Jen Bowles Design

Holes

We are tackling some home improvement projects on the new house.  And by tackling I mean hiring a few people to do the stuff that we aren't comfortable doing.  So far we have holes of various sizes in our dining room wall, ceiling and floor.  Additionally, we have a 2"x3" hole in the wall above our fireplace.  Someday, hopefully soon, these holes will be patched in their place we will have an expanded opening between our dining room and kitchen and a fully functional home theater with our 46" plasma television and 5 surround sound speakers mounted on the wall with nary a wire in sight. 
Soon.
Hopefully.
In other news, I painted the walls in the family room (really bad lighting in this picture, I'll have to take another) and I have a new chair for my desk--only $69.99 at Marshall's!
Wish us luck!

Dish Love

Had a successful day unpacking several boxes of kitchen and dining room items today which of course has me thinking about dishes.  I brought only 2 of our everyday dinner plates with us (we had a collection of several in sets of 2 or 4) because I was ready for a change.  I've finally taken the plunge and begun to purchase new ones, just a few at a time.  I haven't bought these dishes but they certainly caught my eye... Check them out here, at West Elm

Happy Birthday Ebby!

Guess who turned 11 today?
We celebrated in style with ear piercing and nail painting (and breakfast out, presents, multiple cakes, a party and s'mores over the fire bowl in the backyard).
Love you girlie!!

Happy Birthday Boys!

My baby boys turned 8 today.  Happy Birthday Cuyler and Will!

Boston Design Center

Took the train to the big city yesterday and visited the Boston Design Center with my mom.  If you have even the slightest interest in interior design, the BDC is the place to go for inspiration.  If you're a wanna-be interior designer, it's like being a kid in a candy shop!
Take a peek at some of the pictures  here.

{Pictured is a bedroom in the Ralph Lauren showroom.  Yum!}

Settling in--trying anyway

We've officially been in our new house for 2 weeks today.  Feels like a lot longer!  While it doesn't look quite as bare as these (before) pictures, we still have plenty of unpacking to do.  And then the real fun begins.  As in painting and decorating and rug shopping and fabric selection.   I have a collection of paint chips, a portfolio of magazine clippings and sincere desire to know how to make a digital mood board (as seen on blogs like This Young House and Making it Lovely).  I'm pretty sure it doesn't take too much in the way of Photoshop skill to make some kind of basic digital mood board, but I haven't sat down to try to figure it out yet.  Instead I have paint chips taped to the wall and a vivid imagination.
When I grow tired of unpacking boxes or pondering the new color scheme, there's plenty of space outside to explore and refresh oneself.  The old owner's had a small vegetable garden that they actually planted a few things in for this year, including peppers and tomatoes.  Despite being dwarfed by weeds (that I mowed yesterday), things are growing and we may be able to harvest a few yummies shortly.  What I've already begun harvesting, and by harvesting I mean eating off the bush, are raspberries and blueberries.  There are several bushes in the garden and they are lovely.  And delicious.  I did take the step of buying bird netting at Lowe's last week, and judging by the number of birds we have in the yard, I'd better get it installed soon.
I'm also hoping to get inspired to take a few more pictures to post.  Just wait until you see my new basement studio space...
Have a good week!

Flickr Mosaic Game

Late this afternoon we finally finished unloading our 4th and final POD into the new house.  I guess that means we're all moved in now.  As for unpacking, that's another story...
Instead I was browsing around and saw this mosaic game posted on someone's blog and decided to play along.  Feel free to join in!

Here's what you do:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.

And here are the questions:
1. What is your first name? Jennifer
2. What is your favorite food? pizza
3. What high school did you go to? Hingham
4. What is your favorite color? robin's egg blue
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Matt Damon
6. Favorite drink? strawberry banana smoothie
7. Dream vacation? Hawaii
8. Favorite dessert? key lime pie
9. What you want to be when you grow up? interior designer
10. What do you love most in life? peace
11. One Word to describe you. creative
12. Your flickr name. fertree33 (cheated a bit on this one and just put in one of the photos on the first page of my photostream)

{all photos from flickr, see links here}