July '14 Recap

Even though I would swear that July 4th was only a few days ago, somehow we've reached the end of the month already!  Summer is flying by!  I hate it...

I shared a little bit about the beginning of our IVF journey with you in June (update on that coming soon), and the multitude of appointments associated with that process have resulted in another light month on the DIY front.  So. Many. Appointments.  

Even so, here's what you might have missed this month!

- I shared some patriotic mason jar vases from our front porch.

-Told you about the great ceiling fan debate....and will show you the outcome next week.

-I gave the Midas touch to some seashells...

-...and used them to create some seasonal decor.

And that's it!  August has GOT to be more productive....right?!

Summer Seashell Decor

Hey guys!  I shared this post over at Sweet Haute a few days ago, but here it is for any of you who missed it!

I love finding ways to incorporate the seasons into our home!  For me, the perfect seasonal decor is both affordable and easy to store.  Bonus points if it uses things that I already own, especially objects that can be transitioned from one season to another.  

Today's project  is a winner on all fronts.

Love when that happens!

I started by giving the gilded treatment to some sand dollars that I had on hand (I picked  them up on summer clearance last fall, certain that I would one day have a use for them).

  I pretty much find a way to paint everything in our house gold. I'm a modern day King Midas.

I decided to use the golden sand dollars to fill some of the picture frames that we have around the house.  I love swapping photos for seasonal inserts, because it is just so easy to put things back to 'normal' once the time for seasonal decor has passed, and it leaves me with very little to store.

To create these fun frames, I started by removing the photos and the glass from the frames.  Then, I simply cut a sheet of white paper to fit and used spray adhesive to attach a piece of burlap that was also cut to fit each frame.  I put the sheet of burlap into the frame, secured it by replacing the back, and attached a golden sand dollar to the center of the burlap using hot glue.

Incredibly simple, but oh so cute!



I had a few leftover seashells, so I glued them to a piece of pre-stained scrap wood that I had on hand. I think it makes a nice compliment to the sand dollar frames! Also, once summer is over, it will pair nicely with the wooden pallet sign that I shared with you guys a few months ago, which will be a nice little reminder of summer once the air turns brisk and the leaves begin to fall...

Ah.....fall.  Love that season too!

Friday Favs 49

Hi guys!  Long time, no post.  Sorry.  It's been a bit of a whirlwind week....

I thought summer was supposed to be my downtime?

I'm sharing what I made with those gilded seashells that I showed you last week over at Sweet Haute today.  Be sure to check it out!

Fav #1

Look what Bath and Body Works has!!  Fall scents are starting to arrive.  I'm so excited. 

Fav #2

I shared some of my fav items from the Nordstrom Anniversary sale last week, but then I found these boots. I really shouldn't buy them, but my brown boots are kind of beat and I feel like the the black at the top would make them even more versatile.......we'll see.  I loved them last year, but the full price of $200 was definitely out of the question.  And $135 is more than I would normally spend, but I'm feeling like I could wear them with a LOT.  Thoughts?

Fav #3

Check out these great shoes I get to wear in my friend's wedding tomorrow! Seriously, what would they NOT go with?!  I love them, and there have been so many occasions this summer that I would have loved to wear them (you know, if the wedding had already happened).  They're pretty comfortable too, so I'm super excited that after tomorrow they'll be fair game!  Yay for friends who have good taste! Also...they're on sale for $25 right now, so it's the perfect time to grab them for yourself!

Have a great weekend!!

Friday Favs 48

What up?  Happy Friday!

Tons of my fav bloggers have been raving over the deals to be found at Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale Early Access event for Nordstom cardholders for days now, but since I'm not a cardholder, I've had to wait until today to get a look at the deals that are now available to the general public.

Sorry guys, I'm not going to get a credit card just so that I can shop a sale a few days early.  Especially at a store like Nordstrom, where I could easily drop a few hundred bucks in a few minutes.  Dangerous.

But the Anniversary Sale IS pretty cool.  For a few weeks, Nordstrom offers new merchandise for the upcoming fall and winter season at great sale prices before bumping them up to the regular prices that they will be for the rest of the season. It's a great opportunity to invest in shoes, jackets and basics for the upcoming fall and winter seasons AND an awesome opportunity to get started on Christmas shopping!  And since Nordstrom offers free shipping and free returns on every order, every day, ordering stuff to try on  at home is risk-free.  

So for this week's Friday Favs, I thought I'd share some of my favorite picks from the Anniversary Sale!

Disclaimer: I'm a girl on a budget.  So, while there are some AMAZING sales on higher-end items, I'm not really one to spend a few hundred dollars on a pair of shoes or a bag, so my focus will be on more affordable accessories and home items.  But if you ARE more of a high-end shopper, check this sale out!  It's totally for you.

Fav #1

Love this Cara 'Knot End' Hinged Bracelet!  Really love that it comes in three colors and costs less than $18!

Fav #2

These letter accent pillows are just too cute!  For less than $20, they would be adorable in a kid's bedroom or any place that needs a touch of  whimsy.

Fav #3

I'm in love with these link bracelets!  With four colors available for under $40, this would be a perfect addition to my jewelry box!  I especially love the rose gold.

Fav #4

This Lola Cuddle throw looks so cozy!  I love the aztec print!  It's available in three colors and costs less than $25. 

Fav #5

Probably my favorite item in the sale is this pair of House of Harlow Sunburst Button Earrings. I love these!  I want both the black and the olive.  For less than $23....it might have to happen :)

Fav #6

This is not from the Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale, but I can't not mention these amazing monogrammed house numbers on Pick Your Plum today. I'm in love!

Are you a high-end shopper?  I just can't do it. I want so many other things more.

Have a great weekend!!

Gilded Seashells

I totally forgot that I had these sand dollars hanging out in my decor closet!  I bought them on clearance last fall, and was tempted to use my fav liquid gold leaf (of course) on them immediately. But I held off so long that I forgot about them!

I love when I find a surprise in the decor closet. 

Is is shameful that I don't always remember what I put in there?  Is it even more shameful that I feel compelled to liquid gold leaf EVERYTHING?!

Creating these cute sand dollars couldn't have been easier.  I used painter's tape to create sharp, crisp lines on two of them, and free-handed the rest with a craft brush.

I do have an idea for making these babies into something even more special, but for now they are jazzing our coffee table.

Can't wait to show you what they turn into!

Friday Favs 47

Happy Friday!  Is it just me, or is summer flying by?!  

Please, please slow down.

A few weeks ago, I shared with you that Mr. M. and I are trying to start our family through IVF, and as I find myself stuck in the interminable two-week period where there's nothing to do but wait to see if the process was successful, I'm increasingly finding myself wading into the dangerous territory of dreaming about putting together a nursery.

Why is that dangerous, you ask?  Well, you don't get to the point of IVF without a fair amount of failure. In our prior attempts leading up to IVF, I've allowed myself to imagine and plan for success, which ended up making the failures just a little harder to swallow. 

Surely it would be easier to detach, but I can't help it.  The planning and dreaming is just so fun while it lasts!

  And apparently, I'm a glutton for punishment :)

So this week has been dominated by expanding my never-ending list of nursery inspiration.  Lately, I seem to be leaning towards more modern, gender-neutral spaces featuring graphic prints.  Grays, blues and yellows seem to be where I'm heading. Here are my current favs!

Fav #1

I love this aqua and gray nursery.  It is gorgeous as is, but it would  also be so simple to add in some pops of color to make it more gender specific.  I'm thinking orange, yellow or bright pink.

via Project Nursery

Fav #2

Ok, this one is definitely feminine.  But oh, that mobile!  Love those ruffled poms, as well as the graphic crib skirt.  And that mirror!

via Petite Lemon Blog

Fav #3

Any kids who grows up in this room is destined to be cool.  The focal wall is perfection, and I especially love the modern crib.

via Apartment Therapy

Fav #4

I'm pretty sure this is the first nursery I ever pinned (years ago), and it consistently lands in my list of favorites.  The striped walls were the inspiration for our striped focal wall in the room that will eventually be the nursery. 

via House of Rose

Fav #5

I love the board and batten and the pops of yellow in this room!

via Project Nursery

OMG I can't wait to have real nursery plans to show you! Follow along with the inspirational pinning on Pinterest!

Have a great weekend!

The Great Debate

A winner has been selected for the Blogiversary Giveaway!  Congrats Emily V!  Be sure to check your email :)

A debate has been raging in our house for weeks.....no, months.

The great debate began nearly a year ago, when the ceiling fan in our master bedroom stopped working.  Summer was almost over at the time, so we just toughed it out (and by 'toughed it out' I mean, we just set the air conditioner a few degrees lower).

But now that the heat of summer has rolled around once again, we've been reminded of how nice it was to have a breeze at night and the push to replace the fan is on.

Except my husband and I have very different ideas about what constitutes an acceptable replacement.

To be honest, I HATE ceiling fans.  They're all pretty ugly.  I often convince myself that I don't really even want one.  That I'd rather pick out a cool chandelier or sleek drum shade......and then I remember how much I love to be cold and bundled under the covers, even in the summer....so the desire for a fan returns.

Plus, Mr. M. insists on a fan.

Except I don't live in The South.

(Is it really necessary to capitalize that?  I mean, it's not its own country....sorry southerners!)

And since a ceiling fan is something that is actually installed in the house, it's an item that we should both agree on (see how reasonable I can be?!), so I have found this beauty that I think is an excellent compromise.

It's a ceiling fan that looks like a drum shade!  Perfect!

The problem is that Mr. M. hates it.  He thinks it is ugly, and that $400 is a ridiculous amount to spend on a fan when we could buy one that is perfectly acceptable (in his eyes) for half the price.  

We actually originally had this debate when the fan broke last summer, and I've spent the past year hoping to change his mind or at least catch this beauty on sale.

Sigh.

Neither one has happened.

So recently, I've been seeking out other possible options.  I've found that there are hardly ANY ceiling fans that don't look like ceiling fans out there, and that those that ARE available are way out of our price range. $400 was the lowest price I could find.

(There's a totally niche to be filled here, people!  Home furnishing companies take note.)

 Which led me to seek out ceiling fans that are minimally ugly, reasonable priced, and  fit the requirements of the room (we needed one that was either a flush-mount, or had a very short drop) and found this one.

I like that it feels pretty streamlined, due to the fact that it only has two blades.  It looks current, but isn't so modern that it looks like it belongs on a spaceship.  The espresso blades aren't really my favorite, but to be honest, I don't know what finish I would prefer, so it's hard to complain about that.  And it comes in at $152, with free two-day shipping from Amazon Prime (If you don't have prime yet, you NEED it! Get a 30-day free trial here), so the prices is really great.  

For reference, here's an old shot of our master bedroom.

We'll see where this one ends up...for now, the debate continues.

Which one do you like best?  Do you ever have to compromise what you really want for your house?

June '14 Recap

OMG, it's July already.  NOOOOO!  Summer must slow down, I've barely had time to enjoy it yet.  

June was a pretty light month around here, but in case you missed anything---here are the highlights!

-I shared some gorgeous bridal shower details...

-And gave some more info on the painted mason jar vases that we used in the centerpieces.

-Shared the beginning of our IVF journey with you...

-and celebrated House in the Heights' 1st birthday!

Be sure to stop by that last post to enter the blogiversary giveaway!  Good luck!

Patriotic Mason Jar Vases

Look at me, posting two days in a row!  Hopefully I'm on way to getting back on a more regular blogging schedule :)  Before I get started, don't forget to enter my Blogiversay Giveway!  You can' enter through midnight on July 8th.

I shared this post a few days ago on Sweet Haute, and wanted to share it with any of you who might have missed it!

For me, holiday decorating is all about finding cheap and easy ways to give a nod to the season.  So as the 4th of July approaches, I was excited to utilize a few of the dozens of mason jars that we have around our house to create some patriotic vases for our front porch.

Creating these mason jars couldn't have been easier (or cheaper)!  I used red, white and blue craft paint to paint each jar, and then distressed them with sand paper before topping them off with a jute twine bow and a simple grocery store flower bouquet.  Since I had most of the supplies on hand, all that I needed to purchase was the craft paint ($2.01 for all three) and flowers ($5.99), bringing my grand total to an even eight bucks.  

For some variety, I painted one jar white and then used painter's tape and red paint to add stripes....

...used toothpicks to dot red and blue paint on top of a white base coat in order to create a confetti effect...

...and left the third jar a simple, distressed navy blue.

Although I did need to wait for the paint to dry between coats, I found that the craft paint dried very quickly and was able to complete the entire project in multiple sittings within the course of one day.  

I set the vases on a wood slice to bring it all together, and it's such a perfect seasonal touch for our front porch!  I've had them out there for well over a week now, and they still look amazing!  More of the flowers have opened, but they still look as fresh as they did the day that I bought them!  I do add water to the vases every few days.  I know that they'll still look great on the 4th of July!

Cheap, easy, and uses materials that you probably already have on hand.  I can't think of a better project than that! Hope you give them a try!

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