Erin, Author at The Sunny Side Up Blog

Fashion

04.07.17

Fashion Friday!

Happy Friday everyone! We made it! I’m not going to lie. I feel like I’m limping across the finish line right about now. What a week! It has been non stop around here and I’m ready to come up for air. I feel like we are way over scheduled this year, but I don’t know how to under schedule us. A topic for another day! As soon as I can pause long enough to write about it. ;) Aren’t these flowers gorgeous!? I snapped a picture of them at a stop light. It was a long one. :) Wild flowers are popping up all over San Diego right now and everything is absolutely beautiful. So colorful and green because of all the rain we’ve had. Nothing like Spring!

*Affiliate links used

{Metallic Tee/Jeans/Necklace (on sale right now!)/Purse/Shoes/Bagels – here and here}

On to a little fashion to end our week! Did you all know that Nordstrom carries J Crew? Such a happy discovery for me! I do most of my shopping on-line these days and Nordstrom makes it so easy with their free shipping/returns that I’ll admit I get lazy and don’t look around at a lot of other stores. I love that they carry so many brands and right now they have so many cute J Crew items! This Metallic Linen Tee has quickly become a favorite go to for me. You all know how much I love a good tee. :) This top is comfy like a regular tee, but the metallic gold dresses it up a bit.

This picture doesn’t do it justice! Such a cute tee. My J Crew purse was a birthday present from a close friend – love it Katy :) – and it looks so cute with this top. (This tee comes in silver too and the purse also comes in a bright green and pink!) My favorite necklace looks really good with it too and is on sale right now!

Another favorite J Crew find is this beautiful Fringe Dot skirt. I love it with the metallic gold tee. This neutral look was really speaking to me! I can’t find the cream skirt on-line so it must have sold out! I’ll add the link if it comes back in stock. This skirt also comes in navy. SO cute! Wearing it with these shoes but in the summer this will look cute and casual with flip flops. I love clothes I can easily dress up or down!

J Crew also has a great tee with longer short sleeves. It’s fitted but not tight and comes in so many colors. Love the mint! And the green.. and the navy.. and maybe the charcoal. ;) I’m a bit tee obsessed because I live in them – especially in the summer. You know the story of the Ant and the Grasshopper? How the Ants work hard all summer to store food for the winter? That’s me in the Spring stocking up and storing all of the cute tees for the upcoming summer. Kenny should be so proud of me for thinking ahead like that. ;)

If you ever shop at J Crew you know that this Chambray denim shirt is one of their staples. I’ve had it for a while and love it. It has a really flattering fit and is so comfortable! It runs big so size down! I love how it’s fitted, but doesn’t pull in the chest like some button up shirts do. Sometimes I wear it tucked into a skirt.. sometimes tied at the bottom. I wore it last week with jeans and my new wedges.

The last time I was in Nordstrom I saw this darling outfit on the mannequin. I was so excited because I already had the shirt!

And the purse! (So cute in green too, right!?)

So really I had no choice but to get the skirt to complete the outfit. :) This berry print skirt is darling! So fun for this time of year! It fits true to size but is a little long on me and I wish it came in petite for us shorties. Those of you who have long legs will look amazing in this! I’m keeping it anyway because I love the print so much. Being 5″3 and a half (don’t forget the half) is rough sometimes. ;)

Two other J Crew finds. I tried on this lace bib pullover and loved it in the navy. It came home with me. I tried it on in the white and didn’t like it as much. For some reason the lace in the front looks better in the navy. I also tried on these J Crew cargo pants and really liked them! They didn’t come home with me though because I didn’t like them in the back. Totally not the fault of the cargo pants.. more my fault for eating too much junk over the past month. Ha! Such a disappointment because they were cute in the front – a perfect length and so comfy. I tried a bigger size but they were too big everywhere else. This face is my “shoot.. time to get serious again and work off the bootie weight” face. Baby Got Back was playing in my head. You can tell I’m not impressed with myself. ;) #toomuchbirthdaycake

Here is a pic I took a few days later when I wore the lace bib pullover.

The lace detail in the front is darling! Plus it’s light weight and perfect for this time of year. I’m so happy Nordstrom is carrying J Crew! They honestly have so many cute things in right now for Spring. (I got this skirt too and love it!) Huge thank you to Nordstrom for sponsoring this post! With their great customer service, easy on-line ordering and wide range of brands and options they make it easy to love them. (Too easy my husband will tell you.) ;)

SOURCES:

I’ll leave you all with a few favorite pictures from this week. Kole’s favorite part in Moana is when the crab sings “Shiny.” Moms.. have you all seen this movie over 1,000 times too? :) He has made up his own “crab dance” and it is seriously hilarious! After school if he gets all of his work/homework done he can turn on “Shiny.” Then he does his crab dance while the music plays.

Highlight of my week.

xoxo, Erin

Leave A Comment

Home Decor

04.06.17

Custom items in my home (how you can get them too!)

Friends.. this post has been a long time coming! I get questions daily (lots of them!) about who to contact about the custom items in my home. So in an effort to make things easier for all of us, I’d like to introduce you to my close friend (and designer) Tritia! Which sounds like “Trisha” and I tell you all that because when I first saw how she spells her name I wanted to pronounce it differently. :) When my husband and I were nearing the end of our building process I was struggling with the paint color in El’s room. Struggling because she wanted to paint it purple and I didn’t.. ha! ;) Honestly I was just so burned out on making decisions in general at that point. I mentioned to a friend that I was having a hard time finding a good purple for El’s room. My friend had recently bought some custom items through a designer named Tritia (who specialized in kids’ spaces) and gave me her store address and information and suggested stoping by to see if she had any paint suggestions. I went into Tritia’s store one afternoon with my hair pulled back, no make-up on, an “I haven’t slept in weeks” look written all over my face and a toddler on my hip who was having a complete meltdown. We clicked instantly.. and when I say clicked I mean before I left her store we were sharing stories about our kids and laughing and crying together like we had been friends for years! (We both laugh now about that day we met! She is a mom too and had toddlers who also had complete meltdowns earlier that week.) We’ve been close friends ever since, text and talk all the time and are decorating partners in crime. :)

Tritia’s assistant snapped these pics of us from a “meeting” we had last week. I use the term meeting loosely because whenever we get together we honestly just spend most of the time talking and catching up.

And laughing. We laugh A LOT when we are together. This picture made me laugh! It’s so us. Don’t you love friends who you just laugh with? Tritia is one of those friends. :)

At some point after all of the catching up and talking and laughing, we actually get to work. Most of Tritia’s clients hire her to completely design a space for them on her own from start to finish. I am a different type of client. :) I always know the direction I’m heading in a space, the look I want and I usually have several items picked out. Tritia has helped me find certain items I’m looking for, bring things together in certain rooms and I have ordered LOTS of custom items through her. Look at all of those fabrics behind us! Options galore.

She has helped me with so many random things over the past few years! She always has great ideas and suggestions and we love bouncing ideas off of each other and talking design. Two heads are always better than one!

These are the custom items I’ve ordered through Tritia..

My girls’ custom headboards and pillows.. (This pic is from Addison’s room.. I still need to share pics of El’s room!)

My kitchen barstools.

(Full kitchen post)

My dining room bench and pillows.

My powder bathroom wallpaper. (This wallpaper was love at first sight and I’m still crazy about it!)

My flowers change but the wallpaper stays. :)

All of my custom drapes and rods.

Family room drapes.

And my living room drapes.

Tritia has so many fabrics to choose from! These are the custom fabrics I chose for my formal living room drapes and pillows.

I also chose the coral fabric for my laundry room window valence and had that made through Tritia.

These are some of the fabrics I chose for my master bedroom pillows and drapes. Coming soon. :)

If you need a designer or would like to order something I have in my house OR choose your own custom items, I can’t recommend Tritia enough! She is so great to work with and can help you on a large or small scale. For example, you could even hire her just to help you find a new coffee table that works with the rest of your room design and is the right size. Or to send you different furniture/fabric options for a room you’re putting together from scratch. If you want something specific that I have in my house, just tell her the room it’s in and what it looks like and she’ll know exactly what you’re talking about.

Also make sure you tell her that I sent you! She will take good care of you. :)

Tritia’s e-mail: [email protected]

I hope this is helpful for those of you who have asked or wondered about the custom items in my home! To those of you who have ordered things through her already I’d love to see pictures! :)

Enjoy your day friends!

xoxo, Erin

Leave A Comment

Home Decor

04.02.17

Mirrored Console Table (all grown up!)

Ok. I know I share console table decor a lot. Maybe too much! But this time I actually had a reason to re-decorate my console table instead of my usual reason.. which isn’t really a reason but more just a constant itch to switch things up. :)

(Affiliate links used)

My formal living room turned out a bit more on the elegant/sophisticated side and since my entry table and this living room are across from each other and the first things you see when you enter my home, I’ve been feeling for a while that my mirrored console table in my entry needed a grown up look to match.

So I gave it a grown up look to match. :)

The colors in my formal living room are navy, coral and a bit of teal so I went on a search (that lasted months!) to find the perfect focal point for this table that included those colors. When I was on PB teen’s site one night looking for something for my daughter and came across this beautiful art from Minted I did a major happy dance! To be honest I have a hard time finding art I love so I was beyond excited to not only find something I loved, but to also find something with colors that were my favorite and just what I needed! Which is probably why I loved the art. :)

I knew I wanted to bring out navy to match my formal living room drapes so I also went on a hunt for the perfect lamp. I found several fun options and really wanted this lamp from West Elm, but it was a bit tall for this space (I wanted the lamp shorter than the art) so I ended up going with this navy lamp from Houzz. I also loved how the gold on the bottom of this lamp tied in with the gold in the art.

Whenever spaces start looking a bit cold to me I bring in wood! Wood always warms things up. I shopped my house and snatched this bowl from the shelf in my hallway so now I need something else to go there. This is why my house will never be finished! I’m always shopping one space to complete another. ;) I already had the sea glass filler inside of it and it also matched the art perfectly! Major advantage to using a lot of the same colors throughout your house when you decorate. Everything works in multiple rooms. :)

These three vases completed the look! Aren’t they beautiful!? Target baby! (Large/Medium/Small)

I’m loving this more sophisticated look for my mirrored console table. And speaking of my mirrored console table, it’s back in stock! It always sells out quickly so act fast if you want it!

Here’s a peek of what my console table looked like last year at this time. All decked for Easter and I loved this look! But I do feel like what I have going on now works so much better with my formal living room. Although I do miss the candy that I kept in that little silver bunny. Might have to toss some Easter candy in with the sea glass. ;)

Another thing I’m loving is having a lamp in this space. It’s so nice to turn on late at night when the outside house lights are off. I’m always walking back and forth past this entry in the evening and the lamp gives such a nice glow and lights everything up for me. Always a bonus when the pretty decor is functional too. :)

So there you go! My mirrored console table all grown up. I’ll try to take a break from console decor posts for a while now.

But as you all know, I can’t make any promises.

{All sources are below including a few additional similar options I considered when decorating my entry!}

xoxo, Erin

Leave A Comment

Birthdays

03.28.17

One skirt three ways, purse love and a birthday tradition

{Moroccan Rug (one of my favorite rugs but it shed for a year!)/Coral Pillow (also comes in blue!)/Vince Camuto Gray Crossbody Purse with Tassles/Navy Saddlebag (see other color options below)/Gray Studded Purse/Black Pom Pom Purse/Navy Flap Clutch}

Sharing some recent favorites and how I’ve been wearing them lately! You guys. I’m going through a bit of a purse obsession lately. I can’t really say why. Maybe because I’m usually a “stick to one purse for two years” kind of girl and I’m ready to break out of that rut? Maybe because my kids are finally old enough that I don’t need to constantly have a huge bag full of fishy crackers and crayons with me at all times? Or maybe because it’s Spring! And it’s sunny outside! And there are DARLING new purses popping up everywhere. My mom would tell you that it’s an obsession that started when I was a little girl because I always loved to organize purses. I used to beg her to let me dump her purse out so that I could organize everything and I would always try to get her to buy new purses so that I could organize the new one for her and keep her old purse to organize for me.. ha! :) (You can see how I organize my purse in this post btw.) Whatever the reason, lately I have loved having a few new purses in my rotation and switching them up here and there depending on what I’m wearing.

*affiliate links used

{Pillow is custom but this pillow is almost identical/Gray Vince Camuto Tassel Purse}

This is my latest new purse and I’m so in love! I had a gift card to Nords for my b-day and since my husband got me the navy saddle bag purse (love that bag too!) I got this in the gray. It’s a Vince Camuto (love that brand) and it comes in lots of colors. On a side note.. this is a corner of my master bedroom and you guys it’s finally finished! The last thing I was waiting on finally came last week. I’m hoping to have pics up on the blog sometime in April. YEA. My pillow and bench seat in this pic are custom and because I get so many questions about my custom items I’ll also be writing a post with info. for you on that soon.

{Gingham Skirt/Navy Espadrilles}

Remember the cute gingham skirt I wore to the Design blog conference? I have loved it so much! Here are three different ways you can wear it. One – with a white top like I’m wearing above. I’ve had my top for a while but I found some cute white top options for Spring below! All would look cute with this skirt or any skirt.. or jeans for that matter! I have this one and just ordered this one. :)

{Necklace/Bracelet/Yellow Ruched Top/Gingham Skirt/Navy Espadrilles/Navy Clutch}

Two – I’ve also loved my gingham skirt with this beautiful yellow ruched top. LOVING this feminine blouse for Spring! You can’t wear yellow and not feel happy.. try it and you’ll see. ;)

{Navy Saddle Bag in a smaller size}

This outfit looks cute with my navy clutch or my navy saddle bag purse. (The saddle bag purses sold so quickly! They still have the navy leather in a small or the distressed leather and mushroom in (both on sale!) and they also got in this cute new color for Spring. Popular bag!

{AG jeans – currently my favorite brand!}

I also love this yellow top with jeans! A great dressy casual look and so fun for Spring.

{Frill Sleeve Tee/Gingham Skirt}

Three – Ok.. a third way to wear this skirt is with a simple gray top. This frill sleeve tee is so cute and only $15! Comes in other fun colors too.

{Necklace/Bracelet/Frill Sleeve Tee/Gingham Skirt/Vince Camuto Tassel Cross Body Purse/Navy Espadrilles}

Here you can see how cute the Vince Camuto gray tassel bag looks with this outfit.

{Black Lace Dress/Pom Pom Purse/Necklace/Vince Camuto Strap Sandal}

This lace black dress is another recent favorite. I needed something dressy and nice to wear to a work event with my husband and this dress fit the bill. It’s conservative, but still really flattering. I ordered it to try because it had such great reviews and I can see why. Such nice, thick material that smooths and thins you out instead of showing every bump and lump. ;) It also comes in navy and in a beautiful blush color that would be so fun for Spring!

It’s hard to tell in these pics, but it also has a really pretty lace detail on the front sides (you can see that better on-line). And I love the lace sleeves.

It looks really cute with my black pom pom purse and my all time favorite ankle strap sandals. This dress is one I know I’ll have and wear for years.

{Favorite Tee/Black Track Pants/Adidas Sneakers}

But since I can’t stay dressy for long.. (ha!) here are some casual favorites that have been on major repeat around here. Loving these black track pants and they were just marked 40% off! So comfy and I feel like I can run around in them all day and not look like I’m in sweat pants. Even though I kind of am. :) (If in-between sizes go down one.. these are an xs and still fit baggy.)

{Make and Model Lounge Pants}

And then my favorite new sweat pants that I’m living in around the house. Make and model are a favorite brand for me because they are so soft and comfy but are also light weight. Flannel pants only fly for a couple of months around here and then they are just too hot! These are perfect. They come in a fun coral and blue that I wanted but they were a bit more see through so I went with the gray.

Below are links to all of the new clothes and purses I shared! You can also find them in my Header under “Shop My Favorites” and I’ve added a few new recent favorites there too.

{Pleated Shirt}

March is coming to an end and like all good things.. so are my 40th birthday celebrations. {sigh!} ;). Every year it has become a tradition celebrate my birthday with my San Diego besties at the same restaurant. This year they spiced things up a bit. :) When I got to the restaurant they were all already there and had the table decorated so darling with black balloons and other black decor. They all cheered when I walked in and gave me this “40 looks good on me” banner, a crown and coral tulips.. my favorite. A lovely Miss America look.. a bit past her prime… ;)

They took this pic off my blog, and wrote “Hi I’m Erin and I’m 40!” They were all wearing them pinned to their shirts! They also had on Happy Birhtday crowns.. I was cracking up.

We moved the balloons and party decor to snap this picture. Oh my word. I love these girls so much! We laughed so hard and talked the night away like we do every year.

They completely spoiled me. And they gave me darling gifts, but one gift topped them all.

They pulled out this sheet of “40 Things we Love About Erin” that they had all added quotes to and I couldn’t read it! I started to.. got 2 sentences down and then started to bawl. So Katy read it for me. And I cried and we all laughed because some of them were hilarious but most of the reasons were the sweetest things. I can’t tell you enough how much I love these girls. We are all so close and if anything happened to me or my family, they would be there before I could turn around. Having friends like that is the best gift ever. I am so blessed to have them all in my life and I will treasure this list forever. They all know how much I love a good list.

And this list tops them all. :)

We took our traditional group photo that we take in the same spot every year and I was so mad at myself for not remembering my good camera! Cell phone quality this year and I can’t get the red eye out but oh well.. we got one to remember the night! You can see I didn’t get the memo to wear black. ;)

And because it’s tradition.. a look back. Here is some good fashion (and hair!) for you through the years.. ;)

{2009}

{2010}

weeks away from meeting Kole :)

{2011}

{2012}

{2013}

{2014}

{2015}

{2016}

{2017}

Love these girls. And I’m totally embracing 40! Bring it on! I think this decade just might be my best yet. A few more wrinkles sure, but I’m surrounded by lots of love.

And at the end of the day.. that’s really all that matters.

That and a great face cream.

;)

xoxo, Erin

Leave A Comment

Holidays

03.27.17

Simple Easter Tablescape

Happy Monday friends! Back at it. We had a busy weekend in LA (at a dance competition for my oldest) and were up at 5:00 am two mornings in a row so I’m dragging big time! The show “Dance Moms” was being filmed at the competition so that added some excitement (and televised drama) to our adventure. Ha!

But that’s a story for another day. :)

Today I’m sharing a very simple Easter tablescape. SO simple. Like I threw this together in 15 minutes simple. If you are hopping over from French Country Cottage welcome! So happy to have you here. Our friend Lory at Designthusiasm has rounded up another great group of bloggers to share Easter Entertaining ideas so there is lots of inspiration to come!

*affiliate links used

My dining room has felt like a bit of a blank slate lately and I’m still trying to decide which direction to take it. I love my neutral rug in this space, but I do feel like if I keep it in this room I need to add more color to the walls, cabinets, something! {Btw.. I still get e-mails daily about this rug. It’s my all time favorite (I have it in my family room also) and you can find it here. You can also read all about it in this post.} For now, a little seasonal table decorating cheered up this neutral space immensely. :)

My faux Spring branches and mercury eggs were hard to photograph with all of the light we get through these windows! But they are so beautiful in person. The eggs just sparkle in the light. Makes me want to leave them up all year!

I just shopped my house for everything here – I know most of you have seen these items used before!

I added some colorful Spring bowls to match my bench pillows and then filled my favorite beloved lanterns with more eggs. Because you can never have too many eggs at Easter time. Or too many boots in the Fall.

But that too is a story for another day. ;)

I also added a couple of friendly little bunnies. ~~Because I love them.~~ For the kids.

This simple Easter tablescape is making me so happy.

The only downside to having my table decked like this is that now I’m feeling some pressure to actually cook something for Easter dinner this year.

Or maybe take out Chinese food would add that pop of color I’m looking for in this room?

;)

Sources are pictured below! If something was sold out I tried to find a similar item. You can also shop my favorite clothes and home decor in the “shop my favorites” tab in my header.

Next up on the tour is Lory at Designthusiasm! Also remember to check out the amazing line-up of bloggers below. A new group will be sharing Easter entertaining ideas every day this week! Lots of inspiration if you are hosting Easter dinner this year. And remember.. you can still have a pretty table regardless of what you serve. I’m always living proof of that. ;)

Designthusiasm

Maison de Pax

So Much Better With Age

Cedar Hill Farmhouse

Driven by Decor

French Country Cottage

Sunny Side Up

Mondays’s Posts

Coming Tuesday:

Shabbyfufu | Zevy Joy | Randi Garrett Design
Life on Virginia Street | ZDesign at Home | Julie Blanner

Coming Wednesday:

Ella Claire | Bless’er House | Design Dining and Diapers
Kelley Nan | The Wood Grain Cottage | On Sutton Place

Coming Thursday:

StoneGable | Decor Gold Designs | CitrineLiving
Setting for Four | Sand and Sisal | French Garden House

Coming Friday:

Eleven Gables | My Soulful Home | Maison de Cinq
Finding Home Farms | Fashionable Hostess

xoxo, Erin

Leave A Comment

Organization

03.22.17

Kids’ School Work (what to save and what to toss)

Talking about kids’ school work today! What to save and what to toss. I’ve been a bit scattered this week. Attending too many random appointments and meetings. Putting out one fire after another. Hopping from one project to the next. And doing a whole lot of organizing in-between.

So you could say it has been a typical week around here. :) I tore my office apart.. again. And while I’m still trying to figure out what to do about my kids’ albums (that I never have time to work on!) I think I’ve finally figured out how I want to organize all of their artwork. I’ve had a few systems in place that I’ve shared before, but lately I’ve been feeling like I need something better. I’m excited to get everything organized and my new system in place! And to have my family room floor back. ;)

When I posted my reader survey in January and ask you what some of your biggest organizing challenges were, one thing I heard over and over was the challenge of all things PAPER. Especially all of the paper kids bring home from school. It’s quite insane isn’t it? The sheer amount of school work and art work that they produce and bring home. It can definitely be overwhelming and I know it can often be hard to decide what to keep and what to toss so I thought I’d share my thought process when it comes to saving kids’ school work.

First – I don’t save a lot. I really don’t. Often I’ll set things aside in a pile that I think I want to save, but then when it’s time to go through the pile I usually only end up saving a small amount of what I set aside. Because here’s the thing. I have a box of school work that my mom saved for me from when I was in school. I love it and I’m so glad I have it. But the last time I looked through it was about 10 years ago.. maybe longer? And I’m so grateful that she didn’t give me 10 boxes to store. I want my kids to have a handful of special things from each school year that bring back fun memories. I don’t want them to be burdened with too many papers that are a pain to store.

The school work I save usually falls into one of these categories:

1 – It has special meaning to me or my kids.

2 – It shows their personality or growth.

3 – It makes me smile and tugs at my heart when I see it.

Here are some examples of things I saved and things I tossed..

{TOSS}

These are a couple of reports/projects El did in 4th grade. They are informational (happy she learned a lot about the Wood Duck!) but they don’t hold any meaning so they were tossed.

{KEEP}

This is a report/project El wrote on La Jolla Cove that same year. La Jolla Cove is a spot in San Diego we love to visit and spend time together as a family. Aside from researching the area, El also wrote about times we’ve spent there and included lots of family pictures of us playing on the grass and watching the waves and the seals. It will be so fun for her kids to someday see where their mom liked to play and hang out. Keeper for sure!

p.s. A fun spot to check out if you are ever visiting San Diego! :)

{TOSS}

I toss most miscellaneous school work. Daily worksheets, tests, random school assignments. We hang things like this up on bulletin boards in our kitchen pantry for a couple of weeks and then they get tossed. I might save one test or quiz from a school year just so my kids have a sample of how they did in a certain subject, but that’s it.

{KEEP}

A few things I saved. I’m a sucker for notes my kids write to each other so I saved Kole’s birthday letter to Addison. She’ll appreciate that someday. :) The top middle paper is a story Ad wrote about the first time my sister and I took her and her cousin Claire on Space Mountain at Disneyland. It is hilarious! A funny moment we all laugh about and she’ll want to remember. I usually save things that have pictures of my kids on them at that stage (courage page on the top right). ‘All About Me’ books that include lots of fun tidbits about my kids at that age are always saved. And last but not least, I’m a sucker for hand drawn family pictures. I don’t think I’ve tossed one yet. I always look radiant in them. ;)

{TOSS}

Kids come home with a lot of art work. It’s all precious and beautiful and so fun to display in our home for a while. But after it has been displayed it usually gets tossed. I know there are a lot of great apps out there that you can use to take pictures and save kids’ art digitally. Personally I just don’t need to photograph and save it all. If it’s something really special to my child or to me I save it (and I want the original!). Everything else is just part of their learning process and gets recycled. These are all examples of art that didn’t hold meaning for any of us and so it was all tossed.

{KEEP}

This is one art project that I did keep. It is a self portrait El drew. I love this so much. From her short hair (I loved it that length!) to the freckles on her cheeks to the “more rainbows less rain” shirt she has on (her favorite shirt that year that she wore over and over) to all of the pandas in the background (she has had a major panda obsession for years). It’s all just so HER at that stage of her little life. Definitely one to save.

{TOSS}

More things that were tossed. All great work that was displayed for a while, but nothing that holds any meaning or felt special to me or the kids.

{KEEP}

And a few more things that I kept. A couple of Kindergarten math worksheets for Kole so he can see what his handwriting looked like in math that year. A writing portfolio that holds all of the writing El did in 6th grade (I LOVE it when teachers compile things like this!). And Kole’s preschool graduation hat. I kept his hat for two reasons. One because it has his handprints on it and I always save things with handprints!

And two because his Preschool graduation day was so meaningful for us. I cried! We realized when Kole was two years old that he had some delays and I worked incredibly hard for several years with him and a variety of therapists to get him where he needed to be. He had amazing preschool teachers who we loved and were so grateful for. They loved Kole and felt like family! By the end of the year he was completely caught up and ready to start Kindergarten at grade level (an amazing accomplishment that his early therapists didn’t think was possible). So yeah.. special day for our family and I will always treasure this picture and his cute little pre-school graduation hat. :)

So that’s it! A little look into what I keep and what I toss when it comes to kids’ school work. The paper struggle is real my friends! You have to tackle it head on. Deal with paper immediately. Toss a lot more than you keep. Figure out a way to organize and save what you hang on to. I’ll be sharing my new system at some point to give you a few ideas!

Until then you can find me attending too many random appointments and meetings, putting out one fire after another, hopping from one project to the next..

and chipping away at the mess on my family room floor.

;)

xoxo, Erin

Leave A Comment

Home Decor

03.17.17

Organized Bathroom Drawers and Spring Decor

Well! Another week down. They sure fly don’t they? Thank you all SO much for the birthday wishes! On the blog and social media. I loved hearing from so many of you! It made my 40th that much more special. :) My parents were here at the beginning of the week (loved spending time with them), then my cute friends threw me a party at our favorite hangout (I’ll share some pics soon!) and then the last couple of days I so needed to catch up on life! And laundry. My suitcase is still packed from the blog conference and Palm Springs so the catching up is a work in progress. And most likely will be for a while. #worthit :) I’m about 3,000 pictures behind on everything I have to share with you all – so many projects going on around here! But before I dive into all of that, I thought I’d share some organized bathroom drawers and Spring decor going on around my house. Because it’s Spring in San Diego! Everything is starting to bloom around here and it’s impossible to be unhappy when everything is starting to bloom. It just makes me want to decorate! And organize! So yeah.. same as every season and I guess nothing all that new around here. ;)

*affiliate links used

{Coral and Navy Towels/Ladder 1/Ladder 2/Silver Tray/Rug/Basket}

I like to keep our powder bathroom decor simple to let my favorite wallpaper shine, but I did swap out a few things to welcome Spring!

These Anthro coral and navy towels had me at hello! They are almost too pretty to use (although they are seriously the softest towels ever!). So I put some on display. :)

I brought back my favorite blue jars I had on display last summer and added some white flowers.

I love this arrangement because it’s so easy to maintain. These flowers are inexpensive from the grocery store and they last over two weeks!

I also found a fun striped coral soap dispenser. Simple! But very Spring. I can’t seem to get enough of all things coral lately!

New toothbrushes for downstairs so I snapped a pic of how I have these bathroom drawers organized. In our previous house there wasn’t a bathroom big enough on our main floor to hold some toothbrushes so I kept some in a kitchen drawer. Sounds crazy but it worked for us! When my girls were little they would get ready for school, come downstairs to eat breakfast and then when we would send them back upstairs to brush their teeth we’d lose them! They would get distracted by their toys and take forever and we were always running late to school. So we put some toothbrushes in the kitchen for back up on those days we were running behind. We could brush their teeth quick in the kitchen sink if we had to and then run out the door! When we moved into this house I did the same thing and put some toothbrushes in the kitchen (just out of habit!). Then about a year later it dawned on me that I now have a bathroom on the main floor that might be a better spot for them. {I have some serious blonde in me ;)} So toothbrushes have lived in the powder bathroom ever since! They only get used maybe once a week. Most mornings my kids have time to go to their bathrooms to brush after breakfast and we don’t lose them to toys anymore.. :) But it’s still nice to have toothbrushes downstairs on those mornings we are short on time! Also some deodorant because 5th and 7th graders don’t always remember important things like that. ;)

This is just a simple silverware tray I use to separate the toothbrushes. With labeled names of course. :) I don’t have one for me because I work from home which = no scrambling to brush teeth most mornings.

The second drawer has always held extra hand towels and in the cupboards below the sink I have a few more towels and toilet paper. There isn’t much stored in this bathroom and I like to keep it that way.

An organized and clean bathroom decorated for Spring is like a breath of fresh air!

{Console Table was from Restoration Hardware – similar console table here and here/Similar Baskets/Sign/Vase/Similar Faux Flowers}

The console table got a new sign! Probably my favorite sign EVER. IT’S SO GOOD TO BE HOME. Isn’t it though? My thoughts exactly. :) I’m such a home body and nester that this sign just spoke to me! It’s from my talented friend Caroline (Vine and Branches) and I couldn’t love it more. This sign will always have a spot in my home somewhere! And yes.. you can see to the right of this picture that our snowflake stair wall is still up and going strong.. might be time to switch that out for some flowers or something.. ;)

I also picked up this fun new vase (love the texture!) and filled it with more grocery store beauties.

I love this table in the Spring time! The stackable mirror trays were a Tai Pan find and the white faux flowers were from PB. They’ve been favorites for years! These faux stems are similar and I might pick up a couple of them because I always wish I would have bought more of the white faux stems that I have. They look good everywhere this time of year! I’m always explaining to my husband what an investment my faux branches are because I use them again and again year after year. The two of us have different ideas of what the term “investment” means so I have to keep explaining it to him. ;)

{Faux Fig/Basket/Rug (on sale right now!)/Wooden Oval Tray/Coral Tray/Vases/White Tray/Striped Box/Coral Throw/Coral Pillow}

Hydrangeas and a fun new throw and pillow in the family room brightened up the whole space!

Isn’t it crazy how a new throw and a new pillow or two can completely transform your living room and make it feel alive again? I’m always watching for fun new Spring/Summer throws and pillows because they are little cost for a big impact when you are giving a room a little re-fresh! Below are some of my favorites I’ve found lately..

FAVORITE SPRING THROWS:

FAVORITE SPRING PILLOWS:

And if you need a little more Spring decor inspiration.. how about the lovely picture I shared on IG/Facebook this week?

Yup. This is what happens when mom takes a week off to celebrate her birthday. Things start to unravel QUICKLY. Ha ha! Always nice to know that I’m missed. ;)

Enjoy your weekend friends!

xoxo, Erin

Leave A Comment

Blogging

03.12.17

Design Blogger Conference (what I wore) and hello 40!

I’m back. What a week it has been! Busy! But the best kind of busy. I was in LA last week for the Design Bloggers Conference, home for a few days and then spent this weekend in Palm Springs celebrating my 40th b-day with my husband. So much fun. I took way too many pics along the way (of course I did!) so today I’m doing a major cell phone picture dump. (And sharing what I wore to the conference for all of my fashion friends!)

(*affiliate links used)

{left to right – Brittany, Bree, me :), Shauna} {my outfit: Shoes/Cargo Joggers/Shirt /Necklace/Crossbody bag } – SO in love with these grey cargo pants! They are darling and comfortable and two of my friends ordered a pair after they saw them on me. A new Spring/Summer staple for sure!

The conference was held in LA about two hours away from my house so a few of my friends flew in the day before the conference to stay overnight at my house and then drive up with me. I was so excited to pick these three up from the airport!

We left the airport, went out to eat and then came to my house. It was so surreal to have them over! We have been close on-line friends for so long and to finally have them in my house was just the best. They wanted to see everything and then after the house tour we plopped on the couch and talked the night away. Kenny snapped this pic of us talking. I loved that my friends got to meet my family! We hung out with my family for a while and then Kenny took the kids upstairs so we could have some girl time. With my new favorite coral throw and Fritos of course… because what’s a party without cozy throws and Fritos? :) *If you are new here you can tour my family without food all over the coffee table here. ;)

Love them.

Brittany spent some time teaching me how to do IG stories.. oh my word. We got laughing so hard this weekend! I am so technically challenged. It’s sad you guys. We made a deal that I’ll makeover her pantry in exchange for her technology assistance. Ha!

{Love this new green top! I wore it with my Anthro belt but it’s cute without it too.} {Shirt/Belt/Jeans/Shoes}

Early morning ready to head to LA!

We stayed at the Beverly Hilton and they had lemon trees…

and black and white stripes. I felt at home immediately. :)

View out our hotel room window. My friends from colder states were loving our sunshine!

{Left to right: Kris/Sita/Brittany/me/Randi/Jen/Shauna/Jen/Bree}

We met up with the rest of our crew when we got to the conference and were so excited to all be together again we had a hard time sitting still in the first few sessions! I was so excited to meet Sita because we’ve been on-line friends for so long but I hadn’t met her in person yet. Love her! I can honestly tell you that every one of these girls are just as beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside. And talk about talent! I’m so honored to call them all friends.

Time to work! Or take more selfies. ;)

Heading to dinner the first night. This grey purse is so cute and looks a lot more expensive than it is!

Day 2 of the conference! Summer joined us! Loved meeting her in person for the first time too.

K I have to tell you all that I LOVE my new ruffle gingham skirt. It was a hit! It’s fitted, but comfy and I love the length. So cute with these navy espadrilles and my new favorite saddle bag purse (it comes in several colors). My friends all looked so darling. We always want to buy each other’s clothes after trips like this!

I roomed with Kris and Bree and we were laughing that we all got dressed in navy and white. So in sync. :)

Me and my partner in crime. :)

{New favorite Denim Dress/Navy Clutch/Necklace/Similar Shoes}

Dinner out with Traditional Home Magazine and Ferguson! The brands at the conference were all amazing and I met so many wonderful people. This denim dress is a new favorite that I couldn’t love more. SO flattering you guys! If you look on-line it looks shorter. I’m only 5/3 so it’s longer on me, but the petite size was short. I liked it a bit longer so I bought the regular. True to size!

We all got our own marquees with our IG handles at dinner. :)

The conference was filled with classes but in-between we managed to play as much as we could! We went to lunch one afternoon at the iconic IVY in LA.

It was the most charming restaurant I think I’ve ever been to! You all have to go if you’re ever in LA. These colorful bouquets of fresh roses were everywhere!

Everyone together at lunch!

After that we split up for a few hours. Some went back to the hotel while a few of us hit Rodeo Drive baby. (Can’t you just hear Kit on Pretty Woman?) ;)

I found this cute new dressy/casual layered top for the conference and it was darling with jeans and black heels but I knew we were going to be doing a lot of walking so I changed shoes and put on my comfy Adidas sneakers. Not the most fashionable.. ha! But I was comfy hitting the streets. :)

We found Macaroons..

and a HUGE Pottery Barn. That might have been my doing. :)

And Tory Burch! Love all things Tory.

We bought these fun “Embrace Ambition bracelets” to remember our trip and donate to their woman entrepreneur cause. I also picked up this Tory double wrap logo bracelet that I’ve loved forever as an early b-day gift from me to me. :)

{Jeans/Shoes/Crossbody bag/Coat is a few years old and sold out}

The last night of the trip a lot of my friends flew home. It was hard saying good-bye to everyone! My friends above and I stayed one more night and went out to dinner to celebrate my 40th birthday. It was such a fun trip and I felt grateful to be surrounded by so many close friends leading up to a birthday I wasn’t all that excited about. Took the sting out a little. ;)

Something else exciting that took the sting out of turning 40 this year? You guys.. we won! I won! Which means we all won! :) I’m sitting in the conference and they gave out all of the awards and we clapped and were excited for the winners and then they dimmed the lights and starting sharing a bit about each blog nominated for “Best Design Blog.” When I was listening to all of the amazing things the other candidates were doing and have done I honestly started feeling silly for even being nominated for this award! They said some wonderful things about my blog when they got to me and all I was thinking was “phew! They made me at least sound good enough to not be embarrassed for being in this category.” Ha! Then they announced the winner: Erin from Sunny Side Up! I think my jaw hit the floor. I honestly was so not expecting to win. My friends were cheering and everyone was clapping and it was a surreal moment. Then I had to speak. Oh my word… not expecting that one either! I rambled something off about being honored and grateful and I thanked my friends and readers and then said “if my husband were here I’d thank him for all of his support with my late night blog shenanigans..” Um Shenanigans? Really Erin? WHAT prompted me to say that!? Ha ha! I was so nervous and just rambled off the first thing that came to my mind! My friend filmed it and we all had a good laugh after that one. :) I sent the video to my family and they were all excited and proud but my brother wanted to know why I didn’t thank him for all the creative inspiration he adds to my blog and my mom wanted to know why I didn’t thank her for being my spell checker (I get daily texts from her saying “cute post today hun.. you need an apostrophe in you’re third paragraph from the top.. stop staying up so late to blog..”) :) I told them all that I was caught a little off guard and didn’t have a speech prepared or time to thank the entire academy. ;) But I do want to thank all of you! The vote was 50% judges choice and 50% reader vote so thank you so much to everyone who voted for me. I’m so grateful for your support and know without a doubt that I have the sweetest readers EVER.

My close friend Kris at Driven by Decor won in her category too for “Best Design Blog Graphics/Photography” and I was so excited for her! Kris and I are always roomies at these conferences and I love her to pieces! We have so much fun together. We snapped this quick early morning pic before we left the hotel. Some strange lighting is going on with my neck so let’s ignore that! And how strange our hands look holding our awards because they seriously weigh a ton. I was glad I was driving home because my bag would have been WAY over the weight limit for flying if I would have had to toss that award in my suitcase. Plus I always pack one too many pairs of shoes. ;)

{Shirt/Jogger pants/Sunglasses/Adidas sneakers}

Comfy clothes for the drive home! And a few teary good-byes. It was a great trip.

Home with my sweet kids for a few days and then my parents came to town for my birthday and Kenny and I spent the weekend in Palm Springs.

SO nice to get away! It was 90 degrees in Palm Springs this weekend! Hello summer and couple time. :) This week has been the best. I thought I would be so sad to turn 40, but I’ve been surrounded and loved by so many wonderful people (and still have a few things planned with my San Diego besties next week!). I’m feeling pretty grateful and blessed right about now.

And thinking that maybe 40 doesn’t look so bad after all.

*Outfit links are below and you can also find them on on my “Shop My Favorites” tab at the top of my blog header along with other recent favorite clothes and home decor!

xoxo, Erin

Leave A Comment

Blogging

03.07.17

Hello from LA!

Typing this quick post from my hotel room in LA! I’m here for the Designers Blog Conference and have been having so much fun with some of my blogging besties. I wanted to pop in to let you all know that I am working on updating my header! I know some of you are waiting on home sources and they are coming. Do you like the new blog design/layout? I have to say that I’m loving it! So I hope you are too. :) Huge thank you to Tana at Your Marketing BFF who put it all together for me! She is amazing and the best if you want to start or update a website. We are missing her this week!

(affiliate links used)

For all of my fashion loving friends I have to tell you that I did some early birthday shopping to find a few new things to wear for this conference and I scored big time. SO many cute clothes and bags for Spring! I’m excited to share them all with you and re-cap my fun trip in a post soon. If you want an early look at the new clothes I found you can check out the “SHOP MY FAVORITES” page in my new blog header (on the far right). I’m excited about this page! It will always be updated with my favorite home decor and fashion finds. Things I’ve bought that I absolutely love like this cute new gingham skirt and these fun navy Espadrille Wedge sandals I’m wearing in the picture above. DARLING. All of my favorite home decor items throughout my home will also be shared on this page. It’s a fun spot to hang out. :)

K – it’s almost 2 in the morning so I need to head to bed. We always stay up way too late chatting and then I stay up way too late blogging. Some things never change. :)

Back soon with lots of fun things to share!

xoxo, Erin

Leave A Comment

Home Decor

03.02.17

White Master Bathroom (ready for Spring!)

Hello hello friends! Welcome to the Decked and Styled Spring Tour hosted by Bree at ZDesign! If you are visiting from Just a Girl and Her Blog (or any of the other fun blogs on this tour) I’m so happy to have you here! Bree and Abby are both close friends of mine and aside from loving them to pieces I also love their blogs! I’m so happy to be joining the two of them along with other talented friends to bring you more ideas for Spring decorating this year. YEA. Such a fun time of year to spruce up our homes, isn’t it!? (Check here for some fun Spring updates I added to my kitchen if you missed my last post!)

*affiliate links used

Today I’m finally sharing my master bathroom with you all. What’s the occasion? Our white master bathroom is ready for Spring of course. :)

When we built our home I knew I wanted lots of storage in our master bathroom (mostly to make up for all the years I lived in small places without enough bathroom storage!). ;) I designed some tall cabinets on each side of our vanity and decided to make the top half of them glass to store pretty things and add some color to this mostly white space.

I just recently added some of my favorite baskets (the large size) to these cabinets and some new favorite towels above them. I’m sure I’ll add more to these cabinets at some point, but I recently organized my bathroom and am loving having very little on these shelves (and nothing in the baskets at the moment!). The basket ads some texture and warmth and the towels add a small pop of color. Mission accomplished. :)

Bathrooms are some of my favorite spaces to add seasonal decor because it doesn’t take much to transform them.

I recently brought my favorite Chevron vase and apple blossom stems (you might remember them from my living room Spring tour last year!) into my bathroom and that along with my new towels made the whole room feel like Spring time.

I kept my bathtub shelves the same aside from adding a few new hand towels and my small dough bowl to hold sponges. That dough bowl looks good in every room in my house! I want three more so I don’t have to keep moving it around. :)

I have a huge crush on coral.. did you know that? :)

Thought I’d show you behind the door next to the towels in case you were wondering what’s there. ;) The door on the other side of the towels is my closet. A post for another day!

When you walk into my bathroom you see my shower. One thing I really wanted was a private shower because our kids are in and out of our bathroom all the time! The shower looks skinny at first glance, but if you go inside the door it actually wraps around..

I didn’t get a picture of all of it, but you can see how it goes back around that wall. Marble for days! My favorite. :)

Next to the shower is my vanity where I have all of my organized jewelry. The cute little stool is a new addition!

You can read details on how my jewelry organization came together in this post.

My favorite colors! Mint and coral greet me every day in this bathroom and instantly put a smile on my face. So do fresh hydrangeas. :)

Here are 4 simple ways to add a touch of Spring to your bathrooms…

1- Give your bathrooms a good cleaning and organize the drawers. This is the best way to get your bathroom ready for Spring! (I’ll be sharing how I’ve organized mine at some point to give you a few ideas.) :)

2- Add natural elements to bring in texture. (Things like baskets and wooden bowls and sponges are my favorite!)

3- Buy a few new colorful towels. Even just a couple of new inexpensive hand towels in a bright color can add a lot to a bathroom!

4- Add some flowers! Real or faux or both like I did. Flowers always represent Spring and bring life to any space.

I always do those 4 things to our bathrooms around this time of year to welcome Spring. It’s an instant upper to walk into a clean and decorated bathroom. :) I’ll be sharing other bathrooms in our home with you this Spring along with how I organize them all so stay tuned! Coming soon to a blog near you. ;)

Here are sources for almost everything in my bathroom! (Or something similar if what I have is sold out.)

*Paint color is ICI paint “Silver Trophy”

Next up on the tour is my darling friend Shauna at the House of Silver Lining. Shauna is so much fun and her home is beautiful! Plus she just made a fun announcement on her blog! Make sure to check it out along with the rest of my friend’s Decked and Styled Spring Tours! Inspiration galore.

I never get tired of saying that.. ;)

ZDesign At Home

Just A Girl And Her Blog

The House of Silver Lining

Four Generations One Roof

Life On Virginia Street

Driven by Decor

Kelley Nan

A Thoughtful Place

Style House Interiors

Honey We’re Home

xoxo, Erin

Leave A Comment

Home Decor

02.28.17

Kitchen decor ideas for Spring!

Today in San Diego it rained all. day. long. Crazy rain! Outside it was dark and cloudy and cold. And rainy. And wet. Because rain tends to be rather wet. :) But inside my house? It feels like Spring! I’ve been making some colorful updates to several rooms in my house and today I’m joining some talented blog friends for a “Styled for Spring Tour” to share some kitchen decor ideas for Spring! YEA. If you are coming from Kathleen’s fun blog Lindsay Hill Interiors (or any other blog on the tour for that matter) welcome! So happy to have you here. :)

A lot of my Spring kitchen decor is the same as last year (you might remember my “kitchen re-fresh” from last May) but I did switch out a few things. When we moved in our house over three years ago I bought some gray rugs from Target for our kitchen that have been great, but they were starting to look pretty worn. It was time to replace them! I wanted something that was neutral (because I’m constantly changing my decor!) but that would also add something fun to the kitchen. Hmmm.. a great neutral that’s also fun.. let’s see.. wait! I know. How about some black and white stripes?

I can just see the surprise on all of your faces right now. ;)

(affiliate links used)

I’ve been so in love with the striped rug in my upstairs laundry room that I decided to bring it into my kitchen to give it a try and what do you know? I was in love. :) Aren’t they fun!? It’s ok if you don’t like them. One of my daughters (Addison) wasn’t sure. She said she loved them but that they also made our kitchen look like a pirate ship. Ha! That made me laugh. I’m head over heels in love with the new look – and I’ll sing yo ho ho to prove it. ;)

I love the way these rugs compliment my favorite colors (blues, greens and corals) so well – really stripes compliment any bright colors. These rugs have definitely become favorites of mine. They are the Olin black stripe Dhurrie rugs from Crate and Barrel. I ordered the runner (2×6) for this spot in front of our largest sink (that’s the exact same rug I have in my laundry room) and then I ordered two shorter rugs for in front of my islands (the 30×50’s). I also ordered rug pads for the two smaller rugs because we get the most traffic in those areas and I didn’t want the rugs sliding around. So there you go. You too can have a pirate ship kitchen if you want one. Eye patches for all!

K – I’ll stop now. ;)

They also work great with the coral rug in my nook. Bright dishes are back in my glass cabinet and of course there are lemons popping up here and there. It wouldn’t be Spring in my kitchen without lemons!

These beautiful pots are also new (from my photoshoot with BHG!) and I planted some herbs in them. You know.. to ~~look pretty~~ use when I cook. ;) They smell so good! I’m a little nervous about keeping them alive so cross your fingers for me.

{similar tiered basket}

I kept this fun tiered basket basically the same.

But I changed up this corner. I’ve had my eye on this beautiful coral lacquer round tray for a while now and snatched it up when it went on sale. It’s so perfect for this corner and I love the pop of color it adds. A simple plant, my oil and vinegar jars and some favorite bowls and done! Spring in the corner of the kitchen. :)

Because I added the striped rugs I felt like my striped utensel holder was overkill (even I know when to chill on the stripes..) so instead I used another one of my favorite white kitchen canisters (it says tea on the other side of it.) I turned it around and added my wooden spoons.

This is what this corner looked like last Spring.

And today. Small changes and I love both looks. But it’s always fun to mix things up! We don’t always have control over circumstances in our lives, but we can certainly control a happy corner in our kitchen. :)

You might notice an unplanned Spring accessory in a few of these photos. Can you spot it? My cell phone adds a nice touch on the island don’t you think? Ha ha.. oops!

I switched the decor around in my butler’s pantry too. Mostly just so that I could add my favorite new mixing bowl and my marble/wood serving board. The Thankful and #5 sign are staples on this shelf and are from Caroline’s fun shop.

One more pic of my new rugs. They make me happy. :) And a few more I took of Spring the kitchen…

I hope this post gave you a few fun kitchen decor ideas for Spring! I’ll be sharing more fun Spring updates around my home soon so make sure to sign up for my e-mail list if you haven’t already so you don’t miss a post. Good things are in store. :) I love this time of year. Happy Spring decorating everyone!

KITCHEN SOURCES:

Next up on the tour head to my darling friend Abby’s at Just a Girl and her Blog! Abby is my organizing partner in crime (love her!) and she just moved into a beautiful new home. I can’t wait to see what Spring touches she added! Also check out the rest of the beautiful homes below for more fun Spring decorating ideas! This is going to be good. :)

Just a Girl and Her Blog

French Country Cottage

Thistlewood Farms

Decor Gold Designs

So Much Better With Age

Craftberry Bush

Zevy Joy

Lindsay Hill Interiors

Be sure and check back next week when the following talented bloggers each share a room decorated for spring!

Life on Virginia Street

I Don’t Know How She Does It!

Eleven Gables

A Thoughtful Place

xoxo, Erin

Leave A Comment

Organization

02.24.17

Organized Blankets and Towels

How is it seriously Friday already!? This week has escaped me. My six year old has been out of school all week and home with me. He’s at a different school than his sisters which = different schedules which = two weeks this year he is off without his sisters which = two weeks this year that mom gets nothing done. Lovely. ;) Actually.. I can’t say that I got nothing done. I got nothing done on my blog that I was hoping to do (more posts up this week and work on my new header menu) but I was able to spend a lot of quality time with my little buddy. And get a few spaces organized. So I’ll call the week a win. :) Today I’m sharing our organized blankets and towels. A couple of linen closets that have been on my “to organize” list for quite a while now!

When we were designing the floor plan of our house I knew I wanted a closet upstairs by the kids’ rooms to hold blankets. I also needed a place to store our upstairs central vacuum so I decided to add this built-in closet at the end of our upstairs hallway to meet both needs.

It’s a great closet and I love having the extra shelving for blankets. The only problem is that it has looked like this since we moved in! The bigger problem? This was only half of our blankets. The other half were spread around in different rooms and I kept putting off organizing this closet for two reasons. One because I don’t see it every day (out of sight out of mind!) and two because I knew it would be a big chore to round all the blankets up throughout our house and somehow make them magically fit in this space.

I finally decided it was time to tackle this project head on. I pulled everything out of the closet.

Then I started rounding up extra blankets in bedrooms and tossing them all in the hallway too. (Btw.. just so you can get an idea of where this hall is located in my house.. if you look over that railing you are looking down into our entry.)

Which isn’t decorated at the moment but there you go anyway. :) (You can see how I decorated it last year for Easter here.)

I started sorting the blankets and deciding what to toss and what to keep and this is what the hallway looked like about half way through. (I just had that shiplap on the right wall added when I put shiplap in Kole’s bedroom and I love it! This hall will be a fun place to decorate at some point. The list never ends!) Anyway.. back to my blanket closet..

Kole was a huge help as always. ;) Finally after doing some serious purging and folding this is what I ended up with..

Oh my word. This closet! Who knew folded blankets could make me so happy!? Oh wait.. we all knew that. ;)

Larger blankets that get more use and the special quilts my grandma made are on the bottom shelves next to our central vac.

Blankets we use less often, a few other special family blankets, and baby blankets I just can’t part with are on the top shelves.

{BEFORE}

Let’s have one more good before and after shall we? Just so we can hear those angels sing. ;)

{AFTER}

While organizing this closet didn’t take that much time, it was a harder project for me. We had accumulated way too many blankets over the years so I needed to get rid of quite a few of them and parting with some of them wasn’t easy! I know this is a roadblock a lot of us face when organizing. In order to have an organized home we have to only keep what we use and/or love, but sometimes we get sentimentally attached to so many things we think we love them all! I had to keep reminding myself that certain blankets had served us well, but it was time to let them go. When letting go of some of my kids’ baby blankets made me sad I reminded myself that I have pictures of my kids with most of them and that I only really needed to keep the special few that brought back the most/best memories. Now that I’m through the rough part, it feels wonderful to have our blankets all in one place and so nicely organized!

The next time we are headed to a drive in movie with the kids finding the blankets we need will be a breeze. ;)

I was so happy with my blanket closet that it motivated me to quickly tackle another linen closet on my list. My girls’ bathroom towel closet was in need of some help! I forgot to take a “before” picture of this built-in, but imagine it looking just like the blanket closet originally did.. stuffed way too full of messy towels!

{Bathroom rug source}

Finished organizing! I got rid of so many old towels we didn’t need anymore. They were much easier to part with.. ha! I just kept the newer, nicer towels. They were the towels my girls were using the most anyway! Nothing on the top two shelves because none of the females in our family are tall enough to reach them. :)

I also got rid of a lot of my girls’ old bath toys that they haven’t played with in years. I probably could have tossed them all – they have pretty much out grown playing with their mermaids in the tub.. {tear}. But these were their favorite bath toys and I didn’t dare toss them without permission. These two cute baskets I’ve had for years from Target were perfect to hold the few things I kept.

I know my girls won’t keep the towels folded this perfectly, but this towel closet will stay organized regardless because it isn’t stuffed full of old towels they weren’t using! It’s nice for our things to have room to breathe isn’t it? The wonderful benefit of only keeping what we really use.

Because I organized my girls’ bathroom drawers in January I can completely check their bathroom off of my list! Feeling pretty good about that. :) I couldn’t be more happy about having organized blankets and towels! Btw.. if you are short on space you can see how I organized our blankets and towels in my last house here. I had one small oddly shaped hall closet that held all of our blankets, towels and some cleaning supplies. Ignore the lousy photography in that post. Yikes! You could say I’ve learned a few things since then. ;)

Kole and I also managed to sort through a few messy drawers this week too. These sacks that are heading to Goodwill are the sign of a productive week! Despite having so much “help” from you know who. Who would have thought. ;)

Enjoy your weekend friends! And happy organizing.

xoxo, Erin

Leave A Comment

{2009}

{2010}

weeks away from meeting Kole :)

{2011}

{2012}

{2013}

{2014}

{2015}

{2016}

{2017}

The school work I save usually falls into one of these categories:

Shop my instagram