Creating A Relaxing Space

Unpacking always seems to go a little slower than expected, don't you think?  Right now, I've been focusing on the girls' rooms.  I believe having a space of your own where you can escape the chaos is really important in these transitional times.  Before we moved, I decided to surprise both the girls with new beds.  Poesy has graduated from a toddler bed to a full-blown "big girl bed" (a twin bed), and it seems to make her feel pretty cool.  Plus, as we adjust to new sounds at night (have I mentioned we live very close to a hospital?  Oof), I wanted to set up for as much sleep success as possible.  For her sanity AND mine.

Poesy and I had a little bit of a time agreeing on a new comforter for her bed.  As much as I love to let the girls express themselves in their clothing, toys, decor... whatever... there just seemed something so sad about slapping a "Frozen" blanket down in this lovely space.  In the spirit of keeping things lovely, we settled on a super soft, Ultra Light Down-Alternative Comforter and cotton sheet set from Sleep Number®.  She wasn't 100% sold on the bedding until it arrived, but once I got everything all set up, it was instant joy.



Here's a peek at my favorite part of the set.  There's an elastic band under the fitted sheet to keep it on the bed.  Genius.  AND the flat sheet has a Smart Button™ system to attach to the fitted sheet, so there is no sheet-slipping when Poe is tossing and turning... or jumping on the bed.  Hey, I still do that, so who am I to tell her she can't?

 
I'm glad she's been loving her new space more and more.  Oh... and I'm also glad not to see any Disney princesses in this gorgeous room.  Basics for the win!  ;)

**This post is sponsored by Sleep Number.  All opinions are (of course) my own.  

Poesy's Bedroom: A Work in Progress

We've been working away on getting unpacked, and just keeping up with life in general.  Finding a starting point is the hardest thing for me, because I'm terrible about jumping around from room-to-room.  Yesterday, I took a good, long look at Poesy's room and decided to conquer it.  Her bedroom is far from done, but it's nice to have a space with little chaos.  Here's where I started:


The room wasn't terrible to begin with, and Poesy has been insistent about keeping the "dotty" wall and the "lello" door.  Ooookay.  That made my job incredibly easy.  I used the existing rope shelving as a book shelf (which is perfect!) and kept the room as simple as possible.


Johnny helped me hang the Poesy photos because... well... I'm not really what you would call a "measurer".  I just bang some nails in the wall until I'm happy.  He's a good balance in that regard.


It's nice to have a breath of air without boxes stacked everywhere.  Oh, and Poesy has been feeling a little down about missing her old bedroom, so it was nice to see her reaction when I finished.  She's happy to have her own little space again, and told me she wants to live here forever.  ;)

This little room makes me so happy.  I found the dollhouse that Johnny and I built for Poesy hiding in our basement, and as soon as she saw it, she squealed with delight!  I love that I get the opportunity to make special things for my kids.  This actually goes hand-in-hand with an IG campaign I'm a part of right now called #CreateALifeYouLove for Kathy Davis.  Kathy Davis is all about following your dreams and curating a life that is meaningful to you.  If you're interested in following along (or participating, which would be even better!) you can follow me (@skunkboy_) and @KathyDavisBrand.  Make sure to tag your photos with #CreateALifeYouLove!  I can't wait to see what you guys post!

Snapshots

Here are a few more house snapshots for you guys!  Johnny and I have officially starting moving more of our big stuff over, and today is the day we start on wallpaper!  I can't wait to see everything come together in this house.  We're having an epic moving sale this weekend at the old place, so hopefully the great purge will continue and we can get rid of lots more before we move in at the beginning of November!

I'll share more as we continue making progress!  Have a great day, friends!

House Peeks

 
I've been spending much of my time at the new house priming and painting lately.  I love documenting the process, because it's so much fun to look back on.  I'm hoping to be done painting in the next week or two, and then I plan to move onto more weeding and landscaping while the weather is nice.  We don't officially move in until November, so it's nice to be able to take these projects on at my own pace.  I'll have more updates in the coming weeks!  xo.

**Moccasins from Minnetonka.

A Little Bed Nook Revamp

I've been working on slightly redoing parts of my home lately.  Sometimes you just need a change, ya know?  I love my bed nook area.  I think it's one of the best parts about our bedroom.  I was ready for a little updating and am still in that process, but I thought I'd show you where I am right now.


Firstly, we got a new mattress from Tuft & Needle and it's amazing.  We haven't had a new mattress since we first got married, so we were definitely due.  This mattress has no springs, so it came vacuum sealed in a box and was shipped right to our door with no problem.  Once unrolled the mattress and cut the plastic it went "thooooooouuuuuupppp".  (That's the sound of something getting really plump.  Didn't you know?)  Anyway, new wonderful comfy mattress: check.

As you can see in the photos above and below, I took the accordion rack off the wall and moved the terrariums.  I used this idea that Emma had and placed electric tea lights in the bubbles that weren't holding air plants.  It's really peaceful to look at at night.


Settling on bedding is always tough for me, but I ended up with this bedding from Urban Outfitters.  I expected it to be a really happy shade of yellow, but in person it's more of a yellow/green color.  I still like it, it just wasn't exactly what I was expecting.

I still plan to do something to the wall above the bed, but haven't landed on a strong idea yet.  I'll definitely share when I get it figured out.  For now, it's nice to have a bit of change in our sweet bed nook.  xo.

White Faux Taxidermy

I've been wanting to switch up my mantle a little for some time now, but I really haven't been sure of what I was looking for.  Do I want bright colors?  Do I want something darker and more Autumn-like? Do I have any clue what I'm looking for?  Enter: Kersey bison head from White Faux Taxidermy.

Okay, now I know what I'm looking for.

I really loved the Kersey in white, but I was afraid it would blend right in with my white walls.  I decided to back the head in green velvet, but it ended up making the mantle much too drab.  Some things are better in your head than in real life, you know?  I marked that on my running list of DIY fails and opted for a more colorful and textured floral backdrop.

I drew out and cut the shape I wanted from white foam board.  I bought a ton of flowers from the dollar store (much more cost effective than most craft stores) and hot glued them around where the bison head would sit.  I was careful not to get any flowers under him because he needed to sit flat against the board.

In the side view photos you can still see the white board, but with the way our living room is laid out, you don't really see it in real life.

Check back a little later for a chance to win a mini version of the Kersey for your home!

Thrifted Bench: A Love Story

Sometimes I feel like a really lucky gal to have a counterpart (husband) who loves going to flea markets as much as I do.  He's usually looking for good old drums or guitars, but it's still nice to have a companion by my side.  While we were out thrifting a couple of weeks ago, I happened upon this couch-y/bench-y guy.  It was pretty gross, but I decided to take the plunge and bring it home.  Once we got it out of the dirty flea market, I was horrified at my decision.  It looked SO much filthier once it was in our bedroom.  I grabbed some wet-wipes and went to work. Nothing but surface muck came up, so we brought out the big guns:  toothbrushes.  Some friends on Instagram suggested things like Mr. Clean Magic Erasers and tile scrubbers, but I didn't want to harm the surface of the couch. My friend, Kate, suggested baking soda and that REALLY helped.  Johnny and I scrubbed our Friday night and Saturday morning away.  Here are the results:

By the time we finished, the couch was a much different color.  It was really rewarding to see such drastic results, and I still feel like photos don't even begin to do it justice.  It went from brown to orange in a weekend.  High five for vigorous scrubbing and major persistence!

Like I say every time I share a portion of our bedroom, more photos of the upstairs are coming soon!  It's one of my very favorite places to spend time.  :)

Also, I wanted to share what my friend, Anita, is doing to help raise money for the Oklahoma victims.  I can't even imagine the sort of devastation these families have been through, but I do know that I want to help in any way I can. Hello Merch is selling these tanks and donating all of the proceeds to the Oklahoma Red Cross.  There are many ways to help.  Please consider helping in any way you can.

Indoor Garden

Moss... swoon.  Moss is one of my most favorite things.  The texture, the color... it just makes me happy.  RedEnvelope sent me an early Mother's Day gift in the form of these darling planters equipped with moss.  A tiny moss garden of my own??  I'm totally and completely smitten.