Starting ‘Over’ Story

In my last post, you read about my very good news. Recently, I was informed of a company called Compass that is currently based in NY and DC that uses people’s personality and interests in order to help them find a place called Home. They have a series called Starter Stories where people have been sharing the journey of their starter home. I thought I’d share where I am in my journey as well.

In 2009, my husband and I started over by moving a thousand miles from home after a very challenging period in our lives. A few years after moving, we decided to put down roots and buy our home. I can definitely say that it was a bit of a nerve-racking experience. We looked at places for months. We put in offers, fell in love with other houses, until we got to the one that we live in now. When I walked in, it was completely empty. I  wasn’t very sure about the house yet and it wasn’t love at first sight for me. I walked through the living room, then the dining room, through the kitchen, and eventually ended up at a large empty room. When I saw it, I knew this was the house for us. Now, I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else, right now.

The other ‘start’ that is adding to the joy and love of our home is our sweet little baby that we tried for 4 1/2 years to conceive. With a baby due to arrive in 4 months, I’ve been nesting pretty hard. We’ve been setting up the nursery, painting walls, doing gardens, and purging. It’s funny how we are getting around to a lot of the things that we’ve always wanted to get around to. Knowing that we have a little one on the way has put a rush on a lot of the procrastination, so we’ve been doing amazingly with our timeline of organizing our home. There’s still so much to do but I think every homeowner realizes that once you change something, you’ll notice all the other things you want to change.

Our home has been a place filled with many new beginnings. We started a new life in a new city, adopted our sweet little dog Milo, and we are starting the journey of parenthood. We couldn’t have asked for better firsts.

You don’t have to be perfect to start. If you fail, don’t be afraid to start again. xoxo

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Modani Furniture

Our home is a reflection of who we are, as is our personal style. If I think about what I typically like to wear, I can definitely say that my home has many similarities to my closet.

Recently, I’ve been introduced to a furniture store called Modani that sells furniture at both physical locations and online. They have a large archive of furniture and home decor for every room in your house.

I picked some items from their store and made my own personal mood board.

I tend to be very fickle when it comes to designing my home, which is why I always choose neutrals for my big pieces. If you’re in the market for a new focal piece, check out their variety of modern sofas.

I choose large neutral pieces so that when the mood doth strike me, I can inexpensively change throw pillows, drapes, or other accent pieces that can completely refresh my room without breaking the bank.

I also really love bursts of color, hence my pillow choices and the beautiful sunny bookcase. Mixing patterns is another part of my M.O. Sometimes my pattern mixing isn’t overt, sometimes I like to break up shapes with different shapes, like adding a round mirror to break up the angles in the rest of the pieces. With my clothing choices, I tend to be very subtle in my pattern mixing.  At home, I love being surrounded by color, patterns, texture, and shiny things (my husband may like shiny things a little more than I do).

To find something special for your home, check out Modani Furniture at Modani.com.

Getting Organized: Entryway

I have always been an ‘everything in its place or it will be on the floor’ type of person. I’ve also been pretty cheap in the past. If I found something I loved, I would typically purchase the next best thing because I didn’t want to spend the money. I am NOT this person anymore. After years of doing this, I realized that it doesn’t work to get the next best thing if you have the option of getting the best thing.

When it comes down to organizing, you have to ask yourself, “Self, is this efficient? Is this working for me?” Be prepared to be brutally honest. Disregard whether the methods or tools you use to organize is cheap or good enough or even expensive. The only way to measure if your money was well spent on whatever methods you used to organize is if you are now organized. Did it work? If you’ve set up a system for organizing and it still isn’t organized, it didn’t work.

Sooooo, I’ve been having to take stock of where my organization is failing and what is actually working for me. This is when I realized that I need more stuff. I need stuff to put more of my stuff in…hahaha…ridiculous.

One issue in many households is the entryway. A lot of things get lost in translation here. Before you know it, you have a pile of shoes, a pile of mail, and a pile of other crap you’ve unloaded either on your way in or out.

Here are a couple of pictures of my entry way prior to reorganizing it.

 

This was not working for us. The shoes were piling and looking crazy, and so was the tower of mail on the table. Thanks to our local Ikea (and by local, I mean 2 hours away), we were able to find a great solution to make our entryway transition more seamless by organizing that area with the Hemnes shoe cabinet.

Here are the progress pics. I had a long day so there is a cup of coffee on it. So what? Sue me. Seriously, don’t sue me.

It isn’t perfect as yet, but I know that this system is working because this area doesn’t really get messy anymore. The drawers on this unit is perfect for storing keys, dog leashes, or other small items that you typically carry in and out of your home. The other 2 larger sections beneath the top drawer holds 6 pairs of shoes per section, on average. If you have smaller feet or if you’re storing flip-flops, flats, or sandals, you can get away with a lot more.

The next task for this area is adding some color, more of our personality, and a section to hang things (we don’t have a coat closet of anything). I can’t wait to see what it will look like when it’s finished. Then again, I like changing things around so much, so is it every really finished? It will be a surprise to us all.

xoxo

In other news…

I’ve decided that I want to start posting random thoughts, things I find interesting, and other musings in what I’m calling ‘In other news…’ because sometimes I have random things to say or share quickly. So there’s my explanation. Now, just let it happen.

1. I’ve developed a sudden interest in gold home decor. I’m in the process of planning and implementing decor in my office/studio space at home (I will share before and afters later). I don’t know why, but I just noticed the deer above the cork board frame. I actually pinned one I like earlier today.

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2. I hate asking myself everyday, “Self, what’s for dinner?” This is why I am trying out Emeals. More on that later.

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EMeals: Paleo Day 1. Breaded Turkey Cutlets w/ Spring Salad, Apples, Walnuts in a olive oil, apple cider vinegar, raw honey dressing. #paleo #foodstagram #pcos #pcosaa #pcosawareness #emeals #nofilter

A post shared by Satoya Foster (@satoyafoster) on Feb 3, 2014 at 4:51pm PST

3. This snow art dude is pretty amazing. I can’t imagine the amount of walking and planning that was necessary to get these cool patterns.

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4. I have a new family member and he’s super cute. Meet Milo. If you know me, you know why his name is Milo.

5. In reference to #4, he’s named after this.

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