Christmas Home tour

Well hello!  Welcome to our Christmas home tour.  Every year when the plastic bins filled with Christmas decor come in from the garage I think "Jeeze, I thought we had more decorations than this!?" Truth be told, most of the holiday decor in our home are live greens.  I like to keep things fresh and super neutral so live greens like cedar gardland, mini wreaths and pines trees, potted paper whites, fresh mistletoe and of course a fragrant Noble Fur christmas tree work perfectly.  Adding pops of red with velvet stockings, red plaid place mats at the dining table and grosgrain ribbon tied in little bows throughout the house also add a traditional Christmas vibe.  Come on in and take a look!

The tree

The tree is up and looking smart and especially twinkly at night.  Do you have your tree up yet?  Only 12 days till Christmas!

What we've been up to

Hello hello!  December is just flying by, am I right?  And where the heck did November go??  We've been up to lots of good stuff in and around the house these last few weeks trying to get ready for a big family Christmas.  The electrician is here today installing a few extra outlets.  As soon as he's done we'll be able to finish up this project.  Can't wait to share it with you!

We had our holiday card photo shoot earlier this month.  They were dropped off at the post office on Monday.  I'll share the card once everyone receives their's in the mail.  Any clues as to what we did this year?

A time saving holiday tip I learned from my Mom years ago is to make as much as you can ahead of time.  Last weekend I prepped all of our holiday pies and put them in the freezer.  All I have to do the day before Christmas is take them out of the freezer and bake them.  Easy as.... well, pie!

I also bake all the holiday cookies and bars ahead of time and put them in the freezer.  I was supposed to bring these amaretto bars to a cookie bake-off party a couple of weekends ago.  Andy and I drove all the way down to the West Side (all you Californian's know how far that is from Pasadena!) and realized that we had left our dessert on the kitchen counter.  #FAIL!  Well not a total fail... they are in the freezer now and will be a happy addition to our holiday dessert platter.  The only issue is that I have zero will power. It's literally torturing me knowing that these delicious treats are waiting to be devoured in the freezer. 

It will be a full house next week with all my family flying in so I've been busy trying to consolidate and organize as much as possible by cleaning out cabinets and drawers and closets... oh my!

I usually cringe at a beautiful piece of wood furniture painted an obnoxiously bold color.  But the TV stand in the corner of our family room desperately needs a pop of color.  I'm going against everything I believe in and painting this antique piece using Deco Art Americana chalk paint in Romance.  We'll see how it turns out.  I hope I don't regret my decision!

I've been holding off in teasing you with a big announcement.  It will help explain why I've been very infrequent with my blog posts as of late.  This project I'm working on is taking up the majority, if not ALL, of my free time.  I plan to share a big reveal either right before or right after Christmas.  Any guesses??

Thanks for stopping by today!

Master Bedroom Progress and updated Home Tour

When updating our "Home Tour" page with the new Playroom Office makeover I realized how outdated the Master Bedroom pictures were.  I'm not exactly sure why it has taken me so long to snap some photos after the renovation project.  Probably because decorating this room has been a process in itself… or maybe because there is usually a pile of clothes on the bed to be folded and dirty clothes scattered on a chair and floor.  

At this point in my life I consider myself to be an organized person - HOWEVER, my bedroom is always a mess.  I can still hear the echo of my mom yelling from upstairs, "LAAAUUREN, CLEAN YOUR ROOM OR ESLE!!"  What is the "or else" about anyway?  I'm not sure but I definitely find myself saying those exact words to my kids.  The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.   

Like most rooms in our home I feel like it's never "done".  Nevertheless, I'm ready to share some of the progress and have updated the home tour page.  Come on in and take a look.  I love hearing from you so leave a comment and let me know what you think!

One Room Challenge: Week 6 Reveal!

Just moments ago I literally just finished the Playroom Office makeover for the One Room Challenge hosted by Calling it Home.  To see a recap of how the room has transformed over the past 6 weeks check out these posts:

Week 1: The Plan
Week 2: Play table and chairs
Week 3: Closet Re-Org
Week 4: Reading Nook Progress

It's been a whirlwind of cleaning, donating, painting, building, more painting, organizing, sewing, more painting and more sewing.  Even though I did not complete everything on my list I am so proud with how far along this room has come from it's previous state of chaos and utter grossness.  If you don't believe me you can check out the before pictures here.

You're probably like, "Enough yapping' and get on with it!".  Since pictures are what you love, pictures are what you'll get.  Without further ado… the Playroom Office Makeover reveal!

Hope you enjoyed the tour!  Be on the lookout for some more updates that I wasn't able to complete within the 6 week challenge.

Thank you to Linda at Calling it Home for hosting the #OneRoomChallenge and inspiring me to get my act in gear to transform this room into a functional playroom office combo!

I'm sharing this post with these fun parties this week:
Get Your DIY On at House by Hoff * Hit Me With Your Best Shot at Just a Girl and Her Blog * Work It Wednesday at The Turquoise Home * Your Turn To Shine at Anderson + Grant

Orange is the new black halloween mantel

There are so many things I love about October.  I've mentioned before that it's a big celebration month for my family with 6 birthdays and four wedding anniversaries.  And that's just in the first two weeks of the month!  You know what else I love about October?  It marks the beginning of my total obsession with the holidays.  Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's.  So many decorations, so little time.

There are countless creative ideas and ways to style your home for each holiday.  It can almost become overwhelming especially if you're a Pinterest stalker like me.  You want to do everything!  Here's some friendly advice - to help get centered focus on your mantel first (or create a vignette on a hall table if you don't have a mantel).  Mantels are often the focal point of a room.  Their design and structure practically tell you to dress it up with decorations for the holidays.  This year our Halloween mantel is a classic orange and black spook fest with a chilling spider web back lit with orange lights, lots of evil skulls, lurcking eyes and creepy branches.  Take a look.

Have you checked out the latest HGTV magazine?  If you have the chance, flip to page 38 to see my red kitchen door featured in the "Wow, what is the color?" section!    

I'm sharing this post with these fun parties this week:
Hit Me With Your Best Shot at Just a Girl and Her Blog * Work It Wednesday at The Turquoise Home * Inspire Me Please at Liz Marie Blog * Your Turn to Shine at Anderson + Grant * The Pin Junkie * Vintage Chic * Weekend Bloggy Reading at Serenity Now * Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest * Link Party Palooza at I Heart Naptime

Week 4: One Room Challenge Reading Nook Progress

We're moving full steam ahead into week 4 of the 6 week One Room Challenge.  Just in case you're not familiar with the ORC, it's that challenge hosted my Linda at Calling it Home where participants go totally crazy transforming a room from start to finish in just 6 short weeks.  It's my first time participating and I must say that I'm loving every crazy moment of my Playroom Office Combo makeover.

To get caught up to speed on how the room has transformed check out the previous weeks.

Week 1… It's On
Week 2: Play Table and Chairs Reveal
Week 3: Closet Re-Org

This week I'm checking in to share how the cozy reading nook is coming along.  Take a look.  Construction, installation and the first coat of primer are complete.  It still needs some finish work and another couple coats of some semi gloss white paint to match the trim.  And course it needs all the bells and whistles - like cushions and pillows to actually make it "cozy".

I've been Instagraming sneak peek photos of our progress each week.  Here's a couple pics posted of the construction.

A Lo and Behold Life Instagram

A Lo and Behold Life Instagram

Before the built-in could be installed "we" (Andy) had to relocate the cable/internet wire about a foot to the right.  This required an adventure underneath our house in the 3 foot crawl space that is covered in spider webs and God knows what else!  GROSS!

Here's Andy entering.  Loving the thumbs up enthusiasm, babe!  Also loving Ben's Storm Trooper PJs.

A picture says a 1000 words right? My PixelateImage app came in handy on this one.  He is definitely not holding up that same "thumbs up" finger.  HA!  Needless to say Andy did NOT enjoy his adventure underneath our 100 year old house.  But he got the job done.  Relocate cable wire - check!

Aaaaaaannnnyyyway.  In other news, my fabric samples arrived!  I could not be more happy with the color and quality of each sample.  The plan is to use the blueish green with cream geometric pattern fabric for the DIY roman shades, the gray arrow fabric for the reading nook cushion and the yellow and colored arrow fabrics for a few oversized accent pillows on the reading nook.  

I need to order the yards of fabric ASAP if I want to complete everything within the next 2 weeks.  YIKES!  

Don't forget to check out these amazingly talented bloggers that are participating in the ORC at Calling it Home.

Abby M. Interiors * Because It’s Awesome * Bijou & Boheme * Chinoiserie Chic * The Decorista * Design Chic * The Design Daredevil * Design Darling * Design Indulgence * Design Manifest * House of Turquoise * Jana Bek Design * Jill Sorensen * Maddie G. Designs * Mimosa Lane * A Piece of Toast * The Pink Pagoda * Stone Textile * Waiting on Martha * The Zhush