Bee's Buzzings

sweltering heat in Minneapolis

Earlier we registered a heat index of 116 degrees here in Minneapolis.

Heading out for a dip in the pool. Thank goodness our back yard has a southern exposure and the house blocks the evening sun.

It's beginning to look a lot like . . . Winter in Minnesota

In about 6 weeks (maybe sooner) this sight will no longer thrill me.  But for now, this Winter Wonderland looks inviting, yet pristine. * Enjoy *

p.s. will be selecting the winner for the Free Box of Note Cards tomorrow evening (i.e. still time to leave comments on any and all blog posts, each for an automatic entry).

Pantry Cabinet Makeover - The Before And After

There's one really big upside about living in five different brand new homes over the past eighteen
years.  They'd all had great kitchens.  Usually with some solid surface counters, hardwood flooring . . . and pantries.  NICE pantries.  But there was something I'd learned from living in so many places, and cooking in so many kitchens. Surprisingly, I do not prefer walk-in pantries. 

In our last house, we specifically designed the kitchen with a wall of very shallow 12" cabinets, and several narrow, roll out drawers where the cabinets required a depth of 24".  You don't lose food this way, and there's very little 'pull these items out to get at that' going on.

So here we are, in my first house bought as a resale.  A house I love.  A yard I love.  A neighborhood I love.  But a kitchen, that while awesome in layout, will be seeing a lot of updates in the next few years.  First stop:  The Pantry.  As you can see from the above photo, the stationary shelves made this 24" deep pantry almost a waste of space.  I kid you not when I say we lived out of a lot of grocery sacks scattered around the perimeter of the dining area, at least until the new roll-out shelves were installed.

(click photo to enlarge)

And I knew exactly who to call - I'd worked with many master craftsmen in my previous life as a Selections Coordinator at a custom home builder.  Marty Erlien (reachable at (612) 644-9007 if you're in the Minneapolis area) came out, measured, talked about spacing requirements, and his assistant returned a few weeks later to retrofit the cabinet and install some custom made shelving.  As you can see - it's a perfect solution.  Amazing what these guys (and some full extension glides) can do to make a space SO much more functional.  It's now finally fully utilized and a pleasure to use every time we open the pantry doors.  I'm loving it!

If you like this, just wait until you see what they did for the new tub in our remodeled bathroom!

p.s. don't forget about the free Box of 12 Note Cards giveaway, just leave a comment to automatically be entered.  Just a few more days until a winner is drawn at random.

a few of my favorite things

Jim and I are using the same furniture we had in our last house, but have managed to infuse this home with different backdrop colors and accents. Getting away from deep burgundy and sage greens walls, we now have buttery yellows to brighten our days.  And with the purchase of our new dining area rug, we have many more colors to use in our future decorating - for chair covers, additional pillows, and other fun accents.

This rug is one of my favorite things. It never fails to make me smile.  I think that's what decorating should be all about.  The two pillows help pull the palette together.  And the coffee mug?  When our french exchange students were out for a visit, we did "paint your own pottery" and I couldn't resist doing up a mug in the same vein to add even more smiles to my day.

Just a few of my favorite things.

p.s. all comments this week receive an entry in the Giveaway!

 

favorite room in the new house

 At long last I am finally getting around to taking some decent photos of the new-ish place.  (I mean really, it's been six months.  After three months of renovation and another three months of organizing, can it still be called new?)

More importantly, I'm finally finding the time to post here on a more regular basis.  While we still have a garage full of stuff to put away - the inside spaces are really starting to come together.  Cannot wait to decorate for the Holidays.

This is my absolute favorite room.  Love our new house, and especially the Living Room with oversized windows and southern and eastern exposures. SO happy here ♥

notice: Jinx the Cat, on the back of the left sofa (she's a bit camera shy . . . hiding behind the pillow) 

Overlooking the Living Room from the upstairs landing.  This is the sight that greets me every morning.  *sigh* 

Friends and family members questioned why we would want to down-size from our last place, but somehow even after shaving 500 square feet off our previous home's living area, this place lives just as large, and more importantly - it fits us.

More photos soon.

Thanksgiving Eve!

It was a busy day here - but only partly spent working in my Art Studio.  Since we're hosting a group for Thanksgiving tomorrow, I was also very busy cleaning, getting recipes figured out and cooking potatoes and pies.  But first I wanted to get a few new Mini Note assortment mixes photographed and listed in the Shop.  Here is one of the two new sets, the other is of the Swirly Bird series.

I'm thankful for many things, first and foremost my wonderful family and friends.  But also way up there on the list is having a job that allows me to work from my home studio and be here when our kids need something.  As most moms know, it seems just about every other week during the school year there's either a late start, a teacher in-service day or some type of vacation day.

And today?  It was a gorgeous scene outside (as the sun was getting ready to set) but the weather we're having here in Minneapolis kept me looking out the window and checking my cell phone until the girls were all safely home, or in Danielle's case, safely to Florida, where she will be until Sunday.

If you are here in the States and celebrating tomorrow, I wish you and yours a wonderful Thanksgiving.  And to all others, a wonderful day and remainder of the week!  I'm also very thankful to all of you!

♥ Bee

Finally got the bedroom drapes up

There's always a fine line when balancing "hard" and "soft" elements when decorating.  And of course, personal preference (and climate) plays a part in the equation, as well.  As cold as it is here in Minnesota, I'm definitely drawn towards cozying things up.  And our bedroom is no exception - especially with such a large expanse of windows on the southern wall.  So almost exactly 180 days since moving in, I finally installed the draperies - and WOW what a difference it makes.  

Proof, here is a Before photo

and a shot from the upper landing, looking in.

After waking up this morning to 20 degree temps outside (and a slick of ice covering every imaginable surface), we really appreciated how comfortable things are finally starting to feel inside.

Jim teases me that he's tired of hearing me say it . . . but I really LOVE this house ♥

six months later - new house, new pool, new addition

Okay, I'll admit it. Six months since my last post I'd hoped to have everything in my life in order and be eating bon bons on a regular basis.  Or at least be sipping lemonade by the pool while reading magazines - yes the ones that go mostly unread month after month for too many years to count even though I continue to renew my subscriptions (after all I can get THREE years for the price of one!) but alas, the stack continues to grow.  Much like the items on my To Do List.

But things are definitely looking brighter.  And one thing Jim and I made certain to do amidst the chaos was enjoy our newly installed pool, if even only for 20 minutes a day.   For those of you who have had one built, you know exactly what I'm talking about.  The 'we paid waaaay too much to not get in it'.  Right??  And growing up outside of Boston, I have a case of what's know as Yankee Thrift.  Buy a new shirt?  Heck, if it's on sale for only $35.99 and I wear it at least once a month for the next three years, it's only a dollar each time I wear it. What a deal!

So I've decided to live in the pool.  Even in the winter.  In Minnesota.

All kidding aside, we had a very interesting six months.  Sold our house, packed it up, moved a lot of stuff into storage, moved into the new house, closed on both houses the same day, broke ground on the pool less than a week later.  And two weeks after that we moved more stuff into a second storage unit and ripped the roof off the garage to begin a 700 square foot, 2 bedroom addition.

It's been a wild ride.  More details and photos coming soon :)

 

New House = New Adventures

How life changes!  About two weeks after my last blog post, I was awake in the wee hours of a chilly, early March morning.  All my Etsy orders were filled, and it was far too early to wake anyone else up with housecleaning chores . . . so I filled some time scanning the For Sale listings at EdinaRealty.com - and one caught my eye.  It was love at first sight.

By the time Jim woke up, I was convinced it was "The One" and tiptoed through a somewhat calculated plan of attack to talk him into putting our house back on the market.  As it turned out, my planning was in vain.  He agreed with little or no resistance.  Our intent to downsize last Fall had brought on dreams of a lake lot (and future retirement home) that enticed him more than even I had realized.

So I called the Edina offices later that day and set up an appointment to see some homes early the following week.  "The One" was first on the list.  Upon entering, Jim and I were both immediately enchanted by the story and a half ceilings, open floor plan and walls of windows.  Peeking out to the backyard my enthusiasm only increased - a southern facing backyard with some mature trees already in place.  I could barely contain my excitement . . . until I'd seen all four bedrooms.  This house that seemed absolutely perfect (4 bedrooms plus a spot for my studio at an amazing price!) had one big flaw.  Two of the four bedrooms were way too small.  And the 'laundry room' could hardly be called a room.  I tried not to let my disappointment show too much, but it was hard.

We saw a couple of other homes that night and realized how committed we were to downsizing here and eventually building Up North.  The next morning I once again woke up in the wee hours and had a lightbulb moment.  An addition over the garage at my Dream Home would make everything perfect!  Later that day I was on a wing and a prayer as I called the agent back and told her we'd be ready to list our house by the weekend.

. . . to be continued

and even more progress :)

Shop progress - am getting to the holiday artwork this week - yayyy!  Have also added more mini note combinations to my Etsy shop (and more to come soon!) but SO love these little mini bird notes - aren't they too cute??

House progress - we've been busy moving items back into the house - had to get everything out of the storage unit we rented while our house was on the market.  Will be listing some things on Craig's List, and have even more items heading to Goodwill.  The great news is that with all the re-arranging we'd done for prepping the house for showings, it looks fresher and even more inviting than before.  Life is good and I am now very excited about decorating for the holidays.

Personal progress - have been getting on the treadmill and continuing to eat well and lose more weight.  Am up to 2 miles jogging and have achieved a 6 pound loss after three weeks.  This is pretty eventful for me as I usually lose momentum after the first week or two  :)

Family progress - both Krist and Danielle have new 'driver' updates.  Kristi passed her driving test yesterday and was happily tooling around the neighborhood solo (we're taking it slow!) And Danielle, who passed her permit test recently, had her first opportunity to drive after Kristi and I got home.  It was a nice bonding moment for the girls - and probably a day neither is likely to forget.  They both did great, but my stomach was still in knots. 

You'd think after going through this with the first two, I'd just take it in stride . .  . but oh well, that's just not happening LOL :)

CONTEST progress - and lastly, here is the first of 3 opportunities to win a FREE BeeDazzles item:

The first person to comment (below) can go select ANY art pendant for FREE.  Just click here to view my Pendant Shop, and then transact the pendant of your choice and I will mark it PAID and ship it to you (you'll need to have an Etsy account to do this).  And if you're not first - well, just be on the lookout in the next few days - there will be two more winners!

Thanks again for stopping by, and hope you have a great day!

Bee