Spray Paint Diaries

Sometimes our front porch really bums me out. Obviously, it's the first part of our home that anyone sees, and I feel like they're seeing the entrance to someone else's house. It's just wrong. It says "someone else used to live here" to me every time I look at it, and I really don't care to be reminded of that fact. I wish it would just shut up, and I want to change everything about it. We'll replace the whole door sometime in the next few years, but it's seriously not in the budget right now. I could paint the door, but it seems pointless to change the color when we're thinking about having the house painted next year anyway.

So, it's bad, but the biggest offender is actually even worse up close.

Whoa, that is one ugly mailbox.  I did some brief searching for a new one, but quickly determined that there is actually no such thing as an attractive mailbox, and there's pretty much nothing better in the world for a cheap fix than spray paint. I had it off the brick, scrubbed, primed, painted, and rehung in the 24 hour gap between mail deliveries.

Oh good lord, it's so much better - and since I already had everything leftover from other projects, it was gloriously FREE. Oil-Rubbed Bronze for the win. Yet again.

I plopped some planters full of annuals on that side, too (HomeGoods apparently has the cheapest planters ever).

Next, unable to look at that awful red chair for one more second, I went on the hunt for a replacement to match my fabulously updated mailbox. I pretty much hated them all except one at World Market which was on sale (plus coupon!). Turns out it disappears into the brick pattern a little, but it doesn't bother me.  The still-too-small-welcome-mat does, though.

So - success! Now all you see are the horrible ugly light fixtures! This was not my intended outcome, but of course it must be now addressed. Fortunately, I've discovered that I find all outdoor light fixtures to be ugly and overpriced, so it's clearly going to be an enjoyable-stress-free project...

Also, I'm undecided about the gold hardware and footplate on the storm door. They're going to look totally out of place once we replace the lights, but I'm kind of nervous about giving them the old ORB treatment (even though YHL did it, and I believe pretty much anything they tell me). Oh well, I'm not going to mess with that for now.

Finally, I know you're on the edge of your seat wondering what happened to the weird old milk can, but I'll bet you can guess. Obviously, it got it's own spray paint makeover, and now lives (slightly less weirdly) on the patio.

Inspiration: Headboards

I don't care. You can pretend to be a responsible adult all you like, but if your bed is headboard-less, your room is screaming "I'm a college student" and/or "I don't give a crap". I'm not judging you, it's just the truth. I've been sleeping on a headboard-less bed for 8 years.  That's 4 years of being a college student, and I suppose another 4 of pure laziness.

As is becoming the norm for us, we were at a standstill on this project for a very long time while settling on the particulars. 

Husband has always insisted that he wants a rectangular shape, so at first I was thinking something simple and button-tufted like this one:

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But eventually I started to worry that everything else in the room is "square" and "solid", like our bedding, and dressers...and doors...as if those could possibly be any other shape... So I tried to convince him that a curved shape (and maybe a pattern) would be a good idea.

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This room is totally fabulous, by the way.

But he wasn't having it.  So this next picture was supposed to be my magical breakthrough compromise.

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But I think the nail-head trim on the solid fabric is really vital to the magic, and by this point I had decided that we needed to go with a pattern to bring some interest and fun into the room.

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Meh... honestly a rectangle, patterned fabric, upholstered headboard was not as easy to find inspiration for as all the other options we had already eliminated which made me very concerned that it was going to be the wrong decision. So again, we were at a standstill.

Then (weeks, months? later), while on Pinterest looking at other things, I saw this.

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It might not look very impressive, but it was the push I needed to move forward. The proportions are pretty much exactly what we're aiming for. We want our headboard to be pretty tall (someone I share the bedroom with may or may not have a fear of anything hanging on the wall above him), and this photo showed me that what we had in mind could actually work.

So, all that left was to choose a fabric.  Easy!  Ha. ha. ugh.

Paris Sights 3: The Landmarks

We've been pretty busy with yard work and projects around here lately, so hopefully I'll have a lot to share soon. 

In the meantime, the final load of Paris photos!

Stained glass inside Notre Dame

Notre Dame - looking up

Notre Dame - looking back

Views from the tower of Notre Dame

Les Pyramides du Louvre

Distant Sacre Coeur from inside the Musee d'Orsay

Jardin du Luxembourg

Tour Eiffel

Tour Eiffel in the rain

Tour Eiffel at sunset

Tour Eiffel sparkling at dusk

Tomb of Napoleon inside Les Invalides

Paris Sights Part 2: Life & The City

Parisian rooftops

Place des Vosges

Les Champs-Elysees

Laduree Macarons

Life in the rain

Wandering the streets at dusk

Evening in the latin quarter

Waiters at Cafe du Musee

                           Rodin Museum                                                  Life changing cafe creme

Courtyard in the Marais district

Place de la Concorde

Paris Sights Part 1: Chateau de Versailles & La Seine

Gardens southwest of the Palace

West facade of the main Palace

Rowboats for rent on the reflecting pool

Courtyard at the Grand Trianon

Farm and ground of Marie-Antoinette's Hamlet

East facade, main entrance

Bedroom of the Queen

View from the King's bedroom

 Pont des Arts over the Seine

 Ile de la Cite from Pont des Arts

 Pont Alexandre III

Sunset on the Seine

Travel Life

We've been back from Paris for a few weeks now, and most days I can't quite believe that we were ever truly there. It seems more likely that I dreamt the whole thing. In the car on the way to the airport on the day we flew to Paris, I had a meltdown at the realization that it was "almost over". We hadn't even left our home yet, and I was already mourning. Now that we're home and I have the memories of an amazing, life-changing trip with me every day (and 1,200 photos to keep them nice and fresh!) I'm nostalgic, but mostly so (so SO) thankful. We are so lucky to have the chance to travel, and explore, and experience the world. I have no guilt over making vacations such a high priority for us over the past year, because there's no telling when it may no longer be possible.

We jumped back into our everyday lives immediately here - Husband literally started mowing the lawn before all of our bags were inside the house - and we're loving being home as much as we love being away. I'm so excited to spend tons of time outside, and with friends this summer. To do some work on our house, and yard. And in July, to celebrate how many amazing things we have done together since our (hot!) wonderful wedding day last year.

I'll be back soon with a few of my favorite photos from the trip.  As soon as I decide which ones they are.

PS: I talk a big game but traveling is threatening to become such an addiction for us that I've had to unsubscribe from the Groupon and Livingsocial "getaways" emails.  I don't know that I'd ever be able to book a trip spontaneously enough to actually buy one, but they are just planting seeds of inspiration where they should not be planted. It's far too expensive a hobby.

But...we already booked another little trip for August, anyway.  Oops.