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I've been relatively obsessed with the idea of forcing flowers, from bulbs, this winter season. The thought of incorporating fresh blooms inside, while everything outside looks bleak, just seems like a no-brainer. Funny though, I've never actually tried it. So, I did some basic research and decided on Narcissus, or more commonly knows, Paperwhites. Other seasonal options include amaryllis, but I liked the idea of the Paperwhites' cluster of smaller, more delicate flowers. After putting together a large arrangement of my own, I realized others would probably enjoy receiving these too! So, here's a quick, thrifty and pretty gift that any  hostess would be thrilled to receive. DIY: Narcissus Holiday Hostess Gift Supplies: Narcissus bulbs Glass jar Floral rocks or stones Ribbon Tag Step 1: Source Narcissus bulbs. If you are planning to make a few as gifts, like I did, a bulk order is typically the most economical. I found mine on Amazon, 10 for $1...

Hi folks! Just a quick round up of our Lowe's Holiday Makeover - Vintage Remix with Monica Mangin of Eastcoast Creative. Just yesterday, she posted the full coverage and all the amazing pics of Content. dressed up in its Christmas best on her blog! Even better though, Monica shared all of the DIY projects, made with Lowe's products and used in the makeover. She's got so many innovative, easy projects that you can try. Definitely give it a look! Aside from having a beautiful room to look at and enjoy this holiday season, it was a thrill to meet and hang with Monica and her BFF Jess Jackson all weekend.  Watching them in full design motion was really entertaining, but one of my favorite moments was realizing I'd made the fatal mistake of following my normal Sunday routine of hitting up the flea market, but without them. The look on their faces was priceless. "Wait, you went to the flea market without us?" Ummmm....  Needless to say, we al...

Now that most of the fake cobwebs have been cleared, I wanted to recap our first Halloween at Content. This silly holiday holds a special place in our hearts, because it was right around Halloween that John + I made our relationship "official". It was at my first (somewhat annual) Halloween party in 2008, hosted in a Hoboken bar, that John met my family and friends for the first time. Mind you, he was dressed as a gay construction worker that year, and even I would not have worn shorts that short... He made the Village People proud! I also consider that first Halloween John's last opportunity to take notice of the crazy that results from any party I'm planning, and quickly run for the hills. But he didn't. Choosing instead to calm my self-inflicted anxiety with a trip to Central Park where we rode the carousel and visited the zoo. Fast forward 7 years, and that adorable BF/GF couple is now husband and wife, and that dingy Hoboken bar has been replace w...

First of all, lets talk about the elusive Internet contest for a second. You see a contest with a prize you desire, participation is easy. You enter your name, a telephone number 1-digit off or use an email address from college (as not to get more spam than we already do) and hope for the best, right? This time around, I actually gave a hoot, and it payed off.  Back story here, Content. is more or less at a design standstill. John + I have owned the house for exactly 1-year (yah!) and have invested nearly all of our time and resources into bring this property back from the dead, literally. Many of the rooms remain untouched, which was the plan, so that's OK! We knew that getting our living quarters in line first, so we could live comfortably, was the priority and then we would work on the other 75% of the house over time. What we hadn't fully factored into the equation was furnishing our finished spaces. Yes, we knew we needed furniture. We had some great home ...

Greetings from a very happy woman! Yes, that's right. I am overjoyed to share the half way progress of our walk-in closet.  If you recall, restructuring the closet was part of our original bedroom remodel. The master bedroom was large and awkward, and the existing closet left a lot to be desired. It sat flush on the courtyard wall, and left zero options for bed placement. Here's a step back, to my original Phase 1 post on the subject. With the addition of the half-wall, the walkin closet was born. Now, mind you, that original post was from March, nearly 6-months ago. And in all honesty, its taken me that long to get our clothes organized well enough to take a photo. Can you blame me? If I came to your house right now, unannounced, and asked to take a picture of your closet to share with the world, would you let me? Original floorplan The half wall if up, opposite side is the new closet. Closet shelves in the making So, here it is! Let me walk y...

We're coming to a bit of a cross roads ("meet me at the cross roads, you won't be lonely...") here at Content. October will mark our 1-year, homeownership anniversary. When John + I purchased this crazy house, it was beat up, abandoned and stripped of all the plumbing, heating and cooling systems. Having never renovated a house before (let alone a house from 1890) we needed structure and came up with a 12-month renovation plan. Spreadsheet and all, budgeted, dated tasks, materials, next steps; saved for us to come back to. I remember thinking, "12-months...? Man, that seems so long. Doesn't 6-months have such a better ring to it?" But in reality (where John insists I visit from time-to-time) the amount of work we have accomplished in 365 days is phenomenal. To think of all those long days, and nights of individual "projects", finally coming together is awesome, and provides a raw feeling of accomplishment. Looking back at the mas...

While I daydream about sweeping up construction dust for the very last time (ha ha, yeah right), I've been doing a few DIY projects of my own.  As we begin to organize and dig out our remaining boxed items, stored on the other side of the house, John and I realize, we have no way of differentiating all the other rooms we have yet to renovate. In a regular house, identifying a room is done by location, but this is not a typical house. This is a once brothel, hacienda-style property, where all the rooms connect not only to one another, but to the center courtyard. In a normal scenario, one would simply say, "down the hall, third door on the right." But at Content, which "hall" are you referring to? The interior hallway, or the exterior porch which each room can be accessed from. What ends up happening is: John: "Court, where's the box of camping supplies?" Courtney: "In the first bedroom." John: "First at the front or...