Urban Country Mom has Moved

You can find me at www.hometownperch.com

Itching to Buy

I've got the itch and I've got it bad. I have my eyes on a house. It's a great house. I've mentally moved in. But the problem is that we won't be ready to buy until March 2012.

I keep telling myself, 10 months will go by quickly. But as I sit here listening to the 18 wheeler idling outside my window and realize that the fruit packing warehouse we moved next to is now in full swing and will probably be hopping nearly 24 hours a day from now until September, with way too many 18 wheelers to count sitting, literally 7 feet from my window, 10 months might just feel like an eternity.

So until then, I'm trying not to obsess about "The" house. But I'll share some designs that would work great in "The" house that I'm not obsessing over.

Like this kitchen:

via houzz

Or this kitchen with that great floor!

via houzz

And this guest room. Perfect for my mother-in-law:

via the borrowed abode

This for the entry...

via Design*Sponge

with this blue door.

via pinterest

And raised garden beds for the one acre lot:

via houzz

And can't forget the pool. Because no one acre lot in Washington's wine country is complete without an inground pool.

via houzz

So as these 18 wheelers idle outside my window, I will not obsess about "The" house and just enjoy the fact that my kids are with 6 other kids on the block, screaming, playing in the water and making their own block party. That makes this temporary stay worthwhile.

Shopping Local

There is a darling shop here. I almost missed knowing about it. I had driven by many times but didn't stop. I assumed it would be stuffy and pricey. I was pleasantly surprised and completely delighted. I stopped in yesterday looking for dresses for an event I have this weekend. I found two contenders and could have bought more. I had looked at all of the big stores in town, Macy's, TJ Maxx, Old Navy. I found a few things but they were more than I wanted to spend or not very original.

So I stopped into this darling little place called Patina in the historic downtown area. They have unique clothing, shoes, jewelry, housewares and best of all original art from local artists. A very brief bit of history; we used to have a shopping district downtown. There are reasons people believe it failed. I have my own theories. Stores went away. The mall closed and moved south into a small town bordering our town. It's not the same. It's not a great place to shop. There is nothing interesting,unique or fun about it. It's more of a chore to go there. So I'm thankful for shops like Patina that are off the beaten path and committed to quality, good prices and style. It makes me want to open up my own little shop to sell something, anything.

There are other local shops that I will be visiting this summer. I look forward to new discoveries.

Here are some photos of Patina. Can't you just see the coolness?

City to Country to City Again

Nearly two years ago, when we moved from Seattle to two acres in my former hometown we had some adjustments to make. Like not having any neighbors. Walking the garbage can what felt like a quarter mile down the driveway. Being able to hear a pin drop at night. Entertaining ourselves by talking to the cows and feeding the horses. Having to explain to the pizza driver for the umpteenth time how to get to our house since it wasn't right off the road.

We recently moved into a townhouse/duplex community. And there are new adjustments. Reminders of our Seattle days although this is no Seattle. New noises to get used to, like the apple packing plant right behind our unit that is sure to get busier and nosier as apple packing season picks up. Reminders that there will be parking space issues. Mail delivery issues. Note to self: next time we move do not choose a place right in front of the community mailbox. You just might get a nasty note from the mail carrier about your mother-in-law's car being parked too close to the mailbox no matter how far forward she pulls. Note to mail carrier: that thing you drive, it has reverse.

But the best adjustment. The one that makes my heart sing. Friends. Neighborhood friends. At this very moment the girls are playing with children they go to school with. Growing up my memories of playing with neighborhood friends, many that occured in this very same neighborhood, are my fondest memories. I'm so glad they have that again. But that's not good news for Stella the dog. She was their sole playmate, well other than the horse and the cow, since we brought her home last summer. She's heartbroken that they have left her in the house to play with their human friends. She'll adjust just as we all have.

Quick Couch Fix

I fell in love with a couch...online...on sale....had an online code for another 25% off.....AND figured out a way to get it here without paying shipping. I still couldn't justify it. We know we will be moving soon. We're not sure if we will be renting for another year or buying. So I just couldn't justify spending a dime of our down payment on a new couch. And I couldn't stand the thought of getting it on sale, with a discount and putting it on a credit card just to pay interest. That would kind of make the sale price null and void.


I was feeling sorry for myself and my tired couch. There were strings hanging out all over the cushions from Stella's claws and the fabric was looking a little dirty. I went to TJ Maxx to browse away the blues and found these darling paisley pillows:



I bought four. So for a mere $68, a good scrub with the shampooer and some time cutting all those annoying strings the couch went from this:

To this:



And the best part is, Stella still has her favorite sunning spot.


I started making an Ottoman slipcover with some old linen curtain panels I had. It's not working out like I had hoped. I might have to go with Plan B. And it's probably time to replace that lamp shade. Or go back to TJ Maxx and pick up the lamp that I had in my cart that I put back out of guilt. It really would have been perfect.

Designing for a Future, Unknown Home

Our house hunt has been put on hold. It doesn't mean that we won't be moving we just don't know the plan right now. It's complicated.

Until then, I will continue to collect design inspirations for whatever future home we have.

Hopefully we have a fireplace in need of some love so I can do this project by the Lettered Cottage

http://theletteredcottage.net/?p=220

I love Amy Butler fabrics for color and pattern in the girls' rooms. Pinks and greens for curtains in Taylor's room, blues and purples for curtains in Kendall's room.

http://www.amybutlerdesign.com/mainmenu.php

What I know for sure is that we will need some new furniture. Our couch is too small and is showing its age. I couldn't believe it when I walked into Bi-Mart yesterday and saw this couch on sale for $244! Seriously, it's real leather, has great modern lines and contrasting stitching. I may just need to pick up two, even though I have no idea what our future living room will look like. I love the idea of matching couches facing each other in front of a fireplace. Symmetry brings me joy.

And while we are on the topic of moving and designing a yet-to-be-determined home, I am definitely back to wanting a one level, spacious rambler/ranch home. In fact, there is one that was on the market for a long time, didn't sell, they rented it out for a while but the renter lost his/her job and so the owners moved back in. Here is hoping that they want to sell it when the time is right for us and we can get a killer deal. I'm a dreamer.

Let the Fun Begin!

We have been pre-approved. Soon we can tell our landlord to take his 40% rent hike and shove it. Let the obsessive house hunting begin.

I've watched the market closely since we moved back over a year and a half ago and I'm pretty sure our future home isn't on the market yet. So until it is, I will be obsessing over Craigslist, stalking neighborhoods I like and checking email first thing each morning to see what new MLS alerts hit my inbox.