Free Engagement Photoshoot Contest Alert!

Fabulously talented Portland photographer Eric Chan of Clear Imagery Photography is offering a free engagement session to a lucky couple! To enter, simply submit a picture of you and your fiance and write a short blurb about why you should win.

Here are some samples of Eric's work:





Deadline to enter is: January 31, 2010.

Baby it's cold outside

We've woken up the past few weeks with dried, itchy feeling noses and parched throats. With temperatures dangling in the low teens, our central heat has been going non-stop! Then it hit us: our atmosphere was too dry! We haven't had time to go to the store so the past few days, I've been boiling pots of water and making soup just to get water into the air. We also bring up a hot cup of water to place on our bed side tables. It serves two purposes: a tiny bit of steam and water within reach when we wake up gasping. After a few nights of that though, we were determined to just make time to get the humidifier. After some initial online research, wewere kind of horrified by things going wrong, burning, fires, and decided to place a tentative hold on it.

Instead, we decided to try an air purifier first. I suspected the itchy nose feeling to come from our tempurapedic bed. Also, it has this smell that was really strong when we first bought it but even after 4 months, it still lingers. Although the company claims it's not carcinogenic, I cannot help but be worried. So, to ease my mind, we got this Honeywell HEPA permanent air purifier for about $170 at the local home depot. We left it on for a few hours in our bedroom but we woke up the next day without itchy noses! Yay! It's supposed to help with smells too so I will have to try it out the next time I cook. Right now, it is going full blast in the living room. I like how light and portable it is. It's a huge unit but I can carry it easily and move it from room to room. We haven't been able to open any windows for weeks now so this really freshened up the house. The only con is that the noise is rather loud so I haven't tried using it as we sleep.



We still woke up with parched throats though so we decided to ask around for suggestions. We looked at several humidifiers but in the end, got a good ole' fashioned Vicks Vaporizer that SIL recommended. Hubby used it growing up and hey, at $15, we were willing to give it a try. The smell is kind of plasticky in the beginning but I expect it will dissipate over the next few uses. Maybe I should move the purifier back into the bedroom for the night.



The last thing we did was get a portable Brita water pitcher to keep upstairs. Our fridge downstairs has a built in filter. This way we'll always have clean filtered water within easy reach. So now, armed with our purifier, vaporizer, and water filter, we are ready to brave the coldest nights!

A shoe-in!

I love the layout of our house. Upon entering, you see a dining room to your right and a hallway that takes you into the great room. We're not sure what to do with the transitional hallway that links the two but right now, we have a console against the hallway wall. I am in love with these panel mirrors from Ballard Designs. They emulate windows and would make the hallway brighter and more expansive.



The only concern we have right now is where to store shoes. Asian people all remove shoes upon entering the house and we are no exception. We have shoe racks in the garage where we enter, but I don't want a cluster of shoes all over the entry way when we have guests. We have a tiled entry that is about 5 x 5 ft but there is no space to place a shoe rack. Also, since our dining room is right next to the entry, we don't want want shoes to be visible from the dining table. It's just not appetizing, ya know? Regular shoe racks seem so out of place. How can we conceal shoes but make it easily accessible to our guests so it'll actually be used?

We originally thought about placing wicker baskets under our entry media console a la pottery barn. We even measured different baskets to make that it'll fit!



The problem with that is people will probably not pull out the baskets to put their shoes in it. They will also have to plop their shoes on top of each other and it'll just look messy. I doubt the guys would care much but speaking as a gal, I wouldn't want my dainty shoes smushed by giant man shoes.

So what do we do?

The answer my friends, is blowing in the wind. IKEA of course!

We've seen these shoe holders at the IKEA store but wasn't sure if it'd fit right. I thought about it some more, went online, checked the measurements against our current console, and realized that it's just about the same dimensions! It is a few inches less in depth but it's still deep enough to provide a nice ledge for small decoratives.



At $99, it's a lot for shoe storage but we could probably use that in lieu of our current console. The unit holds at least 8 pairs of shoes. When our guests arrive, we could just tell them, "go ahead and place your shoes inside the console". Wouldn't that be perfect? We plan on getting a runner from the door to the dining room. That will keep the carpet clean because it'll outline a clear place for them to walk! Brilliant! Our entry way is long enough for us to even use two. What do you think?



There is another option that could work too. We could keep the current console and place this tower between the door and the dining room. It is available in white, black, or red. We'd probably use white because our baseboards and molding is white. It's 60 inches tall and fits perfectly in the space. The depth of 7 inches is just enough to place a small ivy plant or small framed pictures hung on the wall atop it. It would define our dining room and hallway a bit more too. This unit fits at least 6 pairs of shoes. Not bad, but I think we'd have more then 6 guests over at a given time. There is also a small open space for people to put hats or small umbrella, or even more decoratives.



I'm leaning more towards the 2x2 design. It has knobs instead of a fabric pull and just looks more polished. What do you think? Which one do you prefer more?

Oh my doily!

During my morning ritual of french press coffee and Design Sponge today, I came across the most beautiful and perfect rug! I love lace but doilies generally eem a little too fussy to be used in common decor. Somehow, when magnified, the rough texture of the cotton ropes make this much cooler and modern. This is a lovely handcrafted doily comprised of knots and twists. The designers behind this masterpiece are so creative!



Isn't it just exquisite? Majah want!

Decorating Ideology

Well...we've been trucking along for the past few months now and slowly adding pieces to our little nest. Although our future plans are uncertain, we are very happy and fortunate to have purchased our house and qualify for the blessed First Time Homeowner's Tax Credit. If not for that, we probably wouldn't have purchased so soon because we may not even live in this area much longer. It's a lovely home though and I can imagine raising a young family here but it all depends on work/commuting. We really just wanted to get in when the market was low and the incentives were high.

In the meantime, I cannot allow myself to get too attached to it otherwise I will be heartbroken if/when we leave. For that reason, I have taken to referring it to our "first house" although I doubt our "second" or "third" or what-have-you house will be much nicer! If we move to OC/SoCal, we could probably only afford a little townhouse! Even so, our house is wee bit of a financial stretch as it is so we've had to be frugal and slow to decorate. (New handbag or a media console? No longer do I hesitate!) Hubby is very practical and insists on getting the necessities first: sofa, dining table, TV while I gravitate towards finishing touches: matching soap dispensers, hand towels, plants, candles etc. It will be a year yet before I feel like it's finally "done". That's part of the charm though...I love a fresh canvas!

Before hubby and I got married, we used to muse about what we'd do when we had a house. We'd talk about drinking hot cocoa in front of the fireplace, snuggled up with a warm blankie. Now that it is wintertime, we can do that! Except we don't have a snuggly blankie err...throw. ( I had a really cheesy title name for this post...something along the lines of "throes of passion" but it looked too much like something out of a bad Victorian romance hehe.) I thought about getting a throw in an accent color for our neutrally colored living room but I am more drawn to textured, luxurious neutrals. Lately, I've been attracted to the plush feeling of (faux) fur.

This white one from Pottery Barn has vintage mink designs and looks so soft and welcoming! At $119, it's rather expensive especially since it is dry clean only. I'm not sure if it'll be too overpowering draped over our sofas.


Then there is this one from Macy's Hotel Collection. At $109, it's not cheap either and it's not nearly as luxurious as the Pottery Barn one, but I've felt it at the store and it feels soft and dreamy. It's not as thick so it will probably drape better on the sofa.



I will keep an eye out on both. When Macys has a sale, the prices get cut drastically. I found a Barbara Berry quilt (retail $400) for $50 during Black Friday. We didn't get it because it wasn't a necessity and didn't go with our decor but that is just one example. Another, more painful example, were a pair of crystal orb lamps that I found on cyber Monday (nearly identical to the ones we purchased for $100/ea) for $89.99/2! I should have gotten them yesterday too because now they are back up to $100/ea.

After Christmas sale is where it's at!