early christmas

friends!

we are headed to arizona for the holidays and are anticipating the early arrival of santa at our house this year. one of my favorite things about being a grownup is never having to wait if i don't want to. {did i write a previous post about needing to learn patience? hmmm...}

pictured is mine and don's christmas this year. me=shelves. him=giant t.v.

it still needs some work: the top is a mess of unmounted lights, empty frames and packaging. i'm waiting on some fun knobs from anthropologie, need to bring few more books up from downstairs, maybe add some accessories (?) or bookends, but in true rachel-coleman-fashion, i couldn't wait to show you.

look at all that space! a little part of me dies each time i look at it, room for our library to grow, our first real furniture that we didn't have to build ourselves or recover. i think i might be an official adult.

i am busy working on a graphic design job, quilts, teacher gifts, packing, cleaning, teaching piano, and also, most importantly, finishing my novel by the end of the year. so i may not be around as much. no wish lists or top ten favorite books unless i get those other things done first.

have a wonderful christmas if i don't check in before then.

love, rachel

virtual dreams (of the pipe variety)

doing a virtual search for posters for micah's room. i love this combo.

his room is still in the drywall stage with no hope of it being finished anytime in the near future. sometimes i search for hardwood that i like, or sofas. also library ladders. because you know, i have a giant collection of shelves that are so tall they require a ladder. (okay, no, i don't.) anyone else do this?

It's about time

I can be really indecisive sometimes. Especially when it involves spending money. I don't want to buy something that is low quality, but I hate to spend a lot of money. (According to the Definitions of Rachel "a lot of money" means anything that has to be bought with money from my savings account).

Can  you see the dilemma? 

At our house, picking out dining chairs has been an eleven year process. I saw some chairs that I liked in a Pottery Barn catalogue once, but they were $99. Too much for our budget. Then I saw them at K-Mart for $39. I almost got them one day, but I couldn't bring myself to spend the money. 

Time passed. Our family grew. We used rust, gold, and avocado chairs that family members and neighbors couldn't stand to look at anymore. Seating for six. Six ways. 

I decided it was time to buy the chairs. A slight problem: a company called Emeco had sued K-Mart and Pottery Barn for using their chair design. So they were no longer available there. But, I could get the Emeco brand. Only, the price for the Emeco chairs was $415. Apparently these chairs, the Emeco Navy Chair, is a style icon that has been around since 1944 when they were commissioned by the US Navy.

Still. I laughed out loud. And then I was mad for a couple of years. 415 dollars. 415 dollars! I really didn't think that an aluminum chair was worth $415. Would you pay that much for this chair?

I just couldn't do it. But, I also couldn't find any other chairs I liked. I almost bought some from Ikea. Then I almost bought some from an unfinished wood store. I tried the thrift stores and the classifieds.

But really, let's reason together. We all know the chances of finding some vintage Charles Eames chairs in Utah like my sister did are nigh impossible. 

When our neighbor called and asked for his gold and rust colored chairs back, I knew we had a problem. So I started shopping again. And I finally decided.

It's a new take on the old Navy chair by CB2: the Bandit Chair.

We bought six. And yes, incase you're wondering, I still feel sick to my stomach when I think of how much they cost, all together in a lump sum. I don't know why. However, I think I can live with it. They are 1/4 the price of the Emeco chairs, and I absolutely love them. The kids and Mr. Coleman were lukewarm about them, but I don't get my style advice from them anyway, so they are going to live with them too.

I admit I get a warm fuzzy feeling each time I think about 6 matching dining room chairs. It's about time.

Inspiration

I love Anna Marie Horner's Drawing Room fabric collection. Look at these lovely pillows I found on rubystella's etsy site. I think I will make three pillows for my bedroom in these three fabrics. Hope this gives some inspiration to my sister Angela, who is creating some artwork for above my bed. More on that later.

Enjoy.

**postscript** Angela, the names of the fabrics are: Sketch Book-Ivory, Pressed Flowers-Rose, and Nouveau Bouquet-Teal. Here's some swatches: