while most people deck the halls, I....

yes.. while most people are hanging their tinsle by the mantle with care I am FINALLY going to paint every room a neutral color so we can get this place sold this next spring/summer. 

Every. single. move. we. make in our home is in the mindset of putting it back on the market. 

step one is painting the den, dining area, hallway, baby girls room and the nursery all grey. 

I want anyone to be able to walk in and think this place is move in ready!!

After many hours of extensive research I am hoping to put the last paint sample on my walls tomorrow. 

Source: google.com via Jenny Beth on Pinterest

most of the other greys we have looked at and selected are way too cool.

The number one key factor in making a grey work is knowing the undertones of the color. This color has a warm undertone. Those warm tones often draw from browns (a predominant color in majority of my furniture) 

The warm tone does not mean that the room will be dark. It simply means the color will compliment the existing items we already have and easily flow thru my home.

In every room I have used Ben Moore I have been thoroughly impressed.

Can't wait to swing by my local ace hardware and pick up my sample! 

10 months old

Now that the baby is one week away from 11 months I guess its time to post his 10 m pics huh?

This fella is also a climber! 

He keeps be busy, and i am always having to make sure he isnt getting into the bathroom to unroll the toilet paper!

did you notice our chair moved into the living room? 

hope to update yall on all that really soon!

Here is a quick pic our photographer took.

be back later with christmas decorations.

Christmas Handtowel Tutorial

Hey there! 

It's been quite a while since I have shared a diy craft with yall and I wanted to sneak one in before a long weekend. 

This would be a great project for you to do with some girlfriends, or even the women in the family over the thanksgiving weekend. 

The first and most important thing to remember with this craft is to not complicate the items. 

You will need:

*any type of hand towel, 

(I found mine at target in a 2 pack for I think $3.99)

*scrap fabrics

*sewing machine or fabric glue

*some ribbon

*straight pins

1. First thing I did was trace a quarter for the berries, cut out my triangles for my trees, rectangles for the stumps, then I googled holly leaf and freehanded a shape.

(you can always print off some clipart, cut it out and use it as your pattern)

2. Pin down the design and zig zag the design onto the towel

Note: if you do not have a sewing machine or cannot sew you can purchase fabric glue and put a thin layer of glue on the pieces and attach them to the towel.

3. Attach either a ribbon or ric rac to the bottom edge of the towel.

These would make great little teachers gifts, or a happy for a friend. 

Can't wait to see and hear what you come up with!

ps. sorry for the poor photo quality, considering changing to a new camera all together because everything is malfunctioning :(

Channelling my inner Lilly

Source: pinkpreppypartygirl.blogspot.com via Jenny Beth on Pinterest

Today I am completing the decking of our halls so our house is all ready when we return from our thanksgiving travels. 

The overall theme this year is a lilly pulitzer-esque whimsical childrens christmas. 

Can't wait to share it and some upcoming crafts I have begun! 

Lots to be thankful for over here!

Lets talk Mascara

I have a confession... I will pay big bucks for really good mascara!
Lancome, Diorshow, Chanel, Bobbie Brown, Givenchy, basically you name it and i have forked over as much as $50.00 a tube to luscious lashes.

Recently i have not been 100% pleased with the Trish McEvoy thickening mascara.

On a whim in target a few weeks back i ran down the makeup aisle and just grabbed a tube. 6.00, worth a shot.

Can i just say Loreal Voluminous is AHmazing!!!

No flaking, no dark circles from wearing off, good coverage and stays with you all day!!!

I am shocked that a drug store quality is rivaling my coveted clinique high def and Diorshow Blackout Mascara!!

Whats your favorite mascara?

Have you tried loreal??

Life after the No Sale - need some suggestions

I know you guys all remember us trying to sell this summer. There have been several things we have made priority of since we will be staying a while longer.

1. all the main rooms in the house are way too multicolored and bright. so find a neutral tone to paint on the walls and neutralize everything
here is what we are thinking.

Source: ths.gardenweb.com via Jenny Beth on Pinterest

Source: houzz.com via Jenny Beth on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Jenny Beth on Pinterest

2. finally finish putting anna carolines room together. (this is almost almost there, only missing a quilt and a mirror)

Anyone know where I can find a mirror like this?

i found this one on etsy and it sold almost immediately.

3. The final and most challenging issue was our fence. 

My poor friends who have heard me moan and groan about this in person I apologize now for talking about this again. 

After finally contacting over 50 city and state employees our severe erosion issue is finally being addressed. The chainlink fence running along our property is original to the home and circa 1959. This is the citys fence and there has been an extreme run off and erosion problem for quite a while. 

Today as I type they are filling in the hole with dirt and we will have to go back with cement, then rip rap, then a barrier so the dogs cant dig out, then a privacy fence then finally finally landscaping. 

After 4 long years we will finally have a desireable backyard!!!

Here is the before and the during!
Look at the size of this hole.

 

stay tuned for the filling in and progress!

what are your go to colors in your home??

Any tricks to keep dogs from digging?

The party

It is heartbreaking but my camera broke ;( lens is caputz!! All the pictures i have of the party are iphone pics!

Enjoy.

A friend took a few pictures with her camera and i hope to add those soon!

A Big Girl Room Rug

As I am sure you all know Dhurri Rugs are all the rage. 

I knew if we were going to be staying in our home a Nice, emphasis on nice rug was going to be necessary for Big Girl's room. 

A 16x16 room needs something in it. 

Since living here we have been through 1 garages sale rug, and 2 remnant carpet pieces. Bottom line is they were not good quality and I was continually replacing them!!

Below is the "ideal" rug for the space. It pulled out the pop of pink I was using as an accent in the room and introduced it in a sophisticated way. 

I am thinking this rug can grow with us as she gets older. 

So... I started saving....

Then one day a few weeks ago a friend of mine called FREAKING OUT!! 

Literally yelling get to the pottery barn outlet NOW!!!

I am thinking this rug can grow with us as she gets older. 

So... I started saving....

$550 isnt terrible by any means.

Then one day a few weeks ago a friend of mine called FREAKING OUT!! 

Literally yelling get to the pottery barn outlet NOW!!!

All the rugs were marked half off!!!

The outlet price was $399.99 marked down to $99.99 the HALF OFF!!!!!!!

I felt the biggest adrenaline rush of my life to get there and get that rug!!

I also bought a small Dhurrie for the Guest House for $25.00!!

Such divine finds!!

So, now all we need to complete this big girl space is a mirror, a headboard, and a few more pieces of wall art!

We decided when we moved back in to move her bed against the wall to give her some more play space. 

(dont worry this greek key lamp is not in here any longer)

Thus far we LOVE it!

Local Home Tour- My favorite House

disclaimer: all of these pictures were taken with my iphone as I am trying to order a new charger for my camera.

And the floor plans:

The first thing you walk in this home and see is the dining room and open living room.

The wallpaper in here was a very bold statement and read very well in the space.

Below you see pictures of the home office. there were way way too many people in here for me to get an overall shot. But the highlighting features were the antler pillows in a burnt umber color and the unique pattern on the tiles in this bathroom. Very strange to me to have a huge full bathroom off the office and no other half bath than the master and this to accomodate guests.

Wet bar back splash and hallway styling.

The kitchen casual entertaining spot was moderately lackluster but the stone fireplaces were in all the homes and the apparent rage. 

This is a view from the stair landing. 

The little girls room was precious and I loved all the pieces in there.

This chest was gorgeous!

These were the details of the Little Boys Room

No, those are not silhouettes, that is actual photography! 

Great local photographer!!

The master bathroom was weird, as were the walk in closets.

Again beautiful furnishings but nothing to write home about in this space.

Where you live do builders get together and build a cluster of high quality homes and do a home show? 

Not going to lie I go for the interiors and styling aspect. 

Not a single one of the homes impressed me enough to vote on the house that I thought won. Lets just say they were all quite choppy and some had 20,000 sq ft home style home theaters which was very very odd. 

These houses seemed to range between 3600 and 5500 sq ft.