long post about where i lay my head at night

I've got a few new readers now, so I thought I'd give a little history to catch some of you up.

My husband and I moved our family of six to Manhattan in November of 2009. We were living in suburbia, when life hit us up side the head. My husband Rod was offered a job at a wonderful non-profit here in the city. We put our house up for sale, loaded a truck and left the mountains of Colorado behind in our rear-view mirror. People either think we are crazy or adventurous. I tend to think we are somewhere in the middle.

We've been married 20 years and were living in a 5000 square foot home. You know, 5 bedrooms, home office, media room...your typical suburban trappings. We had to Downsize with a capital "D" when we moved to New York City. Getting rid of things was quite cathartic for me. Not a whole lot of mourning over things. Our entire family was willing to embrace leaving things behind and moving into a 1200 square foot apartment on the Upper East Side. It has been a bit challenging, but living in the city has been incredible. It truly is a wonderful place to live. This blog documents our ups and downs and my search to find the perfect New York cupcake.

I've done a few things to the bedroom since I posted the first pics back in the fall. We painted the wall behind the bed. By "we" I mean my husband Rod painted to wall. The color is Sweet Bluette from Benjamin Moore. But I'll be changing it again, because it is not quite the color I was going for. I need something a little paler.

I also thought I'd give a little description of some items in the room. Everything I kept for our apartment had to be essential to living in the space. No room for a piano anymore. But the things I did keep, still have quite a bit of meaning to me. I've also gotten some questions as to where I found certain items. I'll do my best to fill you in! You can click on any of the pictures to enlarge.


The Keep Calm and Carry On is a reproduction of a poster printed by the British goverment during WWII. I found mine here.



As I mentioned in a previous post, we had to downsize from a King bed to a Queen when we moved to the city. I found the headboard for a steal on Overstock.com. My linens are part of the Hudson Park Collection from Nordstroms.


I've had this mirrored chest for years. I think I bought it at Bombay Company. I am not a fan of bedroom "sets." I know some people are, but I never have been. I'm just not a matchy-matchy kind of girl. The lamp base is from Target. (I'd like to take a moment and express my sadness that we do not have a Target in the city. I am suffering withdrawls.) The lamp shade is from Pottery Barn. And the artwork was a gift from my parents. It's a guardian angel.



I love unique art-especially if it is vintage. I found the relief map of Africa over 10 years ago in a thrift shop. It's dated 1893. The asian silk painting was bought when we went to China to adopt our daughter Lily. The little black table anchors that tiny wall and has a tin french chalet on top of an antique Bible I picked up in London about 20 years ago. Baskets are underneath for storing bills and other paperwork.


We went almost 18 years without a dresser in our Master Bedroom. We finally bought this one from Crate and Barrel a few years back. The artwork to the left of the dresser is a painting done my my sweet, southern Grandmother. She is in her late 80s now and I love having a reminder of her in our New York apartment.


The long wooden table has quite a bit of history. It has been repurposed many times. It was the very first piece of furniture Rod and I bought for our first house. It was our kitchen table. Later it became a desk for our son's room. Then it was cut down into a coffee table. In Colorado, Rod sliced it in half and added new legs to make a sofa table. Here in New York it makes a great desk and display table in our bedroom. I just can't seem to part with it and keep finding new ways to keep it around.




The vintage bottles with silver, soldered charms were made by me. The glass canister holds sand from a family beach vacation. Lamp was bought about 15 years ago from Ballards Design. The curtains are also from Ballards. The artwork over the leather chair are silk paintings my mother bought when we lived in Germany. They are over 40 years old now and are still in their original frames. Some of my jewelry is gathered in an old silver bowl that rests on my windowsill. And the little frames hold pictures of my children. The pictures are about 7 years old, but for some reason I don't want to change them out.

If you hung in there for this entire post, congratulations to you! You do not have ADD. Thanks for taking a look and I'd love to know what you think.