House Tour, Part 4

Here's where I'm going to show you some of my favorite things about our house.  What I think really makes it "us" and some of my favorite features.

First up, my reading nook.  I already showed you thjis picture, but I really love this part of the house.  I curl up in here sometimes with a book and my iPod and just shut the world off.  Or I'll crawl in and just are at the picture of paradise (actually, a picture of a palm tree on a beach in St. Thomas, taken by my sister).  I love it here.

Next, our wood-burning stove.  This sits in our back room, which the previous owners added but didn't insulate very well.  And the heat doesn't get out to this part of the house very well.  So it is consistently at least 5 degrees colder than the rest of the house.  But we light this baby up and it heats up the entire room.  It's wonderful.  I also love the two shelves we put on either side of the stove.  They hold pictures of us, our siblings, and Matt's cousins.

Next, the Rocky wall.  I already showed you this, briefly, but here is a better shot of it.  I told you of our love for Rocky here.  So when we had this corner of the room that was blank, I decided to make it into a Rocky "shrine" for Matt.  It holds his movie poster from the original Rocky, plus 3 framed photos - a picture of us with the Rocky statue, a picture from the first time I took him to watch Rocky on the Art Museum steps, and a picture of us at Victor Cafe, which is the restaurant that Stallone used as Adrian's in the 6th movie.  It also has his miniature replica of the Rocky statue and the Matchbox replica of Rocky's car.

This is a print I bought for Matt after the wedding.  I found it on Etsy.

This wall is essentially our travel log.  It holds pictures from vacations we've taken together.  Starting at the top, moving clockwise: Boone Plantation, SC; Venice, Italy; Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain; Cape Cod, MA; on top of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, France; Legare-Waring House, SC; and in the center is a pub in Dublin, Ireland.  We're planning to add a picture from our honeymoon, we just haven't gotten there yet.

Next is this print.  My sister and her husband got it for us for Christmas one year.  They found it at an arts fair in Baltimore, near their home.  They initially discovered the artist because he had a print of a sign noting the neighborhood in Baltimore where they live.  Then they found this print, and bought it for us.  I love it.  It's right at the top of our first set of stairs, so you can't miss it when you come upstairs.

Our clawfoot tub.  I touched on it when you I showed you our bathroom, but I really really love our tub.  It's wonderful for taking baths.  And, I mean, it's a clawfoot tub.  That's just awesome.

Last but not least, our wine glasses.  We've collected many over the years.  Chaddsford Winery, Linganore Winery, and Truro Winery; Disney glasses; cut crystal; Philadelphia glasses; Europe glasses; and, my favorite, our Peacock feather champagne flutes, the original inspiration for our entire wedding theme.

So that's it.  My favorite things.  I love how our house has come together.  We've worked really hard on making it a home that reflects both of us, and I think we've done well.  There's always work to be done, of course, but it's a place we love to call home.