house – Casa de Berry

2016, candle, holiday, home, house, white, winter, wisconsin, wreath

A little Winter Wonderland

December 9, 2016by casadeberry1 Comment

Now that we live north of the wall, I wanted to have one of our rooms full of sparkling, snowy adornments – and our library is small enough that I could put up a few things and not compete with the red and plaid madness of the rest of the Christmas decorations.

I mean, when your boys look like this while waiting for the school bus
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— aren’t they rocking those double layers? ha — then you have to bring some of that snowy loveliness inside. Just not literally. We have a shoe brush thing my husband built so if you have snow on your shoes please leave that snowy loveliness outside.

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I bought the two glittery deer on the right last year, with the thought of adding some more this year.
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The dignified fellow on the left is from Target, and all three of them spend their days keeping an eye on the neighborhood. Neighbors have left, new neighbors are moving in, they can tell you all about it. The center candleholder we’ve had for years, and I got the white wreath at JoAnn’s to hang opposite the outdoor wreath we have on that window.

I don’t style my bookshelves because we actually read the books we have, but I did have this spot with a huge yellow vase in it.
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The vase got relocated and I stuffed some snowy greenery we had into a Target dollar spot galvanized vase. FYI, those things are NOT waterproof, so my awesome husband had to seal it for me so I could put flowers and not end up with an indoor lake. And then, of course, I went and stuck fake stuff in it for Christmas.

The beautiful houses on either side are part of a collection Steve has, he got them and the others he has from art festivals and renaissance faires, and they’re works of art. They fit perfectly in that spot so I didn’t move them, just added an old little lantern and a fleur-de-lis I found at WalMart, and a glittery little house from Michaels.

Finally, the spot where I can wait for the school bus in the afternoon – our youngest is only let out of the bus if one of us is waiting for him and these days I’m not waiting outside, so I can hang out with our Cherry girl and knit while I wait.
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Although when I’m sitting there, it looks more like this

The JOY and NOEL signs are from World Market, our Sussex sign is by LulaRue and purchased at Roost. The blue throw, A.K.A. Everybody’s Favorite Blanket, is from ZGallerie, the white birdcage is Partylite and the delicious pear candle inside is from Rosy Rings. The monogram mug is Target and the coffee inside is made in my beloved Nespresso.

We’re having our second annual FriendsGivingMas this weekend so I’ll be sharing some pics next week – have a wonderful weekend!

2015, bath, decor, flowers, home, house, ikea, paris, wisconsin

Master Bathroom

September 23, 2015September 21, 2015by casadeberry2 Comments

When I came to Wisconsin to narrow down our choices for homes, there were some outstanding bathrooms in the houses we toured, but undoubtedly, the one that left me speechless was the one we dubbed the Captain America shower.

Either we would go in as ourselves and come out mutated in some way, or I’d end up pressing the wrong button and launch the whole thing into space. The master bathroom in our home, while still gorgeous, is a bit more normal looking. This is what it looked like at first:

It has a double shower, a separate alcove for the toilet, a sweet soaker tub and a lot of storage. A mirror that spanned both sink areas was added before we moved in, as well as light fixtures. We added cellular blinds to allow light in and retain privacy, and a few touches to make it more pleasant to get ready in the morning.

I brought my Georgianna Lane framed photos and Steve was sweet to placed them above the tub for me. The Paris map also made the trek, and lives on my side of the vanity. We purchased the same towels we had in our apartment in Paris last year. Six months later, they’re still like new.

Hope you enjoyed this little tour of our master bathroom, we’re certainly very happy with it!

2015, clothes, clothing, house, husband, ikea, organizing, wisconsin

My husband’s walk-in closet

May 23, 2015by casadeberryLeave a Comment

I know. How fricking lucky are we, right? We get two walk-in closets in our master suite. Mine is still a mess because I haven’t figured out exactly how I want it configured, but Steve did a great job organizing his space, all on his own.

There is a place for everything, so it’s super easy for us to put his laundry away. He also has a dresser, for shorts and t-shirts, socks, etc.

Work shirts and ties:

Heavier shirts and hoodies:

Work trousers:

There is even room for beloved childhood toys, along with sweatpants.

Toiletries and clothing accessories.

Shoes are neatly housed in IKEA shoe racks.

The back of the door is the perfect place for his collection of caps.

Steve also did a purge of his clothes before organizing them, which is exactly as it should be. We do keep heavy winter coats in the closet by the garage, and I am sure some more winter gear will be added to his wardrobe.

Didn’t he do a great job?

2015, house, wisconsin

Hello, Wisconsin!!!

March 17, 2015by casadeberry6 Comments

We are here. Finally. After seven days of driving from California to our new home state, we are here. Our stuff, however, won’t be here until Friday, and then starts the marathon unpacking and furniture ordering.

The boys LOVE the house, they were so excited when they walked in. If you want to see pictures of our road trip and follow our Wisconsin adventures, check out my Instagram. I will be posting on a more regular basis now that we are here 😀

2015, home, house, husband, wisconsin

Hello Wisconsin

January 19, 2015by casadeberry2 Comments

I had the chance of visiting the Milwaukee area a couple of weeks ago, to make a decision on a house along with my husband. Apparently, we arrived on the day of a really bad snowstorm.

I took this as we were readying to land

My husband, who has been working there (he came back for the holidays) and was familiar with the weather, kept looking at me as we stepped outside — I felt the chill, looked back at him, and said, “I am home!”. Well, it was really cold. But I like the cold.

One house had what we called the “Captain America” shower, because seriously, it looked like you might come out looking totally different.

Given my clumsiness, though, I think I’d have hit the wrong combination of buttons and I’d have accessed the nuclear codes or something.

I was a little too excited about my meal to take my time and focus properly, so I apologize.

Deb’s Main Street Cafe in Dousman has the best fried chicken ever! It was so good. Light, crisp fry, yummy insides, great seasoning, these folks know what they’re doing.

Everyone recommended the frozen custard.

Kopps has delicious frozen goodness, different extra flavors every day, but I went with vanilla. Because the best test of any sweet shop’s products is whatever vanilla product they have. If they get THAT right, you know they can get anything else right. It tasted like creme brulee but frozen, so uh, creme glacee, I guess? The same consistency and texture, so rich and good. Steve got the Oreo flavor which was that day’s special. We went back and again I got the vanilla because it really is that delicious.

As far as houses go, we had two favorites in mind before I flew out there. And guess what? We decided on neither! Ha.

This is just a peek because we’re still in the middle of the process. Rather, we’re at the beginning of the process, so I will share more when it’s more of a sure thing.

Now I am in California, and my darling is back in Wisconsin. He’s amassing quite the collection of gloves and hats, I tell you 😀

2013, 2014, award, house, husband, nails, past project, purple

A WOOT and a Radiant Orchid

January 15, 2014January 18, 2014by casadeberryLeave a Comment

My awesome husband’s fabulous idea of adding color to our backyard by making redwood frames for flowers won this:

for the whole of 2013!

I love The CSI Project and it was pretty surreal to see they chose our project as their favorite of the year.

So that was the WOOT! and now for my first take on Radiant Orchid.

My friend Carina and I went to a new (to me) beauty supply place and holy moly it was awesome. There I found a color I thought would be a good fit for Radiant Orchid and guess what, the name of it is Foxy Roxy. Named after my sweet puppers, how could I resist?

I got a few pale colors and a very pretty tomato red. Then I got out of there before I could spend the grocery money.

Does anyone else need like 5 more hours to the day? Because I totally do.

2013, decor, glam, holiday, house

Exterior love

December 11, 2013December 10, 2013by casadeberry5 Comments

We finally put up our outside decorations this past weekend, and now it truly feels like we are ready for Christmas. Which is good because there’s two weeks left – eek!!!

The only unfinished business is that little white urn my beautiful friend J lent me, I might get a little evergreen for it.

All our outside decor is from past years, this lit wreath is a favorite, it makes me happy.

Our front door wreath is one I made eons ago, I’ve added a few bits to it here and there since every year we lose a couple from all the door opening and closing.

And since I’m in a totally sappy mood, I’m leaving you with this modified version of our first picture 😀

2013, accessories, decor, display, house

The House Cleanse

May 31, 2013by casadeberry2 Comments

The Nester’s post today about having a month with no accessories in your home, is right up my alley. I am on a ruthless quest to eliminate extra baggage, be it from the kids’ closets as they grow out of things or these blubby things around my waist that didn’t use to be there.

Her idea of getting your house to the bare bones is very appealing to me, with one caveat: Not in the kids’ spaces. Sure, I will be purging too-small clothes and un-played-with toys, but I don’t think there will be anything bare bones about my boys’ rooms or the playroom.

We are having a little soiree in late June but that involves using things that will – most likely – not be used again, so all that can go out the door once that day is over.

I am a total photo fanatic so this will be tough, but it will be a good thing to see what we can live with, and what is just cluttering up our lives.

Have a wonderful weekend!

2013, colors, house, neutrals, paint

The orange roof

May 21, 2013May 21, 2013by casadeberry2 Comments

We’ve started to think about painting the outside of our home. Probably will not happen this year, but it’s in the somewhat near future.

I would love to have a pale turquoise or aqua door:

Or maybe something like this charming little fence?

Then I remember . . .

I have an orange roof.

It doesn’t look very bright here. But it is. Bright enough that a turquoise door is out of the question.

So we’re going for a warm neutral palette. The current grey is very dingy so something lighter and brighter is a must.

Something like this would look nice:

This wall color would be as dark as I’d want to go:

I love my window boxes and like to have a variety of colors so a neutral background is best so it doesn’t all get too crazy. My husband likes the door in its natural color, so that will stay. We love the color we used in our living room, Valspar’s Cream in my Coffee, so perhaps something similar?

Do you have any painting projects coming up?

2013, house, husband, organizing, project, storage, wood

Sweet and Simple Storage Solution

April 22, 2013by casadeberry4 Comments

Our garage houses many things, except our cars. Most of our “stuff” is stored in large bins, but as always, it is the little things that are always bouncing from place to place, unless they have a permanent home.

We recently inherited, among other things, a few bins from Steve’s parents, who closed their catering business after thirty years. Given the unused space next to Steve’s desk and the new-to-us bins, he decided to build something to store small things like cables, computer parts, etc.

This idea is similar to Ana White’s Laundry Basket Dresser.

The area before:

Measuring (twice) and cutting (once)

The finished – and oh so useful! – storage area with bins in place.

As always, I have to thank my sweet husband for always looking for ways to make our lives more efficient. Less time spent spent searching for things means more time spent having fun. Yesterday I sat at his desk, while he measured and cut, working on a little project of my own, while our boys had fun in the front yard. But for now we are loving the orderly look and more streamlined area. Woot!!