Risque ceiling attire

I apologize for yesterday's absence, but between house happenings and job searches I was a busy lass.  Things are moving along on a certain house, but I'm keeping the details quiet until everything is certain, otherwise we run the risk of getting really excited and then way too bummed if the deal falls through. 

But I will share something with you.  The house is chock full of the cheapest light fixtures you can find, and when put up against beautiful natural woodwork it just aggravates the situation.  So I've been stuck on looking at new light fixtures that can stand on their own in the lighting vs. woodwork main event.

West Elm Capiz Shell Chandelier

Shades of Light Burlap Chandelier

Ok, clearly I have a thing for big rectangular chandeliers that are mostly out of my price range.  So maybe those will have to wait.  But, one thing that will not wait is correcting the oh so common Boob Light extravaganza that has over taken homes across America.

Image from www.modnest.ca

They're everywhere.  For a long time, I thought it was a weird issue that only I had, but then when watching Sarah's House on HGTV (Seriously, the show is addictive and Sarah is a genius), her super fantastic sidekick Tommy Smythe looked up at the ceilings in a house they were redoing, and upon seeing the light fixtures exclaimed, "Boobs belong on babes, not on ceilings!"  I squealed in joy that I wasn't alone and immediately adopted that as a mantra.

The man behind the mantra

There should hopefully be some moving and shaking with the house happenings this evening, so maybe there will be news tomorrow? 

Actual House Hunting

Aaron and I have been casually looking for a house for about 5 months now.   Our apartment is fantastic, great location, cheap rent and tons of space.  Unfortunately, not quite enough space for us anymore.  He screen prints t-shirts and baby onesies and I mess around with spray paint and fabric and the dog would probably appreciate a backyard (the cat seems pretty ok with her current situation).  Now it doesn't help that we decided to start looking when winter hit (slim pickings) and with wanting to stay in the city, we face the challenge of a ton of the houses being broken up into apartments.  But, we've still found some to look at.  Yesterday we went and checked out a place within walking distance to where we live now.  Single family, 1900 square feet, asking price: $84, 900.  Here's the pictures that made us call our realtor on a Sunday night in an excited panic: 

All the light, all the detail, all the hardwood floors!  Get us in there!  And get us in she did indeed.  The first 3 rooms definitely did not disappoint.  However, while waiting for our realtor to arrive we started taking a peek around the outside of the house and found this:

"Well, ok," we thought, "Let's give it the benefit of the doubt.  Maybe it just looks really bad on the outside and once we get in the basement it will all be alright."  Although, neither one of us really believed it having had a bad experience with foundations and house hunting a couple months ago (we were under contract and ready to go and then BAM! Home inspection from hell).

Alas.  Here's what the basement turned up for us:

 

And in case you can't spot it in that picture, the wall was also bowing in pretty badly.  Here's a picture of me standing along side the wall, looking down the length of it.

 

Along with a variety of other issues (majority of the windows were cracked, water damage on the dining room ceiling from the bathroom upstairs, teeny bedrooms, etc), this pretty much sealed the deal for us.  Goodbye, beautiful wooden pocket doors and wooden staircase.