Guest Room Watercolors

What makes your house your home?  Other than the family and friends that fill your house, of course.  I'm referring to the little things that make your house a home.  For me - to name a few in no particular order... it's the smell of a freshly cooked batch of meatballs and sauce (yum!),  music playing in the kitchen, fresh flowers and the sentimental items passed on to us from family.  This pair of watercolors has been living in our home for a while and I LOVE them.  They belonged to my Grammy Grace & Papa Jim which makes them even more special to me.   

Originally, the prints were hanging in this spot in the kitchen. 

But I have plans for this little nook.  How awesome is this rustic coffee bar from HGTV?  (Summer project for the hubs.)

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So they needed a new place to "hang out."  And they work perfectly in the newly painted guest room!  This wall desperately needed some love  - mission accomplished.  

The hints of strawberry red really pop against the muted grays and beige tones.  

What are some of your favorite items in your house that make it your home?

Rustic Spring Lilacs

It's a new day and the start of a new week (insert deep breath and sigh of relief here).  It's hard to miss the scent of a Lilac.  Well... it is for me.  It's crazy how a familiar scent can whip you back to a specific moment in time.  

When I was growing up, my mom used to be in a bowling league with all her girlfriends.  Side note: The thought of this is still hilarious to me. Try to picture The Real Housewives of Talbot's getting together every Wednesday to rock a few strikes and spares while sipping coffee and nibbling on Dunkin' Donuts Crullers - all while not chipping a single manicured nail.  LOL!  Anyway, in the parking lot of Candlewood Pins there were Lilac bushes.  In the Spring, my mom would snip a few branches, bring them home and put them in a vase on my bedside table.  So sweet right?!  

On Sunday, the huge display of vibrant purple Lilacs at Whole Foods stopped me in my tracks.  I was immediately hit with that sweet honey & vanilla scent of a Lilac.  And it brought me right back to 1986 listening to my Cindy Lauper "True Colors" tape cassette while dancing in my bedroom in my Massachusetts home.  Needless to say, I brought some home and put together an arrangement in some rustic bud vases I scored at World Market.

Still sending my thoughts and prayers to everyone in Boston.  I miss my city.  Boston Strong 4-eva!

I (heart) Boston

I had a heavy heart while reading the boys their Good Night Boston book last night.  Missing Bean Town a little more than usual today.  Stay strong family and friends.

Guest Room Updates

Wahoo!!! It's Friday!  Spring is well underway and definitely in the air.  Something about this weather makes me want to clean, organize, decorate or in this case re-decorate everything!!!  We've made a couple updates to the guest room to brighten things up a bit.

The new wall color is Benjamin Moore Smokey Taupe.  Quite an improvement from the previous dark blue that was on the walls. Next on tap are some window treatments.  I'm leaning towards an inset flat roman shade with a geometric trellis pattern.



This color pallet pretty much sums up how the room is shaping out.

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But I'm also thinking the room needs a pop of color.  Pulling in the coral and strawberry hues from the rug for some toss pillows, wall art or maybe an accent throw could work.

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Originally, a DIY upholstered headboard was on the docket but this room needs some more texture.  How about a dark wicker headboard?  This one at Target is reasonably priced.

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Here's a look at the before blue room.

And now, mmmmmm smokey taupe. I'm feelin' it - are you?

 Have an amazing weekend!

If you Plant it, they will grow....

Well here's hoping!  I'm a self admitted "black-thumb" but I'm going to make every effort to grow some fresh herbs and veggies this summer.  We live in the perfect climate for such activities... so why not give it a go?!  When the Spring Williams-Sonoma catalog hit the front porch and my husband found me rifling through it "ooooooooo'ing" and "ahhhhhhh'ing" - well, let's just say he knew he was in trouble.  He didn't stand a chance.  "Babe, you could TOTALLY make this, right???"

Like I've said before, if it involves power tools the hubs is totally down with it.  I have to give him credit for this entire project from start to finish.  That night, he got out a piece of paper and drew up a blueprint and a list of all the necessary materials to complete our very own (no kit required) raised garden planter.  God, I love that man.  That weekend, after a trip to Home Depot, he whipped this bad boy up in 3 hours!  Yes you read that right... 3 hours.  I was rather shocked myself!

Every 20 minutes or so I would go out back to snap a few photos and check on his progress...

I found all the seedling packets at Target - we have hopes for mesclun greens, spinach, carrots, red & yellow tomatoes, squash and a whole array of my fav herbs. Fingers crossed!

Did I mention that instead of paying the WS price of $330 plus tax and god knows what you'd pay in shipping costs - we spent a whopping $130 on the materials.

Everything is planted and ready to go.  Now if I could only remember to water it - I think a reminder alert in my phone is necessary...

Flamenco Red Kitchen Door

Finally... it's done!  My Flamenco Red Door.  Do you know how hard it is to pick out the perfect red?  I knew exactly what I wanted but there are about a bazzillion different shades of red to choose from.  Benjamin Moore's Flamenco Red is the perfect clear, crisp and bright hue of candy apple red that I was striving for.  L-O-V-E!

If you've been following the blog, you know that this project started about a week ago.  Life has been somewhat non-stop, exhausting, frustrating challenging, so there was a lot of starting and stopping along the way to completing this simple project.  Thankfully, I picked up a helpful tip from a great (and hilarious) blog I started following recently - View Along the Way.  If you put a wet paint brush in a plastic bag and store it in the fridge there's no need to properly wash it after each use - what a time suck.  The cold keeps the bristles soft for a few days so you can start back up with your project whenever you have the time.  Super helpful in my case where I could only find 15 minute increments at a time to paint.  (fyi, i had just gone grocery shopping and cleaned out the fridge, it DOES NOT always look this way!)

The finishing touch for this space will be the addition of a natural fiber 3x5 Jute Rug.  I just need to find one on sale!  Any suggestions?

Sharing with these fab blogs...

Suburbs Mama * So Much Better With Age * The Winthrop Chronicles * The Blackberry Vine * Clean & Scentsible * Homework * Home Stories A to Z * The Gunny Sack * i Should Be Mopping Up the Floor * The Dedicated House * Huckleberry Love * Trendy Treehouse * Made to Be a Momma

Red Door

Remember this inspiration photo I posted of an interior Red Door in the kitchen?  Well, I took the plunge, picked out the perfect color and started painting this week.

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On Monday, I prepped with tape and paper.  On Tuesday, we move the boys to toddler beds... soooo the door sat like this until Thursday.  Usually, during a 2 to 3 hour nap time you'll see me moving around the house at lightning speed doing laundry, projects, working out, taking pictures, blogging, cooking.. and if time permits showering.  However, this past week I've been spending said nap times going in and out of the boys room, putting them back in their beds again, and again, and again, oh and again... until 2 hours has past and no one has slept.  Ugh!  You're killing my project time, boys!

Yesterday, I was able to slap up two coats of Benjamin Moore "Flamenco" red paint.  Loving the color. 

Two more coats to go!  Here's hoping nap time goes well so I can share the finished project next week.  Have a great weekend!

Double Trouble Room

Well this is long overdue.  Finally, pictures of the Twin's Bedroom.  This adorable mobile was the first item purchased when I started decorating the nursery.  I found it on Etsy and it's still probably my most favorite thing in their bedroom... other than Ben and Tyler of course!  

This room had a similar set up to the master bedroom pre-renovation with built in "closets" - see here.  We had them ripped out when setting up the nursery.  I also spent about $200 in paint samples before landing on "Sunrise" by Benjamin Moore.  I blame that on pregnancy brain.





Sadly, not one picture of the nursery all set up & looking pretty exists - never took one.  What?!  I'll also blame that on pregnancy brain and sleep deprivation for the last  2 1/2 years.



So last night, while enjoying some wine with Andy on the front porch after putting the boys to bed we heard the pitter patter of little feet from above (the boy's room is right above the front porch). They had crawled out of their cribs and continued to crawl out for the next 2 1/2 hours.  SO, this morning we transitioned their cribs into toddler beds.  And yes, I cried.  I can't believe my little guys are growing up so fast!

So we'll try these beds out for a little while until we pick out some real "big boy" beds.



Another sign of transitioning to a toddler room - no more diaper changing station on the dresser.

We went to this concert when I was about what felt like 100 weeks 30 weeks pregnant.  Technically, it was the boys' first concert so we had the poster framed as a memento.

And of course, there has to be a little touch of Boston in this Pasadena home.  This watercolor "Sailboats on the Charles" was the inspiration for the whole nautical them of the nursery.

Here's a glimpse of their bathroom which is right off of the bedroom.  Down the road we plan make a few small updates to this space like switch out the bath and floor tile - it's on "The List".  But for now it's perfectly fine, especially since half the bath water ends up on the floor every night during "tubby time."

The boys went down for their nap about 30 minutes ago - happy and willing to get into "bed." However, I'm hearing some major commotion up there now.  Wish me luck.  This could be a LOOOONG week.

Linking to these fab blogs...
So Much Better with Age * Southern Lovely * Home Stories A to Z * The DIY Dreamer * The Trendy Treehouse * Serenity Now * The Shabby Nest * Thirty Handmade Days * Truly Lovely * Simple Home Life * Happy Hour Projects * Suburbs Mama