Raised Garden Beds

opinions needed! i'm looking for a raised garden bed to plant some tomatoes, herbs, and whatever else looks fun this summer with the boys. i've found a bunch of options and hoped that someone with a (much) greener thumb than me can give some opinions on what's best!

the one that everyone (like home depot, target, crate and barrel, etc) seems to carry is by gronomics. i like the simple design.

then there's the vegtrug that has more of a v shape and fits up against a wall (though i don't know how much i care about that).

what about a shelf? would it be helpful to have a shelf below? i found this metal version with wheels that i love because you could easily move it around.

then there's a cedar version with a shelf.

so many options! help!

How I Finally Conquered Styling My Bookshelves

the built-ins on each side the fireplace and i have always had a love/hate relationship. i love the idea of them but i was never happy with how i styled them - until now! i must have gone through 15 iterations of different groupings of knick knacks and frames. i kept falling either on the "too cluttered" side or the "too much negative space"side. never could quite strike that right balance.

but i found two things that really helped me focus and get the look i was going for - layering and sticking to one color palette (white, wood, and blue).

also cleaned up the mantle a little with some simple (faux) succulents and ceramic planters.

what tips do you have or what has worked for you?

Back To Life!

hi all! we're back from our family trip to sea island! i kinda didn't mention that we were headed away but you may have seen on instagram! the boys had a fun time and while i wouldn't call it a "vacation" since traveling with two 2 year olds is not very vacation-like, we did have great weather and a nice change of pace!

but now we're back to 45 degrees and rain. only a 30-35 degree swing. ugh!! sometimes i really question this whole new england thing.

thanks to my in-laws for the very generous trip!

Awesome Before and After

i missed adding something about the 1 year mark of the boston marathon bombings to my post on tuesday but not because it hasn't been on my mind. just want to take a moment today to remember the victims. if you want to really cry some tears and feel full of love at the same time, read this article about martin richard's family (the 3rd grader who was killed). boston strong.

ok...a friend of mine bought a house last year and has done some work on it so i asked her if she would share some pics. my favorite change has to be the kitchen/dining room. take a look.

before:

cute but closed in kitchen...

and the dining room on the other side of the wall...

mid-reno:

and after (from both sides)!

paint color is light french gray from sherwin williams. i could look at before and after shots like these all day - great job lgp!

Another House To Drool Over

found this beauty on houzz. (pardon the iphone screenshot)  so many things to love - the shutters, the front door, even the slate walkway. just pretty :)

lasley brahaney architechture, princeton nj.

Deal Of The Week

last week when i shared our new wing chair, you might have noticed that in the two pictures, the fiddle leaf fig was in two different baskets! after living with the homegoods one (see here) for a little while, i realized that it was just too small. wrong proportion. so i found a larger, less structured jute basket at pottery barn. the scale is perfect and it was on sale for $15.50!

are you in need of a little texture in your home? this one is soft and large and i love that it's floppy - texture without the rigidity of a traditional basket. it would look great in a modern space or more traditional one. also good for a kids room too because of how soft it is! had to pass it along!

p.s. chair pillow is from target

Destroyed Denim

torn up, ripped up jeans are a major trend for spring/summer and i'm happy to tell you that i found a pair that won't break your budget. have you heard of blank denim? they're one of my faves and always have stylish jeans for under $100.

these jeans are super stretchy so here's my recommendation - by your normal size and when you take them out of the box, don't panic because they look tiny. i was 100% sure there was no way i was getting them on but they ended up fitting! $88 at shopbop

Client Project: Kitchen Art

as i mentioned before, i've been helping a friend pull together some new art for her kitchen. it's been a really fun process and now that it's finally finished and up, we're in love! here was the process...

the before - her husband loved those wrought iron candle holders (isn't funny the things husbands fall in love with?) and she, rightfully so i will agree, hated them.

she set her budget between $350 - $400 which is reasonable but i wanted to get six pieces of art so that both sides of the window were balanced which works out to about $60 per item including framing. (p.s. if he husband asks, the whole thing cost $100, k?) her only requirement was to keep it low key.

for the art, i turned to etsy mostly with a couple of other sources thrown in too. we were going for a casual look - which by the way i couldn't have agreed with more for the kitchen and a young family - i sent her a bunch of ideas and here are the ones she picked:

clockwise from top left: family established print from rdk design (do you know how many of these there are on etsy? took a while to sift through!)  2. an oversized chalkboard letter (except an H)  3. coordinates from jenna sue design  4. a cute quote from a vintage poster  5&6. my fav silhouettes from blue clara

for the framing we wanted to again keep it simple so we went with white frames and mats. we ordered the frames on amazon (of all places!) from a store that had just about every size frame imaginable. then we took the frames and the art to a local frame shop and picked out the mat color (there are so many different whites - just like paint) and had them cut one specifically for each frame and the piece of art.

and now for the afters!

doesn't the whole wall look bigger? i hung the far left print high so she can fit a frame or two and the phone back on top of the radiator cover (isn't that a nice cover?).

best part of the whole project? when we started to hang everything, i needed a pencil to mark out measurements. she found a huge stack of brand new unsharpened pencils and no pencil sharpener! so she whipped out a giant knife and began filing it down. obviously! it was pretty awesome and it worked! she loved how it all looked. let me just say, a happy client is the best feeling ever! p.s. i hung everything with command velcro strips.

Simple Bath Tile

i saw this bathroom on a real estate listing (hence the weird bars on either side of the pic) and i loved the simple tile design. white subway with a border/frame of color. it's so easy to get carried away with tile because it's so pretty but i thought this was a really nice reminder of how keeping it simple really works.

Send Me A Picture!

in light of my big decision last week, i thought i'd share a picture that a reader sent me. this lovely lady happens to be our realtor but she has become a real friend! and she has a lovely home to boot. she read my post about the x benches at target and brought home a couple in apple green.

how cute? of course when i saw the pic i also had to know what that gorgeous wallpaper was. turns out it's gp & j baker's roses and hummingbird. she said she waited a long time to be able to buy the paper and have it installed and when she saw it up for the first time she cried. how awesome is that story?! waiting can be a very good thing :)

i'd love to see more snippets from your houses so send them my way! (contact info is in my profile)

Modern Wing Chair

thanks so much for the emails and texts in support of my decision! i hope you continue coming back here because i'm bound to break the rules at least once (just kidding. sort of. actually if i want to stay married then i'm definitely kidding!). but yeah, don't abandon me!

on to the good stuff and one of those things that was already "in the works." :) mention the words wing chair and people sometimes automatically think of their parents' or grandparents' gross old chair!

 left via spruce austin, right via all things thrifty

but today there are so many versions of wing chairs - modern and traditional - they are a must have in any house and so versatile. even the two above reupholstered and cleaned up would be great! we have three different style of wing chairs in our house. one traditional style in the guest room:

a pair of modern style from mitchell + gold:

and now a kind of in-between style from ballard designs (which you already saw a sneak peek of if you follow me on instagram!):

after we separated the boys' rooms, we needed a chair for the newly created bedroom. we have a pair of tan club chairs, one of which was in the original bedroom and the other was in our family room. so i stole the family room chair and moved it upstairs. for a replacement in the family room, i took advantage of a ballard 20% off sale and ordered the thurston wing back in navy twill with brass nailheads. love those nailheads!

the reviews were fantastic which made it easier to commit. and i'd say they're pretty accurate - the chair is insanely comfortable. it kind of wraps around you and holds you in. it's also deep and if i sit all the way back, my feet just barely touch the floor! (and i'm 5'5")  the only thing i wish is that it was little bit bigger. i think some of the reviews must have been from people with smaller spaces or apartments. it fits our space but we could have gone bigger. overall i'm really happy!

enjoy the weekend and email me some projects!!

Big Decision.

drum roll please...

i've decided to give up decorating projects for 1 year.

whoop there it is. a whole year! it's crazy. cray cray. (a friend sent me a blog post once that said you shouldn't say cray cray over 30. probably shouldn't say whoop there it is either.) and i might go crazy trying to stick to this decision! anyone who reads this blog, and especially those who know me personally, may have already felt their eyeballs roll back in their heads and muttered *something* to the effect of "right." i'm an addict, i fully admit it. but i'm for real y'all! it's time to ratchet back all of those design lusts and just live. well not the lusts so much but the taking action on those lusts!

basically no room makeovers, no new rugs, furniture, etc. the exceptions to my rule are things that are already in the works, of which there are a few (e.g. kitchen/family room window treatments), and things that are a necessity (e.g. when the boys are ready for big boy beds). i think this is going to be fun, painful at first, but fun in the end. i know my husband will appreciate a break from the constant change that is always going down in our house! or at least the costs of those changes.

(adding a random pretty picture so you stay with me)

and it will take a ton of self control - kind of a big deal for me since it's clearly something that i tend to lack! i love love love doing design projects and taking you all on my journey. but as much as i love this blog, i think it has encouraged me/made me feel obligated to always be doing something "big" to share. and i think that's evolved - it didn't start that way. so back to the basics which just means that i'll have to get more creative. the projects that i am able to do going forward will be more of the diy variety. and otherwise i hope to feature more of other people's projects - big or small! did you get new pillows? i want to see! did you redo a bath? i definitely want to see! and anything in between! and then also do shorter sort of "mini" posts to help keep my life in balance. it takes a lot of time writing all of this stuff!

so, my to-do list will wait and i'm sure my inspiration files will grow out of control :)

p.s. super wordy post - thanks for sticking with me!

This House

is tha BOMB baby. ha, yes i know, no one says that anymore. for a good 15 years now. i feel like one day i will embarrass my children greatly by saying something like that!! (and that thought makes me feel really old!) but back to this house. are you kidding me? this is what heaven looks like right?