Exciting news!

Did you guys know I'm taking the plunge and offering interior styling and organizing services?


Yes! I'm taking my love for décor & styling and making it into a little side hobby. Truth be told I've been thinking about it for a long time. Long, as in since April of last year. Like back when I was really huge and pregnant with Caroline, and my sweet friend and photographer extraordinaire Liz knocked some sense into me and said I really should start charging for my expertise (that I'd been giving away for free all this time). And so, after a lot of deliberating (over a year of it!) I decided to start offering my services for real. It's scary AND exciting!


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My love for décor goes way back. Remember Spiegel catalogs, circa early '90's? I spent lots of time studying the home section, imagining my own rooms and layouts & deciding how each room would be decorated. I love walking into homes and deciding what I would do with them. A little mental makeover if you will (not to make you nervous or anything...trust me, some of you already know what you're doing). I still search real estate listings because, #homeobsessed. And since having kids, I have a huge soft spot for nurseries, play rooms, and kid spaces. And more importantly, trying to figure out how to corral and store ALL.THOSE.TOYS. (trust me...we've been there, done that, are currently living it).


I find a lot of people are nervous and just need a push in the right direction when it comes to decorating and organizing their homes. Décor decisions can be overwhelming! Especially when you've pinned every image known to man, and still don't know how to get started. And sometimes you've got just too much stuff and aren't quite sure how to edit and organize it all.


Well, that's where I'm here to help.


I'm a believer that you should be excited to come home at the end of the day, and love the home you live in! Our house is a constant work in progress (if you know me, then you know we're typically talking about the "next project" when we're in the middle of another). But at the end of the day, I love our home and the time we spend in it. Everyone should feel that way, right?


If you're currently in debate over what color to paint a room, what throw pillows to toss on your couch, or how to style those built-ins that you've been staring at for months...shoot me an e-mail, I'd love to help!




House hunting

Get ready for a wordy post folks, because this family (points to self) is officially in the market for a new house. We actually started the whole house hunting process back in February--when the husband informed me that he had contacted a realtor who was coming over to take a look at our house, like, um...that next night. Say what now?

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We've always known this isn't our forever home, as our living space is comfortable, but not large by any stretch of the imagination (adding a baby into the mix only drove home that point). But look, this mama ain't looking to move anytime soon. Besides, just weeks before meeting with the realtor I got on a major purging kick. It's what I like to refer to as the 'everything must go, we must clean, organize and ship it off to Goodwill' mode. I became a borderline hoarder when I was pregnant...must be I was coming out of my new mommy haze, and finally got my wits about me to get all of this shit out of here. Aiming to live simply, I was.

Our realtor gave us good news. Really good news, in fact. He offered to list our house for significantly more than I'd imagined. Makes you feel good about all that love & hard work you put into a place. But again, this mama ain't really ready to move--a point I drove home to our realtor no less than 6,402 times during our meeting. But as resistant as I was to moving (the thought makes me a bit--okay a lot--emotional), I couldn't help but get a little excited at the thought of a new home.

We've already seen some places--some we've both hated, some we both liked (but were sadly over budget) and another that I loved but the husband did not. The husband is the first to admit he can't see past the awful. Me? Well, I totally envisioned us living in the House 'o Liberace. But I guess buying a house is a big enough decision that you should both be on board, right? I can usually win when it comes to what color we'll paint a room, or what throw pillows we'll toss on the couch. But in this case my other half won (Spoiler alert: House 'o Liberace sold just weeks later...evidentally to someone who saw past the ugly, or at the very least loved mirrors on every.single.wall in the house).

I should mention that our house is not currently on the market. It's also worth mentioning that there's really not much out there. Well, at least to our liking. We're looking at two desirable & in-demand neighborhoods...you know, with everyone else in Buffalo. So I guess for the time being, we're not moving. Or looking (but really we're always looking even if we're not looking...did you get that?).

My mind kind of exploded at the thought of making any changes to our house when we were thinking about a move. But now that we're at a house hunting stand still, girlfriend is all about making some changes! First off, we're getting the kitchen floors replaced next week. Yep, the floors in that room we had remodeled almost 4 years ago now (hello, embarrassing admission!). I'm also tweaking some pieces that won't be coming with us...nightstands for our bedroom--finally!--that have been collecting dust in our garage since last summer, I'm changing up a wall in the kitchen (that was in desperate need of a makeover), and I've also gotten to work on Emme's play room (aka the old scrapbooking room). Here's a crappy shot of how things are looking right now...

 

 

 

It's hard to believe this is the smallest room in the house & I can already see that it's going to take me the longest to finish (there's only so much Baby Einstein I can force let my child watch). I'm using Behr paint which (in my opinion) is pretty much the suckiest paint on the planet (eh...have Home Depot credits, will use). It's hard to tell from this amazing shot, but the new color is a pale, pale pink. Ironically, a color I was thinking about for Emme's nursery way back when. Hello, full circle. I have no other plans for this room aside from wanting a taller book shelf. I love the one that's here now (my grandfather made these for me and my cousins way back when) but it's kind of dwarfed against this wall & likely going to get a complex.

I came across this idea earlier today. Um, amazing, right?

 

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Granted, I haven't stenciled a wall since college (a pretty amaze-fest floral border). Something makes me think this will be a bit more complicated, but whatevs. I think it would be kind of fun as an accent wall. At the rate I'm moving along on this room, I might have to ship baby off to her grandparents' house for the weekend!?

Anyhoo, I'm alive & it feels good to be blogging today. And getting my ass in gear when it comes to tackling projects around here. Mama got her mojo back!

 

 

Friday randomness

Okay, here we go. Lots of randomness on this here Friday...

First and foremost, I can barely see my feet. Which means we're in the homestretch here! THREE weeks and counting people!

dramatic, altered image to prove that I DO in fact have feet

 

 





And if I'm being honest, I'm scared out of my fool mind to have this baby. My doctor is hoping to induce me between 39-40 weeks. But unless anything is medically wrong, I'm putting my foot down, listening to my body & hoping baby makes her debut when she's good and ready. In other pregnancy related news, I'll be happy when I can one day put on my pants and shoes without feeling like I'm competing in the Olympics. For reals. Yes, it's selfish (I want baby out...sort of, but not really), but that's reality these days.

 

I decorated for fall. I don't know why. This stuff will probably still be up at Christmas. So please, don't judge.

 

 

 

 

I ordered these shelves earlier this week, and in a matter of days they showed up at my doorstep. I can't speak much for the company or the product, but if their prices and fast shipping are any indication, it's safe to say I'd purchase from them in the future. I found these via Freckles Chick who used them in her daughter's nursery...the power of the blog world, I tell you. This idea saved me a trip to our nearest Ikea (in Canada) for some other ledging I'd had my eye on. In fact, depending on how backed up customs is on a weekend, I'm willing to bet these shelves showed up a heck of a lot faster than I can get myself over the border...  

 

 



 

 

I also ordered this for a whopping $13.50!

 

 

 

 

I desperately need to get my jewelry organized since I've moved everything out of baby's room. We're running out of space in this house. We really need to move (another story for another day), but since that's not really in the cards for us right now, I've been forced to come up with creative solutions for storage. In a perfect world, I'd use my quiet weekend to my advantage and organize every last inch of this house. But for now I'll start small...with an acrylic bracelet holder.....

 

 

The husband is away this weekend (and he took the dog too...peaceful heaven on earth!), so some girlfriends are coming over on Saturday night. I'm thinking to make these...

 

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I'm putting all my pinning to good use...we'll see what the verdict is. If the picture is any indication, I'm thinking these are going to be goooo-oood. Yum.

 

And with that, I'm off to enjoy my productive, peaceful weekend!

 

 



 





Shoe storage

We're short on closet space in this abode, so my shoe storage is definitely not anything to write home about...

Clearly I'm not winning any awards for the most stylish display of shoes here. Which is probably why I was so envious when I discovered this fabulous set-up in last month's O Magazine...

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Shoes on display? I love. Now if only I had the space for something this unique & creative!

And, of course, enough money for this...



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 And yep, I'm loving this as well (I'll take the shoes too, thank you very much)...

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Mmmm, hmmm...I could deal with this. It's pretty lovely.

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And last but not least, when you are Christina Aguilera, you require a ladder to get to your shoe collection.

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Why naturally.