Happy 3rd Birthday baby girl!

Happy Birthday, sweet baby girl.  We made you cupcakes as a fam.  Maren ate 2:)

We love you so, Haddie.

Mom, Dad, Maguire, Maren and Scout

Happy Birthday!

Happy 2nd Birthday, sweet Haddie.

A morning family selfie for you on your special day!

We imagine you are making a tea party for Grandma Frank and Berk today:)

We love you,

Dad, Mom, Maguire, Maren and Scout

Forever in love...

"Whispers of love silently heard, felt in the heart without any words..."

Happy First Birthday, sweet Haddie.

Hadley Judith Frank, January 22, 2014.

The Kosher cooking lesson...

It's Tuesday, time for a funny story.

As previously promised, we would share the good, the bad and the embarrassing as it pertains to our ventures in home ownership.

Welp, this story falls into the latter category:)

To give you a little background, our oven broke last year.  It was a slow demise actually.  One button, such as the 5 would stop working.  Then a few days later the 7 would go out.  Once the 3 kicked the can- we knew it was time for action. 

Luckily, we were still covered under our home warranty, so all we had to pay was $75 to have the Sears repair guy replace the electrical panel.

This is not the fanciest of ovens- it's an Amana.  But it is a convection oven which is nice (or so people say, I've never actually "convected" anything:)) and it has worked without incident since we had it fixed.

That is, until the daylight savings time switch.  We woke up on Saturday morning (after a glorious extra hour of sleeping) and started updating all the clocks in the house.  Ry did the microwave and then moved onto the oven...

He pressed the "clock" button and nothing happened.  So, naturally, he pressed it again.  This time holding it a few seconds.  And just like that, the oven froze up.  Strange numbers and letters appeared.    5Ag?  Weird.  What is wrong with this thing?  We're just trying to set the clock?  So he started pressing other buttons to see if anything would work.  Nothing.  

So, that night Bill came over for dinner and we were telling him how earlier in the day our oven just "stopped working".  So he advised us to flip the breaker, wait a few seconds and turn it back on.  Still, none of the buttons on the panel would work.  We all got out the owners manual and couldn't find any of those letters and numbers in the book.

We were mad.  I mean, we just replaced this thing and now it's broken again?  We started thinking the worst- we'd have to replace the whole oven this time- it was going to cost a fortune.  I mean doesn't this thing know we have to replace the roof over the breezeway (roof post coming this Spring)??  As Stephanie Tanner would say, how rude.

After our rage subsided, we decided to be reasonable people and call in the calvary (the home warranty company) again.  Sure enough, they sent the same Sears repair guy that fixed it the last time.  He walks in, I start down the road of- looks like it's finally given up the ghost...kicked the can...whoa is us.

After 3 seconds of walking into the kitchen he says....huh.  Looks like someone put it in Sabbath mode.

What, Sabbath mode??  Our oven observes the Shabbat?  And then it all clicked. SAb, Sabbath mode...not 5Ag. A wave of embarrassment and ridiculousness washed over me.  Oh.  Right, mode so you don't accidentally press buttons during the Sabbath, SABBATH mode.  We knew that.

I told him we looked in the manual and it didn't say anything about "Sabbath mode".  To which he responds, "Yeah, this type of stuff typically isn't in the manual.  Looks like you just have to hold the clock button down for 3 more seconds and it releases Sabbath mode."

Oh for the love....

We just paid this guy $75 to come over and hold the clock button down for 3 seconds.

Note to self....  Google.  Google, before Cavalry.

The Home Tour: Great Room

The Great Room is where people spend most of their time in the home.  For us, it's our happy place.  Our hang out area.  Where we snuggle with our puppies and most importantly, where we watch "The Bachelor".  Kidding, kind of...

As you know, this house is old.  Very old.  Built in 1935.  It's one of the things we love most about this house- its charm.  That charm also means smaller, sectioned off rooms throughout.  They didn't do the whole "open concept kitchen/living room" thing in the 30s:)

Luckily, when they built this house they had us in mind;) They built a very large Great room, perfect for lots of chill space and puppy romping.  I have to say, it was a little intimidating trying to figure out how to arrange/decorate/get a grip on this space.

I considered breaking apart the room with different seating areas but in the end, decided one large space was more pleasing overall to how we wanted to use the room.  We did end up sectioning off an area around the marble table in the back right of the room to use as a "banquette" space.  

The Great Room:

This is where I have spent the majority of time decorating since we have moved in.

Behold, the Banquette!  There will be a separate post with how the banquette came to be, but below are a few pictures as it stands today.  Bill hand-crafted the bench and custom-made the seats to have built in storage underneath.  A spot we will enjoy for years to come for Sunday morning coffees and paper, and friday night euchre tournaments...

The Italian Carrera marble table is one of my favorite possessions.  I bought it at an estate sale and still can't believe its ours:)  The Victorian chairs came with the table and I reupholstered the seats with upholstery I bought at an interior decorating store in Bucktown that went out of business a few years ago.  I have been saving it for just such an occasion:)

The banquette helped me solve the "everyone always wants to be in the kitchen" problem (ladies you know what I'm talking about) when you entertain.  Since the kitchen and great room aren't one big area, I always struggled with where to put appetizers and drinks.  Now, everyone can be in the great room watching football and be close to the snacks.

I bought the marble-top chest below at the same estate sale.  There was a Milwaukee Journal newspaper in one of the drawers dated Sunday May 16, 1976.  Maybe that is when she bought it?  Anyway, it's pretty cool.  It difficult to see in this picture, but it has these antique drop-handle pulls that make the piece very unique.

Anyone that knows me, knows I love myself anything "Cowboy".  So I built this vignette with my very best cowboy theme in mind.  Nothing like a little John Wayne to set the stage.  

Colin gave me the other key piece of this vignette: The Vivian Maier book.  Its an incredible picture book which unravels the mysteries of this talented American born street photographer whose works went unknown and unpublished until after her death.  There are fascinating shots of the streets of Chicago- where she spent almost 40 years of her life living as a nanny.  Highly recommend it.

My beloved Jayson Home Penelop chairs.  My loving husband woke up at 5am on a Saturday morning one weekend to drive down to Chicago with me to be in line by 8am to pick these bad boys up.  I am one lucky lady.

We love having a wood burning fireplace!  Wisconsin winters are COLD and cozying up by this fire has proven to be a welcome luxury in 30 below temps:)  My parents got us the suede firewood holder for Christmas a few years back.  The rattan backed chairs were an estate sale score.  They were tucked underneath a staircase in the basement of the sale.  I paid $5 per chair.  Now that's a deal!  

This fiddle head fig tree is one resilient little sucker.  It was purchased from Jayson Home when we moved into our Coach house in Chicago.  I fell in love with fiddle head fig trees before Ry and I were married when I was living in my previous apartment (which barely had room enough for tall people to walk let alone a tree) so I vowed I would own one in our next place.  Unfortunately, they require a lot of natural sunlight and living in a coach house, an over abundance of natural sunlight, we did not have:)  So, I have spent the last couple of years nursing it back to health, and it's doing pretty well.

Our "bar" or more accurately where we park our "Frank Fashioneds", is situated directly below Ry's big bass.  Personally, I think I should get extra bonus points for incorporating his taxidermy into our decor, but that's probably not likely.

The art above the tables flanking the fireplace are some of my favorite pieces.  I bought the frames and had Bill repair them as they were in pretty rough shape.  They were really wobbly and there were some holes in the decorate woodwork that he fixed up beautifully.  With a few coats of Farrow and Ball's "Studio Green" paint in a high gloss finish, they have a whole new lease on life.  For the inside of the frame, I wanted to find art that didn't cost me anything but reflected our style.  I had ordered a few wallpaper samples from Farrow & Ball to consider for the foyer and I loved them so much (they're hand printed) I decided they would be perfect to frame.  I purchased a few mat options at Michaels and Bill made me a custom mat for each frame.

The smaller wooden frame with the green mat was a score from an estate sale.  I have no idea who those people are (there's a man, presumably her husband) on the other side:)  Perhaps one day I will dismantle the ancient frames and put our ancestors in there.  Or perhaps they will stay that way...

The antique lamps were purchased at Monograham and the lampshades were a Pottery Barn special.  I added finials to the top which I purchased at Home Depot for just a few dollars.

The Jenny Lind table is an antique family heirloom that I love dearly.

A view from standing in front of the fireplace...

One of our prized possessions is our Lake Tahoe picture.  Bill custom made the mat and the frame and we purchased the map when we were out in Tahoe for our wedding.  It is placed above our "media" storage unit Ryan picked out at Restoration Hardware.  It's hard to see in this picture but it's a distressed metal cabinet.

All in all, we are really pleased with how the space works for us.  There are always tweaks to be made and new things to add, but for now, we love it!

Source List:

*Black and white rug- Crate & Barrel

*Console table- sourced

*Wooden lamps- Jayson Home,  Lampshades- target

*Sectional- Pottery Barn

*Throw pillows- One Kings Lane, West Elm

*Luggage racks- one was my Grandmothers (and I refinished it), the other was sourced

*Blue serving tray- CB2

*Wooven serving tray- Crate & Barrel

*Ivory shag rug- Overstock.com

*Iron media console- Restoration Hardware

*Trunk- custom made by my Great Uncle 

*Carrera marble victorian table and chairs- sourced (chairs I reupholstered)

*Marble top chest- sourced

*Antlers- The Painted Lady

*Black decorative frame- Ikea

*Wire vessel- Crate & Barrel

*Glass Vase- Williams Sonoma Home

*Black fancy leg table- Sourced

*Jenny Lind table- Family Heirloom

*Lamps on Tables- Monograham, Lampshades- Pottery Barn

*Green chairs- Jayson Home

*Secretary's desk (bar)- The Painted Lady

*Old Fashioned glasses- family heirlooms and sourced 

*White Line curtains- Ikea

*Brass curtain rods- West Elm

*Metal lanterns on fireplace- Jayson Home

*Fig Trees- Stein's and Jayson Home

**** Sourced/found- An item I bought from an estate sale, garage sale, found on the side of the road or was part of my own personal stash:)

The Home Tour: Entryway

A few of you have been asking for a home tour to see updates as things progress around here on the decorating front, since we've moved in.

As most of you know, something in our house is always changing- things getting moved around, repurposed, painted.  We still have a ton to do but let's start off in the first room you see when you walk in, as things stand today:)

The Entryway:

What better way to begin than with the obligatory "Doodle in the window picture"...

Much to my husband's dismay, this is the future site of our homes first wallpaper installation.  He told me I could put wallpaper up but I could never take it down.  Sold.  I better select carefully:)

One of the things I absolutely love about this house is the chandeliers.  They were here when we moved in and they will be here when we move out.

Putting together little vignettes is one of my favorite parts of decorating...

You can display all of your meaningful (read random) pieces in one place for all to see.  

Ry hung the feather over the door for me...

The curtains are handmade, pure silk and were free.  My Mother's boss was going to throw them away and luckily my mom nabbed them with me in mind.  Thanks Mom!

The distressed Victorian Chair was a score from one of my all time favorite haunts- "The Painted Lady".  

One of the first projects I wanted to complete when we moved in was to hang all of our wedding photos going up the stairs.  I finally had a dramatic staircase and hot damn I was going to use it.  

Bill graciously (and patiently) hung them up for me.

Source List:

*Clear Console table- CB2

*Ceramic feathers- Jayson Home

*Picture frames- Paper Source

*Letter candles- Jayson Home

*White lamp- The Painted Lady

*Antlers- Berkley's "training tool" (story for another time)- found

*F plate- Jayson Home 

*Gold mirrored tray- sourced

*Gold leaf feather- Monograham

*Distressed white chair- The Painted Lady

*Gold leaf frames on wall- Restoration Hardware

*Rugs- Pottery Barn

*Gold Hardware- West Elm

*Entryway leaf table- sourced

*Lanterns on table- Jayson Home 

*Front Door- "Buxton Blue" Benjamin Moore Heritage Collection

*Victorian Mirrors- sourced

**** Sourced/found- An item I bought from an estate sale, garage sale, found on the side of the road or was part of my own personal stash:)

Up next...The Great Room.

Have a great weekend!

The Birthday Bonanza Week

Welp.  Ry's 35.  And he's carrying it well!:)  

We recently helped Ry ring in the milestone with a party here at The Homestead followed by a few days up at the cabin for his actual birthday.

We put the Big Top up on Friday night and luckily when we woke up on Saturday, it was still standing.

Thank you to all our friends that came from near and far to help Ry celebrate- it was so fun to see you all!  I wish I had taken more pictures- sorry to all those I missed!  Here are a few:

We had a beautiful day for the occasion...

All the brothers were there.  

Keiru and I watched while Aaron broke out his dance moves...

The Naperville contingent came up.  Harper didn't drink quite her share of keg beer but...

This guy did.  There was quite a competitive Badminton tournament going.  

Lizzie and Laura heading to make more Frank Fashioneds...

Post barbecue beef haze...

No party is complete without a slip n slide.  My parents taught me that.  My husband was its biggest fan.  Patiently waiting for the kids to finish up so he could show them how it's really done.

Nick showing Henry the ways of the world.

It wouldn't be a Ryan Frank birthday without a Big Bass cake.  So I asked for them to show me their stuff.  They prevailed.  This thing was incredible.  

Ry made us a big bonfire to cap off the night...

My Chicago peeps (and incredible helpers) enjoying coffee on the patio the morning after...

My brother (aka the slip n slide architect and badminton builder) maxin and relaxin.  

The best brunch I've ever had.  A John Russell fresh market berries cobbler.  With Lizzie's touch of Black Dog gelato on top.  Delish.  There were also cinnamon rolls.  Do these people know me or what?

The sad fact that we didn't finish the whole keg.  Man, we're getting old.

We headed up to the cabin for a few days to relax and ring in Ry's actual day.

The boys on the pontoon out on Archibald Lake...

We hit up our favorite- Maiden Lake Supper club the night before the big tournament and in case you haven't heard the big news- we placed fourth!  

Everybody around here was pretty tuckered out after the long week but it was worth it!  Happy Birthday, Ry- we love you so much!