Our Lehi Home Tour

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Update: New Sofa!

Alright, i know i'm bad at this, but what's a girl to do right?? So funny story, Chris a couple weeks ago says to me, "the next time we get a new couch, it's going to be big, leather, and have arms!" Well, he should know better than to bring up buying things up because since he never does, i jump right on it. Especially since i bring up buying things ALL the time. Anyway, so i had been seeing different posts on sofas and even though it wasn't leather, told him i wanted to go look at the EKTORP white slipcover sofa at ikea.

I just thought it had great lines and every girl loves a white sofa right?? I mean, compared to the white sofa we were looking to replace, this one looked more comfortable and it had arms, so why not go check it out right?? Wrong! Chris hated it! The one thing he always says he hates about ikea is that since he's 6'2" he feels like he's free falling for 10 seconds before he hits the couch. And, it wasn't leather! Which i wasn't too stoked about looking for in the first place. I know i had seen pretty leather couches, but WAY over my desired price range. So after about 15 minutes of being in ikea (shortest time i've ever been in there) we headed to the car, my full intention to head home. Chris on the other hand saw the furniture row across the way and suggested we go into SofaMart. Well two hours, one ivory barcelona chair, and one 8' brown leather sofa later, we headed home! That's right, we made an unexpected purchase that i don't think Chris has ever been more excited about! Him being the sweet husband he is bought me this sofa before we got married and i really have loved it, i did pick it out after all. But i have to say, since this is probably the only say i'll ever let him have in our home decor, that i'm very excited and think it's great! So in about 13 months we went from this beauty....

to this gorgeous piece of furniture....

okay so no i didn't get this one from restoration hardware exactly, but it was the closest pic i could find. These are actual pics from my instagram...

So we're on our way home totally happy with our purchase, and so anxious for 2 weeks to just fly by, when chris says he wants to now change our coffee table. So not only are we selling a couch and an ottoman to make room, we're doing a new coffee table. We decided to make a custom wood top table with hairpin legs. The legs haven't come yet, but Chris finished the table top and it looks amazing!

Also added to the family....

Love Candy Print Mint & Gold by jenniferramos at MadeByGirl $35.00

West Elm Pinstripe Pillow Cover , $14.99 on sale!

And then the nice table top chris made that we propped on 2 chairs to see how it would look....

ignore our rental rug and the lighting coming in from the window. Chris took this pic since he just couldn't wait. Hoping to replace that rug with one of these.

Well, until next time....

Rue Magazine: Coco + Kelly Home Tour

Can anyone tell me why they haven't made it so that ipad's can pin things to Pinterest yet?? I hope that's their top priority right now because that is the only thing i can't handle about my ipad. So i'll tell you what i do. If i see something i like i bookmark it, and after a while all the bookmarks build up, so i go to a computer, go to all of those pages, and pin the things i like. Might sound ghetto, but it's the way things have to be for now! Anyway, i've had this post bookmarked for a few weeks now from Danielle Oakey Interiors feature on Coco + Kelly and that home is really all i think about! You know when you're constantly going through the phase of needing the exact right look for your home, well this one hit it on the head for me. Not only because it is beautiful beyond reason, but because i already had so many similar things that i just needed to add a few things and believe it or not, i think i finally have the right look i've been going for all along, but didn't know it yet.

I just loved everything about this space and i already had very key pieces. I just needed a couple more to finish it off. So you know the blue slate bolster i blogged about, well it came and just wasn't what i wanted it to be. So i took it back to the World Market and guess what i saw??? The orange pillow from this apartment. So of course i exchanged it and it now has a lovely home on my white sofa. I also took Danielle's advice and got the blue dot pillow cover from ikea so that the orange pillow would have a friend!

Sorry, i could only find the brown one online :(

Now i know that this has nothing to do with the look of this apartment, but i did get some new window treatments as well (and by that i mean drapes, panels, curtains, whatever you want to call them) and i LOVE them. I liked my ones i had before, but these fit the space way better. Just keep in mind that i DID NOT buy the brown pillow if you're wondering if brown and charcoal are supposed to be close to each other. My pillow is indeed the orange one.

and this is a little closer look at the tribal pattern...

They are pretty sheer, but the color is perfect and they look great in front of the window! Especially with all of Chris' potted plants. It's just so summer! I feel like i'm living in some awesome apartment downtown with all of our plants in the window. These curtains were $39.99 per panel at Zgallerie and i highly recommend them!

Also a little bit of fun news, i went to Sarah Swanson's Gallery Wall shop and bought one of her prints, and then the next day won another in a giveaway from Jamie at Kreyv! I was so excited and now i have 3 that i hung up perfectly!! I love how they all look together! And yes, i know i keep threatening to put my own pictures up and it will happen, but we just all have to be a little more patient, me included! But for now, i'll let you use your imagination!

I also have to comment on the trim on the doors. Chris and i have always said that when we move we are totally doing that! What a statement and how easy! I don't know if my home could take any more gold, but i've seen it done with black before too and it looks incredible!

I hope everyone had a very memorable Memorial Day and is just as excited as i am that this week is already almost over! That is truly the best part about Monday holidays!

We're Back!!! Finally...

Okay so i promised that as soon as my ginormous work International Convention was over i would be a better blogger, and be a better blogger i shall. I just needed about a week to recuperate and i'm feeling almost as good as new!

So in this past month not a ton has happened, but it sure feels like it to me. Yes, we got new nightstands and i'm so thrilled! i love having our lamps by our bed instead of in an un-permanant home on our dresser. So i can almost say that our bedroom is done, but as cliche as this sounds, a room is never complete right?? I need to figure out how to have someone photograph our apartment, or someone to edit the photos that i will attempt to take....

We have a couple projects in the making, mostly having to do with painting furniture, so nothing new, but it might take a while for anyone to be able to see them, including us.

One thing that Chris has gotten way into is having plants in the house and i love it! I recently bought him some organic herbs and not only are they adorable but they are quite delicious and cost effective! I love being able to literally tear cilantro from a stem in a pot on my own kitchen counter and throw it on the cutting board! Hello, best thing ever!

Well while i keep you waiting on pictures of our humble abode, i thought i would share my most recent purchase as of 5 minutes ago with you since it's so great.....

Isn't it perfect??? Yes it's velvet, and yes it's slate! And yes, it was only $16.99 at World Market....you can find it here. And then there's the thing i wish i could have purchased to go with it, but this one not as affordable so not as attainable, for now anyways....

Also at World Market, but this time for $103.99....so if you are a better saver than i am, you can find this one here.

Just on a side note, i do have to say that i have piping down now, and by that i mean on pillows. I found some fabulous blue velvet that i had to make a lumbar pillow from, and it is fab....

Pictures to come....i promise ;)

DIY: Chevron Canvas Painting

I already warned you about my obsession for chevron, and i already warned you about needing to get better pictures of this stuff so don't get too antsy about those things quite yet. This is a project that was SO easy and inexpensive and it really makes such a statement in my living room space. I got this inspiration after i saw a home tour of Lauren Davis at Me Oh My! and i fell in love and just had to do it! This was the inspiration...

And this one above is how mine turned out. Hers looks much airier and lighter than mine, however mine does look a lot better in person than in this picture and I'm sure will look better once i use a real camera to take pictures.

SUPPLIES
24x36" artist's canvas from Hobby Lobby (with 40% coupon it was $20.00)
Painters Tape
Sponge Roller
Paint (I used a small test container of Dolphin Fin by Behr)

DIRECTIONS
Create a template either on your computer or just with a ruler, pencil, and piece of paper. Trace the template onto your canvas with pencil (you won't be able to see the pencil after you paint). Tape off the area that you want to paint. *I taped the entire zig-zag that i was leaving white so that i could easily roll the paint on. I did about 3 coats of the gray before i took the paint off. It's my favorite think hanging on any of our walls I'm pretty sure. The part that took the longest was taping, but essentially i did this during an episode of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice! I could have touched it up more, but i didn't and i think i'm the only one that can see the imperfections so i'm still in love with it.

As you can see it's hung above an old piano. That was the Christmas present that i got for Chris this year, and he has high hopes for this piano. He has decided he wants to paint it in cream with some major distressing and glazing, and then paint the music stand a darker tone. We are for sure going to start that in the very near future and i can't wait to show you the end result! Plus, i hope by the end of this weekend to have a nice furry stool to show you! Woo hoo....

FREE Printable Poster: Chevron Obsession Continues

I know i already posted something chevron today, but i just couldn't help but post this free printable from Sarah at Compulsive Craftiness. I just fell in love!

Go here to get an 8x10" for yourself!

DIY: Anthropologie Inspired Zinc Letters

I love these letters (and everything else) from Anthropologie, but with a $98.00 price, it just wasn't the right time to order one. So i know i'm not the first one to try this, and i also know that this isn't the one-and-only tutorial on how to do this, but i tried it with the silvery paints and it did not turn out the way i planned. Then i stumbled across this tutorial on Sugar and Charm. As much as i love that she chose to spell out 'EAT', i decided to buy 2 different sized 'M's (for Middleton) and do that!

SUPPLIES
Black acrylic paint, Folk Art pearl paint, cardboard letters (you can use wood if you want) and a foam paint brush.

DIRECTIONS
Paint the letters all black and let them dry. Acryllic paint dries really fast as long as you don't load it on too thick, which you won't need to do. Then, dip your brush into the pearl paint and use long strokes to paint over the black. This silver coat will give it the texture and depth it needs to look like a matte metal. If it looks to white, just keep spreading the paint from that spot. The less paint and the longer the strokes on this the better. My sister who has never painted anything in her life got it right away!

The top one is about 12" tall and the bottom one is at least double that tall! I really promise i will take better pictures tonight and update this tomorrow, but this really is a project that i love. I honestly think this is the first one i did after we got married, and i haven't gotten sick of them. I keep moving them around to different places of course, but they're so versatile they can really go anywhere. I hope it's as successful for everyone else as it was for me.

Re-Styling Inspiration

So i was looking at Clementine + Olive today, and came across such a good idea that i love and i'm totally going to try when i get home....

The second picture would be easier to do like now/tonight since i don't have a darling little stool like the first one, but since i have convinced Chris that it's a good idea to save up and get a new bed and new bedding, i think a little stool like that has to make it into the design scheme somehow, don't you?? Plus, i already have the faux version of this from ikea....

This one is $29.99 which is a good price for sure, but i wasn't sure if i was going to like it or not so i was really wishy-washy about buying it. Then one day i went with my mom to look for something completely different, and they now have a faux version for $9.99!!! You can tell it's fake by the back of it, but i honestly like the faux one better...they don't have it online for some reason, but i promise it is in the Draper ikea and will not disappoint. Especially if you want one for a DIY like this, or just as a little accent. So perfect!

DIY: Better Homes and Gardens Terrarium Tutorial

I am a total sucker for TJMaxx!! I go there all the time to try and find whatever i can to make our house even more beautiful! There and HomeGoods will be the end of me, or the end of my access to our bank account maybe...

So this project began at TJMaxx and was ALL Chris. I cannot grow anything, like, anything. He is the one who buys and waters and cares for our plants. So we went into the TJMaxx in Santa Maria, CA while on vacation to see what it had to offer that the ones here in Utah just don't. I couldn't find anything that was perfect, but lo and behold Chris found this x-large apothecary jar that we couldn't leave the store without buying. We had both read the article by Tovah Martin in BHG about terrariums, and he had been pretty set on the idea since then. So the directions are the exact same ones we used. Even though i'm not the one who cares for it, it is the easiest plant we have to care for. Hers a really pretty, but i'm happy with our TJMaxx compared to her Crate & Barrel's.

HOW TO Plant a Terrarium:
All you need; a clear container, soil, and a plant says Tovah Martin

PROVIDE DRAINAGE
Put an inch of 3/8 inch pebbles in the bottom of the container. Mix in a handful of horticultural charcoal to keep moist soil smelling sweet.

POUR IN POTTING SOIL
Add 2-3 inches of light potting soil that contains lots of peat, such as African violet medium. Tamp it down to remove air pockets.

DIG A LITTLE HOLE
No trowel needed! Make a planting pocket with your finger. Set the plant in and firm the soil around it. Make sure no roots are exposed.

WATER LIGHTLY
Dampen the soil until water drips into the stones. Don't use the misters or sprayers, Tovah says: "They make more of a mess than they moisten the soil."

KEEP IT GROWING
Water an open terrarium when the soil looks dry or you can no longer see water in the stones - every 7-10 days or so. A closed one can go for two weeks or more between waterings. Remove spent flowers and leaves as soon as they appear. Wipe the glass, inside and out, occasionally with a clean cloth.

This is how Chris' turned out and it looks really awesome! It's pretty tall and it's a really good natural decoration that not even someone like me could kill!

DIY: Gold Leaf Zig-zag Tray

So I pinned this tray forever ago on Pinterest knowing that I wanted to redo the tray I already had, when I had the time of course. So while i was finishing up Christmas presents and Chris was bored without having to study, he offered to help. I wish I had taken pictures of the step by step process, but if there are questions, just feel free to ask...

This is the tray that i fell in love with from upintheairsomewhere.com, but with a $98.00 price tag, and also already owning a perfectly good tray, the only way i could justify it was as a Christmas list item or a DIY. DIY it was.

All we did was buy FolkArt Gold Acryllic paint and painted over the entire tray. Now i was a little nervous about this. We looked at the gold-leafing option so it could be more like the original, but with never doing it we didn't want to ruin the tray. The other problem was, i wasn't sure how acryllic paint would do after putting painters tape over it, but that was the easier thing to fix if it didn't go well. I taped the stripes as closely as i could to replicate the original. Chris rolled over the Behr Ultra White Matte indoor house paint. And then came the hiccup...

When we excitedly peeled up the paint, there were a few spots where the gold acryllic came with it. We quickly got more gold paint and some touch-up brushes and Chris used his skills and touched it up. We also got come clear coat sealant to spray over the top to hopefully make it more durable. Was it everything i thought it would be??

I seriously could not have been happier! Especially for less than $10.00 total compared to $98.00...um, hello?!? Of course this was the better option. It's obviously not as shiny as it is with the gold-leafing, but it again satisfied my gold fix.

C. Wonder

I don't know where this site came from, but i LOVE everything they have, including their prices. Mariah, my younger sister, got me this bowl for christmas and it definitely satisfied my craving of gold lately.

I may have peeked at the price, only $8.99 for this beauty. It also comes in chocolate, navy, and red coral. Click here to see all of the colors.

Now my goal for next Christmas is to convince Chris that we should get a new bed and bedding. I like what we have, but i just want it to be perfect, and it's just not quite there yet. But i think this pillow would get me a little closer.

And this one is on sale right now for $14.99 for the cover (insert not included). It also comes in chocolate, navy, and orange. I just need to figure out what color scheme i'm going to go with for my bedding. Navy, coral, and bronze perhaps?? I think it's a promising option...

Click here to see the color options for this pillow. Check out the rest of their site! It's amazing!

Two newest additions to the family...

With a Target price tag of $24.99...

and another Target price tag of $19.99 and a $50.00 Target gift card from Christmas, i just couldn't pass it up!

See more of the collection at Target here.