Spring Cleaning

I am so happy to be getting back into my blogging rhythm now!!! I have noticed quite a few new faces over on Bloglovin. Welcome, friends!!

I saw that Brooklyn has started a series on spring cleaning your blog and it got me thinking...how can I improve my space?

- Be better about responding to your comments. Y'all take time out of your day to write to me and I need (and want) to return the favor. They are all sitting in my inbox...so if you've commented and been ignored I am sorry and I will be emailing you shortly!!!

-Figure out the whole blog sponsor thing. I am still offering sponsorships on Designer in Teal but need to figure out what blogs to advertise on myself. Also,I am very happy to have another interior designer this month. Galina's blog has been very inspiring.

-Stop focusing on link-ups. You all know about the Design in your Home link-party that Jackie and I did but it is a lot to manage each month and I did not see enough growth to continue it. But you never know, that could change again if I see a good opportunity.

Whew...it really feels good to analyze things and get a fresh start. Please let me know if you have any other suggestions.

So I cannot wait to show you more house progress...but I am not quite there yet so instead you get another fashion post. BUT if you really can't wait, check these out: 

-A First Impression

-March Recap

-How to Add Character to your Home

Here is the second edition of Style me April! In the first part, I introduced the challenge and shared how it has given me a new perspective.

10) Borrowed or Thrifted- thrifted jcrew chino pants and gifted scarf.
11) Matchy Matchy- love to combine black, white and yellow. I feel like I am always "matchy matchy"
12) Makes ya wanna dancegram (did not participate-it was a video)
13) Born in the Wrong Era- decked out in lace, pearls and tweed!! Also got a new haircut :)
14) Easter Bun- no bun since my hair was too short for a good one. but this dress definitely makes me think of spring and Easter.
15) Lovely in Lace- One of my favorite pieces in my wardrobe. Lacey top and earrings. I also look so much like my Mama in this one.
16) Maxi Moment- Ooh that was a cold day but I made this "honeymoon" maxi dress work with a long sleeve shirt over it and a cozy scarf.
17) Girly in Green- This was probably my least favorite outfit so far. Not too exciting except for the necklace from my friend Denise!
18) Literary Heroine- Of course I had to go with Katniss!! All black with gold necklace to represent the mockingjay pin and the red heels for the "girl on fire"
19) Sporty Chic- This was the perfect outfit for the church Easter egg hunt. I am a big fan of anything comfortable and sparkly :)

A First Impression

Being an interior designer, you can bet that my main concern when house hunting was the interior space.  Of course I had a preference on the exterior style as well but it took a back seat to a beautiful and functional interior.

However, when someone comes to visit what is the first thing they see?? The front of your house (let's hope). The front of our home was already appealing but I knew I could step it up a notch. We could spend forever landscaping (and we have) but there are some simple ways I knew I could update it for cheap.

Let me remind you...this is what it looked like to begin with:

First and foremost, I PAINTED THAT DOOR! Red is probably my least favorite color and we all know what my favorite color is. Yup, it's teal now!! YAYAY...(happy dance) I LOVE it! What a huge improvement.We also switched the kick-plate and door knocker to oil rubbed bronze! (and plan to do the keypad soon)

 

Gabby made me the welcome sign and it even had a teal ribbon on it so I decided to start there for inspiration. It has the rustic touch that complements my style but is still cheery and fresh!

(clearly we need to powerwash!)

The previous owners left a welcome mat which was very sweet but it matched the red door...not my teal door. So, we are going to replace that with a lovely "H" monogram doormat.

bed, bath & beyond

I also wanted to fill in the space to the right of the door a little bit more so we are going to add a barrel planter. But wait....don't you see it in the picture above?? Tim surprised me by bringing one home after work yesterday!!! Happy Easter to me :) I want to plant some yellow and white flowers in it (teal+yellow=perfection) and always more greenery (maybe a fern?).

home depot

We also added solar lights to light the walkway leading to the front door. It was a small touch but I like that it defines the area.

I still have plans to add seasonal wreaths but I think after we finish all of this, it won't "need" it.

And at some point I would love to switch out the porch light to one of these!!

Home Depot (save)

Shades of Light (splurge)

What do you think so far?? It definitely feels more like our home now!!

Also, we finally ordered the living room rug!!! That should arrive within a week and then all that's left are the chairs :)

Summer Vacation

Before you start reading, I would like to ask you to take a moment of silence to Remember the 32 Hokies that lost their lives on April 16, 2007. I wrote about this last year (here) if you would like to reflect further. Thank you.

source

Anyone else been daydreaming about the beach?? (toes in the sand, bikinis, sun tan or drinks by the pool) Yup, I'm talking about summer vacation! You may recall that Veronica and I had big plans to go on a cruise this summer. Tim and I LOVED the cruise we went on for our honeymoon and I couldn't wait to go back. After adding up the costs of the cruise and the flight we changed our plans and decided on a shorter trip to Nashville. Veronica and I started researching stuff that we wanted to do and even made a Pinterest board for it. Anyone wanna take a guess as to what happened next?? We bought a house! Unfortunately I had to call Veronica and tell her that we wouldn't be able to do Nashville this summer but proposed a 3rd alternative- that they should come visit us here in Richmond.

It's official. They are coming. I can't wait to meet this girl in person!! Seriously....I have no doubts that we will instantly be best friends. Now if I could only convince them to move here! June can't come fast enough!! (I even put a countdown widget on my phone!)

source

So for our summer vacation we are going...nowhere! Haha, I really am OVER THE MOON excited for them to visit and I think it will actually turn out to be a fabulous staycation! Maybe while they're here we can plan our cruise for next year??

Now I have to come up with an itinerary for their visit. If you are local, I would love to know what recommendations for activities/restaurants you have. We definitely have our favorite spots already but I want to also try some new places while they are here. I love the thrifting guide that Young House Love shared. We may also take a day trip or two to Monticello or Williamsburg?? Have you ever visited friends as a summer vacation?? What were your favorite parts?

They are coming June 10th which is right after our anniversary so I am hoping to convince Tim that we should have anniversary pics taken of the 4 of us because Veronica and Kevin's is the week before ours. I wanted to take some last year but Gabby did get some great ones of us that Fall. I've got to figure out an anniversary gift for them as well. I should recruit Gabby for ideas since you now know she is SUPER creative!!! Speaking of which, everyone LOVES the welcome sign she made me. (find out how to make one here)

I'm still hoping that we can make it to the beach later in the summer but until then I'll just get me a lounge chair, kiddie pool, margarita and sit on the deck pretending I'm in paradise. Hopefully I won't end up quite as pale as I did last summer.

So, who wants to pack me in their bags to Hawaii or Italy?? :)

Easter Baskets Aren't Just For Kids! (Gabby's Post)

Last year my (now) mother-in-law came to stay with us Easter weekend. She doesn't get to visit us very often, so it was good to have her with us for a couple days. She's coming back this year! The best thing is she has off Good Friday and so do I, so that means extra hang out time.

Now that we have a proper guest bedroom for her to stay in, I really want to do it up so she feels at home. I (of course) went to Pinterest to find some Easter home ideas. There weren't too many great "adult" Easter ideas out there, so I took some inspiration from a few places.

I decided to make her an (Adult) Easter basket filled with things I know she'll love! I found one idea that really fits her and added in a bunch of other things I thought would go well with the "cozy" theme.

 

Inspiration

The hardest part was trying to decide what kind of basket I was going to put everything in. I decided on a decorative Aztec box from TJMaxx. It will be easier to put everything in the box and carry on the plane than if I had used a regular basket.


I found the first basket item when my hubby and I were in Kennett Square, PA at a coffee shop called Philter. (check it out if you happen to find yourself in the area...awesome!) They served tea there from another local shop called Mrs. Robinsons Tea Shop that has some really great teas (I had a white tea called Meditation Mind, so yummy, tasted like Spring flowers!). They also sold the tea at the coffee shop, so I decided it'd be a neat local gift to put in her basket. They also sell AMAZING chocolate from around the world, so I threw some of that in there too (Dark Chocolate Black Fig...sounds exotic doesn't it??!). Can't have an Easter basket without chocolate!

I also found some yummy smelling soap (Pineapple Cocoa Butter) at Scout and Annie but forgot to take a picture. Oops!

I went to Michaels to buy a few cheap embellishments to fill up the "basket"...some vintage looking painted Easter eggs, some vine-y stuff (I have no clue what it's actually called, I just know it looks cute!). I also bought her a Papyrus card from Target. I love those cards, but so expensive! Only for special occasions.

Put it all together and what do you get? A cute Easter basket for my MIL. :)

Check out my blog later this week to see our guest bedroom transformation for our MIL's arrival!


I hope everyone has a great Easter weekend!

Gabby



Style me April

I hope all of my readers haven't moved on since I've only been posting about once a week but if you are still out there then thank you!! I appreciate all of you who take time out of your day to stop here and read about my adventures as a wife, fur-mom and homeowner!!

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I have been participating in Hilary's challenge called Style me April. I first saw it when Jana shared this...

Hilary created this to inspire ladies to be creative with their wardrobes. Everyone participating is encouraged to connect with each other. Hilary says, "Be generous with your likes and your words of affirmation". 

I am not the most comfortable posting pictures of my self every day for all to see. This challenge has not only helped me renew my wardrobe but has given me a new sense of self confidence. Everyone has been so kind and I have been so inspired by other women. Each "like" and comment brings a smile to my face.

I have debated a few times whether or not to gear by blog towards fashion and always end up telling myself I am not stylish enough. But now I can see that I do have my own unique style and people are responding to it. Don't worry I won't be doing that....I love posting about design and my new home too much! However, there is a strong correlation between interior design and fashion design. 

So without further adieu, here are my outfits so far! (sorry if you've already seen this on IG)

Day 1: Skirting around town. Easy peasy, except it wasn't quite warm enough to wear a skirt. Oh well!

Day 2: Neutral and a Pop of Color. Well Gabby and I had just gotten pedicures the weekend before and I chose a hot pink shade from Essie so I knew pink had to be my pop of color.

Day 3: Oh Hello Sailor. This was my first challenge. I have lots of stripes but nothing I thought would be appropriate work wear. So what did I do? ---throw a navy cardigan over it. And I even dusted off my red high heels.

Day 4: Day to Night. I got a little lazy on this one. Now I think I should have worn a dress and maybe a blazer over it?? I do love the outfit but I think the night version could have been better. 

Day 5: April Showers. There were no showers in sight so I dressed to match the sunshine. Yellow, polka dot denim and flip flops were the definition for me.

Day 6: Always Nabs a Compliment. Uh...I don't know. I get a lot of compliments on my clothes but not on one specific thing. Most people point out the J.Crew stuff and then I get to tell them I got it for next to nothing from the clearance store (NOT the outlets) and sample sales!!

Day 7: Pretty in Pastels. I LOVE pastels and they are very trendy this year. I could have put a LOT of outfits together for this one but I decided to pair mint and pink together!

Day 8: Jungle Tribal Tropics. When I saw this one at first, I laughed so hard but it actually turned out to be pretty easy. However, I can imagine that you could go a little overboard!! All leopard, everything :)

Day 9: Pump up the Volume. A voluminous skirt plus I also intensified the texture and color!!

March recap & more

So I have been having a lot of little random things I want to write about/share with you but each thing on its own isn't enough for a post. So after seeing Ashley's March recap, I thought that what better way to catch you up than a round up from the whole month? (get ready for picture overload)

Well the biggest thing that happened this month was obviously buying a house!! But there is a lot more that comes with that like....

Packing....

And Painting...lots of painting!

and Shopping....lots of shopping!

And having our first guests (Ty and Gabby...who else?)

Yes we are wearing rain jackets....it rained the entire weekend. And the restaurant we went to had a Christmas tree up (I'm guessing year round?)

Oh and this lady made some AMAZING gifts!! If you missed that, Gabby shared how she made the Welcome sign on my blog, and the cart full of goodies on her blog.

We FINALLY got a picture of the 4 of us...first one!!! (plus an Artie photobomb)

And then eating a lot

The (christmas tree) restaurant we went to for lunch was called Traks. The food was delicious with HUGE portions!!

I made brunch on Sunday before they left. We also had mimosas and leftover Dixie Donuts!!!

And now that the rain has gone away and the temps are rising, we have been getting the backyard ready for spring/summer!!

Teal patio furniture anyone??? I LOVE Target and World Markets outdoor collections!

I really want these ranunculus to go around the mailbox!! Aren't they gorgeous?? The yellow would look fabulous with my soon-to-be-teal front door

Was your March this crazy??? 

You might have missed: 
-our honey-do list and living room updates! 
-Appliance shopping

Our honey do list

It has been nonstop since we moved into our home 2 weeks ago. Whether it be painting, changing a light fixture, putting new locks on the doors or fixing a gap in the fence, we have been challenged and rewarded. We have made unbelievable progress in such a short amount of time and I can't wait to share some of it with you today. In addition, I will be letting you in our plans, goals (and sprucing up) for our new home.

Lets begin, shall we?

Front Exterior

• Paint front door
• Make sign for front door or window (probably like Amy's)
• Add mulch around trees and along front of house 
• Replace brick pavers with stone ones
• Take down decorative metal pieces previous homeowners left on siding

Before

 Progress

(progress pics were taken by Gabby this weekend)

Living Room

• Buy 2 chairs and rug to creating seating area around fireplace
• Add window treatments
• Console table "foyer" area
• Gallery wall
• Figure out what to put on mantel
• New track lighting (eventually)

Dining Room

• Hang art (here)
• Get a new dining table and chairs (eventually) (table)
• new window treatments (Gabby's gonna make me some white linen drapes)

Kitchen (it will be staying the way it is for a while)

• Paint cabinets
• Add backsplash
• New countertops
• New pendant
• New knobs and pulls
• Roman shades over windows

Backyard

• Add patio furniture
• Lots of landscaping
• Update walkway by adding stone pavers and stepping stones
• Add firepit
• Add hammock and swing
• Create grilling area
• Paint backdoor and shed door

Laundry Room

• Paint or wallpaper
• Change out old laminate flooring
• New washer/dryer (the previous homeowner ended up leaving theirs so we cancelled our order)
• Add storage bins
• New light fixture

(only pic I've gotten is with my phone)

Guest Room

• Paint a soft mint color
• Add mint and coral pillows
• Fill up shelves
• New desk (maybe with an iMac??)
• Craft storage
• Paint nightstand 

Hall Bath

• Nothing!!!! Its perfect :)

Man Cave

• Set everything up (its all still in boxes)

Master Bedroom

• Paint
• Add area rug
• Hang art
• Window treatments (not sure yet on this)

Master Bath

• Update shower
• Paint vanity
• Efficient storage

Miscellaneous

• change light switches and outlets (they painted over all of them)

Can't wait to share more progress soon! What do you think so far?