I realized I never posted Sunday’s instagram post to the ‘ole Blog so wanted to share this adorable skirt with you all!
This is a great one that can be worn for work + weekend alike!
I love the blue and white colors and the eyelet for summertime.
AND. The best part….. remember those built in bra tank tops that you used to always wear from Express!?
Welp. They still got ’em and they’re just as great as ever.
Also, my scalloped heels are *finally* back in stock!!!
:: Home Updates : Screened In Porch ::
Our back porch renovation is finally complete (enough)
to share some before and after photos with all of you!
Here is a shot of the porch before:
This was the listing photo, so we had some different furniture out there for 9 months, but this was the layout of the deck and we had the same string lights. The deck needed to be replaced no matter what, because the wood was starting to rot and the railings were a bit shaky, but we were hoping we would be able to build the porch we were dreaming about having.
(to just see the end pics, scroll a little further!)
Two bids and 8 months later, we had given up. The quotes we had gotten were twice the amount of what we had hoped and budgeted for, so we had settled for just a new deck to replicate the old one.
Then we gave it one more chance and got a quote we could work with!
The week we got back from Italy, they got to work – it was crazy how fast all of the woodwork and structure actually went up. There were pauses and days with no work in between while waiting on things, but the bulk of it was really fast.
A few things that delayed work : We came home to the black metal railings but we had wanted a
wood design, so that change paused work at one point.
We went with a whitewash type of brick and kept the ceiling beams
exposed instead of painting them white.
We also came home to the screens in black wth the border showing all around from the interior. In a way, I liked the way it looked with the black trim (kind of like the interior windows that are more popular now that look so pretty and crisp and fresh) but it looked wrong with all of the white. All you saw when you walked outside were the screens. It looked like a total accident, and turns out it was, and now with the correct screens they just blend in and you don’t even notice them.
And finally, a completed porch!
We still need to get things and decorate more (a high top table maybe, put out our big beverage holder, I’d love to make it really feel like an interior with some pictures or something) but it is fully in use and has been our go-to spot for everything from breakfast on weekends to dinner after work and everything else!
We had the two french doors already, so now we just keep them opened up and make it one big space.
sources : SOFA + PILLOWS from Costco // SIDE TABLES/GARDEN STOOLS // STRIPED RUG from Annie Selke
Kip helped out everywhere he could, from painting to digging out this area and hand laying all of these stones for the walkway out to the yard.
This other door below goes into our master bedroom, which was an addition made to the house from previous home owners. It’s great to have the option to walk straight out from our bedroom. There’s a ton of space on this side area of the porch that we need to make use of still.
I’d love suggestions for what to do with the the empty space (the area area by our bedroom door) to add more seating or make it more cozy!
This was just a quick set up to get it functioning,
and we added some plants and pumpkins from Lowe’s this weekend!
We are so excited to have it for all of these gorgeous upcoming fall weekends though!
:: Saturday Steals ::
:: Home Update : Built in Bar ::
I am crazy lucky to have an extremely handy husband.
A man that can fix things and knows his way around a tool box is a real #ManCrushMonday
He can do and build pretty much anything. Just ask him. He built the house that they lived in in college (and he will happily tell you that). But seriously, it is amazing. He is loaned out to girlfriends and family on many occasions – so Atlanta ladies, let me know if you need help with anything. He prefers to be barefoot and shirtless outdoors, so if you have projects that allow that, he will be there in a heartbeat.
We turned the dining room off of our kitchen and living room into a den, because we don’t really have a need at this time for a dining room. (I posted in the past about the table I got that transforms into a dining table when needed when I shared our living room!)
We were dying to do a built in bar on the empty wall in there – similar to Ramona, I need my Pinot Grigio! – and thankfully my husband – who also loves himself some Friday Happy Hour – of course said to just leave it all to him.
We went to Ikea to get the cabinets, and to be honest, I had expected it to be a bit of a nightmare, but it wasn’t! We found these great grey cabinets that we loved, decided on the cabinet style, and then someone helped us design the whole thing on a computer once we knew what we were looking for. Right down to the built in wine rack!
It was a one stop shop – which was amazing. We went that day, picked it all out, loaded up the truck with a gazillion things, and headed home.
(oh…. we were there a long enough time to be starving…. do NOT get food whilst waiting for your parts to get wheeled out from the pick-up area. I don’t know what these rumors are about “good food”, but what we had was horrifying.)
Kip built the cabinets in no time. I was shocked how fast. There were some slight issues with height and width being off – it was Ikea after all – but we were he was able to finagle a few things and get it to work!
The hardest part was the lighting – he installed all of the lights inside the top cabinets and the under mount lighting, but we had to have an electrician add some things into the wall for us since the wall didn’t have what we needed (see how technical I am? I clearly have no idea what we didn’t have and needed, but it got fixed!)
Finding a countertop took a little thinking, because no one could work with us since we only needed such a tiny slab. I came across Stone Solutions in Marietta and was able to go to the warehouse and look through leftover pieces and have one cut and delivered and installed.
I am so obsessed with the bar – it completely transformed the room. We would have loved to have put a wine fridge in, but it is way too narrow . We actually had to use upper cabinets on the bottom because it is such a tiny space so no fridge would fit. We have a mini fridge hidden in the other corner of the room with a mirrored tray and accessories on top – so that works well for us! I’m still working on the rest of the room – it’s a compilation of pieces from Chicago like our leather couch from the basement, and pieces from my moms house and our old beach house all thrown together.
We got the cabinet knobs and draw pulls all from Lowes.
That’s actually what took me so long to share the bar since it’s technically been done for months! 🙂 We didn’t put the hardware on the drawers for a while because we couldn’t find the right finish – no stores had anything but silver or black – and then we stumbled across it finally in a completely wrong section of the store one day!
I am still working on styling the bar and adding more of my china and crystal and such, but we get so much use out of it! For now, I moved my ginger jars from the living room built-in-bookshelves over and some flowers, but I am on the hunt for pieces to put up there. A few things I snagged from my moms house don’t fit, so those went into the living room instead. As always, thanks mom for letting me “borrow” things every time I leave the house 🙂
also, I am obsessed with these Trader Joe’s Ginger Beers. Isn’t the bottle gorgeous?
I try to keep them stocked since they look so pretty on display!
We have lots of other home projects that we hope to complete, but this has definitely been my favorite so far. For this room we still need to get new rug, recover a chair, etc, but I don’t even care when that is done because this is the focal point of the room and luckily is immediately what everyone sees.
we are working on sprucing up the back deck now, and got an outdoor sofa yesterday! the deck still needs to be replaced, but until that gets done, we decided not to hold off anymore on outdoor furniture since it is already so gorgeous here and fully patio season!
Cheers to Happy Hour!!
ps. my absolute favorite Pinot Grigio,
arguably better than Santa Margherita and a much better price, is Kris!
and Total Wine sells it for a STEAL – always at least $5 less than Publix or the liquor stores!
Cheers to Handy Husbands!
Happy Hour starts promptly at 5 at Casa Richmond!
Hope you all have a great start to the week!
:: Fixer Upper + HGTV Obsessions ::
If you are anything like me, you absolutely LOVE the HGTV channel, and Fixer Upper is one of your favorite shows.
I have been wanting to discuss the HGTV design shows for awhile but kept forgetting, and then I stumbled across this article when googling “how many dogs do Chip and Joanna Gaines have?”. It is hilarious, and one hundred percent not intended to be so. The article is titled The Hypocrisy of HGTV’s Chip and Joanna Gaines of Fixer Upper. You can tell from the title alone where this is going…. and why I thought it was hilarious. The woman writing this article claims that they are horrible parents who are never with their children, bad Christians who do not live a biblical lifestyle, she is a bad mom for working, and on and on. AND ON. I only share it because it is laughable the extent that his woman takes it to, and I seriously burst out laughing when I read the part where she accuses Jo of “child labor” when her kids drew drawings to decorate the new play space for the new homeowners. CHILD. LABOR. Are you kidding me???? Please, read this article. If you do not think this woman is crazy, and laugh out loud at the sheer insanity of it, you are probably reading the wrong blog right HURR or think I am a lunatic as well (which I have never claimed not to be…. just definitely not in this sense). In summary, I love Chip and Joanna SO much and few shows bring such a huge smile to my husbands face while I creepily look over at him watching Chip and his antics. Or Chip’s “sins” as she calls it.
On to the article of praise and love for Chip and Joanna, the cutest family in the whole world and best thing to ever happen to HGTV. (PAH-REACH!).
I loved reading this article from one of the couples that had their home renovated by Chip and Joanna for the show. I was especially excited because I LOVED this house so much. They had the most gorgeous bathroom they have ever done on the show. It was insanely, insanely, drool-worthy beautiful.
This house also had the most gorgeous pocket doors going into the husband’s music room which of course there is no great photo of, but I did find one with them hiding in the background. Trust me… they were stunning.
I had previously thought that they didn’t touch any of the other bedrooms, and I’m sure it varies episode to episode based on budget, but she said for their home they renovated every room and did all floors/walls/fixtures and that they don’t miss a single design opportunity. See the full article here.
Click here to see all photos of the House In The Woods episode, which was such a great house. Also, this gigantic house renovation that was the season premiere one year was a favorite of mine too. The house was huge! (I will say that in this current new season, she did a few houses and worked with the clients style that is not at all like her own – one was a super, super, modern house for example – and I definitely prefer when she sticks to her roots and her design aesthetic.)
There is another show on HGTV where the couple drives me a little bit nuts sometimes, but I still like to see the homes and I love that it is set in Nashville.
Masters of Flip stars married couple Kortney and Dave, and they usually do incredible renovations to homes that begin in an awful state. Sometimes her homes have incredibly awful quirky taste… one episode in particular was so horrendous that I was shouting at the television. She WANTED it to be staged as if it was grandma-chic… as if you were walking in to your grandmothers house. The house itself was gorgeous, and the staging seemed like it was a practical joke. It varies episode to episode, some houses I love it all, some I hate everything she puts in it, but again, I like to watch 🙂 I did find a couple photos that show the bones of what they do is great, but then she’ll do things like bright green paint on the exterior. Not at all my thing, but I know others like it. She really loves herself some color.
My brain is like AHHH where do I look with the way she styles/stages. Here are some photos of the grandma decor house below :
This couple annoys me the way that Tarek and Christina (#RIP) do – they argue about things and make things related to the renovation all dramatic, and as Chip and Joanna so perfectly prove, drama does not need to be a part of these shows to make them successful. BUT, then they get cute? I feel like maybe they got feedback and changed it up a bit/learned to LOCK IT UP. Anyways, they do full-gut-rehabs and it’s great to see some all of the different things they do, because each house and episode can vary drastically from the last!
There is a new couple with a show premiering March 21st that I am super excited about called Home Town. Home Town features another married couple that live in a small town in Mississippi. I have high hopes.
I had originally confused Home Town with a show that I saw the pilot episode for forever ago called Sweet House Alabama. I googled that show when it aired and saw that it brought me to a blog called Perfectly Imperfect. I just went back to their site and learned that HGTV passed on having them as a show, which I am so sad about because they did such a gorgeous job renovating in the pilot episode.
One that I love is Good Bones, with a mother daughter duo who do TONS of the work themselves. They really get in their and know so much about the construction aspect of things its crazy. I love that they always start with SERIOUSLY disgusting houses that look like tear downs and make it amazing. They do some decor/design choices that are a bit eeehhhh as well, but I like both of them and the show so much – they seem so sweet.
Oh, I also enjoy Love It or List It, Too with Jillian from the Bachelor/Bachelorette. And the original Love It or List It has grown on me as well. I like the Jillian version better just because she is so darn cute.
And to end, we circle back on Chip + Jo. Here are 16 things you may not know about the lovely couple. Oh, and in case you missed their latest “behind the scenes” post, he no longer has the dark tooth mentioned in the gif above 🙂 He has a fancy white one now and he was hilarious talking about in on the show.
What are your favorite HGTV Shows?
What are your thoughts on the couples and their banter on the shows?
intro image via @betches instagram
:: FRIDAY THINGS + DIY ::
I tend to do things late on the blog. You know that.
I still haven’t even posted about our Christmas vacation 🙂 so stay tuned…..
I figure, Christmas and New Years may be over,