i've got a question for you

this morning, alex tweeted this garance dore article and i can't get it off my mind. it's about the parisian approach to engagement and marriage vs. that of new yorkers and the (mis)conception that we americans are materialistic and obsessed with getting engaged, while parisians are more relaxed about marriage and don't care as much about the ring.

fair enough - you only have to look so far to see examples of gross consumerism, where the diamonds only get bigger and the weddings more ostentatious. but i'd like to think that for most of us, a ring isn't a status symbol and getting married isn't about fitting in or showing off.

what i love most about ms. dore's article is her conclusion that americans care so much about engagements and marriages because we are romantics at heart.

where james proposed

judging by my own experience, getting engaged and married is all about the romance. it's about being swept off your feet. it's about having your own personal fairy tale. it's about love.

knowing that i have always loved gazebos and thought them romantic, james took me to the lighted gazebo pictured above on the eve of our 3-year anniversary. he pulled out a chair, blanket, music stand, printed music mounted on fine paper, and his guitar from the trunk of the car.

as i sat down and he spread the blanket across my lap, he didn't say much other than that he was going to sing me a song. he played "question" by the old 97's.

when the song was done, he got down on one knee, looked up at me with shining, clear eyes and with earnestness, told me how much he loved me. how he knew with all his heart that he will never love anyone like he loves me and how much he wanted me to be his wife. and then he pulled the ring box from his pocket, opened it, and asked, "will you marry me?"

i'm pretty sure i said yes. all i remember is looking at him and nodding. and finally he said, "well, go ahead, put it on!"

thinking about it now, and recalling our wedding, makes my heart swell. it makes me think about our love and how lucky i am to have found my prince charming. is that cheesy enough for you? ok, good. so tell me, was your engagement or wedding like a storybook romance? if you're still dreaming about the day, what do you hope it looks like?

my fairy tale | lorenzo de gregorio photography

mini home tour

 i've been documenting bits and pieces of our apartment since making little updates like these DIY abstract paintings. the result is the mini home tour below and upon reflection, i have a problem - i seem to have forgotten that i live with an adult male.

 i love our place now, but i want to build in masculine elements to our home, so our space is interesting and appealing to the mr. (and actually looks like a man lives there). luckily, i have time to figure it out because james indulges my predisposition for all things girly.

living room 

bathroom

bedroom

kitchen drawer liners

scenes from the weekend

this weekend was a lot of wedding-related fun! j had his bachelor party party and i had a girls' night in. my girlfriends and i made caprese salad, black bean and tomato quinoa, a candy buffet and an amazing chocolate tofu pie. oh, and there was lots of champagne. my friend aravinda over at linguini and colette has the recipe and it's amazing. trust me, it doesn't have the consistency of tofu and doesn't taste like it either. delish!

i was also very happy to wrap the presents we're giving our wedding party and parents for the big day. we spent a lot of time picking out gifts for our loved ones, so we wanted the presentation to be just as special. 

i found these pretty peach bags at target! the tulips are courtesy of j.

but i have to admit, i'm most proud of the groomsmen's gift packaging. initially i had picked up gift bags at paper source, but i found these fabulous (and manly) burlap bags at the last minute. i tied hang tags with metallic hemp cord that had a note from j to each groomsmen.

only 18 days until the wedding! so excited!

design project: refinish the dark woods

i am so excited to share my furniture refinishing project with you today! i decided after drooling over white interiors over the past several months that our apartment, and moreover our furniture, needed a pick-me-up. if you've been reading a.n.c. recently, you probably know that i'm recently engaged and getting married next year! although we'll be receiving gifts from our generous friends and family, i couldn't bring myself to register for pricey wood furniture and since we're financing the wedding (mostly) ourselves, buying new isn't in the budget (pottery barn, why do you tempt me?).

most of our furniture are hand-me-downs and don't match. it's solid wood and the construction is great, so we didn't want to throw them away all together.


so...two sundays ago, i got the ingenious idea to refinish six pieces and couldn't understand why my fiance didn't look PUMPED to start this project at 5pm. c'mon, i said, it'll be fun! we referred to this online tutorial and "shady" at home depot for (yes, his name really was shady) for a step-by-step guide.

we did have fun, but the the process was more involved and took way longer than we expected. we officially finished the last piece of furniture this past saturday at 5pm. that being said, i'm so so happy we did it and thankful for my fiance who worked crazy hours so he could come home early and sand before i got home to paint.

there are plenty of online guides to refinishing furniture, but i thought i would impart some of the things i learned. if your wood is dark and your intent is to paint it white or another light color, i would advise you follow all of these steps. it takes a few days to complete one piece of furniture, but the result is worth it!

step one: stripping (ooh ooh!)


that's me above applying the noxious stripping agent to an end table. it literally eats away at varnish, paint, sealant etc. so make sure you wear protective gear (even if it makes you look like a minion from despicable me). we got a "safe for indoor" use stripper, but i would 1. advise you never use this indoors and 2. coat it on thick and let it sit for more than 30 minutes. the one we chose didn't do a great job of removing all the varnish and we had to rub mineral spirits (the fumes are intense!) all over to get it prepped for sanding.

let these pieces dry completely before going on to step two.

step two: sanding
my fiance did all of the sanding with a hand-held sander, using 100-grit sandpaper, until the furniture was smooth and paint and varnish gone. you will probably not be able to achieve this without an electric sander.

step three: prime + paint
this process will take the longest because you will likely need multiple coats of very thinly applied paint (ours required 3-4 coats). make sure to wait until a coat is completely dry before painting again.

we opted for a more affordable option and bought behr primer and paint in one in "pot of cream." behr has been recommended to me over and over and i'm thrilled with the results. i don't think we lost anything by combining and paint and primer because it's a high quality product. either way, you need a primer when going from dark to light.

step four : seal (optional)
we decided to apply two coats of a semi-gloss sealant to the furniture after painting. a good sealant will make your furniture more resistant to stains and easier to clean, which you likely want for white furniture.

we chose a satin finish for the paint and a semi-gloss for the sealant to prevent the furniture from looking lacquered. i'm pretty pleased with the results! i only have one "after" picture, but i'll be taking more soon!


hope you enjoyed our little project and let me know if you embark a refinishing project of your own!