Call me a Christmas Scrooge, but...

I know we haven't even had Thanksgiving yet, but for the past week I've had Christmas on the brain non-stop!  So, that being said, I have to get something off my chest...

I hate the colors red and green together.  I know they are the traditional Christmas colors, but I hate them.  I've never liked either color and I think both of them together are terribly ugly.  Sorry, Christmas scrooge here, can't help it.

For the past five years, we've had the same boring old red and green christmas tree and I've never, ever liked it - just tolerated it.  This year however I want to like my tree so I've taken to Pinterest to look into doing something different.  The "rustic" look with a lot of gold and white is what I'm currently loving and I'm even toying with the idea of blue and silver!

Now keep in mind this may not even happen given the fact that Ryan has no idea I am even thinking about changing up the tree - that fun convo will come in the next few days, I'm sure.  HA!  Anyways, just wanted to share.  Many more Christmas related posts coming in the next few weeks so stay tuned!

Wyatt's Airplane Nursery

It's been three months since Wyatt was born and I am just now getting around to doing his Nursery post even though it's still not done.  I need a rug (cannot for the life of me find one), I need to refinish his nightstand (it's in horrible shape) and I need to add a few more decor pieces, but I have no idea when I am going to find time to do it. So for the time being I'm calling it complete.  Here it is...Wyatt's vintage airplane nursery!

His crib and glider are the same pieces Rowen had as a baby!  The crib turns into a full size bed, which I am excited about for when he gets older.  I originally toyed with the idea of selling both to please my obsession with white furniture, but Ryan convinced me to keep them because they look more "boyish"...I agree!

The colors for his room were originally just going to be white and blue, but then the bedding I found had pops of red in it, so red, white and blue it became...all american boy, I guess!

This is the nightstand that needs refinished...thinking of painting it red, but we'll see if I actually get around to it or not! 

As for wall decor, I wanted to do it as cheap as possible.  For this piece in particular, I bought four square canvases, covered them with fabric and added some wooden letters.  So easy!

Above his crib hang a few airplane prints I got online, printed myself and framed, and an awesome metal plane I found at Hobby lobby!

His changing table is also a hand-me-down from Rowen.  I dressed up the wall space above it with this adorable banner I found online, and this white shelf holding a few knickknacks!

Everyone that sees the room always asks where I bought the "fly" sign.  I actually made it myself for about $6.  I found cardboard letters at hobby lobby, modge podged them and painted them white.  I then stuck them to the wall using velcro adhesive strips...so easy!  I love the way the white pops against the wall!

As for the curtains, I decided to go with a more preppy look.  I found these nautical striped curtains at TJMaxx on sale!

For now his toys and books sit in this brown box.  I have ideas in my head for other toy storage, but quite frankly I'm running out of floor space in his room, so this will do for now!

That's it!  I'll be sure to update again as I finish it!

Sources:

{Crib}

{Glider}

{Curtains} (similar)

{White Shelf}

{Airplane Banner}

{Airplane Prints}

{Airplane Bedding}

Rowen's Big Girl Room

I've been promising this particular post for a long time and I've had people asking when I am going to post it, so finally I'm getting around to doing it!  Warning though, my phone is a big piece of crap and the pictures don't do it justice.  The colors stand out so much better than you see here!

About nine months ago we moved Rowen into a big girl bed.  Rowen absolutely LOVES her bed and her room, and will proudly show it off to anyone that comes over!  It's actually one of my favorite rooms in our house so I gladly help show it off right along side her! :)

Bed:  Her bed is obviously the focal point of the room.  I am obsessed with the color white, so I decided to be daring and do it all white, to my surprise it's stayed very clean!

I LOVE the bedding and the headboard.  Together they scream "girly-girl", which is exactly Rowen's personality.  She calls it her "princess bed"!

Lighting: Above her bed is this light.  Its made of paper, which I love and adds just the right amount of "pizzaz" to her room!

Her window also adds a lot of natural light as you can tell!

The walls:  Three out of four of the walls are a very pale blue color.  The fourth wall (the accent wall) is pink and white stripes!  The accent wall is by far my FAVORITE thing in her room.  Ryan spent six hours slaving over these stripes.  He did an amazing job, but he swears he will never do it again. We'll see about that... :)  I was nervous about how everything would look, but when it was all said and done I was thrilled with how each color compliments the others so well!

Furniture:  We decided to keep her furniture to a minimum since the bed takes up a majority of the space in her room.  The dresser we bought is amazing.  It's huge inside so it should last her a long time!  I still have plans to change out the knobs, but I have yet to find exactly what I want.

Decor:  The decor in her room is a bit hodge podgy, but it works!  I kept quite a few items from her nursery and incorporated them.

We also kept her book shelves, which were a gift from her uncle, her growth chart and matching hair bow organizer.

I struggled with decor on the walls for quite awhile, until one day, a friend of mine offered me a few prints from her old Katie Daisy calendar. I immediately snatched them up and framed them!  Talk about easy and inexpensive!  They work perfectly!

For the accent wall I hit up Hobby Lobby and found a couple of pieces of framed art, a banner, and a cardboard letter "R", which I painted.  I love how well it all stands out against the pink and white stripes!  

Rowen's reaction to her room the first time she saw it?  "Oooooh, it's so beautiful, just like a princess"  <---- that's my girl!  ;)

Room Details: 

Bedding/Light Fixture/Blue Paint/Pink Paint/Growth Chart/Hair bow Organizer/Dresser/Headboard

Shared with:

Thrifty Decor Chick

Kitchen updates

The only decorating I've really done to the kitchen since we moved in (almost a year ago) is hang curtains.  So, for the past couple of weeks, I have slowly been checking off some of the “to-do” items on my list.  I have quite a few ideas floating around in my head for this space in our house and couldn't wait to get started!

One of the first things I wanted to do was buy a large area rug for underneath the dining table.  Since moving in, I've been paranoid about the floors getting scratched so a rug was a must!  After looking at about 100 different rugs, I finally settled on a basket weave rug I found at my local furniture store (very similar to this one).  It adds instant warmth to the room, which I love.  It’s also technically an indoor/outdoor rug, which (I hope) means it’s virtually indestructible and easy to clean!

One of my most recent obsessions is table runners.  No clue why, I just really like the way they add so much color and texture to the table!  Once I found this adorable runner on Etsy I knew I had to have it! 

One of the bigger items on my to-do list was adding hardware to the kitchen cabinets.  I was super excited for this until I discovered just how pricey hardware can be!  Luckily, our local hardware store was having a sale so we ended up getting a pretty good deal on these stainless steel pulls! I absolutely love the way the hardware gives the kitchen that modern, finished look I was going for!

I still have quite a few items left on my list to finish, one of them being a super easy DIY project from Kidecals, which I will be back with next week!  Stay tuned!

Shared with:

Family Home and Life

Friday Favorites: Fall

I know, I know!  It's still only August, but I can’t help it.  Around this time every year I start yearning for cozy sweaters, tall boots, and that delicious pumpkin scent!  Without a doubt, Fall is my favorite season! Here are the five things I am most excited about for Fall...

Candles:  The change of seasons also means the change of scents around my house.  The transition from the sweet smelling citrus scents of summer to the warm delicious smell of pumpkin is totally happening at my house this weekend after I go a purchase a few of these babies...

Pumpkin Spice Lattes:   These bad boys roll out Spetember 2^nd and believe me I will be first in line!  Nothing says Fall like sipping a piping hot Pumpkin Spice Latte while strolling through the Des Moines Farmers market to check out the plethora of pumpkins, gourds, sunflowers and giant mums  – EEEEK, so excited!  

Decorating:  There are really only two times a year I go all out to decorate my house.  One of those times is Christmas and the other....yup, Fall!  There are so many cute pieces of fall decor floating around on Pinterest right now --- is September 1st too early to get started?!  

Trick-or-treating:  We took Rowen last year, but she was still pretty young and didn't quite grasp the whole, "knock on your neighbors door, look cute and beg for candy" concept.  This year however will be different!  I cannot wait to parade her around our neighborhood dressed as something adorable! 

Boots:  I love me some fall boots!  Enough said!