Christmas at the McBride's... kind of...

With all of the new, larger space that the new house offers, we just don't yet have enough to fill it up with the Christmas Spirit. Just a few little odds & ends + a skinny, narrow artificial tree.
  After we got the boutique taken down and everything put away (well, almost everything...), if was mid Dec. and time to get holiday shopping done - so decorating the house, OR purchasing more holiday decor, was not top priority.
  Of course we spent the holidays with family - over at THEIR festively decorated homes, so that kind of counts... Maybe next year we'll get the place decorated......?

On our brand new mantle sits a cute holiday Fairy House from Kevin's Mom - creator of Enchanted Houses -  + a collection of little wooden penguins that are fun to arrange in little clusters of what is sure to be intelligent penguin conversation and discussion

+ Progress in our front entry way = wall shelf to display our lovely finds + photos

 + these 3 framed photos that Kevin took on our honeymoon.

1: Amazing clouds from the balcony of our state room on our cruise.
    Off the coast of Honduras

2: Our favorite photo of classic New Orleans building with ornate iron railing and gas lamp from Jackson Square,

3: Tree from the rain forest surrounding Mayan Ruins in Belize - that was a REALLY hot day!

LOVE that we have these pics right here to welcome everyone to our home :)

Front Entry Way Progress

So we have begun to address some of our wish list for the front entry way.

Wish List Item #1: Table to stash keys and mail or notes or...
  After some looking (lazy looking, only online and Ikea) we came up with this table on Target.com:
Things we like about the table: Size: it's pretty small, but it IS 12" deep, so it will fit in there without snagging your pocket on the way by + I like the little drawer. Sturdy/Well made.
Things we don't like about the table: natural wood, ugly wooden knob, kind of boring.

Luckily, we are able to remedy the things we DON'T like pretty easily: With the help of (you may have already guessed) our trusty friend SPRAY PAINT!, a trip to Anthropologie for a cute, new knob, and two little decorative wooden scroll details (that I glued on before we painted), we were able to get this table looking better in no time.

Voila!

Wish List Item #2: Mirror - We dug out the round mirror from the Mpls house - I think it's just the right size. This one is easy.

Wish List Items #3: Something to sit on to help get on/off shoes, etc. - something light weight though and small...
  Well for now, one of our little Ikea ottomans will do the trick - I like the pop of green with all of our gray.

and it fits right under our new little table too!

Finch approved!

Okay. More to come.

Welcome to Our Home

  Our new house has an actual entry way space - a foyer if you will - unlike the Mpls House which barely had enough room to turn around in let alone take off your shoes + add Finch in there because he HAS to know everything that going on, especially when guests arriving = pretty tight on space. So now we have some more space - and get this! A front closet! People in 1923 didn't have those...but luckily for us, the good people of 1971 did.
  So we tore up the tile in the entry way when we did the kitchen since they're connected - so we have our new gray tile, and we painted the same barely neutral (Behr "Sandstone Cove") that we have out in the living room + down the hall - but that's it. Okay, we have a rug - but that's really it. "Welcome to our house! It's bare and boring!"

Wish List:
- Table to drop keys, mail, etc. The Catch: With this narrow space, the table will have to be pretty narrow. Most hallway and console tables out there are 14"-16" deep min. - We need to find something more along the lines of 12" deep.
- Wall Mirror - to check yourself on the way out the door :) We have a round mirror with brushed nickel frame from the Mpls house that might just do the trick.
- Little Bench? Something to sit on when tying your shoes or trying to get those stubborn boots off. Not too big, not too heavy...
- Artwork, Shelves... Something that might finally make the place feel like we live there. You know that when I see a wall I imagine a shelf on it - Shelves everywhere! - so perhaps a shelf and some framed artwork.

I don't think this is too much to wish for...

Stay tuned...