House to Home: Playroom

Thank you so much for all the awesome feedback on my post about our big purchase! It's such a thrilling time in our lives right now, we are looking forward to having a place that's our own. I still can't believe our dreams are coming true!

I loved all of your comments on my living room post (check it out here!) I've decided to create House to Home as a regular series as I look through inspiration. It will be all about decor and style, a different set of posts than what we are doing in the house to make it our own.

We were looking for a place that is child friendly and our home has a great loft we'll be making into a playroom for Ellie to call her own and can bring some organization to all the toy chaos. I'd love to create a place that's calming, but has pops of colors like pink, aqua, and lime. We'll have the couch we use now in the room, which is also a sofa bed which will be great for guests to stay on. We will eventually add a TV, but not anytime soon. I also want to put in a great play tent for her like the adorable teepees that are all the rage right now. I would totally be living through my child with a teepee. Having a small nook of your own is so awesome as a child and I remember building forts all the time with my mom growing up. A chalkboard accent would be cute too, but I don't want to paint an entire wall with chalk. Thankfully, I have a TON of chalkboards from our wedding so I'll just nail a large one on its side for Ellie to use. You know, because she can totally write her name already. Ha ha ha. Just thinking in both the long term and short term use for a playroom.

Here is some of the inspiration I've found on Pinterest, there's something great in each picture.

Please tell me your thoughts! What makes for a great play area? Does chalk on a wall just create a big mess on the floor to clean up from the dust? What aspects of a room do your children enjoy most?

Snip, Chop, and a Giveaway!

Welp, I've cut my hair. I've been talking about it for years- seriously, I looked back on my blog posts and it's been a good 3-4 years that I've been talking about doing it. I finally decided to just go for it and I tell ya, the moment I did I felt like my hair had grown to be the length of Rapunzel's. Of course it wasn't though, it has been the same length it had always been and wasn't getting any longer. I gave up the dream of having mermaid hair without extensions and went for it. I really like the change, I'm thinking about going shorter on my next appointment. I was worried about what my husband would think because he prefers long hair, but he loves it! He keeps telling me how much he likes it and how good it looks. I mostly wear it straight but since I'm on vacation this week I hope to try a couple of different styles and really play with it.

Here are some of pictures that inspired my cut. I wanted it to be a nice mid-length (a lob if you will) with a slight angle to the front. It's still long enough to be put in a ponytail and is about the same maintenance that I had before I cut it. It's a great style that I think looks good on anyone.

Remember the Nelson j Beverly Hills Argan Oil 7 Moisture Healing Mask I've been using? Read about my review here, I'm giving 3 away!! I'm so excited to share this product with you guys, it's been awesome and has made a huge difference in my hair- it's so much softer and healthier (even before my cut). Just see below on the ways to enter and the winners will be announced next week! a Rafflecopter giveaway

This Weekend We...

bought a house! I can't believe our dream has come true. After looking for what seemed like forever and taking almost a year break from looking, we found, bid, and closed escrow on a house in less than a month. We are beyond excited and I look forward to raising our family in a place of our own. The whole process was really easy and not stressful, but the moving part is going to be tricky. We have some time before we need to be out of our apartment, but I'm out of town for almost a week and we have plans in the following weekends that we can't cancel or change. We've already bought our big kid items like appliances and a couch and have started to pack up the house. There's a few little things that we need to get together, but I'm hoping we can make a smooth transition.

Here are some pictures of the downstairs of the house. I'll definitely be doing lots of posts on home decor and inspiration. Luckily, the house is a flip home so we don't have to do anything before we move in. There are some small changes we are doing before we move, but only because we want to do some things to our taste.

  Here are all our docs signed and dated!


We picked out a couple of shades of paint for some of the rooms and it was mind numbing. After a while, they all seriously seemed to blend in together. Grays looked purple, blue, and green. Blues looked gray and chalky. Somehow we settled on two and I can't wait to see how they look in the room after some test spots.

Any advice for home decor and design? Where are your favorite places to shop? What cleaning supplies are must haves for wood floors and carpet? Share your secrets please!

Obsessed: Very Jane

Want to know my late night obsession? Jane.com. It started when I brought Ellie home from the hospital. They have tons of goodies for babies, home décor, and lots of cute accessories and clothes. I became obsessed. I religiously check their Facebook account to see what items are going live at midnight and even set an alarm so I don’t miss out on them! I started ordering this and that at all hours of the night when I would be up nursing Ellie and would forget what I ordered until I had a nice surprise in the mail. Matt has even been conditioned to my late night shopping sprees, every time we get a package in the mail he asks me, “Now what did you buy from Very Jane?”. He’s so cute.

I’m no longer a shopping zombie, I’m still just as hooked to the site. I've found so many great items that I use and wear all the time, it’s my little secret shop that I just have to share with everyone. I've posted about my great finds and the site several times in the past, but I think it deserves its own post. Jane is a daily deals site that lists new items every day at great prices from some of my favorite boutiques and Etsy shops. Each item showcased is linked back to the shop so you can check out other items from the shop or if you missed the sale on Jane, snag it directly from the source. Everything I've bought from there has been great quality and they’re always up on the latest trends. I've only had one issue with an item, a jewelry piece was delivered broken, and Very Jane and the shop replied back to me right away and I had a replacement necklace within days. I love great customer service and was happy to have the issue resolved so quickly.

These are my first clothing items from them, and I can't take them off! I've worn them each once a week since they arrived. I recently wore the Bow top with the Stella Frosting necklace out with some of my sorority sisters and got so many compliments. The bow on each sleeve is such a sweet detail. I'm thinking about wearing one of them for our family pictures we're taking in a few weeks, but haven't decided which yet. The tan top is called the Kendyl and I absolutely love the silhouette. It's great to wear with jeans and looks fantastic tucked into a pencil skirt for work.

 

 Below is some of my favorite items from the site. They are seriously my go-to for jewelry and have lots of new goodies each day. My sister and I have a jewelry problem and this just feeds our addiction. As you can see, I've bought a ton of jewelry, but also tons of headbands for Elle Bell. 

Have you checked out this Very Jane yet? You can follow the daily deals and sale sneak peeks on their Instagram and Facebook page and set your alarm to get your shop on!

FTC: The Bow Top, Kendyl Top, and Stella Frosting necklace were all gifted to me by Very Jane. All other items posted were bought by me with my own money. All opinions given were based on my own experience and I am not being compensated for this post.

Hot Man Parade

WCW: Olivia Wilde

Before, I never really cared or paid much attention to Olivia Wilde. Sure she's beautiful and talented, I just didn't get the hype about her. Then she got pregnant and became the most stunning pregnant lady I ever laid eyes on. The last two award shows she has just wowed me. I keep looking at her pictures from the red carpet and she is gorgeous. Ugh, I'm in love with her now. Here are her most recent looks that have me gaga for her.

I follow Revlon on Instagram, and Olivia is one of their spokeswomen and they posted a picture with a "get the look" which included for look 1: ColorBurst Matte Balm in Complex, Super Lustrous Lipstick in Pink Cognito, ColorStay ShadowLinks in Taupe. For look 2: Photo Ready Cream Blush in Pinched, Super Lustrous Lipgloss in Super Natural, Color Stay Ultimate Suede Lipstick in Private Viewing, PhotoReady Primer + Shadow in Muse, Revlon PhotoReady Kajal Intense Eye Liner + Brightener in Purple Reign.

The second look is definitely my favorite between the two, her hair and dress color are supreme and she is truly glowing. What are your thoughts? Who did you not care for before, but have had a change of heart for?