{welcome} Here We Go...

Growing up, I was always happiest sitting at the table with crayons or pencils - so much so that, because I didn't have a middle name, I spent a great deal of effort trying to convince my parents to legally change my name to "Angela Artist."   Fortunately my parents suggested I wait until I was older to make that decision (by then, of course, I had changed my mind), but they did get me a set of personalized pencils emblazoned with my unofficial "full" name.

As a teenager, I spent hours drawing floor plans, and in high school I was the only girl in my drafting class (all the boys were all envious of my very precise architectural handwriting skills).   I had aspirations to major in architecture until it came to my attention that architects don't just get to design pretty things, but that they, in fact, must design buildings that also won't fall down.   So, physics not being my favorite subject, I found myself on a path to law school.  It wasn't until I was hurrying home from my contract law class each afternoon to watch Trading Spaces that it occurred to me that there actually was a career in "making things pretty."  If only interior design had occurred to me as a “job” a few years sooner I might have taken a whole different direction in school.  But instead, art and design are my creative outlets - the things that keep me up into the wee hours of the morning after my little boy has gone to bed for the night.   And my husband, Scott, being a very good sport, is always along for the ride.

When Scott and I got married, we lived in a condo in downtown Denver and we spent all our free time making those 900 square feet perfect for us.   But when the opportunity arose to buy a home in our favorite neighborhood (with room to grow), we jumped at the chance.  It has been an interesting experience moving into a very modern new-build in the middle of a historic neighborhood where not everyone is happy to see homes like ours popping up.   But the neighborhood has over 100 years of different architectural styles, and I like to remember that once upon a time all those 1950's bungalows were the new-builds among the 1890's Victorians.   And it's that continued evolution that I believe has kept our neighborhood such a fun and happy place to be!

We were very fortunate to move into a new home that didn't immediately need major renovations, so we have been able to focus our efforts the last four years on making it our own - which is a never-ending work in progress (just the way I like it).   Now that our family has grown to include one very adorable and active little boy and another baby on the way, we are constantly making adjustments and additions to create the perfect family home for us.

That's where this blog comes in...  I frequently have people tell me, "Someday you should come and help us with our house" and I've started responding with, "Don't tease me!"  So I thought, why not start a blog to share my decorating and organizing adventures and inspirations?   And now­­, here it is - what I anticipate will be an ever-growing collection of the projects that keep me up at night and make me smile when I walk into a room (or open a closet, as the case may be). 

Thank you for taking the time to visit, and I look forward to hearing from you (fingers crossed you'll have nice things to say)!