Holiday gift guide! If you're in DC...

...Check out the Washington Post today!  There's a special issue of FW Magazine ("Fashion Washington") included inside where I and 3 other local bloggers share our holiday gift ideas.  Here's the cover:

 

 

The told us to give our best "Christmas morning" expressions... 

(Apparently, Santa leaves me shockingly good presents under the tree.)

 

I met Grant Harris (who's next to me on the cover) the day of our shoot & he is honestly the best dressed  guy I've ever met in "real life."  Grant writes Image Granted, a menswear blog & runs a menswear consulting firm.  I can't wait to have him meet my husband & work his magic.  (I actually love how Dave dresses but I know Grant will make it even better = good-and-not-a-surprise-for-him- Christmas gift ;) ;)   

 

Also inside are gift guides by Jenna Golden of Eat More Drink More and Elizabeth Fassbender of So Much to Smile About, and Grant & me.  I was selected to pick out the children's gifts.  (Which is really funny to me, because as most of you know, I'm more into kids toys that look good if left on the floor rather than toys that kids are really into;) ;)  But seriously.... no, I'm serious.

 

I'll be sure to share more about my kids' gift ideas sometime after Thanksgiving... I found some ones that I think most kids would looove (and of course, more importantly ;) ;)  .. that you won't mind seeing strewn about your house.)

 

  The article was written by Holley Simmons & I have to say (being extremely uncomfortable in my post-baby-not-fitting-into-my-clothes-yet-body) the team at the Washingto Post was amazing--the editors, photographer, stylist & hair & make-up team- in making me feel okay.  It's a pretty large magazine and might look like an ad (my grandfather was throwing it away today when he looked down & saw my face) but definitely check it out if you get the chance!!



If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Client Snapshot

Images Marianne Strong Interiors

Hen Votes

Henry decided to wear his red, white and blue to the polls today (along with some wild hair).  When asked his choices he said he voted for more bouncy balls, animal books and puppies.  He did not vote for naps or vegetables. 

Inspiration

 Sharp Bathroom

 Gallery Wall 

 Sleeping Porch

 Red Bath

Reading Nook

All images pulled from Pinterest

Quiet Time

Via

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

May the Lord make his face to shine upon you,
and be gracious to you.

May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you,
and give you peace.

Progress at Our Place & luxe magazine

We're ALMOST able to move downstairs at our house!!! I CANNOT wait!!!

 

Here's where we started:

 

The beams were sanded down, we added insulation & drywall to the ceiling, the floors are in and we took out the tiny windows & added two large ones farther apart so there will be more wall space between them...

The old fireplace and paneling....

....are gone.  A new fireplace is going in between the windows next week:

 

...And our sofa arrived!! wahooooooooooooo

 

This is my "little louie" enjoying it:

 

{poor Luke has a nickname from his big brother that's stuck!! hahahaa}

 

Our kitchen will be going in behind the sofa so we'll just have one big open room for living & eating.  (what we do best ;)

 

I pulled in some more furniture in so we can enjoy the room.  It's so open & airy!! (and empty!!)

...But I'm really happy just to have somewhere to sit down there.  The white sofa is in an indoor-outdoor linen.  I tested the sample with greesy tomato sauce... I smeared it all over the sample to make sure it would wash off.  It did.  We'll see how it fares at our place.  A wet sponge is supposed to do the trick.

 

And... we went to the luxe magazine (DC) launch party last night...

 

 

The first issue is beautiful and I'm so excited to have a new design magazine in DC!!  The quality of the magazine /paper itself is amazing too... reminds me of those thick glossy Veranda covers.  Photographer Greg Powers is coming over to our house Monday to take some pictures of me in my new "studio" (i.e. very messy office ;)  for the "stylemaker" section in the next issue of luxe.  We met him last night & he really sweet so it shoud be fun.  (I feel pretty awkward when I'm having my photo taken alone so nice people make it much better ;)

 

Here's a quick pic of Dave & I heading out to the party:

 

{ignore the scary eyes}

 

Have a great day!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Til The Cows Come Home

  This year for Halloween Henry was a cow (thanks to a sweet client).  I wanted to share pictures but it turns out photographing a 14 month old in a costume he does not want to be wearing is hard.  Out the camera came and up the street the mad cow headed....

 Up and down, up and down the neighbors stairs...

  After 2,000,000 20 rounds of this Ferdinand decided he might be persuaded to head back to the house...maybe we have this under control...

 Oh no, no.  Rule number one with a toddler- even when you think you do, you never really have things under control.  Another neighbors door- up and down, up and down.

By the time we finally made it back home it was time to head to a party and the mad cow won the picture battle that night.  However, we did snap (hallelujah) some shots while doing a test run last weekend so at least we have these.

On a side note thank you for the stroller recommendations, they were so helpful!  I hope you have a wonderful weekend.