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Valentines Day
02.18.14

Our Valentine Cards.. better late than never

So you know how most bloggers do fun things for the holidays and they post about them way in advance of said holiday so that everyone reading can benefit from their ideas?  I’ve learned I’m not one of those bloggers.  Admitting it is the first step.  :)  We were still in assembly mode the night before Valentine’s Day and I’m just grateful I had enough sanity left to snap pictures.  Earlier that day I tried making Kenny some cookies to go with his Valentine’s Day gift (the recipe was from a friend – one she said couldn’t possibly be messed up).  And I totally messed them up.  It was a cake mix recipe and I followed the back of the cake box mid way through instead of following the cookie recipe and had to just make a cake instead.  Kenny ate some and said “you make a pretty good cake babe.. when you’re trying to make cookies.”  Nice.  It just wasn’t my year!  So here’s what we did for class Valentine’s because I took the pictures and well… there’s always next February.  :)  
I found these cute, inexpensive little buckets on Amazon and decided they would be perfect Valentine’s for Kole’s pre-school buddies.  

I had seen variations of shovels with the “I DIG YOU” theme on-line but decided to make it our own by using this fun picture of my little man swimming.  I just added some text to the picture in photoshop and ordered wallet size pics.  Took 10 minutes!

 I attached his picture to the buckets with some red and white baker’s twine. 
So simple and fun!    

I debated putting some Valentine candy in them but decided not to since the kids are overloaded with candy and I wanted the fun digging tools to stand out.  Love all of the bright colors.  
They make me excited for summer!
Addison is my fishy cracker connoisseur so this simple Valentine was perfect for her.  I typed the words and punched out the circles with circle punches and then she assembled them all.  So nice having some help!  When the girls were little I remember Valentines taking HOURS.  Just having them sign their names was a feat.  Now my girls are old enough to make their own Valentines and I’ve gotten wiser and just type the toddlers.  We learn as we go moms!  

 Can you guess who chose these little cards?  El’s had to be pandas so it was tiny prints to the rescue.

She spent so much time writing the sweetest little notes to her classmates in each one. 
Then she was mad when some of the boys didn’t even take the time to read them.  “They just went for the candy!” she told me shaking her head in disbelief.  We had a nice talk then and there about some of the idiosyncrasies of boys and how they don’t change much as they get older.  ;)  

Teachers got chocolates with hand written notes.  
Kole has a lot of teachers so we bought a lot of chocolates.  
Carmel is my favorite so I assume everyone else feels the same.  :)
And speaking of chocolate…now that Valentine’s Day is officially over guess what is already popping up in stores?

This is the time of year when my diet takes a major dive.  
Happy late Valentine’s Day everyone!
Glad we have a year until the next one.
It will take me that long to learn how to make those darn cookies.     
:)
xoxo, Erin
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Home Decor
02.13.14

Formal Dining Room – decor plan!

Alright friends.  Let’s talk decor!  Finally.  :)  A few days ago I shared our new formal dining room with you all.  A nice blank slate!  Here are a few details about the room.
The lights are from Art Craft Lighting and you can find them here.  I am so in love with these fixtures!  I always think modern elegance when I see them.  But maybe that’s just me.  I put a similar fixture and matching sconces in Kenny’s office because I loved how they looked in the dining room so much.  Really these pictures do NOT do them justice.  They give off such a nice glow for dining.  They make me actually want to use this room!  Which means I have to cook.  Or call for take-out.  Something modern and elegant?  Anything other than my typical cheese tortillas will do.  :)
The paint for this room is darker than the paint I used throughout the main body of my house.  The walls of the dining room are painted “Wavelength” by Frazee.  The inside of the cabinets are one shade darker.  Another Frazee color called “Elf.”

A few of you asked about the size of my baseboards.  I made them 7 inches tall which was as high as I could go without hitting plug outlets.  I think my builder thought I was a little strange to want them so high and so plain, but I love how they turned out.  Some of your other house related questions I’ll answer in a Q & A post.  I’m anxious to show you my decorating plans for this room!
First up – our new table!  I took a pic with the lights off…
and one with the lights on.  :)  Oh for the love of all things farmhouse!  I have adored this table for a LONG time.  The second it was decided that we would be putting a formal dining room in the house I knew exactly what style of table I wanted!
The table is from Restoration Hardware and aside from the rustic farmhouse look, I adore the simplicity of it.

These pictures show its true color.  It’s light but has subtle grey undertones so I think it works well in this space.  The wide planks are my favorite.  With all of their perfect imperfections.  :)

These are the chairs I fell in love with that fit the style of the table.  This set is actually from Aidan Gray and I was all set to order them.  (Love the metal back!)
But then I realized they sell a set at Restoration that match the table and are $200 cheaper per chair!  They don’t have the metal back which I wish they did, but I don’t think the back is worth paying so much more for.  They also don’t come with a padded seat, but Restoration sells pads for them for not too much so I think I’ll buy those.
Here is the Restoration picture of the table and chairs with the pads.  I’m only buying a few of these chairs because I don’t want the chairs to all match.  I’m looking for something different to go on the two ends of the table.  And on the side of the table in front of the window I’m having a custom bench made.  Fun!

This is an inspiration pic I have always loved.  See the similar chairs on one side with the grey bench on the other side?  Love that look.

Here is another inspiration pic I love with the three chairs similar to the ones I’m going to order and two different chairs on the sides.

Ok.  Moving on to the rug!  Thank you again so much for your help with my rug decision!  I loved hearing all of your feedback!  You all brought up so many good points.
Here is the one I chose (for now anyway!):

I LOVED the octagon rug too (that was my initial first choice) but I was a little worried about how much of it was white for under a table.  Even though it’s not an every day table, it only takes one spill.    A lot of you pointed out the same thing.  The rug above seemed a little more spill friendly.  Maybe it was the dog and bone in the picture that gave me that feeling?  :)  I decided to order it and see how it looks and then figured if I don’t love it I can return it and get the octagon rug.

But I think I love it!  It’s so happy!!

I took these pics right after I laid it down.  What do you think?  It’s a little Bohemian looking.  But I think I love that too!  I don’t know why, but I always pictured a yellow rug in this room.  Probably because yellow is just so happy!!  Did I already say that?  Is it making you happy too!?  I can’t believe how much it lightened the space.

Ok.  Here’s what I’m picturing for this space.  Since this room will only be used once in a while I’m excited for it to be a room that actually stays looking nice.  You know – no pillows tossed on the floor, backpacks tossed on the table, train tracks under the chairs.  Well.  There will probably still be train tracks under the chairs, but you get the picture.  So I’m thinking about an upholstered bench with three pillows on it.  My designer/friend is helping me with it.  Here are some of the fabric options I’m considering…

The fabric in the back with the grey ovals is what I’m leaning towards for the bench.  I was originally going to do a plain grey tufted bench like the inspiration picture but I think it will be too much grey with the grey paint in the room.  I don’t want to go too crazy with color on the bench so that I can always mix up the pillows.  I think a white/grey pattern will be good for me and my constant need to re-arrange/change things.  The three fabrics in front of my bench fabric are some I’m considering for the pillows.

I also love the grey striped pattern to put on an extra chair (I’m ordering two extra chairs to set in the corners of the room for when we have to extend the table to fit larger groups).  The fabric on the far left is so fun.  I like that it also has black which will tie in with the light fixtures and hardware on the built-ins.  The only thing I’m debating is bringing in one more color for the pillows and swapping it for one of these.  An aqua pillow?  Or navy?  These fabrics are only for a few pillows so I’ll also be able to bring in other colors with decor in the built-ins and whatever I end up doing on the walls.  Regardless, I think the room is off to a good start!

Our house is still so empty that any start is a good start.  :)

Here are some other random shots I took of this room before the rug came…

Here you can see where this room is located.  Just down the hall from our stairs and my office.

And here is a shot from the other side of the dining room by the window.  You can see how it is also located across from my butler’s pantry/kitchen.

So that’s it for dining room decor so far!  I’ll post updates as the room progresses.  Fun!  My first decorating post in the new house!  First of many I’m sure.  :)

xoxo, Erin
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Home Decor
02.10.14

Formal Dining Room

Sharing my formal dining room today!  I’m so excited about this room.  Which is funny to me since the last thing I wanted was a formal dining room.  When we sat down with our architect and started discussing our floor plan layout I told him that I didn’t want a formal living room or a formal dining room.  We aren’t very formal people, I’m far from a chef, and I felt like a formal dining room especially would be wasted space.  But it turned out that a formal dining room was important to my husband so he can entertain for work, and to my architect for re-sale in our area so I was quickly vetoed.  My architect then set up our plans so that you walked into our formal dining room from the front entry door.  I didn’t love that.  So we ended up putting in a formal living room too – mostly just as a pretty room with views of the yard when you walk in the front door (I’ll share that room at some point too).  The formal dining room is around the corner and across the hall from the butlers pantry/kitchen.  Now I love the two “formal” rooms and for once am glad that I was over ruled.  :)
Here are a few pics of the space…

It’s a fun room with a large window planked by built-in cabinets (this big window makes it really hard to photograph head on!).  I have chrome hardware in most of my house, but decided to use black (oil rubbed bronze) hardware in this room to match the light fixtures.  Love these light fixtures!  They don’t show up great in photographs but are so beautiful in person.  I will share the link/source soon!  I’m sure you’re not surprised they are clear glass.  I love that look and carried it throughout a lot of my house.

 Planks on the ceiling.  I’m sure you’re not surprised by that either.  :)
All of the molding in my house I kept really simple and wide.  Straight lines – inset panels.
My favorite look.   This is the molding casing the opening to the room.
I did the same thing with my crown molding and baseboards.  Simple and wide.
Like most of the rooms in the house we put plantation shutters on the windows.
Here is a close up of one of the built-ins.  (And a peek of my new table!)
 I painted the inside of these shelves a deep grey (darker than the paint on the wall).

I didn’t want glass shelves, I wanted white shelves, but I wanted the light in the built-ins to filter through each shelf.  We finally decided on shelves with glass in the middle of them.  I was so happy the day we came up with this solution!

It gave me the look I wanted but still lets the light shine through the shelves.  

You might have noticed that on the left side of the room, the built-in cabinet touches the wall.

And on the right side of the room, we have extra wall space with two small puck lights above.  Originally the plan was to put one big built-in on the right side of this room, but I was having a hard time figuring out how I wanted it to look and I kept thinking it might be nice to just have a big buffet table in this space to spread out food when we are serving/entertaining.  So I ultimately decided to scratch the large built-in and add two smaller built-ins on the sides of the window.  I’m going to put furniture (some type of buffet table) on the right.

So the room looks a little off centered right now, but it will all work once I get furniture in the space.
At least I hope that’s the case.  :)
I’ve been working on decorating this space (I’ve had a vision for it since we broke ground!)  so
I’ll share my new table, rug (yes I chose one!), and decorating plans for the room in my next post.  Hope it all comes together ok!  If you have any source questions about this room feel free to ask in the comments and I’ll answer those in my next post too.
And then I want to invite you all over for dinner.
Pot luck anyone?
:)
xoxo, Erin
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Organization
02.05.14

3 steps for getting your inbox under control

My friends.  I have a confession to make.  While my home is an area I keep organized and for the most part running smoothly, my inbox has been quite another story.  I spent some time a few weeks ago getting my inbox under control.  It was under control at one point in time but somewhere along the way while we were building our house, control was lost and I’ve been swimming in a sea of e-mail madness ever since.  Sometimes my inbox overwhelmed me so much I just pretended it didn’t exist for a few days.  Wouldn’t recommend that little trick!  :)  But I do have a few tricks I would recommend.  If you too have lost control of your inbox here are 3 things that I did to get mine back under control.  And now I’m determined to keep it that way!

1)  CLEAR OUT THE CLUTTER.  The first thing I did was to eliminate unnecessary e-mails.  Some e-mails we don’t want we can’t do much about.  :)  But there are a lot of unnecessary promotional e-mails that we can get rid of.  Clear out any e-mail you don’t want to receive that is cluttering up your inbox by unsubscribing.  To do this, scroll to the bottom of the e-mail and it will say something like this in fine print: “if you prefer not to receive promotional emails from us, unsubscribe here.”  Click that button and never look back!  You have to stay on top of eliminating e-mails like that from stores or before you know it your inbox will be cluttered with junk mail.  I only kept e-mail subscriptions to a few stores that I really love and shop at often.

2) SET UP FOLDERS THAT WORK FOR YOU.  You all know of my love for categorizing.  You also know that I love a good folder system.  Just like with organizing your home – everything has a place!  It’s how I organize my pictures on my computer (folders inside of folders) and it is crucial to keeping your inbox organized as well.  This step takes a little time initially, but will save you so much time in the long run.  The important thing to remember when you are setting up your e-mail folders is to do what works best for you and your specific e-mail needs.

I recognize that your folders will be completely different from mine, but I’m going to share how I organized my folders to give you some ideas.

First folder:  BLOG
Folders inside of BLOG:
     – to answer (questions that need a longer response when I have more time)
     – Q & A (questions that have popped up more than once that would be good to answer in a post)
     – comments (I save a lot of your sweet comments!  They mean so much to me.)
     – design/programs (other blog related e-mails I want to save)

Second folder:  NEW HOUSE
     – decorating (this folder is a busy and fun one these days!)
     – cabinets (all of our cabinet/built-in sketches)
     – new house e-mails (HUGE folder full of e-mails from the past two years)
     – house specifics (details like where things were ordered from – so I can tell you when you ask!)  :)
     – pics (inspiration pics I emailed our builder/architect that I want to keep

Those two are the large folders for me where a big chuck of my e-mails come from.  These are the rest of my folders:

El, Ad, Kole (I have a separate folder for each of my three kids.  I put everything in these from birthday invites to school forms to friend info. – anything related to that child that I want to hang on to.)

Young Women (e-mails relating to what I’m helping with in my church right now)

Coupons (this folder is working so well for me!  Any coupon I get from a store that I think I’ll use I put in this folder.  Then when I get to the store I pull out my cell phone, open the e-mail folder, click on the coupon I received and show it to the clerk.  Done!  No more printing coupons!  And I can locate them so fast.  Love it!)

New recipes (a place to stash any recipes I receive through e-mail.  Until I use them.  Which will most likely be in the very distant future.  But when I’m ready I’ll know where they are.)  :)

New addresses (a place to stash “our address changed” e-mails so when it’s time to mail out Christmas cards they are all in one place and easy to find)

Pictures (pics I get through e-mail that I want to save)
   
Like I said, obviously your folders will look different than mine.  Take a minute to go through your e-mails and see what the majority of them are about and how you can categorize them in an orderly way that makes sense for you.

3) READ, ACT, AND DELETE!  Deal with your e-mails immediately and try to keep your inbox as empty as possible.  Now that you have your folder system in place it is so easy to take care of each e-mail as soon as you get it.  Is it a question you can quickly answer?   A date you can instantly add to your calendar?  Something you can file away in one of your folders to save that doesn’t need immediate action?  Something important you could quickly jot down on your to-do list?  If at all possible, take care of the e-mail as soon as you read it and then DELETE it.  The only messages that get left in my inbox are messages I need to respond to soon and just have to wait until a more convenient time.  Then when I have a minute (usually after kids are in bed) I can go through them and take care of each one.

Following these three steps has made a HUGE difference for me! I feel completely on top of my inbox (LOVE that it is often EMPTY!) and I can find any e-mail I need in seconds.

Most importantly, I no longer feel the need to periodically pretend my inbox doesn’t exist.  

:)
What about you?  Any tried and true tips that have helped you stay on top of your e-mails?

xoxo, Erin
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Parenting
02.03.14

Game Day Snacks (6 layer refried bean dip)

Superbowl is over and what a bummer of a game!  For Bronco fans anyway.  Technically Charger fans in this house but for today’s game we figured if you can’t beat em’ – join em’.  Except when they play like they just did.  Bad call on our part!  Oh well.  We had a fun afternoon anyway.  My parents were in our area with a group of friends/co-workers and they all came to our house for the game.  It was our first official grown up party in the new house!  And I should have taken more pics of all of us because we all looked so cute in our game day attire!  Even though mine was a Charger jersey.  Football is football, right?  (Hopefully my husband won’t read this.)  I did snap pics of a couple of appetizers I made before our guests arrived…

I found this fun football shaped cheese and cracker platter on pinterest and couldn’t wait to make it myself.  So easy and fun for game day!  Have you seen this before?  Darling.  Did I just call a football snack darling?  Again hoping my husband doesn’t read this.

I don’t know that mine turned out quite as good as the inspiration pic, but it resembled a football and people ate it so I’ll consider it a success.  :)

I also made this 6 layer refried bean dip.  I know there are many 7 layer bean dip recipes and they are all similar, but the way Kenny’s mom makes it has always been my favorite.  So I thought I’d share her recipe with you today.  You know if it’s something I can make it’s SUPER simple.  And seriously, this never lasts long.  It’s so delicious!  Set this by a bowl of tortilla chips and watch it disappear!

{6 LAYER REFRIED BEAN DIP}

1st layer:    Refried Beans
2nd layer:  Mix together 1 T lemon juice, 1 to 3 avocados, 1/2 t salt, 1/4 t pepper, 1 cup sour cream,
1-2 T taco seasoning mix
3rd layer:  1 cup chopped onions
4th layer:  1 cup chopped tomatoes
5th layer:  1 cup chopped olives – I added more than that – I like olives.  :)
6th layer:  1 to 2 cups shredded cheese
Superbowl is over but these treats were such a hit tonight they may just be popping up again soon.  El asked if I can create a panda head with cheese and crackers next time.  
I’m up for the challenge.  Should be interesting.
:)

xoxo, Erin
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Uncategorized
01.31.14

Thanks and a fun night

Ok – LOVING all of the rug feedback!  Thank you so much everyone!  So far I think #1 is the clear favorite although #3 isn’t far behind.  #2 was my least favorite of the three (like most of you) but it has grey in it that would tie into our paint so that is why I was considering that one.  If you haven’t left your opinion yet I’d still love to hear it!  I’m totally letting you all make this decision for me.  :)  All three will work in that space with what I have planned so just pick your favorite one.  Next week I’ll share pics of the room and my decorating plans for it!  
You all know that one of my favorite things about blogging is connecting with so many of you.  I love getting to know the people who read my blog!  I’ve had several instances when I’ve been able to meet some of you and I have absolutely loved it.  I always feel an instant connection with people who read my blog.  One night I was at a work party with Kenny and I met someone and we were chatting.  I asked her if she had kids and she told me about them.  Then I said “I have three..” and she interrupted me and said “oh – I have to tell you – I know your kids – I read your blog!”  I thought – well then – tell me more about YOU since you not only know my kids but everything else about me including the fact that I burned dinner last night and I just bought this dress I’m wearing on sale for 20 bucks!  :)  It’s a strange feeling to meet someone you know nothing about when they know everything about you!  
I have to tell you all about my fun night last night.  A darling reader and decorator (Gina) and I have been e-mailing for years.  It started like it usually does – she left a nice comment and I answered her back.  She also lives in San Diego and we have always talked about getting together sometime.  Well last week we ran into each other.  And you’ll never guess where.  The Container Store!!  Of all places!  We had to laugh.  I was just stopping by after a quick workout at the gym and I was a mess!  In fact I remember looking in the mirror that morning thinking “I hope I don’t run into anyone I know today….”  (you know those days – and of course it never fails that you always run into someone!).  I had no make-up on, hair slicked back in a pony tail and was all sweaty.  I walked in the front door and she recognized me immediately – sweaty face and all.  :)  We hugged and chatted and laughed about finally meeting in our most beloved hang out.  We also decided it was time to finally get together.  So last night we met at Cheesecake Factory and seriously talked and laughed for hours.  
(blurry pic but the only one we got!)
It was so much fun – we just clicked!  The start of a long time friendship for sure.  We are already excited to get together again.  
I’m so grateful for this blog and for the fun friendships that have come because of it.
So grateful for all of you!
Happy Friday friends.
:)

xoxo, Erin
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Uncategorized
01.30.14

opinions please! (dining room rug options)

Popping in for a quick survey if you have a minute today!  I’m looking at yellow rugs for my formal dining room (I’ll show you pics of that room soon!).  I know it’s hard to give an opinion when you haven’t seen the space or my table yet, but just from looking at these rugs which one do you like the best?  I like them all three and am having a hard time deciding!  
{1}
{2}
Bazaar Wool Dhurrie rug also from West Elm 
{3}
OR the Octagon Trellis from Shades of Light

1, 2, or 3.  Do you have a  preference?  
Or have you seen another yellow rug you like other than these three?  
I shouldn’t ask that.  I’m indecisive enough as it is!  
:)
Thank you!
xoxo, Erin
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Home Decor
01.29.14

Downstairs Laundry Room

Sharing our downstairs laundry room today!  This room looks similar to other rooms I’ve shared.  It’s located right off of our mudroom and near the kitchen so I kept it cohesive with simple whites and grays (believe it or not I actually DO have rooms that look a little different – they are just few and far between).  :)  I’m going to apologize in advance for picture overload!  I got a little camera happy.  And for the brightness going on.  This room is so sunny because of the side of the house it’s located on.  I love that about it.  It’s a happy room that dare I say.. makes doing laundry not so bad.  :)    
Come in come in!

As soon as you enter the room you see one of my beloved farmhouse sinks.  It took some convincing to make Kenny understand just how much we needed one in this laundry room.  Luckily after living with an attorney for 17 years you learn a thing or two.  He’s not the only one in our house who is good at making a persuasive argument and closing a deal.  :)

I researched faucets to death while we were building.  I have a love for faucets, sinks, lights and hardware.  They are the little details that really make a space.  This bridge/arch faucet was love at first sight!  I will have to add the source for it later because I can’t seem to find it in my notes and it’s the one faucet whose info. I can’t remember off of the top of my head. 
Our last laundry room was TINY and didn’t have a sink so this space feels like such a dream to me.  This Shaw sink is perfect for rinsing off dirty rain boots or clothes.  The kids wash their hands here every day after school after they hang their backpacks in the mudroom.  

I also fell in love with this simple nautical/industrial pendant.  I ordered it on-line at Shades of Light.    

 Floor tile is the same tile we used in the girls’ bathroom.  I decided to place it in a basket weave pattern in the laundry room to mix it up a little.  For those of you who have asked about it, the manufacturer is Alfalux and it’s the Olimpia Series – Color Clay.  I ordered it through a tile store (knew I loved it the second I spotted it!) but you can find it on-line here.

I just went with a simple white subway tile backsplash and Caeserstone quartz countertops.  This quartz is different from the quartz I used in the perimeter of my kitchen.  It’s called “Concrete” and is more of a dark grey than a black.  So happy with how it turned out.

To the right you can see my upper cabinets.
And here’s a picture of the lower cabinets and the washer/dryer from our previous house.  I love the built-in look so we measured our washer/dryer and had our cabinet guy build the drawers below them too.  To the left of the cabinets above the washer/dryer you can see I added some open shelving.  I thought that would be a fun place to put a few baskets and bring some personality into the room.  What I didn’t understand until it was too late was how far set back they were from the other cabinets.  

I didn’t love how they jut back in – sort of hiding in the corner.  I thought about adding a cupboard door to make them closed and opening up the cupboards above the washer/dryer to be open shelving instead.  You can imagine Kenny’s reaction when I came up with that one (after everything was already installed)… “we haven’t even moved in yet and you’re already trying to remodel!?”  Ha!  Good thing he loves me.  :)  My builder convinced me to leave it for now and wait and see because it’s something we can always change down the road.  I’m glad he did because I think opening up the three cupboards above the washer/dryer would have been too much open shelving to style and a waste of good cabinet space.  Now that I’m living in my house and starting to decorate it I’m realizing that I have plenty of open bookcases and shelves to play with.   Besides, too much of a good thing is never a good thing.  Unless maybe you’re talking about open shelving?  :)

K – I am SO excited to show you my favorite thing about this room.  See the three bottom cupboards in the picture above?  How the hardware is located at the top?

They are pull out laundry baskets!  Ahhh! 
 Please tell me I’m not the only one who is dying over this little feature!? 
After years of having laundry in piles all over my hallway floor I appreciate this more than anything in my whole house.  I started dreaming about these pull out laundry drawers long ago.  The second we decided to build a house I said to Kenny “I’m putting pull out hampers in my laundry room!”  He already thinks I’m crazy so this being my first announcement didn’t phase him much.  Then when we met our architect I said “hi!  I’m Erin and I want pull out hampers in my laundry room!”  :)  K – maybe I took a minute to introduce myself first, but it really was one of the first things I told him I wanted. 

I still need to find some fun labels for them.  As soon as I do they will read “LIGHTS, DARKS, and TOWELS.”  An organizers dream come true.  :)  I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to have a place for our mounds of dirty clothes.  That isn’t the hallway floor.  
Here’s another favorite feature.  See the upper open cabinet on the far left?  
Pull down drying rack.  Can I get another woot woot!?  
:)

Used to dry all sorts of things I don’t want to put in the dryer.  Because of this laundry room’s location we’ve been using this drying rack for all things pool related.  I took this picture last week.  (Even though it’s too cold to swim we are using the hot tub most weekends.)  This will be especially nice in the summer so I don’t have to keep re-washing suits and towels that we use every day.  
 To the right of the washer/dryer is a cupboard door…  
that opens into a pull down ironing board.  My iron fits on the little shelf above it.  My mom has one of these in her house and I’ve always loved it.  A place for everything and everything in its place.  :)

There’s also an ugly electrical cupboard that I plan to cover up with a fun picture of some sort that will no doubt drive my husband crazy when he needs to get into it.   I came SO close to wallpapering this room and then decided to just paint it the same color as our kitchen/family/hallways for now (grey paint color is “Seattle” by Frazee).  I may still wallpaper it at some point.  Or maybe just add some colorful rugs and accessories and leave the walls neutral?  Fun options.  

So there you go!  Our main floor laundry room.  
Still hard to believe it’s out of my head and sitting right in front of me. 
Anyone in the mood to fold?  
:)  

xoxo, Erin
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New House
01.28.14

NEW HOUSE TOUR

Welcome to our new home!  We spent 2011-2013 designing and building our new house – although I spent years before that gathering pictures and ideas for it.  Feels like I’ve been planning this house for a lifetime.  :)  Now comes the really fun part – decorating and organizing it!  I took these pictures right before we moved in (October 2013) and I will be adding more rooms and updating them all as the spaces change and we make our new house a home.  Click on the link below each picture for detailed posts of each room.  Welcome and enjoy the tour!

xoxo, Erin
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Home Decor
01.27.14

Priorities and new kitchen rugs

It’s Monday!  And for a change I’m actually greeting this Monday with open arms.  Last week was a tough one around here.  My little buddy has been sick.
SO sick.  I snapped this pic with my phone just before his Xray.  Soon after our Dr. told me he had pneumonia and an ear infection in each ear.  :(  I pretty much held him for three days straight.  It’s so hard for me when my kids are sick.  It’s hard for all moms.  For obvious reasons it’s hard – forget about anything you thought you were going to get done.  But worse than that, it’s just hard to see them not feeling well.  You wish you could take all of their pain away.  But you can’t.  So you just hold them and love them and take care of them and get up in the night with them and feed them and clean up after them and then hold them some more.  A favorite quote of mine kept running through my head whenever I felt frustrated that nothing on my to-do list was being accomplished.  
I wrote about this quote last March and think of it often when I face hard days as a mom.  I love it and believe it 100%.  Thankfully my little boyfriend is doing MUCH better and next week will be a happier one for both of us.  I just know it.  :)  
While not much was accomplished around the house last week, I did somehow manage to get my floors clean enough to take some pics of my new kitchen rugs!  

I found them at Target.  I’ve been looking for some kitchen rugs with color for a while and just couldn’t commit to anything.

 When I saw these I knew they’d be perfect.  At least for a while until they get trashed or until I can make up my mind on other options (whichever comes first!).  The long, skinny runner fits perfectly in front of one of my sinks.

And the shorter 4 x 2 1/2  rugs work great for in front of my kitchen islands.  
 I know.  More grey and white.  But color is coming soon.  I promise.  

Aside from being in a grey and white rut, I seem to also be obsessed with this trellis pattern.  
Now I have it in my kitchen rugs, a rug in El’s room (pics coming soon), the nook light, and on my staircase.  Oh my word!  Just remembered I haven’t showed you my finished stairs yet!  I’ll take pics of them soon too.  I still have a lot of our new house left to share!  It’s all coming.  As soon as my kids are 100%.  Priorities.   

Hope you all have a happy and HEALTHY Monday.  And if you’re feeling low, head to Target.  They have cute rugs.   Plus that place always seems to cheer me up.  Like I said – priorities.  

                                                                                     :)

xoxo, Erin
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Organization
01.23.14

Organized Silverware

Slowly making my way around my kitchen!  Half of it is now organized and in tip top shape.  The other half – not so much.  But progress is progress and I’m just happy to finally know where things are instead of scrambling through various drawers or in boxes in the garage.  First up:  the silverware drawer.  Because it’s easy to organize.  Dump everything out on the counter.  Wipe out your silverware tray (buy/make one if you don’t have one).  Get rid of anything you have in that drawer that you don’t need or use.  Put everything back in its place.  10 minutes and done!   

I bought these grey and white organizers at Target.  Love them because they have non slip rubber on the base holding the silverware and on the back so they don’t move around in the drawer.

This fun little basket is from Anthro and was a perfect solution to hold all of our corn holders.  I placed our cheese knives next to them and beaters to the right by the knives.

We need some new knives at some point.  I think these were from our wedding!  I wash the wooden knives in the dishwasher and I’m not supposed to.  But I’m not a fan of things I can’t wash in the dishwasher.  So I do it anyway and magically they’ve lasted all this time.  Although they aren’t the prettiest knives around.

A few other organized silverware pics to get you in the mood to wipe out those crumbs and straighten up the spoon and fork drawer…

The organizer I used in my previous house.
 My mom’s silverware drawer.

My SIL’s silverware drawer.  They bought the fun colored trays at TJ Maxx.  
It’s a quick/easy drawer to knock off your “to-organize” list that makes a huge impact.  How many times are you in and out of this drawer throughout the day?  I am A LOT.
And now I smile every time I open it.  
:)
xoxo, Erin
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Uncategorized
01.22.14

Popping in

Popping in quickly today (I’ll have more to post soon!)

We’re still recovering from El’s sleepover party.  
Such a fun party and SO easy.  
The girls played, ate pizza and cake, swam in the hot tub, and watched a movie.
We gave them all matching panda pajamas.
And they looked adorable.
But they wouldn’t go to sleep.
Then they finally went to sleep but then they all woke up WAY too early.
That was the only not fun part that wasn’t SO easy.
But overall the party was a huge success. 
I know this because my now 10 year old daughter hasn’t stopped smiling since.
Mission accomplished.  
———————————————————————————————————————–
p.s.  Confession:  Remember how I said I was going to organize one room at a time so that I didn’t get projects going on all over the house?  Well.  Right now I have projects going on all over the house.  
But they are happy projects so I’m ok with that.  You are allowed to break your own rules if it makes you happy.  

That’s another rule.  

That I can break at any moment.  
:)
Be back soon.  Enjoy your day!

xoxo, Erin
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