Super Stealthy Mission at the Parade of Homes

Hey there - I hope everyone had a great weekend! We had our annual Parade of Homes going on, so I decided to take a gander through a few of the houses. I can sum my experience up in one word "Tuscan". It was everywhere! Don't get me wrong, the whole dark-aged wood, faux treated brown walls has it's place in the design world...but seriously people....EVERY SINGLE HOUSE?!

So imagine my delight when I walked up to the last house and saw a sign by the front door that read "designed with an east-coast cottage aesthetic"...stop-the-world! My eyes were as big as saucers when I walked in and saw clean, crisp white molding, and this chandelier in the dining room!


I thought "Ha! I've seen that chandelier online before and lusted after it! I can't believe it's in this house!"....Um..by the way...I've never claimed that I'm not a complete dork.

The realtor saw my excitement and raced over like Winnie the Pooh to the honey jar. I told him I wasn't in the market for a new house, but that it was absolutely beautiful and would he mind if I took a few photos (and batted my eyes the best I could)? Apparently I wasn't very convincing because he said NO photos. Blast! Can you believe that? He said "That's how our designer's make their living. We can't have people copying it." And I said (in my best empathetic tone), "Oh, I completely understand, but I was just thinking of taking photos for myself for my own reference - Not to publish on the internet or anything (wink wink, nudge nudge)." Yeah...still NO.

So I wandered around the house soaking in every detail....dark hardwood floors, grey toned walls, brushed nickel fixtures, travertine in the bathrooms...and just as I was about to pull out my camera like a super-spy to steal some photos of the master bathroom Mr. Realtor came in and said..."Ok, if you hurry you can take a couple pictures of the kitchen, but if anyone else walks in you have to stop." Well...ok then.

So here's what I was able to snap while Mr. Realtor nervously loomed over me (you can see him in one of the pictures).

Great quality photos, eh? But you get the idea, right? White cabinets, a black island, a farmhouse sink...ahhh, absolutely divine.

Sooo, that was my little adventure over the weekend. I did learn one thing, though, I'd make a really bad spy :-).