Ahhh! I did NOT mean to go a week without posting on the blog but it has been crazy getting back in to our new school/after school routine this year. The first couple of weeks are always a little challenging aren’t they? Fun and exciting for the kids but also exhausting and emotional. I’ve also been trying to figure out my new routine with this schedule. I try to batch tasks as much as possible to make the most of my time so I’m tweaking and re-tweaking things to figure out what will work for me. Last week I accomplished a whole lot of tweaking and not much else. Ha. ;) This is our first full week and I have no doubt we’ll all be ready for the weekend once it rolls around!
I shared this Sayan Pendant light fixture soon after I ordered it but I didn’t have it hanging yet and it sold out right after. It’s back in stock again (yea!) and I’m not surprised that it keeps selling out. I LOVE this light fixture. It adds so much texture and is great quality for such a reasonable price. I wanted something casual for this space and am so happy with the vibe it brings into this room!
I also wanted something that would match this Hanging Rattan Chair! Isn’t it fun!? I’ve wanted to put this hanging chair in our playroom for years now.. ever since I first saw it on-line at S&L!
It’s so beautiful and I love that you can pile pillows and blankets on it to look (and feel!) cozy. These are some of my favorite pillows/throws at the moment and I’m having a hard time keeping them in the playroom! They want to be in every room in the house. Especially this Fall. :)
As you can imagine the new chair has been a huge hit with the kids! You can’t tell in the pictures but there is a decent amount of space behind the swing so there is definitely room to have some fun. Not out of control bust the wall fun (as I explained in detail multiple times!), but definitely room for a good back and forth. :) My girls and their friends all hang out in this room and the theatre room when they come over so for teens the chair is a great spot to hang out and chat and laugh.
For Kole? Well.. this is his favorite way to use the swinging chair.
But that doesn’t happen as often as he’d like because this is how his mom prefers that he use the swinging chair. ;) Either way it has quickly become his favorite new spot in the house which makes my day. I knew I loved the chair so I’m thrilled my kids love it just as much!
I had my friend snap this pic when she was over the other day so you could see the size of the chair (I’m 5’3 and 1/2) and it holds up to 300 pounds so safe to say it’s nice and sturdy!
Which is great because kids shouldn’t have all the fun right!? :)
I’m so excited about the new fixture, hanging rattan chair and my two new throws and pillows for this space! Next on my list is to decorate the walls, add accessories and bring in some COLOR. There are a lot of various shades of blue going on and I’m still trying to decide on the best accent color for a room shared by boys and girls. I’ll keep you posted on what’s going on in this space as soon as I figure it out myself!
In the meantime.. you know where you can find me. ;)
This print is my absolute favorite! I love that the planets are balloons. I love the deep blue background and all of the splashes of color. I also love how large it is! (About 26×38 so it fills up a lot of wall space.) Great quality.. easy to hang. It looks so good in his bedroom and is perfect for my space obsessed little buddy. :) I also picked up this wire clothes hamper to hold all of Kole’s swords. We did a major toy clean out before school started and I needed something to hold the favorites he hung on to.
We added this fun Solar Orbit print to his dresser and then this Moon Phases chart to the right side of his wall. He loves the Phases of the Moon chart!
And just because we loved the colors we also added this fun Retro Lightning print to his industrial shelf. We went through all of his books and only kept favorites and then Kole helped me style his shelves. He’s very proud of his trophies and wanted them displayed along with his favorite orange fox bank and his beloved Dog Man books. :)
I couldn’t say no to these fun Science prints because they fit this wall by his window seat so perfectly and I love the way they look! Bonus if they help him remember the difference between a proton and a neutron. ;)
These prints actually work perfect with Kole’s original dark navy bedding, but that comforter is SO hot and heavy (with flannel sheets!) so at the beginning of summer I had already bought an inexpensive comforter and sheets with all things space on it to use in the summer. (This comforter bedding set is very similar!)
I picked up a couple of Burnt Orange Pillows for his window seat to accompany favorite friends. :)
Decorating the few blank spots in his room motivated me to finally put some pictures and art work up on his pinboard. I’ve had this pinboard hanging in his room for years! Every night when I tuck Kole in bed I think “I really need to get some pictures up on that board..” Seriously what’s wrong with me!? I should have done if forever ago. I finally developed some of his favorite pictures and hanging them took all of 10 minutes. Such a small thing but I felt major victory getting that done today! Ha! It’s the little things.
*Top left picture is our family zip lining in Kauai.. the sweetest. :)
I’m thrilled with how his room turned out! Honestly the new Flower Kids line is adorable. So many fun things for girls’ spaces too!
The VERY best part about this bedroom?
Is my sweet space loving “sun” who it belongs to. :)
*This post is sponsored by Walmart and affiliate links are used. All opinions and product selections are my own!
I’m so excited to share a simple master bathroom update with you all today! Soon after we moved into our home (almost 6 years ago.. can’t believe it has been that long!) I bought these mint green bathroom rugs for our master bathroom. I took this picture a couple of years but today at this moment, my once fuzzy, soft rugs are really starting to show some wear and tear. I knew I wanted some new bathroom rugs and have been hunting for the perfect solution for a while now. I’ve been looking for three things:
1 – I wanted something neutral this time around. I love coral and mint, but these two colors combined in our master bathroom always felt a little too Easter eggish to me. Ha. :)
2 – I wanted a round rug. This bathroom has a lot of square/rectangle straight lines. From the tub molding to the marble floor to the mirrors.. I knew a round rug would soften this space.
3 – I wanted something large. I love the look of my marble floor, but if I was building again I would put in tile or marble in a small pattern. Just being honest.. these marble floors show everything. Water spots! I mean.. what bathroom doesn’t get water on the floor!? I wanted a large rug to cover and protect as much of the floor as possible.
It’s a little different for this space and that’s part of what I love about it. Isn’t the floral and swirl pattern pretty!? And the natural shade of this particular rug is perfection. Did I mention it was on sale for just 79 bucks! It comes in a larger size too. (This is the 5′)
I especially love how well it ties in with all of my neutral bathtub shelf decor I’ve had for years.
Such simple changes and suddenly this bathroom feels all grown up! No more bunny ears included. ;)
I showed my friend this rug when she was over and we were chatting one day and she fell in love with it too! She is just getting settled in a new to her home so I picked up my new rug and we took it over to her house to try it out..
Ahhh! So good right!? We both fell in love with this rug all over again in her entry. Perfection! Needless to say we are now rug twins for life. :)
You know the movie “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants?” (My husband’s all time favorite movie to make fun of with all sorts of sarcasm.) This rug reminds me of that movie. Just like a good pair of pants that magically fit every body type, this rug looks good in every home.. in every space.
Try it in yours.. you’ll see.
Kenny.. if you’re reading, this post is dedicated to you and your all time favorite movie.
;)
Below I’ve linked other favorites from Walmart! Honestly.. I’m so impressed with their recent Home Decor items. So many fun, affordable options! What’s your favorite?
Hello friends. It has been a strange week at our house! Addison started school Tuesday but my other two don’t start until next week so I’m “sort of kind of” trying to get back in a routine for one daughter and still having late night swim parties for the other. So tired from staying up late and getting up early! It has also been tech week for a play Ad is in (she’s playing Matilda in the play Matilda this weekend!) so I’ve driven an insane amount getting her to rehearsals and back in traffic – her practices have been close, but the theatre she’s performing in is over an hour away. My house is a mess because I started taking down summer stuff and pulling out Fall AND on a whim yesterday I decided Kole’s entire room needed to be de-cluttered and started pulling it apart (I added some cute stuff to his walls I’ll be sharing soon!). My parents are coming from Utah to see the play so I’ve got a few hours tomorrow to “sort of kind of” get things put back together around here. Should be a party. That’s what’s going on at our house.. what has your week been like? :)
Thank you so much btw for all of your kind comments and e-mails about our theatre room! I love it when I hear from so many of you.. it always makes my day. :) A follow up post is coming but I’m short on time tonight so let’s quickly talk Fall Wreaths!
Nothing says “Fall” like a fun wreath and I recently bought 2 that I’m so excited about! This Eucalyptus wreath might be one of my all time favorites. It’s so beautiful and I’m loving it over my stove! It instantly added so much warmth to my kitchen. It also gave me a good excuse to cook less this month. ;) All joking aside, Fall is the only time of the year I “sort of kind of” enjoy cooking. It’s so fun to have something warm in the oven or crock pot when it starts to get cooler outside!
The Eucalyptus wreath I just bought is really similar to the Eucalyptus Berry and Pine Wreath I bought last year for Christmas. (You can see I still have the ribbon on mine because I’m going to hang two of them in my dining room again in December!)
I love this wreath too and it’s back in stock! It’s a little larger and fuller than my new wreath and has more going on with the berries and pine. The pine gives it more of a Christmas feel to me but this wreath I just bought works for Fall or Christmas.
K is this making anyone else excited for the holidays? Just me? I can live with that. :)
This is the other Fall wreath I bought. So beautiful.. I LOVE the warm reds and yellows this time of year. I always decorate with traditional Fall colors because we don’t get to see enough of them in San Diego. If I could invent a Palm tree that changed colors and dropped its leaves I’d be all over it and my yard would be full of them.
Clearly I like to hang my wreaths in the most practical places I can find. Ha.
Fall in the mudroom a few years ago! Love this time of year.
I rounded up 9 gorgeous wreaths – looked at SO many and these are my favorites! I have to apologize though.. there are two wreaths that popped up last week at $89 and now they are $99! (WHAT!?) So technically my 9 under 90 is really 9 under 100. Oops! Sorry about that! Maybe we should call this wreath collage “9 under 90 sort of kind of.” ;)
So many fun looks to add a splash of Fall to our homes. Which one is your favorite? #3 is my top pick this year! Ok.. off to bed. Busy cleaning day tomorrow. ;) Happy Friday!
Ahhhh! Finally. Finally! I’m finally sharing our theatre room with all of you! It’s finally DONE. Right now you’re either thinking “finally!” yourself OR you’ve forgotten all about my theatre room and that it was even spoken about to begin with. :) Honestly this was just one of those projects that took on such a life of its own! So many hiccups along the way (I could write 3 blog posts alone about all of the snags I dealt with). Then I finally got this space 85% done and was just so tired of working on it I needed a break before finishing it. Basically this room took me as long to design and build and decorate as our whole house did. Ha. But it’s done! I can finally say our theatre room is DONE. Have I used the words “finally” and “done” enough yet?
It’s finally done.
Moving on. :)
To fully appreciate this forever long project of mine let’s remember what this space looked like after we moved into our new home almost 6 years ago. This room was an extra room we added last minute when we were building because it’s located over our garage and was an easy, inexpensive add-on. At that time my husband thought he might want a theatre room, but we weren’t sure if we’d really use one so we decided to just move into the house and decide a few years later how best to use the space. With no real plan for the room it of course became a catch all for storage. (The white door leads into our attic where I store all of my holiday decor).
(Prepping for the wood work!)
A couple of years later our girls were getting older and we could tell that a theatre room would be a good idea. They constantly had friends over and everyone was always piling into the playroom, moving furniture and crowding around the TV in that room to watch movies and have birthday parties and sleepovers.
Exhibit A. :) Told you my house gets messy.. ;)
When I decided to take on this project my husband was busy with work and still burned out from building our house (I still don’t think he has fully recovered!) so when I told him I was ready to turn this room into a theatre room he politely told me that other than picking out the actual screen and sound system I was on my own. I said BRING IT ON of course (not fully knowing what I was getting into) and started sketching out this space. Really I didn’t want a traditional theatre room with stacked seats. What I wanted was another family room with a really big TV, a big comfy couch and a place to pop popcorn. And molding! Pretty molding of course. :)
Ready to FINALLY see our theatre room? This is how it looks today..
Even if you don’t love it, please do a happy dance for me that it’s DONE! :) So exciting to have it look like a REAL room! It was a hot mess of to-do’s for way too long.
*affiliate links used
You might remember that I had a different rug in this space to begin with. Long story short – I loved the rug but it just didn’t feel right to me for this room. I couldn’t move past it! I tried to find pillows and decor and decorate around it and it just wasn’t working. Every time I walked into this room it just didn’t feel right. It wasn’t “young” enough if that makes sense? Not right for a space that mostly teens would hang out in. So I returned the rug, took a couple of months off and then found and bought this Souk Wool Rug. I loved it in this room the SECOND I laid it down!
I brought our black stripe teepee into the corner after I laid down the rug realizing I could pull more black and white into the room and BAM. Those two items were all I needed to know the direction I was going with this space. Moral of this story.. don’t underestimate the power of a good rug! It really sets the tone for the room. Also black and white stripes are always a good thing in my book. Right up there with popcorn and molding. ;)
I didn’t put a coffee table in this room because I knew we’d often have a full room with kids all over the floor so instead I bought this Fringed Boho Pouf to use for a foot stool and then my kids all have these bean bags in their rooms they can bring into this space for extra seating.
I also added this fun Winslow Arc Floor Lamp for extra lighting and I love it in the corner! It’s hard to tell how HUGE it is in this picture. It’s also hard to see what the fabric looks like on our walls so I’ll try to get a better close up picture soon. It has a light grey herringbone pattern on it and is so beautiful.
I’m a sucker for Anthropologie pillows (LOVE the texture they bring into a room!) so I mixed a few I already had with a few new pillows for this couch.
Also.. not pictured but I just bought this fun throw to also go on this couch and this cute basket for this room – they both look so good!
Ok.. so we’ve covered the couch area of the room.. let’s tour the rest! (You can find details on my couch here.)
Got my BIG TV. :) I really struggled the day we hung the screen because I wanted to center the top and bottom on the fabric so badly! But for viewing purposes it needed to be lower because the couch is low. One of the many times I’ve had to sacrifice design for function! Things like that always drive the perfectionist side of me crazy for a while and then I get over them and move on. ;) So fun watching movies on this screen and my husband is absolutely giddy thinking about Fall football and afternoon weekend naps in this room!
Remember the beginning of my fun shiplap focal wall and appliances?
It’s my favorite part of the room. :) You can see I left the door on the side of our playroom painted white..
But I had the theatre room side of the door painted grey. My instinct is to always go light and bright so I had to really force myself to think DARK for this room! When the black out blind is closed it’s SO dark in this space.
You can read all about our Ferguson appliances and sink in this post and you can download my paint colors here. The shiplap wall paint is the same as my main house color and the darker grey is the same grey I used in my formal living room coffered ceiling! When you find something you love you stick with it. :)
The counters are white Quartz and I fell hard for the chrome sconces (similar here). And the numbered movie prints! Aren’t they fun!? I searched high and low for something for this shiplap wall that would take up space between the sconces but not cover too much of the shiplap. Really.. I looked for MONTHS. Happiest day when I landed on these old movie prints on Etsy! I reached out to Jennifer at Coco and James (CUTEST Etsy shop!) and she was so incredibly sweet and sent me the prints right over! Seriously if you need prints for a baby/child’s room you have to check out her shop. Beautiful and the prints are amazing quality. I put my new prints in these white gallery frames and was honestly giddy with how they looked. Perfect finishing touch to our theatre room!
The remote needed to stay plugged in on this counter so I set up a little tray and plant to help disguise it. :)
I tried so many things in this corner and at the end of the day my favorite Douro vases just looked the best so I guess I’m figuring out something else for my family room console table where they usually sit. :) (Similar white faux flowers)
I’m excited to share the organization going on in this room (always my favorite part!) but this post has gone on long enough! I’ll share that soon in another post and answer any other questions about this room so feel free to ask in the comments if I’ve left something out! (UPDATE: YOU CAN FIND MY POST WITH ANSWERED QUESTIONS AND DRAWER ORGANIZATION HERE)
Here are a few more random pics I took. Playroom door closed..
and play room door open. :) You can see my latest playroom progress here. Can’t wait to have that room finished like the theatre room is now! Baby steps around here. Very SLOW, methodical baby steps. ;)
Our theatre room! Done. I’m so happy it’s finally done. Sometime I’ll have to take pics at night to share the lighting in this space. And of course I’ll have to share pics of how the room usually looks.. with pillows tossed on the floor and full of kids. :)
All sources are below and like I said.. let me know if you have other questions about this space! Thanks for being patient with me on projects that take a little.. ok.. A LOT longer than planned. ;)
(Shiplap Hallway Decor Plan *affiliate links used)
I’m always so ready and excited for summer when it finally rolls around and until this week I really didn’t want it to end.
But then.. it happened.
Sometime yesterday between the 14th popsicle of the day dripping on the floor, the 6th time repeating “no!” to more time on the iPad and the 23rd ride to the beach/a friends/the mall/Starbucks/the movies.. it happened.
Like the flick of a light switch.. I turned. And decided summer is dead to me.
And the first day of school can’t come soon enough. Ha. ;)
One of my summer goals was to start decorating our upstairs hallway. I don’t know if I’ve ever shared pics of this hallway before? Probably not. There hasn’t been much to share.
It’s a hallway. And it hasn’t been decorated. I love this hallway though – hard to show in photographs but it is always lit with beautiful natural light from some french doors that lead out onto our front balcony. I am so excited to finally prioritize it!
I had my carpenter add shiplap to the middle wall a couple of years ago when he helped me with my shiplap display wall downstairs. I knew this would be the main focal wall I would decorate.
Then I fell hard for this console table from a local store and it was the perfect length for my shiplap wall. (I’ll link to similar options I also love below!)
We have can lights along this hallway ceiling and I planned to have 3 hanging fixtures in this space, but I was so overwhelmed with figuring out all of the other lighting in our house when we were building that I decided to wait and choose the upstairs hallway fixtures later.
“Later” turned into 5 years later. Wasn’t really planning on waiting that long but.. life! Here we are 5 years later and I’m finally decorating this space and picking out fixtures. Better late than never. :)
The winner I finally decided on? These Hicks Pendants that I’ve had a crush on for years now! LOVE them. LOVE them so much.
I knew I wanted a round mirror over this console table on the shiplap wall. I found this Pendant Round mirror and fell in love. For a mere $2,000+ it could be mine. Yikes! A lot more than I wanted to spend on a mirror for this space.
So I kept looking and I found this Bjork Mirror that is so similar and $430! SCORE. Couldn’t order it fast enough!
Right before we left on our trip I had my electricians come and hang my hallway lights. Kenny was going to do it but was so busy with work and since I still have all of our building crew on speed dial.. ;) They were laughing at me that I was just now putting these up when I told them I’d have them back a few weeks after we moved in to hang some.
What can I say except good things come to those who wait! I love my new hallway lights. I was SO torn on the size to order and to be honest I still wonder if I should have gone one size bigger (these are the smallest size).. BUT if I would have gone bigger I wouldn’t have had any links hanging. The next size up lights are quite a bit longer (the round part) and this hallway is only 9 feet tall so I wasn’t sure how it would look to have them so close to the ceiling vs. hanging down a little like they are now. Probably either way would have worked!
The beginning of some personality in this hallway! YEA.
Aren’t they pretty!? Am I the only one who gets THIS excited about a few new light fixtures? I took over 20 pictures of them.
Maybe 25.
Can’t wait to style this table for Fall!
That door to the right is our playroom and I’m making progress in that space too.
After I finish the playroom and decorate my console table I want to figure out something fun for this big blank wall next to our laundry room. It’s huge and empty and would be a perfect spot for something creative. I’ve thought about different gallery walls and might do something simple with rows of frames, but if you have other ideas let me know!
Happy weekend! Kenny and I just spent the last few days in Park City, UT and it has been so beautiful and sunny but also nice and cool. It’s making me excited to welcome Fall! It also reminded me that I better share my powder bathroom summer decor before summer is a thing of the past. :) Plus I’m on a roll with bathroom decor since I recently shared our guest room/office bathroom. Promise to take a break from bathroom updates for a while after this post but I do love how simple it is to update bathrooms! A few simple changes can make a big impact.
I ordered this Tufted Mia Bath Mat months ago and it brightened up our powder bathroom so beautifully for summer. I was in love the minute I put it in this space!
A view from the other side! The pink and white towels are long time favorites. I also ordered these pretty towels that are on sale to try over my ladder in this room.
I’m not so sure I’ll change much in this space for Fall because I’ve really enjoyed the pink. Maybe I can find a cute pink pumpkin to add and call it a day. :)
When do you start decorating for Fall? I usually start in September after my kids are back in a routine at school but I have a feeling my pumpkin spice candle might come out a little sooner this year.
It’s that time again! Hard to believe isn’t it!? Another school year has already started for some of us and is fast approaching for others. My kids are out until the end of August so we are cherishing our last days of summer and made a quick trip to Utah to spend time with family and cousins!
Once I get past the emotional first day of school (always a tear jerker for me coming to terms with my kids being yet another year older!) I usually recover from my funk and get excited for a fresh start. I actually feel more motivated to set new goals and do ALL the things in September vs. January. In January I try to set goals, but all I really want to do is live in my pjs and recover from the holidays. :) September is usually the month I feel the most motivated all year. It’s so nice to introduce some structure into my days after an unstructured summer. Last January I created some printables that have been game changers for me in helping me work on my goals and daily habits.
My Monthly Goals printable helps me stay on track each month and even though I don’t always complete everything on my list, I love having it as a daily reminder of what my priorities are. It’s so easy to get busy putting out random fires each day and to lose sight of the things I really want to prioritize.
Same with my Daily Habits page. LOVE this. I try to keep the habits on this page simple and easy (so that I’ll do them!) and I love that I have to check them off each day. I’m always motivated by a check mark. Ha.
You might remember that I created this Visual Planning Board at the beginning of the new year. Mostly to help pull myself out of the post Christmas pj funk I mentioned earlier. :)
I put a new monthly goal page and my habit tracker on my chalkboard each month so that I’ll see them every day in my office.
I wanted to share these printables with you again today for those of you who are feeling motivated to work on your own goals and daily habits now that kids are going back to school! You can download them HERE. I’ve slacked a little with these during the summer months but will be ready to get back on track in September!
Here are a few other things we do every summer to get organized and ready for a new school year:
1 – Get the office/homework zone organized. Now is the time to make sure you have a homework zone organized, stocked and ready to go! If you don’t have a home office, dedicate a spot in your home for homework and get things organized. In our previous house my kids did their homework at the kitchen table so I used a kitchen drawer to hold all of their paper and school supplies.
Stock up on paper, sharpen pencils and buy new crayons and markers if you have little ones! I also get my kids’ classroom supply lists and buy things early because by the end of August the school supplies get really picked over!
Target run with these two a couple of weeks ago to get school supplies! This is one shopping trip I don’t like to do on-line! El’s list comes out after her first day of school. Of course the trip included a new stuffed animal for Kole and Ad’s favorite ICEE’s. ROWS of new school supplies made my day and I might have picked up a new notepad. Happy shopping day for all three of us. :)
The main thing to remember to do when you’re getting your office/homework zone ready is to establish a place where ALL of the kids’ paperwork will land. We all know that back to school comes with a massive amount of paperwork! Having a system set up ahead of time will make for a much smoother transition. My kids keep signed forms and papers they need to hang on to in the white file folders on our office wall.
2 – Organize a drop zone for backpacks and shoes. We used to do a massive mudroom clean out right before school started, but now I have my kids do this as soon as school ends so we don’t have to think about it! They go through their lockers and drawers and we donate old shoes and backpacks and vacuum everything out so that things are clean and ready for a new school year. They always LOVE this chore. Ha. ;)
So nice to have the inside of the cabinets looking as clean as the outside!
If you don’t have a designated place for shoes and backpacks create one! I didn’t have a mudroom in my previous home so I created a place on our garage wall to hold shoes and jackets.
3 – Get back to school haircuts! I was due to get my hair done a couple weeks ago so I took my girls in for their annual back to school trim. Yes.. it takes two people to blow dry and curl my hair.. ha. It’s thick! So they always double up at my salon to save time. The cute girls who do my hair were dressed alike this week so I had to snap a pic. :)
I passed on my crazy thick hair to my girls. Getting all of our hair done is a process so it’s nice to have that checked off the list! (You can see why I feel justified splurging on a good hair dryer! Now the trick is keeping it hidden from my girls..)
4 – Fill out back to school forms. I hate to be scrambling with forms the few nights before school starts so I always try to get them done early! Any forms I know I have to have ready (like Ad’s medical forms for her allergies/asthma or El’s forms for her high school dance team) I fill out early.
5 – Get your pantry organized. I don’t know about all of you but by the end of summer my pantry has usually seen better days! A few weeks before school starts I always do a quick clean out and get things back under control. Then a few days before school starts I stock up on all of the snacks my kids like for their lunches. If your pantry needs an overhaul NOW is the time to do it! You will be so happy to start a new school year with a clean pantry. I’ve found a clean pantry makes a huge difference in my overall sanity! You can check out how I organize our pantry in this post and also how I organized our smaller pantry in our previous house in this post for ideas.
6 – Organize Kids’ Closets. I always make my kids go though their closets around this time of year and pull out anything that is too small or that they don’t love and wear. I told my girls we could do it in two days. The first day we purged and organized their hanging clothes and the next day we tackled their drawers. This made it feel a little less overwhelming and it didn’t become an all day project. After YEARS of doing this they are pretty good at quickly sorting and knowing what to save and what to say good-bye to. We did this before our trip to Utah so they could bring clothes they aren’t wearing anymore to their cousins. Win for everyone!
7 – Stock up on tissues. Because this mom always needs them on that first day back. And it doesn’t matter if it’s for Kindergarten, Middle School or High School. Or if it’s my first child or my last or my in-between. I cry sad/happy tears every single year. You too? I wish we could all meet for breakfast after drop-off and cry together.
Happy weekend! I hope you’re enjoying yours whatever you’re up to! We are spending some time with family and friends and enjoying one last little trip before summer winds down! I can’t believe it’s already August. We’ll be pulling out pumpkins before you know it. I know that makes some of you cheer and others cry. I’m a mix! Not really ready to send my kids back to school, but a pumpkin spice candle is always a good thing. :)
I’m excited to share the rest of one of our bathrooms with you all today! I shared a little peek of it in my last post but today is the full tour. Don’t ask me why I haven’t shared this space on the blog before! This bathroom is located between our guest bedroom and my husband’s office.
If you are sitting on the guest bed you’ll see these two doors. Closet is on the left and the bathroom I’m sharing today is on the right of the table and TV. :)
So come on in! Welcome to the bathroom. Ha. ;) Honestly I had a really hard time designing this bathroom when we were building. This bathroom and my son’s bathroom were the hardest rooms for me to design because I was trying to make them a little more masculine. Feminine is much easier for me! When we moved into this house my youngest son was only 3 years old. The guest bedroom was his room for the first few years in our home because this room is close to our master bedroom. He was still taking baths at the time so we designed this room with a tub in it for him. His “older boy” current bathroom just has a shower. You can see in the pic above that there is a pocket door on the left. It opens to my husband’s office. Since this was sort of my son’s and my husband’s bathroom I went with a bit more of a modern, masculine look.
I chose a solid white quartz countertop and we painted the cabinets grey. (You can find all of my paint colors on a printable here.) I like the diamond backsplash I picked out, but to be honest if I was designing this room again right now I probably would have just done something simple instead because it always looks too busy to me!
The little cabinet to the left of the sink opens to some adjustable shelves and I always keep new soap, a toothbrush and a razor there for guests. Towels, shampoo/conditioner, toothpaste and other toiletries are in the cabinet drawers and below the sink.
You can see reflecting in the mirror in this picture there is a tall cabinet behind the sink/vanity.
I wanted guests to have plenty of counter space (especially thinking of my parents who use this room the most!). When they come and stay for a week or two at a time I wanted them to be able to set all of their stuff out and have some extra bathroom storage so I took some room out of our guest bedroom closet that is on the other side of this and designed a built-in upper and lower cabinet with a counter in-between.
The top cabinet has a few shelves and there are two drawers on the bottom for extra things. The large lower drawer?
One of my pull out laundry hampers of course! If you don’t know how deep my love runs for these built-in laundry hampers you really don’t know me at all. ;) Now guests have a nice place to keep their dirty clothes when they come to visit. It’s the little things. :)
One of my favorite things about this bathroom (that you can’t tell from a picture) is how cool this tile is. It feels like fabric! Honestly so comfortable to walk on, so easy to keep clean and there is no slipping! I wish I had a source for you but I don’t even remember what it’s called. I just know I’ve loved it!
I used it on the walls and in the shower too. This shower curtain was a fun find from the N sale that sold out in a flash and so was this rug, but I did find the CLEAN rug on-line here too if you love it as much as I do!
In our previous house I never had a great place to store my girls’ bath toys and I knew I could come up with a smart solution. I sketched these shelves behind the tub and asked my builder if we cold add them and wa-la! Tub shelves for toys! WHY does every bathroom not have something like this!? So perfect for young kids. If you don’t have the need for tub toys anymore it’s also a nice place to keep extra clean towels.
But our shelves are always full of toys. There’s usually a large ship or Kole’s favorite foam pirate bath toys drying on the top shelf. Even though his baths are few and far between now that he is older we still keep these toys here and he uses them sometimes in the swimming pool. :)
I hope you enjoyed the tour of our guest room/office bathroom! I found some similar, fun shower curtains I’ll link below. Amazing how much a cute shower curtain, rug and towels can change the look and feel of a bathroom isn’t it!?
Happy weekend everyone! I’m excited about this post! I picked up some cute things for my home from the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale and have had time to style and use everything. I really feel like I scored on some good deals this year and I’m especially excited to show you how I spruced up our guest bathroom! (Haven’t shared that space on the blog yet.. sneak peek at the end of this post!) I always find one or two fun home items each year from the sale but this year there were LOTS of fun things I was excited about. First score from the sale.. the boards! I picked up a few of the Hello Lovely Marble and Brass Cheese Boards for gifts. I always use this sale to get a jump start on holiday shopping and I’m always so happy that I did when December rolls around and things are crazy busy. This board is so perfect to give to friends/teachers, etc. You could pair it with a holiday treat or give it on its own.
These two Treasure and Bond Boards are also beautiful! I’m honestly shocked they haven’t sold out yet. The sizes are perfect for entertaining.
And of course they look great anywhere in the kitchen doubling as decor.
Remember the beautiful Charcuterie Board my friend helped me put together last November for my PJ Christmas party? I love that board but to be honest.. it’s HUGE and kind of impractical. Perfect for a once a year party (when I have a friend to help me style food!). But I really wanted something I could use more often.
Now this is more my style. Ha. Every day food my kids will actually eat on a less intimidating size of board! This extra large wood cheese board is the perfect size to pull out and make a summer snack for kids and friends to enjoy.
My board might not be quite as Pinterest worthy but it does make animal crackers and other every day snacks look a little more fun to eat. :)
El was giving me a hard time and laughing at me because I was so proud of my snack board even though it looks nothing like the beautifully styled Charcuterie boards I pulled for inspiration. Food has never been my strong suit as we all know. :) But everyone loved it and devoured it in no time so I’m calling it a win!
Especially since the wood boards look so good displayed in my kitchen and that snack took me all of 10 minutes to pull together from everything we had in our fridge and pantry. ;)
This round marble and wood serving board is on sale for such a great deal. It’s a nice, large size (heavy!) and amazing quality. Another fun option for decor and entertaining.
I put it below my styled shelves for now and am excited to use it when I decorate for Fall.
This Marble and Wood Lazy Susan is another favorite that I ordered. It’s backordered so it hasn’t come in yet (both of these marble boards are backordered and going quick!). This can be used in so many ways. For food obviously. But also on your table or kitchen island holding a vase and flowers or next to the stove holding salt and pepper and spoons and olive oil. Styling options GALORE. I can’t wait to get it and play with it in my kitchen!
Marble coasters are my favorite and this set of 4 is so beautiful for just $20. I always like to just have 3 out at a time. Groups of 3 look good when you’re decorating. I’ll have to share more examples of that in a post. A good decor tip!
And that’s El on the couch asleep under our Bliss blankets. She cracks me up. Always covers her head like this to sleep! I always check on her to make sure she’s still breathing. :)
We turned on a movie after a busy morning in the hot sun yesterday and had some nice down time together. Summer afternoons like this with my kids all home are my favorite. It’s so rare that we are all home like this with just us. Activities and friends and running non-stop is our norm and I love that too, but quiet time at home with just my three kids always makes me so happy.
These Bliss throws are still on sale for about one more week! I ordered another navy throw because I’m going to use navy again for my fall decor and I have navy in every room of my house at the moment. I’m getting excited to get the pumpkins out before long! Anyone else?
I always get questions about this throw because on-line it looks peach so people can’t find it, but it’s actually a really pretty soft pink. The color is “pink peony.” I know I’m repeating myself on this one so sorry about that! But it’s a popular question that comes up often.
The other two throws I picked up at the sale this year are theses two! Not styled obviously because I bought them for our theatre room. (Which I’m so sorry I still haven’t shared.. I took pics last week and just need time to go through them!) The black and white blanket looks so good styled! I love the texture and the tassels hanging off of a chair or couch, but it’s not the softest. The Barefoot Dreams throw is a hot item on sale this year and I have to admit.. it really is crazy soft. Just like the cardigans that are also on sale! Not as good for decorating but so fun to snuggle up with for a movie. Although funny sidenote.. I was so excited to bring home the Barefoot Dreams throw to show my girls and they like the Bliss throws better! They love the soft, fuzzy feel of them so for us the $25 throw beats out the $100 throw this year. :)
This is a little peek of our guest bathroom. It connects our guest room and my husband’s office and don’t ask me why I haven’t shared pics of it before now! I’m going to share a full post on this room soon but wanted to give you a peek of it because I picked up the cutest towels for it from the sale!
They are really soft towels. I bought two sets and am so excited about the personality they added to this bathroom! I’ll share more pics next week! (My shower curtain sold out but how cute is this cute similar shower curtain!? Also on sale and I love it!) :)
So many fun home decor items on sale! I shared a few other favorites in the collage below. Happy decorating and enjoy the rest of your weekend! :)
*This post is sponsored by Walmart and affiliate links are used. All opinions and product selections are my own!
(*Thanks to my cute little models who go back and forth between being best friends and mortal enemies.)
Isn’t it crazy how quickly summer always flies by!? I can’t believe we are already nearing the end of July! My kids don’t head back to school until closer to the end of August but by the time July is winding down I always start doing a few simple things to get ready for the start of a new school year. I’m going to share some things we’ve been doing to get organized before school starts in a separate post soon (I like getting ready early instead of doing everything the last week of summer!) but today I wanted to show you some fun, inexpensive clothes I found for my kids at Walmart. We scored and picked up some really cute things!
Kole wears uniforms at his Elementary school but he hates them (ha) so I always just stock up on some soft play clothes for him to change into after school for our afternoon activities. He won’t wear anything “itchy” so soft shorts like these are his absolute favorite. I let him pick out his backpack every year. This cute shark backpack is the one I liked.. but he wanted the giant dinosaur head. :) I know my years of themed backpacks are numbered with him so I just go with the flow and am soaking it up while I still can! My baby is getting so big.
He couldn’t wait to use his new backpack so he has been carrying it around with all of his toys and “friends” in it. :)
This was Addison’s favorite Walmart find. Cutest lightweight rainbow hoodie and cut offs! These will be easy to mix and match and she has had the shorts on nonstop the past week. Perfect to finish summer and kick off Fall because it stays hot here until November!
This Crochet Tank Top comes with some cute shorts and is a darling outfit. Ad loved and wanted the tank but thought the shorts looked a little “young” so we are giving them to her cousin. Really cute outfit for a 7-10 year old!
They looks so happy don’t they? Caught them on a good day. The day before I had them separated and they weren’t allowed to even look at each other! Then 20 minutes later they were best friends again. It’s so funny to me. Ellie gets along with everyone. If it’s her with just Addison they are great. If it’s her alone with Kole they are great. When it’s Ad and Kole together you never know what you’re going to get! They are so close but also know how to push each others buttons and they enjoy doing it more than I wish they did! Ha. Getting the bearded dragon has actually brought these two closer together so that has been one positive about having a lizard join our family.
I could list the negatives but I’m sure you can guess. ;)
Below are some other fun things I picked up for my kids from Walmart and a couple of cute things I found for younger girls (this clear backpack is adorable and so are these pink ruffle slip ons!). I so miss shopping for little girls! I always get the kids’ new rain boots and they have some really cute options in right now for boots too. Have you started back to school shopping yet? I know some kids go back in early August. Feeling ready? Or are you dreading the end of summer? I always have mixed emotions when my kids go back!
We have some pretty exciting news at our house. Well. Exciting news if you’re one of my kids. I wouldn’t say that I’m excited. Maybe coping is a better emotion to describe how I’ve been feeling the past few weeks. :) If you’ve read my blog for a while you might remember my daughter Addison’s never ending, desperate pleas for a Bearded Dragon. Because of her severe allergies and asthma any pet with hair/fur is out of the question at our house so she has been obsessed with getting a lizard (yes – you heard me right – a lizard) for years. She has been begging me non-stop and I have held so firm in my “no!” Even when she did hours of research and then wrote a 5 page report on Bearded Dragons and how well she would take care of one.
Even when she decorated my room almost every day leading up to Christmas last December begging for one. Even when she had all of her friends begging and pleading with me to get her one. I just couldn’t do it. Have a lizard in our home!? Hanging out on the furniture!? Eating CRICKETS!? (Yes – you heard me right – they eat live crickets.) I was so sure it was a phase that would pass with her but she was persistent and never gave up.
At the end of May when she turned 13 and begged me yet again to please let her get a bearded dragon for her 13th birthday, I caved. I just couldn’t be strong anymore. Without even thinking I just said “ok.” And then I gasped because I knew I couldn’t take it back! Addison cried tears of joy. Ellie and Kole jumped around the room and cheered. Kenny patted her on the back and told her “see.. good things come when you work hard, are persistent and never give up.” (Thanks for that one babe. Really appreciated your support on this.)
So as soon as we got back from our summer vacation, off to Petsmart we all went! She picked out “the one” the second we got to the store and I’ve never seen her so happy. She cried again when we were checking out. Real tears streamed down her cheeks. Then she hugged me and whispered thank you so much mom. I have to admit.. her reaction made me tear up a little too. I couldn’t believe we were crying over a lizard! But when you love your kids you do crazy things.
Kole is the official Godfather of Addison’s new pet and especially loves helping with the crickets. Addison is obsessed and has been with her new pet every second of every day for the past few weeks. The two of them do everything together and when you see one of them you see the other. He’s usually hanging out on her shoulder.
I had a few rules of course. Addison does everything from cleaning the cage to feeding to everything. (She really is doing great job taking care of him.) AND.. he’s not allowed on my couch or my pillows.
You can see how well things are going so far.
Meet Peaches Pina Colada. Proudly sitting on my velvet pillow watching TV with Ad. Oh my word. I have to admit. As much as I hate him (and I do hate him).. he’s kind of growing on me. Addison is already begging me to let him be in our next family picture.
I am NOT caving on that one.
Although that’s what I said about letting her get a Bearded Dragon so if you get a Christmas card with a lizard on it..
In other more normal non-lizard news (ha).. I was so happy to hear from some of you who liked the new outdoor furniture I shared yesterday! I had a lot of questions coming in about the other items in my picture so I linked the rug, ceramic side stool, rattan tray (which is such a favorite btw.. it’s on sale so I bought another one!), and my beautiful new navy planter vase above. I keep moving these few items around because they look good in every room in my house! A good thing but also not because I move things so much nothing ever looks “finished.”
I also had lots of pillow questions. My outdoor pillows are from Pottery Barn but they are several years old (I bought them when we first furnished most of our back yard.) I’ll link to some similar options at the end of my post that would give you the same look for those of you who are interested. Most of their outdoor pillows are on sale right now too so bonus. :)
I might need to look for myself now that Peaches has decided to takeover my navy velvet pillow. I’m still in shock and may never recover from walking in on that scene.
Also in IG stories I shared how I was debating moving this corner plant in my mudroom and putting up some new hanging baskets I bought instead. I got so many questions about the baskets!
For anyone else wondering who I didn’t get a chance to answer, you can find this triple hanging basket set HERE. I absolutely LOVE them and knew the second I found them on-line I had to put them somewhere in my home. Perfect for kids to drop their papers after school or to organize anything really! I’ll share a pic once I have them up. :)
Ok – N sale favorites for men! The first thing I always check out is the shoes that are on sale. I took a quick pic of a few of Kenny’s long time favorite shoes above (yes these shoes are nice and worn out). :) I usually get him one new pair every year at the sale and he’s good to go for awhile. He loves the Ecco sneakers (they look great with jeans and are really comfortable) and they are on sale for a great deal right now! Below are a few other favorites.. either things I ordered this year or favorites my husband already has and wears often. :)
Enjoy the rest of your day and if you have any coping tips for living with a lizard (still can’t believe this is my reality).. I’m all ears!
;)
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xoxo, Erin
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Today I’m excited to share my second playroom update with you all! (You can see the first post on transforming this room here.) We now have a light fixture! And a new chair!
