poof!

We have a garden! There's a local pro who lives up the street-- she & her son helped us out with this. They say it will fill in over the years. We're thrilled with it and have been religious about the watering-duties...

merange

Peonies are like confections. From my next door neighboor, Rita. Sigh.

Other entrance.

This is the entrance from Decatur. I havent told Scott yet, but I found the most perfect light fixture to hang there. May have to wait on that one... : )







Found these at an antique shop on MD Ave. I love them. Even though I would never save Pates in a ceramic jar. Um, ew.

details

Who knew I'd get so excited about things like doorknobs. Wow.









A morning view through the casement windows in kitchen.











I love the farmhouse sink.










A more accurate shot of the wallpaper in Dining Room.

...and we're in!

I've broken all blogging codes of conduct. I skipped any posts during the last several months.

After a long, and I mean LONG winter, nestled in a teensy house with a non-flushing toilet (which did conveniently sat at the base of our new home practically), we're in! We're in! And we're euphoric. Its absolutely stunning. All the millions of decisions we made-- its all come together.



We've been living on our screened porch. We're already had a few family bbqs; even when its been chilly & rainy. We love it.







All our porch furniture is painted rather festively-- this was from Baltimore. One day I got an itch to paint things Carribean. Not sure we will keep it?











A few decorative comments to my friend Julie on the west coast: this chair begs to be painted a perky lime color, no? Its wonderfully Miami-retro.








Andrew loves our porch. Lots of room to run up and back. And up and back...








Looking into the great room & screened porch-- we still need to figure out the furniture scene.











Our built ins are nearly done! And this is where our wonderful mantle will go; built by Lee Moring! Installed on Tuesday. Yesssss.










We're waiting on new barstools/chairs... this little stools ain't cuttin it!










View of kitchen from stairs...










Had to share. Wallpaper in small downstairs powder room.













Dining room-- this wallpaper looks a lot yellower in this pic than it really is. Its a sage green. We feel very colonial eating in here. : )










Shot of our messy mudroom. I love the marmoleum floors.












Upstairs!


Our master bedroom. I love it. Lots of consternation over the paint color. This isn't 'November'! Its blue! Its now a nice, deep blue-grey. Lovely bay views.







Our truly delightful bathroom. The shower (not very visible here) is a treat. It will be good to get our blinds, however. Its nice to see the bay from the shower.. but the other way? Maybe not good.








Our laundry room... I love the sailing toile.

















And our closet!! A big, wonderful walk in closet!









In NYC, I would have cried for some space like this...









And, finally, Mom and the Little Guy walking through the boxwood garden.

The latest

The kitchen

And now... for the inside! I adore the wainscotting we had them install in the entry way. They're painting upstairs now. Then we tackle the downstairs colors.

Rocking chairs

Can't wait to be able to sit out on this (to be) screened porch!

Walls!

We have the dry wall in place! A view from the street-side entrance looking in. A nice, wide hallway, no? Through the french doors will be our front porch with a water view!

Lee's offered to make us a mantle out of some cherry wood from a fallen tree from Scott's parent's house. How cool is that? A bit of the Northern Neck in our living room.

Ah. Yard.

This is our street-side yard being (literally) unearthed for storm water drainage--a very messy affair, namely with precipitation.

Which has been making a certain carmudgeonous neighbor even more carmudgeonly. I'll attempt to nab a pic of her, she's been tirelessly giving the builders an earful daily. She likes to amble over with her little dog and demand to see permits and make threats. And Scott had the luxury of making her acquaintance yesterday.

To counter than unpleasantry, Aunt Mary (not really my aunt, but a family friend & dear neighbor for decades) welcomed us with some of her famous baked treats.

Even the Fresh Prince of Bay Ridge is settling in. Her stray days on the city streets seem far behind. OK, I need to stop posting pictures of our cat.

White shingles

Almost makes painting seem easy!

Ho ho!

7 days till Christmas and we are successfully moved out! Well, just about. Today I'll nab the last boxes from the rowhouse and bring them back... here.... this cottage is exploding with all our stuff! Seems a shame to pay for storage (again) when we have all this room, just 2 doors down! I'm hopeful that soon we can drop some off over there.

Anyway, we're getting settled in for the winter here...the house is really cozy. A small kitchen, adorable living room, decent sized bedroom and a nice office for Scott. Oh, and a front porch that is packed 85% with boxes. I'm taking a few days off to sort through them.

Turns out, Scott and I are both pyromaniacs. Well, not really, but we have had a fire going every night since we moved in. So nice!

Dowtown

Relieved to know we wont be homeless, we went downtown for lunch and some Christmas shopping. It was so pretty!

Cottage!

Understanding the real estate market, Scott and I hurried to get our Baltimore rowhouse on the market-- we were told the typical turnaround time is 90 days. So, we followed all the instructions, "staged" the heck out of our house and it paid off! Someone has put a contract on our house for nearly all of our asking price. Yay! Great news!

The odd news is that they want to move in 2 weeks. Right before Christmas. Ulk! I spent nearly all of last weekend on Craigs List and looking at temporary sublets. Nothing great. At all.

My dad suggested we rent down near our house. Great idea! We are really very weary of the city.We completely lucked out...2 houses down from our house-to-be is this ADORABLE cottage for rent. It is tiny, but just fine for us. The owners are good friends with Noel & Nicola, so they let us rent it for a great price, and with a perfectly flexible time frame, no lease signing, nothing! How perfect is that? Look how precious this will be! It has a fireplace. Assuming all goes well with our pending contract here, we ought to be moving in 2 weeks. It has a fireplace and a great herb garden.

Siding

I'm floored at the difference the siding has made. WOW! I'm thrilled. And my green & white obsession is finally becoming a reality! The scalloped singles on the top will be painted white. And the roof on the porch will be dark green tin, as well as the small bit of roofing separating the second and third stories.

A shot of the side of the house...those windows in the middle are casement window above the kitchen sink-- which will be a neat farmhouse sink.

Thed front door will be painted dark green. Pretty!

A much needed getaway.

After putting our house on the market, we got far away from to-do lists, "staging" requirements and grout.

Thanks to the Moring family's generous gift from last Christmas, we were able to do so! And boy, did we ever enjoy it. This place is heavenly, and in the fall its breathtaking. We may make this an annual event!

I think Scott's grin says it all.