Restarting Tradition

2014 was a busy year for me with work. Both work work and home work (ugh, does any one else still get sick at the mention of 'homework'?). So 886 got the shaft. Most of our posts (ok, like 99% of them) were about the house. Which is fine - cause, who are we kidding, thats all we do now.

But I was perusing old posts and noticed back at the end of 2012 I went through the year and shared my favorite moments from that year. What better way to recap your year, feel happy about it and excited for the next?

So I'm bringing it back! (We just have to all pretend you are reading this post 1 month ago).


So 2014...

Lets start with the fact that in 2013, this little lady was added to the McEwan clan..

She's been an amazing little person for all of us Aunts and Uncles (oh, and I'm an Aunt -whhaaa?) to witness. 

So here are a few of my favorite Leah moments from 2014

First birthday! She learned how freaking awesome presents are. All goes down hill from here, kiddo. Presents are IT! 

That party can't be mentioned without noting that the 'lady bug theme' was somehow translated to 'wear a ladybug costume'. We were the only ones dressed like ladybugs, in case you were wondering. 

She made a few visits to our house, one of which included learning to play the piano in the cutest way possible. 

And lets note how freaking adorable she was a Christmas, when her hair got long enough to put into pigtails, she could repeat pretty much every word you said (uh oh) and almost every outfit contained an adorable penguin. 

- 

But, I suppose we should move on to less cute stuff... 

2014 started with a lot of love. Bill had just proposed at the end of December. Our wonderful friends threw us a perfect, intimate engagement party...

Look at our beautiful hostess hard at work... 

... and play!

That lovely lady is also now quite pregnant with their first! 

-

Shortly thereafter, we had the same group over for a fantastic Murder Mystery Dinner! 

Set in the roaring 20's, of course... 

The murderer is amongst us!! Gasp! 

2014 also brought a TON of new engagements - Carrie and Chris, Eliza and Mike, and April and Steve (some of who are already married now!) 

In worse news, though, 2014 also marked the announcement of April and Steve's moving in Chicago, which was pretty devastating. 

But it does mean more Chicago trips in 2015! 

__

Bill climbed pretty much every bit of terrain in 2014... 

2014 was also the year of Bill showing how many ants are truly in his pants (tons, just tons). 

The man couldn't go an hour without a project. So when he wasn't working on the house, he was... 

...welding or building motorbikes.. 

...forging metal... 

... to create hand-made knives... 

2014 was also the year of a gazillion home projects...

Certainly the biggest of which was the kitchen transformation 

But a lot of areas got a good coat of paint

And the guest bedroom got an overhaul ...

And the house got a heavy dose of Meg's artwork 

And I think the hall counts as 2014 as we finished it right at the beginning of the new year... 

--

2014 held a few great trips for us...

Like sailing the Chesapeake 

Newport Folk Fest with the family! 

Hiking and visiting quaint Jim Thorpe with Kate and Ty 

Of course, Cape May! 

Shotgun shooting with April and Steve!

Invisible River on the Schuylkill with my parents 

(no, those aren't my parents... or us... or anyone I know because my friends just aren't that flexible) 

NYC/MoMA with Bill 

and STL and Chicago to visit my best friends! (who happen to be my bridesmaids!) 

Speaking of which...

Wedding planning took off this year.

We picked a venue... 

... the food, the flowers, the dresses, the invites... everything, basically. Now 2015 is just when that shit gets real! 

Speaking of real... 

This beloved couple got married in 2014. Liss and Sean finally tied the knot and it was a super fun weekend to boot. 

I was also entrusted with throwing the bride-to-be a bridal shower in 2014. I didn't totally blow it... 

And, we certainly weren't short on parties 'round here... 

(yes, that a piano-melodica duo - limited engagement, sorry) 

Ending with the epic McEwan Christmas party! 

With tickle-dance-offs and everything! 

All-in-all 2014 was a good year!

Here's to an even better 2015! 

Grass is always greener...

... when there isn't any. Thats right, we finally got rid of the grass (cloth) wallpaper in our hall and now I'm no longer dreaming whats on the other side.

Its here and its gorgeous!

The grass cloth was one of the least offensive wallpapers in the house, which is why it survived so long, but after the rest of the house looked so fresh, new and white, it was an obvious relic. 

So off came the wallpaper (rather easily, I might add) and we began to plan the board-and-batten replacement. Actually, its batten. The 'board' is just wall. I'm sure in the days of plaster walls, it was all but impossible to create a flat, smooth surface but drywall works beautifully. And, actually, the battens weren't that hard either. 

We had to work with the original baseboard molding, which was high and quite beautiful in its own right, but didn't obviously lend itself to the very straight battens. So Bill came up with a piece of molding that would meet it, and create a flat surface for the vertical battens to butt up against. The battens themselves were just math - figuring out the spacing on each wall and then buying the right amount from Home Depot. 

Then came adding the horizontal molding of our choosing, which for us included a picture rail on one of the walls. Right now, its only got the one, but I plan on adding a few overlapping pieces.

Bill worked a few days on adding a second light down the hall. Not sure what the electrician was thinking when he did these homes. Only one light at the top of the stairs and if the bathroom and bedroom doors are closed at the end of the hall (which would make sense!), you can't see a damn thing, which would be annoying in its own right but the linen closet is also at the end of the hall and with no light I can't figure out if I'm grabbing toilet paper or a pillow! So in went a matching, mint light!

We are very happy with the hall. So many projects in our home were done quickly, out of necessity. We had 30 more walls of wallpaper to remove and 30 more walls to paint. And that was just the walls! But now that we are not facing a home's worth of work, we can take more time on our projects. The hall took a couple weekends and night trips to Home Depot but we painted with expertise, planned and planned before purchasing a single batten, and even spackled, sanded, and caulked before painting to get a beautifully integrated piece. 

We are very happy with it and it sure is a refreshing change from yellowed wallpaper! 

Even the new lady is pleased enough to use it as a modeling backdrop...

(How's my lighting? Does my coat look nice?) 

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?