Featured Friday

It's finally Friday and the weatherman says there's rain on the horizon - sounds like my kinda weekend! #bringonthecozy

On the home front, we’ve been quite busy…per usual. Softball season is finally winding down and I can’t say that I’m not looking forward to having my week nights back! In not so fun home related news – our water heater took a dump. I came home one evening to water pouring like Niagra falls off the edge of our deck. After a few panic filled minutes, I finally figured out that the water was coming from inside the laundry room. The culprit? Our ageing water heater. Luckily the leak was rather slow and the overflow pan kept what leaking water there was, from flooding our entire house. In even BETTER luck…the water heater was covered under our home warranty so it was replaced rather expeditiously for very little out of pocket. #thankgodforsmallmiracles #andhotwater

Other fun things this week:

I've been a huge fan of Sarah's work and her home for years - how could you not? When she recently posted about some updates she made to her family room I zeroed in on that back wall of built-ins. Can you believe those are Ikea cabinets?! Installing some built-ins along our 25 ft living room wall is the next major project on our to-do list and this is exactly the look we have in mind!

Target’s Fall Collection is hitting shelves and there’s just so much good stuff. But you already knew that, didn’t you? It’s hard to go to Target for cat food and not spend 8 million dollars! And what’s even better? Target is having a big sale on home items until 10/29 and if you use the code FALLHOME you’ll get an additional 10% off! I might just pull the trigger on that stool for the nursery. Other things I’m loving too:

tribal pillow / geometric art / gold frame / large vase / small vase

The return of The Walking Dead just made Sunday nights so. much. better. minus the fact that my favorite character just got the bat! Did anyone else cry inside a little too? No? Just me? Must be those pregnancy hormones! When I stumbled across this article, I couldn’t help but laugh.

Did you catch a glimpse of Brittany’s shared nursery / toddler room? I DIE! We’re planning to add wallpaper to the crib wall of our own nursery too – but a little snafoo with the samples have us falling a bit behind. Thankfully the samples should arrive tonight and then let the choosing commence! But that bold floral wallpaper has me all goo-goo-ga-ga.

Shortly after moving in S and I locked ourselves out of the house one rainy night with not even a cell phone. Luckily we had given my Mom a key to the house a few days prior but we didn't have any way to contact her to come rescue us. We didn't know a single person in our neighborhood so without many options at our disposal, we knocked on our neighbor's door and awkwardly introduced ourselves and then embarrassingly explained how we had locked ourselves out and needed to use their phone. Pretty please. They couldn't have been more gracious. At some point during the exchange they both introduced themselves to us - a nice couple about our age with an adorably fluffy white dog named Donatella. The next morning I wrote up a thank you card and popped a Starbucks card inside to thank them for their trouble but when I went to address the card, I couldn't for the life of me remember the wife's name! It's been almost 8 months and I still have no idea what her name is and I feel so bad! Short of peaking in their mail box to see who their mail is addressed to, I'm embarrassed to ask. So embarrassed, I even Googled ways to find out how to ask for someone's name you've forgotten. Just in case you're in a similar situation, there's an entire wikihow article that might help you (and me) out!

Happy Friday, friends!

Featured Friday

Things are moving quickly around here. For once! This pregnancy has really lit a fire under us to tie up all those loose renovation ends and that nesting instinct has really kicked in and I really just want to feel settled before this babe arrives. Whatever it takes, right?

Those nagging details that needed to be finished are finally…let me repeat…FINALLY getting done and I couldn’t be happier. This past weekend, a majority of the baseboards went in…the living room, entry, hallway, sunroom, and part of the nursery are all done (more on this soon). All the door trim that has been up for what feels like forever, finally got a few coats of paint, and that weird blank space we intentionally left between the top of the living room walls and the ceiling finally got painted too.

Our original plan has always been to add crown molding to this room so we left that blank space to save us time painting knowing that it’d be covered by the crown. Except its 7 months later and we still haven’t gotten around to installing the crown molding (or purchase it) and the room just hasn’t felt “finished” ever since.

With all these unfinished rooms (aka – ALL OF THEM) I started feeling very anxious and overwhelmed knowing that this little one would be here in a few short months and my ability to help out and lend a hand was slowly dwindling. Luckily, S and my parents jumped in and really knocked it out of the park last weekend and I’m feeling so much more relaxed and less overwhelmed because of it. Love you all. Mean it.

I even made a meager attempt to fall-ify our front porch as demonstrated by this horrible cell phone pic:

Other fun things this week:

Have you SEEN this kitchen remodel?! After several years of intentional waiting and careful planning, the blogging duo at YHL completely gutted and reconfigured their kitchen for a result that not only fits their lifestyle but is beautiful too. And that island – all the heart eyed emojis for that beast!

These pillows must be mine! I’ll start saving my pennies now.

I’ve been patiently (or not so patiently) waiting for this soup to come back on the menu all year long and it’s finally here! I’ll be eating this no less than 3 times a week from now until it disappears again.

When I mentioned the elusive glider search in last week's Featured Friday post, I failed to mention that I'm also in search of the perfect ottoman to accompany it. I don't want anything too matchy-matchy so when I saw Claire's gender neutral shared kids' room and those stools/ottomans at the end of the bed, I about died. The best part?! They're under $100 and currently on sale. #targetdoesitagain. Don't they always?

Halloween is just around the corner and a big part of me wishes our house was put together enough to host our first ever party in the new house. Oh, well...maybe next year. This post from Julia over at Chris Loves Julia has me dreaming of a ceiling filled with floating candles. So dreamy! Totally speaks to my inner Harry Potter nerd.




























Happy Friday, friends!

Featured Friday

Not only do I love decorating but I love reading about it too. At this stage in my pregnancy I’m finding myself restless and anxious…waking up in the middle of the night and unable to fall back asleep. Thankfully the internet is my friend and soothes me back to sleep but it also means I’m scouring the web at all hours of the day and night and I always seem to stumble upon stuff too good not to share.

Other fun things this week:

This year S and I are trying to live a healthier lifestyle and have chosen a few “food groups” to give up. So far we’ve given up fried foods, desserts, burgers, and pizza. Except maybe that one time I got stuck in traffic for over 2 hours and ordered a pizza on the way home…but who can blame a hungry pregnant lady? No one said I was perfect. So when I ran across this Jalapeno Popper Pizza, I about cried because it looks so delicious…AND I CAN’T HAVE IT!

Mail…the bane of my existence! I swear millions of trees are being killed by the second with the amount of unwanted junk mail that shows up in my mailbox every.single.day. I remember my grandpa telling me before he passed how he used to mail the junk mail back in those no postage required envelopes…now that’s an idea! So when Dana shared her method for corralling all the paper that crosses her threshold, I was all ears.

S thinks the new baby needs a new puppy (specifically a bulldog) so now I get videos like this. On.the.daily. He sure is making it hard to say no! As if we really need one more thing to take care of…  

A modern take on the traditional shower curtain rod has my heart all a flutter.

It’s my favorite time of year! The One Room Challenge is underway and every year I kick myself for not joining in on the fun as a Guest Participant. Maybe next year - I’m looking at you bathroom! But until then...keep up with all the ORC excitement here!

With baby on the way that means I’m laser focused on getting the nursery started and finding the perfect glider where I know many nights will be spent. If only I had a million dollars I’d gladly hand over my wad of cash on one of these beauts here, here, and here.

We’re currently transitioning from wood hangers to these flocked, no-slip wonders and I’m amazed by how much space we’ve saved in our not-so-big closets. More space = time to go shopping, right?

Happy Friday, friends!