Hello Heartbreak

For quite some time now I have been scouring home stores, craigslist, and ebay for this very specific pair of chrome lamps.

Here is a picture with the lamps.  I have seen them in various other photos but none I can find at the moment.

(pointclickhome.com)

Finally last week I found an ebay listing for 1 lamp and at the time it was $26.  Thanks to the listing I was able to figure out all the info for the lamp.   It was made during the 1960's by Laurel.  I then did a search on ebay and found a pair for $825 (way out of my price range). I googled the lamp and found another pair on 1stdibs.  This pair was selling for a whopping $1800 (and since the $825 pair was out of my price range, clearly not even 1 out of this pair was an option).

I thus began my daily stalking of this 1 lamp for $26.  Fast forward to yesterday, the ending of the auction.  I open my ebay 10 minutes prior to the end of the auction and the price is at $41.  Still tolerable and still an amount I am willing to pay considering how long I looked for this lamp and how much it appears to be worth.  I don't bid until under the 2 minute mark.  Apparently the high bidder has a very high max bid in and I start getting very anxious and continue to bid well past what I had told myself and my husband would be my highest bid.  Still, I lost. Bidding ended at $122.50 (only because time ran out and I couldn't get a new high bid in).  

Ebay situations like this break my heart for 2 reasons:

1. I did not get the lamp. I really, really, really wanted it.

2. I lost. I hate losing.  I can honestly say I am one of the worlds worst losers.  Ask anyone I know. They will agree. 

Enter heartbreak. I lost, and I have no new pretty chrome lamp.

THE List

I figured I should probably make one nice long list of the things we need to get done in our home.  I'm hoping I'll actually be able to start crossing things off someday.

1. Finish deciding on color/design of living room

2. Find buffet/cabinets for living room

3. Find coffee table and ottoman for living room

4. Find console/pieces for entry

5. Find new dining table (will post more on this depressing story later)

6. Outdoor furniture for deck

7. Find someone to refinish deck

8. Pick out and actually purchase curtains for living/dining room

9. rug for living room

10. paint desk for office/get new cabinet doors for ikea console

11. Find daybed/sleeper sofa for office/guest bedroom

12. shelving for office

13. Redo downstairs bathroom (expand/add shower)

14. Redo upstairs bathroom (get rid of shower/add claw foot tub from downstairs)

15. Elfa in our master closet once we have the new shape

16. new comforter/accent pieces for bedroom

17. new washer/dryer/figure out what to do with our laundry room

18. new closet doors. shave down bedroom door

19. Redo refrigerator side of kitchen. new cabinets/new refrigerator/built in seating/island

20. New floors upstairs.

This is a very daunting and scary list. Yikes.

Swooning...

Over this kitchen.

This Kraftmaid Ad on the back cover of many of my favorite magazines has me oohing and aahing.  I love the simple glamour of this kitchen with the creamy sparkly backsplash and the gorgeous chandelier.  I also love the contrast between the white  and the dark brown.  I'm hoping to someday turn my very blah white kitchen into something fabulous like this.

Hello Lover...

I love everything about this one. The couch. The pattern. The color. I even the wall.

Although this table would not be my first choice - I absolutely love the chairs.

I'm thinking this would be perfect in our guest bathroom, the same place I'm planning on putting our claw foot tub.  I think they would be a perfect pair.

I'll be quiet and let you enjoy the rest.  

All of these above images are courtesy of Horchow.  I have a Love-hate relationship with this store.  I visit their site frequently and fall in love over and over again with pieces like what you see above.  The hate part comes in right after I have finished my swooning and get a look at the price tag.  Maybe once we are a little more settled I can make some purchases like a mirror or a small piece of furniture.  But for some of their items (decorative pillows that cost literally hundreds of dollars) I don't think I'll ever be buying. 

Say it Ain't So...

As I stated in my first post, my husband and I just bought our first home in October (October 31st to be exact).  Immediately my time became consumed with looking at inspirations for decorating our home.  I began spending lots of time at Borders looking through home design magazines.  Domino of course quickly became a favorite of mine.  A few weeks ago I purchased their book.  I was so excited when I purchased the book because it came with a free subscription!  I ran home with my purchase, filled out the little post card and handed it to my post man (post lady really).  

Of course, within days of this I begin to see the posts on my daily parusing through blogs - Domino is closing its pages.  Go figure. I'm so jealous of all those that have been lovers of this magazine for years and were able to collect all their beautiful images.  I, on the other hand,  had collected a lousy 2.

Well as soon as I find out, I came up with what I believe to be a genius idea - ebay!  I purchased a few magazines the week it was announced that Domino was finito for just a few dollars a magazine - fabulous.  I only bought about 5 that week.  Now they are about 20 dollars a pop which I'm pretty sure would give my husband a heart attack if I showed him any magazine that I spent 20 dollars on.  So I'm waiting it out and frequently stalking ebay for the suckers that are still willing to give them away for a couple dollars.

Bummer.

Hello Blog

I became a lover of the blogging world while planning my wedding last year. I was married in October and a week later we moved into our first home. I went from a daily visitor of Snippet & ink, Style Me Pretty, and In This Instance to hourly stalking of Coco & Kelly, Cococozy, and Mrs. Limestone. (These are a small list of the masses I visit daily). I love seeing the creative geniuses out there that turn weddings into fabulous personal events and homes into stunning spaces that stop me mid-scroll.

Having our first home is so exciting and at the same time very overwhelming. We purchased a condo unit in a vintage building (built in 1903) in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. The unit was "updated" 19 years ago but needs a lot of TLC, as well as furniture, paint, and some renovating. I hope to use this blog to document our road from an old home with lots of potential to 'our home' that we are in love with every inch of.