
So, over the past few months I’ve been making some small changes around the house. The search for a new house has been slow and frustrating. So, while I would love to be thinking about decorating a new place…this is the one I have. Recently we took a trip to Virginia to visit a friend and her family, and I was extremely inspired by the decor in her home…it was warm, inviting, as well as elegant and classic. I’ve been trying to narrow down my own style and I believe I may be a traditional girl in some cases leaning towards the cottage feel, in some cases leaning toward the British colonial feel. But beneath it all, it is always traditional. I am definitely not modern, definitely not shabby chic. So, I’m going to be exploring some ideas surrounding finding my style in an effort to better define it in my home. But for now, a few simple changes are all I’ve done lately. I do keep looking back at those photos of the office and media room that I posted on here some time ago and cringing. They really look terrible. And I have not given up my plan to really overhaul those two rooms…it just takes time, inspiration, and possibly a bit of money.
So here’s a recap of what I’ve done.
In the master bath, I needed some additional storage, as well as I got tired of looking at that gap under the counter (I’d love some built in drawers here). So, I purchased these two baskets from Michael’s while they were 50% off. They work well for holding extras like Kleenex and toilet paper, cotton balls and Q-tips.

I missed having a windchime hanging outside. I used to have two hanging at my apartment, but when I moved I just never rehung them. After being at my mom’s house and hearing hers I decided I wanted to at least hang one of mine. So, Eric was a sweetie and hung this one for me out on the back porch. This windchime was made for my by my best friend’s brother. I love it.

Eric decided that he wanted to display a few more swords from his collection. We’d talked about hanging this one in the dining room, and finally got around to it. It hangs over the doorway into the kitchen.

We hung this one in the entry way. I believe this is his favorite sword. He has several more that I am considering how to best display them.

The last thing I did around the house was something that had been bothering me since the day we moved in. Or, since the day we decided to purchase our dining room furniture. I have this rather large cat tree monstrosity. The cats love it, but I really don’t want to have to look at it. When we moved in, the piece took up residence in the dining room because we didn’t know where to put it. In my apartment, it was in the living room next to the couch. Well, when we got ready to purchase our dining room furniture, the cat tree had to be moved, so it got moved to the entry. I didn’t really intend to leave it there, because it’s such an eye sore. But, needless to say, two and a half years later it was still there. At the beginning of July, I posted photos of my Fourth of July decorating, including my Stars & Stripes quilt top that I hung on the wall. Well, in that photo you can clearly see the cat tree in the background. One of my commenters (possibly on the other blog – the craft blog), stated “I love people who not ashamed to have a huge cat tree as part of their funiture!” Now, I am sure that the person leaving the comment did not mean anything negative at all in her comment, but it struck a chord with me. I realized that my entryway – the part of my home that is a person’s first impression of our home, is dominated by this huge cat tree! I don’t want that the be my statement piece, if you know what I mean. So, a week or so ago, we were having company and I asked Eric what he thought about moving the tree. He also hates it where it is, but didn’t see any other place to put it…so it had stayed there. We brainstormed and decided that since we already had the media room torn up (due to a leaky ceiling we had moved all of our cds, etc. over to the other side of the room), it would be easy to move it into that room. So, after a bit of maneuvering (I had to move a bookshelf so that the tree would fit through the door), it is now in its new home in the media room.

My entry way is now bright and open. I’d like to place a small table or cabinet here and then use it for seasonal vignettes. I’d also like to hang a photo Eric took of Grand Central Station here. So many possibilities, but for now I like having the open empty entryway as a first impression, rather than the other.


And Romeo seems happy with the move.

The photo at the very top of this post was taken prior to our dinner guest arriving. We recently bought new everyday dishes and I just love that they are all white. We used our wedding crystal as well. It was such a lovely evening, but I was well-pleased with how the table looked too.
I should have a couple more changes to show soon, as well as a discussion on style and trying to define that in my home.