the cozy apartment

dream house

When Mr. Cozy Apartment and I were starting to seriously save for a house, I wrapped this list around my credit card.  I wanted to have the card on me for emergencies, but needed to remind myself not to use it.  Well, lots of self-restraint and several months later, we bought the house we wanted and we love it!

Who gets their dream house on the first try???  We hadn’t even begun looking at houses when that list came about and yet this place has 7 of our 8 wish list items!  It’s pretty amazing how lucky we are and we appreciate that.  Living here is incredible, every morning I drink it all in and cannot believe how beautiful it is.  The additional space has given us more creative freedom than we could have had in the cozy apartment.  

The Cozy Apartment has been a lovely sweet spot for me, but the house calls out for an online space of its own.  Having accomplished the impossible dream of owning a home gives me the sense that other impossible dreams might be achieved, too! 

So, good bye Cozy Apartment, I’ll think of you fondly. 

72!

It was sunny and 72 today!  72!  The BEST weather!  Sunny, a couple of clouds, a light breeze and 72!  This is the best part of the year, waking up from winter!  Time for eating on the porch, finally planting the clematis I bought 2 weeks ago (my hubby affectionately named it 'Clem'.), BLT's, ice cream (this new one is...well, gone in this house!) and sandals.  Everyone seems much less cranky and somewhat dazed!  In case it rains again, I bought this pillow at Target....you know....just in case.

isn't she lovely....

Well, it's finally happened!  For a long time I resisted the switch to a complete digital format in photos.  However, so much happens after a photo is taken that affects it's quality!  Basically, I can't find anyone I trust to print film anymore.  After over a year of waiting for the price to come down, my new Canon has finally arrived!  We're getting acquainted and I've been impressed with the image quality so far.  It's not the biggest, baddest camera on the market, but it's just what I need. These shots are straight-out-of-the-box-in-my-family-room type shots.  I think I might be in love....

 

 

Yep, everyone had a portrait taken.  Even those who weren't interested. 

A room of her own

It's coming along, slowly!  This is the one corner that's completed (for now, till I change my mind and re-do the whole thing).  The daybed is from Pottery Barn, so is the cubby above the desk.  It's PERFECT for all the little doo dads I've acquired over the years.  The desk is a find from an antique store in town and I LOVE it!  It's the perfect size to prevent piles of papers,etc. 

Unabashedly feminine, this room!  Walking in here is like how Mary in A Secret Garden must have felt when she would shut the door behind her and be in her own world.  Above the bed I think I'm going to hang a large canvas covered with some rare Amy Butler fabric from her Forest line by Kokka. 

 

I've been hording those fabrics for ages, finally I can unleash them on our house!  Muhahaha!  (image from Amy Butler's site, 2006-ish) Generally, I do love AB's fabrics.  However, she really hasn't hit a home run for me since this line.  Belle and Nigella were nice, hated Daisy Chain, August Fields wasn't anything to write home about, either.  Mid Mod 1 and 2 were very pretty and the fabric was VERY soft and good for apparel.  Some of the Love fabrics are really pretty and remind me of Forest, in a way.  Let's be honest, though, I own some of each line (other than Daisy Chain.  eh.)! 

The botanical imagery always gets me.  She does such a great job with that.  If I could be surrounded by gardens, I would!  Waaait a minute, I  AM!  Yesterday I was explaining to Mr. Cozy Apartment that we really have 5 gardens that I'm tending to.  The front porch (all sun, all the time), the window box outside the dining room (evening sun), the back deck (part full sun, part full shade), the back yard (eh, you name it, it's got it!) and all of my our interior plants.  Went out to Joy Creek Nursery today and came home with several beauties!  EEE!  I LOVE plants!  I love this house.  A place to sew, a place to plant and a place to day dream!

shhhhh....

This streetlamp web has been here for a month or so.  It's held up well despite the unpredictable Oregon weather.  Today was overcast, cold and dank.  Tonight much the same, but with a dense fog.  Fog here never seems to arrive from the distance or roll over the hills like you've seen in movies.  It's suddenly *there* in a breath, everywhere and brings with it a damp hush. 

But in the streetlight, by this web, you can see the fog rushing by, swirling like the cloud it is, swirling even if we don't notice it. 

Ikea Love....& big news!

First of all, the Big News, which I'm sure you suspected, we closed on the house today!!!  We're homeowners!  It is SO WEIRD, I feel like I'm actually an adult now, though I've been driving and drinking for years (though, um, not at the same time, of course).  It was a completely surreal experience, I kept looking around the room thinking, "This is what I'll remember when I look back at today...weird, the escrow agent has an ape on her travel mug".  We get the keys on Tuesday (ak, Monday is a holiday!  I need to start working at a bank) but I won't be able to go to the house until a week from today b/c of a business trip!  GAHHHHH!  Ok, Jess, pull it together.

In other news, Ikea has a new slew of fun stuff up for grabs!  Woo hoo!  The thing that caught my eye though was this fabric.  I HAVE to have it.  The little fox?  What?!  HOW CUTE!!! And the bird fabric?!  This line of fabric is SO much better than what they've offered in the recent past.

 

Also love the Alpine pattern and the crab is definitely going in my bathroom (ak!  My bathroom.  I don't have to share anymore!!!)!

 

(all images courtesy of Ikea)

As you can imagine, I have TONS to do to get ready for the move (on the 19th!), so I probably won't have a chance to blog for the next week or so.  I'll be back soon, though, with lots to show and tell! 

incidently...

Did you see the post over at design*sponge about decorating like the movie The Godfather?  What an awesome idea!  That movie is epic.  There's nothing that could ever really compare.  I don't know if I'd want to live with that kind of drama, but I wouldn't mind living with the bench they featured:

(all images from Pottery Barn)

In fact, I've been drooling over the entire Benchwright Collection since my Pottery Barn catalog came in the mail.  I love the comination of the wood and metal together, it gives the softness of the wood a hard edge...or the hardness of the metal a soft edge, whichever take you prefer.  LOVE the bookcase!!!

Drool.  Heck, if Pottery Barn wants to come over and decorate my whole place, far be it from me to object!  Esp since the bookcase above is $800.  $800 for a bookcase!  Wow.  Lately I've been balking at $80 for a bookcase!  But....don't you love this (sans rocking horse...)?:

When I first saw The Godfather as a child, I LOVED the whole Corleone, Italy scene so very much.  Who wouldn't want to live there after seeing that movie?  And I was convinced that when I grew up I would have a little grey cat who I would name Apollonia.  Love that name.  Then reality arrived, I'll probably never go to Italy, but, heck, it's HOT there!  And little grey cats in this apartment get named Ivy (aka, Fluffini, Fluffertini, Fluff).  But at least there aren't any horse heads in my bed.  Wait...is that in the second movie?...

Atlanta in pictures

aaahhhhh......vacation.

brrr!

WOW, it is COLD here!  I love it.  Love it.  I can't WAIT for it to be cold, all year long!  Maybe it was those Upstate NY winters that influenced me.  Love wearing jeans and sweaters, gloves, boots... something about it.  The way the wind reddens everyone's cheeks and makes the landscape more dramatic with swaying trees and dunes of snow.  No snow here, of course, but very chilly!  Not like waiting for the school bus in 2 feet of snow and 10 degrees chilly, but chilly for Oregon!  This week is going to be the coldest week in the area in over 3 years!  Woo hoo!  And sunny, on top of it all!  Great weather to brighten up this apartment!  Yeah, it's gonna be 15 degrees tonight.  And I'm sleeping with the window open a crack and 3 kitties and a snuggly hubby to keep me warm!

Since making the decision to stay in this cozy spot for a few more years, I'm more interested in changing things up.  Lots of stuff around here that needs to GO.  And this time I'm not putting those excess clothes up on eBay.  Too much hassle.  Goodwill, here we come!  Our furniture is in the same spot that the movers plunked it down on over 2 years ago.  We've been hesitant to hang much up on the walls.  That all changes now!  And the first thing to change is the bedroom.  We have nothing on the walls, it's been stark white for 2 years.  I've been biding my time to find exactly what that room needs.  Even though it'll be 15 degrees tonight (oh, my poor plants!!!), it gets *very* toasty in the summer, so I wanted something with a cool feeling to it.  I finally found the right fabrics!  They were right under my nose, of course, and now I'm really inspired to get a move on!

Cool, refreshing greens and light blue.  Cozy grey, a bit of calm in the brightness.  Amy Butler comes through again!  And the fabric to the right is the Echino Scene fabric that I bought a year ago.  That fabric is going to be applied to stretcher bars and hung behind the bed (no sun hits that spot, so it won't fade).  The other fabrics are going to be attached to 12 by 12 canvases and hung in rows on the wall.  And bits scattered around the room in pillows and a short curtain.  Who knows what else I might come up with?  The best part is that the blue and tan (in the fabric all the way to the left) go with the bedding we already have! 

Oh, and of course I picked these fabrics to go with my cat.  ;-)  Fluffy approves. 

3 things...

1.)  I just had the yummiest lunch.  No joke.  Sumatra Cinnamon and Raisin peanut butter on toast with banana slices.  Oh, lord.  This peanut butter is sinful.  I received this concoction from a friend (hi, Em!) for Christmas and more than half of the jar is gone.  I don't know what I'm going to do when it's finally gone... cry, most likely.

2.)  Recently have become obsessed with buying this kit.  Now if only there was actually sun on my porch to make a print.  Note to self, buy after May. 

and

3.)  Ak!  Amy's new line debuts in April!  OK, go get a towel, then look at this.  Drool.