Kitty Approved.

This is our newly placed garden path, and those are our cats reaping the rewards!  Originally this path was along the fence in the dirt but the hubby wants to put in garden boxes and plant a few trees so the stone had to go!  

See the trees back there?  It's along that fence where the path was.

So now that you've seen the after, here's how you can do it yourself!  On a side note, I realize I've been posting projects that have been done from start to finish by my husband but I swear I do some DIY, too!  Anyway, back to the point.  Here's what you'll need.

First, we talked about the best place for the path, considering both our future plans to expand the house and our backyard's current functionality.  We have a shed in the back and we felt it made the most sense to connect the patio to the shed via the path!  Then the hubby dug the first hole.

One step down!  The hubby filled in the edges and set each step slightly under ground level so that the lawn mower can pass over the stone easily.

The finished product!  Now that we've lived with it for a couple of weeks, we're going to add a couple more steps on either end to widen the path.

And just for fun, another picture of our sweet boy Chase enjoying the outdoors.  They are seriously so happy to have a backyard to roam!

Next up in the backyard we plan to plant the two lime trees and the avocado tree you see hanging out in the background, get some patio furniture for the paved area, and maybe hang a hammock - just in time for summer.

Wish List.

I've mentioned before how close we live to Ikea.  It's dangerous, really!  But also so fortunate, because there are so many things where one will find equal quality at Ikea to Home Depot, Lowe's, Cost Plus, Target, etc. and Ikea is almost always the cheapest.

This is why I'm such a huge fan of Ikea for furniture and decor.  We just bought our first house, but it's by no means our dream house.  We'll probably have to trade up a couple more times, at least, before we get there.  Here's hoping trading up also includes more space!  Considering the changes we're bound to encounter I just don't think it makes sense to invest in lifetime pieces - at least not all at once.  When you buy Ikea pieces, they hold up (at least in my experience) and you don't feel so bad when your taste changes or you want something different for a different space.

So here's my wish list for our current space:

Loving these glass lamps, with neutral shades. It also comes in white, tan or a pale pink.

I have seriously been drooling over this corduroy arm chair!

I am a Ribba convert. This is a gallery frame for $20! You can't beat the price, unless you have an Ikea Family Card, which often brings the price down to $15. Seriously the best.

Since I moved out for college I've been buying Hemnes pieces. At some point I'm going to be able to fill every room with them!

More hemnes. How (shabby) chic are these?

Ok, maybe Ikea isn't the best place for plants. But they seriously have everything!

Where are your favorite places to shop?  And what's on your wish list?

Shitty Landlords.

As one of my colleagues says, when you buy a house you are your own shitty landlord.  So true! Today's post is a "simple" before and after.  It's also an example of a project that moved way up to #1 on the old priority list out of pure necessity.  

When we moved into our house there were no window coverings, so we ran over to the nearest Ikea (which happens to be two minutes away!) to pick up some temporary shades.  For just $3 these were a major score!  The first thing you have to understand is that this is a strangely placed and oddly sized window.  Evidence below.  And the guest bedroom is identical.

Ignore the big white blob on the floor.  That's there for a future project.

See that guy there in the corner? Well I imagined a fun patterned shade or something.  But since we have to hold off on painting anything until we can resolve our insulation issue my days at the fabric store are few and far between.

This is not ok...

Well, four months later we're just getting to some permanent solutions.  And I'm ashamed to say that we're only replacing the shade in our bedroom now because our neighbors installed a pesky light that makes our room too bright at night.  After a full week of waking up in the middle of the night we couldn't take it anymore!  So off to Ikea we went.

My husband spotted this guy and after some convincing I agreed to give it a try.  For the record, I wanted white.

Once we got home, we measured the window.  Backwards, I know, but we had a rough idea.  It turned out that we needed to trim the rod a bit, which required taking the whole thing apart and using a hand saw to cut off about an inch.

Since we already had to take it apart, the hubby decided to cut off the almost two feet of extra length.

And voila!  Here's the finished product.  Ultimately, we'll paint the walls a light grey and probably go with white curtains on the big (normal) window to keep the space bright and crisp!

By the way, generally anywhere I use "we" I mean "my husband."  Credit where credit is due, you know?

Retreat.

I was looking at my last post about projects we have planned for our house in the coming year and realized that there is one space I completely left off the list. And this always happens! My husband and I have lived in three homes together and we just never get to designing the master bedroom. It's always the last space we think about because it's the one few guests see. Well that just won't do this time! That space should feel like a retreat and shouldn't be ignored just because we're the only ones who lay eyes on it.

There are a couple of legitimate hurdles, though.  First, our bedrooms are extremely COLD!  I've mentioned before that we were bummed to learn our house isn't insulated.  Well, we've got to fix that and we're evaluating the various methods of insulating - I'm voting for the method that involves poking holes and blowing it in versus the method where you tear down all the walls and simultaneously pull out your hair!  In any event, it might not be so smart to paint at this point.  The second issue is that some day, this room will be a nursery.  We need a dedicated office space for my self-employed husband (currently occupying the guest bedroom) and if our plans to add on pan out, we'll add on a new master bedroom and bath.

I suppose I can compromise and make some modest updates that can eventually transition into a new space for the master (i.e. furniture and decor) and hold off on projects that may be a waste of time and money (i.e. I may never get my hands on that gallon of revere pewter I so desperately want!).

Take a look at my vision board for the full picture:

master bedroom featuring french home accessories

Fabric shade / Energy star lighting / Energy star lighting / HUGO king sham / Home decor / French home accessory / Frame / Shadowbox frame / Joie word wall art / Handmade home decor / Black bedroom dresser / Black bedside table

I'm also excited to incorporate a recent (sort of) purchase.  Way back on Cyber Monday I purchased this duvet and it finally arrived today!

Calvin Klien Poppy Bedding Collection

Smell the roses.

Or peonies - whatever it takes!

I am a big believer in New Year’s resolutions.  I think resolutions focus us.  They help us to be accountable.  Especially because the nature of New Year’s resolutions is that they tend to be public, ideas we share with those around us.

In the past, I’ve set several resolutions each year.  Last year, with our wedding coming up mine were a little self-serving; to take the stairs at work and to wash my face every night.  I was really proud of myself for sticking with those two and only saw a minor drop-off after the big day!

This year I’ve set one, simple, but hard to achieve goal.  To simply smell the roses.  We’ve had one whopper - as my dad would say - of a year!  We’ve both had some big successes at work, I got a new car (after 10 lovely years with my first born), our wedding of course, and finally – to our big surprise – we bought our first home!  Any one of those things in a single year alone would be something to celebrate, but all together!?  Well I think it’s time for a nap in 2014!

Bye bye Neon, hello Volvo!

Safe to say, we are so lucky and so grateful, and this year I just want to sit back and enjoy.  Smell the roses, as they say.  I’m pretty ambitious, a symptom of my generation I guess.  Generally, I think that’s a great quality but it can lend itself to the feeling that nothing is good enough.  Nothing feels better than to see your hard work pay off but you’ve just got to stop and enjoy it, right?  My husband and I have taken to saying to each other, “Life is good,” and it sure is.