Signs of Life

This weekend it was BEAUTIFUL outside, I just couldn't stay indoors. On Saturday, my sister and I went shopping (got some fun stuff to show you too) and Sunday was spent working on the backyard. My pictures don't do the backyard justice (screw you, dark shadows!) but overlook that and imagine a beautiful garden....it's nice, isn't it?

Before

After

Before

After

And proof that something will grow in our garden (and I didn't even have to plant it)

Irises, perhaps?

Enjoy!

Rachel May

Hello Organization, how have you been?

I'm a big fan of being organized (not that I am. I am organized at work, and in my mind (most times) but my house isn't there yet-nor is the rest of my life). The other day I realized that this blog needs some of that organization. So I called in some help. Dee Dee over at UmWow Studio helped me add some lovely tabs to the top of my blog.

The top tab bar is here to help! So if you'd like to keep looking a pictures of my house (House Tour) or if you're just interested in my crafty abilities (Crafts) or my weekly Sketchmania submissions (SketchMania), or my freelance interior design work (Interior Design) it's easy as pie to find EXACTLY what you're looking for! Then again, if you want to follow along each day, that can't hurt either.


Enjoy!

Rachel May

House Tour: The Basement

Sorry for the delay, I got sidetracked yesterday. Here's the last bit of the tour from our new home: The Basement.

When you walk downstairs, there's a landing with awesome built-ins and a closet.

Basement Landing

The studio is at the bottom of the stairs, along with the hallway to the laundry room

Studio (with major closet space)

Laundry Room (nothing too exciting except for that awesome yellow paint)

...and our bedroom and bathroomOur Bedroom (The Boyfriend and I)

Our Bedroom

The bathroom next to our bedroom is (to me) the worst room in the house. It really doesn't NEED anything (if we're going to be like that), I mean, everything works-the shower, toilet tub etc, but it's an eyesore (like that open toilet seat is-classy).

Our Bathroom

That's it! It can only get better from here (I hope). Can't wait to start working on this:)

Enjoy!
Rachel May

Sketchmania #35

We're taking a break from the house tour today to share the card I made for the weekly Sketchmania Challenge. The house tour will continue in the next post:)

(click image to enlarge)

Check out the inspirational layout and other crafty people's submissions here!

Enjoy!
Rachel May

House Tour: Upstairs Hall and Bedrooms

We'll start this tour backwards, as in...with the backyard (mostly because I'm blogger photo upload inept).

Backyard

Isn't it beautiful? There's already an arbor next to the garage that leads to a flower garden, a built in sprinkler system, a one car garage and a concrete pad to the right of the garage (other side of the fence) for added car storage.

Basement Stairwell

Here's the stairwell to the basement-you can see that it's open to the living room. It makes it really open over there.

Roomie's Room

This is our roommate's room, and probably the only picture you'll ever see of it, unless he lets me design it:) No offense to you, but a few reasons why we like our roommate is because he's awesome, he was willing to move from our rental to our new home even though that included a rent raise, and he's just very considerate. So to be considerate to him, I'll only show you the before pictures of his bedroom-a man's gotta have his privacy!

Upstairs Bathroom

This is the bathroom upstairs that's in between the two bedrooms. It's actually kinda cool, but there's definitely some design stuff to be done in there.

Upstairs Bathroom

Ignore the toilet....I had Boyfriend take the pictures and he doesn't understand necessary presentation necessities. Instead, focus on that cool curved shower curtain rod. Pretty sweet, right?

Craft Space!

This is THE CRAFT SPACE. Do you know how nice it is to have an entire room dedicated to crafts? Well I don't, because this is also the guest bedroom. But it's close enough and I'm certainly not complaining!

Craft Space

Here's the view of the entry. Look at that tiny window on the left...sad. But it's good enough for me (once again-I get a craft space! Not complaining).

There's still so much more to share: the basement studio, laundry room, other bathroom, and mine and the Boyfriend's bedroom!

Enjoy!

Rachel May

House Tour: Main Spaces

FINALLY! Here is the start of a tour of our home in pictures, as promised. This post shows you the exterior, the entry, living room, dining area and kitchen of our new home.

Exterior

Dining area

This is what you see as you walk in-dining area in front of you, living room to the direct right and kitchen.

Kitchen/Living

This is a good shot of the main area upstairs, taken from the dining room. You can see the kitchen, living room and front door.

Kitchen

This shot was taken from the living room, facing the kitchen. The doorway on the left is to the hall and the banister on the right overlooks the stairs to the basement.

Kitchen

We use our kitchen A LOT. It's nice to have a space that's open to the living and dining areas. It's nice for all of us to be able to chat (there's 4 people living here now-two couples) and for whoever is cooking to be able to get involved in the conversation as well.

I'm so happy with our new house! I have lots more to share, I just didn't want to overwhelm you in one post:)

Enjoy!
Rachel May

First Look: Basement Landing

I still need to share a "before tour" of our new space, but I couldn't wait to show you a little project I worked on Sunday. We've only just begun chipping away at unpacking since we moved in a couple weeks ago. The move went from organized to free for all in a matter of a couple of days, so our stuff is EVERYWHERE. It's also driving me crazy.

Sunday my goal was to clean out the basement landing. When you walk down the stairs, there's a bunch of junk lying in the middle of the space. I imagine this space to be a lovely reading nook in the future, but right now, it's a total Hoarders episode in there. Pictures will help clarify this for you.

Here's the view as you walk down the staircase (surprise!):

Before

There's some amazing paneling, a built-in and a closet behind all that junk. Hello storage! I need you in here.

And here's the space after I cleaned it up, took 6 boxes of junk to Goodwill (hello, tax deduction!), recycled some cardboard boxes, took out the trash, put the other items where they should actually be, pulled nails, blue taped and spackled:

After

It's nothing spectacular. It's more of a blank slate, but it's a BIG difference, trust me. Now I can walk downstairs without sidestepping to the laundry room or my bedroom.

Here's another view. Check out that built-in (such potential):

Before

And here it is after:

After

We're planning on demolishing the small shelf above the dresser and building bookshelves all the way across for all of our good reads.

There are a few things we will need to do in this space. For one, that curtain has got to go, and the cabinet is spoken for, so it will go too.

After


And currently, you have to stick your index finger in the door to pull it open...not the most effective method.

Doorknob (or lack therof)

We're going to have to replace the doorknob (we have the old one...it fell off). I've been thinking one from an architectural salvage yard would be fun, but I'm not sure how well that will work out (or if I should just keep it simple and make my life easier).

Before (taken from the hallway)

After (told you there was a closet there!)

Here's an After picture taken from the corner where the built-in is, directed at the hall. The door on the left goes to our studio (you thought the landing was gross! I had to close the door for this space), the laundry room door is through the hall doorway and our bedrom door is on the left. Phew! Lots of doors. But look how clean the space is!

After (facing the hallway)

I'll definitely share more once I have it, but for now, you can find me at the bottom of the stairs making carpet angels.

Enjoy!

Rachel May

Sketchmania #34

(click image to enlarge)

Better late than never, here is my submission for the Sketchmania challenge for this week! Check out other people's submissions on Dee Dee's blog, or make your own card and submit it for a chance to win a lovely prize.

Enjoy!
Rachel May