Mourning the Fireplaces

I didn't really think much about it in August when the chimney inspector informed us that both of our fireplaces are irreparably damaged and that we should never, ever, ever use them because they pose a major fire hazard. It was 95 degrees! With 80 percent humidity! How often would we really use them anyway? I was just grateful that we were finally buying a house and that the previous owners agreed to remove the asbestos from the basement.

Now that it is October and the temperature is dropping into the 30s at night, and it turns out that our furnace is broken (!!!), I am missing the fireplaces very, very much. The furnace has a broken circuit board and a broken igniter. Whatever that means. Actually, what it means is that me and Mr. V will be spending our evenings this week bundled up in hats and scarves and fighting over who gets to cuddle with our little living furnace, Olive. The parts won't arrive until this weekend. Sigh.

Ta-da!

Thanks to my mom's inability to resist the urge to "tidy up" when she visits, the last few boxes that had permanently occupied various corners of the living room have been emptied and disposed of in the recycling bin. Apart from wondering where the heck a few things are now, I'm quite grateful. I was at a point where I barely noticed the unopened boxes strewn about the house anymore and when I did notice them, I opted to ponder the many ways that I could try to claim that they were part of the decor rather than, you know, do something about them. The best part about all of this is--aside from no longer living in what looks like a storage unit--that I get to present you with my first Before and After!

Here is the living room before:

Note that the pics above feature the previous owners' furniture and crazy ass book collection. I do not claim any of it.

Here is the living room after:

So much better, right? I wish I had known about this contest. I would totally enter. (I really need to see someone about my obsession with decorating contests. If last year's "Best Use of Fruit" Christmas wreath contest is any evidence, they are nothing but heartbreak.) Of course, the room isn't even nearly "done." I don't think it ever will be. We still need to hang art on the walls and there is hole above one of the windows that Jason cut out in an effort to "fix" a crack in the plaster that now actually needs to be fixed, but, the place is definitely feeling more like home.

Battle of the Valentines

Y'all. Mom and I went to The Hickory Furniture Mart this weekend and it was awesome. I do not know enough words to explain how stinking excited I am about this place. The furniture! The prices! A MG+BW outlet!! We're talking serious discounts, people. Like, run-around-and-load-up-your-basket-Supermarket-Sweep-style discounts.

I picked up this bad boy (with a little help from Mom) at more than 50% off MSRP:

It's being delivered this weekend. Suffice it to say, the battle has already begun over whose chair it will be. Mr. V and I may have to work out some sort of timeshare arrangement.

Linda in tha House!

I spent this weekend with my mom in Beaufort, SC, the town where she went to high school. It is a lovely place and I can see why she still talks about it with such reverie so many years later. It was interesting to walk down the main street and imagine my mom taking the same walk more than fifty years ago. It got me thinking about how places shape people, and how houses, in particular, can shape people. When we were house hunting I had a very definite idea of what I wanted in a house. Unfortunately, this idea of what I wanted had less to do with the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and more to do with the way the house made me feel. Thank goodness our realtor was patient, because I had an impossible time explaining this. I wanted a house with a kitchen that reminded me of my Aunt Jo's and a banister that reminded me of my Grandmother's, and a house with history that felt gracious and comfortable like one that I stayed in on vaction in Maine when I was twelve. I was always obsessed with the attic bedrooms in Home Alone and Sixteen Candles. And, at Christmas, I wanted a living room that felt like the living room in the house I grew up in. A very tall order, indeed. I've been thinking about this a lot, so I'm working on several longer posts.

In the meantime, here are some pics from the weekend:

The Bluff in Beaufort

Fried Shrimp at the Beaufort Shrimp Festival

Eeeeeeek!

We also made a side trip to Charleston. Charleston combines two of my most ardent obsessions--food and architecture--so it's no wonder I love it so much. Here are some of the things that caught my eye on this trip:

I'm desperate for real carriage doors and large gas lanterns. Also, I love the colors on this place:

P.S. Mom loves the new house. Whew!

Cheers to the new Mrs. Cross!

I think it's appropriate to start this post by saying that being married is great! I have to give mad props to my hubby for working like a crazy man all weekend to prepare for my mother's visit, while I visited with the girls and drank too many martinis in C-town. Seriously. The man scraped and repainted the bookshelves, primed and painted the entryway, cleared debris from the yard, did laundry, and entertained Olive. And he didn't yell at me when I told him I got a speeding ticket on the drive home. Actually, he laughed and called the biggest mouth in the family to spread the word. Obviously, he's a keeper.

That said, bachelorette parties are awesome.

The likelihood of attending many more is getting slimmer--single girls are becoming scarce--so enjoying them to the fullest seems downright necessary. We have to wonder, how many more nights like this are we going to get? Not enough, I say. So, here's to the soon-to-be new Mrs. Cross! Thanks for the great weekend and for kicking booty at the scavenger hunt. I can't believe you even tracked down a man with a mullet.