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The holiday season has arrived and although I haven’t put our Christmas trees up yet, I’ve definitely started shopping. That being said, I wanted to create a few gift guides for everyone on your shopping list! But first, I thought I’d share a photo of our tree and mantle from last year. We have this skinny pencil tree . It has great reviews and is currently on sale for $99! I like that it doesn’t take up a lot of space, but still has a presence in the room. Upstairs, we have a huge tree and that’s the tree that Santa deposits the presents (conveniently located next to the playroom). 😉
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Ahhh, so excited about our new living room furniture! Nothing was wrong with our previous furniture, but I really wanted something different. We bought our furniture 5 years ago right after we got married and purchased our first home. It worked, it was neutral (a must for me) and I loved the nailhead trim. But…over the last year or so, I was no longer crazy about the nailhead trim. We wanted something more durable, tailored, sophisticated- yet super comfortable. I really love the single bench cushion sofas and I like the relaxed look of linen.
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Hello! When we moved into our new custom home in December of 2017, I knew I wanted to have a pretty walk in pantry. Well, we got everything except for the pretty. 🙂 It had the standard wire shelves and they worked fine, but were far from impressive. When we built our home, I chose a french door to the pantry and a pretty chandelier because I knew we would eventually add wooden shelves and not only make it more functional for our family, but also pretty. Well, that time has come!
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Hi! Sorry that I haven’t posted recently, I have no excuse other than being crazy busy. Summer is here and we have a busier schedule of gymnastics, swimming and all the other the fun summer things I’m sure you’re doing as well! However, I want to show you guys our deck makeover and I am so excited about it! We replaced our oversized table and chairs with an outdoor sectional sofa and couldn’t be happier.
Our previous home had a massive deck and so we had outdoor furniture that fit to scale. We moved into our new house in December of 2017 and this home has a smaller deck and the large outdoor table just consumed the space. You seriously had to shimmy past the huge table to just sit down. I loved it, but it just doesn’t work in the allotted space.
We decided that instead of a table, lounge-style seating might be more functional for our family. I wanted to maximize the seating while still having space and prevent crowding. An outdoor sectional was the obvious winner. We have discussed the possibility of screening in our deck (someday) because we want a place to just relax and kick back with a little shade or to enjoy watching a good thunderstorm! We honestly didn’t use the dining table much and none of us really eat outside (I freak out if a fly even lands near my food). #crazy
So I searched online for an outdoor sectional. I found this one at The Home Depot for the best price!! We paid $750 but it’s currently on sale for $660.95!! I debated between the one we ended up buying or this one with the “X” on the ends. My husband wasn’t crazy about the “X’s” but I thought they were cute! Since he generally doesn’t care about home furnishings, I wanted to choose something he actually verbalized liking! LOL The set comes complete with the cushions and the coffee table. Best part? My husband was able to put it together in a little over an hour.
We both felt like a sectional would best maximize the space and also allow us all to lounge on it together comfortably. Our daughter really didn’t like to just sit at the table; she would get uncomfortable and bored. This seating arrangement allows her to lay back and hang out.
I wanted cream colored cushions and my mom didn’t understand why I would choose something light that would be outside. However, dark cushions fade quite a bit from the sun and also show everything – similar to a dark car. I figure I can hose them off or clean them with some outdoor fabric cleaner and store them in the winter months.
I did put teak oil all over the wood furniture before bringing it out on the deck. This will help protect it from the weather elements and fading/cracking/peeling. It was surprisingly easy and took less than 45 minutes to do all of it. I’m not really sure how often you are supposed to do it, but I plan on doing it every season. I also sprayed on an outdoor fabric water repellent that helps protect the cushions. They also have zippers so I can take them off to wash them if necessary.
Overall, we love it! I still need to get my husband to hang some string lights, but for the most part our deck is done! We are currently working on some major plans to the landscaping in the backyard and putting in a paver or flagstone patio that extends off our deck. There will be additional seating, a retaining wall, koi pond and firepit. Stay tuned!
Hi! I am back with another post this week to show you guys our master bathroom. As with most rooms in this house, I created a design board. Building a custom home is awesome but can be scary since there isn’t an actual home to walk through to see what it will look like. So this was the template I used for what I had in mind.
Hi! Before I talk about the new lighting over our kitchen island, I want to say I am so grateful to Wayfair for sponsoring this post, (my first one!). As mentioned in my disclosures, I will only work with brands I trust and with products I love. That being said, we have some new island lighting!
Hi friends! As I have mentioned before, building a house or even doing a renovation can be a stressful situation, especially with so many options. When we began the process of building our current home, I knew I wanted beautiful countertops but also durable for normal, everyday use. So I wanted to show you the options that we chose and why. Let’s get to it!
I love Christmas, it’s my favorite holiday. Every year I resist the urge to put up the Christmas tree sometime in November because I get so excited. I love everything about it from the music to the twinkling lights and beautifully wrapped presents. But as soon as those beautifully wrapped presents are ripped to shreds…I’m over it. Pack it up, I’m done.
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Happy Holidays! I seriously love this time of year and actually love buying gifts for others. Last year I kept bragging to my family how much thought I put into all their presents and they were like, “Yea, Kate. We all did.” I kept telling them, “No seriously! How perfect is this for you!!? I am sooo good!” I then stand there like an idiot as they open their gifts because I’m so excited. My daughter gets gifts early because I can hardly wait. Ok, so maybe we all really like to think we are awesome at giving gifts, so let me just pretend here, ok? I have gathered up some of my favorite items as a gift guide for him or her. In a few days, I will post another gift guide for toddler girls/boys. If there are specifics you guys are wanting, please let me know!
Today, we are talking about playrooms! I didn’t have a dedicated playroom growing up (did any of us?!) but they have become more common in today’s households and to be honest, we love having one. I need everything to have a “space” to go and her playroom is a space in our house specifically for her toys. Of course, we do have a large wicker basket in our living room for toy storage for her to play if we are downstairs, but this playroom definitely serves its purpose. My aunt Brooke has an adorable playroom for her two girls and I asked her if I could include it in this post to show two different styles. We live just 2 blocks away from each other and our girls are the best of friends.
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I am super excited to share our daughter’s playset makeover with you guys, but I need to be honest: an hour after I started this project, I regretted it. My feelings eventually changed once I got over a few hurdles, but the first day was a bit rough. OMG. It was 98 degrees outside and I was convinced this would be a quick weekend project. Um…no. However, I did love choosing the paint colors, the exterior “lights” and the decor. My husband had his own plans for landscaping the front of it and I just knew this would be such a cute playset once complete. I do have some tips that will hopefully save you some time should you dare try this project. Lol
Building a custom home is exciting but also incredibly stressful. I’ll be honest, the process is not always fun but is very rewarding and absolutely worth it. I had a pretty clear vision of what I wanted as far as layout, neighborhood, style, and size. If you don’t, that’s ok! These 10 tips should get you there.
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Fall is officially here! Trick or treaters will soon be at your doorstep while family and friends visit to celebrate the holidays. What is the one space they will all see? The doorstep! The front porch is one of the first things people see when they approach your home. From the door mat to exterior lighting, I’ve got you covered!
