Tuesday, January 29, 2013

bad pictures, boring post

I'm up at 4:30 wide awake even though I totally have another hour to sleep before I have to wake up for our shoot. The past two days of shooting I perfected my warm legs all day winter in New York setup.

1) long socks
2) on top of long socks, thermals, that's the striped thing you see
3) on top of thermals, warm socks



4) on top of thermals and warm socks, leg warmers.
This combination will help endure the shoot though I am cozy and warm in a Motorhome unlike the rest of my poor crew that had to endure snow and rain. I guess I picked the right crew position.


Matt sent me photos of the pets to cheer me up. It has been apparent for some time that Woz is a ridiculous creature.


I miss my home and have the sads (not the seasonal one, just frowny face) just in time for the last shoot day and only three more days to blow this Popsicle stand.

I want to post more fun house stuff but I have had zero to minus zero time on the shoot. BUSY JOB.

Send pictures of puppies. There's always time for that.

- iPad Post

Thursday, January 24, 2013

kitchen perfection

Let's get real people. This house we're going to buy is not the forever house. This is our first house that we plan on spending 10-15 years in so instead of deciding on the kitchen of my dreams, I'm gonna aim on the kitchen that is fun and I will love for 10-15 years. Which I think looks like this:
I think that's the same mentality I'll have for the rest of the house. Not forever and ever but for a long time. So let's have some fun with it and be bold.

Don't kid yourself, committing to something for 10-15 years is still scary as crap and a big deal.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

living room planning in process

The living room has a long way to go to be planned but here's some of the basics I'm thinking about. Haven't decided what exactly is going in there but I'm playing around with the various options as you can see. And while I do imagine the room as a collection of geometric shapes, I need to find ways to soften the room since it's all rectangles in there.
I guess I'm going with orange and teal in there to go with the black or white furniture?

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

eh, i'm ready to go home

It's cold out. I miss my house and my honey. I know its exciting and amazing and its the big city but after a week, this girl could go home.

And to think we still have another nine days.

- mobile blog post. spelling irrelevant.

Monday, January 21, 2013

that's no good

Weather at home:
Weather NOT at home:

That's called snow I guess. Falls out of the sky. White. Never heard of it myself but supposed to happen sometime today. I hear rumors its cold to the touch too. What will they think of next.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

our ny rental

It's two bedrooms and surprisingly large for this area. My boss has one room and I have the other. I gave her the one with the bigger bed cause I'm generous. It's an example of just the basics and suits us to a T.
And proof that I am living here: popcorn.
Selection of cheeses.
We bought some groceries. Just breakfast foods and snacks. It's funny what a person considers essential. Like Italian truffle cheese.

- iPad Post

Friday, January 18, 2013

whole house paint plan

The kids at the blog did a breakdown of the overall paint colors in their whole house including cute little swatch blocks that show the colors together.
So I did a sloppy one of the colors I'm thinking about for the house. Currently every single room in the house is painted the same beige-y yellow color and it's fun seeing all the colors I'm thinking about together and thinking you know what, all those colors aren't as crazy as I think they are.

Of course the emails back and forth between Michelle and myself are hilarious. ARE YOU INSANE, A ROOM ENTIRELY OF TEAL?! Whatever Chelle, I'll do what I want. (No but seriously folks, I'm gonna post the email between Michelle and myself over paint colors specifically: teal).

Just kidding, I listen to you, I'm just gonna do small things of teal. You were right. Love you.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

blogging soul-mate / guest bath inspiration

I just stumbled upon a new blog and the woman was looking into my soul (cats, recently moved, lives in LA). I saw this board of pretty things for a bathroom and loved every single thing in it and I tried to define the overall aesthetic and it's a little bit hipster, a little bit handmade, a lot modern, a little artisan and it hit me: it's Portland.
So.. I think that the guest bath in our house will be inspired by our chilly coffee loving neighbors in the Pacific Northwest. Coffee beans in a jar, rose scented hand soap, a bicycle print, a bird somewhere, green walls, lighting by Schoolhouse Electric Company. 

This might be one of my more brilliant ideas.

Check out almost makes perfect for lots more brilliant ideas.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

new york this time

It's a lot better being in New York a second time around. Our job had money to travel my boss so she generously decided we could just bunk in a rental apartment so we're staying in the East Village in a pretty spacious 2 bedroom apartment that's pretty adorable and clean for New York. My friends, it is in a building with no elevator. Humping my 50lb suitcase up four flights of stairs on the morning we arrived damn near killed me. I think we're slowly getting used to it.
I'm no longer the bright eyed New York visitor and have some experience with the city and thankfully did the town up last time because I would be very bummed out to have only seen New York from bus to walking up and down 5th in the Flatiron before and after work. I haven't even seen the skyline on this trip yet! We hope to have the weekend off at least and maybe hit up the High Line which I missed last time and finally see the Upper West Side since I seem to constantly miss that place. I brought the proper clothes this time and it's so easy to be fashionable with cold weather clothes. Tall boots, long coats, scarves, soft sweaters, piece of cake. New Yorkers don't wear gloves I've noticed, it gets in the way of your Metro card. I'm an Angeleno so this cold is too much for my tanned hands, I use convertible fingerless gloves that are the best innovation in warm weather gear.

Also, can I confess that I dorkily made a bang trim haircut appointment on Saturday with the same stylist that one of my favorite bloggers does 'cause it's about 3 blocks from our apartment? Yes I confess, I'm a stalker but her hair is pretty nice.

Monday, January 14, 2013

i was arrogant and this is what i get

I was wildly optimistic slash in denial about how well the whole packing thing was going. I mean I did three rooms in one day so I thought, man, how hard can this be? I think I forgot that those three rooms didn't really have much in them to begin with and oh yeah I forgot about this little room:

Blurg! Where did all of these things come from? And why are they all breakable and require a copious amount of bubble wrap to be packaged?! Damn my habit of hosting dinner parties and cooking. I'm paying for it now.

In other moving news, we're reserved our movers (of course Matt chose the movers with tattoos and skulls but they're very well reviewed) and the moving date is set for the 9th. While we're scheduled to close on the 2nd, it's just gonna be too much for my feeble body to return to Los Angeles one day and then start moving my life to another city the next so we're giving ourselves a week to wrap things up in La Mirada before we head on up to the BUR. 

I'm pronouncing that BUR like when you're cold (brr) not spelling it B-U-R, in case you were wondering.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

dusting off my metro card

In what could be the most ill timed travel jobs in my life, I'm heading back to New York on Sunday for a few weeks for a shoot.

It was hard deciding to take the job what with the house purchase and moving pending but we do have to pay for said house so my wonderful husband is gonna take care of things here while I freeze my butt off in NYC. I return the 31st, we are supposed to close around the 1st and able to move in around the 2nd but won't move in until the 9th so we can have time to wrap our lives in La Mirada up especially since I've been gone for 2.5 weeks. How is the packing going EvY? Surprisingly well. The drum room, guest room, linen closet, and guest bath are all boxed up and since I'll be gone for awhile its gonna be easy to pack up things I won't need: since I won't be here.

Unlike the last trip to New York where I was a carefree renter now I'm a responsible home owner and plan to only spend money on food. Also it's gonna be a busy job so we won't have the copious amounts of free time we had before to shop and sight see.

- mobile blog post. spelling irrelevant.

Friday, January 11, 2013

burbank kitchen inspiration

I don't plan on changing the color scheme of the kitchen when we move and since it's hard to mock things up since I have no furniture or layout decided since I want to live there a few months and see how I work. I still want a blue wall with mostly black, white, yellow, and turquoise/teal accessories. But for now here's where we are and where we hope to go in terms of overall kitchen aesthetic. The kitchen is located in the middle of the house with no windows but gets light from the opening into the dining area and back door. 
Of all the houses we saw, this one had the best layout potential for a kitchen and most storage. Whew. This is one side of the kitchen with the microwave, stove, and sink. No dishwasher but don't you worry, I plan on changing that.
And here's the other side.
After working in my kitchen for the past four years and looking at this kitchen I know, there is not enough workspace for moi. I do keep my countertops pretty bare and the fact that the microwave, though not my favorite arrangement, is mounted does help things off the counter. I need more empty workspace. Of course mine would be much smaller than the one we have now since we don't have the room but dare I say I am glad since the one we have now is almost too big. I'd love to knock this wall out and just have an island with some seating on the other side for casual breakfasts.
Off the bat I think I want the fridge and pantry to switch places but nothing for certain yet. We are gonna be on pins and needles to see if the fridge will fit 'cause according to my hasty measurements it won't.
Someday I'd like a pull out pantry but I like that this one is pretty accessible.
I want to put the cookbooks on the top shelf (maybe remove the doors) and the open shelf would be for the stand mixer. There's an opening in the back that goes into the plug for the fridge I can plug the mixer into as well as any other appliance or put the cookbooks there on display. 
One of the best things about this kitchen is that they made the shelves adjustable. How freaking genius is that?
This wall I would love to mount those picture ledges and display my barefoot contessa collection. Also I saw someone had painted a wall in their kitchen with magnetic primer and chalkboard paint and that would be dope.
Like this. Except it would only be hermajesty.
As you know gang, most of my life I've been into white cabinets and black or marble countertops in a modern kitchen.
But lately, I've been thinking of this sort of combo with grey bottom cabinets, white upper cabinets, a marble-ish light grey (or Corian ones I been hearing good things about them), and a subway tile backsplash which sounds all mishmashed but it works. For example:
Grey cabinets, marble counters and marble backsplash. So purty.
And overall, I just think dark grey looks so posh. 
And this kitchen I mean forget about it. Drool. Even the wood open shelving, the glass doors, the brentwood chairs, the clear hanging pendant, white uppers, it's all so perfect together.
I currently have a grey island base now and I love it. I never thought I'd want anything other than white cabinets but I am seriously considering dark grey bottom ones at least, plus, don't you think they'd show stains less? How do we feel about grey cabinets.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

burbank house kitchenette inspiration

In the move I get two kitchens. I know. Smack. Lucky. I also don't get a garage but whatevs. 
This place might be rented out eventually in a few months but for now I am pretending I'll have the glorious-ness of being a hostess that can not only offer her guests their own room but their own little house. I'm really hoping this will be helpful when we completely gut our kitchen and will need a place to make foods.
I'm gonna take advantage of the extra kitchen (!!) to store my excess kitchen things that won't fit in our kitchen and of course this image of a tiny NY kitchen is my inspiration.
I am also digging this minty kitchen too I mean, if ever there was a place to be daring it's your little kitchenette in your house.
I'm already rating certain items as good enough for the main kitchen or heading to the back.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

burbank dining area mock up

I am back to work but didn't want you to feel neglected. The dining space would be right next to the kitchen and living room in this corner under the chandelier. Eventually I want to knock down that wall and replace it with an island so I can have more of a work surface and to add some casual seating.
Here's what I think the dining area should look like but I am concerned about the teal color being way too dark in this place since it's connected to the living area and the first color you see when you walk into the house like BLAM it's dark! Plus I have a lot of dark furniture. On the plus side, it would be nice to make it more cave-like in there since we mostly spend our time watching movies and tv shows and it gets hot as hades in Burbank during the summer, maybe the teal would make us think cool thoughts? 
Thoughts? 

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

burbank office mock up

The office will be the room sharing a wall with the living room and at the front of the house. It's a pretty decent size, a bit longer than the room now.
This is it from the hallway.
Just like the office now, I hope to put the sofa against the wall here with a side table on the side closest to the window and on the other side of the sofa it might be cool to have a book stack shelf. I didn't really want to have books in the office before but slowly all the design and EvY-centric books have found their way to the shelves in my office now and I like seeing them all together, especially since they're pretty.
This is the wall across from the sofa. I think I'll put the big cabinet that holds the tv in the corner. And since there is a bit of space underneath the window and since it might look a little uneven, I was thinking of putting a shorter cabinet along the bottom of the window and then placing the tea tray on top of it, sort of like a mini bar.
Matt assumed I'd want to place the desk along the window so I can look out but I'm gonna try instead...
To place it along this wall that way I can keep those floating shelves and big board set up the way I do now and this has the most wall space. Also I won't have my back to people entering the room and I can see the TV from my desk. With that much more wall space than I do now I can widen the floating shelves as well and add more storage to the room because... 
While I have a sizeable closet now, this is the only storage for the office. Of course I could make it work and I plan on removing the rod and making the room floor to ceiling shelves since it's not really meant to be just a bedroom and guests can just hang their stuff on a hook behind the door. I just fear it won't be enough space even with that since the closet I have now is about three times the size of this one and packed to the gills with stuff.
So here's the mock up for the room. See how the lower cabinet is next to the taller one? Underneath it I think it would be great to store all the DVDs Matt has banished to the office as well as the more frequently used items and use the closet for the other stuff. So while my office has oodles of storage now, I will be needing more when we move. I didn't mock up what would be on any surfaces because there were too many and I figured to best leave it open ended for now.
I know the room is schizophrenic right now with all the colors but it's just meant to be a general idea sort of thing. I mocked it up with a green wall because despite the poll, I just couldn't ignore how much I really wanted a green room. I'll wait to buy the pink cover until after I live with the green wall for awhile and also, Matt is voting against a pink walled room. Maybe I can paint the inside of the closet and ceiling pink instead to satisfy my pink need. Also, how do we feel about an inside purple door?