Author Archives: nataliebushaw

Spooky Door World

Posted on by

0

We’ve always had a fun time decorating the house for various holidays and one of the boys’ favs is Halloween. We still wanted to be a little festive but not do a ton since we’re still rather enjoying the house as is.

I think we’ve got five tubs of fall decorations and pulled out some to spooky the place up. I’ve decided the window in our yellow front door makes for a great frame and so had some fun with the great Martha Stewart spiders I found two years ago at Michaels. Luckily she’s still making them so I was able to pick a few more up and spread around the house.

A little pop of pumpkins here and there make for a decent look without feeling like we’ve gone spooky overboard. Next up, bountiful harvest decorating.

20131024-224336.jpg

20131024-224349.jpg

20131024-224358.jpg

20131024-224407.jpg

We Gather Together

Posted on by

1

The new buzzword for what once was known as the Family Room has become the Gathering Room. Funny enough though, we seem to gather together in that room quite infrequently opting more for the Bonus Room upstairs. So many names for rooms…

We are quite pleased, however, with how it turned out. As friends have come over the comments are consistently that it looks different than our other furniture and it is. We knew we wanted a different look with the house. A little more refined but rustic and welcoming. Color has always been important to me but this go round we agreed we’d be okay not using much in order to keep the right flow.

I have a thing for furniture with nail heads at the moment and wanted a couch with them. Benji wasn’t thrilled with the idea of buying new items but upon seeing what I found and the price, reluctantly agreed to go for it (he hasn’t regretted it either). The coffee and end tables purchased in December worked perfectly atop the jute rug and those perfect pillows I found at Homegoods are a total dream, along with the chair.

We’ve made some additions from the pictures attached. For example we finally figured out what to put next to the chair and got our yellow mirror hung above it (found in an old barn). Fills the space and warms up that area.

While we may not spend a ton of time in the room at least it is a great place to gather together.

20131008-212822.jpg

20131008-212835.jpg

Muddin ‘ It

Posted on by

0

Our Mud Room is really proving useful and oh-so-cute. Having the wall knocked out from the front hallway so we could access it through the hallway or the kitchen was easily the smartest thing we did in the house. (We’d thought about it for years but appreciate the Farshts for doing in their house so we could know how great it would be.)

We’re planing to do lockers from IKEA–cost effective and sharp–but I realized this weekend that we would lose the seating we currently have with the bench we’re using now. So we’ve got some thinking to do for for the beat solution.

In the meantime, I’ve been missing a mirror in there for that quick once over you need before heading out the door. We bought a great piece from Homegoods months ago but it just wasn’t right for the spot. On Saturday, boom (!) it hit me. We needed to put one of my most favorite flea market purchases ever in there. I remember the day Benji and I found this piece with Ben’s Mom at Gold Rush Days in Oronco.
It was 2004 and we found an old door or something that was painted green and had a mirror in it. We brought it home, painted it barn red, distressed it with some yellow and hung it up in the living room. We painted it a few times and it traveled to the family room and back to the living room several times when we got the rearrange bug. When we moved to our rental, it sat lonely in the basement for a year and we struggled with a spot in the new place…until Saturday.

It looks just perfect with the barn door. I added a chair, threw a pillow on it, that matches those from the gathering room, and found a perfectly colored tub to complete the look. I suppose in total it cost $150 but since the chair and mirror have been around for a long, long time the only items requiring do-re-mi ($), was the $16.99 pillow and $16.99 tub.

Can’t beat that for muddin’ it.

20131007-215800.jpg

The Barn Door IS Open

Posted on by

0

Here we are nearly two months since we closed on the house and we are loving everything. Sure we’ve got projects left like organizing closets and cleaning up the basement but it feels like home here and we’re feeling so blessed. 

A top project was the barn door and it’s been done for about three weeks, complete with the door handle, which was the capstone in feeling like it was complete.

Now when we say, “the barn door is open,” we really mean it!

ImageImage

 

Bigger is Better

Posted on by

0

Bigger is better or so the saying goes.  Ben and agree–especially when it comes to light fixtures.

We both had an idea early on what we were looking for with island lights–big, substantial, some metal but not all, and different from what we were seeing pop up everywhere.  So, when we spotted some we liked, we scooped up two and put them in the garage for the winter.  Our thought was to keep an open mind and if we saw something better or liked one of the options during our Selection Meeting that we’d simply return them.  Neither proved out so they moved from the garage to the new digs.  Unfortunately, they couldn’t install them for us so we held on to them until later.

Frankly, I didn’t mind what we did select–a drum pendant that matched what we selected for above the table–but going back to the title of this entry, Ben wanted big. He spent the Friday of Labor Day wknd laboring with the lights and after a little trial and error matching the height, the lights are now big and shining bright.  And we love them.  And we loved the price.  $109 at Menard’s as opposed to the standard $349 or more we’ve seen other places.

Bigger is better.  And bigger with a great price is even better!

kitchenlight

Smitten Kitchen

Posted on by

0

As noted in a previous post, Ben and I had a good idea of what we wanted in a kitchen. Big, bright and white. We also wanted the table area to be to the left or right of island vs. having everything in a row. These types of homes aren’t easy to find, especially with existing homes. The custom plan we had designed for us filled this desire but we opted to not move forward with that plan based on lack of lots.

Luckily, we always liked the first floor plans of Robert Thomas where this kitchen layout was available. Then the question became the island. Similar to the table we wanted it big with some added elements. We opted to not go with a white island and instead chose the gray on our accent wall (darker than other walls in the house). From the moment it was delivered to the house we were excited.

I’d say that between the big decorative island, the double ovens, not bumping into Ben at every turn, not having a black stovetop that shows everything, extra counter and drawer space, white cupboards, lots of light, our big table, the roll out trash/recycle and flip drawer under the sink, that we are completely smitten with our kitchen.

20130820-213444.jpg

20130820-213501.jpg

We Got Benched

Posted on by

0

Given the fact Benji and I have been hanging out since I was 16, I’ve spent a lot of time at the Bushaw family dinner table. I used to love eating at the Bushaws. Debbie was an incredible cook and I was always amazed by how she had all four food groups plus dessert and things were always homemade. They had a way of asking for more milk with their glasses that I always chuckled at and the conversations were fun and lively. Even washing dishes was okay to do over there.

I also literally loved their table. Ben’s uncle Ron (married to creative icon Mary Gaye) made it for Steve and Debbie years before I came along. It was quite long with two benches instead of chairs and created a true sense of family and unity. I think that many years ago I knew I wanted a table like that someday.

Fast forward to the building of the new house and Ben and I agreed we wanted a BAT (big arse table). We thought Steve could maybe help us and told him our vision for salvaged wood. He found a great piece that was 88 inches long–a perfect length. We were developing a plan for next steps when Ben and I found a table and benches at the Elko flea market for $75. A total steal of a deal. We snatched it up and came up with a new plan. Ben used the existing benches to lengthen the 60 inch table to 82 inches. We then split the original piece of salvaged wood for the two bench tops. After sanding the dark stained finish off the table and benches–I’ve gotten quite handy with an electric sander–it’s back to more of a rustic, natural state.

We still have to find the right color stain to complete our BAT and find captain’s chairs foe the head of the table but all in all, it’s going to work out perfectly. And when the boys get in trouble or we call them in for dinner we can easily say “you got benched.”

20130818-223540.jpg

20130818-223559.jpg

20130818-223630.jpg

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

Posted on by

0

On my way home from work tonight I got a txt from my dear friend Amy that she was at Homegoods in Edina. I had just passed the France Ave exit and was making good time so I detoured for a quick visit. She had what should be their next tagline, “Homegoods has stuff I didn’t even know I needed until I saw it.” Genius statement.

I was in one of two areas of the store I don’t frequent much–glassware and dinnerware. And wouldn’t you know I found the perfect dinner and salad plates and bowls. Then I found the cutest white owl platters and bowls so snatched up a few. I realize the owl trend may be coming to an end but ever since I got an owl necklace in 2009 and named her Bianca, I’ve had a soft spot for this sweet fowl.

Ben approved of the purchase and then I said, “guess who’s coming to dinner.” He didn’t get it. Do you?

20130815-220736.jpg

Welcome Home

Posted on by

0

It’s been two weeks since we closed and began moving into the house. Time really does fly by.

Many ask if the garage is still full of boxes. Nope. We’ve got two of our three cars in (the other is in the garage at our old house), thanks to Benji’s mad skills with getting things moved to storage in the basement. They ask if we’ve figured out where things should go in the kitchen since that’s always hard to do. Yep. But since I was adamant about selling our dinnerware and haven’t found anything I’m set on yet, we’re mostly using the kids plates. Grown up, I know. And they ask if the boys like it. Yes! They’re loving the bonus room and all the kids to play with.

Several rooms are pretty much done and to our satisfaction like the powder room, foyer, office, spare bedroom and gathering room. Rooms like the boys’ bedrooms, bonus room and our room are getting there but def not 100%. These are our most lived in places so I suspect that’s why. That said, I do see getting all wrapped up by the end of next week. We have a family wedding in Duluth this wknd or we’d get there sooner.

Our builder Robert Thomas Homes posts pictures of families on their close day on Facebook and yesterday was our day. As I said on my own Facebook page when I shared the image…”don’t mind the inappropriate use of the apostrophe. Their specialty is building great houses not practicing great grammar.”

Welcome home to us!

20130814-224306.jpg