Daydreaming...

I spend probably an hour or two nearly every day looking at real estate listings and home blogs, just daydreaming about becoming a homeowner. I have something beyond home-envy - the disease I have is way more intense, and sometimes threatens to take me over completely - and given the fact that I have never been much for patience, it takes everything I have to remain calm and sane (and hold back from making decor purchases - even when the discount is unbeatable) while Sam and I wait until we are more financially ready to be homeowners. Which will hopefully happen sometime before we are one hundred years old. Like sometime this year would be sweet.

At any rate, I bide my time oogling and drooling over (and imagining myself living in) other peoples homes. I guess this is probably helping me define my style (which, at this point, I might call rusticvintageanthrocozydiyretro?) and what I'm looking for in a home. Here's what I'm pining over as of late:

Hello, welcome to my home, would you like to come in?
With this entry way?! Absolutely!

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Yellow dining chairs? check. Repurposed vintage dresser as a buffet? check. Retro pendant light fixtures? check. I'm loving everything about this rustic vintage eat-in kitchen. This kitchen and the stairway below are both from the same Apartment Therapy house tour, which I have had bookmarked in my favorites for almost a year. I love the vibrant green color and am a sucker for any sort of eclectic photo collage display.

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This is the home of Susan Feldman - it's no surprise that her home is amazing, being that she is the goddess behind creator of OneKingsLane, my favorite daily deals site. Again, I'm loving the eclectic photo display here and, as I've mentioned before, I love a good built-in filled with personal artifacts and actual books on display. I'm also really digging the blue armless chairs here - they provide a nice pop of color and give the room a nice open, spacious feel.

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If you are a crazy HGTV aficionado like myself, you will recognize the rustic living room above, as well as the kitchen below, from Sarah's House, one of the great Canadian imports on HGTV. I am insanely obsessed with exposed beams - I just love the character they add to a home - and recently said to Sam that exposed beams are a requirement for our first home. Not quite the same as, hmm, I don't know - a second bathroom or a fenced in yard, but an essential in my book, nonetheless.

And I am gaga over this kitchen - I love, love, love the yellow island and I think the farmhouse sink and country style cabinets are the bees knees. Love everything about it. I promise I will cook every single day if I can do so in this kitchen. Pretty please??

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I love the color combo in this master bedroom - it manages to be soothing and calm, while still featuring pops of vibrant yellow and has some other unique hints of personality and texture from interesting trinkets and furniture pieces. I love how they've surrounded the TV in with an ornate, empty frame. I thought I was so clever doing that with a boring corkboard in our office, but class-ing up the TV takes the trick to a whole new level. A few more pics of the great bedroom details are below:

I must have this yellow chair. It's a necessity. Like air.

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I have longed for this armoire from Anthropologie for years. I actually added it to our Anthro Wish List/Registry when we were getting married a few years ago, thinking some secret benefactor might graciously dole out the $1,800 to make my every dream come true. Alas, we remain armoire-less. And today I discovered that it's no longer available for sale online. But since this post is about dreaming, I'm showing it to you anyway. I love the room above, but the armoire I'm really in love with is called the Bird-Cut Armoire, but that picture is giving me problems so I just can't show it to you today.

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I love the giant map on the wall for a lot of aesthetic reasons, but I also love it because it reminds me of a great story my dear friend Dan Semo tells about the year his mom got him and his sister giant maps for hanukkah - "Maps, HUGE maps!," she said enthusiastically as the two youngsters burst into tears.

Well, we've arrived at the end of our tour. I hope you've enjoyed your peek into my imaginary home. I've loved having you and look forward to welcoming you into my real-life home. You can expect your invitation sometime in the next century - fingers crossed!