Wednesday, December 8, 2010

House Crashing: Falconhead

Recently, I have acquire some new readers and followers.  First off, welcome! and thank you for joining this my little corner of the interwebs.   I don't want to be rude, so let me take a minute and show you around our home.  And when I say minute, I pretty much mean 60 seconds- our apartment is kinda small.

This is the layout of our dear Falconhead


We live in a three story apartment building, however, we are lucky enough to have a first floor apartment.  Although our privacy is sometimes compromised, it does make it easier for our guests.  Instead of having to buzz you in, or run to the main door to let them in, they simply walk up to our porch and knock on the door.


Our "foyer" if you will..





As you walk in and bang a louie, you can now see pretty much the entire apartment in one fell swoop:


When we first moved in, we had the dining table by the porch door and the buffet sat under the shelves (you can see that here).   However, once we realize how much we were utilizing the porch door, having the table directly in front of you when you walked in was rather cumbersome.  Now we have a spacious entry, AND our dirty dishes don't have to travel 60 miles from the table to the kitchen sink.

Speaking of kitchens, here is ours:


The openness of the kitchen into the great room was really something that sold us on the apartment.  I love how I can be cooking dinner and still watch TV or hold a conversation with JEGs while he is on the couch.  It really has been great for entertaining.

Surprisingly, I have a lot of people ask me if we painted the apartment, or if it was already painted when we moved in.  The answer is yes, we painted it.  When we moved in every single wall was that builder grade white, and I hated it.  I knew we were going to be here for at least two years, and I wanted to put some color and life into these walls.  So we went bold.

For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted a lime green kitchen, and I felt like this was the perfect place to do that- between the open concept living area and my plethora of neutral furniture, I was willing to take a risk.  We used Valpar's Jalapeno Jelly on the three walls in the kitchen, and toned it down by painting the rest of the great room a darker neutral with Valspar's Jekyll Club Cherokee Tan (I didn't name it, folks). 



As we move down the hall, you'll pass our one and only bathroom.  This room is huuuge, and people always comment about the size when they see it (that's what she said). We didn't paint this room because we felt like the red shower curtain and accessories were bold enough. 



I will tell you one thing:  that white porcelain tile is a pain in the ass to keep clean.  White grout + red towel fuzzies= me swiffering this room twice a week.

Last, but certainly not least, we have the boudoir:



The paint in this room is Valspar's Lighthouse Shadows, and I adore it.   I find it so calm and serene-- a perfect oasis.

Another thing people often comment about  is the furniture in our bedroom.  The two dressers and my bedside table were passed down to me, and was my paternal grandparents.  When JEGs and I moved we found a date of 1934 stamped on the back of the mirror.  I adore them-- JEGs, notsamuch.   Also, the hope chest at the foot of the bed also belonged to my father's motherand was purchased roughly around the same time the dressers were made.  When I inherited it, it was in rough shape;  a leg was missing, the stain was worn off, it wouldn't open correctly and the trim in the front was broken.  For my 28th birthday, JEGs (with the help of his friend Joey) brought it back to life by repairing everything that was broken, and Momma G ( my wonderful mother-in-law) sanded it down and restained the entire thing.  Probably the best gift I have ever been given.

Thanks for letting me show you around our humble abode.  Drop on by if you are ever in the neighborhood!

Always & Forever,
  The Duchess of Falconhead.

6 comments:

Victoria said...

I am one of your new followers - LOVE your apartment! I really miss apartments, honestly. We live in half a double right now, and the floorplan is too spread out. I love the coziness of a good old apartment. Also, I really like the colors you used throughout. I wanted to paint my bathroom a similar color to your bedroom, but ended up with Valspar's Schoolboy Blue instead. (It was painted more than a year ago and I remember the name because of the obnoxious way my husband would always laugh after he said it and add, "...because he needed the money.") It turned out a little bluer than what you have, but what you have is EXACTLY what I was looking for!

bethany said...

I've long loved your bedroom furniture! It's so classic.

P.S. Way to slip in a that's what she said joke. I laughed aloud in class. :)

Kim @ NewlyWoodwards said...

You have such a welcoming home. I like how you set up the entry area especially and I'm a huge fan of your dresser.

Amanda said...

I think the name of your paints are hysterical--Jalapeno Jelly! Who thinks of those??

Am wondering about the meaning behind the name. What is Falconhead?

Oona Johnson said...

I adore your bedroom furniture! It is soooo beautiful and timeless. I'm actually surprised JEGS doesn't like it. What would he prefer? Black and chrome with a mirrored canopy?

JEGs said...

Heck no!! I like the appearance. However...I fight with the drawers every day. First, they're a little small inside, and my clothes are quite large. Second, if you dont have the drawer COMPLETELY squared up when you push it in, and dont push evenly on both sides, the drawer will jamb, the whole thing rocks knocking things over, and causes vulgarity to spew from me uncontrollably. It then requires a bunch of yanking and pushing and more cursing to get the drawer to close. Just no fun.

Vintage furniture with updated hardware is my taste.