Congrats on dropping anchor!: Housewarming Gift Ideas

When I heard my sister and boyfriend were moving in together, I wanted to get them a little something. My sister, like me, appreciates a good theme so I thought it would be fun to go nautical  (surprise, surprise). Their home isn't in a beach town though, so I don't want to get nautical gifts that may not fit with their home. Here are some of the things I thought of:

one Scouts Honor Co. card

two Chelsey Emery custom address stamp

three Steveston Wine Co. merlot

four Crane & Co. anchor stationery

five homemade cookie inspiration via Martha Stewart Weddings 

six Anchor & Arrow anchor wine stopper

We decided to go more nautical with the wrapping and note in the card than the actual gift, but I sttill think it was fun to tie it into a theme. We went with the Scout's Honor Co. card, a Chelsey Emery address stamp and found a pretty navy and white pillow from a local shop that will go well with their new living room design. We received a lot of wine when we moved in, which was greatly appreciated, but I figured it would be fun to do a little something different for my sister and her bf. I do think the Stevenston Wine Co. merlot would pair perfectly withe the Anchor & Arrow wine stopper as a gift, so I'm keeping this in mind for the future. I also love home made cookies and stationery. All being held in the back of my mind for future gift giving.

What are your favorite housewarming gifts to give or receive?

Bathroom Inspiration: What to do with the walls?

At this point, we've pretty much picked out everything for the bathroom, but we have yet to decide on the walls. Originally we were going to tile halfway up, then we talked about just painting the walls, then we talked about grass cloth wallpaper, or some combo between these.

We' both really love grass cloth wallpaper. I really love variations of gray or greige. Now that we are going more neutral and simple in our bathroom reno, I like the idea of adding subtle details like the texture of a grass cloth wallpaper.  I originally wanted to do a patterned wallpaper and Jim wanted to do a  darker charcoal paint, but I think this will have a greater impact while allowing the room to stay light and airy.

I really love what was done in this space:

Traditional Powder Room by Chicago Design-Build Firms Orren Pickell Building Group

We're on the fence though because there is a lot of moisture in the room since it's so small. We also don't know if it's worth it to higher someone to wallpaper such a small area. We thought about doing it ourselves, but if we're paying for everything else in the reno, we don't want to mess it up with this one last piece if we make a mistake with something we aren't familiar with. 

 

Would you go tile, paint, wallpaper (grass cloth), or some combo of these if you were us?

 

Neutral Nautical - Bathroom Accessories

one Serena & Lily AHOY Bath Mat 

two Serena & LilY Fouta Bath Towels -Dove Grey 

three Wayfair.com Zodax Anchors Away Wall Hook 

four Serena & Lily Beacon Sconce - White 

five West Elm Stripe Shower Curtain - Feather Gray 

six Anthropologie Shoreline Mirror 

 Now that we've decided to go with more classic styles and less details in the main design of the bathroom, I've been looking for fun accents to add some personality to the space.

No matter how many times I tell myself we don't live near the ocean, I still can't seem to stop myself from falling for nautical details. I can already see Jim saying no, but I'm really wishing we could add some of these touches like the AHOY bath mat. We really just need to move closer to the water. A girl can dream?

Are you drawn to any specific style? Do you notice certain themes popping up throughout your home?

Small Bathroom Tip: Large Tile Goes a Long Way!

Our biggest home project in 2014 is a bathroom reno. We don't have the time or skills to do it ourselves, so the biggest thing we'll have to do is make some decisions. We have wanted a bathroom reno from the moment we first saw our home. It's been well over three years and we're just about ready to  get things started!
I have been pinning away bathroom inspiration along the way and really thought I had definite ideas in mind. I've been really drawn to black and white spaces, marble anything, detailed tile work and bold patterned walls. I pretty much like bathrooms that have classic touches, but a couple of bold elements.
Once we started shopping for materials, I learned that what I love in other people's bathrooms probably won't work best for ours. We have a very small bathroom. We don't want to highlight that it's so small, so the sales person we've been working with has been great at giving us tips throughout the process and one tip was a great way on how to make the space appear larger. I mentioned I'm drawn to detail tile work, when we were looking at tile, I immediately went for a black and white basket weave tile design. When we started discussing the size of the space, the sales person explained that going with a smaller or more intricate pattern would immediately draw eyes down when looking at the bathroom. It would make the space appear much smaller. She recommended going for larger tile on the floor in a more neutral tone. So while I absolutely love it and it works well in a gorgeous space like the bathroom below from Houzz.com, As I started looking though many of my pinterest inspiration pics , I realized that my eyes did in fact go right to the floor when looking at the rooms.

Contemporary Bathroom by Richmond Tile, Stone & Countertops Charles Luck Stone Center

Going with a larger tile like the one below, also from Houzz.com, makes a narrow space appear wider than a smaller design. I never would have thought of this on our own, so I'm really enjoying the tips we've been receiving from professionals.

Modern Bathroom by San Francisco Architects & Designers Martinkovic Milford Architects

Our sales person recommended adding more detail or a fun pattern on the shower curtain. I think this advice will really impact our design in a positive way and as a bonus, the larger tile will save us money!

what's the best tip you learned while renovating a room? Any other tips for a small bathroom?

Nana's Playroom - Inspiration

This blog has been all about our home and projects, but my mom recently bought a beautiful old home and asked for some help with decorating, so I thought it would be fun to share some of the projects here. The first space I'm helping with is a really cool attic area. The house has plenty of storage so she decided to turn part of the attic into a playroom for her granddaughter, my niece, and future grandkids (not that she's hinting or anything) . She knows I love design, so she asked me to  take this project over while she works on the rest of her house.

The main goal of this area is to have a fun space for when my niece and future grandkids come to visit. Right now there aren't any age appropriate toys or things to do at nana's other than watching Disney movies or playing Dora on the computer. We do a lot of activities when my niece visits, but it would be nice to have a fun little space where she can do her own thing sometimes. Although that's probably not the right choice of words, since we all hang out with her as much as we can when she comes for visits, so I'm sure she'll have all of us playing up there with her!

We want the space to have three components.

• An imaginary play space, with a tea party theme.
• A reading nook.
• A creative space with art supplies.

I haven't spent a lot of time around kids other than her lately, so I turned to pinterest and blogs to get some inspiration on what to include. Here's what we're inspired by so far:

The photo above is from the Caitlin Wilson Design blog. The party was by Chrissi Shields of Styled Chaos, who threw her 2-year-old daughter a beautiful birthday party using pillows from Caitlin Wilson Textiles in the Fleur Chinoise III Collection. I was thinking of using these pillows in the design already and these photos just made me want to use them even more. You can check out the full set of photos on Chriss's blog, here.

I'm trying to keep it pretty budget friendly. To keep it within budget,  I'm loving ideas like the Crafted Sparrow's washi tape tin cans to hold arts supplies.

Since this room will most likely be used for both boys and girls in the future, we figured it couldn't be too girly, but my mom still wanted pink. So we decided to go more green with pink accents, but specifically love the color combo shown below from Horchow.

Now that we have color scheme and a general idea of the purpose of the space, it's time to work on the details. This project may take some time since the room needs to be painted in the spring, but I'm excited to get started on it. We already bought a rug and tea set. I'll share once we have some more details narrowed down. This is the first kid friendly room I'm working on, which is really fun. I hope my niece and future nieces and nephews love it.

If you have kids, what things do they like in a playroom?

A Cape Inspired Room

About a year ago we shared our guest room makeover. We added some paint, added some furniture and left it at that. We didn't really want to spend any money on artwork or any details because we don't really use it. I think since we did it over, we've had maybe three guests. We planned to keep it as is. Then we were out shopping recently at a vintage market in Boston (SOWA) and found a print we both fell in love with.

It's kind of funny that we fell in love with it because Jim isn't a huge fan of Cape Cod. I have a lot of great memories there with friends, but if we were going to choose a map to include in our  house, this would't really be a location I'd go looking for. We'd probably go with Newport, Jersey, or Boston. Regardless, we loved the map and thought even if we didn't plan to use it, it would be a really nice gift for someone else (we had a couple specific people in mind). Then we put it in our guestroom to store (which also happens to be our gift room....a.k.a. I put gifts for future use in our dresser in there) and it just works.

We really didn't want to have any more nautical or coastal touches in our home, especially since our bedroom is coastal themed, but it looks like the coastal theme is taking over yet again.

It probably didn't help that right after buying the print, I found this fabric on clearance at Calico Corners. I'm going to stop by tonight to check it out in person, if it is the bluish gray it appears, it may complement the map and wall color well.

I took it as a sign that it was meant to be, and here we are in phase two of the guestroom makeover about a year later. I'm thinking pillows or curtains with this fabric. What do you think?

Here's what the space currently looks like:

Here's our other coastal inspiration:

Bedroom inspiration board

patio inspiration board

At least we're shifting away from navy. That's progress, right?

Do you have any themes or styles you are drawn to? 

September Progress

We've shared the start of a lot of projects, but don't really have any after photos yet. Our big project this summer was supposed to be the front of the house. We had a bunch of ideas on how we wanted to add a little curb appeal. We started by removing the bushes in the front of the house, painting the shutters black, and adding a new mailbox. We also took down our awning and had some plans to spruce it up. Then we had an issue with unwanted guests that completely threw off our plan. This is where we're at now:

After having an issue with some unwanted guests getting into the house, we had to pay for a pest expert to come in and deal with the issue. After a few visits, we learned that the wood under our door had rotted. This turned into us looking into contractors to replace the door frame and install a new entry door and screen door. Part of the issue is that the step in front of the entry door is at an angle, so when it rains the water goes right under the door and caused all of the rotting around the frame. This turned into removing the step. This then turned into removing our walk way (most people in our neighborhood have walkways going to their driveways not to the sidewalk, we always wished ours did and since we were paying for the tools to remove the stair, it seemed like a good idea to actually do this project). This then turned into re-seeding the lawn. This then turned installing a new mailbox  so the mailman can actually deliver it.

After all of this domino effect, we're in the middle of a lot of projects. We have to add new bushes and a walk way, choose two new doors and have them installed, choose a new step material and walkway, finish painting the awning and put it back up.

I usually like to do one project at a time, but my dad had some free time and offered to help with everything, so we took him up on his generous offer. He's really great at this stuff. So even though it's a little stressful getting everything done at once, it really made sense for us to do things this way.

He's also given us a big push to get things done. Since he's helping, we've gotten a little more proactive. This weekend was pretty much a research filled weekend. Last week we had a contractor measure the door and got a few quotes for installation. We then pulled the trigger and picked doors and placed the order (which happened to go on sale this weekend and we saved 15%!). The doors weren't in stock, so we have three weeks to figure out the rest.

The day we ordered the door, we also went on a few trips to research materials, bushes and look at houses in our neighborhood to get an idea of what we like. When we first started looking we only went to the big name stores, but my dad spent Saturday morning with us showing us way more options at local places that only allow contractors to go. He has a contractor card, so we were able to see way more choices.

We have finally a plan in place, so we're feeling even better about the progress. Over the next few weeks we're hoping to check off these items:

1. Research entry configurations. Decide on step and walkway materials.
2. Grass maintenance- fill in grass where old walkway was.
3.Install entry door and screen doors.
4. Install front step.
5. Install walk way.
6. Put awning back up.
7. Choose bushes (which probably won't go in until the Spring).
8. Add flowers to accent bushes.

We're hoping to get everything checked off this list by Halloween, except of course the bushes and flowers. While we don't have anything completed, it feels like we're finally making progress!

Are you working on any big home plans? Have you ever had a project that dominoed into multiple mini projects?

Moving Announcement Inspiration

I'm working on a biurthday gift for someone who is moving into her new home on her birthday. I thought a new address stamp and a set of moving announcmeents would  be a great gift. I bought a custom address stamp off Etsy from Chelsey Emery (I love it so much I bought one for myself, too!) We're both getting style 5, shown above.

Now I'm looking into moving announcments. Last time she moved I made her announcements, but this time I'm considering just purchasing something. She loves simple and classic looks, but also appreciates nice calligraphy. Here are a few I'm thinking of, or may just get inspired by.

Tiny Prints

Jack & Ella Paper Press



Duet Letter Press

Paper & Ink

Minted

Minted

Which do you like best?



Bedroom: Inspiration to Reality

sources: bed set, wedding photo, lamp, paint chip, chair, rug, water photo, nautical objects

Sometimes inspiration is found in the least expected places. Long before J and I even had a place to call our own, I knew exactly what I wanted our future bedroom to look like. It all started with a trip to Newport.

We were in search of hotel rooms for our out of town guests for our upcoming wedding. I didn't really have bedroom decor on my mind, but when we walked into a guest room at the first hotel, I had found everything I never knew I wanted in a room.

source

When I look at the photo, I'm not exactly sure what about it drew me in so much, maybe it was the ocean views (which we obviously won't have at home), or maybe it was the nautical vibe (which gets me every time), or maybe it was the sentimental side of me that loves Newport. Whatever it was, I decided I wanted this room, or at least my own version of it.

The months leading up to our wedding were filled with lots of plans and somehwere in the midst of it all, I became determined to find a white bed spread with navy piping.  After some searching, I found a similar bed set at Bloomingdales and deemed it as fate. That very day I decided to register at Bloomingdales, if only for the fact that we could get our dream bed set. Luckily my bridesmaids indulged us and bought it as our shower gift. And thus began the inspiration for our semi nautical semi sentimental dream bedroom.

It has a way to go and I'll post pictures soon, but this is what we started with:

Have any of your decor choices been inspired by something or some place unexpected?

Dresser Re-Do

When my mom sold my childhood home last year, she gave me a dresser that was originally my grandparents. It's third generation now that she handed it down to J and me. We've had it sitting in our garage since we moved. I'm pretty excited because we finally dusted it off and we have some big plans for it!

Even though I'm not crazy about the finish, it has amazing character.

The flower detailing is my favorite.

I also love the hardware.

When my mom was going to get rid of the dresser, I couldn't resist. I had been planning to try out some diy renovation, but hadn't found a piece I really loved yet. We ended up taking the dresser and a matching night stand.

We've already completed sanding it. I'm currently priming it and I'm hoping to finish this project soon. That means it's time to finally decide what color we want to go with.

source

I originally planned to go with white. I think it's classic and will look awesome against our bright blue walls, but as I was researching diy dresser renovations, I came across another idea that inspired me.

source

I think the blue drawers add a fun pop of color. The other idea I'm toying with is doing some type of pattern or graphic print either on the drawers, top or side.
So, it's between classic white, a pop of color, or add a fun print. What would you do?

Just for reference, it will be going in this room (don't mind the paint cans):

Also, if you've re-painted a piece of furniture did you use paint or spray paint? I'm planning to paint, but I'm wondering if spray paint would have been the eaiser way to go.