During Kate’s recent Bay Area visit, we stopped by the Serena & Lily outlet. Although it’s a lot smaller than the one in Vacaville, it’s a lot more convenient as well. Like most outlets, it probably pays to be a regular visitor, to score the best deals.
Steve and I recently visited friends in Phoenix for a long weekend. Most of our visit consisted of catching up and relaxing; it was actually a perfect weekend! For a little culture, our hostess bought tickets for us to visit Taliesin West. I didn’t really know what to expect except that is a compound built by Frank Lloyd Wright. After our visit, I’d definitely recommend a trip to Taliesin West to anyone visiting Scottsdale.
Update in March 2023: I noticed that the 2023 home and garden tour is scheduled for May 6, 2023. I highly recommend getting on the mailing list and blocking your calendar! I am still thinking, almost a year later, about how wonderful some of the houses featured were. One tip: skip the boxed lunch and make reservations elsewhere for lunch after the tour 🙂
Sophie and I had a fun mother-daughter day spending the morning touring five fantastic homes and gardens. It truly was California living at its best! I wanted to share some of the themes I saw across the five residences, in case you’ll be renovating soon.
Reposting something I wrote following a fun visit to the Vacaville outlets with Sophie. I need to hit up the WS outlet for some Christmas crackers!
A road trip to the outlets in Vacaville may not sound like the most exciting weekend road trip. But Sophie and I have been getting a little stir crazy being at home so much. I think this is probably a feeling that a lot of you may share!
And while Kate regularly returns to Santa Ynez Valley for wine tasting when she needs an escape, Sophie and I wanted to look for a few new things to spruce up the house. So we decided to take a road trip to the outlets in Vacaville for some shopping. Namely, the Serena and Lily and the Restoration Hardware outlets.
Continue reading “Road Trip to the RH and WS outlets in Vacaville”After Amy shared her Lamorinda house tour experience this spring, I was eager to find a Santa Barbara house tour. There is a national organization called AIA – American Institute of Architects that hosts Architect Tours across the country. They have hosted these in Santa Barbara for quite a while, and I have always wanted to attend. We didn’t have one for the last couple of years, but we did in early October this year.
I’ve been curious about the housewares at Elsie Green for ages. It’s located in Concord, CA, not exactly a spot known for its cool housewares stores. And it’s close enough to Moraga that I have no idea why it took me so long to make a visit. So when Kate and Steve were visiting recently, I added a visit to our schedule.
Window washing- not the most exciting home improvement project, right? There are so many more fun house projects you can do- new furniture, new bathrooms, painting, landscaping. The list goes on! And most of these projects will have a dramatic impact on your house. But let’s face it, these projects can be expensive and very time-consuming. These days, it’s hard to find a landscaper or contractor. And if you do find one, it might take months to get on their schedule.
But why bother with window washing?? What possible difference can it make in how you enjoy your home?
One of the main highlights of our ongoing renovation has been the Santa Barbara main bath remodel. Not to say that the basement redo and the adorable guest bath weren’t very satisfying projects, but the main bath has been the tops so far.
This bathroom was a mess. There was a tub, a single vanity, toilet and shower when we moved in. The space was dated, and it wasn’t laid out in a particularly useful way. We needed a bit more space, so we eliminated the hall coat closet and some cabinets to add square footage to this room. Losing the cabinets wasn’t a huge deal; we have more than enough storage in other parts of the house.
The big reveals continue with our Santa Barbara guest bath remodel! We always have at least one fun bathroom in our houses. This time, it is the guest bathroom. There were tubs in the main bath and the guest bathroom when we bought the house. We got rid of the one in the main but thought it would be good to keep a tub for a possible future family buyer. Steve and I don’t really use a tub much… mainly because we are in a drought and it feels wasteful to use so much water!
The time has come to share a few of our home remodel reveals! I thought I would start with the bathroom and laundry room in the basement of our Santa Barbara house remodel.
When we first moved in, last Fall, Amy described our downstairs bathroom as similar to one in a cheap motel! (note from Amy: wow- that was kind of rude of me!) It had a plastic shower insert and was pretty tight. Judge for yourself from my earlier post, but it definitely needed a significant refresh. We were able to grab a bit more space for the shower from the bedroom and are quite happy with the outcome.
