forget what you know.

question assumption. 
stop and wonder. 
be curious.
re-wonder.


i did this recently by asking myself if my "dining room" really needed to be a dining room? sure it's the room right next to the kitchen, but i'd much rather have a studio to paint and sand, and to enjoy a glass of wine while getting my hands real dirty. so i said goodbye to the room formerly known as the dining room!


i spent last thursday evening staining some wood and painting with minimal light wee into the night. there, happiness glazed over me.

i wonder what else in my life is posing as something because it "should be" rather than being what it could be?

home make-over.

some of you might remember when i first moved in to the barn loft. i remember painting the green wall, and almost crying. not because the serpentine color is so rich, but because it was symbolic of settling down...of making home.

saturday morning, i woke up with so many thots. they swirled and swirled until i caught them all and made them sit down on a piece of paper (well, many pieces of paper). then, out of nowhere i had a vision for my space. i quickly drew out the new upstairs floor plan & schemed when i could rearrange everything.

later that afternoon, i told my friend about this idea over a 3pm lunch, and he said he would help me move right after we stopped by the good will. so...we scuffed the floors, pushed, pulled, and turned the loft into a space i feel like i can keep growing into.

with that... here's the simple home make-over : everything i own, shifted around.

please visit brooke's site missuloveu for some whimsical expressions of all things she loves. she (and her work) are a delight.

what i realized later was that it was no coincidence that my morning thoughts were intermingled with the vision for this space. this new layout symbolizes where i'm at in life: grounded & expansive. and that's exactly what i had been journaling about.

in between....

the labor of love.

heather.steve.nat.matt.mary.ian.steph....
the manager at san jose dunn-edwards.
the several men at home depot who mixed gallons of paint.
the beautiful couple i met in sf who sold me their furniture.
the craft-y lady in oakland who sold me her bookshelf.
the avr who's loaning me a little side table.
the salesman family man who sold me his prized desk.
the generous lady in santa cruz with kind intentions.
the neighbor who sold me an old camera.
the other neighbor who gave me a crazy bargain on owls. bowls. & a shelf-y thing.
the colleague who lent me his paint supplies for all those nice edges.
the friend who spent 10 hours painting every edge and corner.
the friend's husband who carried lots of really heavy things up the stairs.

the list goes on.

i couldn't have made home w/o all these people. friends & strangers alike.

before...

i moved into the barn loft. & i saw a blank canvas.

a space that begged for its character to be expressed.
it is...to its credit...in fact a very colorful place, despite the plain walls. i mean, it's a barn!

all it needed was some thought, LOTS OF HOURS OF HARD MANUAL LABOR, & love.
simple recipe right?

check out some other angles:

hallway, looking into the kitchen.

kitchen & dining room


bathroom

going up the stairs...

view from top of stairs

far right corner



the space had so much potential that needed to get tapped into. so a tappin i did.
:-)