First Outfit Post - Military Chic Style

As I mentioned last week, I decided to link up to Bloggers Do It Better for the Military Chic assignment since I've loved seeing bloggers' take on previous assignments and since now I have a blog too.  Now, I am by no means a fashion blogger (nor do I have the equipment, wardrobe, or poise to pretend to try to be one!) but fashion and styling is something I enjoy, so I hope to be able to, on occasion, showcase some "what I'm wearing" posts.

Here is my take on Military Chic:

Jacket from NY&Co, Striped Cardigan from JC Penney, Grey tank from NY&Co,
Cargo skinny pants from Gap, Grey booties via DSW

As you might have seen in last week's post, I was contemplating three different outfits for the look - I managed to try on and photograph the other two looks (thanks to Esposito, who grudgingly woke up early to take these pictures of/for me - if the pictures are horrible, you can thank him ;)).  I ultimately chose the grey version because it was the most involved (I read somewhere that every outfit should have at least 5 pieces for depth and interest - and totally agree!) and because I figured wearing army green was a little too obvious and the leggings outfit, minus the sweater, wouldn't have been Military Chic at all!  (Thanks Skippy Says for your vote)!

Jacket from Loft, Striped sweater from Gap, Khaki's from Banana Republic, Boots via TJ Maxx

Sweater - vintage via Goodwill, Gold chain from Jewelmint, Black tank from H&M,
Black leggings from NY&Co, Black OTK boots via TJ Maxx

Which outfit do you like better?

Mock Thanksgiving & What to Wear for Thanksgiving Dinner

Yesterday, I got together with some of my friends from college for a Mock Thanksgiving dinner.  Back in the day, our pre-thanksgiving plans revolved around which club hosted the best Thanksgiving Eve party - my, how times have changed!  It was a great time in any event - catching up, eating delicious food, and seeing my friends' children.  We organized the event as a potluck, and my task was to bring a sweet potato casserole.  I'd never made one before, but it was quite easy and got rave reviews!  (I used this recipe but didn't take any pictures, unfortunately). 

Here are some outtakes from the night:

All of the turkey eating and comraderie has me with Thanksgiving on the brain - I can't wait to go to my mom's for some fun family time with my sisters and parents this Thursday.  I haven't decided yet what I'm going to wear, or whether I want to go formal, casual but put together, or in jeans!  Something about Thanksgiving makes me want to break out the fall colors - seems like the appropriate time, and I love to cozy up in creams, navy, and oranges for the occasion.  Here's a few outfit options I'm thinking of:

What to Wear - Thanksgiving by wpolanco featuring an acrylic sweater

What are your Thanksgiving plans?

House Tour - The Dining Room

Our dining room space is just off the living room.  In fact the whole space is open to each other, in an L format apparently typical of the 1950s, when the house was built (see the layout in my floorplan here).  It's a normal size room (12' by 10') and was really a blank canvas - no architectural details or built-ins to speak of.  There is a window - same format as the window in the living room - which takes up the whole back wall, a door to the side yard - that serves no purpose whatsoever - on the adjacent wall, and the opening to the kitchen opposite that wall.

The only changes we made to this space is refinishing the floors, and enlargening the opening to the kitchen (it used to be 36" but we opened it 70" and incorporated a peninsula in the kitchen to tie in the two spaces).  I'd love to change out the big window for french doors (which would lead to the backyard), close up the door to nowhere and replace with two 36" double hung windows with space in between for a hutch/buffet, and add some architectural interest in the way of wainscoting.  The wainscoting may be a project I attempt (and document here on the blog) in the near future - I just have to decide where to end it since one of the walls is shared with the living room, with no divide.  I'd also like to change out the chandelier at some point, which was a cheap one we purchased at home depot in the interest of having at least some light until I found one I liked.

Here's where we started (post initial renovations).  A veritable blank canvas. 

On the left, you'll see my makeshift bar using an IKEA Lack shelf and a Besta cabinet that we bought for the TV which became obsolete for that use once we mounted the TV over the fireplace.  The cabinet now resides in the foyer as a makeshift console table (quite a versatile piece of furniture). On the right is an asymmetrical bookcase I found randomly at Target - it was on clearance in the store for $67 while still listed on the website at the time well above $200 so I couldn't pass it up (I have a clearance shopping problem, you will learn!).

A few months later, I found a (clearance) dining room table and chairs at Sears on a fluke shopping trip.  Here (view from the kitchen) you have a better view of the Target bookcase.

Another view, from the living room:

Here's what it looked like when I swapped the living and dining rooms for Christmas 2009:

The "art" is Waverly fabric I purchased from Joann's and stretched over a canvas.  The rug is from IKEA.  The ottomans, serving as additional seating, are from Target (purchased on clearance, of course, for $17.48 a piece!)

And here is what the room looks like today (minus the curtains which I recently gave to my mother since they matched her new bedroom - new window coverings are on my shopping list!).

The "bar" was getting in the way, so I dismantled it and now the ottomans reside in front of that wall (they are great for extra seating in either the living or dining room in a pinch).  On the right, you see a corner of a settee/loveseat I purchased from Target that needs to be moved to the bedroom.

Some closeup/detail shots:

Bookcase styling - the bottom half needs some work!

The new bar setup in the corner

A vignette I'm especially proud of atop the bookcase

Next stop - the kitchen!

Military Style

Kristina at Pretty Shiny Sparkly announced a Bloggers Do It Better assignment commencing next Tuesday (November 22), and centered on Military Chic style.  I've been inspired by some of the looks in past Bloggers Do It Better assignments, though never participated since I didn't have a blog.  Now that I do, I figured I'd throw my hat into the ring and will be linking up with my version of military chic style next week.  Here's a mock-up of three potential outfits I have in mind -- the pieces aren't the same as I own, but it gives a general idea of my direction.  Come back next Tuesday to see which one I picked!  (Which is your favorite?)

Military Style by wpolanco featuring bootie boots

Mara Hoffman long sleeve top
$240 - bonadrag.com

Cash Ca gray sweater
£90 - hideoutstore.com

Zoe karssen modal shirt
£45 - net-a-porter.com

Double breasted jacket
$520 - my-wardrobe.com

Wool herringbone jacket
$224 - bodenusa.com

Hervé Léger bandage legging
$1,150 - net-a-porter.com

See by chloe
$138 - theoutnet.com

Dylan george jeans
$85 - bluefly.com

Old Navy khaki twill pants
$30 - oldnavy.gap.com

Burberry over knee boots
$1,495 - net-a-porter.com

Michael Kors pointy shoes
€160 - youheshe.com

Bootie boots
$50 - dsw.com

LORD TAYLOR dog tag jewelry
$450 - lordandtaylor.com

With Love From CA chain jewelry
$13 - pacsun.com

House Tour - The Living Room

I fully intended to kick off the house tour with a view of our entryway/foyer, but I have no (good) pictures of it, and there is no light in there (courtesy of a never-finished fix to a leaky roof) so we'll just skip that and go straight to the living room!
The living room is the most used space in this house - since we have no family/great room, den or basement we do all of our living in, well, the living room. The room is a fair size, long (20') but narrow (11'6") and gets a good amount of light in the daytime (though the only windows in the room face the street so we often sacrifice either light or privacy).

What has proven most difficult for me in decorating the room is furniture placement. As I've mentioned, we have a sectional that is too long for the narrow room, and the fireplace, windows and opening to the dining room make TV (a must in this house!) placement difficult. Hence, I typically get very tired of how the space looks and move around the furniture A LOT.

In terms of structural change, we didn't do many to this space upon moving in, just replaced the fireplace mantel and refinished the hardwood floors. Still to come is adding recessed lights (people balk at overhead lighting, but I swear I collect lamps given our lack of it!), replacing the floors altogether (our original contractors mistakenly put on a coat of polyurethane on top of a still-wet coat of stain, so there are plenty of bubbles and gouges in the floor), and replacing the windows (we have a 55" picture window flanked by two 20" casement windows now, but I'd love to just have two 36" double-hung windows with wall space in between to put the TV).

When we first moved in, we tried the most obvious spot for the couch - the staircase wall. I didn't like how the couch jutted out into the dining room opening, and we didn't have an obvious place to put the TV (opposite the couch is the windows).

So we separated the sectional to function as two separate couches (and painted that inner corner as an accent wall).

Better picture of the accent wall (don't mind the mess!).

Opposite the staircase wall is our fireplace, over which we hung the TV (here it is, all dressed up for Christmas 2008).

The living room arrangement stayed like that for a while, until I decided I wanted to put the Christmas tree in front of the window for Christmas 2009. So, I swapped the living room and dining room areas, which also opened space for a separate sitting nook in front of the fireplace.

Then, at some point, I decided I liked the idea of being cozy with the fireplace, and split the long living room with one of the sectional pieces in the middle, and seating all around. In theory, I like this furniture placement best. In practice, I felt a little squished trying to manuever around the space. The room also got a fresh coat of paint, to match the accent wall - Behr's Sage Grey.

I don't know why I didn't think to try this to begin with, but following the split living room, I placed the sectional in front of the window. This is the only way the sectional fits in the space, but the chaise covers the fireplace which seems pointless to me (I'm not sure why - we never use it!).

So, we went back to square one, though, this time, had a bit more furniture to fill in the space - here's what our living room looks like now (minus lazy Zoe sleeping in the middle of the picture -- usually).

Well, not exactly. The brown chaise seen above has replaced the two beige side chairs (which have been banished to one of the bedrooms) since Esposito wanted to be more comfortable when he plays his PS3 (no priorities I tell you!). After I've gone through the house tour, I'll do a recap of all the current spaces and include more updated pictures of the space.

So now you've seen our living room. Next stop - the dining room.