Like many new construction homes, our front entry has a nice tall door and sidelight windows on either side. These are great for letting in natural light during the day, but not so great for privacy in the evenings. It was Ryan’s idea to hang… Continue Reading…new curtains for the entry
I have a slight love affair with ferns. Their bright, fresh color, delicate texture, slightly wild arms going every which way … they add just the right feel to my otherwise neutral rooms. {in my office} {on the front porch} {in the kitchen} {in my… Continue Reading…things I like: ferns
Have you ever noticed in beautifully decorated living rooms that the coffee tables are always accessorized? {via} There is usually a collection of books, flowers, candles, maybe a tray to contain odds and ends. {via} {via} {via} I know life in a photograph is much… Continue Reading…what’s on your coffee table?
Our upstairs bath looks like this: Basic builder-grade everything. This is considered the kids’ bathroom, but since we moved our master bedroom upstairs last fall and made our downstairs bedroom into a media room {great use of the space but I do miss our own… Continue Reading…the kids’ bath needs some style
We bought our house 5 years ago based off a floor plan we found online. One of our favorite features was this mudroom. It connects the garage to the rest of the house and is such a great dumping ground for our busy family. The… Continue Reading…our mudroom
Have you seen all of the gorgeously decorated homes around blogland? It has been so fun to see how each person fluffs their house for Christmas. Today I thought I’d share our home with you. There are plenty of photos ahead, so I’ll keep the… Continue Reading…the stockings are hung {our house tour}
A few weeks ago I showed you my new office desk in it’s raw state. At that point I was thinking I would add a skirt. But once it was sanded primed painted {two coats of Sherwin Williams Cashmere paint in Rushing River} given a… Continue Reading…office desk
Let’s talk about refrigerators for a minute. This is what ours looks like: In a world where stainless is the preferred choice, ours is white. But that’s not what I want to talk about. Have you ever noticed that refrigerators in magazines are always bare?… Continue Reading…refrigerators
We moved into our current home five years ago. We had just sold our darling, but major fixer-upper {or perhaps tear-down} 1920’s bungalow and were beyond thrilled to have a new home {read: without rodents and a sagging foundation}. At that time our eyes were… Continue Reading…our backyard
A month or so ago I posted photos of our not quite finished living room.
As I was looking at the photos after I posted, I felt like it looked way too cluttered. It doesn’t help that there is a cord hanging down from the tv, but the shelves looked knick-knacky and needed to be re-staged. And, of course, we wanted to rearrange the furniture.
This how it looks now:
Doesn’t it look much more open and clean? We’d still like to resurface the fireplace {see below} and I need to hang a few of our new family photos on the blank wall on the right.
We brought in our old church pew {one of my very favorite pieces from my m-i-l} and Ryan bought me a new coffee table {when it was in stock and on sale} that I love.
I wanted the shelves to be lighter and more neutral this time around, so I turned the books around {appalling to most booklovers} and used some white pieces from the kitchen.
The basket on the bottom shelf holds toys for the baby
The left side holds the components for the tv, a basket full of dvds and black leather boxes with more toys and diapers. Not as pretty as the right side, but it does the trick.
A few of my favorite pillows {made using the ruffle pillow tutorial & gathered flower tutorial}
I’m feeling good with the changes so far.
I tried my best to be like Layla and photoshop the fireplace to see a few different resurfacing options : here is my very rough depiction.
option one: barnwoodContinue Reading…ahhh … that’s better
Why is it that the master bedroom the last to be finished? Experts always say that you should create a bedroom space that is comfortable and private to honor your marriage. But oftentimes the master bedroom consists of a hodge-podge of furniture, a dumping zone for laundry and a very undesirable place to relax.
Here is what our room looked like two years ago:
It wasn’t horrible, but never came together as I had hoped. The walls looked too fleshy, I stole the gray curtains to use in Audrey’s room and furniture was moved in and out until we just had a random assortment of things that didn’t work.
When Holly came to visit in February, I took full advantage of her decorating brain and she helped us design our new master bedroom.
We don’t spend much awake time in our room, but still really wanted a space that felt peaceful, sophisticated and a little bit sexy where we could, you know, sleep. So here is what we now have:
This was our piano nook yesterday morning. Nothing terrible about it, but pretty hum-drum. This is it today: Color, texture, pattern – a little crazy, but a fun change. I have been waiting for inspiration to strike, and it came unexpectedly when I found this… Continue Reading…the piano nook
Welcome to our living room {beware : I went a little crazy with the photos} You may have noticed that the link to this room on the our house page is inactive. That’s because I’ve never done a post about it. While it is the… Continue Reading…our living room
I have a favorite spot in our house. While our kitchen, Audrey’s nursery and my office are really wonderful spaces, for some reason this little hallway just makes me happy. It lies between our living room and the front parts of the house and is… Continue Reading…the spot that represents my style
Several months ago, this was my finished office: But in true ryan-and-emily-fashion the room didn’t stay that way for long. Because Ryan was working with me so much on my blog and business, we decided he needed a workspace in the office as well. So… Continue Reading…office–rearranged
