Birthday Presents!

Last weekend was my birthday.  I received some fun gifts for our home.  I thought I would share them!

One of my best friends made me this below.  We put it in our entryway.  I love it!

My parents gave me these pillows for our couches in the living room.  They have roosters on them, which I find to be unique and fun.  They put a little more color to the room, without going overboard.  The solid colored pillows are from Stein Mart.  They look like the Pottery Barn ones, but are 1/4 of the price!

Chalkboards, Chalkboards, and More Chalkboards....

I bought some chalkboard spray paint today.  So naturally I have been turning things into chalkboards around the house.  I got my hands on a few things in our bathroom today.  Who knows what will turn into a chalkboard tomorrow?!? 

DIY Mantle

Last weekend I went antique shopping with my best friend.  It was quite the day!  We went to many places and I actually ended up buying a lot (for me).  I had a couple of ideas in mind for my entryway, laundry room, and mantle so I was a little scatterbrained (I was also running around with a viral infection and fever).  But it was worth it.  I found some candlesticks half off at this new fancy home decor store and some frames at Salvation Army.  I am usually not a DIY type of girl but with a little bit of paint and some extra treasures I snagged at the Dollar Tree, my mantle became my weekly project.  Here it is!

It all comes out in the wash: Part 1

Last weekend I started researching ideas on how I should decorate my laundry room. I was so excited to get started. I told myself that as soon as I was finished with my work week on Friday I would get started on this new project of mine. So, obviously I was pretty excited about the weekend until Wednesday came around...and I got sick. The kind of sick that makes you feel like you have been ran over by a truck and left for dead.  It is now Friday evening and I am starting to feel a little better but I probably should not tackle the project of decorating an entire room (no matter how small it might be) right now.  So I have decided to put this project on the back burner for one more week.  Here are my ideas for my new laundry room:

I love the color of this laundry room.  The color I choose will be pretty close to this one.  We also have a shelf above our washer and dryer.  This picture gave me the idea to keep our shelf white as well.  I also plan on hanging our ironing board against the wall since the room is so small and there is not a lot of space.

I love this, "It all comes out in the wash," decal.  One of my best friend's mom would always say this to us when we were dealing with whatever high school drama we had at the time.  I also like the idea of having baskets on the shelf.

I am stealing this idea from another best friend of mine.  In fact this is her actual one she has hanging up in her dining room.  Thanks for the idea Megan!

Hopefully I will be feeling better soon and will be able to tackle this project next weekend!

Holiday Plates

I used to work at a pottery painting studio with one of my best friends in Tulsa.  When Jack and I were engaged she decided to throw me a shower at the studio.  All of my friends painted us a plate.  Each plate had a holiday theme.  I love displaying the plates my dear friends have painted for us in our kitchen.  It helps make holiday decorating a fun process!  I thought it would be fun to show you my January, February, and March plates (however, all of the plates are super cute!).

Family Love

Trying to decorate our house involves a lot of buying and a lot of new things.  However, this past weekend I received a couple of things that have been passed down in my family for years.  I thought I would share them with you!

I have a very large family and we are very close.  It has always been hard for my friends to keep up with who is who. During the holidays I get to spend a lot of time with my aunts.  My friends refer to all of my aunts as one, "The Aunts."  One day over Thanksgiving break I was out to lunch with The Aunts and they were talking about a lamp that was their mother's mother a.k.a Momo.  My ears immediately perked up when it sounded like I might get the chance to have this lamp.  I didn't know what it looked like and I didn't care, if it was Momo's then it had to be cool so I spoke up and The Aunts said YES!! I was so excited! When my parents delivered the lamp to me I couldn't believe my eyes- it is beautiful!  I LOVE it!  Here is a picture of the lamp.  It looks perfect in our entryway.

My parents also brought me this picture.  I get to keep it in my kitchen since it matches our rooster theme.  It was in my grandparents house and my dad loved it so it was handed down to my parents.  I remember it from when I was a little girl.  I love it.

I have also stolen an idea from my sister.  She made a copy of my grandmother's golden rolls recipe (the famous rolls we eat every Thanksgiving and Christmas).  She framed it and placed it in her kitchen.  This is very special to us because the recipe is in our Grandmother's handwriting.  There is even a smudge from when she was actually cooking.  So thanks sis for letting me steal your fabulous idea!

A Place to Unwind

Decorating our house has been a slow (and exciting) work in progress.  For some reason I decided to tackle the bathrooms first.  I think it is because they are smaller and seem less overwhelming (and costly).  Here is my favorite part of our bathroom- the bath tub!  I love taking bubble baths.  It is my way to escape after a hard day of work, which is about everyday! 


My wonderful husband naturally thought I was going overboard when I started talking about dreams of putting a chandelier, lots of candles, picture frames, etc. around the bathtub.  However, I actually found many ways to get what I wanted and still keep the price down.  At first I was unsure of where to start so I went to Garden Ridge in Tulsa right after Christmas and snatched all of these candles for half off or more.  I was pretty pleased because we all know candles can be pricey.  I really wanted the candles to smell fabulous to help create a relaxing environment, but I got around having to spend a lot of money on fragrant candles by buying half of the candles fragrant free.  That cut the cost even more! 


After my candles were in place I started digging in my picture closet (yes, I actually have a whole closet devoted to picture albums, frames, etc.) and started arranging frames I already had in a way I loved.  A lot of the frames were leftover from our wedding, so I felt the satisfaction of putting some of my old wedding decor in good use.  I then found some old fabric from a past pinterest project and used it in a frame to go with my new theme and I also added pictures that make me happy since this is my happy place!


After the ledge was complete, I became very motivated to finish this part of the bathroom!  I picked up a bath rug with a giftcard my mom gave me and new towels with some potterybarn bucks I received in the mail for buying a new house.  I also put up the picture frame (a wedding gift) with a picture from our wedding day on the wall.  The next step was the chandelier.  I was hoping to find a candle one so we would not need to worry about electrical stuff.  I found the perfect one at Pier One (the first place I went to!).  My last step was to fill a vase I already had with bath beads and I snagged a cake stand at an antique shop for my fancy soaps.  And voila!  I have the perfect place to relax at the end of my days! 

This decorating experience has taught me to be patient.  My patience allowed me to snag deals, wait for coupons and giftcards to come my way, and use things I already had.  Which resulted in doing what I really wanted without settling.  What a great experience and place to relax!