cute painting idea

TOTALLY love this nursery painting idea from one of Young House Love's house crashings.

I wish there was a straight on pic of these adorable animal canvasses, but you can get the idea here! I love the simplicity of the clean white silhouettes and also the progression of the blue tones. (Also was excited to see the zoo fabric from Brody's baby quilt on that lamp!!) :)

I love the versatility of this idea too, like a cluster of silhouetted bathroom icons (like a tub, a toothbrush, bubbles) in a bathroom, or kitchen gadgets in a kitchen, etc.

for manly babes

Today marks a red-letter day on Brody's and my vacation out West to see our families:

1) it is the first day I've been running this whole trip--and the ONLY reason it happened was because I didn't want to have taken up the space in my suitcase for no reason. The shoes must be used!

2) the first day I've blogged.

You know what that means? Super restful! I am LOVING all this time to get to see fam and friends--and the free, eager babysitters!! Can't wait to put up pics when I get home!

But for now, check out this manly nursery from Bower Power. Most baby rooms are either girly or pretty androgynous--hardly ever do you come across something this straight-up BOY. I love it!

I LOVE their totally boy wooden accent wall (here's how they did it). Tied for favorite with the accent wall is the Watson Creek sign they made for over the bed--she stenciled it on some planks and then sanded it down. And I've never considered animal heads my style, but good to know if you want them, ebay's got 'em all ready to be painted white!

Owls are a big theme in the other side of the nursery, so she also has this print hanging in there, which I would love to get one day! Taken from one of my FAVORITE baby books Love You Forever. I'd love to tell you I sing this song to Brody, but I don't. I just kiss his little face so hard that he starts crying. (Seriously)

too many books?

{image via Apartment Therapy}

Love the idea of making a windowsill into a bookshelf in tight quarters. Hopefully our next place will have awesome ledges like this, like Amy's House Tour on Apartment Therapy.

Also, not an overall fan of this bathroom, but--one day I want a milk glass soap dispenser like this one in her bathroom:{image via Apartment Therapy}

Tree Painting finished!

So back in September I mentioned that I wanted to copy this tree painting from Anthropologie.


So I got a canvas and just sketched it and painted it. The sketching took the longest--maybe like an hour, and then the actual painting went really quick. I already had the brushes, gesso, and paint, so the only expense was the canvas, which was $18 with a 60% off coupon from Michaels.

It doesn't have the subtlety that the original Anthro one does, but I was pretty happy with how it turned out! And I love having a bit of purple in the dining room, cause I am pretty into purple right now and trying to slowly incorporate it into my house.

I'm gonna miss our little apartment!! There are many things I complain about it, like the carpet and the fact that we can't paint the walls, but it was our first home and I really love it!

Oh oh! One more pine cone idea!

I just finished playing around with some pine cones as a centerpiece, wasn't really happy, so I walked away and took a break, and JUST NOW happened to find another great idea for pine cones and hopefully a solution for my lackluster table. And it comes from one of my favorite sources ever, Sunset magazine. LOVE Sunset!

Snowy Pinecone Centerpiece

It'll be so great to pretend we actually have snow here! And the best part is I already have white acrylic paint and a paint sponge out because I finally finished my tree painting!

(Check out other fun pine cone ideas here) :)

Christmassy Pine Cones

Our collection of Christmas decorations is pretty small and pitiful. For whatever reason, it didn't seem to matter last year--I was gone at work all day most days, and then we were out of the house by the middle of December until the new year. So it just didn't seem worth the money. This year we still don't have money to invest in Christmas trimmings, but since I'm around the house all the time, I'm feeling the need to make things at least just a little festive.

The courtyard area outside our apartment is teeming with pine cones, so I've been amassing a collection. Every time we go out for a walk, I grab pretty ones and throw them in the stroller. I've got a good number now, so I went searching for some cute ideas of what to do with them!

Here are some of my favorites!

{via Real Simple}

Nice simple centerpiece--man, I wish I knew where my trifle bow was! (Mom, is it at y'all's house, haha?)

{via The Spotted Fox}
Includes tutorial!

{via Twig and Thistle}
Includes tutorial!

Two awesome garlands! I'm thinking of either doing the first one, but with berries instead of pom poms; or the second one with a string of berries above it.

{via Good Housekeeping}

Next up: a slew of inspiration from Country Living!

{via Country Living}

{via Country Living}

My talented crafty neighbor made one of these--so pretty! I especially love that this one is white (my favorite color!)

{via Country Living}

One of my goals this year is to actually wrap presents with instead of just handing my family members stuff or stuffing gifts into bags. (Don't get me wrong--I have nothing against bags and tissue--I'm just curious to see what it feels like to actually cut and tape and even use ribbon)

{via Country Living}

LOVE this! I'm a huge fan of white, red, and robin's egg blue as Christmas colors.


And if you're wanting to spend a lot of time with a glue gun...

{via Country Living}

Hope you enjoy these ideas as much as I did! Can't wait to try some of them out! And then when my new camera comes in, get some pics of our apartment dressed for Christmas! Happy advent season!

Sarah's Bathroom

While I've been sick, I have been furiously trying to finish the knitted throw I'm making for Brad and Rachel for Christmas. I know--I never am panicked about Christmas presents over a month before Christmas. But actually I have only 2 weeks to finish this since they will be in the US for the next couple weeks and then after that back to Scotland! So I'm hoping to send it to them while they're in the US to save (a LOT) on postage!

And while I knit I watch things (or, when I'm being holy, listen to sermons--LOVE Mark Driscoll's sermons!). And somehow I have morphed from thinking my mom was weird and boring to watch HGTV when she was at the gym, to HGTV being the only thing I watch. One of my favorite design shows is Sarah's House, a show about a designer renovating an old country farmhouse.

This afternoon she did her main bathroom, and I was completely in love.


Favorite part: the window. I love that there is a window (as opposed to our cubicle cave bathroom) and I love the gorgeous curtains and how they look with the incredible old tub.

I also love the tile on the floor. Wish I could find a close-up pic for you because it was to die for. Well, just squint as hard as you can at the spot on the lower left-hand corner. Even that is gorgeous. :)