PARIS THEMED BEDROOM

My super cute new neighbor, Cassie, is an interior designer so I had high expectations when she let me tour her house last month. Her eye for creating beautiful spaces went beyond anything I could have imagined.  One of my favorite rooms in her home was a windowless basement bedroom. Anyone who thinks you can't make a basement bedroom beautiful, I'm here to prove you wrong.

Charming french doors open up to . . . a dream Paris-themed room.

 

The amazing thing about Cassie is she does all her decorating on a budget. Her rooms are full of refinishing projects and discount-store finds.

 

    

   

Word of advice: Don't show you daughters these pictures. Take it from me, they will never be happy with their own room ever again. Also, if she ever redecorates this room, my daughter has dibs on everything in it.



 



SHOE STORAGE

When you walk in my house, the first thing you usually see is where my kids came in and threw up their school day: a huge pile of backpacks, winter coats, shoes, hats, papers and art projects. On its BEST day my "mudroom" looks something like this:

When we built our house, we really had ourselves convinced this space was good enough to hold the bazillion pairs of shoes we wear every day.

 

Not. even. close.

I've been looking for a cute storage solution for all these shoes for years.

I've seen shelves in the garage. This does not work for me. I've killed mice and black widows in that garage. I am not putting my shoes out there for them to live in.

I've seen the "wall of squares". We even went to The Home Depot and priced out MDF to build a wall of squares in this corner. The price was still almost $150. For MDF! I waited for a better solution. And I'm glad I did because last month I visited two homes who really figured this thing out.

Check out my neighbor Keysha's beautiful custom cabinetry:

My favorite part about this is how real is it. Inside that cabinet her shoes are as big a mess as mine. But with the doors closed -- Poof! Gone! Brilliant.

But I don't have the money to buy custom cabinetry right now so I pretty much had this on my "five year wish list". Then, I visited my brother and his wife Heather and saw this in their house:

My brother made this with three upper cabinets from Lowes and added a piece of trim at the top.

I. Love. It.

It's pretty economical to buy these from Lowes, but I am on the lookout for used cabinets that I can paint a cute green like Keysha's. Who knew the solution to shoe storage could be so simple?

If you have another great idea for shoe storage, share it with us!

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WELCOME BABIES!

With the birth of this blog, we would also like to welcome to birth of sweet baby Liam who is returning home this week to a nursery that was lovingly created by his mother Susannah. We were lucky enough to get a sneak peak to the room of this Utah home that has been anxiously awaiting his arrival!

Liam's room is the perfect combination of past, present, and hopes for a bright future:





 

Liam's mom and aunts pieced together this collage of homemade and purchased pom poms and paper lanterns.

 

 

A few circle hole punches, papers of your choice, and a straight line on a sewing machine is all it takes to make this handmade garland.

 

 

Susannah gathered toys, tables, and lamps from her and her husband's childhood homes to add a personal touch to Liam's room. It makes for a beautiful balance with the new toys and decorations they purchased just for baby.



Welcome to your home, Liam!