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 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 MoreAnd yet here we are…
About halfway through the second quarter of the year and nearly 3 months into a global pandemic that has all but crippled our “normal” way of life. Now for me, I am thankful that COVID-19 and the stay-at-home order hasn’t too much impacted my day to day — changes have happened but nothing drastic — but I also couldn’t think about all the changes happening in nature that we can’t see… and possibly all the changes happening because we aren’t out in the world messing with things.
I remember reading about reports that indicated a decrease in air pollution across the world because factories were closed, cars weren’t on the road, and just overall how our being home was giving Mother Nature a much-needed reset of her home. Imagine that!
Living in the Pacific Northwest gave me a newfound appreciation for nature’s beauty, but specifically the colors in nature — I didn’t exactly always get the benefit of seeing a crayola assortment of trees and clear blue skies while living in Hell’s. Kitchen. While I’m sure this is problem the first spring for all of us, where we’re spending most of it in our homes, there is still so much beauty out there in the world to appreciate — and with any luck, that we’ll be able to enjoy before the season changes.
The words "Feng" and "Shui" have very simple meanings -- "wind" and "water" -- that represent the presence of balance & harmony. The overarching principle behind the art of Feng Shui is about creating harmony in your everyday life through the flow of energy. This is why so often, although sometimes misused, we'll hear people talk about Feng Shui when referring to their furniture layout -- how is the energy moving throughout this space? That flow of energy is your "chi" and at the center of really establishing good Feng Shui and ultimately setting the tone for your space.
I’ve lived — as an official rent-paying “adult” — in three different apartments…four if you count a short period of time when I thought I was grown and moved in with a roommate. This condo was truly the first I really dug in to tackle renter-friendly projects that went beyond getting organized and putting up new paint.
But here’s the thing — this is still only a 2 bedroom apartment, meaning the whole place has a total of six “rooms” (eight if you count the laundry closet and balcony) to play with. I knew that this meant I was not going to have a limitless amount of projects to tackle; I knew that at some point I would be project’d out…and that point is now.
Read MoreInspiration can be found in all places, in all things, including driving through a “snow storm” after picking up the kiddo from school. Cognizant of how design inspiration can be found in the most unlikely places, I decided to start pulling the palettes from the scene — literally just with a color dropper — just to see what colors were really resonating and it was really illuminating.
From one spontaneous moment in time, I was able to capture what really was (is) an amazing color palette. And now here we are… the first of 12 mood board inspirations for 2020.
Read MoreIf you’ve been hanging out with me for even just a little bit, then you know I’ve never let the fact that I rent that in the way of making our home actually feel like our home. Yeah, we have a lease, but that’s not an excuse to give up entirely on good design; so from the time we moved in — Spring 2017 — I have tackled a bunch of big & small renter-friendly upgrades…
For me, however, the biggest challenge was always the front of the apartment where the common areas are — living room, dining room, and kitchen — because of how “warm” the whole area is…the beige on beige on brown! In terms of renter-friendly upgrades, the only thing I’d tackled in this space was adding a peel-and-stick backsplash to the kitchen. I’d conceded that I couldn’t do much in the kitchen, but figured if I could at least cover some of the painted walls & add some visual interest with a backsplash, then that would be enough — it wasn’t.
Putting wallpaper in areas like kitchens & bathrooms is always a risk/gamble, especially removable wallpaper for the obvious challenges of heat & humidity; but with the right wallpaper brand, you can totally get something that’s a winner.
Always have been. I love tinkering with all kinds of gadgets and while I am very aware of the pitfalls of technology, I just can’t help myself. As luck would have it, I married someone equally obsessed with tech & things, and even our toddler is pretty well-versed in using most of our devices without any assistance from us. Being that we rent, we knew that we couldn’t get as tech-savvy in our home as we’d like, BUT that doesn’t mean we couldn’t do a lil somethin somethin.
Read MoreIf you read my week 1 introduction to this project, then you know that we’re renovating a basement and converting a one-car garage to create, in essence, a single, split level apartment.
Last week, I showed you some before photos and the floor plan, but what is the design plan? So glad you asked…
Each area has its own plan but it is one streamlined aesthetic. I’ve mentioned that for this project, I was keeping everything super simple because while having it look good is obviously important, the priority is making it livable, functional, and comfortable. So while a reno may seem like the perfect opportunity for me to go balls-to-the-wall creative with the design, here I really kept it super simple, focusing on keeping it feeling cozy and effortless.
Read MoreThis is my fourth time participating in the bi-annual design event. Designers, design bloggers, design enthusiasts, DIYers, and everyone in between all participate, completing a design project within 6 weeks. In addition to the guest participants — like myself — 20 designers are featured, documenting their projects from start to [hopefully] finish.
This season I’ll be taking on a project that’s very personal, and very near to my heart...
When we moved into this condo in Spring 2017, one of the very first things we were thrilled to have was an actual pantry! Prior to this, we’d had really good storage in our kitchens — our studio apartment in NYC had WAY more cabinets than we ever used and our first apartment in WA had a tall pantry cabinet — but this was the first time we had an actual step-in pantry and we were geeked! My husband cooks, I clean, and it’s a glorious arrangement for us. With that, it meant he now had a place to hoard store all his culinary things, while for me it was a place to organize… a win-win all around.
Read MoreI can’t believe how many of you were surprised at how much of a home renovation could be recreated for renters! The last installment, in case you missed it, my first renter-friendly version of a home renovation featured a bathroom design by my friend Morgan Molitor of construction2style and her amazing team.
So now we’re back with another fabulous reno from Morgan & Jamie, this time featuring a basement project in Delano, MN, where they were able to transform an unfinished basement into a cozy space for the entire family to enjoy — from entertaining to working out.
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