Summers End

Well, here we are again. The end of Summer.

I tend to only post here in the Fall. The hot days of Summer hinder my creative mind and I spend most days just trying to find the motivation to keep the house tidy and cook meals for us. But as soon as the days start to shorten and cool off a bit I find myself consumed with creative ideas and new recipes to try. I'm filling notebooks with everything I think I can manage before the years end, and this year I'm hoping to be able to find the time to put those ideas and recipes here as they come too fruition. 

That being said, let's talk about last summer.

Most of my friends know the wolf and I live in a unique house. 

It's a converted space that has taken many forms in the years the wolf has lived here, and many more since I moved in. When we were teenagers, the room we use as our main living space and kitchen was a band room filled instruments and bookshelves filled with old art projects. Our bedroom was an open air structure that lead into the horse corral, and our bathroom and hallways, didn't exist. 

twenty years ago in his late teens, the wolf built our bedroom with the help of his father and friends. The snippets you might see of the vibrant red walls with black crown molding and gothic sconces are the product of the brooding mind of an artistic 19 year old with a love of BMX and death metal. 

I haven't changed much in there, I swapped out a couple curtains, added some dark florals and new bedding, and a few decorative things here and there. I think about painting it constantly, but I haven't, and I'll get to why later. 

Our living room and kitchen have been a non-stop work in progress 

for a few years. The kitchen worked out pretty quickly after we added a rustic island and barstools, a couple rugs and shelves. The living room space didn't really get wrapped up until earlier this year when we finally found a sofa to fit our oddly shaped front room, and I am constantly moving around the artwork until I find the right fit. We didn't need the living room space for years because I had my altar room that my followers and friends got so used to seeing in my posts, and it held my antique sofa and coffee table for us to lounge on if we wanted. That room has since been turned into our new bathroom, and the surrounding hallways.

So about last Summer, we spent the entire time, less a couple weekend getaways, 

building a bathroom from nothing. We had to completely gut the entire space. we spent weeks using a secondary access to our bedroom at night so the cat wouldn't get out, we had tarps up, cardboard covered floors, insane amounts of dust, and endless pivots as we worked out how to get a decent bathroom in the already cramped space. But we did it. It took the entirety of Summer, and some of the Fall, but we finished it (well, almost) early last October.

We're still working out tiny details, but we've had the bathroom finished for almost a year now, 

and its really, finally starting to feel complete. We decided to go lighter with this room, lots of green, cream and a few warm touches, brass fixtures and clean tiles. The final product feels fresh, and bright, and reminds us of all the cute little Airbnb's we've stayed at together over the years. Honestly, being that we lived without a great bathroom for years, we had a tendency to choose our vacations spots based on how great theirs were. No regrets. 

It took weeks, or maybe longer to choose each piece. 

The tile was the hardest part, because the good ones are insanely expensive and the decently priced ones are grey. We looked through so many grey tiles it was painful. Our local Home Depot was the easiest place to look at samples, but the options were so cold and uninteresting. After a few weeks of scouring the internet for something we loved that wouldn't break the bank, we found, on the HD website no less, a Spanish tile we could have shipped to our local store. It took a while to get them, and we had to reorder at least a third of the original amount to make up for all the breakage that occurred during shipping, even though we had ordered extra to begin with for this very reason. But in the end, we had enough, and it was even better in person. A perfect mix of matte terracotta with glossy white accents, it makes the room feel elevated and intentional. We tiled the shower with simple glossy white tiles to keep it lights, and offset the slightly higher price of the flooring. It turned out perfectly.

At first I thought I'd end up sticking to a sort of Spanish resort style,

but as with every room in our home, the whimsy crept in. Butterflies, and unicorns, and silk flowers in vintage pottery. I opted for simple green linens, minimal art, and a rattan mirror I purchase years ago because I saw it on Pinterest, in a bathroom no less, and knew that one day I'd create a space for it. And wouldn't you know, I did. I found the fig leaf vanity lights on amazon as much as I hate to admit it, but being that we knew this wasn't going to be a forever space, I wanted the vintage look without the vintage price tag. There are plenty of little thoughtful details throughout the room, but we felt best being able to finish it in a decant amount of time rather than slowly curate each piece over a long period of time like we do with most rooms. I won't call this project an instant gratification one, because it took half a year to complete, but once it was done, only a couple of aesthetic things needed to be added in the weeks and months after all the real work was completed.

Of all the projects we've done around the wold den, this is easily the best.

I spent countless hours looking for materials while the wolf built the entire thing nearly from nothing, and it was a test for both of us. Our house was ripped open and tarped up day after day, it was dusty, and hot, and frustrating for sure. But we both agree it was worth it, and our home feels so much more cozy and complete now. Just as we're getting ready to...move.

But that's a story for another time. 

I'm planning the full bathroom tour in October, you'll find it on Instagram within the next

couple weeks, along with a glimpse of the new living room space, and our Autumn decor.

For Fall this year I'll be posting recipes, craft ideas, and a new Altar series, 

starting with a simple jam recipe coming up next Sunday, the 27th.  September is a busy month, but I'm excited to be back here. and sharing a little bit about our little life.

Thanks for being here.

-M