Loving Different Decorating Styles Part Two

Today I'm back with two more designers and two very different decorating styles that I really admire and think are completely beautiful in their own ways.

First up is Jenny Komenda from Little Green Notebook. Her blog is another that I have read for years even though our styles are toooootally different but still, I find everything she does to be jaw-dropping and totally inspiring.

She has the modern-vintage style pegged. Like, on point. She is a pro at mixing upscale contemporary with legit vintage finds (that are stunning...I have no clue how she manages to find so many high quality vintage pieces on Craigslist). Jenny is also not afraid of a good DIY (she has painted the fabric on upholstered chairs and sprayed an entire grand staircase on her own). She also uses a lot of color and bright white, something that I would like to do in another life. ;)

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And then there's Erica Powell, who owns Urban Grace Interiors. I actually found her through her twin sister Darby's blog (because I used to sorta stalk Darby when she blogged...actually I guess I still do on Instagram. I also stalk Erica. They have adorable lives. Technology has brought all my creepiness out.)

Erica's style is traditional but updated, clean, light, natural, layered, sometimes feminine....all the good things. And she loves the color green. 1,000 points! She's also like super famous in design world and I feel like I see her in magazines a lot. 

She's a fave, for sure.

She reminds me a lot of Phoebe Howard and also a little of Sarah Richardson in her more traditional rooms.  (Both are original favorites, by the way.) Yes? So much pretty from this one!

Again, both Jenny and Erica have completely different styles but they continue to be personal favorites of mine. I think there is so much to pull as inspiration from these two, and I think a lot of it has to do with how well they place, layer, and use scale and texture in their designs.

Sometimes I sit and think about how interior design is so funny. Like, I lay in bed at night happily thinking about the perfect item that I can put in my home that serves no other purpose other than to be looked at....but I guess that's how most things in the world are, too. We are visual, for sure! 

What do you think? Which designer suits your fancy? Or are you like me and love both? 

Loving Different Decorating Styles (And Finding My Own.) Part One

Hi guys!

Hope everyone is enjoying their Halloween Eve. We woke up to a dark morning with lots of rain and fog and without ANY plans (finally) so I treated myself to some hot coffee and a magazine on the couch while the boys watched Daniel Tiger and ate french toast sticks on the living room floor. Sweet and pure goodness, I tell you.

I am one of those decorating fanatics that can't ever seem to settle on a specific style. I mean, I suppose I've settled on a blend of styles but I can't ever just go in one solid direction like so many other talented designers and blogger seem to be able to do.

The truth is, there are SO many decorating styles that I think are truly beautiful and that I really, really admire, even though I don't necessarily mimic them exactly in my own home. I thought I would share a few of my (completely opposite) favorites and talk about the things that draw my eyes and mind to them. I originally started writing this as one big post, but then it got too big, so I am cutting it into parts---two styles/bloggers/designers at a time.

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I must start off with one of my all-time favorite designers--Lauren Liess. I love Lauren. I started reading her blog about five years ago and have watched her grow to superstar status with her earthy, organic, vintage/modern yet still traditional style.

I remember when her first home was in the Christmas issue of BHG a few years ago, I looked through it feeling so proud of her...but then I realized that I don't actually know her in real life so that was actually super creepy. Had to tone that down. ;) I still LOVED that spread though.

I love, love, love her use or natural textures, calm colors, and relaxed fabrics in homes. She mixes things like wooden dough bowls and Lucite tables to an ART and also has a knack for botanic prints and gallery walls. Always good in my book. 

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Let's counter this with probably the most traditional and rustic blog I follow--Dear Lillie. I love Jennifer's upscale vintage farmhouse style and her seasonal decor is always on point. (Seriously...fall and Christmas decor....a tonnnnnn of eye candy.) She tends to use the same tones in most of her rooms (which isn't a bad thing at all) and is very talented at layering vignettes and using fresh greenery and flowers.

I'm fairly sure Jennifer had a paint brush attached to her hand the first year they lived in their current home (we moved into our homes at the same time....she is a much more motivated worker than I am). She is also quite the DIY-er and seems really confident in her style. 

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I'd like to think that my home right now is somewhat a blend of these two styles (except I don't have as much in way of budget so on a lower scale and with a lot less experience ;). I don't even know if they work together but I think it's so interesting to watch my personal style go from one to the other depending on my mood or what inspires me at any given time. I sometimes think it would be much easier to hone in on one style because I get analysis paralysis ALL the time when making decisions for my own home but I can't seem to do it.

Do you pull decor inspiration from completely opposite sources or do you stick with one style when taking in eye candy? My blog feed is basically a huge mis-mash so I'm interested to know if it's just me or not.  Do tell!

Have a Happy Halloween!

Boo Bag How-To and Links

I'm back today with more details on the Boo Bags that I made for Jo-Ann. I was so happy to do a crafting segment on KAMR yesterday, too! Here is the link to the video in case you want to see just how awkward I can be on television. 

I just love these things. They are floating around all over Pinterest, and I found my inspiration for the cone shape here, but I really was able to make it my own--the creative possibilities are endless with these!

Here is a list of supplies you will need. Jo-Ann is actually having 50-70% off ALL of their Halloween and Fall crafts and decor so I was able to make these really inexpensively. 

Supplies:

-12x12 Sheet of scrapbook paper (double-sided or 2 single-sided sheets glued back to back)

-Crinkle shred

-18 Inches of ribbon for handle

-Wired ribbon, faux fur trim, beads, pom pom, foam shapes, or whatever you want to decorate with! This is the creative part!

-Hole punch

-Scissors

-Glue sticks, hot glue, or glue dots

-Candy, toys, homemade treats, and other fillers

-Extra scrapbook paper for your gift tag

-Printable gift tags (link here)

Instructions:

You will twist the 12x12 sheet of scrapbook paper into a large cone and glue. Trim around the edge to make the top a circle. Hole punch either side and tie the ribbon on for the handle. Add trim, ribbon and other decorations. Stuff crinkle shred and your goodies down in the cone. Last, and most importantly, cut out your tag and attach or put in cone. You can mount it on to other decorative paper like I did, too!

I demonstrate all of this in the craft segment, too, if you need a visual reference. ;)

Take these babies to a neighbors house, ring the doorbell (at a decent hour), and RUN! They will open their door to a sweet surprise with instructions to pass it along!

The kids and I will be off to "Boo!" our neighbors this afternoon. Pumpkin carving tonight. We are Halloween-ing it UP.

Don't forget your free printable tags with a Boo-ing poem and instructions, which is right HERE.

Have a wonderful day, friends!

BOO! Your Neighbors With Jo-Ann

Hi guys! Today I get the awesome experience of appearing on KAMR News Channel 4 in Amarillo to share a BOO Bag that I created with the help of Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Store.

A BOO Bag is a wonderful way to suprise your neighbors with some sweet treats and gifts before Halloween. It is like a "ding dong ditch" which makes it fun for kiddos all around.

This gift is meant to be paid forward from neighbor to neighbor the week of Halloween. I included sweet little tags explaining the idea and how to pass it along that you can attach to your BOO Bag when you give it away. I think it's such a sweet and inexpensive way to show some Halloween love and will be back tomorrow with a free BOO tag printable and instructions.


Adios! Also....new house deets coming soon!

Hey, So I Think We're Moving

Hi, guys. So I guess I shouldn't say "think" because as of right now, we are planning to move! Just to a new house, not to a different town. Hold on to your hats!

I know, I know, I talked a big game about all the renovations we were going to do to this house. But can I tell you a secret? This house, while there are things that I love about it, has never sat well with me.

And you know, what? I just read the above paragraph and am a little sad and feel a little hypocritical because I do love parts of this house. I do love many of our memories in this house. I LOVE our neighborhood and our neighbors, I love that we can walk to preschool, I love that the grocery store and our favorite pizza place are right across the street.

But. But renovations are hard. They are hard when you are staying at home with two babies and when you are staying at home and trying to run a business (or two) with two babies. They are hard on your budget, and when your husband is your handy man and your wife is your designer and you stare at a project day in and day out that you are both too tired to finish, they can be hard on your marriage. Add that all up and you have one big happy meltdown a few times month year. :)

Seriously though, Bryan and I have talked and talked and talked (the renovation summary of 2015: talking) and weighed every option and budget and potential life route and we keep coming to the same conclusion: maybe a house renovation isn't in our best interest right now.

Sometimes I wish SO much that I could just get over it. That I didn't care about how things look. That we could just pick any old house and move in and hang pictures and be done. Like, I have actually prayed that quite a bit in the past. But... that's actually kind of sad because I think that making things beautiful, that making a home, that....decorating, even if I'm still learning... is a gift that God has given me. That sounds silly. Interior design and home-building are such materialistic, first-world things. I fully realize that. And I have no clue why I have this drive in me but I do and I'm just hoping that God uses it at some point.

Please note: my key words in all of this are right now. Renovations aren't in the cards for us right now, but in the future...sure! Hopefully. We dream all the time. We talk about things we could do, businesses we could start. You know, go all Chip and JoJo, minus the superstardom. ;) Bryan has been fiddling with the idea of getting into contracting and I (no surprise) would love to get into interior design one day....but right now, we just want to focus on these fleeting moments with the precious little boys without feeling stressed and tired and like we never get a break and are throwing all our money at a house that will never be done.

Kudos to anyone who can juggle all of the above and be at peace and have tons of time... but we are not those people...right now.

So where does this leave us?

Well, for starters we are planning to build. We talked about trying to build on our own--buying a lot, contracting everything out ourselves, doing the floorplans and all that jazz, but again, we know that would be a huge time investment and we really have no clue what we are doing so we have decided to wait on that. We have plan. Who knows if it will work. For now, we are going to use a local builder who does some fabulous houses and really allows so much customization. I am super excited. We actually have already picked out a lot and a floorplan and are just waiting around on pricing before we sign the contract.

I'm also feeling a bit of mixed emotions, too, to be perfectly honest. Some days I stop myself and think...."You know, let's just stay here. This house is good. This house is plenty. There are so many more important things." But then I keep dreaming and thinking about our future plans and land myself back on the new-build. Also, this new house is more expensive than what we have now....and as much as we've talked through the numbers and as doable as it looks on paper I still stress because I'm a paranoid budgeter. Also, my little booth....not such a little expense, I'm quickly learning! I can see it starting to pay off, but being the obsessive planner that I am, it is hard to forecast where all of that will go. I'm really hoping it will be to great places! I have so enjoyed the experience so far. And also....I just like our current neighborhood. Our new house will essentially be in a cotton field. I mean, in the next five years it will be in a really nice neighborhood with a huge park....the elementary school is only a block away and they just started building a grocery store across the street, but still. I just have a hard time with change.

Really, I'm just a whiner on either end. :) I'm fairly sure that's how most moving situations go, though. They are all a little bittersweet, all a little scary, and all full of possibility.

So there's me!

I would really appreciate prayers on this. I am usually a strict "I don't pray about materialistic things because God is probably just rolling his eyes at me", but I do believe that He  does care about every decision we make, even when it's something as luxurious as buying a new home. I know he wants me to be a peace....and I know he has been opening some HUGE doors to get us to this point. I just want to make sure this is the specific direction He wants us to go in. (I'm one of those people who are all...."Seriously God, I need like a really obvious sign.")


This was nice. I like blogging like this and never really do it anymore. Gold star for you if you made it through this post!

Favorites for Friday (Saturday Edition.)

It's almost noon and we are just now getting going at our house. Isn't that the best kind of Saturday? Much needed around here, let me tell you.

Here are a few things I am loving as of late:

I have found a new favorite candle...Country Morning by Circle E. Everyone in Lubbock is pretty obsessed with these things, but I had never given them a shot myself....until I did, and now I love them, too! They are made in Fredericksburg and are just amazing. I will also add that a huge perk to having a KK's booth is that KK's carries a ton of candle lines, so they are easy to pick up!

This cute kids cd is our current choice of music in the car. I have it on my Spotify, and Parker is pretty obsessed with the "train song" (aka I've Been Working On The Railroad...shocker). As it goes, I'm not a huge fan of kids songs blaring as we drive around town, but when you have Cory Morrow, Aaron Watson, and Pat Green singing them...it ain't so bad!

Parker is getting to where we can read longer books now, so I opened this one for the first time this week and just about cried it was so sweet. What a wonderful explanation of God and love. I love all the old illustrations, too.

Friday Night Lights is back on in our house...basically from the time the kids get in bed until we can't keep our eyes open. We are already on season 4 (I know, we are ridiculous), but it's really nothing that can be helped. I still want to be Tami Taylor when I grow up. It also makes me feel a bit more proud to live in west Texas for some reason? #cleareyesfullheartscantlose

Favorite pin from this week....hellooooooo beautiful. You're welcome. :)

 Just ordered these book cuffs from Jane. SO excited for fall clothing. It beats out summer clothing for me every single time. I'm attempting to get a little wish list together for my fall and winter wardrobe....maybe I will put something here on the blog if I get around to it. ;) 

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And in family land:

We got to go to lunch with friends TWICE this week and after our Chic-fil-a date on Wednesday with Alli and her kiddos Parker passed out on the couch. Does it make me a creeper mom for just sitting and watching him? 

Planning to recover this bench but I am still deciding if I should paint it? I'm thinking a deep gray or green with a linen looking fabric...yes?

The big news of the week was Parker starting his first day of 3's class at Sugar N Spice. We love our Sugar N Spice. His teacher is super sweet and he did super well. It was all very super and I can't believe how big he is getting.

Still a little sassy, though. ;)

And then we have the "Crazy Hayes-ie", as we call him. This child. I was washing dishes the other night and looked down to see him climbing on the dishwasher like it was no big thing. And then I grabbed my phone for the obvious photo opp. ;)

My kids are so funny. Hayes is all in to moving furniture around the house (anything he can use as a walker), saying "bye-bye" and waving backwards to himself, and pointing at everything. He thinks it's HILARIOUS when you point at him, too. He race crawls to the bathtub when he hears the water running because he loves, loves, loves bath time, and he also LOVES loud sounds and thinks they are quite comical, too. I'm finding that he is much less timid than Parker was and is very all over the place and into everything. I caught him eating an old sandwich from the trashcan this week. Yep. Lesson learned...but oh man, can he snuggle. He lets us love on him way more than his brother ever has, and when we rock at night he always sits and pats my arm or my shoulder and I just basically want to die because he is precious and I love him.

Parker Reed....I'm learning a lot about him, too. I think he's going to be a little rule follower. He always talks about how we need to "clean up this mess!" (also from me...poor child), and his new teacher tells me that he is always the perfect student (his old teacher told me this, too). He has a tender heart, though, and cries easily when his feelings are hurt or something makes him sad. I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but Parker's standard song to get Hayes to stop crying is a very fast and high-pitched version of Jesus Loves Me. That has been happening for many months and it is still adorable. On the OTHER hand, Parker is crazy. Like he talks ALL the time (as I've mentioned before), is very opinionated, and is very outspoken in a 3-year-old way. 

Last week I was making lunch and he was sitting at the counter. I was a HOT mess, still in my  pajamas, hair a mess, no makeup, I don't event think I had brushed my teeth...and all of a sudden, Parker goes, "Mommy, you're not a handsome girl yet." Uh.... 

I looked up at him and said, "Well, what am I?" and he said, "You're a jammie girl."

I just about died laughing and was VERY thankful he didn't say something worse. And bless that boy for tacking on the "yet" to his initial observation. I mean...good grief. 

Parker = 1, Mom = 0.

Oh, AND yesterday we had lunch with my friend Annie and her new babe and Parker apparently went to the potty by himself when I wasn't paying attending and walked back to our table without pants, underwear, OR shoes on. YES. YES. THIS IS MY LIFE. Mom of the year. So, the lucky restaurant patrons saw Parker's wee-wee and we had a good little talk about what mommy means when she says "public" and the insane germ levels of floors and toilets in public.

Parker = 2, Mom = 0.

I'm out of time, so I will let the last photos speak for themselves. 

Have a great Labor Day weekend!

A Few Things for Friday (Saturday Edition).

I had this post written for yesterday, but it is happening today. Welcome to my life. :)

I like all this writing about things I'm liking/doing at the moment, it helps this mildly frazzled brain of mine empty a bit so that I can be less...well, frazzled.

1. FIRST. I meant to put this in last week's post but I forgot. (Frazzled.)

If you haven't already downloaded/spotify-ed this Ryn Weaver album, you should. It is SO good. So good. I realize it's quite possible, even probable, that everyone already knows about this girl, but just humor me. I spend my days singing the Veggie Tales theme song.

2. I am currently reading Pride & Prejudice. I am a bit ashamed to say this for it is my all-time favorite movie (the Keira Knightly version gets me every time), but it's the truth. Am I even allowed to have it as a favorite movie if I haven't read the book? Anyways...I am working on it. Also--Death Comes to Pemberly on Netflix: entertaining....worth a watch. (or two!)

3. Still waiting on inventory for the booth to arrive...STILL WAITING. I am very impatient, I guess. Bryan got the roof up on the booth but I am still wanting to drape it with fabric of some sort. Hoping to get that done tomorrow.

(One of my all-time favorite BHG house tours. I think this was like 5 or 6 years ago? So good.)

4. I cannot find a fiddle leaf fig in Lubbock. It's just not happening...and I would really like to jump on that bandwagon like pronto. Any pointers? Any really cool Lubbock gardeners that can get me into a secret fiddle leaf fig club? ;)

5. Parker left for Colorado yesterday to see Nonnie and my sisters (Pops had to go on a fire...boo.) I am having withdrawals just a bit which is semi-ridiculous since I was a little toddler-tired this last week. I thought I would essentially get a vacation with just the one baby but Hayes is happily proving me wrong on that front. Just today he broke a vase, spilled a (cold) cup of coffee all over the couch and rug, climbed into the fireplace, and swung (in terror) on the door of the entertainment center. That last one was pretty comical. :) He also has no sense of what "Mommy's toys" are, as Parker calls them. Sweet Parker Reed was not really interested in all my decorating stuff (like at all...I know now how lucky I was), but HAYES. Hayes, you are a crazy baby. And you are in. to. it. all. Exhausting, I tell you. But cute! And also 10 months old today! Good grief.

6. I am juggling several plates right now and am about to lose my marbles (see above.) I go through times when I'm like, "I'm so bored....let me just add 37 things ALL AT ONCE." I cannot seem to space things out....does this happen to anyone else? Right now: Shop (and adding Christmas items to the shop), KK's booth, my kids, home, husband, house stuff (SO. much. house. stuff), Hayes' birthday party to plan, and MOPS. I am "Creative Activities Director" for MOPS this year. Have I mentioned that? It sounds so official....but it really means that I am in charge of crafts. For 80 people. Once a month. :) Like I said...all or nothing for this girl.

7. I made some leather strap pulls for our dining chairs and I LOVE how they turned out. The image above was my inspiration. I also added cushions from World Market to hide some damage to the wicker/woven seats. Love that, too! Hope to share photos soon.


That's all I have! I wrote a really long post about some of the house stuff that we are discussing but have yet to completely finish it. Maybe I will get that up this week. Would love to hear opinions from whoever reads this!

Have a great weekend!