(Copyright Sarah Greenman)

I'm so excited to share that my little Tweed Cottage is on Houzz.com! I had the best experience with writer, blogger, and photographer Sarah Greenman when she came over to shoot the house a few weekends ago and I'm so pleased with the results. Check out the full article here!

In other news... it's been awhile, eh? I'm definitely not winning any blogging awards anytime soon. There's been plenty of activity over here, though, don't worry - parties, book clubs, game nights, quiet time, TV time (the most important time) and fun crafternoons. I should probably remember to start taking and sharing some pictures, huh? So that's what a blogger does! Heh.

Hope you are doing well, friends! And if you're new here, welcome!

file me away on a beautiful mess

how did i not post this yesterday, y'all?! my little ol' house was featured on a beautiful mess!! on a whim, i submitted a few photos for their 'at home with' series and was asked to share more pictures of tweed cottage and to answer a few questions.

well, i got to scrubbing (this place will never be so clean again. ever.) and snapping pictures and editing and worrying (because i worry about everything) before i said, "enough!" and turned them in. check it out.

i was a bit nervous to put so much personality out there, but i'm so happy to find that people get it. they get the jokes and the colors and the oddities and the crazy. and that's plain awesome.

if you are new here, welcome! i hope you have fun.



(p.s. fun story - that card game up there? what started as 'let's pretend to be playing cards' turned into a real-ish game of go fish, which ended in tears for one of my nieces shortly after this shot. we all went out for gelato after that, so she got over it pretty quickly. so thankful for a fun-loving family!)

the many moods of mr. jerry orbach // a recap (part one)

so, while i may not have been blogging about it, i was still dressing up my portrait of jerry orbach. priorities, right? by the end of 2012, jerry had been dudded up in 24 different looks. we saw his first six here and, without further ado, here are the next six styles of my favorite (pretend) man.

(sorry for poor quality on some of these photos - i was still snapping iPhone pics late at night for most of these!)

birthday jerry swanson wants all the bacon and eggs you've got (for my breakfast-for-dinner birthday party)

jerry orbach hopes you get lucky (for st. patrick's day)

somebunny loves you (for easter)

don't let jerry orbach fool you (for april fool's day)

jerry orbach prefers the smooth sounds of analog (for record store day)

a stellar star wars day, jedi orbach hopes you have (for may the fourth)

i have to say, jedi orbach is my favorite from this batch. i remembered at 10:00pm on may 3rd that a perfect dress-up opportunity was about to roll around. i had this made up and photographed within an hour and it still makes me laugh.

stay tuned for the next twelve looks from 2012!

tweed cottage // dining room

1. dining room 2. jerry orbach

3. bar // buffet 4. erma thompson (mary kay's personal assistant) 5. cha cha (because she's the best dancer at st. bernadette's) 6. vintage books 7. phone booth china cabinet

8. sweet dog 9. vintage pretties 10. eunice & harlan 11. henry (i'm actually related to him)

12. built-in bookcase 13. estate sale 1940s dining room table 14. the (fake) family 15. aqua telephone // red reindeer are never out of season

16. lovely old books 17. gerber baby 18. reupholstered dining room chairs 19. vintage dish collection 20. nesting doll collection (un-nested)

thanks for taking a peek at the dining room! my favorite thing about this room is the portrait collection. with the exception of henry (#11), i know none of the subjects. i pick them up at estate sales when i'm lucky enough to find one that strikes my fancy - and then i name them. cha cha, eunice & harlan, and the gerber baby were all found on the same street in dallas at different sales on completely different days.

erma thompson is a real person and was actually mary kay's friend and personal assistant since the foundation of the company. jerry orbach, not to play favorites, is totally my favorite. when i found the portrait, i was immediately taken with the style and was convinced that the face looked familiar for some reason. there was a tag on the back that simply said, 'jerry.' after racking my brains for days trying to think who 'jerry' looked like, it came to me: jerry orbach (a.k.a. lennie briscoe from law and order). i am 98% convinced that 'jerry' is a portrait of a young jerry orbach. the similarities are too striking for them not to be the same person. later this week, i'll share with you how jerry celebrates the holidays.

have a great day!

tweed cottage // living room

1. chair // accordion 2. paint by number project // amazing thrifted hand-painted pants hanger! 3. living room // ikea rug 4. suitcase record storage 5. vintage desk record stand

6. paint by number collection 7. antelope lamp base (house warming gift!) // lampshade 8. chair // picture display 9. brown-saltman vintage surfboard coffee table

10. more paint by numbers 11. paint chip art 12. a new tv (f i n a l l y) 13. accordion (for looks only) 14. bits & bobs

15. silk thread collection 16. glass doorknob curtain tie-back 17. original art collage // color inspiration

thanks for taking a peek into my living room! it's my favorite room in the house - i love being in there listening to records, talking to friends, and watching tv (i never thought i'd appreciate a larger tv as much as i do!)

(you can see the green room here and full size images on flickr)

tweed cottage // the green room

confession: i named my house. i've always loved how british homes have names, so i decided to call my little 1940s house tweed cottage because it's cozy and twee, much like the rooms within.

strong natural light and tidiness finally coincided yesterday, so i snapped a few pictures of what was supposed to be the master bedroom; instead, the green room, as it is so ingeniously called, is my crafting, sewing, computer, and music room. the majority of the items in the room are thrifted or from estate sales, but i tried to source anything else as it appears.

wall color // martha stewart sultana

bearded men, mustachioed babies, and sad face boys // ashley g

pants hangers for concert posters // mostly vintage, some ikea

i don't think i've ever shown this couch on the blog before. i love, love, love it, but it does not love me. i'm mildly allergic to wool and the colorful crewel embroidery gets me itchy and sneezy in no time. i look, others sit, lola snoozes. it is too pretty to not have.

beatles art // my crazy talented friend nathan

ricky gervais print // elloh

megan sign // hand stitched by my mom when i was little 

chalkboard paint // home depot

bottle rocket motel poster // save the bottle rocket motel

octopus love // ashley g

most of the items from my apartment (living room // dining room // office) have found a happy new home in this green room (more close-ups over on flickr), but i've really tried to cut back on clutter. it still is a bit cluttered, but more of a stylized clutter? yeah, that's it.

thanks for taking a peek - more tweed cottage coming soon! (update: living room)