Pinned!

I admit, I am not the most savvy blogger. I am feeling like the blog needs a makeover, so I will be making changes as time permits. With all of the social media outlets now, does anyone else find it hard to keep up? I mean, I already blog and do Facebook. I started Twitter after attending a bloggers meet last Fall. I do Pinterest, but only for personal reasons at the moment. Haven't really done too much with Instagram yet, and now there's this new short video Vine thing?!?! Everytime you turn around it's something new. And making sure you are touching each and every one of these to promote yourself is hard! Especially if you are not doing it full time.

 

The first small change you will see, is that I am going to start adding "Pin It" buttons for my pictures. We'll see how it goes - hopefully I did it right (eeek)!

 

I've wanted to post this top for some time now, but the coloring on it has been tricky everytime I've tried to photograph it. Even the Macy's product page casts it more orange. It's truly a really deep watermelon. And I just love dragonflies, don't you?

 

Outfit breakdown:
Style & Co Darling Dragons Blouse - Macy's

A.N.A. Black Jeggings - JCP

Jessica Simpson boots - DSW

Skinny black belt - taken off another top

Bubble Necklace - Dear Prudence

Fins

One of the most iconic images of automotive history is the profile of the 57' Chevy. Back then, the bigger the fin the better. It's been a year now since Prada presented it's Hot Rod inspired Spring 2012 collection, and as you can see retailers are still churning out pieces because of it. Lucky for me that I am loving it! That's what it's all about for me - putting together a closet of items that speak to your personality!

I finally got out into the elements for some pics. The sun was shining brightly when I first got out there, so even though the sunglasses don't make much sense now - trust me!

The pastel pink and teal colors are right on target for the Spring trends, and this sweater will be a great option at those early and late season car shows. Heck, it could even be cold in July - this is Michigan after all!

Outfit breakdown:

Retro Car Knit Pullover - Forever 21

A.N.A. Black Jeggings - JCP

Statement necklace - TJ Maxx

Jessica Simpson sunglasses - TJ Maxx

Franco Sarto booties - Macy's

You can see my other auto inspired looks here, here, and here.



Baskets & Bins

I have come to realize that baskets and bins have taken over my home the last few years. Need something organized? It's the first thing that comes to mind. Probably because no matter what store you go to now, they all offer these storage solutions. And, we've become so used to it that if we see a picture in a magazine or online of a room that includes some sort of shelving with baskets/bins we think "that looks nice".... because that's what we do now.

The above picture is in the new studio, where I lost a lot of storage space because we did not put my long folding table back in there (which I had fabric over so that I could stash tons of stuff underneath it). So, I had to find 2 baskets to fit under this table.

The picture below is of our entertainment center in the living room. Jon's uncle built it probably in the 70's, and while you can't see the whole thing here it is still very relevant to today's styles. So relevant in fact that it has sections perfect for said baskets. Once Richard started becoming more mobile, and his toy collection grew, I replaced the knick knacks that were there with baskets for his toys. The dragon head coming out makes it extra chic, don't you think?

Here's an example of a piece that specifically fits the standard bins. I bought this 9 cube shelf about 11 years ago when we first got married. Unfortunately, many of these are not units are not built of the best quality..... mine has severe sagging in the middle. It's kindof in limbo right now in our home decor, but I know it would still make a great organizer in a play room or basement perhaps in the future.

Shelf in mudroom - did not come with bins but I found ones to fit perfectly!

How about you? Are you a big basket/bin organizer?

And don't even get me started on totes........ the basement is full of them!

50 Shades of Brown

The studio is done!!! Besides some finishing touches.... I promise I will take you on a tour very soon. I haven't had time to fully enjoy it myself, as we jumped right into refreshing our living room. It had not been painted in the 10 years we've lived here, so a fresh coat on the walls and ceiling was needed. AND, since there is now new woodwork in the studio, and the dining room got new woodwork several years ago, we decided to also do the living room so everything matched. Might as well while we are in this mindset, right? It's not like there's anything else much to do in the dead of winter.....

It's funny how we are gravitating back towards browns, tans, creams, etc..... When we first moved in, we couldn't wait to inject COLOR! The first 3 rooms we initially did (this sunroom/studio included) all had floral wallpaper. And they promptly got painted pumpkin orange, mustard yellow, and a faux finish. I had to admit I am enjoying the neutrals, and part of our motivation is thoughts of selling.

I cannot even begin to tell you how many shades of paints and stains I have looked at over the past few months! Trying to match what we already have. And this outfit was no different....

 feather maxi skirt - Nicole Richie for Impulse c/o Macy's

ombre sweater - Apt 9 c/o Kohl's

quadrivium belt c/o Anthropologie

boots c/o Zulily

Hello Blog!

Well, hello there blog! I have missed you! Of course, I have a ton of reasons why I haven't posted. There was that whole Christmas thing...... And then I missed the boat on doing one of those "year in review" or "here's to 2013" posts. To catch you up to speed, we had 2 weeks off over the holidays and it was a mix of traveling as well as relaxing and/or working on the studio.

Yeah, remember the studio??? Back in September, we had some water damage due to the flat roof needing to be replaced. We had a company come out and replace the roof and I don't even have the energy to get into the story of the hassles there. Then, we planned to redo the interior ourselves.

It has taken us this long to get this far. But keep in mind, we both work full time and have a toddler. Life moves at a different pace here. We can really only work on things when he is sleeping or if we take a day off while he is at daycare. Luckily, he is such a good sleeper that he does not wake up to the sound of saws, nail guns, hammering and floor sanders!

We replaced the entire ceiling with new insulation and drywall. Mudding/sanding came next and then we applied a "texture" that was the same as what we have in our living room and dining room. However, this was the first time we tried it ourselves. Jon would roll on one section of mud, and I would create the swirls with a wallpaper brush. We are pretty darn proud of how it turned out! The final step was a coat of paint on the ceiling.

 

All eight windows in the room had blinds on them - which I didn't mind - but we decided to do "real" window treatments and purchased the rods and fabric panels after lots of debate on the design (I won)!

 

We then picked the paint color based on the widow treatments. The first color we put up was all wrong, so that was a redo. The brown is nice and it really changes a lot depending on the time of day and light.

 

All of the wood trim on the windows is new, and this weekend my job was filling the nail holes, taping off, and then painting it 2 coats of cream. We also rented a floor sander to prep for new stain/varnish.

 

So - next steps? Stain/coat the floor. Purchase/cut and stain baseboard trim and put it up. Install the window treatments. Touch up any minor paint flaws. I think we've agreed on a rug, so we need to purchase that too.

 

I have off next Monday, and I would REALLY, REALLY, REALLY like to use that day to put everything back into the room and thoroughly clean the house. That is the goal anyway. Hopefully it will happen. I am ready to be done with this project and get back to creating.

 

We have been in this house 10 years now, and have redone several rooms whether it be by choice or by some natural disaster. I am kind of over the whole DIY thing. Yes, it saves money and yes we know how to do it. When you are new to home owning, it is exciting. But at this point in my life there are a million other things I would rather be doing! The other option though is to have random strangers in your home (I get weird about that) who might not do things exactly like you would. Either way, home improvements are stressful!

Anyway, wish me luck! I can't wait to show pics of the completed room here! I thought it very appropriate to take an outfit pic amongst the construction:

 

Tops - Macy's (last year)

Pants - A.N.A. c/o JC Penney

Belt - Quadrivium c/o Anthropologie

Necklace - Maurice's (years ago)

Boots - Croft & Barrow c/o Kohl's (Christmas Gift)

 

Lotsa buckles on the belt & boots to tie it all together! I love buckles!

Reindeer Games

Ahhh, deer + red = a perfect holiday combo! That's what I did here in this casual look that I sported last week (to submit to the weekly reader outfits at Effortless Anthropologie) and I'm planning to wear it several more times before years end.

I've always been lucky enough to live in states were seeing deer is very common. In fact, both at my house (in MI) and my parents house (in WI) it's a daily occurance.

"Mirrored Deer" top by One September - Anthropologie

Red cardigan - consignment shop

A.N.A. jeans - JC Penney

Anthroesque boots - Zulily

Necklace - made by me

 

Merry Christmas!!!

DIY Collage Watch

I don't know about you, but all the hustle and bustle of this season stresses me out to no end! So in order to help me relax, I find little projects that I can do that make me happy. They can't be time consuming, or cost a lot of money, because then the guilt sets in that I shouldn't really be spending time or money on myself.

My favorite retailer - Anthropologie - is currently offering this beautiful Collage Watch. It comes in a few other color themes I believe too. A few years ago, I bought a lot grouping of vintage watches off eBay for a project I was doing. The little pretty shown above was one of them. It didn't make it into my project, but I just loved the look of it. The face is cracked, but it is flanked by gorgeous emerald cut and round rhinestones. When I was at Hobby Lobby the other day, I noticed this strand of various components. At half off, I purchased them so as you can see they were $4.

It was really quick to assemble - I added the watch into the mix and took out any links I didn't need. Luckily, I had enough so that I wouldn't have any repeats! Lobster clasp and done! Out of curiosity, I wound the watch to see if it would keep the time and it did (although it was a little off). I didn't mind though - I knew this would be more of a "bracelet" to me than an actual watch. It's going to look great combined with other bracelets for a layered look.

So there you have it - a $68 pretty for under $10!