Abstract Art

I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend! We hosted over 15 family members at our house for a big Easter Brunch/Zach's Birthday/My Birthday Extravaganza! We had a blast with our family, as always, with tons of food, games and laughs. Emerson did so well with so many people, too. Let's just say she doesn't mind being the center of attention. :)

So I've been in "nesting" mode again... No, Mom, I'm not prego. Since we are staying in Seattle for the next three years and staying in our current rental for at least another year or so, I want to get more settled and put my own stamp on this place. I've been updating the bathroom some and now I'm trying to get more art up on the walls. 

The art in our home is mostly all DIY, family photos or prints from Etsy. We don't have any official "real" artwork on the walls. Our budget just hasn't allowed it, but that's OK. Actually, I take that back. We do have a few smaller pieces that I accumulated from my travels - a watercolor of the Duomo in Firenze, a watercolor of Vernazza, Italy (Cinque Terra), an oil painting of Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower in Paris, spray paint art from our honeymoon in Cabo. I love these so much and they remind me of our travels every time I look at them. 

That being said, we still don't have any other "real" art that isn't of a place where we've traveled. I've been seeing a ton of inspirational abstract art on Etsy and some other blogs I read and I'm in love with it! I think it's time that I diversified a little bit. Added some abstract art to mix things up and add some color. There are some beautiful colorful pieces of art out there and the nice thing is that there is some really affordable art. It may not be the original art, but a print of the original art is just as good in my book (and much easier on my pocketbook). I rounded up some of my favorites after scoping out some other round ups like this, this, and this.

1. Britt Bass 2. Michelle Armas 3. Belinda Marshall 4. Cortney North 5. Parima Studio

I ended up buying the Michelle Armas print and I can't wait until it gets here! I'm excited to add some much needed color and texture to the walls!

What art are you digging lately? Abstract? Landscapes? Typography? If you have any other suggestions for great art, please share!

Quick Bathroom Update

Our new house has a lot of quirky features. If we weren't renting, I would be going full force on updates, but with a baby coming and since we are just renting I'm all about the quick and easy (and cheap!) updates. 

This bathroom had (luckily) already been updated recently. The vanity and mirror are great and it's neutral enough to add our own accessories to bring in some color. The bad part about the room is that the shower is one of those glass sliding door showers. I really don't like those. Plus, the sliding door is too low for Zach so water was splashing every where over the top. 

My quick solution was to put up a regular curtain over the existing sliding door. We already had the gray shower curtain from our last bathroom, so we really just needed to pick up a curtain rod and some hangers. It took about five minutes and now we have some fun pattern going on in our neutral bathroom. 

We hung the curtain high so Zach wouldn't be splashing everywhere, but it does block out some of the light. Zach doesn't mind though and I usually leave the curtain open half way to let in more light. It's nice to keep it closed when we aren't using it though, to cover up the sliding door eye sore!

I like that it's such a simple improvement that makes a big difference! Now to add some art on the walls and some fun accents in that little book across from the sink!

DIY: Home is Wherever I'm With You Pillow

Sad news. My best friend, Kim, is moving across the country. :( For three years at least. It makes me sad. To be fair, I did move halfway across country to Arizona two years ago, so I guess we're even? 

No, seriously, I am so happy for Kim and her hubby, Jake, to embark on their next adventure. I can speak from experience when saying moving to a far away place can be scary, but also an amazing growing experience with fun new adventures to be had!

We had our farewell dinner last week at this amazing little restaurant in Seattle called Pasta Freska. You are seated and then the Chef comes to your table and asks you if there is anything you can't eat, don't like, etc. I said no fish, Kim and Zach said not too spicy and Jake said bring it on! No menu, no prices listed. He just brings you a bottle of wine (and a Raspberry Lemonade for the prego) and the first course begins! Such a cool experience and everything was so delicious. Brought us all back to Italy! I think in all we had about 7 courses including dessert. It was a little spendy, but well worth it for a nice dinner out to celebrate awesome friendships! 

So, back to the pillow. I wanted to send them off with a sweet going away gift and have always loved the "Home Is Wherever I'm With You" quote from this song. Further evidence here that I love it and how relevant it was to us when we moved to Arizona (and to Kim and Jake now that they are moving to Charlotte.

Luckily, I had everything on hand for this project, it was just a matter of putting it all together, which was super easy!

Supplies:

Fabric

Felt

Fiberfill

Embroidery thread

Scissors

Needle

Sewing machine with matching thread

Step One: Print out your quote in the font you want. Cut out the paper letters individually first.

Step Two: Cut out your fabric in two square pieces the same size. If you are using fiberfill, you can make it any size you want. If you have a pillow form, measure the form and cut accordingly. I made mine about 17 inches square.

Step Three: Cut out the felt letters. 

Step Four: Play with the placement on your pillow.

Step Five: Start stitching! I started with the bottom row to make sure there was enough space along the bottom. I used a simple running stitch on each letter with three strands (half) of the embroidery thread. 

Step Six: Sew the pillow together using a straight stitch with your machine. I used navy thread that blended in quite nicely. Make sure to leave a good 5-6 inch gap at the bottom so you can stuff your pillow. 

Step Seven: Turn the pillow inside out and stuff with fiber fill. Make sure to get into the corners really well. I didn't stuff it too full because I wanted it to be comfy and soft. 

Step Eight: Sew up the pillow using a hidden stitch. I used the navy thread and didn't have to be that careful since it blended in. 

Don't you love it? Modern and simple. Perfect for Kim's style - and she loved it too! Such and easy project, I think it took me two nights while watching TV. Not bad at all. I kind of want to make one for myself now! :)

We'll miss you Kim and Jake!!!

PS see more of my pillow projects here!

Our Home: The Bathroom

Happy Monday and Happy Tax Day! I hope you had a great weekend. We had a ton of fun with our family celebrating my sister's birthday. She's getting old... quarter of a century! :) Just kidding. Love you J!

Anyways, I thought I'd share with you a quick fix of our bathroom today. Just what you want to see on Monday morning right? :) Our house has one little bathroom and I can't wait until we have a place with two! Luckily we have different shower schedules, so it isn't too big of a space problem.

It's amazing what a difference a simple shower curtain can make. We got this camouflage-like shower curtain for our wedding. I really liked it but it's been four years, and as you can see by the lovely shade of yellow on the walls, it made the small room look even more yellow. By the way, this yellow color used to be the color of the kitchen too! Not my favorite. Since we are just renting, I am less than enthusiastic about painting the bathroom, so we are leaving it as is, yellow and all. Here's the before...

And here's the after. Much better, no? See how just having the gray pattern tones down the yellow? Makes it much more manageable. Plus, I do love the yellow/gray/white color story these days.

That's it! A quick and simple fix to change the whole look of our bathroom. How often do you switch up shower curtains? Have you made any quick (and cheap) fixes lately that make a huge difference?

Our Home: The Kitchen

I want to share with you guys a little tour of our kitchen today. I love the kitchen in our house, except for the fact that it is a little small. It actually has a lot more storage than our Arizona kitchen, but it's still a ways from my dream kitchen. It also works really well with all my aqua kitchenware. In any case, the kitchen works for what we need now and is the next stop on the house tour!

First, I did a quick update to de-clutter the kitchen window sill. Here's what it looked like before. Clutterville. Sure, I like all the pieces separately, but all together they were not working.

And here's the after. Much less stuff. Much more style. I love the cow creamer (from Target) and the vintage salt and pepper shakers Zach got me last Christmas.  The faux plants are from IKEA and the little metal buckets were from the $1 section at Target!

Here's the rest of the place. I really do love the white cabinets. They keep it light and clean. And I'm still diggin' my twelve dollar shelves. Such a great way to use that otherwise wasted space (and add lots of storage!).

One downside is that the laundry is also in the kitchen. But at least we have a washer and dryer and at least they are new and don't take up a lot of space!

Some items on my list that I'd still like to update:

- Make some no sew roman shades for the window
- Get a new rug with some color and pattern

I also painted the kitchen back in December - it used to be yellow ala our bathroom (more on that coming soon). The gray is much much better. Since we are renting, there's not much more I want to or really can do.

Do you like your kitchen? What's one thing you would change about your kitchen? What's your favorite part (I really like having the window to the back yard and the white cabinets!). Do tell!

West Elm Finds

I went to West Elm recently for a little shopping day and thought I'd share some of my favorite finds. It was my first time at the downtown Seattle location and I lurvvved it. I loved everything in the store. Seriously. I want it all. Instead, I settled for a few cute little things (more on those later). There was a whole wall of these aqua bottles and honeycomb vases. Please can someone get me one of those stat. 

They had a ton of great light fixtures, but I especially liked this little geometric guy.

On my wish list is a couple of these bell jars... love the shape and think they'd look great in different sizes in a cluster on the table for display.

Salt n' pepper shakers are the one thing that I collect and I loved these little owl guys!

Loved this minty kitchenware.

I really want a lamp like this! The gourd shape is awesome and I love the clear base with contrasting shade.

I'm obsessed with stripes. Enough said.

This rug would look really good in my kitchen. I'm also obsessed with navy.

Navy + stripes! Whhhhhaaat?! The perfect combo all wrapped up in this little toothbrush cup.

Loved this navy jewelry box with gold detail.

This dresser is fantastic with the detail on the drawers.

You know how I feel about distressed wood. This headboard is awesome. And also $1,300.

This pillow case was calling my name! But, I think I'm going to attempt to knit something very similar this fall. Stay tuned...

So what did I purchase? Ever since this trip, I've wanted some antlers. Kim told me about these at West Elm paper mache type antlers for $19 so I was hoping they'd be everything I wished for and more. Just so happens that while checking the clearance section I found this little guy for only $3! He is slightly damaged, but nothing a little coat of spray paint can't cure. So I snatched him up.

I also got this guy (the turtle on the left). Apparently I was on a mission for animals. And they're all male. He's so cute and white and perfect! He's currently residing on a stack of navy vintage books on the mantle!

Those were my West Elm finds. What have you find lately?

Obsessed: Barn Wood Tables

Currently I am obsessed with these barn wood tables (top two images from A Beautiful Mess; bottom two images from Wit & Whistle). I love the texture, the blend of colors, the herringbone, the detail. They're just so much more interesting than a regular wood table. Tons of character and I like that. Plus the thin hairpin legs are such a good mix with the natural toned wood. Love love love it.

I'm hoping to someday make one of my own. And hopefully soon... I've already decided I'm only asking for power tools for Christmas (hint hint ;). Then all I have to find is some barn wood and some hairpin legs! I'm thinking mine will be a side table for next to the couch. Must make one of these pronto!