Cape Cod Collegiate: When I grow up..

How many times have you wandered through blogs and tumblr and found those pictures of BEAUTIFUL homes and thought, "This is exactly what I want when I have a house" or maybe you see those precious children dressed in Crew Cuts and think, "Yup, my children will have closets full of that stuff", and lets be really real here, I know we've all seen that picture of Jake Gyllenhall and thought, "Uh huh, there's my future husband"... So in honor of all those moments, and all of those dreams I dedicate this post to:

When I Grow Up...

You'll pull into my drive way and see this:

And every light in the house will be on because I plan on entertaining all the time, and who really wants their guests sitting in the dark..

You'll knock on the front door with my lobster door knocker and wander into this:

The walls will not be yellow, because although I'm a happy person, I've had yellow walls in my loft at the cape for way too long - I suspect it'll be a nice shade of taupe. And the cubbies will be nicely organized with my family's monogramed beach towels in the summer, Barbour jackets in the winter and fall, and wellies in the spring.

You'll turn to your right and your jaw will drop at the sight of this:

It probably won't be white, maybe a light gray or taupe like I mentioned before, but the molding will definitely be there.. but count out that chandelier, I don't so much love it. Expect the stairs to be filled with toys my children have forgotten to take upstairs, and piles of rainbow sandals, because yes - my entire family will wear them, no excuses.

To your left you'll find a cozy formal living room. It most certainly WILL NOT be a room where people think they can't touch a thing. Everyone will be encouraged to put their feet up, get cozy with the plaid pillows and have deep and meaningful conversations while sipping on burbon or vodka tonics.

If you keep walking straight from the front door you'll enter into this relaxing and lovely room:

Oh look! There's one of my precious Crew Cut children coloring - probably coloring in one of the Disney coloring books I got her, because lets be honest - my children WILL know what old school Disney is.

The view out the window may not be the gorgeous ocean seen here, but you'll be able to see the pool with a slate patio and deck made perfectly for entertaining.

If you turn to the left of the family room you'll find my

kitchen fit for the wonderful cook I plan on being haha

There will be just the perfect amount of space for both my husband and I to fit and cook at the same time, and for the kids to sit at the breakfast bar and tell me about their straight A report cards (hahahah, suree..)

In the corner of the kitchen not pictured you'll find my lovely little space:

Where I'll keep track of everyones activities: ballet, soccer, tennis, lacrosse, piano and art lessons etc.

We can just say it will be where I lose my sanity but try and organize it at the same time..

Back to the corner of the kitchen... you can see the back stairway creeping in the left corner, my house currently has a back stairwell and I will most definietly have one in my future house - although its perfect for sneaking out, but I'm going to be a cool mom so thats fine.. not. ha.. at the foot of this stairwell you'll find the back door that'll look something like this, organized yet again.

It will lead outside to stairs that resemble these With that same wrap around porch where my neighbors will often find me drinking tea and iced coffee while reading Real Simple and really wonderful books on my Kindle, or maybe a real book. (I don't quite know how I feel about electronic readers yet haha)

And if you wander down those and further into the back yard you'll be blessed with this breathtaking view. This will be the one and only time that the backyard isn't filled with pool toys, guests, or children running wild through a sprinkler. Our English Cream Golden Retrievers will be scampering all over the place protecting and playing with the kids. The hydrangeas will be beautiful and the grass perfectly cut.

If you can see in the left corner of the pool patio, the chairs set up as if they're around a fire pit.. and you wander that way you'll stumble upon this relaxing area where when my kids grow into teenagers they'll gather around with all their friends and try and pretend they're not drinking and doing dumb things, but my husband and I will know the truth.. OHH to be young haha

Then if you look around the back yard you'll find the precious cottage-y guest house where we'll stick our in-laws when they get a little obnoxious, or maybe our friends from all around the world will stay there.. Regardless the living room of the guest house will look like this, letting in every ray of light imaginable. It will be hard to not be happy in here.

Also in the guest house basement our guests will find the most chilled out place in the entire world, a media room with no couches or defined furniture, just tons and tons of pillows and a projector. Also notice the comforting, mood-setting fire place, totally my favorite part of this room.