I am so excited to share our backyard deck remodel with you that we partnered with Raymour and Flanigan on. I shared last week my inspiration photos you can see HERE. My husband actually flew out and looked at homes...alone when we were looking to move from Utah to Connecticut. We had looked at houses online and I knew the ones that I liked from the pictures, but it was still hard to tell exactly what the area was like or even the house. He did a great job of keeping me involved and looking for the best for our families needs and budget. I was working full time as a store buyer and manager ... Read More
The Best Healthy Brownies and why I eat Paleo
I have been eating Paleo for close to three years now. I started with a 6 week challenge at my Crossfit. I thought it would be fun to try something new and push myself. Little did I know how much I would love eating this way. Don't get me wrong it was really hard at first to not steal a bite of my daughters peanut butter and honey sandwiches or grab that tortilla chip when we went to Mexican food. I had a bad habit of stealing little bites or finishing off my girls plates, it helped to break that habit. The advantages out weighed those cravings and soon they went away. I really never feel ... Read More
Getting ready for Guests
We are from Utah so we have a lot of family and friends there. We are currently living in Connecticut and have been for almost a year and a half. We are lucky enough to get a lot of visitors. We live about an hour away from New York. We have had a few friends who had a trip to New York planned and made sure to stop and see us and we get to pretend to be a little Bed and Breakfast. That is honestly my dream, to own a Bed and Breakfast. The last time we had visitors was in February and there were six of them, and only one was a child making that ten people in our little 1200 square foot cape. ... Read More
Kids Space with Design Loves Details
I interviewed Mollie from Design Detail for my article for Everything Home Magazine. It is a free online magazine that has great home decor ideas. I write for the Kids Space Section of the magazine. When I saw Mollie's daughters bedroom and the statement painted floral walls, I wanted to find out how she did it and where the inspiration came from. The floral wall that was inspired by Rifle Paper Co. She wanted to use their wallpaper, but none of their prints were large enough scale so she made her own hand-painted version that was inspired by their florals. She made it sound so easy, and I ... Read More
Add Charm to your Hallway
Our hallway on our main level needed a little updating. We had painted the entire house in Cloud Cover from Benjamin Moore, I loved the wall color, but the space was still missing something. I knew I wanted a rug, the funny thing is my girls actually play in the hall, they like to be right in the middle of everything. I also had some extra wood left over from our wood floors upstairs. I would see the leftover wood sitting in our basement taunting me to be used somewhere, I couldn't let a stack of wood sit there unused. So I talked my husband into starting yet another project. This is ... Read More
Outdoor Living Inspiration and Progress
We have been getting our deck ready for Spring and Summer. We just started to get all of our furniture delivered from Raymour and Flanigan. My husband spent some time setting it all up, with excited girls watching. With a tiny house you really look forward to your outdoor space becoming an extension of your home. It allows us to invite friends over and not feel so stressed about where to put everyone. When we purchased our home one of the big things that sold us, and mainly my husband was the large backyard and deck. I like to gather inspiration on Pinterest. I start by pinning ... Read More
Our new Baby Bassinet and making room for baby
With my other two babies I used a bassinet for about 2-3 months. In our other home our master bedroom was further away from the nursery so it made sense to have a bassinet. This time the nursery is pretty close to the master, basically I could lay in bed and touch the other room, maybe exaggerating a little, but honestly it is like 10 steps away. I think that I just love the look of bassinets, they just make me yearn for a baby! Cribs are sweet, but not like a yummy little bassinet. Not to mention the convince. So I spent some time, more than I should have on Pinterest looking at bassinets or ... Read More
Party Slush and Party Favor
This slush recipe has been in our family for four generations. I had asked my mom for family recipes when I was in middle school for a school assignment, this slush was one of the recipes along with caramel popcorn and apple cobbler. It was my great grandma Smart's recipe, so that is why I call it Smart Slush. I like to make this slush for Holiday parties, Showers or Book clubs really any and every party. Perfect for Easter this coming weekend. This is all you need- 1 Jar of Maraschino Cherries (without stems) chopped up and drained 1 cup Lemon Juice 1 20 oz Can ... Read More
How I used Mud Paint and Chalk Paint
I have painted about 7 of my own pieces of furniture with Chalk Paint or Mud Paint. I get asked often what the difference is between them, so I thought I would share my experience with both Mud Paint and Chalk Paint. Both are great products. Both took only one coat of paint then a light second coat. I love how fast the process was. Now I know that is not always the case for everyone, it depends what you are painting over. All of the pieces I painted did not have a lot of lacquer or had been treated with a lot of cleaning products, both important to factor in before ... Read More
Tips on De-cluttering your Home
I went out to dinner with some friends the other night and we were catching up on what we have been up to. One of my friends is moving so she has been de-cluttering and getting rid of things. They moved from Utah when we did and she was shocked with how much stuff they brought with them that they haven't even unboxed or used in over a year. She found a box of clothes a year after living here and didn't even open it, just took it straight to Good Will. She figured if she had not used it or needed them in all that time why would they now. My other friend shared that she read something online ... Read More
