A bargain can be so exciting!

Ever since I saw this picture in the Pottery Barn catalog, I knew it was going to be the inspiration for our guest room:


I especially love the quilt, simple and elegant. The Olivia Silk Nesting Quilt. I even visited it over the summer. It feels incredible, and looks so pretty. It seems like the perfect thing to cuddle under after you've spent 8 hours on an airplane to come visit us.

When we were home at Christmas, Joern and I spent some time looking in Westport's Pottery Barn. I was disappointed that the Olivia Quilt had been taken off the showroom bed, which signaled to me that it had been discontinued. As I looked through all the shelves, I found the last Olivia Quilt, in ivory, in the right size. And, it was on sale! They also had the matching Euro pillow covers (Euro pillows are a must on all Roesner beds,) on sale again! I was so proud and excited with my bargain!

Imagine my surprise when looking through the website for the ten-millionth time since going on sick leave, I found that they're re-introduced the Olivia. And it is WAY more than I paid! I can't wait to have our house, to put Olivia on the guest bed. I know she'll be beautiful there, and keep our guests happy and comfy!

Dining Room Inspiration

So, I've been trying to figure out how we'll be decorating our house. Sure, we are still waiting on official permission, a mortgage, and all related things, but it is a good time to think about decor. Especially because, at the very least, we'll have to have our furniture, rugs, and other things from the States purchased by May.
This is what I'm thinking of now for our dining room:

I haven't decided on the chairs yet, pretty sure I would have to see them first. The Klismos chair on the side is from surprisingly, Better Homes and Gardens, and the other chair is from The Place Furniture on Long Island. Obviously, the table is a no question- we own it. The light fixutre is from a store here in Germany. The Malika Rug from Pottery Barn had orignally been slated for the living room, but I believe we need a darker rug for the living room now, but I think it would be beautiful with the dark table.
I'm pretty undecided about wall color, but there is about 3 feet of wall in the entire dining room, it is almost all windows. I'm thinking about a chocolateish, or a beige. Chocolate may actually be nice. Because I haven't figured out the walls, I haven't figured out draperies either. I will definately have ivory sheers, but that's about all I've decided upon right now.
Any thoughts?

Oh Happy Day!!

This isn't really house news, but house related.
One of my saddest days was the day I stopped working here on the military base. Not only did it mean that I would no longer work in the job that I completely loved, but it also meant the loss of some incredible benefits to an American living abroad. One of those benefits- a US post box.
When I lost my post box, I lost access to all my favorite catalogs. I have since found lots of magazines that deliver overseas affordably, but alas, no catalogs.
One of my favorite catalogs, and stores for that matter, is Pottery Barn. I was so very sad when I realized that I would only be getting my beloved Pottery Barn catalogs when I visited home.
Yesterday, I found out that PB now has their catalogs available ONLINE!! Hurrah! One very big positive of globalization :)

Our fab furniture!

While we were home, we were extremely busy looking for furniture! Although we haven't fully booked our container yet, we've offically bought furniture in America and are now committed to shipping furniture from home. Great!
We spent a lot of time at the Tanger Outlet Center in Riverhead Long Island. Turns out that we got some incredible deals on some fabulous finds at- RESTORATION HARDWARE! I cannot believe we own furniture from Restoration Hardware. It is all so very beautiful, and all so heavy, and well, amazing. I'm in love with our furniture.
So, without further delay, I introduce to you:

Our fabulous King sized Portman sleigh bed

Our incredibly beautiful Portman espresso finish dining room table

Our beautiful espresso finish double vanity for the master bath. It does not have a top though, which is better, so that we can match our top to our bathroom floors. Good thing we know a granite guy!

Our beautiful Hutton storage tower for our master bath.
All photos above from www.restorationhardware.com

Due to space complications, I could not get the matching nightstands for our bed. They are too wide for our bedroom (they are each 38" wide). So, I stopped at, Wal-Mart, of all places, and found these beautiful nightstands:


I have heard such great reviews about this Canopy line from Walmart. The size is perfect, and the quality does seem really good, and the size is perfect. I will change out the knobs though, but that's really small beans. I am so very excited about our nightstands!

We also found Bassett Furniture while we were home. In comparission, they are affordable, and have really nice quality things. Plus, you can customize most of their furniture. They were also great to work with, and we were able to request that the furniture stays at the factory until we are home to accept delivery, which is so perfect!
We ordered our couch and coffee table from them. I am planning on ordering the matching end-tables from them as well.
Here they are:

This is the color and style of the sectional. I only don't like the circle throw pillows, but those are easily changeable. I am also in love with the exposed legs. They are dark, so they match the dining room table. I'm trying to figure out what kind of accent chair would go well with the couch.

At first, I wasn't in love with the idea of a round cocktail table, but with the U shape of the sectional, it is really the best solution.

I haven't purchased the end tables yet, but I am pretty certain these are the end tables that we'll get.