Wednesday, May 23, 2012

People are fascinated by pocket windows

Really, they are. But I'll get to that in a moment....

We're still a bit giddy with excitment from Sunday's event! Sure, it was a lot of work. And yes, by Saturday (when we were knee deep in mulch, dusting, mopping, hiding random crap in closets, etc.) we were ready to throw in the towel. But in the end it was totally worth it.


What started out as an architechtural tour 14 years ago, has slowly morphed into a 'see what people are doing with their homes' tour. It's a nosey man's dream come true! I don't think I can count the number of times the husband asked "why are we doing this again?". But I can tell you my answer was always the same--because we love our house & are happy to show it off!

Throughout the day, we consistently received the same comments about our home--how open & airy it felt, how deceivingly large it was once you were inside, how great the wall colors were & how well they flowed (which was news to me since 1. I've personally grown tired of the colors, and 2. sometimes the mix of beiges, grays & bright greens--with all of our crazy accents--feels like the inside of a circus tent). We were asked the typical questions we'd been told to expect--where did we get something, how did we make/do this or that, and what renovations we put into the house. Sadly--in addition to all the fun stuff we've done to this place--we had to admit all the non-fun stuff like replacements of the roof, furnaces, electrical, etc...snooze-fest!

I think one of the greatest comments came from a woman who loved our house because it was 'stylish and liveable'. What a huge compliment! We're all about making our home look great, but we don't ever want people to think they can't put their feet up on the coffee table or toss some pillows on the floor to get comfy on the couch. That's totally how we do things around here! Taking second place for compliments was a kind lady who remarked that HGTV should come by to take some photos of our house. I don't know that we're HGTV worthy at this point, but it was certainly nice of her to say! Overall the compliments were grand and kind, and by the end of the day the husband and I were sweaty and beaming with pride (contrary to popular belief, an 85 degree day in the middle of May is not the best day for a home tour....just sayin').

But I suppose you're wondering the top three things we were asked about all day long! So without further ado...

The pocket window



It's kind of hard to tell from this craptastic picture, but see the window to the left? It's a pocket window/door. For those of you not familiar, it functions like a normal window, but opens into a pocket in the ceiling (and based on that outstanding description, I'm beginning to wonder if a video tutorial would have been the way to go here...). At the beginning of the tour the husband foolishly asked me if he should remove the blind so that people could see how the window functions. And in my best 'I'm the wife & I know best' attitude, I told him to keep it on because no one is going to ask about it. Well, who turned out to be the fool? Not 5 seconds after uttering those words, 3 men came running over asking the husband for a presentation (needless to say the blind stayed off for the remainder of the day). People are super fascinated with this thing. I can't say the same as I'm crawling & performing acrobatics to get out onto the porch. But I suppose it's one of those features you don't see in most houses. The husband and I could not get over how many times we were asked about this window. You never know what's going to be on people's radar!


 
My mom's quilts



 
And this one in particular! People also wanted to know about our fabric window treatments & endless pillow covers. Yep, all my mom! She was around for part of the day to answer questions (she needs a business card!). But this was hands down one of the more frequent things people asked about all day. I commission my mom & her sewing skills on a regular basis, but I never realized just how lucky we were to have someone to do this stuff for us when we ask! 


 
My jewelery boards


 


Not in a million years did I think people would be asking about these. Mostly because I've had them for so long, and I just look at them as functional (not fascinating) at this point. They're $12 cork boards that I picked up at HomeGoods years ago. I had every intention of painting the frames...and then, well, life got in the way and I've had more important things to do since then. I got tired of wearing the same jewelery day in & day out, and this was an entirely fool-proof way to ensure that I'm wearing most of my stuff on a regular basis. Funny story, but when our house was robbed, the cop who responded to our call remarked that nothing had been taken from my boards. Well, duh...you're looking at around $50 worth of Forever 21 jewelry here! Theives are dumb, not stupid.

So there you have it! A little recap of this weekend's house tour. On the agenda this coming long weekend? Finally enjoying our tidy & organized home! 

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