Fabulous Thrifty Finds

A couple days ago, mom & I went thrifting for a little while, & found a couple of awesome treasures to add character & texture to our homes. Among these items was an old vintage shutter, a sweet little bird cage, both absolutely perfect for my laundry room, & an adorable chair pad for the kitchen desk chair, which I had repainted & distressed, & for which I had been searching for the perfect chair pad. My favorite - the vintage shutters!! During this process, I learned a couple of things about buying old shutters, which I had been planning to do for a while, but haven't had the guts : 

1.) If you're looking to decorate with old vintage shutters or doors, you might be better off buying ones that aren't painted or have already been stripped of paint, because as I just learned the hard way, this old paint peels off so easily & can make a gigantic mess in your backseat, trunk, or lawn, if you choose to hose them off, thinking that you'll hose the dirt off, when in reality, you're just hosing the paint off. You can always repaint them afterwards if they're just brown wood and simply avoid the beautiful mess of peeling paint, which could be proove to be hazardous to your health...if you ate it, I guess.

2.) Make sure that the hardware is on tight, & that there are pins fastening both latches together, opposed to realizing that one of the pins is missing when you arrive home.

3.) If you're going to separate the shutters assuming that you buy them in a pair, & you're planning to hang one as decor, choose the shutter with the hardware still attached, & attempt to hang it on the wall using the hardware since there are most likely little holes already there.

Have a wonderful evening & enjoy the rest of your fabulous weekend!! While you're at it, Go shutter shopping - It's loads of fun!!

Laundry Room, Loads of Fun

So, the room that usually becomes overlooked in a home is...you guessed it - The laundry room!! With that said, I'm making it a point to give our laundry room as much tender love & care, as well as a strategic design plan, taking into account the normal components and size of a laundry room. When Jon & I 1st toured the house, & instantly fell in love with it, one of the favorite rooms, I discovered, was the laundry room; It's a perfect size, color, & location, & makes a perfect bedroom for Cece (who has yet to sleep there...but we're working on it)

I decided to go with a shabby chic cottagy feel, & had collected a couple of awesome goodies prior to us moving in, so that I could immediately attack the room, which I did. So far, it's really cute!! I've been searching for a shabby chic valence for the door, but haven't been successful at finding one just yet, & also something gardeny and textural for the wall above my little white desk...The search continues!!

Fine dining, Nautical flair, and music curriculum

Good Evening everyone!! Hope this has been an extremely enjoyable week - It definitely has for us, between rehearsals, unpacking, summer band, flute lessons, curriculum writing, etc!! Despite a very tight schedule, I always alot a little time for blogging, & have been extra excited to report on our latest updates to our new home, which include our coastal, nautical-ish sunroom retreat and dining room, which I'm attempting to give a rustic elegant "restoration hardware" feel with a masculine, but french vibe...Does that make sense? Here are my latest photos, of the dining room (so far), then the sunroom!! The 1st picture was taken of the floor where I have my photo display tentatively set up...but not finished btw. That's why the pictures are a little crooked, coz they're still lying on the carpet, tehe!!

Dining Room :

Sunroom

 How much do you love that pillow?? I've been eyeing Target's white and navy collection for months now, & ironically discovered that beautiful pillow in the clearance isle for $4!! I heart target...

Well, have a wonderful evening!! Time to finish my curriculum.

Home Sweet Botbyl Style Home

      Well, Jon & I are extremely excited...thrilled...ecstatic to finally be living in our new home, which we made settlement on this passed Monday!! We're so happy & love to be home more than ever!! It's like, what normally would be "let's go see a movie", is now "nah let's stay home!!" or "Let's go out to dinner"..."nah let's stay home!!" or "Let's go to work...nah, lets...I guess we have to go to work." 

       There's so much to do, and although we still have around 40 or so boxes to unpack, we've already set aside a little time every day to design & decorate a little. Here are "Before" & "In progress" shots (which we will label as "After") of our family room, kitchen, and sun room which is basically the main living space that we've been spending the majority of time in. There are also a few photos of our 1st floor powder room.

KITCHEN

BEFORE

AFTER

FAMILY ROOM

BEFORE

AFTER

 

SUNROOM

BEFORE

AFTER

POWDER ROOM

Hope you enjoyed our little dream home (in progress) house tour!! Thanks so much for stopping by this afternoon!!

Saturday Morning Inspiration Saturation

This fresh summery kitchen from www.inspiracionline.blogspot.com is extremely airy, beautiful, & inspiring, yet simple & sweet!! How much would you like to cook in here every day? I certainly would!!

 This beautiful photo is from design star Emily Henderson's new HGTV design show, "Secrets of a Stylist", which I've definitely been enjoying!! This room has such a beautifully fresh, but comfy eclectic feel, doesn't it?

 Last but not least, the two photos pictured above are from "House of Turquoise" which always has amazing design inspiration!! They are both so summery & fun, with bold pops of color & personality!!

Hope you were inspired by this great design!! Have a wonderful Saturday!!