Monday, June 29, 2015

Some steals and decor deals

I've posted before about Decor Steals and some of my purchases from the site including this magnetic calendar in our kitchen...


...and this preserved boxwood wreath that I used as part of my winter decor.


Well today (and probably for not much longer) they have two new steals up that I think are cute.
I'm refraining from purchasing for myself (you know, my whole less is more thing and the fact that I don't need either) but maybe do you!

One of the steals are these wire crates with wood tops.
They'd make great end tables or the pair together could be a coffee table for a small space. These could also be cute in a kids playroom to store books or stuffed animals. 
I really like the color of the wood tops too. The finish has a little driftwood/beachy feel.


The other steal is this clock
The price is right and if green is your color, it's kind of perfect for a kitchen or office. 
It's vintage inspired but doesn't scream "I'm fake" to me.


Happy "stealing"!
- Caitlin

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Pillow envy

While recently helping a friend pick out new throw pillows for her family room and living room, I've been oohing and ahhing over all the fun colors and patterns in this Etsy shop.
They're a tad over my budget but if you are looking to add pops of personality to a room, this is the shop to visit. In my case, there's no harm in window shopping.

Here are a few that caught my eye:


Etsy

Etsy

Etsy

Etsy

Etsy

Etsy

Etsy

Etsy


Thanks to all that entered the Rug Pad USA giveaway!
I wish we could send one to everyone that entered but the lucky person that won this time is Cindy A! Cindy, please look for an email from me soon!


- Caitlin

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Rug round-up & a giveaway!

I have a love-hate relationship with rugs.
I like how they can pull a room together but I also hate to shell out money for something that is walked on and potentially ruined by our everyday life and accidents.

That said, I have recently managed to find some affordable area rugs for several rooms in our house that have so far held up great despite some abuse in our house.

So here is my home's rug round-up and if you are feeling lucky, a giveaway at the end of the post!


We originally had this rug in here. It didn't last long though. What happened? 
First, Chris watered our fiddle leaf fig tree and excess water seeped onto the corner of the rug leaving a huge ugly stain. So then, we moved it down to our living room and masked the stained part under a chair. Then, our dog brought in a frozen toy from the snow and it melted on the rug leaving another unsightly stain in an hard-to-hide spot. As if that wasn't enough, this winter I spilled an entire glass of red wine on it. That was the end of that rug. I guess you get what you pay for!

So, our bedroom was rug-less and the room just looked bare to me until I found this Pottery Barn one that is currently on sale.


I know it's a light color which will probably show stains but since this is a low traffic area, I feel okay about it. I'll just keep my wine drinking for the first floor.


The rug itself isn't the softest but since it's mostly under our bed, it doesn't bother me.


It's rubber underneath so no rug pad required unless you want it to be extra-cushiony.




Our living room.

This room has undergone a transformation over the last few months, the most noticeable change being the couch that I posted about here.
Since red wine stained rug had been tossed to the curb, this room was also rug-less until I found this gray popcorn jute one.


I'm so happy with it!
It was affordable (currently on sale!) and doesn't really shed like a lot of jute rugs can.


It's nice and thick and will definitely hide any spills that might come its way.




This room is still not complete but the good news is we do have a rug.


I decided on this herringbone one that is also currently on sale!


I think the pattern is fun and it also doesn't shed much at all for a natural fiber rug.


Last, but not least...Charlie's nursery:


I went with this Pottery Barn Kids one and I'm very happy with it.
It's the most expensive out of all of the rugs in this post but PBK always has sales and deals going on where you can probably get it at a discounted price.


This rug has been great for Charlie's first year and I think will last for a while longer.
It is soft for a new baby to lay on and doesn't shed. Also the herringbone pattern hides any spit up stains that might happen (and wow, they definitely happened).


Because it isn't really anchored under any furniture and sometimes our dog Rosie likes to run full speed into the room when I get Charlie out of his crib, the rug tends to move around. 

Luckily, the very nice people at Rug Pad USA offered to send me a rug pad to solve this problem!



Problem solved!

Are you in need of a rug pad too?
Rug Pad USA has pretty much every rug pad option under the sun and together we are giving one away.
Just enter this giveaway for a chance to win one!



- Caitlin

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

My minimalist mantel

Our living room mantel has a new look that sticks to my whole "have less" mentality that I posted about before here.


Instead of cluttering it up which I have done before in the past (just see here and here), I decided to keep it simple with just two vases.


I'm usually a very symmetrical person but decided to try something different by having the vases off to just one side.


The vases were super affordable and can be found here.



The leaves are real and were just snipped from outside.




A quick thank you to New Arrivals Inc. for sharing my nephew-to-be's nursery shelves!

- Caitlin

Monday, June 8, 2015

First fiesta!

This past weekend we had so much fun celebrating Charlie's first birthday with friends and family!
It was a really fun party to plan and I used this blog post that I found through Pinterest as inspiration.

Below is our invitation for the party:


I took the pictures (you can read how I added the mustache here) and my sister designed the invitation for me (Jamie, you need to start your own Etsy shop yesterday).



There was a point in time last summer that I almost sold this bar that Chris made (and that I posted about before here). 
I'm so happy I didn't! It's so functional for entertaining.


A few people at the party were so surprised to learn that I made these UNO letters.
They were either thinking, "wow that's impressive" or "wow you have a lot of time on your hands"!
Well, it's definitely not the latter but these letters were not as time consuming to make as they might look.


I don't have my own step-by-step DIY tutorial to show you (sorry!) but I more or less followed this blog post
Instead of using double-sided tape, I used glue and I cut several layers of the tissue paper at once to save time.  


Did you notice how my "O" is a little bit smaller than the "U" and "N"? 
Yeah I didn't notice until we hung it up.
Oops!











I had too much fun getting this "Pin the tail mustache" together!
I had the poster made and ordered through Staples for less than $30.



Then, I picked up a blindfold (no, I didn't make it) and a bunch of peel-and-stick mustaches from a party goods store.



Too much fun!




The birthday boy enjoying handfuls of icing and sugar!




Thank you to my mom who made these cactus cookies for the party!







 






A thank you to everyone that made Charlie's first fiesta extra special and to all of those that helped make this party a success!

- Caitlin