Welcome April!

It's a new month and that brings a fresh start, especially for me because *drum roll please* I'll be starting a new job!  And I'm also moving to a new town in a matter of just 4 days!  No, this ain't no April Fools joke! 

sort of what my "moving van" will look like!

I'm super excited for my new job which is doing product development for a wedding stationary company!  So posts on here may lean a little more towards paper products than in the past, but I'll still be posting about bridal fashion, street fashion, art, & home decor!   In fact, you'll probably see more and more interior design posts since I'll be eventually settling into a new home!  I'm actually not moving to a new town, but rather I'm moving back to my hometown which is excellent because I get to be close to all my best buddies again!  I'm bunking with my parents for the first month (lame, I know!) while I settle into my new job which gives me a little time to find my perfect apartment.  And THEN I get to decorate!  Woot!   Will I live in a mid-century apartment with wide windows, a stately Victorian with interesting nooks & crannies, or rent a rustic old farmhouse on the edge of town with some friends?  Anything could happen.  How exciting is that!?!

Hopefully I'll get a place with a yard, but if not I'll make sure to get a balcony so I can make my own little garden retreat!

Not to get my hopes up, but a fireplace would be amazing!  This is MN after all!

Apartment bathrooms are usually tiny.  Check out this clever and stylish way to utilise more storage space!

I love this look of open storage and rail systems above the sink!

Let face it, I'll probably have to get a 2BR so I can have a dedicated sewing room!

And above all, it has to be a cat-friendly place so I can get a kitten!

Fashionably Feminine Rooms

I going through a pretty big transition right now, a break-up, and soon I'll be living alone for the first time in my life!  I'm not sure how that's going to feel exactly, but one thing that cheers me up a bit is the thought of getting to decorate a new apartment/home!  And for the first time ever, I won't be sharing my bedroom, or any room, with a man so I could go as girly as I want!  ...But I'm not a teenager any more so bubblegum pinks & unicorns don't exactly appeal to me these days.  I've spent so many years decorating in a gender neutral style that I'm not even sure how to do a feminine room that also looks like a, ya know, grown-up lives there! 

Once again the internet comes to my rescue!  Here are my picks for chic, lady-like spaces.

First and foremost, fresh flowers at the breakfast table are a must! :)

And also flowers on her nightstand.

pretty pattern play

deep cranberry pinks are more adult

Just a touch of animal print is fun!

Balance pastels with neutrals like grey or cream

I'd never buy a pink sofa, but how great is this room? It's like Barbie, grown up.

I like this room although I think the lavender lamp is just too much pastel.

And of course any single gal should have a fabulous dressing room!  I mean, if you actually have an extra room to spare! 

Interior Design Love: Chevron

I know we've been seeing it all throughout 2011 but I think we'll still see plenty of chevron this coming year, only it will be used in even more clever and awesome ways!  I would LOVE to have a chevron accent wall in my home but I just don't know where.  Here are some of my favorite inspirations!

Autumn Interiors

October is over but December hasn't reached us yet.  November just seems to feel like a time for nesting to me, for readying the home for a long cold winter.  When you know you'll be spending more and more time inside, especially when you work from home like me, you want that home to be as cozy & comfortable as possible.  There isn't much autumn left and we have to enjoy it while preparing for the chilly days to come.

Above images from November Vogue

Above 3 images from Habitually Chic

{source}

Happy Friday!

Tomorrow is October 1st.  Do you know why that is an exciting day?  It's the day that (for me) it's officially okay to start bring out the autumn decor, specifically the ceramic pumpkins!  Yeah you heard me!   I know, I don't seem like the type to go for the cheesy fall decorator items, and I'm not!  I just like ceramic pumpkins.  But with that one exception I welcome fall by changing out my house linens to more seasonal colors and also by bringing in signs of the season like real pumpkins, gourds, a wheat wreath on the door.  You see, September is a transition month between the seasons, one where we mourn for the loss of summer, gradually accept the changing of the seasons, and finally by October 1st, we are ready to welcome the fall!  How do you welcome fall?  Do you redecorate a little or not at all or do you go all out for Halloween with orange lights, hay bails and fake spider webs?  Below is my preference of a subtle season decor.

New Week, New Projects!

Good Morning my dears!  I hope you all had a lovely weekend.  Mine seemed to last a long time, probably because a lot happened!  One of the most significant things was that yesterday evening our clunker Chevy Malibu gave it's final death rattle on the highway and was towed off to my brother's garage in Mankato, where I await him to pronounce it legally dead.  So while we start looking for a new "every day" car our beautiful 1963 Mercury Comet is going to be our main ride.  Not bad for a back-up car!  My father has already suggested another 1960's classic car to be the Malibu's replacement. I told him, while that'd be fun, I was concerned about driving a car like that in the winter, to which he exploded with "Well for Pete's sake little girl!  We drove those cars year round in the sixties! No reason you couldn't!"  All I know is the comet takes corners like a pontoon boat and I can't imagine trying to control it on the ice!  ...So that's a project to think about for a while!

My other more fun project which I've been putting off for months is re-decorating our bedroom!  It's not the worst room ever but I've never been happy with it.  It doesn't need a total re-design but just some updating really.  Most important things on the list:

• New nightstands!  We still have the junky ones from college.
• New lamps!  My bedside lamp doesn't even work anymore.  
• New sheets!  A little touch of luxury would be nice.
• De-clutter!  A box from when we moved in a year ago became a permanent fixture, acting as a side table. Many other items without homes seem to end up stacked in this room.  This will end now! 
• New dresser for Dylan!  Again, the junky one from college which has broken drawers and is totally falling apart. 
• New Headboard! I'm excited about this.  We don't have a headboard and it's going to bring the room sophistication I think!

Perhaps the most challenging thing about this is that I'll be doing it on a shoestring budget.  But small budgets seem to bring out the creative & clever side of me so I'm not too worried.  I'm going to check out a few of shoppers secrets (as well as craigslist) but this weekend I mostly just collected inspiration.  This is what's on my mind so far!

I really like the nightstands and lamps in these pictures!  {source}

I'd love to add a side chair too.  Which I will have room for if I de-clutter!

I love how calm and luxurious this room is.  The curtains are so sumptuous!

Headboard and canopy are to die for!  So romantic!  The window/door/flooring situation in this picture is similar to my room.

I love full canope beds but I don't think it would work in my small room. This 4 post bed is a nice compromise I think.

Love this nightstand, and it's an Ikea hack too so budget friendly!

Beachy Keen!

Oh Joy!  We've had a little taste of summer this week!  My husband and I finally were able to bring our cute-as-a-button 1963 Mercury Comet home to Minneapolis from my brother's shop and we spent all day Tuesday enjoying it!  The weather was HOT even reaching 90 degrees!  I know, only in MN could you go from 34 degrees to 90 degrees in just 10 days!   But even as our butts stuck to the vinyl car seats we were loving every minute of it because it really felt like summer!  

Summer always makes me think of the ocean and beaches.  It's been almost 5 years since I've seen the ocean and I'm craving it bad here in land-locked Minnesota.  Dylan knows this & asked me "I' know you think you want to live in MN forever but what if I got a sweet, high paying job on a coast somewhere and we could have a beach house?"  I would have a hard time resisting that move!  I love those hypotheticals because they get me thinking, "Hmmm... what would my dream beach house look like?"   The following are my inspirations images and I'd love to use them to bring a little "beachy-ness" to my house here in MN!

I've had this kitchen in my inspiration folder for a few years now!  

I adore the sea glass subway tiles!!!

I would seriously leave my whole life behind if I could live here!