"She's not a lady. She's nothin' but a sister."

 Introductions

I don't believe I have had the opportunity to introduce you to my new pocket book.

Dulce and Gabbana, meet my blog

 

I am building a house...


It's killing me... And I'm loving every minute of it.


House Spec Highlights

5200  square feet                                                 

4 bedrooms                                                           

3  baths                                                                             

44 windows                                                                      

1 grand entry                                                                                                                    

1 music room                                                                     

1 air bubble massage oversize jetted tub, Mmm                  

2 heads in walk in shower (ooh la la)
1 loft                                                                           

1 loft inside of a loft

1 secret room

1 entertainment room
1 walk in pantry

14 chandeliers

16/12 pitch on roof
Uinta Nat'l forest in the backyard
red brick
beautiful chimney
asian mahogany wood on both floors
smooth texture
carerra marble (because I can't live with out it)
antique reproduced hutch built into kitchen cabinets
heavy moulding through out

Practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty.
Lyndsey valerga ercanbrack

Always, Always, Always Kiss Me

FINALLY, I have a Mini Me!

A very scary bunch

Garrett is a scary murdering guy, Nadia is a vampire, Liam is Yoshi

and Vivi is a terrifying witch. I could eat them all up.

Thanks to Tom, we take Halloween very serious. If you will notice the background, you see the usual scary headstones and scary guys. But, if you look really close at our windows you will see bloody hand prints. That is suppose to look like a bloodbath went down inside. Tom and the kids had a great time putting that gore-fest  together. I am sure the neighbors love having their kids walk by our house so they can get their dose of disturbing behavior.

Blog Challenged, Computer Challenged
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Or just challenged in general?

So I realize I am  a shite computer user. But honestly, how difficult is it to enable the comments? Well if you are me, it's bloody difficult. I have tried to activate my comments tool but nothing happens. So, through my very brief , minimal and non-comprehensive blog comment troubleshooting, I have learned that some blog styles don't allow comments. It could also just be a glitch that mayhaps I could work out if I knew anything about computers. My point?  I do want to read your comments. I love the emails and the facebook messages. Keep them coming. Also, I just added the followers gadget so we can all follow along together. Don't be shy, it will be fun. So to those who email me and ask why I don't have a comments section... I would like one, I am just blog challenged.

Timeless is Timeless...

 

TThis old home has always been my favorite.

You know when you drive through a hood and you can point out the exact year a home was built? And usually by which builder? Wait, not everyone does that??? ( The more I write in this blog the more I realize I need to get a life...) So, for my lack of better things to do, I have put a lot of thought into the style of this home. Do I want to be hip and modern? Maybe. Do I want to be trendy and boring? Of course not. I think I want to be classic and timeless.

I decided that I want to have a home that will never be known as to what year it was built. By which builder? Yes, I will leave my mark. (I'll figure out how to do that later.) Usually, I like to have quite an edge to my design, I want it to be bold, without yelling or screaming out, I want it to be brave, intrepid and fearless. Something that people almost have to look at twice before deciding they absolutely love and have to have their own.

In this particular case, since I plan on being here a while, I needed something that I know I would love forever. So I did the smartest thing I could thing of. Decide which homes I have always loved, study them and then rewrite them. Lyndsey style. So my inspiration? Here they are. They are not mansions, nothing too ostentatious, no chichiness here. They are classic and timeless. Some may say boring, I say magnum opus. So why am I drawn to these fine works of art? Honestly I could go on forever... and trust me, you don't want that. In the end though, it's all in the details.

I believe I have infused just the right amount from each of these homes (and lots others not shown) to create my perfect home... And I couldn't be more pleased.

NEW YORK IN OCTOBER

by Lyndsey Ercanbrack

This is my latest trip to NYC. It was, in one word... perfect. Oh... and cold. (Two words.) I went to the most amazing art show, full of words and sayings. Did you know I am a colossal, monumental, stupendous, obsessive, word and saying aficionado? I find words to be most powerful. I could have stayed there for a week.  Talk about being inspired! If I could have traded  my tape measure for a notebook at that moment  I would have. It was  a magnificent show.

I was also able to squeeze in some quality vintage fabric shopping. It was just what I needed.  I love you, you prodigious, stunning, wondrous, awe-inspiring Big apple. Maybe next time you can
come home with me?

Dear Mother Nature,

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I realize I have asked a lot from you in the thirty one years that I have been present on this earth. Example: When it's August  I usually request  hail, sleet and snow. When it's  December I usually ask for sunshine and a light breeze. Spring time, I want fall weather and fall weather, well...  I am pleased as punch. See, I can be satisfied. Anyway, as  I am sure you haven't heard, I am trying to build a house and I feel you have not been cooperating much in this little endeavor of mine. Not your fault, you didn't know... I'm sure this is confusing  to you because now is the time I  start  praying for heavy snow so that I can take my snowboard to the hills and  exercise my right as a Utahn. Plus, you know how much I love to get in my jammys and cuddle with  bluey or floral (my blankets) on a blustery  winters day. However, this year my needs have changed, I know this is alot to ask, but I was wondering, hoping even praying that you could provide  dry weather for my not so closed in house and maybe even a little warmth for my workers. I don't want to put you out, and I am really sorry to all of my fellow snowboarders, but I have a deadline to meet and I am finding it quite difficult with all this rain.  I only need a couple more weeks, a month  max... and then you can bring on all the snow you want. I will even support, nay, encourage it. I don't want to be greedy so in trade, I will not dream of a white Christmas or ask anything else of you for the rest of the year. With that being said, do you think you could bring me a beautiful thunder and lightning storm for Valentines day?

You are the best, Mother Nature. I love you. XOXO

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17 things I can't live without

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Or can... but would prefer not to.

By Lyndsey ercanbrack

1. NYC. The diversity, the culture, the people, the shopping, the architecture, the food
2. Green smoothies for breakfast
3. So you think you can Dance
4. Black platform patent leather shoes. Totally rock chic and they look good on everyone
5. Music particularly Radiohead, The Bends cd
6. Architecture and interior design books, photos
7. Texas Roadhouse
8. My 25' Tape measure
9. My Blackberry
10. My "Why weepest thou?" Liz Lemon Swindle lithograph
11. Maple oatmeal squares cereal
12. My slipper boots
13. Being tickled
14. My camera
15. Arrested Development
16. Mommy and baby Mammals
17. Carrera marble

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17 things I can't live with.

Or Can but would prefer

Or can... but would prefer not to..

.By Lyndsey ercanbrack

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1. Any t.v. show on the CW, i.e. Gossip Girl, One tree Hill, Melrose Place, BH 90210 (All trash)
2. Most reality t.v. shows and the "stars" that we are subject to hear about where ever we go
3. Rush Limbaugh (I know this is a list of things, not people, but tools are things)
4. People that hate Obama for *NO REASON*
5. Moms in huge SUV's with one child
6. People that don't say "thank you" at the drive through
7. Ants (not to be mistaken for Aunts)
8. Entitlement
9. Litter bugs (and people too)
10. Slow drivers / oblivious drivers
11. Mean children
12. Santa Claus and The Easter Bunny, WTF?
13. Messes
14. Poor hygiene
15. Greed
16. Mice
17. Anything with Seth Rogen

Proud Mom Moment

Yesterday Garrett and I were driving in the car and from no where my precious little boy said...

"Mom, I am really hoping our house looks more like a classic colonial home with a little bit of a contemporary edge. Nothing European please, everyone is doing that."

Um, Where did this little boy come from? That's right, ME!!! Could I be any more pleased? I think not.

Apparently, I have been too wrapped up in my floor.

by Lyndsey ercanbrack.

So I was at my sister's house today and I was lodging a full load of house complaints. To start, my framer didn't get the load bearing wall changed the way I wanted him to... Yes, my fault. I changed my mind at the last minute. My windows are not ordered because I can't make a decision on the color or style. I am having major anxiety about the main hall off the foyer. Do I want a niche? ...Do I not? Is the powder room too big? What about adding a wall near the kitchen? ... Yea or nay? Oh, my pre cast pillars? Funny you should ask... Forget about them. The worst part about this whole situation? This is all stuff that I should have had figured out BEFORE we started framing. What have I been doing to not have all of these unknowns, known? Well, when my sister asked me that very same question, my sad and confused answer was "I have been too wrapped up in my floor."

.

My problem is simple. I have too many options and I know it. I am truly the worst interior design client I have ever dealt with! I am my own worst client nightmare! I just need to man up, forget about making changes, stick with the original plan and abort all new ideas that pop into my clever, little trouble- making head. Ignore that astute little voice that is constantly tempting me with brilliant, foxy ideas that do nothing but get me into trouble.

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Now don't get me wrong. I am loving every minute of doing this. I am so grateful for this opportunity. Being my own G.C. is empowering and impelling! I don't have to count on anyone but me. If something goes awry, I have no one else to damn... Wait, maybe I don't like this after all...

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I am no longer what I was. I will remain what I have become.

By Lyndsey Ercanbrack

Coco Chanel.
A very magnificent and
wise woman.
I do believe I love her.

I want to believe

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I want to have hope

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I want to be happy

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I just want to be.

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...How can I do that?

And then I got to thinking...

I write a little bit each week, I mostly do it because writing my thoughts down is the best kind of therapy for my soul. Most of what I write, I never post because it is either too obstinate, too raw or worse yet, too sentimental. This is my blog though, my own little macrocosm. I get to say what ever I want. Give my opinion on whatever comes to mind. Speak on what ever fluky or inadvertent topic I would like. I don't usually have anything too profound to say, but, I do enjoy saying it nonetheless.

Today I have been at my mom's for what seems like eternity waiting to go out for a night on the town with her and my two sisters, of course we were suppose to leave an hour ago. My one sister hasn't even showered yet and my other sister? She will show up eventually. (Tom refers to this as Valerga time...) I love spending time with the girls. We are all a bit crazy and our time together is precious. So while I wait I write.

I have nothing of importance to write about today. I have been listening to Bob Dylan a lot lately and I just have to say how wonderful he is. He is brilliant and I think he and I are soul mates. Not the marrying kind, of course, I am already married, sorry Bob. The thinking alike kind. He has always been my favorite ever since I was about four years old. Perhaps because he reminds me so much of my dad. (They are truly soul mates.) When I was little we would drive to San Fransisco, my dad's hometown, and would listen to The Eagles... Who I absolutely still adore (heart songs, everyone of them), The Doors and Bob Dylan. Others as well but those are the ones that stuck with me. What a hip dad, I know. I think I got most of my thinking from my dad. He is the one that got me addicted to architecture and interior design. No, he is a lawyer but he has an appreciation for the finer, more exciting interests. When I was little we would go for Sunday drives and my dad would take us into neighborhoods just to point out what was wrong with them. Tom says it is my dad's fault I am such a house/ neighborhood snob. Funny, every time my dad gets mad at me and tells me I am killing Tom because I insist on living in nice homes it never, until just now, occurred to me that it is my dad's own doing. All the "Kids, you never want to live in this kind of neighborhood or have neighbors like these..." must have really sunk in, (see dad, I did listen to you after all.) Hmm. Good one.

So this post started out about Bob Dylan, actually, it started out about my sisters and mom. Wait, no... it started out about how I really don't have much to say and then went from the girls to Bob to now, my dad. So I will finish it with my dad. Thank you dad, for introducing me to the best kind of music in the world. I remember you explaining in detail the concerts of The Eagles, Bob and The doors while we would listen to them. It may be because of you that I love music so much. Also, thanks for taking me to every Parade of Homes from when I was ten years old to now. Thank you for training me on what homes are socially acceptable... And most of all, thanks for that time you came to my high school when I was a senior to meet with me and my counselor. I am sorry I was so loutish and I didn't appreciate the time you took to try and help me straighten out my behavior and graduate on time. And for every other reason I can not name, you are a great dad. I love you.

House Update

We are framing. My crew is very good. Very meticulous
and quite a talented group. I must compliment myself on a job well hired.



This is the actual opening of my front door. Isn't it smashing?