An honor

For the Love of a House (photo above) has recognized me with an award! It is such an honor from a blog I sincerely admire; Joan is documenting the progress of making an old New Hampshire farmhouse into a home. I have to admit that I'm secretly taking notes because restoring an antique farmhouse is a little dream of mine and Joan knows what she's doing. This recognition is so humbling to me-- I really never dreamed that my blog would be read (let alone recognized!) by anyone other than close friends and family. As I wrote to Joan, I started this blog when the began demo on our sorry, destroyed home as a way to post photos for friends/family who were eager to see the progress finally being made. Then (admittedly around the time we had to choose a benjamin moore white for our kitchen cabinets) it became a place where I could talk through decisions/ideas without driving dear husband completely bonkers. It was around that time I started discovering all these amazing design blogs-- from women of most superior taste and I started checking them for daily inspiration... but what was so unexpected and most incredible is when some of these women, in turn, found my blog and began leaving words of encouragement and advice. I am so thankful for such friendship and it's been one of the things that has kept me going.

So here's the "award":
This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to some bloggers who must choose some more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

So I suppose it's my turn to bestow this award to blogs of my choosing. I have to say I'm a bit bashful about this because these blogs are all so established- so well thought out, carefully crafted where as mine is still a bit home-grown as it were.... nevertheless I'll use this an excuse to thank these particular bloggers as ones who have given my blog something to aspire to while providing me with endless inspiration and motivation. In the spirit of this award these bloggers have also left comments on my blog making little 'ol homeontallmadge feel welcome in this world of design blogs.

Velvet and Linen- Brooke is a superstar. Her blog has been recognized most recently online by the washingtonpost! She has superior design sense and taste and I love that she is such a prolific blogger (i can count on daily inspiration!) Her work is gorgeous, her blog is amazing, and I was silly-jumping-up-and-down excited when she first left me a comment on my blog! Her comments are always so thoughtful and it means a great deal to have a note from someone who's work I so admire.

The Stamford Wife- First off, I get a kick out of the name of this blog and immediately felt a certain affinity since Stamford neighbors the town I grew up in and where my parents still live. I also have fun following her blog because we seem to be in the same sort of stage in life-- buying our first house and making it a home, looking towards starting a family (though she is ahead of me there-- congratulations Teresa!) Teresa has a wonderful eye- I particularly love following the work she's doing on her in-laws' home; it's where I discovered the paint for our masterbedroom- paris rain. She generously gave me wonderful feedback on using 50% of the color for ceiling paint.

Wind lost- I absolutely love Terri's taste and design sense. I get so excited when i see that she's posted because I know there will be beautiful photos and thoughtful words. Though many of the other blogs I've come to follow are designers by profession, I have a special affinity for Terri's blog because she, like myself, has her "day job" separate from her passion for creating beautiful spaces. To that end, I'm curious to see where our north stars lead us in 2009 but regardless her blog is a wonderful source of inspiration to me.