Hi friends!  Well, the papers are signed and the ink is dry- we sold our home!  It’s very bittersweet, this is my favorite place that we’ve ever lived.  The home itself is wonderful but more importantly it’s the first place where we’ve had an actual community and it changed our lives entirely.  A few days after moving into this house we found a pink flamingo in our yard with a balloon and a note inviting us to go door to door to find the person responsible for putting it there, and promising a prize when we did.  We were SO SUSPECT!  WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE we asked each other.  A few weeks later the woman who lives directly across the street, Bev, knocked on our door with homemade pesto and sausage to welcome us to the neighborhood.  She said “No one has ever taken so long to come to collect their prize before!”  HA!  We were definitely not accustomed to friendly neighbors and we took a moment to warm up to it.

But warm up we did.  Bev hosted movie nights in the canyon, a large projector set up and an open invitation to the entire neighborhood.  She hosted block parties and rented a bouncy house for the kiddos.  She introduced herself and us to every single person who walked by our houses.  As the weeks and months passed we found ourselves friendly with nearly every neighbor on our street and many more from the surrounding neighborhood.  Now more than a couple of them have become close friends.  And neighbor friends, in our experience, are another level of friend.  At least ours have been.  They’ve taken part in our daily lives, we see them nearly every day even if only for a two minute catch up chat.  We share all aspects of life together.  We’ve met each other’s extended families, we love and look out for each other’s children.  It allows for a closeness that seems difficult to achieve without proximity.  It feels somehow closer to family than friendship.

It’s hard to express how this changed our lives, but it had a profound impact on our happiness.  We went through some very challenging times in this house, primarily surrounding my health, and our neighbors helped carry us through it.  I remember coming home from the hospital with Teo just raw from trauma and bursting into tears each time I saw one of their faces.  They took care of our animals during my month long hospital stay, they drove me to my doctor appointments so that Lou could stay home with Teo, and they surrounded us with the love we so needed during that time.  I am not sure how we would’ve managed without them.

All of this is to say that I now know that this is the way I want to live.  Here, in another house, wherever we may land in this lifetime.  I want to meet the people living around us and I want to get to know them.  We may not have a ton in common, they may not, at first appearances, be “our people” but I know well that that means nothing.  They may, like we were, be skeptical about neighbors who push to be friendly.  But like Bev wore us down, I intend to wear them down.  I’ve got big plans for delivering cookies and meeting everyone, hosting neighborhood parties and recreating this at our next house.  I’ll report back on how it goes- wish us luck!

Now, I want to share our final home tour (these photos were taken by the talented Amber Thrane on behalf our amazing realtors at Shelter Residential and I love that although the house is styled for showings and the sale, it wasn’t as fussy as it would have been had I been styling it to shoot.  Meaning, it’s closer to what it looks like regularly.  And at the very bottom of the post are the before photos.  And honestly having someone else’s perspective on the house was SUCH A TREAT!  I fell in love with it all over again when I saw the photos.  We didn’t spend a ton of money fixing this house up- paint, light fixtures, and few cosmetic updates here and there- but it looks like an entirely different place.  It was such a fun project for us and I like to think we breathed new life into it!  I’ll always be a little gutted that we didn’t get to remodel the kitchen and baths (I had already mentally designed them and it’s a bit sad that I won’t get to see that vision come to fruition).  But the next owners will carry the torch for us and I know this house will be loved and appreciated for many years to come!  I included links to past posts of the house and it’s so fun to go back and see the progression of the house!

I’ll share more about what’s next for us and why we decided to leave this beauty very soon.  Until then, go make friends with your neighbors if you haven’t already!!  xx- Sarah . {all sources listed below}

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Hi friends!  As we’re just a month and a half out from Teo’s first birthday I think it’s time I finally share his nursery!  I didn’t finish it until he was nearly 6 months old.  Ummmmm. Normal?  In the occasional fantasies I had about life with a baby I imagined bringing him home and sitting in his nursery breastfeeding/rocking in a state of bliss.  In real life we didn’t even has a crib set up for him and if you remember his birth story, as head over heels in love as I was, it was not a time I would describe as blissful.  Ahhh well, such is life, right?!  In the end it’s not the nursery or rocking chair or any room in our house that matters, it’s our healthy boy!  But that’s how it always is, isn’t it.  Nonetheless, when his nursery was set up I cried I was so happy.  It felt like a full circle back to my fantasies, and I soak up every minute we have in there.  Now he crawls all over it, pulls himself up to standing on every surface and sucks on the nose of that llama.  It’s all so fun!  Click through to see more, to read about my inspiration for the room, and for a full list of sources at the bottom of the post.  xx- Sarah

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Hello my friends!  Spring has sprung and Summer is sneaking up on us here in San Diego!  The breezes are getting warmer and the sunsets later, the temperatures are creeping up and I can just taste that first sunburn followed by ice cream!  All of that has me dreaming about backyard bbq’s, dining under cafe lights and enjoying long leisurely chats in the backyard while the sun goes down.  Ahhhh, Summer living!  It’s my favorite.  Unfortunately in the two years since we moved in we hadn’t gotten it together to put together an outdoor entertaining space, although as you can imagine I’d mentally decorated it a million times over.  We had a table that we’d drag our chairs from the dining room out to for entertaining.  And that was about the extent of it.  Coming from this backyard in Palm Springs, it was a sad contrast.

But now!  BUT NOW!!!!!!!!!  Feast your eyes on this charming little outdoor living space!  It’s my backyard dream come true:  modern teak furniture with crisp white cushions and graphic accents.  Bursts of color via fresh cut bougainvillea (my go-to for backyard florals because it’s so abundant ’round these parts…. and also: FREE!!)  Potted plants to give it all life.  And the chairs. The iconic wishbone chairs that I’ve lusted after for a decade.  Sure, they’re indoor chairs and we will have to bring them out from our studio when it’s time to entertain and tuck them away when we’re done.  But that’s a price I’m willing to pay because I LOVE them and I couldn’t find outdoor chairs I loved as much.  Sometimes the impractical heart just wants what it wants.  Indoor chairs outdoors.  Reason be damned.

Click through for links to the sources, to see more of this space,  and read about my design process!  And check out my idea board here for links to other outdoor living piece I found that I think you’ll love!  xx- Sarah  {This post was produced in partnership with Wayfair.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.  Thank you for supporting our sponsors!}

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Hi friends, happy Tuesday! I’m excited to share a living room update with you today! Since you last saw it here, we’ve made some swaps which have transformed it into my dream room, and my by-far favorite room of the house.  It feels so cozy and happy for our little family!

To start the update we moved the rug we had into Lou’s office and replaced it with this one from Loloi rugs– it’s plush, unique and so well crafted- I’m in love with it. It’ll be a lifetime keeper for us.  A quality wool rug will last forever– we always have ours professionally scotch guarded and then yearly cleanings to keep them in the best shape.  This one by Loloi was hand knotted, which is wild to think about!  It’s a craft that’s been passed down from generation to generation, fathers teaching their sons an artform that has been used for lifetimes.  Textiles are a representation of culture, and something I love to mix and match in our house (in this room alone we now have a rug from India, pillows made from Thai fabric, and a traditional Moroccan wedding blanket).  The combination gives the room a worldly appeal and the mix of patterns and materials play nicely together.

Check out this microsite Loloi created that shows the process of how their rugs are handcrafted in India- it will inspire you in so many ways!!!  It’s especially fascinating to me because they employ many of the same tools and techniques that I use to make my weavings- it’s fun to see.  It gives me a huge appreciation not only for our beautiful rug but that Loloi is honoring the time honored craftsmanship to make high quality products- something that is becoming more rare in the marketplace.   And the video is so beautiful, it has me wanting to go to India, and then to promptly replace every other rug in our house- oh dear!

This post was produced in partnership with Loloi Rugs, we hope you love!  (You can purchase Loloi rugs here).

We also sold our old coffee table and had this one custom made. I knew I wanted a larger table, and something with a bit more color than the stainless steel, but wanted to keep the modern design. I go back and forth about the idea of having it polished and coated as was my original intention, but so far we’ve been loving the direction the untreated copper has gone.  And I love the warmth it brings to the space.

In a game of musical furniture I took the rocker from my office and swapped it for the circle chair that was in the corner (which is now in our bedroom), preferring the warm wood to the black metal. We found the vintage rocker at NokNok Living here in San Diego and I actually bought it before I even knew where I wanted it to live. I’m so happy I did, that chair will probably live in many rooms over the time we have it, I’ll never part with it.  And happily, the mini jungle behind it is thriving (against all odds as I am  not the best plant keeper!  Thank you Plant Gods, thank you very much)

Last but not least, we commissioned our friend Greg build this floating credenza for under the mirror (I loved it so much in the Palm Springs house I wanted to create a version for this house too).  Heck to the yes to floating credenzas!

Hello my friends!  I’m excited to be sharing my home office makeover today, produced in partnership with Arhaus.  When we moved into this house I knew that I’d take the smallest bedroom and try to find the best way to make it work as a home office until we scrape together the funds to build out the garage into a studio space.  Little did I know that it would become my little sanctuary and that I’d find myself re-thinking the idea of building out the garage simply because the space is so cozy!

First things first, as with every other room in this house, I started by painting the entire room and ceiling white!  As I hoped it immediately felt larger and brighter.  I started the room design by choosing the rug- I fell in love with this piece and decided to keep the rest of the room fairly neutral but have a big pop of color on the floor.  Eventually I’d like to ground the rug with an even larger jute rug under it which would also add a nice layer- but I’m saving that until Pepito has outgrown his chew every-damn-thing phase!!!

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Happy Wednesday my friends!  When we sold our Palm Springs house the new owners purchased a good amount of our furniture, including everything in the master bedroom except for two poufs.  So we started from scratch with this house- and it’s slowly but surely coming together!  Our wishes for our bedroom are always the same: a tranquil, soothing, cozy retreat. At the end of the day there’s nothing sweeter than climbing into a soft bed and snuggling up for the night. And I have to say, this is our favorite bedroom so far- which is fantastic because we still have so far to go with the design so I know we’re only going to love it more and more!  It’s simple and sweet, cozy and inviting- really just the perfect place to lay our heads.

The bed is pure heaven.  I’m in love with the neutral pallette, the comforter with just the lightest hint of pattern, the variety of textures in the pillows/throw, the warmth from the wood frame, and the way it all comes together so cohesively.  And, you’ll see above the bed, my first weaving!  I may move it, not 100% sure that I love it in that spot but for now I’m displaying it like peacock feathers cause I’m pleased as punch with how it turned out!

The rest of the room still has a ways to go, but I love the simple dresser, the lights that offer the softest glow at night and the pop of color from the photo above it (will be offering those up for sale here in the next week or two- please email me at [email protected] if you’d like to be notified when they’re available!).  And I didn’t photograph it but on the other side of the room there are a bunch of plants.  Will save that for another update down the road, hopefully soon. Hope you love it my friends!  xx- Sarah

Sources:  bed, bedding set, side tables, lamps (here and here), dresser, rug,  {This post was sponsored by Tommy Hilfiger.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.  Thank you for supporting our sponsors!}

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