Nest
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I love to nest and when I bought this beautiful 105 year old historical home in my mid-20s, I was so excited to start making it my own! My husband and I love to create unique spaces together and we are always sharing our updates and ideas. Enjoy!
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Our house was a "Fixer Upper" when the previous owners bought it to flip and sell. I was in my mid 20's and when I began house-hunting, I was single and not looking for anything that needed major renovations. I knew one thing when house hunting: I wanted a home with character! I certainly found that in this beautiful and historical home!
Since meeting my husband, CJ, we have worked on nesting projects and making our house a cozy escape for both of us. My design style has always been akin to Joanna Gaines in that I love mixing modern and vintage! While I certainly have some pieces from Magnolia Market, I have some awesome little tips to get that Magnolia feel without splurging too much! Biggest Tip: Hit up your local antique stores and flea markets!! Antique Corbels- As an artist, I am always on the look-out for unique vintage frames and chipped pieces of furniture to add to my custom framing. I found a set of 4 antique corbels (See left) in a box at a local vintage store! These babies were only $8 a pop! I stored them away for a future framing idea until I had the idea to place them in the corners of our doorways! A few command strips and these corbels have held strong, adding a unique finish to our rooms! Can't find corbels locally? No prob---head over to Wayfair.com! They have TONS of options to get this look! |
I found this aged wooden shelf with hooks at Home Goods! It looks like a flea market find and against the white walls, it adds that Magnolia feel to our back entry.
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Instead of hiding your towels in a closet, opt for a hanging rack that adds a pop of metal and wood to your bathroom! Roll your towels and hang on the wall for the modern farmhouse look!
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A Room to Live In...
Kitchen
I love our kitchen! It's so bright and beautiful! Eventually, I want to paint the cabinets white and we are currently constructing our island for more storage and counter space. We will post our DIY kitchen island tutorial for you guys! For now, I enjoy the pops of green and I love the way the vintage wine bottles lend to the height of the room.
You know those rustic shelves that people tend to overlook in Home Goods or Marshalls? Well, don't! These babies add major character to any room! I found this one at a Home Goods in WV it's my favorite shelf in our house! We hung this near the kitchen door and it gets used for different things throughout the year. During the summer, I hang my outdoor blankets and s'mores sticks on the hooks so they're easy to grab when we head outside. AND! how cute is this tote that I found on our weekend venture to Snowshoe, WV?! You get get a similar one here!
Be Our Guest
Our dreamy guest room is filled with rustic wood, stone-washed Belgian linen, kilim pillows from Turkey and the cozy bed is housed between white walls! I love this space and it was so much fun to put together!
Shop the Look: I love to play around with textures and let the bones of the room (walls, floors, etc.) be a little more natural so that I can change things as my style evolves. This room was originally a darker brown and I wanted to lighten things up a bit so I opted for a bright white. Next, I began adding texture to the bedding and linen is always my favorite way to go! I opted for Pottery Barn's Belgian linen which you can get here: pottery barn Belgian linen duvet and shams OR a more affordable version here. To add a little color and culture, I threw on some pillows from Turkey, which you can easily buy online through Etsy, but I have found WAY more affordable options on Amazon. A few great ones: here, here, here.
​Guest Towels (dreamy Turkish bath towels)- here
DIY Stained Glass Door
CJ and I are always making little adjustments to our home to add a bit of character. We had a door leading to our hallway that seemed to block the light and take away from the flow of the house. I love stained glass and I really wanted to create a door with a stained glass insert to allow some light to flow through. I designed the door, found a beautiful piece (which actually has a lot of opal and pastel coloring to it in person) and my father-in-law built it for us based off of my design. I am so happy to see the completed project! It's so fun to see your imagination come to life!!
Master Bath
We were low on storage options in our master bath, so to save space, we found this rack with baskets at Home Goods, rolled our towels and voila! A cuter way to store towels! I think this one is AWESOME!
Master Bedroom
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Art Gallery Room
I have been collecting art from my travels around the world and I had a dream of re-creating a room like the museums I visited in Austria. I remember sitting in the center of one of the rooms and being surrounded by art hung from floor to ceiling, housed in ornate golden frames. I wanted a place like that in my daily life--where I could escape and sit in wonder of the greats and their work that has continued to inspire me. CJ and I painted the room from ceiling to floor and began the framing process. We continue to add to the walls and we spend a lot of time here throughout the week.
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Sunroom Make-Over
before:
I love love love the sunroom in our house and while the initial decor was super cute, the furniture wasn't that cozy and I found myself not hanging out in the room often because of that. Also, I had dreams of an airy, light, super fluffy sunroom that Nancy Meyers would design. Below are the changes my husband and I made to our sunroom! We live in this room more than our actual living room (Whitman does, too!) Below, see our before and after pictures along with some of my tips and items you can buy to re-create our look!
after:
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Paint
So I told my husband to head to Lowes and buy some white paint for the walls. Apart from the specs on the type of paint, amount we needed, etc. I wasn't too picky. "just pick up white paint" I said. A few minutes later, my phone rings and I hear "um babe, do you know how many variations of white there are? I don't even know what I'm looking at anymore. so much white. help." Gosh, I should have known, being an artist, but I wasn't picky until I saw hundreds of choices. The "color" of white that we chose is one I get asked about A LOT because it's just so lovely and there's just something about the way the lamplight hits it in the evening that makes me feel like I'm on vacation. The color we chose is Liveable Luxe-LL17 SNOWBOUND- SW7004
About 1 week after our sunroom make-over, we started painting everything this color! haha! Our living room is also now in SNOWBOUND and next up is our dining room! What we love so much about white is how you can shift your decor around to practically any style and it works with the white! Our guests continue to comment on how much bigger the rooms seem, too! yay for white paint!
About 1 week after our sunroom make-over, we started painting everything this color! haha! Our living room is also now in SNOWBOUND and next up is our dining room! What we love so much about white is how you can shift your decor around to practically any style and it works with the white! Our guests continue to comment on how much bigger the rooms seem, too! yay for white paint!
Let's Talk Couches
I probably researched couches for four months before we made our final decision because I am SO one of those particular types who, when putting forth a larger sum of money, I want to make sure I am investing in something that has longevity and is something I am not going to get tired of (i.e. a classic). Also- I am SUPER clumsy and I wanted something that I could easily clean :)
So- do we cancel Thailand and put our money towards Pottery Barn? Restoration Hardware? (drrooooooling over their linen and leather collections!!! please gimme!) - well no, when it comes to funds, travel ALWAYS trumps luxury items! SO! I read a million reviews (some mixed/some obsessive) about different options and one thing was common about ALL of our research: get WHITE (yes, scary, but TRUE) BUT make sure it's SLIPCOVERED so you can bleach or spot clean! The verdict......drumroll..... IKEA EKTORP!
Here's the skinny on the IKEA Ektorp collection: Each piece of the couch is zipped on separately, so I hesitate to say "slipcover" because it sounds like some sheet-looking drape that's all wrinkly. Each pillow and seat has it's own zip-off cover (so if you spill or stain one piece, you're not taking the entire sofa apart to clean it. We opted for the chaise sofa (seen in our sunroom) and we loved it so much, we went back for another sofa and love seat for our main living room.
Keeping it Clean: My husband and I are coffee addicts (I'm sure you already know where this is going)....and on day 2 of relaxing on our new, pure white couch, CJ spills an entire mug of coffee on the arm and side of the couch. He immediately looks over at me with those big "please don't murder me" eyes to which I laugh and say "I'm really surprised it wasn't me who did this first!" haha off with the covers and into the laundry room we go! I began by soaking the covers in cold water, followed by THE WORLD'S BEST STAIN REMOVER here, and then into a power wash setting with Persil- the best smelling laundry detergent (for real- when people walk into our house, they ask what the amazing smell is- it's PERSIL!) The stain immediately came out and you would never know we spilled a thing! TIP: only dry your IKEA covers half-way...when they're damp, put them back on your couch and there will be ZERO wrinkles and ZERO shrinkage!
So- do we cancel Thailand and put our money towards Pottery Barn? Restoration Hardware? (drrooooooling over their linen and leather collections!!! please gimme!) - well no, when it comes to funds, travel ALWAYS trumps luxury items! SO! I read a million reviews (some mixed/some obsessive) about different options and one thing was common about ALL of our research: get WHITE (yes, scary, but TRUE) BUT make sure it's SLIPCOVERED so you can bleach or spot clean! The verdict......drumroll..... IKEA EKTORP!
Here's the skinny on the IKEA Ektorp collection: Each piece of the couch is zipped on separately, so I hesitate to say "slipcover" because it sounds like some sheet-looking drape that's all wrinkly. Each pillow and seat has it's own zip-off cover (so if you spill or stain one piece, you're not taking the entire sofa apart to clean it. We opted for the chaise sofa (seen in our sunroom) and we loved it so much, we went back for another sofa and love seat for our main living room.
Keeping it Clean: My husband and I are coffee addicts (I'm sure you already know where this is going)....and on day 2 of relaxing on our new, pure white couch, CJ spills an entire mug of coffee on the arm and side of the couch. He immediately looks over at me with those big "please don't murder me" eyes to which I laugh and say "I'm really surprised it wasn't me who did this first!" haha off with the covers and into the laundry room we go! I began by soaking the covers in cold water, followed by THE WORLD'S BEST STAIN REMOVER here, and then into a power wash setting with Persil- the best smelling laundry detergent (for real- when people walk into our house, they ask what the amazing smell is- it's PERSIL!) The stain immediately came out and you would never know we spilled a thing! TIP: only dry your IKEA covers half-way...when they're damp, put them back on your couch and there will be ZERO wrinkles and ZERO shrinkage!
Hallway Guest Bath
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Hallway Guest Bath- This table was originally falling apart and was an awful pepto pink color so I sanded it down, painted it black and added gold hardware to it.
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I am so honored to have this piece in my home! This china cabinet was my late grandmother and grandfather Phillips' from their store "Shannon's" in Buckhannon. I think of them every time I walk through my dining room! I didn't know what to do with this piece at first, as I don't have much in the way of china. I decided that it would make a fine library and space for my blue opaline glass. I love the how the lights inside of the glass illuminate our dining room!
Dining room table- I placed some faux wildflowers in my an antique pitcher that belonged to my nana.
I am still trying to find the porch furniture I want, so for now, it's porch picnics/naps/reading all the way.
i'm pretty corny....
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I found this thing for $5 in the sale bin of TJ Maxx and I thought it would be great to mount on a wall and hang are or photographs from. It looks really cool in my kitchen! This would be super easy to make with a trip to Home Depot.
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Best of all, she loved fall.
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This is Whitman! Whitman is an exotic shorthair kitten and the newest addition to my home. I love being his mama and he is a big fan of all things Kilim because the fabric is so thick and easy to climb. To see more of Whitman, you can follow him on instagram at "Whitmanthecat"
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