Merry Christmas!

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas!  

Run My Renovation: The Final Chapter

I know, I know!  You all thought I had already milked it for what it's worth but I have one last post to share about our amazing attic renovation and then I'm done.  Promise!

The pictures and video are now on-line for your viewing pleasure!  The following pictures are courtesy of the DIY Network.

As for a link to the video, I can't directly link to it.  But if you follow this link: Run My Renovation Full Episodes and scroll all the way to the right, you'll see ours.  It's called "Amazing Attic Conversion".  And just a warning, the first video in the queue starts automatically so if you're anything like me, make sure your volume is turned down so you don't jump out of your seat when it starts.

And if you're new to my blog and have no earthly idea what I'm talking about, following this link to get caught up on all my posts about our attic renovation courtesy of the DIY Channel:  The Brick Cottage Run My Renovation.

Snow Day!

Aww, yeah!  We had a couple of inches dumped on us last night.  The city is closed.  Bryan is working from home.  My doctor's appointment was canceled (woo-hoo! I was not looking forward to that).  And I'm about to cook some chili in the crock pot.

Looks like I won't be going anywhere today!

 Some colorful neighbors

And now let's bring on the PUPSTER!

 She decided to dive head first into a pile of snow while walking.

When we got back home, she took it upon herself to create a masterpiece with our yard.

 

 Taking a moment to admire her handiwork! 

 Yard officially Bindi-fied!

And yes, it is as much fun as you'd imagine getting off the ice balls that her fur picked up.  Ultimately, I had to stick her in the bath tub. And she is now exhausted and napping hard.  And I'm going to warm up with a cup of hot chocolate.  

Nosy Neighbors Take Two

On Sunday, Bryan and I once again played peeping toms. 

This years tour was made even better since the entire time it was snow flurrying!

Thanks to the 22nd Annual Historic Old North Knoxville Victorian Holiday Home Tour 2010. <--Be sure to click that link to view all the houses on the tour.  And click here to view my post of last years tour.

I'm not really sure why they call it the "Victorian" home tour since there are so many architecture styles represented (which in my opinion is the best thing about old neighborhoods; they're full of unique and interesting houses!).  From Dutch Colonial Revival to Craftsman Bungalow to Queen Anne's Cottage to Neoclassical; all were represented this year.  

There were several houses on the tour this year that caught my eye last year.  Such as this house:

Bryan and I toured this home almost three years ago when we were house hunting.  We fell in love with it but it was just a tad out of our price range.  Coincidentally, while talking to the producer of our Run My Renovation episode, we discovered that he bought this house.  Not only that, but he and his wife owned my favorite home store in Knoxville, Abode (that sadly closed last month).  So to say that I was excited to tour this home is an understatement!

Here's a peek at the inside of their home.  I asked if I could take some pictures and the owner was nice enough to allow me to.  This bicycle was purchased for $20 and hung on the wall!  It's such a great example of inexpensive, unique and impactful art.

Another idea I loved and took away from this house is they commissioned a local artist to paint custom pieces for them.  As a result, the pieces are large and perfectly fit the walls (not to mention the personal sentiment behind each piece).  I took a quick snapshot of one such piece:

 And one last charming detail in this house was their kid's bathroom.

There's a tree in the bathroom, people!  I can only imagine the excitement that elicited from the kiddos. And now I'm going to move on to the rest of the tour (I don't want these owners to think I'm a complete psycho stalker--I think he was leery enough when during the reno I informed him how I had pictures of his house on my blog.  But, he went on and told me he'd be on the tour this year, so I believe he was fairly warned. :) ).

To my surprise, that was not the only tree in the bathroom on the tour.

It was such a fun surprise to look up and see this tree above the shower.  You just never know what you're going to find in old houses!

This house was not on the tour but I'm hoping it will be next year!

This is just a sampling of what we saw.  All in all there were ten houses on the tour.  And just like last year, I was reminded not to obsess about all the small details that are wrong with our house (like our botched floor re-finishing job that we did and someday I will post about) and focus on the beauty of living in an old house.  

 Three cheers for old houses!

It's a Small (bloggy) World!

So, last Thursday was an especially exciting day for The Brick Cottage.  I linked up to Southern Hospitality's vignette party because I was especially happy how my Christmas decor in our dining room turned out.  Bryan and I were really busy on Thursday night (we were cleaning like mad people because an appraiser was scheduled at our house the following morning--we've decided to re-finance!).  So at about 11:45pm, Bryan climbs into bed and I decide to check my email to see if I had any comments from the party.  A minute later,  I go tearing into the bedroom (just as Bryan was reaching to turn out the lights) shouting:

"Oh my GOSH, I just got the best comment ever!"...

Then I read him these comments:

And Bryan's response, ever so nonchalantly, "oh yeah, Katy.  She's cool, you'd like her".

My reply: "BRYAN, why did I not meet her while we were living in Florida?!!!".

And then I ran and got the laptop so I could check out her blog, Happy Bungalow. 

Here are the first two pictures I stumbled upon:

At first, I thought these were inspiration pictures, but no, this was Katy's Thanksgiving table.  Isn't it gorgeous?! She hosted this year and she set up the table on her porch!  Ah, the joys of living in Florida.  I could not imagine a better way to enjoy a delicious meal!  I then tried settling into bed with the laptop (at this point it was well past midnight) and Bryan ever so politely asked me when I'd be turning it off (you know, since he had to be at work in seven hours).  I closed the laptop and set my alarm so I could get up bright and early to read the rest of Katy's blog before the appraiser arrived.

If I would have stumbled across her blog prior to this discover, I would have instantly became a follower.  Her house is beautiful and old (a 1920's Craftsman-which means she has a lot of future blogging material).  I am so excited to see what she does with her house and am even more excited to know that she is my cousin by marriage.  We've already emailed each other back and forth several times and I might have invited us over to her house this summer (I have no self-control when it comes to old houses!). And it is uncanny the number of things we have in common that I'm really looking forward to this visit!

So if you have a moment, go over and check out the Happy Bungalow (and read her account of discovering the cool coincidence--and yes, I blushed while reading it--and for whatever reason blushed upon seeing my picture on somebody else's blog.  Yes, I am weird!) and become her follower.  You will not regret it!

And I'm curious, have any of you had relatives or old friends stumble upon your blog by accident?  Isn't it an excitement like no other!

Christmas Vignette's

In our house, the holiday decor only extends to two rooms, our living room and our dining room.  The living room is where the tree lives and of course the mantle gets spruced up.  And speaking of the mantle, thank you all who weighed in on the decor that shall stay up for the remainder of the season.  The results were a tie (with two votes each, ha! possibly I should blog on a regular basis? :)) between "Holiday Sparkle" and "Natural Holiday".  For now, "Holiday Sparkle" will remain (it looks so pretty with the candles lit at night) and "Natural Holiday" has been re-purposed in a dining room vignette.

This project started with these wooden frames that I picked up at Target back this summer.

At $3.48 each, I thought they were a good deal and I picked up nine (in retrospect, I should have picked up twelve to really fill the wall space above the buffet).  I knew I wanted to paint them gray but was at a loss as to what to put in them (and am still trying to decide what to do after Christmas).  Tuesday night, I was feeling crafty and remembered a set of filing folders that I purchased a while back (in March actually as seen in this post) and decided to quit feeling guilty over that impulse buy and put them to use.  So I cut the folders down to size and had three prints to choose from and three solid colors.  To make things move quickly (because that is sometimes the only way we can get things done around here), I chose to only cut and paste designs on four of the frames.

They make me really happy and who knows, since it's not overly Christmas, I might leave it up to get me through our dreary, gray winter day's we have in East Tennessee.

The other vignette that makes me insanely happy is the one on our server. 

I actually borrowed the two vases filled with ornaments from our mantle. :)

The colors just do me in!  And weirdly enough, even though I love blue and greens, I seem to steer clear of them when it comes to decorating the tree but I love to fill vases with those colors. These little blue ornaments have been filling my vases since 2005.  I need to find more because I manage to break at least one every year.

 

And one last shot of the room again:

I hope you enjoyed my vignettes.  I'm linking up to the vignette party over at Southern Hospitality.  Make sure you pop over if you want to see tons of inspiration!

More Mantle Madness: Another Christmas Mantle

After seeing all the great mantles over at Layla's mantle party, I had to join in on the fun!  And I didn't want to link up with one that I've already shown, so I've re-arranged our mantle once again.

This one, I dub our "Holiday Sparkle" mantle.

It was very difficult to photograph and looks much prettier in person.  I'm looking forward to seeing it all light up tonight along with our Christmas tree (which I completed last night--well I decorated it, can't say it's complete).

And now I want your opinions (pretty please!).  I would like you all to weigh in on which mantle you like best and I'm going to use it for the rest of the season (no more switch-a-roo-ing).  Plus it'll help me get the rest of the house decorated (and by the rest of the house, I really only mean the dining room).

  Option 1: Cheery Holiday

Option 2: Natural Holiday

Option 3: Holiday Sparkle

All three mantles look good with the tree and the rest of the living room so vote on the arrangement you find  most appealing.  

And of course, I'm linking up to the party!  Head on over for some beautiful mantle eye candy!