So great! Unless you have kids... and then it's a horrible idea.

Note from years later- I cannot imagine how much it would suck to dust this bathroom all the time. 

Totally simple quilt that is gorgeous.

Love the red color with the black accents. You don't have to paint the walls to have a great room.

Another Old House I Love

We just don't build them like this anymore.

Typically you see the black and white checkered floor, but the gray is quite nice, too. Less bold and distracting, but still attractive.

I want to do this. Note to self: do this. The stenciled the words to a song important to them. Do "The Luckiest."

I'm loving this built-in. I think our bookcase would look great painted black on the inside with white details and a bold punch of color on the sides. If we did red we could put it in L's room for his toys and books like this family has done.

Dave is not a fan of the toile wallpaper, but I love it. It's whimsical and I love the blues and I think it could be paired pretty well with some simpler sizable pieces. Would be nice in a bathroom or a girl's room, or a nook. Ooh, or the inside of a closet! Why does no one wallpaper their closets? Other than the fact that no one would ever really see it and it's an unnecessary expense?

When I first saved this photo I loved the indoor shutters. Every since I saw them in Europe as a kid I have loved them. But now, with a baby learning to crawl and on the verge of destroying everything we own, all I see is wreckage. Good idea for people without kids. Or just older kids.
And this room is totally girly, but I love it.

I'm also battling back and forth on this one, too. I love the window, all chipped and rugged, but where is the line for this style? At what point is it a beautiful pairing of worn pieces and at what point is it just junky? I want to live with beautiful things around me, not things I made to look decrepit.
And I love the top part of that sink, with its slope and basin, but am hating the bare pipes.

Awesome idea for a playhouse- the gypsy caravan. It's adorable and not a complete eyesore to have in your backyard. And what kid doesn't like pretending to be a gypsy?

I'm still debating about this one. It seems visually off, but I love the idea of collecting old drawers and repurposing them into one piece. Maybe if it wasn't painted white and there were less open white shelves... Instead of combining the old and modern to compliment each other, they look glaring side by side.

In the Midway house, my parents has this old window frame that they turned into a picture frame. Good idea. Also good- turning it into a mirror.

I love:
1. This shade of blue, paired with all the whites on the dresser.
2. The chair. Not only is the shape itself nice, but I like the bold wide stripes that make it a little more modern.
Here's my question: do the woods have to match? Does it bother me that one is dark and the other is light? And does it bother me that light wood even exists? Because I have to admit that it looks good here... Better than a walnut would be. And why do I always want to paint everything white, grey, or walnut stained?

I have long been a fan of the apron sink, but I have never seen a metal one. The patina on this thing is gorgeous. So, I'm guessing the plus sides to a metal sink are: easier to clean (you won't get those black marks that happen on the white porcelain type ones)... That's all I can think of, but that's a big plus. I'm wondering if this is just always cold and uncomfortable when you lean on it to wash dishes...

Another good example of the recessed beds for a shared kid's bedroom. I love the curtains on a rod, the inside bookshelf and reading light, and the cubbies on the outside. It's like camp, but classier and at home.
Also, that's a pretty sweet door in the background.

First off, I love these black windows in a white room. And I love the 3x3 panes.
Dave is less of a fan. Mostly, I believe, because this is a weird room- the walls have no insulation which is why you get such a thin windowed look. It is also weird that all the windows don't open in the same direction.

This was from a tutorial about how to turn a fireplace mantle into a headboard. It's not a great option to place, as you can never move your bed, but a interesting idea if you have a child's room with a fireplace or anywhere you don't want one being played with.
Maybe I do like it... I'm not sure.

So this is the home of two fashion designers... I can't remember which... It was a pretty impressive name...
Anyway, I love the giant monograms on the pillows, the leather fainting couch at the foot of the bed,the walnut mission style doors, and, of course, the riding boots.

This doesn't really have to do with the house, but I want to make these. They would be the cutest little juice glasses. Sadly Dave has vetoed using bottles from the Port Townsend Brewery. Think of other ideas.

I love the horseshoes! This could look so cheesy, but the room is stylish enough to pull it off. We should have a horseshoe above each door. Especially if we can get some of the ones that your grandpa forged.

This would be a great bookshelf/chotchke/shoe thing. Where can you buy fruit crates these days? Do people still use them?

We don't do this in California. But in other parts of the world, the shoes come off as you enter the house and this is kind of a cute reminder. Or even just the words "shoes" would work. Maybe paint it on the wall all graphic like and nice. Hmm.

All right Dave, I have found an outdoor office for you! How awesome is this? And your falcon could live in one of the trees. And you could train it to send me love notes. Though I would like you to write them, not the falcon. He can write his own.

This is probably totally cliche, but I love the classic overstuffed leather chair. Ooh, and this ceiling! I love this ceiling.

This is the perfect rug for Dave. Flor is awesome!

My love of porches knows no bounds.
I prefer the above porch- how it juts out from the structure of the house.

But this porch has a great size to it- you could have an awesome little party out there. Perhaps this is the back porch. This would be a great back porch.

Let's start collecting mismatched rocking chairs! This has so much that I love- the clapboard, the wide porch, the rocking chairs, the sheer little curtains in the window... Wonderful. Except for that fluffy cat.

Is this indoor or outdoor? It's a nice little room.

We both are liking the cobblestone pathways but this herringbone looks rather nice. We should consider latticing the wall of a side door or back door with some nice climbing flower. Are these the kinds of things that only look good for a year or two while it grows?

I am loving this double wide desk. Davey, we could have side by side desks with tops that flip up! Now you are probably thinking that you might not want a desk next to me I point out this: the incline on the desktop would prevent me from piling up all my little projects/wrappers.
And I love the little shelves up top. This is a great piece of furniture.

Okay this would work in so many areas, but it's fairly crazy and probably totally expensive- the windowed garage door wall! It would be awesome in a room like this where you could get an outdoor feel, it would work in a photo studio as a north wall, it would be great on a covered porch...

I adore the gingerbread cutouts on these shelves. I would love to have a short little shelf for spices, where you can get to them all easily and don't have to route around.

This oven is breathtaking. I love all the little hinged doors and the platform covers over the burners. So adorable. Can you find these that are retrofitted to work normally?


Ed. note:  apparently you can, they just cost around $3,000.  

Okay, this isn't so much a house idea... except that it kind of is... Anyway, little random detail of multiple runners staggered in some color harmony. Why don't you see runners very often? These look great. And so much easier to fold than a table cloth.

I love these chairs. They have such a gorgeous sheen and wear. And the flowers aren't so bad either.

The coolest outdoor fireplace! I love the grass coming up between the tiles. But I'm still looking for a picture of an indoor/outdoor fireplace like at the cabin. That would be the ideal situation- roasting marshmallows and hot dogs in the summertime, everyone grasping their kinked metal coat hanger and enjoying a night outside.

All right, Dave. You say you want a dock in the backyard for your pygmy kayak, so I'm going to up the ante- backyard dock, with a swing.

Ooh, we should have your office in the boat house that you have to walk through to get to the dock. The dock could be your backyard.

Let's find this place and squat until the police get involved. What do you think about the different bricks? I'm still not sure if I like the upper story, but I am feeling the stone underneath the window. I love the giant barn-ish front door and the gravel driveway with the tree. So charming.

So if we end up doing the board ceiling I think we need to do with the hardware on these closets. This is such a random detail, but I think it adds quite a bit. Long barn door hinges.

I like this hanging system. It is so uniform and clean and doesn't distract from what you're looking at.

The herringbone pattern of the brick is rather nice.

I would love to have these kinds of doors into a bedroom or office. But only if we could work out some kind of privacy.

Ooh!
First off- the yellow and white striped ceiling. It mimics the lines from a slatted ceiling and adds some energy into the room. The white stripes are matte while the yellow are some satin finish. Very interesting.
Second, the black matte wall. I assume black matte would show less dirt than white matte, right? I am loving how graphic and dramatic this little nursery is.

More mismatched chairs!

And in the library I am soon becoming obsessed about let's put these lights above each set of bookcases! So wonderful! Perhaps we should learn the Dewey Decimal System to further this theme.

I love these little doors.