Finally, a simple, sleek ceiling mount curtain rod

8.17.2017

We have a pop-out in the front of our living room with a big window that fills the whole wall. It's very visible from the street and I puzzled for a while over what to cover the window with! We did add bamboo blinds on the lower portion, but I'm a blinds + curtains kind of girl. But it turns out it's really, really hard to find easy-to-install-and-use-with regular-curtains rods that mount on the ceiling rather than the wall or window molding.

Also, it's shocking when I can't find what I need on Amazon, but I had to go outside the Amazon box for this order! I'll share what I found with you, and some other options.

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Removable wallpaper in the downstairs powder room - and Walls Need Love removable wallpaper tutorial! & DISCOUNT!

8.15.2017

I am so excited to be sharing this tutorial with you finally and I know some of you have been wondering about it!

Aaaaages ago, I picked out a fun wallpaper pattern for our powder room which we totally made over but had yet to really dress up/decorate. It took me a while to get it up and get the chair rail installed around it, but it's up now and it's so perfect!

The even more perfect thing is I used removable wallpaper (sent to me by Walls Need Love) which was super easy to install and can be removed and even reused! So read on for the tutorial and how you can get 25% off your order!

You can read here about our $391 bathroom reno for this bathroom--that included tile, Kohler pedestal sink, brass faucet and light fixture, and new toilet. But it was so plain when it was done. I loooove the white paint we used throughout the house (Benjamin Moore OC-151) but this bathroom is in a hole with no natural light and four blank walls, and there was nothing to pop against it or stand out. I tried putting art over the toilet but it looked dumb next to the round mirror, not symmetrical and just not balanced. So I picked out a bright removable wallpaper and did a chair rail to separate the lower and upper halves of the wall--and it looks great!

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2017 Street of Dreams inspirations, trends, and lessons

8.11.2017

One of my favorite events of the summer is Portland's Street of Dreams!! The past few years Jason and I have gone as a date night and each year/set of homes we've had different experiences and gained something unique from it.

Here are my posts from 2015 and 2016. In 2015 there were 8 or 9 homes and one really special one that was a remodel, one or two really modern ones, and the rest sort of standard over-the-top mansions. In 2016, I noticed quite a few common elements in almost all of the 6 houses (see my 2016 post for the list). Like seriously, we almost stopped noticing barn doors and washer/dryer sets in master closets; they were just everywhere.

This year there were only 5 homes, but each one was completely memorable and different. We actually thought 5 was the perfect number since we could keep them all straight and really take them in.

We toured them out of order, and we gave them our own names, so you'll have to forgive me through this list. (You can read the official order and names/builders/designers here under Show Homes.)

Street of Dreams 2017 Homes


The first we toured was house #3, which we called the "Mature Magnolia" home. Their design inspirations were clear, but the style was not quite ours. I also noticed a lot of different types of flooring in this (and actually a few of the other) homes... given that I have just put a lot of effort into having consistent flooring throughout my home, I wondered about this!!
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Trend that's not going anywhere: black & white check (+ ruffles)! How to Wear DIY or buy one on sale!

8.10.2017

Last summer I made this black/white checkered simple dress with a ruffle I added. I couldn't get enough of the buffalo check look, so I also made this top with the extra fabric, and I made this cute full-skirted dress with a smaller black/white check.

Well, I am happy to report that the black/white checkered trend (with some fun accents like ruffles) is not going anywhere anytime soon! I've seen this pattern around this summer as well and when I wore that first dress last night I got several compliments!

I wanted to share a few ideas for getting the look yourself!

So here's mine. It's soooo comfy on a hot day, loose but not sloppy. And the check makes it feel really fresh and cute!
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Three ways to shop for vintage rugs on a budget

8.02.2017

I've been on the hunt for months for large and small vintage wool rugs, on a budget. I've seen some gorgeous ones on eBay and some small rug shops but haven't been able to pull the trigger. We now have four gorgeous antique Turkish (I think) wool rugs--my hunt is not over, since I would like them in more rooms!--and I've had some success with some serious budget shopping.

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Our house has window screens now, you know, like a normal HOUSE! Replacing all our window screens

7.27.2017

As you may remember from the before pictures at the #Stanley90sreno, this place was a complete mess inside and out, from carpet to drywall to doorknobs, and it won't surprise you that almost all of the window screens were missing, broken, or torn.

We've been knee deep in reno projects since we moved in in October, so replacing the screens has not been on the priority list for most of that time. But, when I got a tour of the Orchard Supply Hardware that opened up in Portland's Central Eastside, I learned that they can re-screen old window screen frames of any kind, and can make new custom screens for our windows! It actually gave me a moment of anxiety for a second because it reminded me I had no idea where to get replacement screens for old windows, like as if I was forgetting I had just learned I could get them at OSH... so I quickly calmed down and made a note to measure all our windows and come back to order new screens!

We were missing ALL of the screens on the ground floor of our house plus one upstairs, and two were broken upstairs. Now that it's summer, we open up the windows and doors wide when it cools off in the evenings, so we had plenty of bugs flying around inside without screens. (So silly that it took me this long, but... I've had a little too much going on.)

Not to mention, we lived with old, dirty aluminum windows and a terrible paint job on the outside of the house for months and months plus no screens, and having dirty, nonfunctional, fixer upper-ness all around you really messes with your mood, and feng shui of the house! Replacing the screens has made the rooms and windows look so much more complete and civilized!

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