Attributed to the Danish, Hygge is finding happiness in the little things and finding moments throughout our day to embrace & create bliss. I grew increasingly fascinated with the concept & principles of Hygge, and the deeper I dove, the more I wanted to learn.
What Hygge represents runs parallel with what the winter holiday season represents — warmth, happiness, coziness, and gratitude.
Read MoreI've put together a list of essentials that every guest bedroom/suite should have, but this isn't any ol' essentials list — no ma'am (or sir). Each of these items was hand-picked by yours truly to make the holiday guest experience comforting, special, and memorable. But before we start shopping, let's talk about some practical steps to pulling your guests' home away from home together.
Read MoreTablescaping isn't exclusive to dining tables, although this time of year, it's often assumed that it is. Any time you're decorating a tabletop surface and/or creating a sort of flat surface vignette -- dining table, coffee table, fireplace mantle, console table, sideboard, bar cart, bookshelf — YOU'RE TABLESCAPING!
Read MoreDid you know that my plan for the laundry room was heavily inspired by what we'd originally planned to be the media room? It leads to the laundry room & was originally designed to be a lot of black on black, so I wanted to lighten it up a bit in the laundry room, while still carrying the darker hues into the space. But my do things change!
Read MoreIt's been a while since I've done an H&M Home haul and that's definitely not for lack of shopping; but with the recent decision to make some changes around the house, now seemed like a great time to do some window shopping, especially with so many of their new releases giving me all the hygge vibes my little heart can handle.
Read MoreOnce upon a time there was a girl that got her dream washer and dryer. And she lived happily ever after. The end. That's the story. And the girl... is me!
Read MoreAs I type this, it's been over 60 days since we became homeowners and it has completely upended my world — more on that later though! — but one of the best unexpected surprises is shopping retailers that I'd only previously shopped for clients... one being Build with Ferguson.
The home improvement e-retailer is one that I have sourced for years for everything from lighting to flooring to plumbing for e-design clients, so the chance to browse their catalog for myself has always been a secret dream. I'll have to go through a whole bunch of other posts talking through what projects are happening (planned or in progress) but in the meantime, here's what's in my cart…
Read MoreDear Diary -- some days, I honestly can't believe that we bought a house. And since this is my diary and a safe place, I feel okay with saying that there are even some days I wonder if we made a mistake.
Do I regret buying our house? Not even close!
But... baby... I most certainly underestimate how much I didn't know about being a first time homeowner. There really is so much that no one ever talks about, and not just the buying process.
Read MoreUp until this point, admittedly, I never really did any "reveals" anywhere I've lived. In our condo, I shared quite a few rooms and that was my first taste at opening up the virtual doors to our home. But this is different... it feels different.
Now rather than having you see my design and dismiss it as impossible and/or get inspired only to get sticker shock, I wanted to bring you behind the design — numbers & all — so you can see what & how much is feasible for YOU.
Read More3 months ago, I started my living room refresh and I shared the plans with you guys. The refresh started out just fine — we patched up some holes, put furniture in storage to free up space, hung new lighting & drapery, and the project even spilled over into the dining room when I made the decision to convert it into a study. At that point all that was left was for me to receive my furniture — it was slated for around now actually. That delay ended up working out in our favor. While our home buying journey is another story for another time, I can tell you that in August — when I started the living room — it isn't something I thought would be a reality for at least another year.
Translation: man plans, God decides.
And He decided we were to be homeowners NOW!
Read MoreHas it been 6 weeks already? I guess if the calendar says it, then it must be so!
I'm a shopper — like heavy! — but I'm reasonable in my shopping. There are a lot of things I've seen and/or coveted over the years that I never purchased because they didn't fit my life as a renter. I didn't need em so I didn't get em... plain and simple.
Not to say I'm just out here buying all the things but now the way I shop has changed — the priorities have changed. Moving always brings on it's own shopping needs but moving into a home that we own has completely upended my shopping habits, bringing on new kinds of purchases.
Did October even really happen?! Every time I think one month was crazy fast, the next one still manages to outpace it. Sheesh!
We're in the final stretch of the ORC and if you're following me on IG — you should be, by the way — then you caught a pretty epic announcement I made yesterday! Yep... my husband & I are officially homeowners! I talk a lil bit about it here and here.
Read MoreHoly smokes...2 weeks to go. Even though I have not been physically executing this design, knowing that it isn't a design that I entirely pulled from the belly of my imagination has made it just as stressful to conceptualize. Adding on the stress of just life — 2020 being all 2020 and ish — I finally made the decision to fire myself.
Read MoreWhile so many of my counterparts have been physically hanging out at High Point Market, I've been taking advantage of all the resources available to me right here on these inter webs.
Being that this is a virtual project, I decided that instead of just tackling some of the rooms in this trip level home, why not try my hand at the entire "must be nice" level. In addition to the media room, shared study, and outdoor living area, I decided why not take on the other two other rooms down there — the laundry room and powder room.
Read MoreIf you follow me on Instagram (which you should by the way) then you know a few days ago I shared some of my design inspirations from Pinterest for manifesting my first home. My "Home 2021" board is broken up into sections, with one section being “‘Must Be Nice’ Rooms” because having those rooms/spaces in my future home would be really really nice!
I didn’t grow up with these kinds of rooms so when I think of them, it’s really a fantasy of my future. But what does this have to do with the One Room Challenge? So glad yo asked. Even though this year’s challenge is virtual, I’ve chosen to base my entire challenge on a very real space — a listed home we’ve got our eye on that has must. be. nice. rooms!
Read MoreAdmittedly I had a home on my vision board for the new year — our home buying conversations were becoming a thing and we found ourselves wondering about “what’s next” for our family…stay in Washington? …move back East? We weren’t sure but we knew renting in perpetuity was no longer an option. By the second quarter of 2020, personally, I was juggling being a “single mom” with my husband deployed, the beginnings of my second new job in a year, COVID-19 forcing us all into quarantine, and witnessing a modern day civil rights movement. One or two of these events may not have done much for changing my mind, but all of em together… well I quickly went from, “it’d be nice to own my home” — hence the vision board — — to “I want to own a home!”
Read MoreIn true 2020 fashion, this event will be virtual so we’ll be bringing you along as we work with and source vendors as we would in any design project — from the ideating and planning all the way through the final virtual reveal…which you know is my jam!
Read More
