Category: Home

BabyE-8

Nursery Reveal

One of my very favorite parts of preparing for our baby girl has been putting together her nursery over the last few months. I’ve documented some of her nursery projects, but now it’s time to share her vintage floral nursery.  I decided to go with pinks, yellows, greens and blues. I love color, so I figured I’d go ahead and introduce our girl to color at a very young age. 😉 However, we wanted the big pieces of furniture to be white so we can use this nursery for future children, no matter the gender. Also, we have a small nursery, so space saving and utilizing all of our space was really important to me.  I’ve linked where you can find her nursery items underneath photos so you can shop our nursery picks. We had a goal of not breaking the bank while planning this nursery, and I have to say, I’m really happy with the affordable pieces we found!

BabyE-3

Curtains:  IKEA Matilda Curtain |Pom Pom Garland: any craft store (Hobby Lobby or Joanne’s) or you can make it!

Continue reading →

Get a few good brushes to help with your painting job. I really like the more expensive brushes (like Purdy), because I do think they do a better job and you don't lose as many bristles in your project. If you keep them clean, the brushes will last you a long time.

Chalk Paint Nursery Side Table

I went to this really awesome antique store a few weeks back with my friend, Kristin, and purchased this antique side table! For those in the Atlanta area, it’s called Woodstock Market Antiques. I loved it so much despite its quirks and all the things that make antiques so fun. I loved the blue color, but it clashed with our nursery walls so I decided to use my trusty chalk paint and paint it white! Here are the before and afters.

IMG_9381 Continue reading →

img_5782

Travel Themed Wall Collage

For two years, I’ve been working on this living room travel themed wall collage and I’m so excited it’s finally done! Matt and I decided a while back that our souveniers from trips would be prints from local artists or scenes from the city we were visiting. We also love to take photos of our travels, so we knew we wanted to create something that could incorporate our collected prints and photographs. However, for this collage, I did buy that Florida print from etsy and the framed quote in the middle was a gift.  These wall collages are a lot more work than I first thought, but I’m loving the outcome. Also, I learned a few tricks along the way. So if you’re thinking of making a similar wall in your home, I hope this helps! :)

img_6393-1 Continue reading →

img_5957

Kitchen Backsplash Makeover

This home ownership stuff is getting to be more fun than I thought it would be. 😉 When we first bought our home, we did what most first time home owners do. We overwhelmed ourselves with ideas, projects and plans for our home. Then reality set in (and we got a plan together). And by reality, I mean money and time constraints began to yell very loudly at us. Such is life. So, we abandoned our plans to replace our kitchen back-splash. Then I had this idea. Why not paint the existing back-splash? Surely this is a thing. I did what every millennial does when they have a problem…I Googled it. Sure enough, this is a thing people have been doing for years. I read up on painting tile and decided I didn’t have much to lose.

dsc_2440

I’m so happy with how this white back-splash brightened up our kitchen. The best part? It only cost $30!

Continue reading →

Here are both of the tables I have. I painted them both gold and now have them on either side of the couch. I like that they're different but are now the same color.

DIY Side Table Makeover

Over the weekend, I discovered the best Goodwill I’ve ever been to and I got so DIY-happy. It was seriously the best weekend. I’ve been working on our living room and one thing I really wanted was to have gold end tables. But, they are just so darn expensive. Here I found a table that’s similar to the look I was going for but costs way more than what I ended up paying for my entire project. We had one metal table that was handed down from a family member and then I found a second one at Goodwill. And here’s what I did…

Here's the table I found for $9.99 at Goodwill. It has a really pretty glass top with it too.

Here’s the table I found for $9.99 at Goodwill. It has a really pretty glass top with it too. I wiped down both pieces and took them outside so I could get to work.

Continue reading →

img_5303

Tips for first time homeowners

I learned firsthand this summer how stressful a move can be, especially a local move to your first home. Add to that an international trip, some unexpected home damages to handle and the start of a school year…and you’re looking at a very stressful few months. But, I found a few things helpful as we were prepping to buy, packing and unpacking. Here they are! Ps. door mat in cover photo is from Target.

1. When friends or family offer to help, let them. Our family and friends offered to paint, drive furniture, move us, pack our stuff and unpack our stuff. I felt weird about accepting so much help, but then I realized that’s kind of a pride thing. In truth, they made our move happen. My aunt unpacked my kitchen, my father-in-law painted our house & our friends moved all our stuff. I was left feeling so grateful and inspired to help others in their time of need. Continue reading →

img_5462

Living Room Inspiration

Since purchasing our home, it’s been a whirlwind of moving boxes, furniture, slight annoyances, repair men and visitors. We’re trying to get adjusting to owning a home, but it’s sometimes a lot to wrap your head around. We are finally ending this busy streak we’ve had going for about 4 months and I’m really excited to refocus our life a bit. More about that in a future post. 😉 But for now, I’m working on decorating (one of my favorite things to do) my living room. Here I’m sharing my living room inspiration and a few of my favorite resources for things like hanging artwork and paint colors we love. Happy decorating!

screen-shot-2016-09-17-at-3-34-19-pm

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Continue reading →

IMG_9013

IKEA Dresser Hack

If you’re in your young twenties, you know that trying to put together a home (or apartment) is all about the hand-me-downs, deals, refinished garage sale finds and IKEA hacks. And that’s where we’re at. Honestly, it’s a great place to be. I have a really eclectic style, so this is my kind of thing. I love the challenge of taking things we’ve had, things we’ve been given and making them work for our space. So, most of our home projects have centered around this idea. By the way, I don’t know if anyone else has noticed how great it is to do a home project together as a couple, but it is! I mean, it really teaches you a lot about the other person and both of your strengths or weaknesses. For example, I am really terrible at following directions or instructions that come with a project…so that’s usually Matt’s job. And he’s really good at it.

So, a few weekends ago, my husband and I finally got started on our latest IKEA hack. We chose small, inexpensive dressers that we intended to use as nightstands. We have a small space, so we are always looking for more storage and these gave us exactly that.  Last fall, we used a bigger IKEA dresser and turned it into our current dresser. For these nightstands, we wanted something that would match the bigger dresser well and not break the bank. I was really impressed with how much storage these IKEA dressers have provided and I love that they were just plain old unfinished pine wood. No extra steps to prepare the dresser, just assemble and paint or stain. So, here’s how we turned a $35 IKEA dresser into the cutest nightstand that can be used in just about any room. Continue reading →