It took a week of heavy lifting, sorting, cleaning, selling, and donating. We are out of the old and into the new. I thought I'd reveal the house in stages, starting with the reason we bought it- the backyard. Our house sits on a lot and a half of roughly landscaped, wide open wild lawn that butts up to county acreage behind our back fence. We have a baseball field.
Read MoreI feel like we just did this. A couple of days ago I crept up into the attic and dragged out the moving boxes. As just about everything is approved and signed off on, and we are set to close next week, I have to accept that we need to pack it up and move again. Believe me, I am overjoyed that we are finally going to be landowners, but packing up a home for the second time in less than two years isn't exactly a party, especially because we really moved into this place, filling every nook and cranny with our things. Extricating ourselves will be a big project. I'm starting with the front and moving my way back. It seems that I have acquired a few chairs since we moved here...
Read MoreWhen we moved into our new home, we were overwhelmed by the amount of space we gained. Well, we are gaining even more. The master suite had been converted into a studio apartment at some point in the last few years and up until last week a very nice guy named Bradley had been making it his home. As sweet as we are, I'm sure the 6:30am bike riding sessions outside his front door helped him to take the plunge and move in with his girlfriend. The space hasn't been updated in several years, so over the next few weeks the kitchen will be dismantled, and the carpet pulled up and replaced. I will be stripping wallpaper for the first time, and taping (good grief) and painting around a lot of windows. It'll be worth it, for the extra bathroom alone. I can't decide if I'm more excited for the additional closet space and garden view or that the kids will have their own wing of the house to trash behind closed doors. Here's the before pictures...
Read MoreWhen we moved to our Montclair house 4 years ago Jasper was 2 years old, and to help him understand where his new place would be we nicknamed it "The Bunny House", because of the tacky, now sentimental cement rabbit adornment on the front steps. We kept it in it's place for him and at some point it mysteriously gained a little bunny friend. If you've read this blog before, you know that lawn art is not really my taste, but when making the move from Oakland to Petaluma this past weekend, I put a little something in the backyard outside the guest cottage to remind us of home.
Read MoreSorry for such inconsistent posting last week. I'm knee deep in boxes and our moving sale was a real time sucker, but by all accounts a big success. I learned a thing or two about organizing a multi-family sale, including keeping the numbers straight. Here are my top 5 tips...
Read MoreMake + Haus is the new name and online home for the blog Poppy Haus. Established in 2011, the blog archive now contains hundreds of original design projects and whole food recipes, many featured on the likes of Apartment Therapy, Martha Stewart, Design*Sponge, Curbly, and Epicurious.
