Some Sweet Gifts

My husband kicked butt with the birthday gifts this year. He knocked it out of the park with his home decor choices for me. Now, you really need to see them in person to get full appreciation since our camera sucks, (Birthday next year?) but you'll get the idea.

First, check out the adorable pendant fixture he got me for our dining room WITHOUT me asking for it. So freaking fabulous.

Next I got a West Elm vase to go in our guest room:

And finally, my hubby got me two super cute ceramic fish (also from West Elm) that I've been crushing on for awhile. Check out these cuties:

In conclusion, my hubby rocks.

Until next time...

Pee Worthy?

OK, weird title, I know, but stick with me here.

Our home's half bathroom/laundry room has been a source of design stress for me since we moved in. It is an awkward layout because of the washer and dryer hookup locations and more importantly because THERE IS A BATHROOM IN THE LAUNDRY ROOM! It's a little strange. 

Here's a look at what it looked like when we bought the house:

As you can tell, this is the room that sold us on this home. Isn't she beautiful? (That square thing on the left isn't a washer or dryer...it's the hot water heater.)

OK. Let's be serious, it's scary and that green wall color isn't helping anything. So the first thing we did was paint the entire room a neutral color. We also removed the black baskets to help de-clutter the laundry room side. The layout really couldn't be helped so we've kept it as is, but a few cute baskets for organizations and some artwork helped give the laundry side of the room some design help. We also finally hung up our ironing board which gets it off the ground and gives a little more room to move. 

Here's what that side of the room looks like now:

Now the bathroom side of the room needed some serious help as well. Basically the goal was to figure out a way to make it feel like a bathroom that isn't in a laundry room. 

Here's what we've done to help make this bathroom nice enough for our friends to pee in:

• We took down the swirly mirror with the built in lights since it wasn't really our style. (I tried painting it a bright color to make it work since the lights being attached is super handy, but I still didn't dig it so it got trashed.)
• The mirror was replaced with a simple oval mirror with a dark brown wood frame. 
• We also replaced the cabinet pulls. The silver and white combo that was originally there was upgraded to a simple bronze pull. 
• The light was a pain to figure out how to replace since the electrical box was in the wall and NOT centered. It made life a challenge, but luckily we found a solution with a $15 target pendant light. 
• I added a rug which perfectly fills the area in front of the sink and toilet and brings your eye to that space instead of the laundry area. 
• The window got a lovely bamboo shade to add privacy. (Kinda important in a bathroom.)
• I also put up two inexpensive pieces of artwork, one on each side of the window to tie both sides of the room together. 

Check out the pictures of our newly updated space:

So it's still a little awkward considering the first thing you see when you open the door is a dryer, but it is leaps and bounds from where it started. I'm digging it and I'm super excited that I can now call this room "pee worthy". What a victory, right?

Until next time...

Monday Night: Master Bedroom Progress

The hubby and I both have August birthdays, (my brother-in-law does too, but who really cares) so we went to hangout with my family in Memphis this weekend to celebrate before my little sister heads back to school in Knoxville. We had a lot of fun and came back with another couple items for our house!

Our amazing, (and now blue) father-built bedside table now has a friend! My parents got me two swing-arm wall sconces for our master bedroom. They will work perfectly for night time reading (Who wants to walk across the room to turn off the light when you're all comfy, cozy in bed? Not this lazy girl.) and they really dress up our lovely paneled walls. 

Take a peek:

We have one on each side of the bed, but due to a lack of light bulbs, I couldn't photograph both at the same time. You'll just have to trust me that they look great together. 

The lamps and the bedside table are a great start to our bedroom change up. It is very neutral at the moment, which works fine, but isn't too exciting. We are wanting to amp up the color and add in some texture to wake this room up a bit. I can't wait to show you some pictures as we make the changes, but for now here is a view of the comforter we are switching to from West Elm. Luckily, we snagged it on sale a couple weekends ago. We just need to switch out some pillows before putting it to use.

I know what you're thinking...pink in the bedroom? But it's really "poppy" red, not pink. So yeah, my husband is cool with pink.

Until next time...

The Difference Between a Boy & a Girl

No, this isn't a talk about the birds and the bees. Calm down.

Last weekend I discovered three gift cards in my husband's car console. He had two to Lowe's and one to Home Depot. Naturally, I asked him, "Have these been used?" He naturally answered, "I don't know." Geez.

Come to find out, we had $50 to Home Depot and $48 to Lowe's left on these gift cards that he had hiding in his vehicle. Where did they come from? Our wedding shower. Our wedding shower that occurred in 2008. How the crap does that happen? I mean, really.

The positive side of this irresponsible behavior is that it was like having free money appear out of nowhere. So naturally, I got to decide what it was spent on. Nice. 

I decided on a new light fixture for our bedroom. Here's what we were working with before hand. Not OK.

Here's what we have now thanks to my hubby's mad electrical skills. (Well, he developed his mad skills.) Love!

Once the light was in place, we stood back to observe our handy work. (Like how I threw "we" in there?) My response was, "Look how romantic it is!" My husband's response? "How is that more romantic?" Geez.

Until next time...