Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Collect Junk You Love!


Some of the things in our home that we love, and are authentic to us:

Los Angeles Pottery Co, "Cookies All Over" cookie jar. It's not beautiful, and it's not modern, but it was my grandmother's. It is the cookie jar that I used to steal those little rectangle-shaped waffle cookies with the cream filling from when I was four. And now it's a great spot to store dog treats!


Nescafe Vintage World Mugs. They are not hand-me-downs, but they are vintage. And they are the same as the ones my grandma {my Mamo} used to make chocolate pudding in when my cousin and I were young. I found two sets of four mugs at a vintage sale two years ago. I immediately called my Dad {before leaving the store} to make sure my six-year-old memories were remembering the same mugs. Before I even finished describing the "mugs Mamo used to make pudding in," he responded with "those Nescafe mugs with the World on them!"  I bought both sets, and gave one to my cousin. We use them as espresso cups in our house, and one day, I will serve chocolate pudding in them to our children.


Our styles are a mix of more traditional and rustic (Chad), and more vintage and modern (Me). Our compromises are many, in that we choose most things in our home together. And they are few, in that when we find the perfect piece, neither of us usually feels like we've compromised our own style. Our curtains are an awesome example. We looked for months for the right curtains for the dining room of our previous house. And found nothing. So, I convinced Chad to let me make some, if we could find the perfect fabric. He was apprehensive {admittedly, he'd never seen me sew anything at this point....}, but agreed. And then I went out on a limb and suggested {one of hundreds of suggestions} a fabric I thought he'd hate. He LOVED it! And now, this fabric is the basis of our living and dining room decor:



Oh yeah, we were SO ahead of the trend on the suzani pattern fabric. {and we're humble, too} See that pop of aqua in the fabric? We've pulled out a brighter version of that for our TV stand, and our soon-to-be kitchen island stools. This is our kitchen inspiration {apologies, don't know source, it's from Pinterest}:



The kitchen is a work in progress, but someday we'll get some photos up, so you can see how we're progressing against our inspiration piece, vs. what we've changed to be more authentically "us."

As far as other things we LOVE: white leather couches. Have I mentioned we have three dogs? Oh yeah, we have. And we STILL LOVE white leather couches.  We had these ones in our old house {you get a little peek at our old home before and after}:


And when we moved, the two separate, matching sofas wouldn't fit into the configuration of our new house. Boo!! We loved the setup the previous owners' had, which included a sectional in the corner of the living room. So we got this:


But it just wasn't "us."  It was one of those compromises where we both felt we compromised. And so we sold it, and bought this {whoops, only have photos of it that include the dogs sitting on it. proof that it's durable!! .....and proof that our house is sometimes messy well-lived-in}:




Ahhhh.....so much better. Oh yeah, and we painted the walls gray to make the white trim "pop." And yeah, we have a photo canvas on the wall of our three dogs sitting on the {old} white leather couch. Because we love them. And that photo. And that couch. And they are a huge part of our lives! 



So that's the rundown of just a few of the things that we collect and love around our house. We have moved twice in the last few years, which has provided us a great opportunity to de-clutter and remove the things we don't truly LOVE. Which has led to a house full of things we DO love, and a lot of things that tell our story.

What's your favorite, most-authentically-you, loved item in your home?



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