It’s time to redo the entire house. Okay, so there’s no way Sasha would buy that, given that we freshly painted every room 12 months ago, but the Rifle Paper Co. wall paper collection for Hygge & West just launched, and I’m utterly obsessed. I truly thought about how each print would fit in one room or another in The Manor – I love the safari print for Isla’s room? Maybe an accent wall? And we could totally redo one of the bathrooms with the pineapples! How fun is that print? And I need the peonies in our laundry room. What do you think of the collection?
Catching Up on Life
Last week was beyond busy with work, which left absolutely zero time to take a mental break and blog. So, to catch up…
> Our engagement pictures were recently featured on Style Me Pretty’s Little Black Book Blog here
> I finally ate at Coppa and Roost (twice) after they’d been on my “must eat at” list for ages and obviously had to add them to my Best of Houston: Restaurants and Coffee list
> We had the best time in Durango: hiking, ziplining, river rafting, and cycling – house above, more pictures soon!
> Celebrated Pierson’s first birthday and Bryan’s 25th! I love birthdays so much.
> Bought this striped chair for our entryway – final pictures of the Manor to come soon!
> Purchased tickets to The Book of Mormon for next weekend… seriously cannot wait
> Found out that we’re going to be Door Openers at Passion 2014 in Houston
> Headed to San Francisco for a day (here now) – fourth time in this beautiful city in 2013 and cannot complain about that
Gallery Walls
I love gallery walls. Like, obsessed. One of the few things left to be done in the Manor is hanging stuff on the walls. For some reason, Sasha is afraid to make holes in the wall, so he’s pushed back on me about all of the prints I’ve wanted to hang. I’ve convinced him to do a gallery wall in one of the guest rooms, and I’ve laid everything out on the floor for another in the study. I’m still not sure it’s perfect yet, so decided to pull some inspiration. My favorites below! What are your thoughts on gallery walls?
Tour de Texas
Sasha was in Austin all last week for class, so I drove to meet him on Thursday. We spent Friday eating breakfast at Kerbey Lane, working from the AT&T Conference Center (where we were staying), then getting lunch at the flagship Whole Foods, going paddle boarding on Town Lake (so much fun!!!), getting drinks at Abel’s on the Lake, then cleaning up and meeting some of my favorite people for dinner at G’Raj Mahal (amazing). After dinner, Sasha and I walked back to Town Lake to watch the sunset on a dock, then trekked across downtown Austin to go back to the hotel (via the Capitol and TCBY, naturally).
On Saturday, we were back at Kerbey Lane for breakfast (it’s that good), then headed to San Marcos to visit one of Sasha’s fraternity brothers. They live on this amazing 100 acre ranch with the most gorgeous Restoration Hardware inspired house. They have two gorgeous blonde girls of their own and have adopted three beautiful kids from Africa. I honestly did not want to leave.
Afterward, we went to Gruene for lunch at the famous Gristmill restaurant, next to Gruene Hall (Texas’ oldest dance hall). We walked around this quaint Texas town after, then got in the car and drove to San Antonio (hence, the Tour de Texas post name). I met two of Sasha’s high school friends and their precious three kids – a newborn who I didn’t want to put down. We went to eat at Scenic Loop Cafe and Bar, which was delicious – great outdoor dining spot with live music and gorgeous strung lights.
We woke up early on Sunday and headed back to Houston. We arrived home to the West Elm storage bench we ordered ages ago. Hoorah! Not many more pieces to go until The Manor is complete. The busy weekend ended with family dinner at Indika (one of my favorites, as expressed in my ‘Best of Houston: Restaurants and Coffee‘ post). It’s Houston Restaurant Weeks – my favorite time of the year.
Happy Monday!
A Growing Print Collection
I officially move into The Manor when we get back from the wedding, and I cannot wait to take care of all the finishing touches so we can think about throwing a house warming party. I love photographs (obviously… or see title of this blog), so they are in frames all over the house. I’ve also been adding to our print collection – I’m going to have a gallery wall in the study and one of the guest rooms. Our prints come from Etsy, Furbish Studio, Minted, Wantful, Paper Source (wrapping paper!), and Rifle Paper Co. We have some others on our registry, and I’m sure I’ll continue to add to the collection over the next year as we finish hanging things on the bare walls. Where do you find your prints?
1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9 // 10
fireplace image via fourthlake