Are We Talking About Me Or My Home Here?

March 12, 2012March 9, 2015 / Ally Bean / 34 Comments

• I took this color personality quiz. It told me that …

• My results linked to an article on the Better Homes & Gardens website that told me when decorating a house…

“Honey colors take a back seat to the room’s other elements, making them a go-to color for those who want fabrics or art to shine.”

• The article also featured this lovely photo of honey & honey-colored paint can lids…

• But my favorite part of the article was a quote from Elaine Griffin, a NYC interior designer. She said that one should…

“Think of it [honey] as beige after it has had a cocktail or after spending a day at the beach.”

• Which means, I guess, that my house should be tipsy and sunburnt. For me this sounds like an ideal day, but for my home? Really? That’s what it needs?! Hmmm… who knew? 😉

[More home decor quizzes here: Love, Dreams & Color Schemes]

It Was Quite An Experience, But The Results Are Wonderful

March 5, 2012 / Ally Bean / 12 Comments

Here’s a photo update of our landscape project that I named, The Big Dig. Simply put: late last summer & early fall we had a portion of our wooded backyard transformed into a terraced sitting area. This project was messy + stressful + expensive.

[Want to know more about The Big Dig? For a bit of background information, start here: Talking Dirt. For photos and explanation of the process, go here: We’re Investing In Dirt. Then here: A Garden Wall Worthy Of Fred & Wilma. And then finally, here: We Have A Backyard.]

Because the weather last fall was so wet and ridiculous, the landscapers were never able to completely finish the project. So last week they returned for 3 days to finish edging and mulching around The Big Dig. And, damn, does it look wonderful.

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{ view from deck }

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{ steps from the deck to the yard }

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{ new backyard area under trees }

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{ standing in new backyard area looking over toward terraced area }

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{ standing in the yard looking at the new terraced area }

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{ signs of things to come }

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Scattered Hither And Yon

February 27, 2012January 25, 2024 / Ally Bean / 14 Comments

“God is in the details.” ~ Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

I’m an organized person, but I am not a tidy person. There is a difference. The reality is that I know what I need to do to make things look tidy– and when my heart is in it, I can get things looking pretty darned spiffy. If I do say so myself.

However, this past weekend when I attempted to get some of the more {how shall I say this?} egregious messes in our house under control, the Fates were not on my side.

• For instance, I knew what I needed to make the bookshelves in the TV room look great. But the shelves are so shallow that almost no baskets or photo file boxes or office-style charging stations now available will fit on them. Except for one lovely wooden desktop organizer from Ballard Designs… that isn’t available for shipping until April.

*growl*

• In the bathroom I had a very cute idea, gleaned from Pinterest, about how to make my make-up and other stuff look organized… but I need a tray of a specific size to make it happen.

So I tried Hobby Lobby, Meijer, Pottery Barn, Ikea, Crate & Barrel, Kroger, Kohl’s, Tuesday Morning & who knows how many places online. And here’s what I learned: that size of tray doesn’t seem to exist, rather like a unicorn.

*humph*

• Meanwhile in the un-bedroom, the project stalled over the size, style and cost of the frames I need to create a gallery wall behind the chairs. The beautiful floral drapes from Pottery Barn dictate the color scheme in that room.

But now I can’t find any images to put into the theoretical, yet-to-be purchased frames that won’t fight with the drapes, while gracing the wall behind the stylish and comfy chairs… that we bought at Crate & Barrel just last winter.

*loud sigh*

• And then there is my perennially not-so-tidy desk in our home office… where I shuffle little pieces of paper and catalogues and pens and file cards all over the place. Never quite sure what to do with all the notes I make. Never quite able to file things properly in file cabinets or in computer files. Always aware that my way of organizing, such as it is, would give Leo Babauta nightmares & David Allen fits.

*oh well*

All of which brings me to the following conclusions:

Decorating a home is much more difficult than I once believed– and makes me understand why so many people don’t even try;
I do not enjoy the process of making a house pretty, but know, from experience, that I will love living in it after it’s all finished; and
That when this home redecorating project is over I might never, ever change another thing in this house again. Ever.

Whatever The Day May Bring Us

January 20, 2012January 20, 2012 / Ally Bean / 12 Comments

The other afternoon I was at home writing and listening to a classical music radio station while waiting for Dave, the man from the chimney/roofing repair company, to arrive. Dave has been to the house before so I knew who to expect and that he’d find a solution to our latest homeowner problem.

He showed up on time and started by looking at our water/mud mess in the basement. Then he and his camera went up on the roof to figure out what was happening up there to cause the mess. It didn’t take long for him to determine that the builder had once again skimped on something important.

[Details of problem for those who care about such things. Chimney cap not installed with proper horizontal support. Hot water exhaust pipe, which goes up inside of the chimney, not surrounded by proper gasket where it intersects with chimney cap. Result: water doesn’t roll off top of chimney cap. Instead, water forms a 2″ deep puddle on top of chimney cap and then slowly drips down leak around the exhaust pipe into inside of chimney. Along the way to the basement water rots first floor sub-flooring under fireplace and creates a gentle steam down the basement concrete walls into the adjacent floor drain.]

So Dave got down off the roof and knocked on the door. He put on his standard issue contractor-inside-your-house paper booties, and stepped into the foyer to show me photos of this ~~year’s~~ ~~month’s~~ week’s problem. He explained to me how the problem could be repaired. And then he told me to expect an estimate in the mail in about 2 days.

Very standard.

But what made this visit different– and almost got me to the point of giggles— was that while Dave was talking with me the classical radio station was playing The Blue Danube Waltz. Just float-y, water-y, swoosh-y music drifting into the foyer from the radio in the next room.

I don’t think that the music registered with Dave at all, but to me it was very fitting and funny. I ask you, could there be any more perfect background music for a discussion about water running down the inside of your chimney into the basement and then flowing toward the drain? Me thinks not.

Well played, Universe. I bow to your sense of the absurd.

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