Summer is a state of mind

My word for this year was “simplify”, so here is a very simple way to decorate your bedroom for the holidays. Although I found the perfect woven bed for our space in the spring, it’s finally making its debut!

Here’s how I created a home office/guest room combo in our small, three bedroom, 70s ranch home!

Changing up my decor for the seasons can be as simple as switching out what’s in the vase on our dining room console table or exchanging the the living throw pillow covers for something more cozy for the fall season.

If you came here from the “Ranch Home Back Porch Addition” post, welcome! Now you know that this pool bath was part of that project. We thought the added cost of the outdoor bathroom was worth it since we didn’t want wet bodies traipsing through our house to the hall bathroom. There have been quite a few times that I went running up to the pool bath as soon as we docked our boat because it was just too cold to get in the water! :D I love the accessibility!

After 5 months of a complete interior renovation, we began to tackle the exterior of our home, along with the backyard. Since so many projects were overlapping, it really was a LOT on my plate for several months last year! After our new bulkhead and dock had been built, we started on the pool and back porch addition, along with an outdoor bathroom, at the same time. You’ll see why that was necessary in a moment.

Our small ranch home’s living space has seen a few renovations in its lifetime. It’s most recent updates involved ripping out the massive corner fireplace in the living room and replacing the dated wood floors throughout with LVP flooring.

Since completing our modern pool build, I received a lot of inquiries about the in-pool furniture we chose for our pool’s sun ledge during the build process, so I wanted to address all of those questions here in this post!

In this post I’ll be sharing what our pool looks like all filled with water and ready to be used! Saying we’re excited to be done with those many months of nothing but dirt and construction consuming our backyard is an understatement! We started out having a new bulkhead installed and then building our dock onto that. Once it was finished, the pool build process started right on the heels of that project, so that was a full year of ongoing construction in our backyard!

Today I’m sharing my simple, yet elegant, Christmas dining room decor and tablescape!

Sometimes I really overthink things. But who has time for that these days? The best way to add a little Christmas cheer to your kitchen is really simple, so let’s not make it any more complicated than it needs to be, right? :)

I set out to find some art that would invoke the feeling of fall, while also having the usual “coastal” components, like water and/or a beach. In case you’re wondering what exactly “invokes the feeling of fall”, here is my opinion: Fall is moodier, darker, but warmer at the same time. I think I found the perfect image for my living room that has all of the above! I haven’t decided yet, but I may even continue to use it all the way through Christmas ;)

I was gifted these beautiful, natural looking magnolia branches and flowers from Prestige Botanicals and fully intended to use them for just a fall accent. But, once I started unfolding the leaves, I thought they’d transition well from Thanksgiving, to Christmas, and even into the new year!

You know that feeling you get when you’ve been waiting so long for something to happen, that when it finally does, you almost can’t believe it!? Well, I FINALLY got to create a cute living space on our dock with the help of Wayfair! To create a place to relax and entertain, I wanted a pair of swivel club chairs and a sofa.

Can you believe it’s really June!? To kick off summertime, I gathered up some of my colorful bar cart accessories and created this “Happy Hour in Paradise” themed bar cart! For now, I’m just dreaming about hot summer days spend by our pool, since we still have quite a mess going on in our backyard. This set up in my dining room will have to do. ;)

We’re in full spring mode over here and our guest bedroom needed a little refresh! I partnered with Christmas Tree Shops andThat! to incorporate decor from their “Black, White and Glam” line. The items have a tropical feel to them, using neutrals with pops of green, mixed metals and woven natural textures. Based on the items I saw online, I created a quick moodboard of decor to look for in the store.

Here’s a quick bathroom update that’s super easy to pull off! With as much time as most of us have been spending in our homes, having a serene place that feels just a little like going to the spa just might be the best way to end your day.

I’m excited to finally share our pool design plans with you! If you’ve followed along on Instagram stories, I have shared quite a bit of my pool design inspiration, as well as the color dilemma that was JUST resolved in the nick of time!! That’s such a relief after feeling totally lost and unsettled about some of the most important decisions I had to make regarding this pool. So now that I have some space in my head for anything other than pool tiles and plaster color, I’ll start from the beginning of our pool building process.

I finally revamped our guest bedroom just in time for Christmas! I was pretty indecisive about this space for a while and I think the fact that I started decorating it in the fall influenced some of my decisions. You’ll see what I mean when you check out the color scheme. ;)

To start, I’ll show you what this room looked like from before we renovated it and after we moved in.

I decided to transform my bar cart into an elegant coastal Christmas scene for the holidays this year! My white cane bar cart sits in the corner of our dining room and it needed a little pizzazz. After seeing how the sunlight reflected off of all the glitter, I think it was the perfect place for it. My local Christmas Tree Shops andThat! store had a bunch of really cute coastal options for Christmas decorating.

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.