Bedroom Before & After

Excuse me while I turn this into an interior design blog for a few days. I’ve been making some switches in the old casa lately and I’m pretty pleased with my handiwork if I do say so myself. So, I thought I’d share because in my next life I want to be an interior designer, but for now I just obsessively buy decor magazines.

First up, my bedroom. This is a “before” photo of my room. It’s actually from like six years ago when Cottage Style magazine featured it in an issue. (I pulled it off Pinterest. Hence the P in the corner.)

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I loved my bedroom, but I wanted some changes. The bed was too small for both me and two dogs. And the same two dogs destroyed the room’s white carpet. (Are you seeing a trend in who rules my life?)

I also wanted to update the colors. I opted for more muted tones, trying to create the most soothing environment I could in a room full of canine snoring. This is the result:

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So, some info. I brought the curtains all the way up to the ceiling, which makes the room feel taller. I painted the walls Sherwin William’s Sea Salt, which is less jarring in this space than bright white. I put in hardwood floors… because dogs. I switched out the knobs on the bedside tables to a hammered gold knob from Zara Home (Zara Home is my favorite store ever—the curtains and grey and white pillow are also from there).

That’s basically it. Personally, I love it. The room feels open and fresh. And I stretched out my legs and didn’t kick one dog last night. Success.

 

 

California Dreaming (Again)

The entire state of California is basically cost prohibitive for me. But when I’m perusing homes for sale for fun, I inevitably end up there. This house is my latest favorite. It’s in Corte Madera, just north of San Francisco. I love it for the unusual layout, bright rooms, incredible views, and cool modern touches. So, if they could just decrease its price by about  85%, we’d be in business.

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Best Little House in Texas

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Growing up, I spent a lot of time in Dallas. My dad is from there and I loved to visit my grandmother who lived there until she died a few years ago. I loved it so much I ended up moving there to live with her for two summers during college. Really though, I think I just loved her.

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When I’d go to visit her—especially around the holidays—we would take drives around her neighborhood to see all of the crazy, massive new homes that had been built. She and my grandfather built the home where she lived in the 1950s. It was a beautiful, old home that felt like stepping into an elegant Mad Men-esque set. But all around her the neighborhood filled up with new houses, each one more extravagant than the last.

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I love to look at Dallas homes online. They’re packed with on-trend design and seemingly have owners with no budgets. But this home may be my favorite. It’s inviting in a way few designers can create.

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It was built in 1936 and you can feel its history even among the obvious updates. It makes me want to settle in for a cool glass of lemonade in the backyard or a cup of warm tea in the library. It feels like it should be filled with friends and family.

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Which seems like it should kind of be the point of all homes, right?

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California Dreaming

Last spring I was on a trip in California with friends and we stopped in Long Beach for a few hours. Our friend Danny lives there with her sweet family and so we took advantage of a free afternoon to stop by for hugs, a tour of town, and the most ridiculously amazing creamy cilantro dip I’ve ever eaten at a place called Lola’s.

So really, while southern California is certainly alluring for its sunny days and beautiful beaches, my main reason for having any interest in looking at real estate there is that dip. I would like to decrease the distance between me and that cilantro dip by about 2,800 miles. Which is why my fantasy house for today is this all-white dream in Long Beach.

It has a sliding glass wall, a yard filled with fruit trees, views of the San Gabriel Mountains, an outdoor shower, and it’s just a quick trip down the road to the world’s greatest cilantro dip (which, weirdly, they didn’t include in the listing). I’m sold. Now I just need $1.9 million and we’ll be set.