Living room thoughts

I'm so excited to have scored some nice neutral furniture finally! In VA Beach, it was kinda tough to work around the blue plaid couch, the brown and blue zigzag loveseat, and the ashy carpet.

But HERE we have wood laminate, a beige leather couch we bought from my sis for $40 and a cream chair and ottoman, which were $5 for the pair. We also have a big maroon leather chair of my parents, which I am hoping to replace with something smaller and lighter, as it blocks a bigger chunk of the window than I would like.

The other day, on Pinterest (the site that's been keeping me away from blogging!), my friend Lish pinned the most amazing cheap rug from Urban Outfitters:



Right away it went on my birthday list! I was thinking it'd be awesome to have this rug and then some throw pillows with a fun ikat like this:

Obviously, that's not exactly the right one, but I'm kinda on an Ikat kick, so I'm searching high and low for the perfect fabric!

SADLY my birthday is still a month away, and Urban Outfitters is down to only the Black and White zigzag! :(

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the blue (or the gray, either one!) will reappear! And if not, maybe I'll just make one myself using this Ikea rug painting tutorial!

(Pinterest images: rug and fabric)

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.

Jose Villa photobook!

Jose Villa has a book out on wedding photography--I need it!!


He takes seriously LUSCIOUS film photos



LOVING my d40, but one day I really want to play around with film. I feel like I have to earn it though, since with film each picture costs money!

Speaking of my camera, my friend Abby, who is an AMAZING photographer, just gave me the best gift EVER--she gave me her old 50 mm 1.8 lens!! It doesn't autofocus with a d40, so I have to manually focus everything. It started to hurt my eyes after a while, but I feel like I'm really starting to get the hang of it! At least of things that don't move--like food....Brody crawling, though--that's a TOTALLY different story. ;)

Oxford Cloth Napkins

{via Whole Living}

Martha Stewart's Body+Soul magazine had a great idea for recycling old worn-out men's shirts--cut them up and turn them into cloth napkins! I wish I had some on hand as cute as THEIR shirts! The day after I saw this idea, I told my grandma about it, and she gave me some of my granddad's old plaid button-down shirts to make into sets of cloth napkins, one for her and one for us.

Ellis (and my mom!) have me on a pretty tight leash right now where projects and crafts are concerned--they keep reminding me that we're moving in 2 months and not to accumulate any more craft supplies, but I think this should be pretty much perfect!

Check out some more of Body+Soul's great ideas--25 Eco-Chic Ideas for Your Home!

some weekend V-Day ideas

I love Valentine's. I mean, it's always been fun, but our first year in VA Beach, my friend Jenna got me totally HOOKED on it! She mails out Valentines to all her friends and family every year, so the last 2 years I hopped on that train too!


Last year, I did the Purl Bee's Fabric Window Valentines. Definitely took a while, but I loved how they turned out! Halfway through, my fingers were hurting so bad that I got the brilliant idea to draw "sewing marks" with a pen and not actually sew around the "fabric." (for me, it was leftover wrapping paper instead of fabric) MUCH less painful--and faster!-- after that.

Here are some fun ideas for Valentine's this year! (You have 3 whole days--or more, if you do the belated thing, which is totally legit in my book!)

Valentine Tea Bags from Design Sponge
RIGHT UP MY ALLEY!
so doing this next year

Printable Valentine Cards from How About Orange

Super Cute Bubble Valentines from Armelle

And you would not believe how many places I've seen these--everybody's into these free adorable fruit stickers from Twig and Thistle

I'm probably going to end up doing something simple inspired by this below, also from Armelle. I love things that don't take much in the way of supplies!

Brown Paper Valentine's Tags from Armelle

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}

Some finished things

I love using this blog as a sort of notebook to write down great ideas I want to do so I don't forget them, but then what I do forget to do is follow up and actually post the things that get checked off the list. Normally it's like turning in a paper: once I'm done, I'm DONE, and on to try and finish a few of the millions of things I've started and need finishing. But here are a couple of things that got done this fall. (these pics taken back before I got my d40)

First a blanket for Brad and Rache for Christmas. I started this in September and needed to send it off by Thanksgiving, and I think I did 3/4 of it in the last 2 weeks, when panic set in. It was a really fun pattern--I love doing blankets and just pulling them out to work on whenever I watch a movie. Fun as it was, though, I think I prefer crocheting blankets cause it just goes so much faster!



Then also finished Brody's quilt in October! Or I should say...my mom finished it. This summer I got it 95% done....but I just was not motivated to finish the last bit of the binding. But that's what's so great about moms! When Mom came to visit, she sat down and finished the binding in like 10 minutes! Thanks Mom!


The quilt is pretty much a complete copy of Purl Bee's Zig Zag Quilt, colors, fabrics, and everything. I just loved the original so much, and figured for my first quilt I would just go with what I knew I loved! Molly's tutorial on Purl Bee is super great and easy to follow, and I can't wait to make quilts for all my kids! And maybe one day this quilt:

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. :)

{image via Ohdeedoh}

Ellis just brought me a mum a couple days ago, and thanks to this post on Ohdeedoh, I think I'll have to go get a pumpkin for it now!

Bee Baby

So I'm wanting to dress Brody up as a bee for Halloween since his initials are BEE. I'd love to make him a homemade costume (even if it's glaringly amateur, which it will be :) ), partly because this particular bee is $23 on amazon (for something he'd wear ONCE), and partly because I always said I'd never get my kids generic Wal-Mart costumes.

Only problem is I have no idea where to start or where to find inspiration. Has anyone seen any cute ideas for DIY kids' costumes on the web?

I just rearranged our living room and dining room furniture and now there is a bare wall that needs a little bit of whim. Urban Outfitters usually has a good selection of fun wall decals, so I checked out their website and found something way better. Wallflowers! Immediately I knew this is EXACTLY what I want.

Being a ridiculously indecisive person (once I went through the check-out at Ross with a colander, decided not to get it, got out to the parking lot, turned around and went back through and bought it, and then the very next day went back and returned it), I rarely experience this sort of certainty. It was a really nice feeling, haha!

I've been eyeing this $2000 pic from Anthropologie for a while now. After I finish up my in-the-works projects I'm gonna paint this and save myself $1990 or so!

Sorry, this always happens when I'm at work. I stumble across some awesome idea and want to remember it, so into my blog notebook it goes. I'm so disorganized that if I wrote the idea down somewhere I'd probably forget it, but on the internet, it's saved forever, in a searchable fashion! Which is why I also have like 50 gmail drafts going with various ideas and reminders...at least that way I know where to find them--right, Cora? :)

So here's the idea--a diaper changing pad.



The reason this makes me so excited is because I already knew I wanted to make one, but I really know how to do nothing, so this step by step is my Dummies guide! yay!

One more idea, and then I promise the next post will be something in our actual lives.... :)


Ellis and I have been wanting a rug for our living room to help cover up the disgusting Village carpet, but the only rugs I remotely like are way more expensive than what we would spend--that is, like 20 bucks, haha.....sooooo I thought Apartment Therapy's this idea to stencil cheap rugs was pretty awesome!

Something else for my to-do list: make ugly bottles pretty.

Adding something else to my to-do list--I'm FINALLY wrapping up some stuff, so I have to find some new things to get myself motivated next!

When Ellis and I were doing our major purging/spring cleaning (actually still in progress--besides....every day is purging day, right, Dad? :) ), I found all this oilcloth that I had bought back when I worked at La Bella Vita. I had planned at the time to use it as a tablecloth, since that's what all the cool people did in Moscow back in the day, but since our kitchen/dining room/living room is such an explosion of color since I can never make up my mind---I love ALL the colors...how can I coose?--both of my oilcloths would completely clash...so basically they have been sitting in a box for 2 years now.

SOOO...I decided to make ONE into a picnic "blanket" and to make the other into a go-green grocery tote...yay! Found an awesome pattern for the tote here at the Purl Bee!

Something else I want to do--make a chalkboard! :)

Basically I'm now using this blog as a little notebook to jot down ideas before I can forget them :)