First Day of Summer

Grey or Gray?

Does anybody know if it's grey or gray? I see it both ways and get confused! Either way, I'm dreaming of grey walls in our kitchen! With our closing date approaching, I've started thinking about how we're going to make our beautiful new house a home.

We elected to have everything painted white, instead of selecting a taupe for the house. Here's the thing- whatever color you choose is also painted on your ceiling. I REALLY wanted white ceilings, so it was the choice we had to make. Also, I think it's hard to choose a color before living in the home. You want to figure out how light works in your house to ensure you're not going too dark or light.

Let's have a recap on our new kitchen: white outer cabinets, kona island, bianco antico counters, chunky nickle hardware. Visit this post for pictures. The below kitchen sort of has the same colors as ours. Do you like it?

from Houzz

I love the idea of painting our walls a soft grey. What do you think? Here's one of the shades I like.

Benjamin Moore "Ashley Gray"

A Delightful Design: M. Interiors

I love supporting other female business owners, so it’s no surprise that today’s post features my bloggy friend (who feels like a real friend) Abby of A Delightful Design.  So far I’ve referred several friends to Abby, before even getting a chance to hire her myself. But I promise you, when we close on our new house Abby will be the first lady I call!

Abby’s interior design company, M. Interiors, is based in Michigan—but the best part of her services is that she works worldwide through e-design services. Good thing! It’d be horrible for those of us non-locals to miss out on her fabulous talent.  She’s been published and her work was even featured on HGTV!

Mood Board

After Picture- amazing, right?

She offers services ranging from full decorating (for local clients) to Ask The Expert. Visit Abby’s website for more information. If you needed more convincing for this lady’s talent, take a look at some of the inspiration boards she’s created. Genius!

House Progress: Exterior Paint and Texture

I apologize for the lack of posts lately. Mr. SE and I have been traveling a bit, Nashville then Virginia, and we're finally settling back into quiet weekends and home. On top of traveling, I left my job of the past two years and I started a new (fantastic) one on Friday.

For those of you who are interested, it's still in IT; I received a promotion of sorts and now I've been afforded the ability to work primarily from home. I cover the Northeast, but the company coincidentally has their HQ in Denver, even though all the contacts I ever worked with were in their other HQ in Minneapolis. Small world!

Along with my day-job, my business has been taking off with leaps and bounds. I feel blessed by the reception that the Denver wedding community has given me, and I've already made great friends. I'm thankful for the 2012 brides that we've booked and stretching my creativity by covering lots of different themes (Day of the Dead, Hollywood Regency, and Burlap & Lace). Okay, so maybe I lied about the quiet weekends at home part.

Along with all of the work business, we're still trying to SELL the Nashville house and watching the Denver house be built. Here's an updated photo now that that painting has started underway. The body is complete, and the trim is moving along quickly. Our porch will be painted the same darker trim color, and our door is black. How do you like the colors?

Inside, the presence of drywall is starting to make the interior look like real rooms! After drywall, they texture and paint the walls. Yes, we're not crazy about the "textured" walls, but it's something that the majority of builders do here in Denver. When in Rome...

Master Bathroom-- vanity will be straight ahead.
Kona w/white marble top. Yummy!

Great room. Living on the left, kitchen directly right, and eat-in  is in the top right area.
Straight through the arch is the mudroom coat rack, powder room, and garage. 

House Progress: Drywall Up

It seems like the Denver house is moving faster and faster! The builders started installing drywall this week, and the frame is starting to look more like a real house. And our real porch is up! I think it looks way better that the last picture-- what about you? And I cannot wait to see the house painted!

Living Room- the space to the left of the vertical board is where we placed St. Joseph

Master Bedroom. Daydreaming of a reading nook below that small window.

Staircase going to the second floor. We love the window for light.
Looking forward to adding a fun chandelier in this space.

For those of you interested in the progress of selling our Nashville house... we have an open house on June 3rd, combined with a price drop. Please keep praying- we really appreciate any support!

A Giveaway!

We're celebrating today over at my business website. Our design installation is finally complete and we couldn't be happier with the results. We're kicking off the daily posts with a new giveaway-- head over to Details by Sarah Elizabeth to preview the new design and enter for a chance to win. Also-- please like our Facebook sit if you haven't already.

Visit the site HERE

House Progress: We're Up!

Here's a House Progress update for you. The home is completely up, and we've got our pre-drywall walk through scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. What does that mean? Only 60 days until closing! Holy cow, this went fast. All of the exterior walls are up, windows installed, and plumbing & electrical are complete. The exterior isn't painted yet, and we're waiting on our real porch beams and railings to be installed. We're still planning for an early August move-in...perfect 2nd anniversary treat!

Our next task is picking our slab of granite. We went with Bianco Antico and I couldn't be happier. It's a great mix of light and dark (we're looking for a predominately light slab) and goes great with our white and kona cabinets. Oooh goodness I'm excited to see it all come together!

image from Houzz

The Shops At Target

Yesterday I was thrilled to visit our Super Target and see "The Shops" in person. What are The Shops? Here's a little excerpt from the Target site:

“The Shops at Target is the next stage in the evolution of our design-partnership strategy,” said Kathee Tesija, executive vice president of merchandising, Target.  “The Shops is all about the thrill of discovery and we’re delighted to bring our guests a curated collection of home, beauty, fashion and pet products from these specialty stores right to their own backyards.”

My favorite shop was Privet House. The prices were great and their items were beyond adorable! Since we're moving into a new house and aren't quite sure how we'll decorate (looking forward to fun with Abby), I chose neutral pieces. These place mats are fantastic! They're jute and incredibly durable, and look fantastic against our dark table.

I'm a sucker for a coffee table tray, so I clearly wasn't going home without this beauty!

Did you pick up anything from the Shops At Target? I love this idea and I hope they continue to spotlight small brands from across the country!

25 Years

Today's my 25th-- last year was crazy! I can't wait to see what next year has in store for me!

We Buried St. Joseph

This past weekend, I traveled to Nashville for the fantastic wedding of Allison & Brad-- there's a teaser here. While in Nashville, I spent some time visiting with sweet friends and checking on our Nashville house. Sweet Mrs. Smith (also my host for the weekend) cleaned the house with me on Saturday before the wedding, and on Sunday we ventured back over to bury St. Joseph.

We've had one showing since then, and the post-showing notes read that we were #1 on their list! Sounds like St. Joseph is getting to work!

Here's an excerpt about this practice from a Catholic website...

Joseph is the patron saint of families and home life. He was chosen to be the spouse and protector of the Blessed Virgin Mary and was entrusted with the care of Jesus, God's only Son. He gave up all his own dreams and desires to save his family from King Herod's wrath and move them to safety in Egypt. He also provided for the family with his own hands through his work as a carpenter.

Joseph is also called the Patron of the Universal Church and of all Christians. The Bible does not give us much detail about who St. Joseph was as a person, but it does set him apart as a man specially chosen by God. The Gospel of Matthew begins by listing Joseph's entire genealogy. Through this listing we learn that Joseph is a direct descendant of King David; yet, even as the son of royalty, St. Joseph was a humble man. According to the revelations of St. Bridget, St. Joseph would often pray "Heaven grant that I may live so as to accomplish the will of my God!" He serves as a great example to us all on how we should always keep Christ at the center of our lives

Why bury the St. Joseph statue upside down?

Included in the St. Joseph homesale kit is "An Introduction to the Saint Joseph Home Sale Practice" by J. Micklewright. In this introduction Micklewright makes a clear distinction between the St. Joseph devotion and mere superstition. He explains that as people have shared their stories of success through the intercession of St. Joseph, sometimes the stories have been changed or exaggerated in the retelling. You may have heard some of the myths yourself! You can bury the statue: upside down, in the back yard, in the front yard, near the "For Sale" sign, in a flower bed, or even to bury him exactly 12 inches deep!

Actually, none of these details matter. Simply stand the St. Joseph statue in a place of honor and ask St. Joseph to help you sell your house. The statue will be a visible reminder to you to pray and thank God for His many blessings. Next, believe that he will hear your prayer. Finally, trust that God will answer your prayer. Scripture tells us in Jeremiah 29: 11-13, "I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare, not for your woe! plans to give you a future full of hope. When you call me, when you go to pray to me, I will listen to you . When you look for me, you will find me. Yes, when you seek me with all your heart..."