Welcome

May 16, 2016 julie

If this is your first visit to WhereWeAreBlog.com, welcome and thanks for stopping by!

I’ll go ahead and state the obvious- the last post here was from December 2015 so needless to say, I’m not as active as I once was. However, I’m still so proud of this space and of our home renovation. So please, take a look around! Maybe start here with our house tour to see the room-by-room transformation of our 1890 suburban seaside home. And to see the latest in our little lives, follow me on Instagram @julierswanson or over at HoneysuckleHome.net.

For now, I’ll leave you with this…

Basement Organization…

August 17, 2015 julie

Probably the most uncreative title I’ve ever written for a blog post. But- to use my least favorite sentiment ever- it is what it is.

Our basement was one of the last things on our renovation list. There was a disgusting amount of dust and debris pushed through the old subfloors into the depths of the basement. It housed all our tools and paint from the reno once we moved in and it was probably a good home to a fair amount of spiders for a while.

We knew we would eventually get it cleaned up. Maybe put a fresh coat of dry lock on the walls, some paint on the floors- but as the baby stuff started to pile up (and then be outgrown so quickly) we knew that storage was not just a wish list item but a must have.

As usual, my Dad deserves the majority of the credit for this. He did the backbreaking (and head bonking) work of sweeping, power-washing, painting, etc. But once we had a clean slate, Jared and I spent many a night and nap time, assembling shelving and hauling all our bins and boxes from our guest room down three flights of stairs to the basement. There was also a handful of things left in my parent’s basement that finally came home to ours.

So don’t expect a HGTV-worthy reveal. This makeover wins in function not fashion. It’s a huge difference from feeling like you needed to wear work boots to trudge through your disgusting basement before to now moseying down in white socks to grab a roll of paper towels. And speaking of paper towels- woo hoo to bulk shopping again! Holy cow it’s so nice to be able to get the 5,000 pack of baby wipes from Costco and have a place that’s out of sight to store them.

OK, so here’s the basement way back in Spring of 2013 when Dad and Jared were taking measurements for the rennovation before we even moved in.

And now…

The shelves give us a ton of space! Along this stretch I have all our house bulk items, cleaning supplies, lightbulbs, batteries, entertaining stuff like platters and cake stands.

Holiday stuff, crafting, and gift wrap run along the back wall.

I even have an old desk down here that got pretty beat up in the move. But it totally works as a space to wrap a quick gift or break out the sewing kit to hem a pair of pants.

Baby stuff, as you can see is accumulating…

And if you notice the black and yellow post above- that was another genius suggestion by Dad. These lally columns are all over the basement and have nasty rusty schmutz all over them. Some are worse than others but while we were assembling all these shelves, we lost a couple of t-shirts to rubbing up against the rust. A cost-effective solution- rope!

We’re really, really happy with the space. It’s added so much to our everyday lives knowing that we have all of our things properly stored in a clean space and being able to access everything in sans knee high rubber boots! Did I mention a new subpump and dehumidifier are also contributing to our peace of mind?

Anywho, I know we’ve had more dramatic and definitely more beautiful room reveals, but to be honest, this is one of my favorites.

 

 

Because Design is a Journey…

July 2, 2015 julie

“Because design is a journey…”

This is how One Kings Lane explains their reason for being. If you haven’t heard of One Kings Lane, then we’re not friends. Kidding. Sort of. I love this site. Started by a couple of female entrepreneurs and offering top-brand, vintage, and designer items totally discounted (but for a limited time! shop now!) items, the site is perfect for design projects big and small.

After our very big project (aka the renovation of 2013) things certainly slowed down in terms of home design activities. And especially after a new baby, we’ve taken to tackling small projects only when time (and energy levels) allow. So when One Kings Lane approached me about their Tray Chic program I thought, “yes! perfect nap time project!”

For inspiration, I obviously checked out OKL’s tray video and realized that I’m queen of the trays! Seriously, I use trays in probably every room of the house. Some for form but most for function- like corralling items in drawers and in the pantry and my favorite tray in the kitchen that keeps our coffee maker, cream, and sugar bowl off our butcher block countertops.

But reading up on OKL’s ideas for decorating with trays and clicking through their amazing array of trays that’s updated daily with gorgeous new styles- it made me want to venture out and create something totally irrelevant to my new-momma lifestyle. Yup, momma just needed a stong dose of pretty. So that came in the form of a plastic tray from the dollar bin at Target and a can of chalkboard spraypaint.

A bunch of perky white daisies from my garden are perfect in a mason jar.

Add a hot cup of coffee with my morning blueberries and greek yogurt and this is just the most perfect breakfast in bed tray.

Of course that’s not exactly how this morning played out. I took some photos of my fabulous tray with a 6-month old wiggling around next to me on his playmat. Then I scarfed down the yogurt before he started getting fussy and it was off to the nursery for books and naps.

Momma returned to a cold cup of joe. But 30 seconds in the microwave and it was just right. I spent the next 2.5 minutes admiring my tray chic project… and then returned to reality. Off to wash bottles and put in a load of laundry!

But thanks One Kings Lane for the inspiration!

Friday Can’t Live Without It Link Up

2 Comments May 29, 2015 julie

I love my family more than coffee… but please don’t make me prove it. Yes, my can’t live without it this week is coffee.

How’s that for a big new-parent cliche? I can’t live without coffee.

But honestly. Sometimes it makes me smile at 4:35am thinking that yes, I just fed the baby and have to wake up in 25 minutes to get ready for work but ahhh, there will be coffee. And it will be hot. And it will have more creamer than I care to admit. And it will be f’ing fabulous.

So that’s my Can’t Live Without It for the week. Short and sweet. Be sure to check out Olive & Tate, Home Sweet Ruby, and Happily Ever Parker for their Can’t Live Withouts. Have a fantastic caffeine-filled weekend everyone!

Let’s Get Local | Adriana’s Pastry & Cafe

May 11, 2015 julie

Is there anything better than a local coffee shop? Now throw in that it’s beautiful, the food and coffee is organic, it has a view of the ocean, and it’s 2 blocks from your house. Uh, yeah- we struck coffee shop gold this week when Adriana’s Pastry & Cafe opened in Winthrop.

Please forgive the iphone photos but I wasn’t prepared to love this place so much that I had to write a blog post ASAP.

We had a possible plan for my first Mother’s Day but when little man barely slept Saturday night because of congestion (a.k.a. we didn’t sleep either) and woke up really droopy and just not himself- we decided to keep it simple and just walk to Adriana’s for the strongest coffee they had and pastry or three.

One glance of “Cold Brewed Coffee” on the chalkboard menu and Jared was in love. We promptly ordered up two- mine with room for milk, his giant with no room for anything but a straw. I had my eye on a chocolate croissant and a cinnamon roll and Jared couldn’t live without a fluffy looking layered cake. So yeah, we got everything.

In a mixup, Jared’s coffee was just iced rather than cold brew. John the owner must have overheard and let us know he would bring a cold brew right over. We told John how great the place looked and how wonderful it was to have such a lovely shop in Winthrop. He was proud of the look but prouder of the fact that everything was sustainable. The floors bamboo. The tables recycled steel. Even his cups were Greenware, a company which makes its products entirely from plants- not petroleum.

He went on to talk about the fact that everything was organic and kosher. He motioned to Eli (sound asleep in his stroller) and said that it was all so great for kids and he was excited to soon offer “those cake pop things.” Eli’s only just dipping a toe in the solid foods pond so slow down there John but yes, my Momma-mind did immediately envision a toddler Eli and me in line at Adriana’s- “two cake pops please!”

There was no denying that John knew what he was doing. The tables might have been empty in these photos but there was a steady stream of people the entire time we were there.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know by now my love of all things rustic chic and the decor at Adriana’s is just that.

The walls were covered in reclaimed wood from floor to ceiling. The fireplace was framed by a narrow row of chopped logs and its seating area anchored by an old push cart with iron wheels.

Each table had these little mason jars filled with coffee beans and battery powered tea lights that made me want to stick around until dark when I’m sure this gorgeous sparkling ocean view will flicker with the lights from the Boston skyline.

On our way out, I snapped this mosaic on the floor.

I know this will not be the last time my Converse will pass over this mug. Thanks John for this amazing new gem Winthrop gets to add to our treasure box of local eateries. If you haven’t tried it yet, stop by Adriana’s Pastry and Cafe at 19 Main Street in Winthrop, MA. You will probably see me there. I’ll be the Momma with bags under her eyes downing a cold brew and dreaming of my growing boy and cake pops.