missed the last two weeks of the "Show us your life" Fridays from Kelly's Korner blog since my schedule was crazy, but hopefully I'll be back on track going forward! 

Right now, we have a make-shift office area in our guest room, which I have recently tried to clean up and make a little more functional.  I'm almost done with my real estate appraiser's license, though, so once I have that, we may need to do a little rearranging to make an actual office for me when I begin to work at home.  Or I might just take over the dining room or part of our basement (although not sure how my husband would take the infringement on his "man cave" :)) and make that my office for now, since we only have two bedrooms in our house.  If we stay there long enough, we may end up turning the basement into a master bedroom suite (it has a bath and separate kitchen), but for now, the two bedrooms are just fine. 

This works as a pretty functional office area for us, but with limited storage for office supplies and files, I've resorted to putting a couple of file boxes in the attic (walk-up attic, so it's easy to access) and our craft supplies in the basement. 

I love how my memory board pattern goes so well with the new-to-us bedding!  And, since I took this picture, I've added some more pictures of Billy, me, and our dog Jefferson to the board, as well as some save-the-dates and party invites we've recently received (my brother is getting married in a couple of months, so the party/shower invites are starting to come in like crazy!).

Even though it's not the guest room day, I decided to include the bedroom part of our guest room/office :)  Love the pretty and bright bedding that my sister-in-law lent to us until she needs it again!  And Jefferson loves to lay in here and watch the birds and squirrels in our backyard!

This view shows a painting Billy did in high school...I love it and am hoping I can get him to paint something else for our house at some point! 

So there's a glimpse at our very little office area.  Despite its size, we love all of the natural light in that room, and it seems to work ok for us!  Maybe next year, I'll have a new office picture to show, which would be yet another fun house project!!