StyleBurbia

Being the mother of two boys under the age of 3, I am always tired.  My boys aren't the greatest sleepers.  They are always getting up in the middle of the night for some reason.  My 3 year old: to drink water, to go to the bathroom, just because, to join us in bed... My 1 year old: he has a new tooth coming in, he's sick, he just wants to snuggle up between my husband and I...  Needless to say, the bags under my eyes are not cute right now (actually, bags are never cute), hence the lack of pictures of me right now.  :) So, the other night, instead of going to bed right after my kids had fallen asleep (which would have helped reduce such bags significantly), I spent countless hours on the internet looking up random stuff.  I suddenly fell into the land of the nightlight.  Nightlights are great because they serve a purpose, but are so much cuter than they were when I was growing up.  Now they are actually decor that adds...

Happy Friday! When I was younger, I always imagined that I would marry someone from a foreign land and live abroad.  I would learn a new language and culture and my children would be bi-lingual at the very least.  In actuality, I married someone also from New Jersey and my children only speak English (well, my one year old doesn't speak at all, but still....).  You can imagine my surprise, when one of my close friends from high school, Naomi, her husband, David, and their two sons, Lucas and Easy planned on taking a journey around the world that would last at least a year.  I have to admit, I was jealous.  This was something that I definitely wanted to do!  So, Naomi and David sold their house in New Jersey and off they went.  I applaud their bravery and their desire to expose their children to as many cultures as possible.  I live vicariously through them by following their blog: Home and Away . Perhaps one day, I will follow in th...

Closets are SO important.  We put a bid on a house during our recent house search.  Though we loved the house, there was one problem- closet space.  The master bedroom had only one small closet.  It had barely enough room for one person, let alone two people to share, and there were no alternate closets in another room that one of us could use.  If you're going to move out of the city- and an apartment that actually has good closet space-you need to have ample closets.  Needless to say, the deal on the other house fell through and instead we found OUR house.  Hooray!  Though there is only one closet in our master bedroom, and it isn't huge, there is a dressing area down the hall with two closets and a shoe closet that I have decided to take over. Yeah! Finally! A girl's dreams CAN come true!  :) So, now we have to deal with redoing the closets. Let's start off with the closet in the master bedroom: Clo...

I have to admit that the rooms I'm having the hardest times with are my little boys' rooms. I have a one year old and a three year old.  For now, my one year old (T) doesn't have much of an opinion when it comes to how he wants his room decorated.  On the other hand, my older son (H) likes a lot of things: dinosaurs, robots, trucks, construction vehicles, rocket ships, etc. etc.  At first I figured I would do a space-themed room that would have an orange and blue color scheme.  I bought some bedding from Land of Nod (Crate and Barrel's kids store) and figured we would work around that. I bought this comforter and the round pillow, which pays homage to the 'planet' Pluto. I thought that I would buy a set of Land of Nod's robot sheets and a pillow or two, to mix things up a bit, while still keeping to the orange and blue theme. Robot Sheets- Land of Nod So, after all of this contemplation H told me that he must have RED in his room. Hmmm.... ok... ju...

I hope you were fortunate enough to have off from work yesterday.  Thank you, Mr.  Presidents!! So, we spent another weekend at the house trying to get things in order. We spent a lot of time mapping out different layouts for the master bathroom and the kitchen. Below are some pictures of the kitchen before and in its current state. More to come this week, so keep checking back to see our progress! BEFORE BEFORE NOW-taping up floor to try different island configurations NOW

HAPPY FRIDAY! I was searching through houzz.com for some inspiration for the new kitchen/sun room (See my previous post here ).  There are SO many images.  I included a few below for your viewing pleasure.  ;)  I love finding ideas there and on pinterest.com  (perhaps I should be honest and tell you that I am OBSESSED).  When you need ideas, what sites do you visit? What magazines do you read? To see more of my kitchen visions, check out my board on Pinterest called White Kitchen .  Here's to a weekend filled with much inspiration and many ideas. I know I'll need them! kitchen design by other metros design-build Witt Construction contemporary kitchen design by minneapolis architect by Charlie Simmons - Charlie & Co. Design, Ltd. traditional kitchen design by minneapolis interior designer Martha O'Hara Interiors traditional dining room design by minneapolis interior designer Martha O'Ha...

We are thinking about redoing the master bath and the kitchen in our new house before we move in. These are no small projects, so we have A LOT to think about and to plan. The current kitchen in our house (it still sounds strange to say this) has an eat-in kitchen and a sun room. I love the overall feel of this room and the concept behind it, but the layout of the actual kitchen is a bit awkward. The main problems are: 1) it is very long and somewhat narrow, 2) the current island is literally diagonally placed, 3) if you are cooking, you are missing out on the view and lovely atmosphere and 4) there are two support beams in the middle of the area that really mess with the general flow of the space. Would I be happy with the kitchen the way it is (with new appliances of course)? I'm sure I would be, but why not LOVE it instead? ;) So, without further hesitation, pics of the kitchen in its previous state (when the people we boug...

EmcDesignLab on Etsy.com  Only a couple of posts into this blog and I have to come up with a post for Valentine's Day, not easy! I know everyone gets so caught up in the flowers, candy, jewelry and dinners that accompany this day. Don't get me wrong, I am definitely a girl who appreciates this holiday, but I think the more important thing is to remember to show your love all year round, not just on a day that someone, somewhere made up (or more precisely Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD-thanks Wikipedia). I am, of course, guilty of not following my own advice, but isn't it better for the person you love to know that you love them ALL of the time instead of just one day out of the year? So, I leave you with a quote from my favorite love story of all time, Wuthering Heights: "he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same." Oh, and by the way, where are my flowers and heart-shaped chocolates???!!

It’s official. We are really moving to the burbs. In the back of my head I thought maybe the deal would fall through and we would have more time in the city. Everything went relatively smoothly (minus the MOUNTAIN of paperwork we had to submit to get our mortgage) and our days of living in Brooklyn are numbered.

I know. I know. Another blog. What makes this blog different than all the others out there? What makes me different than you? ... a lot of things... So, sit back. Relax. Enjoy my musings and my rants in this chronicle about life in general and our move out of the big city to the burbs. picture from nsnn.com