Do you come here often? Because I sure don’t.

OH HEY! It’s just me, the one that’s been MIA for the last few months. I actually haven’t even opened up my blog since last September because…well, I’m lazy but I do have a small excuse- our old lap top was so slow and stopped working. I wasn’t about to start blogging on my phone because been there-done that and it was miserable. We finally got a new lap top last month so here I am, in all my glory.

A lot has happened in these last 7 months, I have a gorgeous new niece, my brother and sister-in-law built and bought their first home less than 5 miles from me, I’ve re-done and re-styled several rooms in my house and my baby girl turned TWO! She is singing and dancing and talking my ear off and I CAN’T get enough of her. Although this past week she’s been pretty rotten while on her roller coaster of emotions. Being two and getting molars all while battling a cold is NO Bueno when you are a toddler, or a parent. However, the molars have popped through and I am crossing my fingers that I’ll have my sweet baby back in no time.

Another positive note in my life, we bought a new sofa! I know it’s pretty sad when that is a positive in someone’s life but I am a stay at home mom that parks it on the couch everyday- it’s a big deal, let me live my life. I wasn’t expecting to buy a new sofa for another few years, but our last couch had other plans. It was a bonded leather sofa from Bob’s discount furniture. The couch was a week shy of being 5 years old and still under warranty. It actually was a really pretty couch, and really comfortable. The “leather” started peeling and once bonded leather starts peeling or ripping the rest is history. I thought, “NO PROBLEM! We bought the warranty!” Jokes on me, because apparently their warranty is the absolute worst ever and hardly covers anything. I put a blanket over the peeling spot, but then it started cracking everywhere, and honestly I already had my eye on a new sofa. I started telling my husband he could only sit on the “broken” couch when we had company over so it wouldn’t get worse, 24 hours later we were the proud owners of a new sofa.

old sofa

view from the other side of the room

I wanted something with light fabric, but I was terrified it would get dirty with grubby finger prints, coffee, wine…who knows. I have a strict no eating in the living room rule, so I decided to just give it a chance. Then, an angel from Pottery Barn told us that they had a fabric called Sunbrella Performance upholstery fabric. Liquids and spills just bead right off- no stains. Annnd just incase a real mess happened, we decided to go slip covered. Now, I am usually anti-slip cover but this one is beautiful! This sofa feels like you are sitting on a fluffy cloud in heaven while sippin’ on a margarita, and its huge, and I love it. My husband has deemed it his and takes it over any time he is home, but that sucker is all mine during nap time Monday-Friday. I sit in 100% silence and drink my coffee and stare at the walls. Looking back at pictures I am SO happy I went with a light fabric, it really brightens the entire room and it makes me happy every time I look at it.

pottery barn comfort roll arm sofa

 

 

I have redone a few other rooms in the house, and I currently have some in progress so I’ll be sure to post updates on those soon! Stay tuned, hopefully it won’t take me another 7 months.

-Jessie

 

Friday Faves!

Oh, hello beloved Friday, how I’ve missed you! Time to pour some wine, stay up late and sleep in on the weekend. Just kidding, what’s sleeping in? I will however pop open some wine and soak up the last bits of summer once bedtime rolls around for the babe.

I was inspired by my girlfriend and fellow blogger Rachel from petals and quill to start a Friday Favorites post. I have about a million things at any given time that I obsess over so I figured I will share my current favorites each week! There’s no rhyme or reason to my list, just whatever my favorite products are at the time!

Alexa (AKA Amazon Echo)

This robot/machine/speaker/angel makes me realize how lazy I am as a human. I was against the purchasing of Alexa at first, but now that I have her I don’t want to go through life without her. Sure, everything she does I could do on my cellphone. But it’s different. Being able to ask Alexa to play an exact song, turn up or down the volume, make me shopping lists, tell me jokes, (the list goes on people) makes me happy. Not to mention you just say her name, you don’t need to type anything in (because that is so hard). Forget about the world at your fingertips, Alexa is the world. Again, I am 100% admitting how lazy this sounds, and how lazy I am.

You can buy the Amazon Echo here.

Little Poppy Bows

I LOVE a good bow for Sophie. These are a monthly subscription that are sent directly to your house, you get 3 bows for $11.99/month. They have the sweetest patterns and they are appropriate for each season. Sophie has fine whispy hair, so it’s hard for me to keep bows in without her ripping them out, these bows have a little rubber/plastic guard on the clasp so it actually stays in her hair and she doesn’t try to rip it out. You can subscribe to Little Poppy Bows Here.

Sophie in one of her bows

August bows

HelloFresh

I am now two weeks in to HelloFresh. I cannot put into words how much I love this service. I recently did a blog post about my first box, you can check it out here if you have been debating ordering. Having to not meal plan, or shop for specific healthy dinners has made my week so much less stressful. I still go to the grocery store and pick out a few staple items but this has saved my family money, time and there is never any waste at the end of the week. Click here for $40 off your first box

Batiste Dry Shampoo

My hair gets so greasy you could fry a chicken in it on a hot summer’s day. That’s disgusting, and false, but… it might actually work. I have been going through a really hard time with hair loss lately, and the more hair I lose the greasier it gets. I used to be able to go 3-4 days without washing it, but now on day two I look like I’m fresh out of the shower (but it’s not water). I’ve tried a million different dry shampoos, but one of my absolute favorites is Batiste. It doesn’t make your hair feel gross and dirty, it’s so light and my hair always looks better day 2 after I’ve used this. Get your dry shampoo here.

Nordstrom Split Neck Roll Sleeve Tunic (in white)

I was looking for a shirt I could wear casually with some jeans and converse, but I wanted to be able to dress it up and throw on some booties too. This shirt is super flattering for hiding that mommy-tummy and it’s comfortable and light. I bought mine from Banana Republic a few weeks ago but I’m not seeing it on their site anymore. I found one almost identical from Nordstrom, and they have it in several different colors and sizes. Click here for Nordstrom Tunic

I feel like these favorites should come in a new mom/my-toddler-is-crazy-and-I-don’t-have-time-to-do-anything gift basket. I might be onto something…if I figure that something out I’ll let you know. Until then, enjoy the weekend and pass the wine!

-Jessie

Coffee Table Decor using Antique Shop Books

Spring is my favorite time of the year here in Maryland. It’s so gorgeous, green and vibrant throughout the state, I can’t get enough of it. The humidity and unbearable heat haven’t kicked in yet, so it’s still actually enjoyable to be outside. Spring is also when the farmers markets and outdoor festivals begin, too. I must say, I absolutely LOVE street festivals. Live music, food, drinks, fun activities for the kids, what more could I ask for? The first Friday of every month (from May-October) my town closes the streets downtown for pedestrians only. Vendors and small businesses set up tents selling their products/merchandise and all of the restaurants set up cafe-like seating outside on the street and serve food and drinks. There are different bands on every street corner and there are typically fun street performances or parades. It is friendly for the entire family, including dogs. Last year we moved in the middle of August so we were only able to go to two of the festivals, so this year I hope I don’t miss any! The first was last Friday and it was a BLAST! I’ve never stayed later than 7:00 because bedtimes-a-callin for Sophie, but I bet it gets pretty crazy after that. Yesterday morning was also the opening day of my town’s local farmers market! It’s every Saturday and I absolutely love going. They sell all local produce, plants, ice cream, dairy products, meats, beer, wine, essential oils, coffee, pastries, desserts, the list is never-ending. They do an amazing job. I typically go when they open at 9:00 and somehow I end up at the wine tent sampling everything. I clearly like to start my Saturday off on the right foot. I always sample all the sweets and cheeses too, so don’t worry I’m getting a full balanced breakfast. Yesterday I went with my girlfriend and we scarfed down vegan whoopie pies and dark chocolate caramel bark all before 10:00am. We did manage to take a picture of some vegetables, but we didn’t buy any. Next week I have better intentions.

Right next to the farmers market is one of my favorite antique shops. I have been looking for a galvanized bucket for my new (REAL!!) Fiddle Leaf Fig tree. I figured I’d stop in and take a peak around. I have also been looking for new books for my coffee table. I needed large, skinny books and I haven’t had luck finding ones that were the right color or that didn’t have weird titles. The Antique shop had a huge selection, and on our way out there was a big wall of exactly the size I needed. They had so many cool books about Maryland, but I was on a budget and the Maryland ones were $20 each. I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned before how cheap I am, and I needed 4-5 books, so that wasn’t happening. I was looking for hardcovers that were coastal colored and found a ton! I ended up getting 5 books for $6 each. I know thrift stores probably have them cheaper, but these books are really cool so I’m ok with it.

I layered my new (old) books underneath the decor to create a focal point and I love the way it turned out! It’s crazy how a small adjustment makes a huge difference. It’s also nice when something is multi-purpose, the books add different heights to the table, and they’re good reading material. I keep thinking about one of the Maryland books, so I might have to suck it up and go buy it. I’d love to hear how you decorate with books, let me know how you incorporate them into your home!

-Jessie

DIY Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree

If you are at all interested in home decor, or perhaps house plants, you probably know the “it” tree is the Fiddle Leaf Fig. Personally, I love it. I love everything about it; the pretty green tropical leaves, the fun name, the beauty and conversation it brings to a room..shall I go on? I remember seeing them pop up a few years ago and I told myself I NEED that tree. I began my hunt for this majestic tree, but it was harder to find than I thought. None of the local nursery’s were selling it, and I’m not sure why but I couldn’t get myself to buy one online. I lost interest in finding a live one, and when I think about it, it was probably for the best. If I laid my paws on it, that sucker would’ve been dead in no time. One thing I am really good at is killing plants. Except orchids, I’m not sure why but I have always been able to keep them alive and thriving. Anyways, I moved on to plan B, a fake tree. It would save me money in the end vs. spending $50-$200 every few months on a living tree. All the forums online say they can be pretty difficult to keep alive, so I know that I made the right decision. Faux trees are still really expensive, especially for a good quality, realistic tree. I ended up ordering one of mine from Amazon for about $90.00. It was a warehouse deal because the box was mangled. Pretty much all the leaves weren’t in tact and one of the stems holding the tree up was broke. I used a zip-tie around the base to hold all the stems together, and put it in a basket to hide everything. It worked pretty well, and the tree looks ok. It definitely doesn’t look real, but it’s huge and fills an awkward, empty corner in my living room. The tree has held me over for the last year or so, but I see all these pictures of gorgeous faux fiddle leaf figs and I get so jealous! I started looking for a new one, one that looks more like a fiddle leaf, and a bit more realistic. Target had two options, but they were both smaller than I hoped for and they were more than I wanted to spend. I saw an ad that Michael’s had Fiddle Leaf  Fig’s and they were on sale for $40! In the picture the tree looked exactly how I was hoping and it said it was 4.5 ft tall–YESSS!! However, my dreams were crushed as soon as I walked in and saw that the tree was $129.99. Even if I used a 50% off coupon I didn’t want to spend that much. I asked a sales associate about the tree in the ad and she said it was a smaller tree that they sold out of about 3 months ago. She didn’t think they were going to get anymore in stock and I was out of luck.

My faux Fiddle Leaf from Amazon. (This was a warehouse deal)

I was about to go drown my sorrows in the Starbucks next door but as I was leaving I saw Fiddle Leaf Fig stems! They were huge, and looked pretty realistic. They were $19.99 each, but they were on sale for 60% off, so they would only be $8/stem. A little buzzer went off in my head and I wondered how difficult it would be to make my own knock-off tree. I found the biggest vase the store had, which wasn’t as big as I’d hoped, but I was on a mission so I grabbed it. I picked out three stems (I think I will go back for another one to fill out a bit more), the biggest galvanized bucket they had, faux grass filler, and twine. I was able to get an additional military discount, and I had a few coupons on top of that, so everything was a little less than $35.

All of my materials. (minus the foam)

I had a foam floral ball hanging around, so I ended up not needing to use the twine I bought. I was going to tie the stems together using the twine and then add the grass filler to hide the ties. The foam ball worked a lot better, so i would definitely recommend that over anything else. I stuck the foam ball into the vase and pushed each stem through. I pushed them in at different heights so it would look more realistic and appear bigger. Once I was satisfied with the different heights I added the grass filler to cover the foam piece. It took less than 5 minutes to put everything together.

I am so excited with how this project turned out! I think it looks better than the one in the store, and it was a fraction of the cost. I think I will be taking a trip back to Michael’s tomorrow to make a few more of these to keep on hand. You never know when you might get a hankerin’ for a Fiddle Leaf, I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes if you’re Fiddle Leaf-less.

-Jessie

DIY Inexpensive Wall Art

Pinterest is one of my best friends. I pin everything. I always have high hopes that I will actually do some of the awesome projects I see, but I rarely ever get around to tackling them. I like to think of myself as crafty, but I’m really not. Every once in awhile I’ll surprise myself and come up with a good idea that actually turns out pretty cool. THIS IS ONE OF THEM! Decorating on a budget is my jam. I love bargain shopping, I have to really love something to pay full price for it. Pretty much everything I own was on sale/clearance/or thrifted. Something that is still lacking/incomplete in my house is art. Paintings don’t usually come cheap, so i like to buy prints off Etsy and frame them. I have quite a few prints around my house, but I don’t have many large pieces. I feel like most rooms need a good statement piece, or something that draws attention. I’ve been working on my new guest room (no, the wall still isn’t finished) and realized it was lacking color. The walls aren’t painted yet, and the bedding is pretty bland so I wanted a pop of color. I was looking for a big painting/print to go above the bed, but everything was either too expensive or too generic. I was strolling through Homegoods and I found a large framed canvas print on clearance for $20.00. I know absolutely nothing about painting, so I wondered if I could paint over what was printed on it currently. Besides finger painting with my one year old I think the last time I painted was in middle school art class. One of my best friends is an amazing artist, so I knew I could pick her brain to see if any of this was possible. Not only did she say it was, she said it would be easy to do (I didn’t need to prime anything first, I could just pick up a brush and go). Her and I took a trip to Michael’s together and she showed me what paints to buy and what paint brushes would be best to use. I mentioned earlier I like decorating on a budget, AKA I’m super cheap. My friend told me I only needed white, and maybe two other colors for what I was looking to do. I ended up getting a starter pack of Artist’s Loft Acrylic Paint because it was on sale for $9.99 and had all the colors I was looking for. I also opted out of getting a paint brush because they were expensive and I wasn’t sure how this would turn out/if I would ever do it again. So I chose sponges. I got a 3-pack of painting sponges for $1.99 and cut them all in half so I didn’t mix the colors. My girlfriend told me to paint like I was using a normal brush, and when I needed to blend, pretend like I was blending my makeup. I love makeup, so I was hoping this would be simple and fun.

Framed Canvas before I repainted it.

I taped the frame around the canvas to protect it from my sponge. Paint did leak in a few spots, but once it dried it peeled right off. I used my daughters set up in her playroom, and I must say it worked pretty well. I sat in her miniature chair and used her miniature easel, I felt like Picasso. I also flipped her trash can upside down and used it as a little table to hold my prosecco. It was like one of those wine and paint nights, but at home, and with dog friends instead of human friends.

Tape on the frame on the canvas

Where the magic happened

I started with one shade of blue and just went a little crazy. I wasn’t sure what I was doing so I just moved the sponge around in random places. I’d choose another color and do the same thing. I kept repeating until there was nothing left to paint. I’m happy I got the set of paint that I did because I ended up using most of the colors except for black and red. Once I was happy with how it looked I added white to blend colors and to lighten it up a bit. I had the intention of not going all the way to the edges with paint, but I couldn’t stop, it just felt so right. When I was finished I decided it needed another pop of a different color, so I added a little bit of yellow and then put my sponge down so I wouldn’t keep going. I personally love how it turned out, and especially because I made something. It was so easy to do, and the entire cost of the project was less than $35.00. I got a little lost in time so I have no idea how long it took me, but I’m going to say less than 45 minutes from taping to finishing. I also loved doing it, so now I’m going to be on the lookout for other cheap art i can repaint. This canvas is 3ftx3ft and was already framed, you could easily go to Michael’s and buy a cheaper canvas (you’d need a coupon) and frame it out yourself for an even lower cost project.

Finished! Sorry for the dark picture, my camera died so I had to use my cell phone.

Finished product!

Up-close of the painting.

I’d love to see some of your DIY art projects! Let me see what you’ve done!
-Jessie

Let’s talk about PAINT, baby!

I think I subconsciously always have some sort of song playing in the back of my mind. But truthfully, this song is fitting. Let’s talk about all the good things and the bad that may be. See what I did there? Let’s start with the “bad”. Does anyone really enjoy painting their house? I’m going to go with no because when I have a big painting project everyone seems to be busy with literally anything else. Can I blame them? Nope. However, If you are one of the few that enjoy painting, you’re welcome to come over anytime. I still have a few rooms that could use a fresh coat. Regardless, if you’re like me and despise it, I’m going to give you a little pointer: JUST DO IT! It is one of the biggest transformations you can do to a room. It’s also fairly inexpensive, and something you can do yourself. Bribe friends with pizza and beer, you may be able to recruit someone. Or tacos. I would consider helping for tacos. Every home my husband and I have lived in, we’ve painted. It doesn’t matter if we were only there for a year, or three years. A year is still a long time to look at walls that don’t make you happy.

The living room and dining room with the same paint color in different lighting. (Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter)

The first home my husband and I bought had all green walls on one level, yellow on another, and the master bedroom was the brightest royal blue you could imagine. Unfortunately for my husband I was pregnant when we moved into that house, so he painted every room, every hallway, every inch of wall space. I watched marathons on netflix “to stay away from the fumes”.

Sean painting over the blue in our old house. (Color is Valspar Filtered Shade)

I got what was coming for me. When we moved into our new house, almost doubled in size, the walls were all yellow again. Every room and hallway was a different shade of yellow (except one of the bedrooms was green). We used a POD to move our belongings so we had a few days of it sitting in our driveway before it was scheduled to be picked up. I insisted that we had to paint before all of our furniture was moved in, so we had two days to get it done. Sean ended up having to work after our closing, which left all the painting to this gal. My mom and sister-in-law were here to help with my daughter and unpacking some small things, so I wasn’t completely thrown to the wolves like Sean was. My mom and sister-in-law taped pretty much everything in a few hours (which honestly is worse than painting to me). In two days I had completely finished painting our main level. My furniture wasn’t moved in yet, but It instantly felt like home.  

Current house before we moved in. One of the many shades of yellow.

Living Room After (Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter)

I wanted to paint light neutral colors that would make each room brighter and easy to add color elsewhere. I chose Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter for the majority of my downstairs. I couldn’t have picked a better color for my living or dining room. There is a bay window in both rooms and the light that pours in through them is gorgeous! The two rooms are open to each other but the paint looks very different in both rooms. My dining room has more beige hues and the living room tends to look more grey. The beauty of greige strikes again. My home is semi open-concept so I stuck with Revere Pewter in my kitchen and sitting room as well. There is one big window in the kitchen that lets in a good amount of light, but it is still much darker than the other rooms in the house. Had I waited a few more days to paint the kitchen/sitting area I probably would have picked a different color. I still like the turn-out, but I do think a lighter shade would have looked better.

Kitchen/Sitting room before we moved in

Kitchen/Sitting area (Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter)

My bedroom is my favorite place to be. We have the most beautiful view of the Chesapeake Bay right through our bedroom doors. I wanted a paint color that was light and soft so it would have a welcoming but romantic feel. I also love fun printed art and wanted to make sure the prints would pop against the walls. We ended up going with Benjamin Moore Balboa Mist. I think this color has become my favorite of all time. It makes me happy to see every time I step foot in my room.

Master Bedroom (Benjamin Moore Balboa Mist)

For my daughter’s nursery I wanted really soft colors; white, blush pink, grey, gold. At first I wanted to paint her walls a ballet slipper/blush pink color. I loved how pretty it looked in pictures and it just so happens to be my favorite color too. I had a weird feeling I would end up hating it and chickened out. I ended up finding a really pretty grey that was light enough, but not too light. The color is Valspar Filtered Shade. It looks amazing against her white curtains and accents. I ended up finding a blush pink rug to get my pop of color in there, and honestly, I love her nursery so much. I wouldn’t change anything about it for now. (I’ll keep my fingers crossed that she asks for a pink room when she’s older.)

Nursery (Valspar Filtered Shade)

If I could offer one piece of advice it would be DO NOT turn a home away because of paint! It can look scary walking into a house with bright walls or colors you dislike, but try to see past that! I truly believe it won’t feel right to you until you get to work and paint those walls. (If you’re renting, some landlords may restrict painting, but usually they are pretty lenient as long as you prime the walls back to white.) When deciding on colors, a good place to start is to Pinterest so you can see what they look like in other people’s homes. It’s hard to walk into a paint store with nothing in mind and randomly choose a color. It might end up working out, but chances are you will regret it. The color you see on that tiny little sample will look much different when it is on all of your walls. You need to do some homework and research several different colors. Bring some samples home and paint it against your trim and furnishings to see if it will tie together.

Here are some of my favorite paint colors:

Benjamin Moore Balboa Mist

Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter

Benjamin Moore Edgecomb Gray

Sherwin Williams Agreeable Gray

Sherwin Williams Alabaster

Sherwin Williams Repose Gray

Sherwin Williams Silver Strand

Valspar Filtered Shade

I’d love to hear about your favorite paint colors and how painting transformed your room! Leave me a comment and let me know!
-Jessie

Welcome to my house!

Does anyone else have the Flo Rida song stuck in their head now? I’m sorry, I’ll try to get back on track. How about home decor? Decorating makes everything better! This is something I have been passionate about for as long as I can remember. I was probably the only middle-schooler on the block who rearranged their entire bedroom once a week. Over the years my style has drastically changed, but I’ve finally found my happy place. I LOVE a good coastal palette, I love simplicity, and I love the feeling of a clean airy room. I tend to lean towards neutrals when decorating because I find them easy to tie everything together. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a good pop of color, but man does the perfect greige put a smile on my face.

My husband (Sean) and I bought this house last August, we are only a few months away from living here for one year! I can’t believe it! We’ve already made so many memories in this home with our daughter, I can’t imagine living anywhere else. When we were house hunting this was the first, and only house we saw. We fell in love immediately and knew we had to live here. We put in an offer that day, and the rest is history.

The house needed a few cosmetic changes, nothing a little paint and elbow grease couldn’t handle! I started posting before and after pictures of my home to social media. Before I knew it, friends and family started reaching out asking for my opinion or help with their space!  I can barely get my one year old to eat a meal, so it blew my mind that people were asking for my help.

Before and After of my living room

Whenever I begin designing a room I draw it out with a good ol’ fashioned pencil and paper. I map out where all the furniture, decor, paintings, rugs, etc. will go. I’ll redraw the room several times to see what will fit the space best. It’s really crazy how these little drawings actually bring a vision to life, and the turn-out is usually spot on. I’ve been using this advanced technique since my middle-school rearranging days, I think it’s here to stay. There are still some unfinished rooms in my house that I am slowly tackling, but life seems to get in the way these days and it’s taking a lot longer than usual. Sean and I are in the middle of a small renovation in the master bedroom. We’re closing off a sitting room to make an office/ small guest bedroom. We started about a month ago and we (Sean) will work on it for about one hour every Sunday. We’re clearly determined to get it done ASAP.

Master Reno

Of course I have a never ending honey-do list (Sorry Sean), but i know things will get done eventually. I’m pretty darn content while I’m waiting for it all to be completed.

Deck off the master

-Jessie