Hey there. 🙂 Since I’ve got my spiffy new camera, I thought I would go around the house and take some better pictures of the Summer decor that we’ve got goin’ on. It was so fun putting all of these little vignettes together, and I was surprised by how much I had packed away. But let’s be real — all you really need for a good Summer vignette is sand and seashells. It’s probably the least expensive season to decorate for — ha!
Good morning, friends. Happy Monday to you. 🙂
This is the time of year when a slower pace starts to settle in and mostly in Arizona, you really just want to stay indoors…or go somewhere fun and use someone else’s free air conditioning. 😉 We will be going on a couple of trips in the coming weeks so it may be a little bit quiet around here while we enjoy. We’re so looking forward to getting out of this heat!
Summer continues around our house with simple vignettes here and there — mostly with things I already had from our previous apartments that were packed away.
I love this domed cake plate and I’ve used it for more than just cakes — here and here! 🙂 So it just made sense to add some sand and shells to it, plus a starfish that I found at Sweet Salvage for $5.
The candles I bought at HomeGoods in a pack — that’s the best place to buy those little ones as they are much less expensive than the Target and even the Walmart packs!
We’re feelin’ all beachy in our cute little house and that’s keeping us happy, but we are so looking forward to Fall. Don’t tell anyone. 😉
I’ve written before about our coffee table’s array of special things, so it was really fun to add some Summer details to the display. 🙂
This silver bowl is one of my favorite things in our house. It is so versatile. I found it in an antique shop while we were living with my in-laws and I was always dreaming about using it to decorate in our future house. It is a reminder to me of how blessed we are.
I added some shells to the rocks in the top and then added some sand to the bottom with some more shells. Decorating for Summer truly is so simple — it requires little effort! I love that. 🙂 Simplicity before the abundance of Fall and Winter (although I am already looking forward to another Christmas in our home! —One thing at a time!)
Happy Monday, friends! Things have been great, but busy! We are in preparation mode for two vacations that we will be taking in the next few weeks, work has kept me busy, and the house stuff has kind of taken a backseat while I get outfits together, etc. for our trips. 🙂 I broke out the Summer decor a few weeks ago and I have been really loving the abundance of seashells in our home!
When we lived in our apartments (before we moved in with Grey’s parents in order to save up for our house) I never really decorated for Summer. But once we started living with my in-laws, I remember being blown away by how pretty my mom-in-law’s Summer decorations were…and she always used really simple ‘ingredients.’ Basically all you need are pretty vessels (whatever is special to you), sand, and seashells — and those are super inexpensive at any craft store. You can see some of the Summer decor from my time at that house here, here, here, and here.
I was so excited to break out our Summer stuff and since it started to get so hot in May, I figured I would just go for it! I’ll be sharing little bits of it over this week. I also have the pieces and parts to make a wreath but I just haven’t had the time to work on it yet. Soon! 🙂
Pardon the ice cubes in the bowl…I was watering my plants, lol.
Isn’t that little silver dish pretty? I found it during my last trip to Sweet Salvage. It had to come home with me, and I pictured using it just for this purpose. 🙂 I love when that happens. I just poured a little bit of sand in the bottom of the dish and then started arranging the shells. There’s really no rhyme or reason to it, I just place, adjust, and keep doing that until it feels right.
Our coffee table has some Summery things on it that I am loving now — including a giant white seashell bowl that I am keeping our remotes in (instead of the silver one that we typically use).
This little glass jar was another find from my last trip to Sweet Salvage. I got lucky that day! 😉 I love how the base of it is hollow so the sand can go all the way to the bottom. I can’t wait to use this for more holidays — I felt like this was such a great find. Can’t you just see it with a nest and a bird for Spring?! The blue and white bowl is new and is a family antique that was sent to us by our Aunt Lulu — she knew I had a blue and white theme going on! And you know how I have been loving festive cocktail napkins for drinks. I thought these were really pretty and couldn’t pass them up at HomeGoods.
Have a great day! And as it is Memorial Day, let’s all just take the day to focus on our gratefulness to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice so that we can be safe and free.
Good morning, friends! I thought I’d pop in with a little Instagram Lately update. Follow along here for more. 🙂
Throwback to our Easter table.
Textiles cascading from a silver urn.
A new little vignette after playing ‘musical lamps.’
Blue and white love.
Easter place setting.
Spring at my in-laws’.
A little bit of organizing…
Inspired ranunculus.
Downtown scenes.
Spring centerpiece.
Well, the bed came…and it came on a pallet…that would barely fit in my garage… That was an interesting day.
But the bed is finally in our bedroom, beautifully put together (thanks to my sweet, handsome hubby and his awesome partner from work), and I am in love.
You should have seen my face when this came into the bedroom… It’s supposed to have nailheads! They forgot the nailheads! That’s the first thing I said. 😉 That’s where patience comes in handy — this bed came in a few pieces and the nailhead “wings” hadn’t been brought inside yet. This is where I hear my Gramma saying to me, “Patience is a virtue, Maria!”
But check out that button tufting! It’s perfect! And the color… I’m so happy that I decided to go with the beige rather than the gray. It’s super neutral so I feel like it will really stand the test of time (or rather my ever-evolving tastes. That’s what I’m choosing to call my fickle design sensibilities).
It is a fact that I have never had a bed that is this nice…ever…in my life. Grey and I crawl into bed each night and spend the first five minutes in bed talking about how luxurious it feels, lol. Real romantic conversations going on in our bedroom these days. 😉 But seriously, there is just something about having a bed like this that makes our bedroom feel, well, like a bedroom! Keep in mind that we’ve been sleeping on a mattress and box spring since Day 1 in our new house — and we moved in five months ago!
The pillows look great with the color of the bed, and I am keeping my eyes peeled for a throw blanket or matelassé quilt in the same color as the blue on the background of the pillows for the foot of the bed. I’m also wondering if I want to have one drapery panel on each window in that blue, too — bringing that color all around the room. Still undecided.
Our box spring is currently in our garage — we’re trying to figure out something fun to do with the wood since the bed didn’t need it. And it doesn’t feel like we’re sleeping too low, which is great since I don’t love a low platform bed. Right now we’re tucking in our duvet all around the sides for a really simple and tailored look. The duvet cover is from Ikea so obviously doesn’t have gussetts to fit over the corners of the footboard — someday I will have custom bedding that will fit completely perfectly! 😉
Once the bed was here, I was even happier that I decided to purchase these lucite nesting tables — the bedroom really needs the negative space and so far, they’re working out great for us.
There are still some more projects we want to do for this room but they’re taking a backseat right now while we switch to saving up some spending money for our vacations we are taking this Summer rather than pricey home decor projects. We budgeted $1,000 for this room and once we hit that mark, we capped it off and will do more when $$ permits. For now, it is so wonderful to sleep in here every night — and glimpsing this room from the hallway, or the living room — it’s a dream!
Thanks so much for following along with us as we transform this space. 🙂
Happy Monday, guys! I hope you had a great weekend.
I’ve gotta be honest — I have officially taken down the Spring decor in our house! Between seasons I like to allow our house to breathe and the Spring stuff had been up for several months — we do live in Arizona, after all. I totally get that Spring is just now beginning in parts of the country, but I’ve got my radar on Summer right now (kind of) and I’m beginning to collect things that I see and like for those seasonal vignettes. I’m finding that each season in our house is so magical! The house is becoming more full of pretty things that I love and I am enjoying the evolution of our space so much.
I thought today I would share some Spring decorating ideas from our house and also a couple of vignettes from my in-laws’ house (I snapped a few photos while we were over there for Easter lunch!).
This little set-up is on our coffee table, and the only thing that really changes now and then is what is in the center silver bowl. I’ve written about the treasures on this tray before, and also about the fact that this marble “tray” is actually a super easy DIY project. I spotted these wooden eggs at Target in the Dollar Spot, no less, and I know that a lot of people probably used them for a craft, but I thought they were so pretty in their raw state. I placed them inside of this bowl and then arranged the rocks and seashell on top. I also pulled out a couple of candlesticks and placed an egg on top of each near our TV. 🙂
This is my in-laws’ foyer, and my mom-in-law always puts really pretty decor on this table. This year for Spring it is an impressive assortment of apothecary jars, filled with moss, nests, birds, bunnies… All the Spring stuff. 🙂 The candle holders are super versatile and are essentially seasonless — they go with everything.
We hosted my parents for dinner a couple of weekends ago and I set up the buffet table to be Springy, of course, for a little barbecue. 🙂 I layered two different varieties of wrapping paper to create a table runner (my favorite easy entertaining trick! — see other tables here and here) and I tried to match one of the wrapping papers to the napkins — the colorway ended up being super similar so I was a happy camper.
The plates matched really perfectly, too. I layered these plates on top of a cake platter with Easter “grass” to give the table some needed height.
I have been treating myself to Trader Joe’s flowers weekly (my trade-off for no fancy coffee drinks) and this pitcher is from HomeGoods — perfect for a big bouquet of just about anything. I used a smaller bud vase for additional flowers that didn’t fit in the vase, and that little arrangement is now next to my side of the bed in our bedroom (which I can’t wait to show you this week!). I have about eight of these bud vases and every time I think about getting rid of them because they take up space and I don’t use them super often, I end up needing one and I toss that thought right out the window. 😉
This is just a brilliant way to use a wreath, in my opinion. This is at my in-laws’ house and this glass hurricane gets updated for each season. Isn’t it funny how certain spots in our homes are areas we just naturally gravitate toward for seasonal decor? I love that. This little vignette is super pretty, not at all fussy, and best of all — easy to put away at the end of the season!
Mark D. Sikes… the king of blue and white. If you’re on Pinterest actively pinning interior design inspiration, chances are you have seen one or more of his designs. His work is utter blue and white perfection.
There’s something about a blue and white color combination that I have always been drawn to. For me personally, I am really inspired by Asian-influenced blue and white antiques or replicas. I have been infusing some of these accents into our living room, so I wanted to share.
It all really started with this side table. I like it — and it does have some Asian influence, as it is sort of a faux-gilded bamboo style. But I was walking through HomeGoods one evening and saw a blue and white garden stool on deep, dark, dirty discount. I committed the cardinal sin of shopping at HomeGoods and left without the stool…you know, the one that was on major sale…and then proceeded to think about it for the next two days.
I asked Grey what he thought about adding a little blue and white to the space, and he was all for it. So after staying up for half the night praying that by some stroke of luck the stool I wanted was still there, I woke up bright and early the next day and got to HomeGoods when they opened.
I had a mirror that I was going to be returning (too small), so armed with that, I walked down the clearance furniture aisle…
And you guys, the stool was still there. And it had been further marked down… From $50, to $30. !!!!!
I love it with the zebra rug. So. Much. It just has a really casual vibe that I appreciate in this space. Plus it doubles as seating. The other table is still in that spot in the background — it’s not bugging me there, and I don’t really know what to put on it at this point, but it’s fine for now.
That orchid is pretty epic and my husband picked it out at Trader Joe’s. The pot that it is in is one that I bought from an antique shop ages ago. It’s what started this whole blue and white thing for me!
This cachepot was another steal from HomeGoods…I think I paid $12 for it. It has a cute lid, or…
It looks especially pretty with hydrangeas. 🙂
All of these blue and white shenanigans prompted some rearranging (my favorite!)…
I moved the living room lamp into the kitchen, which I am super excited about because I have always loved the look of soft lamp lighting on a buffet. This piece of furniture was a Walmart find and stores a bunch of stuff — all of my husband’s pipe accessories and tobaccos, plus all of my Spode dishes. It’s so nice to eat in here and have just the lamp and the chandelier on while it’s dusk and we’re having dinner.
This space needed a lamp, so I brought this one out of my office and I really like it. I feel like it adds just a touch of masculinity that the living room needed after adding the feminine touches of blue and white!
Last week was exciting on the delivery front. Our crazy new rug came and then came the side tables for our bedroom!
We obviously quickly unwrapped them and then set them up in the bedroom.
They’re really pretty and perfect for the space. I didn’t realize until these were in the room how much the sides of the bed definitely need that negative space. So far they are a little bit difficult to keep perfectly clean (Shiba Inu during shedding season + Arizona DUST!) but I’m not worried about it. I dusted them on Saturday and gave them a wipe-down. Nothing in our house is super fussy so I’ll just clean these as-needed/once a week.
Our bed isn’t due to arrive until this week (hopefully!) but we decided to run over to HomeGoods to see if there were any pillows that we liked. I wrote about our initial design plan for the bedroom last week, but the pillows we picked out are not nearly what I had written about in the post. My sweet husband said he was a little bit confused by the post, because he didn’t think I liked pastels! 😉 I do, but we decided to go a different route with the fabrics.
We bought a white duvet cover that is really light and soft — we have been loving sleeping underneath it. I’m really excited to see these pillows with the headboard behind them.
We found these lamps while selecting the bedding and they are the perfect size — and heavy, too! I like that they sort of mimic the gold dots on the pillows. At the top of each there is a round crystal finial.
These definitely still have yet to be styled, and that will be a really fun adventure.
We’ve got a long way to go, but we are loving how this room is shaping up! 🙂
I have just a liiiitle living room update for ya today, but I’m here to tell you that this small addition makes the room. I was chatting with my mom-in-law at the brunch we hosted at our house a couple of weekends ago and I was telling her that the missing piece for our living room was the hide rug that I wanted to layer on top of the existing natural fiber rug. She asked me what color I was thinking, and I told her a beige-y neutral. At which point she looked at me and said… What about zebra?
Immediately I realized that a zebra rug was what this room needed to fully come together. I am so excited because it totally adds that splash of personality that this room was craving.
The rug that we ended up purchasing was just a little more than $100. I will say that when it was delivered and we unwrapped it, it smelled SO BAD. Like farm animal. There’s no other way to put it. I checked the reviews to see if anyone else experienced this but no one else reported it so I have no idea. After a few hours, the rug aired out and all was fine.
I’m really excited to start adding some blue and white pieces for the Summertime soon — and I may or may not have picked up a little something to start that off over the weekend. 😉
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