Hurricane Survival

The Marcey household survived the hurricane without a blip in the power. I know a lot of people are still out of power in the area so hit us up if you need a warm shower or internet access!

The hurricane actually brought on three written offers and 6 house showings for me. It was a busy and very wet day. I showed houses in dress pants and chacos and everybody else we ran into that day looked just as haggard as we did.

Sunday was gorgeous! Beautiful!! Picture perfect! The hurricane blew all of the clouds away and it was 70 degrees and clear blue skies. We played pickleball with a group of friends in the afternoon and then Derrick found us a new escape room in Raleigh. We had a few critiques of the room but overall it was pretty well done and definitely a good date night. Team Raleighwood!!

Look how happy I looked! If only I'd know that I was about 45 minutes away from getting hit with food poisoning.

Not my finest 4 hours but I'm thankful that Derrick was there to hold my hair and tuck me in....over and over and over again. I was still moving pretty slow on Monday but I'm feeling back to myself today and very happy about that. I don't get sick often but apparently I make it count when I do!

I hope you all escaped the hurricane without too much damage and had a nice, beautiful Sunday!!

Teeny Tiny Hydrangeas

Our house backs up to woods and, besides the increased spider population, it's totally awesome. Private, quiet, and the perfect dumping ground for any weeds or yard waste we end up with. Our backyard is also totally not landscaped and, besides mowing it, we leave it to its own devices. 

Until I decided I wanted hydrangeas lining the back of our woods. I think it will be so pretty and I can't wait to be able to bring them into the house after they bloom.

Here's what we're working with. 

This area on the left side of the yard was my main target for now. I figured I'd see if they lasted before I invested in more. They are supposed to be pretty hardy but if anyone can kill them, it's me.

I went to the nursery and hydrangeas were $40 a piece! For after-season, dying-blooms, hydrangeas! And I wanted four. So...I took a risk and ordered some on amazon for $15 each and these showed up on my doorstep a few days later.

I used Derrick's prime account so I got a text questioning my sanity after I made the purchase but I figured it was a risk worth taking for a savings of over $100. They aren't going to bloom until next year anyway so they have all winter to freeze up and die flourish and grow!

I laughed out loud when I was done planting them.

You can't even see them! They make zero impact right now. They are TINY!

We shall see if they grow into the 5-6 foot wide bushes the tag promises.

In other news....google fiber made one more step closer to our home today! That means these blog posts will get posted even faster!!!!

Couchity Couch Couch!

We got a new couch and it's beautiful and I love it!

Our downstairs couch was a hand-me-down from my parents and it has been great for us over the last several years. It's super comfortable and soft but it was making the room feel really dark and heavy.

My parents also gave us another hand-me-down leather couch that was upstairs in the superbowl room. The upstairs couch went to our friend's Nikki and Justin and the downstairs couch is now living upstairs in the superbowl room. All to make room for our new couch that I love so much!

When we first started looking around for a new couch it was surprising how expensive they were. We knew we wanted one that would look really good but also that would last a really long time and we knew it would be an investment. The prices were still surprising though. Then I stumbled across Interior Define.  You basically design your own couch and they hand make it directly from your order. We picked the fabric, the legs, and the shape. The reviews are amazing and they have guarantees that make ordering a couch sight-unseen a little less scary. Best thing...the prices are very good compared to other traditional custom couch places.

Also, white glove delivery is free! Most places tack on an extra $150 for white glove delivery but they include everything. It took just over 8 weeks and then we saw this glorious sight.

It's not in the delivery guy's job description to move other furniture but I offered them cash to move the downstairs couch upstairs. Derrick and I both believe this was money well spent and they were happy to do it for us.

The couch came in a cardboard box. Once out of the box it was completely wrapped in a canvas bag.

Under the canvas bag it was totally bubble wrapped and all of the edges were protected with cardboard. I was dancing around fist pumping the entire time they were unpacking it. You think I'm joking...

OMG...first glimpses of the fabric! I had a 4 inch by 6 inch swatch to look at when picking the fabric so I was most nervous that I wouldn't like what I picked. Turns out it was just as beautiful in person as it was in my head.

Interior Define has a lot of different legs to choose from but I was immediately drawn to these brass T-legs. I asked them to drill holes for future replacement just in case I ever changed my mind and they were happy to for no extra charge. I can order new legs from them if we ever get tired of these but I'm totally thrilled with them so I think we'll be keeping them for a very long time.

Ok...here it is!!!

It makes our living room feel so fancy!

The only surprise I've found out about it is the depth of the seat. My mom warned me to check the seat depths while we were couch shopping and I thought I did. It's technically the same depth as the one upstairs but the back cushions are much thinner. This makes the actual seat feel deeper. Derrick has no problems with it but if I sit straight up with my back against the cushions, my feet don't touch the ground. If I were to re-design I might make it an eensy bit narrower in the seat but I'm actually a more curl up on the couch type of person so it hasn't bothered me at all. Plus..who sits straight up on a couch? Not me! It also means there is a lot more room for napping and Derrick can fit end to end without his head or feet touching the arms.

I really love how it looks with our purple chair. It makes all of the other colors in the living room pop.

I hope you love it! We do! Derrick even says he can tell a big difference with how the whole living room feels and looks so I'm glad he thinks it was worth it to buy. He goes along with my big ideas but sometimes doesn't see the vision in my head until it's done. I'm thankful he's so trusting!

Jack at Nationals

Jack's at club nationals in Chicago right now. Follow along here:


http://play.usaultimate.org/events/USA-Ultimate-National-Championships-2016/schedule/Men/Club-Men/

Or on their twitter:

https://twitter.com/ringultimate

Or on Ultiworld:

https://ultiworld.com/live/

Jack's team is Ring of Fire. If they make it to Saturday then we'll be able to watch their games streamed!

Guest Room Quirks

I think the quirky things in rooms make your personality really come out and help a room look unique and fun. I wanted to avoid a super long post yesterday but today I thought I'd give a close up of those fun little features that made there way into the guest room. 

I really love the moose sheets I found at Homegoods on clearance. I look through the sheets every time I'm there but the fun ones are usually smaller than a queen so I snatched these up super quick.

My fabric swatches came in for the curtains and this is the winner! I really thought I was going to lean towards the Harry Potter ones I found but it didn't read as well in person. Even Derrick preferred the deer with glasses. Now I'm just waiting for the fabric to come in and I'll whip these up.

I don't remember exactly when I got this little owl but I think it was at a secret santa party. He's a tea bag holder and came with a matching mug and tea pot. He's holding my mom's earl grays for when she comes to visit!

Here's a close up of that Crosby picture in the bathroom. It's my favorite part of the room.

And the shower curtain arrived! It's kind of a hempy-linen fabric and is nice and simple. Just what I wanted. 

The tassels are my favorite part though.

And finally, the bath mat. Do you know how hard it is to find funky bathmats? I searched for a while and this was about as cheeky and fun as I could find without looking like it belonged in a kid's bathroom. I think there's a market there.

I thought our first visitor was coming tonight but Jack stayed with us last minute and got to take the room on a test drive last night. He gave it a stamp of approval!

New Guest Room

I've been working on switching up the guest room forever it seems like and I'm finally almost done! There are just a few more things I'm waiting on to come in the mail and it will be officially done. I am SO happy with how it turned out.

Here it is before the revamp. I really tried to like the green because other people liked it but I never could come around to it.

It was a hodpodge of furniture. Derrick's bed from his old apartment, a nightstand and a lamp from my room growing up, and a dresser that I found at goodwill.

For the walls, I decided to use Sherwin Williams "Silver Fox" in honor of Derrick :) We also had a whole gallon and a half left over from the living room. I painted the top 18" white and this was about the time Derrick walked in the room and asked what the vision was. It wasn't much of a looker at this point so I had to promise him that I thought it would look good. At least I hoped it would look good. My visions don't always turn out the way they look in my head.

In the bathroom, I decided to rip out the builder basic towel holders and light fixtures and replace them with brassy/gold ones. Not the old, outdated brass/gold...the newer modern version that's popping up everywhere. The bathroom isn't a huge change but paint and new fixtures definitely makes it feel less like every other bathroom in this neighborhood. Emily Henderson writes a blog that I follow and she recently redid her bathroom. I really loved the sconce she used in her bathroom but I wasn't ready to pay $400 for it. I found a similar version at Lowes for only $35, spray painted it, and wallah! It looks awesome!!

Changing a light fixture is SO easy. The hardest part about this one was getting it level. I also ran into an issue with the light box hitting a wall stud and preventing it from sitting flush so I had to run to Lowes to get a grinder to grind the box down. I'd never used a grinder before and it was pretty crazy and a tiny bit scary. After that glowing review...if anyone needs to borrow an angle grinder, I have one!

We got a queen bed from Michael and Rebecca that they weren't able to use anymore so that replaced the full bed that was in there. I bought a $35 headboard off of Craigslist and spray painted it with hammered copper spray paint. I can't decide if I love how it turned out...I'm still on the fence for the headboard but I think it's probably going to stay this color. It's more subtle in person than it looks like here.

The coffee bar needed to stay in the room in order to keep it out of the kitchen. Derrick and don't drink coffee or tea so I liked the idea of it staying accessible for guests but out of the way of our everyday. I had a vision in my head of a bar height plank stained to it's natural color. When I went to Lowes I found a 7 foot poplar board for $5/foot. It's the most expensive wood I've ever bought but the bar turned out beautifully! I love it! I angled one end so no one gets caught on a corner when they enter the room and I notched a back corner for the kurig cord to slip through.

Sand, natural stain, and polyurethane was exactly my vision for it. I'm so happy with how turned out and it fits that little corner like a glove.

Ok...enough chit chat. Here's the new room!

The nightstands are made from the leftover 3 feet of poplar I had from the coffee bar. I wanted to use every inch of that $5/foot board and I didn't want to pay for nightstands. I finished them in the same manner as the coffee bar and I am thrilled with how they turned out. The lamp is a clearance steal from Target and I'm just waiting on another one to be delivered for the other side of the bed.

I love incorporating my grandpa's paintings around our house and this one had fantastic colors. The mat was a little dated though so I cut a new white mat for it, painted a frame black and it looks awesome over the coffee bar.

The full length mirror from upstairs came down here...I'm thinking about painting or re-staining it but we'll see if I ever get the motivation.

This is probably my favorite part. I've had these half-buckets, from the target dollar spot, for over a year. I was brainstorming what to do over the dresser and I think these look awesome and make a real statement.

The bathroom is still missing the shower curtain and the new mirror but I did get this awesome new shelf installed and it features one of my favorite pictures of Crosby right after bath time.

I'm still waiting on a shower curtain, mirror, and side table lamp to come in and I'm probably going to make some curtains but I've been working on this room since before labor day and I'm so happy that it's almost done. Our first guests come in on Wednesday so I hope they love it as much as I do!

Here We Go Again!

As soon as club season ends, high school season begins. Derrick and I have committed to coaching high school for the second year in a row and it started about two weeks ago. In one sense, the timing couldn't be more perfect because it really does start up immediately after club ends. On the other hand, we have no break in between major commitments.

Our first week of practice reminded us how much we love it though and why we do it. Our kids are so good, and so fun to be around, and it's such a fun thing for Derrick and I to do together. I've heard that parents always talk about their kids, even when they are away from their kids, and we fall into that same pattern...talking about our high schoolers, planning practices, and brain storming new drills and new ways to teach.

Derrick and I have also learned how to play off of each other and have fallen into our roles pretty easily. He's so much better at teaching strategy and calling lines and I handle breaking down the basics and team morale. We're stoked for another season and are excited to watch our new guys grow and our older guys grow into leaders.

Go Falcons!