Friend's Houses: Meet Kelly!

As I mentioned yesterday, and I am very excited to share with you my good friend Kelly's BEAUTIFUL home! What you can't tell from these pictures is how far this home has come since Kelly and her husband John bought this house several years ago. They have transformed every inch of this space!

Most recently they updated their family room with these incredible navy blue walls. I'm in LOVE! It makes me want to go paint all of the walls in my house blue!

Their dining room contains this incredible harvest table. John made the table top and they attached it to an existing table base. It looks amazing and it seats ten people, so perfect for the upcoming holidays!

Kelly also made the slipcover for the chair below. Love the fabric and the ruffle at the bottom!

Below is their beautiful kitchen! I wish I had some of the before pictures because you would never even recognize the space. Upon moving in, they removed numerous walls and an oddly placed half bath and made the kitchen open to the dining room.

Most of the time we are here we are gathered around this awesome island drinking wine! :)

They are currently refinishing their basement, so I may have to invite myself back to take some pictures of that transformation when it is complete! Thanks for sharing your home with us John, Kel, and Jack!

Fun Weekend with Fantastic Friends

Three couples
Three kids (and one on the way!)
Smoked Brisket
Warm Cider
Halloween Candy
Football
& a Beautiful Fall Day

Does it get any better? This weekend we got together with some of our good friends for a tailgate party before the Buckeye game! I L-O-V-E these people! We've been friends since college and I still cannot get over how much fun it is to see our kids together.

Kelly (who is due with baby Kate in March!), me, and Ashley!

The boys and their babies! Evan and Miles, John and Jack, and Dean and sweet baby Milena.

I cannot get over her cuteness!

Evan and Jack raiding the Halloween candy.. Wonder who started that first?(Sorry Kel!)

Most of our get togethers now involve sitting on the floor and making silly faces! My oh my how have times changed :) 

Later this week I will share John and Kelly's beautiful house as part of my "Friend's Houses" series, so stay tuned for some amazing real life home pictures! Kelly's style is impeccable!

Hope you all had as wonderful of a weekend as we did!

My FAVORITE Pumpkin Candles & a WINNER!

Hello everyone! Just a couple of quick things to share today. First, my favorite pumpkin candles. I've tried a LOT of different pumpkin scented candles and they are not all created equal, which I want to share these two. They are a-m-a-z-i-ng! First, "Pumpkin Cupcake" from White Barn Candle Co. and second "Pumpkin Souffle" from Boulangerie (which I purchased from Anthropologie). They both have a little sweetness in the scent, which makes it divine! Any other fall candles you have found that I should know about?  I have been looking for a good apple one as well.

 

Also, we (FINALLY) have a winner for the Archie Grand notebook giveway contest! Congrats Jessica T., your "Redheads I Met and Liked" notebook has been ordered and will ship to you soon :)

Are you all getting as excited for Halloween as I am?

Fall Decor and My Struggle with Mums!

This weekend we loaded up the car with a trunk load of beautiful mums and pumpkins! I was (clearly) in the mood for a lot of white. I also cannot get enough of funky heirloom pumpkins! They are so beautiful. And of course I had to get two big, bright orange ones for carving! Overall I just love the color combination. 

Here they are on our stoop:

SO, they may look pretty now but truth be told I REALLY struggle with keeping mums alive! This is actually my second round of mums... The current state of the old ones can be seen below.

I am usually pretty good with flowers and plants, but mums just get the best of me! I honestly don't know if I'm watering them too much or too little, or if they have too much sun or not enough sun.. I just don't know! Any tips or tricks?

My First Design Project! Before Pics & Inspiration

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED! 

My good friend Matt has enlisted me to help decorate his new apartment. It is a blank slate, in a perfect location, with beautiful views and tons of potential. It is 1200 square feet with one bedroom, two bathrooms, and an office. Matt is 32, a pilot, an engineer, is currently getting his MBA, and loves scotch, golfing, x-box, and his 20 nieces and nephews......and he is single, so this will be a bachelor pad! (On that note, he is seriously one of the best guys I know.. He is Evan's best friend from childhood, was the best man in our wedding, and Miles' God father, so, if any of you single ladies out there are looking.....) Ok, ok, enough embarrassing the guy (Sorry Matty!) Back to the space. 

Although it isn't technically a loft apartment, that is the overall look and feel we are going for.  It will have a boys club feel, while still being inviting, sophisticated, and cozy.  We want to incorporate artwork and design that nods to his interest in planes and flying, while also incorporating a lot of rustic and industrial elements. 

I've gone and visited the space twice now, and we've honed in some paint colors, furniture ideas, light fixtures, and artwork. The first set of pictures below encapsulate my early sources of inspiration (from my Pinterest page here). Since he is renting, we have some limitations (we keep dreaming of refinishing the floors, knocking out walls, and installing new countertops, but it will still be awesome nonetheless!) 

I'm excited to share this decorating journey with you! It is the goal to have it mostly done by the holidays and for Matt to host a Christmas housewarming party. 

So here is the inspiration:

And here is the space:

Clearly Evan and Miles are just as excited about decorating the space as I am, haha :) 

Halloween Decor 2014

First, I'm happy to report Miles is finally feeling a quite a bit better. His nose is still running like a faucet and night's aren't as easy as usual, but at least he is his sweet, happy self during the day! We are making progress! 

ANYWAY, I've always decorated for fall (see here), but this year I decided to really amp up the Halloween decor this year. There is something about having a kid in the house that makes me want to make the holidays as magical as possible  (nevermind the fact he is only 8-months old!) Black cats, bright orange pumpkins, friendly spiders and bats! It's pretty darn fun :) 

The "Trick or Treat" banner, table runner, black cat, and pumpkin bag are all from Pottery Barn Kids.

The light-up pumpkins are from Pottery Barn and a few years old.

The child spider mugs are from Crate and Barrel, but a few years old as well. Here is a similar one.

Seriously, having kids is so much fun :)

Real Life

I would love to be a great, reliable, interesting, timely blogger... I had great intentions with the "relaunch" of my blog to do just that, actually.

BUT, life just gets in the way. A sick baby and an unusually crazy week of work = one tired mama. One who is focused on cuddling up her little boy and doesn't have time to even THINK about beautiful things, inspirational ideas, and house projects!

So until my baby is feeling good again and I get caught up on work and sleep, I will let you in on a current glimpse of my "real life" :)