kitchen nook

My trusty assistant, Hazel, and I were over at Aunt Sarah & Uncle Greg's house yesterday, and we started chatting about their kitchen. They recently repainted their kitchen cabinets, updated the hardware, and added a great buffet that they painted a fun, bright color. I'm pushing them to add a small table and two chairs in there as well. I think it would create such a warm & welcoming breakfast area!

Bryn recently posted about these rattan beauties, on *major* sale at World Market...



I think the pair would look incredible with Ikea's knock-off of the Saarinen dining table...



I love the pairing of the modern table with more traditional chairs... Not to mention that this combo would give you a very high-end look on the cheap!







P.S. - I'm hoping to be back around these parts a little more often now! I received the sweetest email from a new reader, and it was just the encouragement I needed! Thank you for sticking around, friends!

baby girl nursery inspiration

My streak continues! This past weekend we headed to our friends' baby gender reveal party... And, once again, my guess was wrong... They will be welcoming a baby girl in July! I'm absolutely thrilled for them, and can't wait to add another little girl to our growing play group.

I actually pulled together these baby girl nursery ideas last week, but the days got away from me and I never posted it. So as part two of baby boy nursery inspiration, I'm back with two nursery ideas for baby girl W.

There are just so many options for little girls, and I was torn between this gray, lavender & white room with pops of coral pink:

1. White curtain panels with coral pink pom pom trim

2. Owl baby mobile for over the crib

3. Babyletto Mercer crib

4. Set of alphabet & number prints (with adorable owls for O's!)

5. Lilac & coral pink ikat fabric for crib skirt

6. Owl lamp

7. Stamped Scallop rug in gray

8. White & gold dipped leg side table or dresser

{DIY project inspiration here}

Background: Benjamin Moore misty lilac paint for walls

 

And this fun, bright pink & orange room with tons of DIY project ideas:

 

 

 1. White floating shelves
{DIY project inspiration here}

2. Pink ombre felt-wrapped letters for over the dresser

{DIY project inspiration here}

3. Jenny Lind crib

4. Pink & orange ikat fabric for crib skirt & roman shade

{even more budget-friendly chevron print here}

5. Off-white rocker/ glider, found on Craigslist

6. Pink chevron rug

{DIY project inspiration here & here}

7. Orange monogram throw pillow

{DIY monogram inspiration here}

8. Orange lamp

Background: Benjamin Moore Love & Happiness paint (in stripes) for walls

 

Which one gets your vote?

found friday: target x benches

Whoops! So there goes my attempt to create a scheduled blog feature... 'Found Friday' bumped to Saturday on my second one.

But this does work to your advantage. My original post was going to include these awesome coral x benches, with swoon-worthy contrasting white piping...

I could hardly believe my eyes when I came across these fully upholstered benches at my local Target! I've seen a lot of great DIY projects for inexpensive x benches from Target or Sears, but all have wooden legs.

I love, love, love that these are closer to my favorite budget-busting Ballard Design beauties. Although, admittedly, with the lower price tag comes a less sturdy feel. I still think these would look great at the foot of a bed or under a console table... especially for only $70 a piece!

End of post... Until my sister and I came across a major sale at one of my favorite local stores, Post & Gray. Custom upholstered ottomans on Century furniture frames, marked over 50% off! The vendor was cleaning out her warehouse and had tons of different patterns, styles and sizes on sale.

These were such a bargain at $50 each (cheaper than even my good ol' Target finds!) My sister is slowly redecorating her living room, and these add such a fun pattern! I'm now regretting that I didn't pick up a pair myself. If you're local, be sure to check out the sale (it ends this week!)

there was one in the bed...

Rewind to four years ago... when I tossed my husband's king size bed from his bachelor pad days to the curb. And while I still stand by my reasoning (the bed was HUGE for the room), I'm starting to reconsider.

Fast forward to today... Perhaps it's my punishment for walking around these past six months bragging about how well Miss Hazel sleeps... But our sweet little thing is going on 3 weeks of up-and-down evenings. She does, however, sleep like a rock if she's snuggled up in our bed. Which, of course, leaves one of us out on the couch.

So are these sleep-deprived parents now googling sleep training? Nope. A bigger bed? Bingo. {Feel free to subtract points for bad parenting now...}

I'm thinking a patterned upholstered headboard, a la West Elm...

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But, of course, DIYed with a budget-friendly fabric from Premier Prints...

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Although I must admit that a large part of me still wants to find this gorgeous ikat fabric from Mary Jo's... A year and a half later!

What do you think... When does function trump aesthetics? When does a bed become too large for a room? A post on searching for the world's smallest nightstands may be coming up soon, friends! 

baby boy nursery inspiration

Dear friends of ours are expecting their first baby in July.  They find out this weekend whether their baby W will be a he or a she!  In the meantime, I couldn't resist pulling together a few nursery inspiration boards.

I have a feeling that they'll be welcoming a little bambino, so I'm starting off with a baby boy nursery board.  (Although in full disclosure, I've been wrong on my baby gender guesses about 90% of the time, including my own!)

Outside of the crib & rug, this entire board is thrifted or DIY... Proof that a chic nursery doesn't have to break the budget!

Here is baby boy W's vintage car inspired nursery...

1. Set of framed vintage car prints for over the crib

{found on Etsy for $75, but I scored a set of 6 prints without frames at a yard sale for $0.50!}

2. Baby Mod ParkLane crib

3. Navy buffalo check fabric for crib skirt & roman shade

{DIY projects from here & here} 

4. Peg board for over dresser to hold diapers, spraypainted a fun color

5. Area rug, found at Home Goods

6. Vintage car club throw pillow 

7. Benjamin Moore Sea Salt CSP-95 for the wall color

 8. Leather rocker/ glider, found on Craigslist



our weekend {in pictures}

Happy Monday, folks!  We had a relaxing weekend... and as a bonus, it was extra long due to an ice storm that had Hazel's daycare and Jeff's office closing early on Friday.  And for that I say, keep the ice & snow coming!

We bundled up in some warm new clothes, thanks to Yiayia...

 



Took a few naps...

Watched an unfortunate (for UNC fans, at least) basketball game with aunt Sarah & uncle Greg...

And started celebrating the Carnival season!  Mardi Gras is two weeks away... which obviously calls for muffalettas, homemade jambalaya & Hazel cuteness.  In case you were wondering, we did find her in a kingcake...

 

 

 



And we may have squeezed in some shopping too... But Hazel promised to keep that part quiet!

 

found fridays: west elm baskets

I'd love to start a new feature... Found Fridays... to share thrift finds, deals, or other fun budget-friendly ideas.

Up first?  Some look-alike West Elm storage baskets, found at possibly the most random spot: my local grocery store.

 

 

{West Elm on left / Harris Teeter on right}

 

For $19.99 for a large basket, the price is perfect for Jenny's DIY ombre paint project.  She used the West Elm basket, but for less than half the price, I think these would make a great substitute.

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I may just have to head back to the grocery to pick up one... or two!

slow cooker pumpkin oatmeal

We've had a week of cold, cold mornings here... And with winter's end still not in sight, I wanted to share a new breakfast recipe that's been warming up our wake-ups.

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Weight Watchers Slow Cooker Pumpkin Oatmeal

(very slightly adapted from here)

Servings: 4

Serving Size: 1 cup cooked oatmeal

Nutritional Info: 253 calories, 3 g of fat, 44.1 g carbohydrates, 9 g dietary fiber, 9 g of protein

1 cup steel cut oats

1/2 tbsp butter (optional)

1 can canned pumpkin

1 tbsp brown sugar

2 cups milk (can substitute Lite Vanilla Soy Milk or Almond Milk)

2 cups water

1 heaping tbsp cinnamon

1/4 tbsp nutmeg

Walnuts, dried cranberries, raisins

1. Combine milk, water, pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg to the slow cooker and stir together. Then stir in oats.
2. Cook in slow cooker on low for 8-10 hours. Serve topped with walnuts, dried cranberries and raisins to taste.

Couldn't be easier, right?  For the past couple weeks, I've fired up the Crock Pot just before bed so that we wake up on Monday morning to hot breakfast.  I've also found it's easy to double the recipe, then just put the leftovers in the refrigerator for the rest of the week.  I actually think it tastes even better the next day.

Enjoy... And Hazel says, stay warm!

the nursery diaries: part 1

I loved reading Erika's nursery diaries series over on Urban Grace several years ago.  So I thought I'd do the same with our nursery decorating projects, except we'll just have to pretend like all of this wasn't going on a year ago, okay?

We knew the old office/ man room/ junk collection was going to be the baby's nursery.  I have a theory that all married couples have that ominous third bedroom that literally serves no purpose (except for parental comments on how "it should really be a nursery by now") until a baby comes along to fill it.  Our first order of business was to clean everything out and repaint the walls. 

I knew I wanted to incorporate fabric from Caitlin Wilson Textiles and immediately fell in love with the coral & mint chinoise pillow cover.  Honestly, I also knew this was going to be on our 'splurge' list.  But I felt like I could incorporate the pillow cover and a couple yards of the coordinating coral fretwork fabric and still stay within our budget.

I wanted to keep the walls relatively neutral and found the perfect shade of pink, with just a hint of yellow, in Benjamin Moore's Opal.  In some light, the walls don't even look pink but more of an off-white.

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In one weekend (while I was out of town, I might add), my sweet husband took our walls from this:

To this:

We also quickly realized that the large doors on the closet took up valuable real estate, given the room they needed to swing open. So in that same weekend, off came the doors!

Jeff also added some new shelving and hanging rods, and he used a level to draw straight lines down the closet wall.  The next weekend, I covered the lines with Frog tape and painted bright blue/green stripes to match the mint color of the pillow. (Note: be sure to remove the tape while the paint is still wet to prevent any peeling!)  It was a small space to add stripes, and the little painting project was much easier than I anticipated.



Up next?  Some Craigslist furniture finds and thrifty decorating!

guess who's back?

After multiple attempts to get things going on my new blog, I realized that I missed posting about home renovations, DIY projects and thrift finds... Basically, I just like blogging about pretty stuff.

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So if y'all can handle some posts on the prettiest little thing (in my not-so-humble opinion), then I hope you'll join me... again!

Stay tuned for tons of nursery projects, as well as updates to a few other parts of the house... It's amazing what two home-project-happy people can do in a year!  Not to mention the projects I have on the radar for the next couple months (like finally DIY-ing our simple headboard into a Colette bed look-alike).

Thanks for sticking around!

new baby, new blog

hi friends!  Hope you all will excuse my recent lack of posting... I do have a good reason!  We're so excited to be expecting a baby in mid-July!

We've been plugging along with home projects, and clearing out the back bedroom to make way for a nursery. I also decided to start a new blog for the new addition.  I'll definitely be keeping this one open, but won't be posting to it anymore.

If you'd still like to keep up with us (plus baby), please hop over and follow us at Wee Whittaker!

exterior update

Jeff has been hard at work on our exterior updates over the last few weeks...  The progress made after such a short amount of time is so exciting!

Our 'Exterior Project To-Do' list currently looks like this:

• Install new living room windows (and centering them)
• Install new guest bedroom windows (making them regular-size)
• Prime new siding
• Hang new siding
• Hang horizontal batten strips
• Paint all siding (including exterior of sunroom)
• Paint storm door & replace house numbers
• Build pretty trellis to cover stone side of house, with flowering vine
• Plan and build covered front porch (plans TBD) 
• Widen natural area in front of house & landscape

We still have to decide on the paint color... and whether or not we'll paint just the board & batten siding... or the entire house, brick included (which is my vote).

But for having made just a little dent in the list so far, the difference is incredible!

Before:

In Progress:

Stay tuned for the rest of our updates... And my best attempt at talking Jeff into painting brick!

the sofa returns

I am so excited that we got our Lee Industries sofa back from the reupholstery shop!  Two short weeks later, and it hardly looks like the same piece of furniture...

To remind you of our 'before'...

 
We worked with Sugar Hill Upholstery and highly recommend them.  Their prices include pick-up and delivery in the area and wrapping the cushions.  They also added casters to the front legs for us, since it appeared that the sofa originally had them.

It's a little hard to tell in the pictures, but the fabric is a light grayish blue color.

I ended up splurging on the fabric at $14 per yard, but really wanted to invest in something that was neutral and durable.  I decided to go with the practice choice here, since we plan to have this sofa for a long time (and it will hopefully need to stand up to some kids and dogs one day).  So I went with a durable commerical-grade.

And considering these sofas retail new for close to five times what we spent, I feel really excited about our find!  Now I'm off to hunt for a few new throw pillows and a rug... Happy weekend!

new living room windows

While I was off celebrating the nuptials of one of my sweet friends from high school, Jeff was working on installing new windows in our living room.  Much to my surprise, I came home to the work already in progress...

Before, with windows off-center & awkwardly placed in the corner...

In progress, with new windows separated and centered...

city livin vs. country life

One of the things that I adore about my husband is his love of homes... real estate browsing, home remodeling, all of it.  On a monthly basis, we exchange MLS links to homes we're interested in.  While our next home is certainly in the distant future, when the time comes, I have a feeling we'll both have a strong idea of what we want.

However, we do occasionally drift over to the 'what-if' of country living.  We both realize that you pay a premium for living close to town, and those old, walkable, convenient neighborhoods just so happen to be the ones that we love... and are out of our price range.

Then I stumble upon this dream home, and I start to wonder about moving out of town.  Seriously.  I love everything about this house... except that it is located in Monroe.
 

But then I look at this house again, and think I could suck it up for those floors and windows and fireplaces... And the unpictured cottage with separate living quarters on the property.  Oh, and the fact that it is priced only slightly above our current mortgage.

So what do you think?  Would you manage an hour commute to work (each way) and the hassles of living in a small town for an amazing (in price and detail) historical home?  Or would you keep the convenience of city living? 

 

lately...

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This pretty much sums up my life lately... We've had a lot going on and none of it has involved finishing anything on my project list (or cleaning my house for that matter).

The campaign chest is half painted & sitting in the middle of the sunroom, my Craigslist bookcase is lined with paint chips, the 'new' sofa is covered in tiny fabric swatches... and our back bedroom is filled to the brim with items for a yard sale that was supposed to happen two weeks ago.

I'm hoping that my house will be restored to normalcy soon... But (honestly) it's pretty unlikely, given that we purchased windows last week for our upcoming exterior remodel. 

Let's all agree to view it as organized chaos, okay? 

sofa fabric inspiration

My original plan for the 'new' sofa was an ivory or off-white fabric... Especially after reading Kirsten's design with kids in mind series, where so many said washable and bleach-able white is the way to go {and fur children and human children make roughly the same amount of mess, right?}

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Jeff wasn't so impressed by the concept, reasoning that our sweet puppy daughter's love of furniture and my OCD cleaning would have me washing the cushion covers every week.

Plan B was an outdoor fabric (also a suggestion from the kids in mind design series) in a light gray or bluish-gray...

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Then, of course, there is a very big small piece of me that wants to throw practicality out of the window, in favor of a beautiful home... With a colorful velvet upholstery...

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In my defense, Lauren at Pure Style Home has two little ones with velvet upholstery and says it has held up great!  {As a side note, she also mentions purchasing her LEE sofa on Craigslist for $300... That loud squeal you hear is my excitement over our deal!} 

So what do you think?  Washable white?  Outdoor fabric in gray?  Or a fun velvet?