Our Easter Sunday

I cannot believe it is already the weekend. Where did the time go?

Did you all have a happy Easter?

We certainly did!

I thought I would bake some pretty Easter cupcakes, but I really was too busy.

Remember, we are in the midst of moving to our new home. 

Last weekend my husband decided to rent a U-Haul pick up truck. Sunday morning, we made a couple more trips to the house with a truck load full of boxes. It is just amazing how much stuff you
 can accumulate, over the years!

Moving has certainly generated a lot of spring cleaning, which I am actually enjoying.


Then we headed out to  Good Microbrew and Grill  for a late lunch. We like this place. In fact, we discovered this restaurant after visiting the house for the first time. Below is the picture I took that day. We were so excited about the house, had both fallen in love with it and were really hoping to get it. 

We are so lucky we did!

Good is in the heart of Silver Lake's Sunset Junction. 
The weather was beautiful. We sat on the patio and while our son was taking his afternoon nap in the stroller, we savored delicious ceviche and fish tacos with a couple of glasses of chilled Pinot Grigio (beer for my husband).

It really was a gorgeous sunny afternoon.

Upon our return to the house, our son woke up. We turned on the bubble machine on our main deck and that is when we realized that the Easter bunny had come and hidden lots of small toys, eggs filled with little surprises and a solid chocolate bunny!

Yeah! A brand new set of play-Doh!

James, trying to eat the bubbles...

and munching on his first solid chocolate. 

We had a lot of fun until the sun came down.

James playing with daddy's guitar.

 Later on we drove back to our condo.

We hired a moving company for Monday, to move our furniture. 
Monday night will officially be our first night in our new home.
How exciting!

All week I boxed, cleaned and drove back and forth from the condo to the house. It has been a very busy week.
The condo will need to be immaculate, since we are either going to sell or rent it.

One of the things I had to do this week is to wash our chalkboard wall. 
When we moved here, I had painted a whole kitchen wall with black chalkboard paint. Over the past years we had kept some of our little messages and drawings.
I had to take a picture of it before I washed it, for memories.

Before

After

I have got to tell you, it was really painful erasing it all.
There was a message from my husband welcoming our son from the maternity ward and one to me, when I returned from a family visit in France, when I was 6 month pregnant.

Now it is the weekend again!


One fun thing we are going to do this afternoon, is looking for a new couch!
I pinned a few on Pinterest and cannot wait to see them in the store.


Have a great weekend!

Alexandra

Our New House. We're moving!

 Last weekend we got the keys to our new house and I am so excited to tell you

we are moving! 

We have bought this charming 3 bedroom, 2 bath home that sits up in the hills of Silver Lake, Los Angeles, CA. 

It is a very private 50's style "treehouse" in a tranquil canyon setting. It was built in 1951.

Let me give you a tour!

Come in!

When you first walk in, you are greeted in a bright and light-filled living room. To the very right is the living room sheltered deck, with through-the-canyon view. On the left hand side is the kitchen, dining room and stairwell to the lower level. 

See the living room deck? (More pictures of the decks and yards to come.) The house has hardwood floors throughout.

If you walk through the living room, as you enter the house, you will find the guest room/playroom (on the right) next to a cute little vintage guest bathroom and you will have access to the dining room (on the left).

All photos were taken with my iPhone and so it all appears a bit smaller and darker than it really is.

There is a wood burning fireplace and a wall-mounted TV. On the right, you can see the kitchen.

This is the little vintage guest bathroom, I was talking about.

It is in a remarkably good condition. I love the baby blue tiles!

Check out the vintage wall heater!

 If you open the small storage compartment, you can see the living room. (But only if the cupboard door is opened on the other side.)

It has a jalousie window (or louvre window). Those can be found in various places throughout the house and I love them.

This will be the guest room/playroom. We will put a sofa bed in this room, to leave lots of space to play!

 It also has jalousie windows.

This room comes with built-in closets and you will find a lot of those throughout the home.

This is the small hall that connects the dining room, guest bathroom, guest room and living room.

They are lots of built-in storage cupboards like this, throughout the whole house.

Let's go to the kitchen!

One side of the kitchen...

I am in love with this kitchen! (and the rest of the house!)

It is accessible directly from the living room or through the dining room.

It features original cabinetry painted in olive green, white Ceasarstone countertops, stainless steel appliances and a dark grey stone floor. A door conveniently links the kitchen to a roomy, tree-shaded deck. 

and the other side.

Another jalousie window, over the kitchen sink! (what more can a woman ask for?)

It does not show well on this picture, but this sink is huge!

On this picture you can see the dining room and the stairwell. (Access to the living room on the right.)

Below is the dining room.

It has two huge swinging windows with gorgeous views. I love the way the breeze flows through that room. 

And here is our sweet baby boy.

Let me take you downstairs!

Straight down is the dining patio. To the left will be our son's bedroom and to the right, our en-suite master bedroom with a separate dressing room.

As you get to the bottom of the stairs, on the left you can see part of our son's room, which has sliding windows and sliding doors to the dining patio. (More play space!)

Here it is. Luminous and soon to be very cosy.
It has a small walking closet.

And to the right, the master bedroom.

To the left, is the dressing room and then across, the master bathroom.

It has a canyon view and another wall-mounted TV, which my husband is really happy about!

Our dressing room, which is much bigger than it looks. On the left, the bathroom.
But first, I want to show you the dining patio, my favorite part of the house!

One side of the patio...

the other side.

It is in the trees and completely screened-in.
We will put our farmhouse table and chairs and a small couch. This patio has a Southern feel to it. I just love this room!

Look at that cool vintage pinball!


Back to the master bathroom...

It is equipped with two sinks set in a floating cabinet and a tile-lined bathtub/shower combination.

 

Now, let me show you the outside!

This is the front yard.

I love the multi-level flower beds!

 

There is also a beautiful orange tree.

And to the left is the main deck...

On the right is the kitchen door.

You can see the gate to the lower levels: Basement storage/laundry room, dining patio and back yard.

Basement door

This is underneath the dining patio and where my husband will set up an outdoor gym.

Want to see the back yard?

It is a terraced yard on the hill and it needs a little bit of work done on it.

We love the trees!

Down the bottom is where my husband wants to build a fort, for our son. 

It is hard to believe we're in LA...

Now, let's go back upstairs!

Here are a few pictures of the living room patio.

Facing the front of the house.

Facing the canyon.

To the right, our view is the legendary Forest Lawn Memorial Park and the Santa Monica mountains. It is beautiful and we will see snow there in the winter.

This home is absolutely perfect for us. I cannot wait to be moved in and all settled in.

We really loved our West Hollywood condo, it was the first home we bought and where our son spent the first almost two years of his life.

But I know we are going to love this house (we already do!). 

This is a new journey!

Thanks for stopping by!

Alexandra