I Had a Dream

They say that when you get pregnant, your dreams become very vivid (and potentially prophetic). Well, my dreams have always been vivid (I'm not bragging, since more often than not, they're nightmares), but I did just have a dream that was practically in technicolor. And yes, it was a nightmare.

I was at my grandmother's beach house when I saw the most beautiful bird over by the neighbor's house. It had the body of a snowy owl, almost as if it were made out of porcelain. In fact, it had patterns on it, just like an owl figurine made out of bone china. It also had the tail of a peacock. I called up to my uncle, to make sure that he saw it too, because he loves peacocks. As soon as we drew attention to it, it began to hover in front of our window like a hummingbird. Then it flew off. Everybody was oohing and ahhing over how beautiful it was, but I knew it was too good to be true. I said, "I don't think that porcelain owl peacock hummingbird was real. I think it was a drone." Nobody believed me at first, but then a whole squadron of sea planes flew overhead - each a different color of the rainbow. Each one dumped sheets of ice from it's tail and we screamed at everyone on the beach to get out of the way, but there wasn't time to run and this guy (who was carrying a large box of pink cupcakes) got hit. As he fell to his knees, another man came running at him and stabbed him repeatedly. Apparently, they were two fishermen who had had a disagreement.

That was the end of the story.

I just really loved all the colors of the bird-drone, the seaplanes, and the cupcakes.

Image courtesy of Big Sis Little Sis

Pregnancy Story: Part Two

It was very exciting to find out that we were going to have a baby, and we had the whole ten-hour car ride home from Chicago to think and talk about it, but I have to say that we had been planning the pregnancy for so long that it just felt pretty normal. In fact, Jeff wanted to talk about sports more than he did about the baby. I just wanted to talk about baby names, but the pregnancy didn't really have anything to do with that, because we've been talking about baby names since about two weeks into our relationship (and in those five years, we have yet to find a boy's name that we both like).

What I did have to start thinking seriously about was how long to wait until we shared our big news and how exactly we would go about doing that. One of the reasons we decided to get pregnant when we did (in addition to having an early August birth, which would give Jeff most of the summer to work and earn money, but still have a little bit of time before the start of school to spend with the newborn baby, as well as the hope that the baby would be born on my beloved grandmother's birthday, which would make it a Leo, and would mean that we wouldn't have to worry about nasty weather when speeding to the hospital, AND the fact that I could get by for the majority of my big-belly pregnancy in flowy/stretchy summer dresses without buying hideous and expensive maternity clothes) was that we were going home for Christmas in about a month and could tell the whole family in person that I was pregnant.

It was very important to me to tell my mother this news in person, because there was no way in the world that I was going to miss seeing the priceless look on her face. I also really wanted her to be the first person to find out, because she has wanted a grandchild so badly for so long (pretty much from the day she gave birth to me). However, this did not work for a variety of reasons. First of all, I'm pretty sure all my cousins in Chicago knew I was pregnant even before I technically knew. Secondly, it worked out that I spent my first night back in Seattle at my dad's house and I couldn't keep such exciting news to myself (I'm weak).

There's another fold in the story, because not long after Jeff and I got the great news about the pregnancy, I got the horrible news that my mother had cancer. God, this filled me with so many mixed emotions (which I won't go into here) and I was terrified that, instead of being deliriously happy about her soon-to-be grandchild, my mom would just be depressed at the idea of not having an eternity to spend with this child. I really wanted to spread the happy news, not the bittersweet news. But at the same time, I knew that the prospect of a new baby would strengthen her resolve to get better and would give the whole family something to look forward to (no pressure, pitseleh).

I'm going to fast forward to when we told everybody, which means that I'm skipping over our first OB/GYN appointment and the beginning of the first trimester (and all the loveliness that it entails), because that's what this post is mostly about. So, even though - technically - my doctor's office and the whole lobby of our regular brunch cafe knew that I was pregnant before we got home to Seattle - I'm going to say that my dad, step-mom and sister were the first to hear the big news.

As excited as I was to spill the beans, I played it cool when they all picked me up at the airport and I even stayed mum for most of the evening at my dad's apartment. It was a special night at Chez Weiser, because it was Hannukah and my dad had both my sister and me there to celebrate with him (a rare and special occurrence). My dad has lead the Hannukah service in exactly the same way since we were little kids, so I knew exactly when I would have a good opportunity to tell them about the baby. My dad always, always says, "Traditionally, the youngest child gets to read the story of Hannukah, so Rebecca, would you like to read?" Now, I don't quite remember whether I said it right at this point or, more politely, after my sister finished reading the story (which is written on a children's greeting card with mice as the Maccabees), but I said, "Well, technically, Becca isn't the youngest child anymore, because I'm going to have a baby!" I don't know if my sister was more excited about the baby news or about not having to be the one to read that Hannukah story year after year (I kid), but she and my step-mother leaped up from the dining table and cried and hugged me, etc. My father, however, barely moved a muscle and just sat and stared and turned as white as his hair. Yikes. But after what was probably realistically only a minute, he said that he was very surprised and very happy. Phew.

My sister really wanted to be present when I told my mom, but that would have meant keeping the news to myself for a couple more days and I just.couldn't.do.it. Well, more precisely, it wouldn't have been possible to keep the news from my mom, because she could have read it all over my face after seeing me for a grand total of five minutes. Hell, I'm surprised she didn't call me the day after Jeff and I got the positive test result and say, "I just have a funny feeling that you're pregnant. Are you?" So, anyway, after I took the ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island and my uncle picked me and my giant suitcase up and drove to my mom's apartment, I chit-chatted with them for a little bit (to throw my mom off the scent) and then told her that I had brought along an early Christmas present for her. It was an ornament of Mrs. Claus (the only vaguely grandma-ish figure I could find) with a stocking full of presents (for her beloved grandchild, of course!) and across the top, I had the ornament company write "Grand-Kèrr," which is what my mother had (jokingly) said that she wanted to be referred to by her grandchildren. She opened the box and immediately burst into tears. My uncle got really worried and said, "Why is she crying? What did you give her?" And I said, "She's crying, because she's going to be a grandmother!" And I pointed out the "Grand-Kèrr" on the ornament and explained the story to my uncle and then my mother said, "Oh, I didn't even see that part!" It turns out that she didn't have her glasses on and could barely see the ornament, let alone the writing, and she was just crying because she knew that whatever it was that she was holding meant that I was pregnant. I told you she was like this.

Image courtesy of Christmas Ornament Shop

Jeff was much better at keeping the big news under wraps and didn't tell his parents or sister until the whole family was gathered together in Port Ludlow after Christmas. But that was his choice, because he said that all he'd ever wanted to do was to stand up at a large family gathering, clink his glass, and announce that he was going to be a father. So he waited until we all sat down for dinner (the whole Marshall family: Jeff's parents, sister, grandma, aunts, uncle, cousins galore) and then he made the announcement, but he didn't stand-up and I don't remember whether he clinked his glass! There was so much family, that we had to pull up an extra little table to the main dining table, and we sat there with Jeff's cousin Scott and his girlfriend Sarah, who is about to have a baby (any second now!). Scott and Sarah joked that there soon-to-be son Noah would be all alone at the kid's table next year, and Jeff said that, no, actually, Noah would have a little cousin, not too much younger than he, to keep him company. Everyone was so excited and Jeff's dad even cried a little bit!

Okay, this post is getting a bit long, so I'll just gloss over the telling-of-the-friends and say that it was all very, very fun and it was kinda a buzzkill to run out of people to tell.

OH! And I have to mention the fact the everyone - EVERYONE - is just assuming that it's going to be a boy.

Poop

There is a show on the Travel Channel right now about a restaurant in Taiwan where everything - including the food - is poop themed. Thank God I didn't catch sight of this a month ago.

Image courtesy of Sarah Vee

Pregnancy Story: Part One

This was a very planned pregnancy (I say "very," because we landed on the exact due date that we wanted!), so I was very eager to take a pregnancy test as soon as possible. I bought those "earliest detection" sticks and tried the test a couple days before my period was due. I bought the sticks and did the tests without Jeff knowing what I was up to, because I thought it would be so much fun to be able to surprise him with the good news. I think the way that I had decided I would tell him was going to be by cooking him a dinner full of "baby" foods: baby back ribs, baby carrots, maybe a Dutch baby for dessert? and seeing if he caught on. But, all the tests came back negative. Even though I knew that we may not get pregnant on the very first try, it was still really hard to see negative test after negative test - and I just could stop taking them, which meant I had to buy more and more, and those suckers are expensive! Finally, I couldn't take the disappointing news on my own anymore, so I told Jeff what I had been up to. I had one stick left and we both decided that I should wait a couple of days before using it.

This was right around Thanksgiving and we had decided to drive all the way to Chicago to spend the weekend with my cousins. It was a good diversion, but I couldn't help myself from talking about the possibility of my being pregnant with the family. My cousin's husband asked me one question, "Are your breasts sore?" And oh boy, the answer to that question was definitely yes. "Then you're pregnant," he said. And of course, he was right. I took the final test on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, the day that Jeff and I were driving home, and it was the first one that Jeff and I looked at together, and it was positive.

I have to pause the narrative here for a moment to backtrack and rant about pregnancy tests a little bit. First of all, I totally do not believe that they work before your period is due. Maybe one in 100 women gets a positive early result, but on the side of the package, it says something ludicrous like 80% of negative early results could actually be positive. I thought I would be one of those super fertile one in 100 women, but I was not, and it's totally useless to get a negative result which could actually be positive. Secondly, I now understand that commercial that says that some high percentage of women can "misread a traditional pregnancy test." When I first saw those commercials (for digital sticks), I thought, "What idiot can't tell the difference between a plus sign and a minus sign? Or a blue line versus a pink line?" But guess what? I couldn't tell the difference! I am one of those idiots. I had one of the sticks that is supposed to come up with a plus sign if positive and in the instructions it says that if there is any vertical line (the horizontal line is automatic, to show you that the test is working), that means you're pregnant. Well, the last couple of tests that I took before we left for Chicago did have very faint vertical lines, but when I say faint, I mean FAINT. Like, I don't know whether I'm actually seeing a line or just willing it to be so. They were so faint that I needed a magnifying glass to see them and I assumed it was just the trace of chemicals that would turn into a blue line when positive. Oh well, so maybe I'm just an idiot, but I think those tests are really little devil sticks meant to mess with already unstable women's fragile minds. The one upside was that when we did eventually get the positive result, it was so obviously and without-a-doubt positive that it made me feel extra wonderful.

The Story of the Pregnancy Up 'til Now

Ideally, I would have started updating this blog again as soon as we found out that I was pregnant. But, I've never been much of a diary-keeper, so the desire to write is not strong with me, and we had much more pressing thoughts and things-to-do to worry about. So, I'm going to try to remember everything that happened, because it really will be nice to have the story written down, both for me to re-read in the future and for the baby-to-be to read when they're older (if it's a girl, that is; if it's a boy, they probably won't care).

I'm going to write the story in installments, otherwise it would just be one reallllllly long post. Stay tuned for Part One.

A Wee Change

Sooooo...it's been quite a long time since I've posted anything on this blog. I would apologize, but I don't think I have any regular readers to apologize to! Maybe I'll get a few more regular readers now that I have something really important to write about!

This blog will now do triple-duty as a repository for my baby updates, my home updates, and my random musings and interests.

I obviously still need to fiddle with a few things to better the layout of the new blog. The picture of me is HUGE and it won't even be the permanent picture - I just don't have a better alternative at the moment.

Enjoy.

Blog Mentions

I am so tickled whenever I randomly come across an image from our wedding on other blogs. Here are some of the ones that I've found so far:

As seen on Santa Barbara Wedding Chic

I know it's small, but we're in the very bottom photo, as seen on Junebug Weddings

This one was the most flattering blog mention, because it was included among Junebug Weddings "Best from the Best" Fashion Report, the "most stunning images of 2008!" It is also currently used as our wedding photographer's blog heading.

Stay tuned for more finds. I know for a fact that there is a big one coming up, because we have been chosen as a featured wedding for the Junebug Weddings blog. Apparently, they love us.

Living room walls

I cannot decide how I want to paint the walls in the living room. I have gone back and forth on color ideas, from green to gray, back to green, to...purple? navy? No, I think I do want to stick with green, because it will look so nice with the brown walls of the adjacent dining room, but the bigger question is what green? Olive? Forest? Man, it is driving me crazy. I think I'm probably trying too hard to make the perfect choice (it is just paint, afterall), but it is the living room - the most used room - and the centerpiece of the house. It will be the first thing you see when you walk in the front door and you will see it when sitting down to eat. And more than anything else, I want to be comfortable when I sit down to watch t.v., and I happen to be someone who is just not comfortable in an imperfect space!

Here are some ideas I'm batting around:

First idea:

Image courtesy of Wall to Wall Stencils

This is a very library green; a green that you would see in a hunter's lodge in the English countryside or on a pool table in a classic old club. Even though it's a color on the cooler side of the color scale, there's a warmth that radiates from this kind of green.

Image courtesy of House Beautiful

Second idea:

Image courtesy of Wall to Wall Stencils

I see this as a more fashion-forward color; very Ralph Lauren safari chic. It also has military undertones, which can be sexy, if done right. I think olive could actually be a very ugly color, taken alone, but when surrounded by the right accessories, it would be beautiful.

Image courtesy of coco & kelley

I'm also considering something a little more unique, like wallpaper. Here is a sample that I love:

Image courtesy of Wallpapers to Go

With this in the living room, I would feel like I was always wearing an awesome nubby fall sweater or blazer (the kind with courdory elbow patches, you know?). However, it turns out that wallpaper is kinda expensive. Darn it! So here's another option:

Image courtesy of stencilease.com

It's actually a herringbone stencil! I would either do it in two shades of green (not too contrasting - I want it to be a subtle effect) or, even more subtly, one of those greens shown above with a high gloss urethane on top. I saw this done on HGTV once. Could be cool.

Closing Day

Yesterday, we closed on the house. Our first house. It was a very exciting moment.

I couldn't wait to start redecorating the entire place, so I began painting last night, even though I never paused to take "before" photographs for posterity. Because I know I am going to do a fabulous redo on this little house, I need you all to see where it started. Here are some pics from when it was listed for sale online. It's certainly far from awful, but a little too bland for us:

The kitchen:

Here are the problems with the kitchen: it's yellow, it's country, and the cabinets and countertops are cheap.

The dining room:

Problem: bland, boring, hospital-room mint green walls and vertical blinds on the sliding glass door to the backyard.

The living room:

Lots of problems: that couch (thankfully) was not left for us, but it is pretty indicative of the former owners' taste. Those plaid valances were left for us...all over the house. Now, I adore plaid, but not that one. And not against those beige walls. This room has a few more issues: it's kinda on the small side, there are no walls that don't have either a window or a doorway, so couch, t.v. and art placement will be challenging, and from the living room, you can see every other room on the first floor, so they are all going to have to coordinate.

The enclosed porch/bonus room:

The problems: I know that some people may see the wood paneling as a problem, but Mr. Marshall and I love that woodsy look! We're going to run with it and turn the room into a library/game room. The problems that we will have to address are the flooring (weird faux brick linoleum under a dirty beige carpet remnant) and the fact that there is very little wallspace (what with the windows and stairway rails).

The guest bedroom:

Problems: This was the former owners' master bedroom. How boring! But all it needs is paint...and I need to rip that emerald green wall-to-wall carpet the hell out!

The second bedroom:

Problems: not many. This room is sweet. It will eventually be our nursery, so we're going to hold off on decorating it, so that we don't have to do it twice.

The office:

Problems: they painted the walls to a neutral shade before they sold the house, so we don't have to deal with those stripes. The biggest problem is that this is a small room with no closet (so they shouldn't technically have been able to list it as a bedroom, which they did). Since it's gonna be Mr. Marshall's office, that's no real concern.

The attic:

Problems: the ratty, old carpet, the low ceiling (especially over the stairs), the lack of light in the stairway and the other unfinished half of the attic, with its mustiness and spiders and exposed insulation.

I'll show all these pics again once we're done redecorating. Luckily, redecorating is all we really need to do, since there are no major renovations needed.

Yay house!

All images courtesy of Zillow.com

Wellies Galore

I just saw a little old British lady on t.v. wearing a cute pair of floral rubber boots:

I've never gardened before, but I am going to, just as a pretense for splurging on a pair of authentic Hunter wellies. I'll probably go classic and buy a pair of the Original Greens:

but there are so many other tempting colors to choose from:

All images above courtesy of Zappos.com

and even some special editions, like an oh-s0-chic collaboration with Fortnum & Mason:

Image courtesy of Fortnum & Mason

and the most fashionable juxtaposition of high and low, the Jimmy Choo wellie:

Image courtesy of Hunter

Pillows

Recently I've noticed two really cool pillows trios.

The first set is at Anthropologie:

The second set is at Restoration Hardware:

Two New Collections

I would like to use this blog post to formally announce the beginning of a two new collections:

Flow Blue:

Image courtesy of Country Living

Jasperware by Wedgwood:

Image courtesy of Wedgwood

I love all things blue and white. That is well known. I have been collecting Blue Willow china for many, many years now and I already have quite the collection, which I use both to display as well as to eat off of. My collection has grown so large and complete that I have decided to start a couple of new blue and white ceramic collections. Though - just for the record - I will never stop collecting Blue Willow.

The blurriness of the pattern that is the hallmark of Flow Blue was either the accidental result of volatilizing chlorides left in the kiln during the firing process or an intentional method of camouflaging the seams created by the process of transfer printing that had become fashionable in 18th century England. At first, these pieces enjoyed great popularity in England, but as the English began to lose interest in the novelty of the blurred transfer, the manufacturers shipped the leftovers to America to be sold at low cost. Almost immediately, Flow Blue became the "china for the masses; the common man's porcelain." American copies were made and sold at an even lower cost, which essentially put the original English manufacturers out of business. More recently, Asian knock-offs have flooded the market. Genuine English Flow Blue can be quite expensive, because of the rarity of high-quality, non-chipped pieces and the degree of "flow" can affect the price as well.

Image courtesy of DeFina Auctions

Image courtesy of O'Gallerie

Image courtesy of Dargate Auction Galleries

Something that I did not know before doing (a second of) research for this blog post is that Josiah Wedgwood, of Wedgwood Jasperware fame, is commonly credited with developing the flow blue technique. Jasperware, unglazed stoneware with molded reliefs, was one of a string of major successes for Wedgwood and what the company is best known for today. Jasperware with a blue background and white bas relief is the most popular design (and my favorite), but the ceramics come in every color and vary from Greek scenes to florals to simple bands of pattern. Even in the blue and white category, there is a variety of background tints ranging from light, pale blue to a slate gray-blue to dark cobalt. I like them all.

Image courtesy of Dargate Auction Galleries

Image courtesy of Dargate Auction Galleries

Image courtesy of Replacements, Ltd.

A History of Named Houses

I must have been a British artistocrat in a former life, because I can't help but be obsessed with all things gentry. As you know from this blog, I like the warmth and texture of gentlemanly patterns, such as herringbone and plaid, and materials, such as leather and wool, for the downstairs of my house and the femininity and romance of ladylike designs upstairs. What you may not know is that I'm also fascinated by the other trappings of British artistocracy, such as family crests and the tradition of naming their estates. 

I know that it sounds exceedingly silly for me to want to name my little house in Rochester, NY - for sure a far cry from the manor houses of England's countryside - but I'm certainly not alone in this pretension. I did a little research on the history of naming houses and here is what I've found:

Naturally, everything traces back to ancient Rome. During the Roman Republic and Empire, an elite, wealthy Roman would live in a compound outside of the city center known as a villa urbana, very similar in nature to the country houses of England. They didn't have street numbers back then (first introduced in Paris in 1512) so these estates were identified by names, either descriptive (Villa Magna) or from the family name (Villa Adriana). Many of these villas were located in modern-day England and had a real impact on the Britons emerging from the Dark Ages, when the upper class began to form, distinct from the nobility. Medieval castles led to castellated manor houses, which were generally either named after the family or the location, and these manor houses, in turn, led to smaller estates with the rise of the middle class and the suburbanization of the landscape. These smaller estates were almost always named after the location, such as "Highlands," "Foxhill House" and "Greenacres." In the late-

19th century, even the regular, run-of-the-mill middle class got into the name-game by naming their houses after the grander properties in the area (e.g. "Ferndale" from "Fern Hill"). 

Today, it's pretty much just for fun. According to a survey done in 2003, the most popular house name in the UK is simply "The Cottage." Common themes in the top 50 house names include trees ("The Willows" #10), plants and flowers ("Primrose Cottage" #40), and a general yearning for the countryside ("The Old Vicarage" #16). Of course, knowing the British, puns factor into a lot of new house names too. Some commentary on the current economy:

"Dunbankin"

"Stoneybroke"

"Kantafordyt"

"Llamedos" (read backwards)

In the rest of the world, many rural areas still depend on house names rather than numbers to identify a residence. This is particularly true in the tropics (or so it seems from House Hunters International, where everything is "Casa This," "Casa That." But I don't give a lick about the tropics, so you can do your own research on that. 

What should we name our new house? I've already lived in a couple of houses with informal names (in college, I lived in a house called "The Mansion" and my family always refered to my grandmother's house as "The Beach House"). My best friend's mother keeps a pied-a-terre in Paris that she calls "La Petite Genevieve," because it is located on the Rue de la Montagne Sainte Genevieve and Mr. Marshall has family in Alaska who live in "Blue Heron Haven," presumably because they have heron there or maybe just because they like them. 

If we named our house after its size, it would be "The Cottage," but seeing as how that name is so popular, I'm going to avoid it. It could be "Brown Cottage" or "Maple Cottage," but neither of those names has enough oomph for me. If we named our house after its location, it would be "Highway House" - not so nice. Though, that highway used to be the Erie Canal, so we could call it "Canal House," but then people would be confused when they came to visit and there was no water nearby. If we named our house after local fauna, it would be "Squirrel's Run" and while there's nothing inherently wrong with this name, it seems a bit cutesy to me...OMG, the perfect name just came to me! I'm confident that none of you will understand this name, but here it is:

"Das Oachkatzlschwoaf Haus"

Literally, this means "The Squirrel's Tail House" in Bavarian German. Saying Oachkatzlschwoaf is the most common way to test whether you can correctly pronounce this regional dialect and it's just a totally awesome word. Why this has particular meaning to this house is that, when the inspectors were inspecting the house for structural defects and pests, they found evidence that squirrels had at some point jumped from the tall Silver Maple in the front yard to the roof of the house, chewed their way through the wood and set up home in the eaves (not to worry - this is not a major issue and is being remedied by the sellers). Why this name is even more relevant is because right after the inspector investigated the squirrel hole, he ran into a baby squirrel on the ground and snapped a photo of it for the report:

 

Apparently, baby squirrels don't have big, bushy tails like adult squirrels do. See? It's all about the squirrel's tail! Perfect name. And no, we won't make you address letters to The Marshalls at Das Oachkatzlschwoaf Haus in Rochester, NY, but I will make a little plaque to hang on the front door. Yes, I will. 

Inspiration Part 2: Upstairs

There are three rooms on the second floor. There are two roughly equally sized rooms and one smaller room that has no closet. This will most likely be Mr. Marshall's study. There is also some finished attic space on the third floor, but I can't decide whether that should be the master bedroom, the guest bedroom or a family-type room. For the purposes of this experiment, let's just say that the attic will be the guest bedroom/fun space when we don't have guests and that the third room on the second floor will be the...baby's room...once we have one. 

The Master Bedroom:

The walls will be a light shade of periwinkle (maybe?), with lots of different whites (the bedding, the curtains, the furniture) with accents of sparkle and silver (a chandelier, a mirror, tsotchkes, etc). A lot like this photo, but without the ambers and ochres:

I don't remember from whence this image came!

I haven't worked out exactly what I want my bedroom to look like, but I know that I want it to have light, airy and romantic qualities, just like this: 

Image courtesy itsheavenly.blogspot.com

I have to point out that the bedroom pictured above comes from Zara Home. OMG, if only they had those in the US, I would spend a fortune there!

The Attic/Guest Bedroom:

The attic has lots of nooks and crannies and is very cozy, which is why I think it should be done up in a very British manner. But, unlike the British influence downstairs, the attic will be feminine and light. Victorian, rather than Tudor. I'm feeling florals:

Image courtesy of Wallpapers To Go

Image courtesy of Ralph Lauren Home

I like twin beds for a guest room - purely aesthetically - I don't care that a full sized bed is probably the most practical for the people who will come to visit us!

Image courtesy of House Beautiful

I hope our male houseguests will be okay with all this pretty. 

I can't really detail what the baby's room will eventually look like, because a) I'm not pregnant and I'm sure that would be bad juju, and b) when I do (hopefully) get pregnant, I don't know whether it will be a boy or a girl. But...I can't resist. Here is just one gender neutral baby item that I think is just toooo cool:

 

Image courtesy of 1stdibs

It's a cradle by Fornasetti. A good start to an artistic life. 

Inspiration Part 1: Downstairs

I change my mind five times a day, but this is the way I am currently envisioning each room in the house:

The Living Room:

Image courtesy of cookiemag.com

To conjure up the cozy, distinguished atmosphere of an English manor house, I would like to paint the walls a dark loden green. I might even take it one step further and line the living room with this totally awesome green herringbone wallpaper:

Image courtesy of Wallpapers To Go

The living room is small, so I think we could get away with making a big statement on the walls. 

Keeping with the manor house theme, this is my dream sofa:

Image courtesy of apartmenttherapy.com

Oh, the Chesterfield. It would probably cost us as much as the house (especially if you factor in the shipping and handling from England), so I would settle for a touch of leather in a classic club chair. Bonus points for upholstery studs. 

The Dining Room:

First of all, I would like to install white beadboard wainscoting, so that when we paint it navy blue, it doesn't feel like a dark dungeon. 

Image courtesy of bijoukaleidoscope.blogspot.com

The navy blue and white room would perfectly showcase my collection of blue and white china:

Image courtesy of Madison Magazine

And, because every long dining table should have a chandelier centered over it, here you go:

Image courtesy of cotedetexas.blogspot.com

Yup, that's right. It's a boat. Tacky? Maybe. Awesome? I think so. 

The Library:

Image courtesy of itsgreattobehome.net

This room will be small and simple, with accents of red. It has wood paneled walls and I think Mr. Marshall and I are the only young couple left in America who would keep them this way, instead of ripping them out or painting them white. Instead, I'd like to completely cover all the non-window walls with bookshelves. Lord knows we have enough books. I would like to include a game table for our Scrabble nights and a red Oriental rug (the more threadbare, the better):

Image courtesy of Persian Oriental Rug Review

When Mr. Marshall and I win the lottery, I would love to have every book we own leather-bound. Look how beautiful:

Image courtesy of Baskerville Bindings