Family Round Here

Its growing. 

Nope, nope, not that news yet. This baby is much furrier (well, I hope) than our future human babies will be. 

Meet Lana

She has one ear up, one down, permanently 

She's a super cuddler and melts into your lap 

She gets along (pretty) well with her big brother

She sleeps pretty well

Plays really well 

And is a good companion to our Oxy...

 which is why we opened our home to her. For a while, we thought Oxford could use with a bit more socialization. Every time we introduced him to a new dog, he would lunge to attack and then come back over for a good ol' game of tag. By then, the other pup was less than fond of Oxford playtime. 

So we started our search for an in-house puppy playmate and soon came across our gal Lana. 

They work really well together, actually, play well together, respect one another 90% of the time, and keep each other in check (Oxford actually pushes her if she takes too long to 'sit' at mention of a treat, and Lana comes to our rescue if Oxy snaps at us for taking away a found Kleenex). 

We're very happy with this little lady and are glad to call her a McEwan! 

Holiday Cheer

I sometimes think our house was made for Christmas. My holiday decor fits so perfectly on everything. The mantle looks perfect with some garland and a few red stockings. That corner is the perfect home for our tree - the little window behind it offers a view of the sparkling evergreen from the car on the way up the drive. 

So, needless to say, it looks pretty perfect around here now... 

Well, it does in the pictures. Most of the time there are bits of wrapping paper and Bill's latest DIY project floating around on every surface. But, thankfully, we won't be sharing any pictures of that... 

Merry (almost) Christmas, everyone! 

Hello boys!

Every time I sit down to work on and dream up a new decor idea, my inspiration generally starts more masculine. I start looking at cognac leather, darker paint colors, black and white accents... and somehow when everything gets thrown together, there's something obviously soft and feminine about it. Somehow a dark and dramatic dining room goes grown-up-girls'-equestrian-dream. And neutral living rooms get oddly spotted with yellow and pink.

Not sure how estrogen keeps popping up in my decor, but I've gotten a little sick of it. So I tried my best to not get pulled in any soft-flowy-curtains way and this is what I came up with...

Okay, so I snuck some coral in there. But its certainly a more masculine approach than our current bedrooms. Oh, and its far better than this approach to guest quarters... 

What? You don't want to come over and stay a while? 

Arthouse

A while back, my parents came to visit and brought with them loads and loads of my old high school and college art work and supplies. It has been kind of fun rummaging around in what is a autobiographical history book of sketches and screen prints.

(The mess of art supplies currently taking over our unfinished bedroom)

Some of it was good enough to hang up...

(These are potentially going up in the hall, but we may first redo the hallway before putting them up) 

A few pieces haven't been framed yet... 

And, of course, we've had a few pieces floating around here for a while now from my more recent years. 

The most recent additions to the gallery. 

(Rough draft. Will probably end up the front hall)