With Instagram and Facebook it made me question if birth announcements are a thing of the past? Like writing letters. Everyone knows I had my baby and with the amount I post on my Nesting with Grace Instagram and my personal Instagram. Everyone gets it, Brooke had a baby. But there is something about getting an actual birth announcement in the mail. I feel it is a celebratory occasion, like a wedding. We need to have something printed and documented. I personally love to see as many pictures as possible on a birth announcement and Christmas card for that matter. It might be that we live so far ... Read More
How to pick the right size rug
One question I get asked often by clients is "do you really put a rug over carpet?" My answer is always a resounding yes! It ties the room together so your furniture isn't "floating" in the space. And then the next question is "what size should I do?" I have learned over the years that going bigger the majority of the time is better. A lot of times the price from a 5x8 to an 8x10 jumps up a lot and that is one of the biggest things that keeps people from getting the right size rug. I know I have been in that boat, thinking ok maybe the 5x8 will work when really it needs an 8x10. ... Read More
New Family Room Barn Track Door
Ever since the day we moved into this house in January of 2015 I have wanted a sliding barn track door. First of all the doors in the upstairs of our Connecticut Cape are hallow core doors, not like our nice 1950's solid wood doors on our main level. I was searching on Instagram and came across wood doors from White Shanty and fell in love with their style. They aren't your typical rustic "barn" door look. I found a classic style door and we are thrilled with the look in the space. As you can see we fit a lot into one little room. We actually had to have the sofa taken apart at an ... Read More
Curb Appeal DIY Details
I recently shared the update we did to the exterior of our home for a summer home tour HERE. We partnered with Lowes Home Improvement to give our home some much needed curb appeal. I really wanted to overhaul the entire thing but we weren't willing to invest that much into it. I am so amazed at what a few simple updates could do. To be honest I was worried that the changes I wanted to make wouldn't make that big of a difference. But I have to say that I was happily surprised. We have even had people walking by our home tell us they like the update. I had a friends husband say that it feels ... Read More
Summer Home Tour Exterior Reveal
Welcome to my Summer Home Tour Exterior Reveal! I joined The White Buffalo Styling Co. and a group of bloggers sharing our homes for Blogger Stylin' Home Tours. I love seeing how everyone lightens up and refreshes their homes in the Summer. I personally want to declutter and simplify everything. We have been busy updating the exterior of our home and adding some much needed curb appeal. We have lived in our 1950's Connecticut Cape for close to a year and a half now and I have been itching to get this done, but it somehow became the last thing we did. We partnered with Lowes on this project. I ... Read More
Kids Space with Addison Wonderland
Brittany from Addison Wonderland is known for her bold use of color and pattern. In a world of neutrals, whites and grays it is a fun welcome change. I asked Brittany to share one of her kids rooms for my article in Everything Home Magazine for my column on Kids Spaces that I write for. She shared her daughters play room. Her daughters are pretty lucky girls to get to use their imagination in this space. Brittany has one rule when it comes to kid spaces and that is to have fun! She also says that there are literally no rules when it comes to playrooms and kid's bedrooms. It is what she ... Read More
Family Room with Wallpaper and Chalkboard Wall
We recently updated our upstairs family room with new wallpaper, lighting, rug and a barn track door. If you have been following my blog you know that our home is a 1200 square foot Cape in Connecticut. The previous home owners used this space as a master bedroom. When I was deciding how we would use the home I knew I couldn't take a large room like this for our master bedroom. Now living in the home for over a year, I am completely happy with the decision to turn it into our family room, this room gets used a lot! It also doubles as a guest room, the sofa pulls out into a sleeper. Before I ... Read More
Favorite Healthy Dinner
We all have that go-to dinner that we make once a week or several times a month. It is just easy and we know everyone likes it so we make it over and over and over. I really don't love cooking. I do it because I love to eat and love to eat healthy. But if my husband and I are both home, he cooks, he likes it more and is maybe just a little bit better at it than I am. Our favorite healthy dinner involves salmon, some veggies and fruit. I just cooked our salmon a new way and it is a game changer for us! I was inspired to try a new way of cooking our salmon from watching a friend cook ... Read More
Summer Beach Tips and Sandcastles
We live less than a mile to the beach, one of the reasons why we chose to live where we live and in a smaller Cape style home. We recently got the nicest beach kit from Beachmate and we have been dying to use it. The weather has been so weird, really rainy it seems and colder than normal. Finally we had a nice night and decided to go test out our new beach kit. It was a little too cold to swim and it was after dinner, but I know my five year old would have swam if we let her. It was a great night to play in the sand and have ice-cream cones. Now that we are beach bums, we have ... Read More
Healthy Book Club Party with Lettuce Wraps and Cupcakes
My oldest daughter, Ella is eight years old and has been on a kick of wanting to cook healthy things "all on her own." She has been even more inspired while we have been reading our new favorite book series Disney Star Darlings. Because one of the characters in the book series is Tessa, she loves to cook and create new recipes. When my daughter read about her in the she said that she wanted to make a dinner all her own. Since she has conquered French Toast, a smoothie and can make a mean peanut butter sandwich for her lunch, naturally dinner was next. Both of her Aunts were in town this past ... Read More
