the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016

via Fresh Farmhouse Tumblr

Happy New Year! Its hard to believe the holiday season is over and my two week vacation has ended. While I tend to experience a little bit of post holiday blues, this year I am actually looking forward to a calmer January and February. 

A quick recap of our holiday schedule - on the 23rd we left for Northern Michigan and made the 10+ hour drive north. It rained the whole drive..... We arrived to a very warm, no snow in sight Harbor Springs. The lack of snow required some re-adjusting from our usual course of activities and traditions but we managed to find new things to do and just enjoyed the time to relax and spend time together. On the 28th, we got a nice big snow storm just before Jeff had to drive back to Missouri to work for the week....I ended up staying north a few more days and finally returned to Saint Louis this past Friday to spend the New Years weekend with Jeff and Jeff's parents who were visiting from Chicago.

That brings us to today - the 4th of January 2016! Before launching into the New Year, I would like to use today's post to look back on some of the more notable events of 2015.

The biggest happening of 2015 at THE PLACE HOME was definitely the complete relaunch of the website in August. It took almost the whole summer to design, plan, organize, build and relaunch but it has totally been worth all the effort. The site now represents the business in its entirety as well as beautiful images of our home and I couldn't be happier with it.

Speaking of our home, this past year we tackled a pretty sizable list of projects that I shared about here on the blog. 

- Laid new flooring in the office and guest room (formerly known as the project room)
- Painted and had a custom cabinetry piece installed in set guest room
- Refinished our stairs and added a runner
- Installed new lighting in our upstairs and downstairs hallways (realizing just now that I never shared pictures of these two projects...ops)
- Had our basement flood several times resulting in the installation of a sump pump
- Purchased our dining room chairs with some help of my parents and friends who transported them from Michigan
- Flipped our living room with our dining room creating a much better layout for our first floor
- Scored amazing antique twin bed frames for our second guest room
- Had our jungle of our yard totally cleaned up - complete with new landscape beds and grass (a project that I keep meaning to post about here but have yet to do so)
- Purchased a new sofa for our living room
- Continued to plan and redesign our first floor renovation

Finally just before the years end, we purchased an amazing antique brass bed on Craigslist for our other guest room. Listing it all out makes it feel like we have done a lot but also that we have so many more projects to go. My mind is just running wild with what we can tackle in 2016.

Two other big highlights from the year are the TPH feature in Sauce Magazine and Ladue News. 

I want to conclude today's post with a big thank you to all the readers and clients who made 2015 such a great year for THE PLACE HOME. Here's to 2016!

urban exodus

Christmas week is upon us! Its been a little hard to get into the spirit of things between busy schedules and travel but this past weekend we were able to take some time at home and enjoy some festive activities - Christmas movies, holiday parties, hot chocolate and cookies. This morning, I woke up feeling ready for vacation and excited for things to move at a slower pace - even if its just for a week. So while this post isn't holiday themed, it does honor this time of year by recognizing people who have taken a step back from the normal chaos of life and are choosing to live more simply. 

I just recently read about Urban Exodus in the current issue of Modern Farmer. Created by Alissa Hessler when she moved from Seattle, Washington to Camden, Maine, the site celebrates and shares the stories of young urbanites choosing to leave "the concrete jungle for greener pastures" (Urban Exodus). Seeking to represent a realistic picture of both the struggles and rewards of living a country life, the site interviews people all over the country who have made the switch. 

Each story follows a similar format of questioning with pictures of the interviewees spaces to go along with it. I have only read a few of the pieces top to bottom but I like the repeating question format which gives an understanding of what makes all the stories similar yet different. 

The site also includes stories of "Urban Havens" - urbanites who bring the best of the country to them. So many great stories to read so head on over to the site now. 

wall fans

The overheard light/fan in our second guest bedroom has died. This comes as no great loss as the thing was about the ugliest fixture you could find. However, it does bring about some conflict in our house as Jeff wants to get a new fan with light and I am adamant on the no light + fan combo. I caved and broke my rule of no lights in ceiling fans (read this post) for our other guest bedroom and I absolutely despise the thing. I selected this Home Decorator's Merwry fan from Home Depot and while it looks ok in the picture - its not. I wasn't home when it was installed which was a mistake seeing as I would have never put it up in the first place. The blades are shiny and don't match the motor and it casts the most horrible light. Needless to say, I dream of replacing/destroying it. 

In our second guest bedroom, we have just the one overhead electrical hook up. An obvious compromise would be to do a center no light fan and then have cans installed. However, that would be much more of an involved project than we are looking to tackle. So while I am confident I could hold my ground this time and refuse the light + fan, I did want to at least attempt to find a solution both Jeff and I could be happy with. Enter the wall fan -  vintage in style and would provide the solution of having a wall fan and then an overhead light fixture. Bingo!

Matthews Fan Company makes the most beautiful ones out there but we will most likely opt for one of the cheaper ones from Home Depot or Lowe's and then refinish it. Take a look at these examples below. Now just figuring out where and how to wire it....

Have a good weekend everyone!

from top left - Michelle Parede fan by Matthews Fan Company via All Modern - Michelle Parede fan in brushed brass by Matthews Fan Company via Lacquered Life - Melody fan by Matthews Fan Company via HGTV - Fanimation fan via Lowe's - Home Decorator's Bentley II fan via Home Depot - Home Decorator's Bentley II fan via Home Depot - via Lonny -  Harbor Breeze fan via Lowe's - Land of Nod nursery