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Notice anything different about my little blog??? I totally had another post planned for today, but last night, I had the urge to completely re-design my blog logo.  Our house is a complete mess right now, so I should have been cleaning things up, but I had an itch... and I just had to scratch it!! In case you've already forgotten, here was the old logo: Nothing WRONG with it... but it had been the same for almost two years, and while I still like the color palate, it had been bugging me for a while... So to the drawing board I went... I wanted to create something slimmer, so the content wasn't pushed SO far down the page, and it just seemed so impersonal.  I love a good trellis pattern - you KNOW I do - but it was time for a change. This was the first concept I came up with... I like how it's cleaner, and more simple, and that not only does it feature two of the projects that I've done that I'm MOST proud of, but it also shows one of the most gorgeous photo's I...

I always share updates about our house little by little - like last week I posted photos of our side tables with the  orchid terrarium , or a few weeks ago there were some photos of our living room when I posted the  x-bench makeover  - but I rarely ever post lots of photos at once... call me lazy, but I realized this when hunting down pictures of our un-styled wine hutch, and couldn't find a single one! I feel like this is a good time to document and share pictures of where our living room is now... before it changes again with a new, beautiful sofa... Let's start out with the desk area... not much has changed here since any prior updates.  The  sea fan shadow boxes  are still alive and well, and I still love them as much now as when I first hung them!! The tripod lamp is also still one of my favorite things... I got a new lampshade that has a rougher woven texture that I'm planning on swapping in, but nothing earth shattering. Standing at the desk and tur...

Meet my new little friend... The large round Iron and Rope from Restoration Hardware ... He's rustic and cool and old timey, but welcoming him into your home won't make you seem like a suspender wearing, fake-old-timey poser... but just a cool collector of rad things... The problem?? $650 for a mirror??? I think not! But how easy could this possibly be to replicate??  Sure, those knots are the complicated knots of a skilled sailor, but heck, I'm sure it's nothing a quick Google search (or help from my father... who is a skilled sailor) can't fix! Let's find some eligible mirrors, eh? Here are a few contenders... I'm liking both the size and thin rim around the Ikea version - and that could EASILY be painted black. This is how I see it all coming together... I'd mount the mirror on the wall (as opposed to appending the rope and using that to hold the mirror's weight. Then I'd find some good rustic rope (I'm sure any hardware store supplies it)...

Since doing a mini makeover on the wine rack we have in our living room a few months back, I hadn't put much thought into styling the top of it, and it looked pretty much like this for the last few months: I realize this is a terrible picture, but it's the only one I could find... and probably for good reason.  All we had on there was a mercury glass vase (which I do love) filled with fake flowers.  UGH. SO. OVER. FAKE. FLOWERS. I've made myself a promise - no more fake flowers in our house ever again.  Ever. Live plants just look so much prettier.  Period. Anyways, last weekend I went to the grocery store and stocked up on pretty orchid plants - you saw the orchid terrarium that has a home on our side table now, but on top of our wine hutch are a few new plants... real plants! Yes, I realize these are not the best photos - I snapped them with my iPhone because I was fairly certain that I lost our memory card for the DSLR camera.  I'd hunted all over, but could ...

Nothing makes me feel like more of a grown up than making big purchases like buying a sofa.  NOTHING!  Holy heck - I'm turning 30 this year and buying a sofa and living with a boy! Big things are happening left and right, and this sofa decision is weighing heavily on my mind.  We have spent several weekends sitting on hundreds of sofas - some comfy but ugly, some pretty but uncomfortable, some big, some small... we are the Goldilocks of couch-hunting.  It's too soft, it's not soft enough - you should hear us bicker! I went into this whole process wanting a standard sofa... and have come away agreeing to a sectional.  Things are a-changin my friends!  I am putting comfort before aesthetics (to a point of course)!  In just a few weekends, I've gone from loathing the idea of a sectional, to welcoming it with open arms!  They are soooo comfortable, and shockingly enough, they make some pretty good looking ones now! One of our finalists is actually fro...

You guys!  I am in LOVE! I think I am the last person on this planet to discover West Elm, but I am completely smitten... how did I not know about this gem beforehand?! I kind of feel like this store is a culmination of everything simple, classic and chic with a contemporary edge. Don't get me wrong - I veer towards classic/traditional through and through - but there is a total soft spot in my heart for the more edgy and modern... especially in accessories.  Over the weekend, Kris and I went couch hunting, and stopped into West Elm - and while none of the sofa's were for us, Kris was literally ooh-ing and ahh-ing over everything in there.  It was SO freaking funny, since I've never once seen him get that excited about shopping.  Or home decor.  Ever.   Soooooooo many good light fixtures and lamps I mean, how good is this chandelier??? Or this faux tree branch lamp??  I mean, that is just cool!     And this hinge arm glass floor lamp kills me ...

As our house gets pulled together, and we put money into larger investment pieces (a couch most recently) I spend a lot of time thinking about my taste, how it's evolved, and how it's stayed the same. If you'd asked me a year ago  how I felt about "modern" pieces, I would have given you a never-in-a-million-years look, but now I appreciate, and even love a lot of modern (gasp, yes modern) and mid-century modern pieces... my house will never be full of cold, angular furniture, but I have an appreciation for a little bit modern here and there... whether its a side table, or light fixture, I find that it adds depth to a space. But where my taste has changed in some areas, there are some things that I always come back to... clean lines, light colors, and a good mix of interesting neutrals. Source Don't get me wrong - I LOVE color - but I never tire of of light colors. I am drawn to them - I love how pale walls, and clean light or white furniture, open up a room, a...