Good Things

Happy Friday! We made it. Here are some things that made me smile this week when the rain was getting me down.

We got another wrapped canvas photo from our wedding. There was a great deal through One Kings Lane that I couldn't pass up. If you are in the market for one, keep an eye out for sites like OKL, Gilt and HauteLook. They always have canvas deals. (Photo by Kate Harrison.)

A new succulent to tide me over until we can plant our garden in a couple weeks.

Fresh squeezed orange juice. Citrus is so cheap right now they are practically giving away bags at the farmer's market. A great way to use them up is fresh juice. 

Remembering a great dinner with friends over fried chicken and mac n cheese at Farmer Brown.

Pete lays in the strangest places. That can't be comfortable, lil guy.

Countdown until spring

The rain is finally about to pour on the Bay Area, and we need it, bad. But I really have been enjoying this super dry winter. Rain is fun for about the first two days, then I'm over it. In anticipation of the coming storm, I put some spring touches around my house.

Summer Mantle

I finally took down my spring and Easter decor this weekend and traded it in for a red, white and blue, more summery look. You can do red, white and blue without making it look country.

The new living room mantle.

Most of this is just things I already had around the house. 

I essentially 'went shopping' around my house.

Cake stand, latte bowls, little bear.

I did get the vintage rosettes in NYC and then glued them on sticks.

Easiest way to get some color, make a stack of books!

I love me some fans. 

Paper fans are from the dollar store and the vintage fan is thrifted.

The bib on our mantle is very plain and always needs some sort of embellishment to not look so stark. I saved my old Snow & Graham calendar since the pages are so thick and have beautiful designs. I cut out these stars from the old July page and taped them directly onto the mantle.

"work in progress"

Every time I sit and watch design show, Dear Genevieve I get really sad that she isn't in my house helping out. And my disgust usually goes straight to the room we are normally in-the living room. Even though I still have yet to reupholster our wing back chair and ditch our cheapie bookcase, we made a big step towards something I am much happier with. We swapped our old TV stand for a glossy black bamboo dresser.

To be fair, we used to have a much smaller TV up there.

Feels much more grown up.

P.S. I have applied to be on Dear Genevieve ...without a response. 

If anyone knows someone that works on the show, let me know, please!

It's starting to look like Christmas around these parts

This is the only place you will find a red & green motif at our house and it's not like I could have avoided that without painting our door another color! I picked up this gorgeous bay leaf wreath the other day mostly because of its shape.

We don't have a formal tree topper so I re-purposed one of the Halloween poms I had lying around.

I got an H and  J last year to hang on our stockings. They are made from vintage wallpaper applied onto a wood backing. Love these!

Can you believe this gorgeous stocking holder is from Kohl's? Ahhh, it is so perfect how it reflects the tree.

P.S. This blog will get kicked up a notch if Santa brings me the fabu camera I asked for this year.

DIY Coffee Table

This table project, while extremely simple, is special. We are the third house on our street that this table has been able to call home. Our next door neighbor had it first, then the across-the-street neighbor bought it at their garage sale and then I liked it and they weren't able to use it anymore, so they gave it to me!

Before:

After:

Sorry for the dark pictures, the living room doesn't get the best light. I know white isn't much of a risk, but we did buy cobalt blue and chickened out at the last minute. I actually like the white. With the gray walls, lighter furniture works well.