Florida Living and Coastal Decor
It’s the look we all want, but some of us just can’t afford, or simply don’t want to pay for! Believe it or not, these bells do not belong to the Studio McGee brand in any way. The exact same ones appear to be sold in many other stores. I just happened to see them on their website, although they are not in stock just yet. You may have noticed by now that I have a bit of a knack for finding products that have been rebranded. Don’t let the brand name fool you. It’s often all the same stuff. ;)
Here’s how I added a touch of fall in our bathroom with a pumpkin soup bowl that also serves a functional purpose. At the end of the post, I’ll give you ten more ways to repurpose it, as well as sources for other lidded bowls that are perfect for the holidays!
Recently, I was scrolling Instagram and came across a small business and online shop, Linen & Sand. What caught my eye was that coastal and neutral was combined so beautifully. I absolutely love the Sun-Baked Neutrals line that Lisa (owner of Linen & Sand and fellow Floridian) had on her site!) I selected a few favorites from the shop and have used them to bring some warm autumn vibes into my kitchen!
Today, I’m talking all about the new slipcovers I received from Comfort Works and how our pull-out sofa is working out. I bought the IKEA FARLOV armchairs with white slipcovers and really love the way they look! The original covers have a nice Hamptons look with a classic fit and pleated corners that can work in a traditional space or a more modern one. White was great for summertime, but I was really looking forward to trying out a different color on these chairs for fall.
For now, I still have the same decor that was in our last home’s foyer, but I’d like to make a few changes in here. I envision a singular large lamp, a few cute decorative accents and a large vase to swap out fresh greenery on the console table. Below is what my dining room looks like with nothing but lamps and a small picture frame on the console table.
This seems like a long awaited post because I have received so many questions about our flooring! Besides my time being consumed by a dozen home projects, I waited a few months before writing about them so that I could give you the most thorough and honest review possible!
Here is what our floors looked like when we bought the house. Dark wood throughout, except for the carpeting in the bedrooms. To the right is our office and you can see the before and after shots by clicking the links below:
It all started with a frond. I saw a pile of fresh trimmings in my neighbor’s front yard (we all put our lawn trimmings by the curb once a week for the lawn debris truck to pick up) and it just so happened to be from my favorite plant, a large philodendron selloum. So I did what any rational, plant-loving person would do and grabbed the smallest leaf out of their pile, dusted it off and brought it inside, hoping no one saw me. I trimmed a few inches off the frond with my cutters and stuck it in some fresh water. It “woke up” beautifully and then I pranced around the house with it looking for photo ops. :D It ended up in our bathroom and a much-needed photo shoot ensued!
I seriously cannot believe that it’s already June! Time sure is flying. The other day, I took a few minutes to clear my kitchen counters and immediately felt relief! I love clean counter tops, so I figured I should grab my camera and snap a few pictures. ;)
I’ve talked about this before - about 3 years ago actually - when I blogged about my new year’s resolution of always keeping fresh greenery in the house. At the time, we were living in our previous home and I had access to ample amounts of palms and flowering plants in our yard and even some that grew in the woods near our house. If you scroll down on my Instagram feed, you’ll see plenty of shots with vases full of green fronds and blooms, especially during the spring and summer months.
I have a little dining room update, finally! I waited for a few months to purchase the right mirror for our dining room. I knew I wanted a large round mirror to hang over the console table in the dining room, but I couldn’t decide what style. Finally, I decided that a black thin frame would match the frame on our Samsung Frame TV in the living room. I also chose matte black door handles and curtain rods throughout our home, so a matte black frame just made sense because it would balance everything out.
It’s been said that patience is a virtue and I’m here to say that I’ve found that to be true, especially in the home decor realm. If I’m going to spend time and money on a change in my home, I need to know that it’s going to be worth it. I don’t make decisions until I’ve thoroughly done my research and sometimes that means the process can take a long time, but it’s always worth not having regrets later!
With enough planning and creativity, you can turn a small space into one that works for you! Our home was probably the 10th or 11th home we looked at in a two month span, so I had seen smaller living rooms than the one in our house. A lot of the homes in the area we were looking to buy were built in the 1970’s and it showed. Even after some major home renovations and even large additions, some homes still had very tiny living spaces. It was a huge turn-off if I’m being honest and I started to wonder if I could even handle it. My husband assured me that I would “do what you always do and make it nice”, but I really had my doubts.
Good hardware that’s not going to break the bank can be tough to find. To make it easier on you, I’ve rounded up a ton of different hardware styles that I sifted through when looking for my own cabinet hardware replacements.
In my last post, I went through all of the updates we made to our kitchen since we bought our home. Although the new countertops, modern backsplash and lighter flooring really opened up the space, there was one more thing on my list that would completely change the look of our kitchen: Paint!
I was pleasantly surprised the first time I walked into the house we now call home and saw the kitchen. The best thing about the kitchen was that the cabinets were completely worth saving and actually had a lot of great features, like a built in spice rack and sliding shelves. So, we kept the cabinets, but changed a few other things during the renovation. We planned to have the cabinets painted after the renovations were completed and I’ve been sharing bits of that progress in my Instagram stories. Choosing a paint color was not easy! I’ll talk more about that soon, but for now I’ll just focus on the details that have been updated so far.
If you think I’m going to argue about staying home all day and having to do all my shopping online, you’re nuts! I’m sure you’ve either been hearing about or seeing first hand how precautionary measurements surrounding covid 19 aka the coronavirus are hurting many business owners and their employees. Safety is always first, but why not do what we can to help support small businesses in a time of need while simultaneously meeting some of our own needs?
I don’t know about you, but Amazon has become one of my go-to places to quickly order almost a really wide range of products. From cute cami tank tops to kitchen faucets, I can get just about anything I need from Amazon! So, today I’m sharing what’s in my cart along with some other fabulous bloggers who are also sharing their favorite Amazon finds!
The warm light just before sunset was so lovely the other evening that I had to get out my camera and snap a few pics. Of course, Miss Summer happily obliged when I asked her to sit in on my mini photo shoot in our new office/guest room. (Sans collar because the those colors just don’t go with my neutral decor.) ;)
Designing a complete gut and remodel of our master bathroom was fun but also the most challenging room in our full home renovation. I have lots of experience with updating dated rooms and styling spaces to give them a completely new look. I did not have experience with all of the intricacies that go along with finding and purchasing the correct fixtures and valves, etc. to get our shower plumbing to work as desired. But more about that in a minute.
Our guest bathroom is going to be so FUN! I’m super excited about the tile, lighting, mirror…and, well, all of it! I hope you had a chance to read my previous posts about the new house design scheme and how it is going to be quite a bit different than our current decor. If you haven’t, here they are, below. ;)
