Blog - The Lilypad Cottage

March 6, 2019 By Kelly 36 Comments

White Sectional Sofa and Navy Accent Chairs

Is there anything better than seeing a delivery truck pull up to your house full of new furniture? Seriously, Charlie and I were glued to the front door last week anxiously stalking the arrival of our new white sectional sofa and navy accent chairs. Charlie was mainly anxious because we rudely moved his favorite napping spot (the old sectional) downstairs and he wasn’t quite sure what to do with himself. I myself couldn’t wait to see what we ordered in person for the first time, and it did not disappoint!

I cannot wait to reshoot this room in the spring (seriously, didn’t that groundhog see his shadow!?!) because once again it has not stopped snowing. Imagine green trees and blue water with the fun navy chairs.

Let’s travel back in time a bit to when we first built this house, and if you have been following along since then, you know the Mr.’s only must have for the new home was a huge comfy couch. Best kid friendly white sectional sofa

I was on board with the idea as long as it could be a pretty, huge comfy couch. Easier said than done as we found out. After a zillion hours shopping furniture stores, we settled on a comfy one that was the right color, but not my ideal fabric and the lines weren’t totally what I had in mind. The Mr. persuaded me (with the help of a few margaritas) that we should buy it for now with the intention that it would be great in the basement someday when we found what I really wanted.

I’ve had my eye out the last two years for the perfect couch when Maiden Home asked me to partner with them on sharing their furniture line with you all.

I was drawn in with the clean lines, yet the timeless feel of their furniture, which is a style I’m always striving for in our home. Their fabric selections were beautiful and I instantly fell in love with the natural texture of their Linen fabric. Of course, you know me – it had to be white, so I zeroed in on the Oyster color.

But could it withstand my kids and my dog Charlie? After all, if you ask Charlie, it’s basically his couch…

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they use Crypton Home’s stain repellant performance linen and it’s totally kid and pet-friendly!

It was such an easy process to order fabric samples from their site, so I could see the colors in our space. Sometimes buying furniture online can be nerve-wracking, but Maiden Home made it easy to visualize. They sent me samples of several different fabrics along with the different wood options too. I love that everything is custom made by craftsmen here in the U.S. and the quality shows.

The Mr. was onboard with new furniture, but I was going to have to pry the idea of his beloved sectional out of his cold dead hands. And I get it, the previous furniture arrangement worked really well for our whole family and when we entertained.

Thankfully, Maiden Home offered so many different sizes and configurations. We decided on the Sullivan style sectional in the largest size. It measures 135″ on the left and 106″ on the right. It’s super deep and comfortable, and I love how clean the bench cushions look as opposed to individual cushions.

The curved detail on the arm is so pretty and the lighter wood leg fits in with our casual home. Really every detail is beautiful, you can see (and feel) the difference in the quality. Ok, I will stop gushing. As this room doubles as my office, I personally log the most hours on this sofa working away at my computer – good thing it is really comfortable.

Onto the chairs – you guys, I went with some color! White Sectional Sofa and Navy Accent Chairs

Of course, it’s blue, so I didn’t step too far out of my comfort zone. :) I love the old school captain’s chair vibe of these Leroy chairs from Maiden Home. I chose the performance tweed in the color denim.

It’s made with Sunbrella yarn, so it’s liquid repellant and fade resistant. The modern lines are a fun change and they are still comfortable.

If you are on the hunt for a new sofa (and judging from the zillions of dm’s I’ve received on Instagram lots of you are), check out Maiden Home. Every single piece is custom made, designer quality and free delivery in 6 weeks or less. Plus, they offer easy returns within 30 days if you aren’t satisfied. I know big purchases online can be scary, but this whole process was so simple and we couldn’t be happier with our new look! You can check out their site here.

White Sectional Sofa and Navy Accent Chairs

March 1, 2019 By Kelly 21 Comments

Roasted Tomato Goat Cheese BLT Sandwich

I’m sure I’m not the only person who is so over winter!? Not only am I over the snow, but I’m kinda over all the labor-intensive comfort food I typically make in the winter. I’m craving easier weeknight meals on the grill, salads, and quick sandwiches. One of my favorite busy summertime meals is a BLT sandwich with fresh tomatoes from the farmers market with a salad on the side. I’m not going to let the fact that fresh summer tomatoes are a long way off thwart my craving, so I came up with this Roasted Tomato Goat Cheese BLT Sandwich.

The key to this sandwich is roasting your tomatoes first! It sweetens them up and gives a deeper flavor. Combine that with the pesto goat cheese, lettuce (we prefer bibb) and extra crispy bacon for the perfect quick winter weeknight meal. Weird fact about the Mr. – mayonnaise grosses him out (I know, right?). I mix jarred pesto with goat cheese as a substitute for the classic mayo that is typically on a BLT for him, but this sandwich is equally delicious with pesto mayo as well.

I love a multigrain or seed bread for some extra crunch. Top with fresh lettuce and it’s soooo delicious and a reminder that summer is on the way!

5.0 from 1 reviews

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Roasted Tomato Goat Cheese BLT Sandwich

Recipe type: sandwich

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 30 mins

Serves: 2 sandwiches

Ingredients

pint cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
2 oz goat cheese
2 tbsp jarred pesto
6 slices of cooked bacon
lettuce
4 pieces toasted multigrain bread

Instructions

Toss tomatoes with olive oil, salt & pepper.
Roast at 400 for 20 minutes or until brown.
Mix pesto and goat cheese to taste.
Assemble sandwiches by layering goat cheese, bacon, roasted tomatoes and lettuce on toasted bread. Enjoy!

Let me know if you try out this Roasted Tomato Goat Cheese BLT Sandwich.

Check out more of my recipes here!

Roasted Tomato Goat Cheese BLT Sandwich.

February 27, 2019 By Kelly 29 Comments

Lake House Master Bedroom Design

So, I accidentally redecorated my entire master bedroom during the snowpocalypse a few weeks ago. Oops. I blame cabin fever…again. Lake house Bedroom Design

Well, let me back up by saying when we sold our last house, the buyers bought most of our furniture including all of our master bedroom furniture. I was starting from scratch in here when we built. Which was fun! But on the downside, I typically like to live in a space for a bit and get a feel for it before I decorate. Sometimes something you think will work doesn’t and that’s kind of been the case in here.

This house just calls for cleaner lines than we had in our old home and that’s not something I realized until we moved in and have been here a bit. I loved the old school character of the bed we had in here on its own, but something about the curve of the headboard with the wall sconces and the art has always felt too busy to my eye. Lake house master bedroom design.

I also grabbed these $15 nightstands from a flea market, so we at least had something while I looked for the perfect thing. These ones were just too small, kind of rickety, and every time we opened the cabinets everything fell out. There isn’t a shelf in the cabinet, so it is a lot of wasted space. Number one on the list for new nightstands – drawers! Something I could open and close and keep organized vs these cabinets that were kind of useless. I also wanted something that was wider giving us more storage than the narrow ones we had before, oh and under a zillion dollars preferably.

Wow, that turned out to be a hard task. Something about moving up to a wider nightstand made the prices skyrocket. I found so many that I loved but they were all around $1,000. When I came upon these at Crate and Barrel I was excited. They are timeless feeling with clean lines, tons of storage and they have a plug inside the drawer so I don’t have to look at phone chargers hanging out everywhere. They were still pricey at $499 each, but I had them in my cart forever and they finally were 20% off last week so I snagged them. They are solid wood and I know we will have them for a long time.

Next, up for the bed, we wanted something comfier. The Mr. and I usually watch tv in our room after we put the kids to bed (well I watch tv or read while he is usually working on his computer). The thought of an upholstered headboard vs a wood one to lean back on seemed cozier. I found this one on sale for around $600 and it’s an almost identical dupe for the Serena and Lily one I fell in love with which was about $2,000.

I plan on keeping my world market rug and the bedding I got at Christmas below. Although I may switch back to the summer bedding from Target we had too! Haven’t figured it all out yet.

Oh and so many of you ask about our ceiling fan that we bought at The Home Depot and they discontinued it. I always wondered why up until a few months ago when it randomly stopped working. The lights won’t turn on. The fan won’t run. Nothing. Nada. Which is just as well because the Mr. and I were talking and we really never turned the fan portion on these past two summers, so I think I may swap it out for a fun light fixture instead.

I love the texture of rattan/wicker lights – here are a few I’m thinking about:

The bed arrived last week and we love it so far – it is SO comfy! I feel like our Melissa Lyons painting is the star of the room now vs competing with the bed. The nightstands arrived as well, but my trusty fed ex guy (who I love) accidentally delivered it wrong side up and the top was cracked, so I’m waiting on a new one. I’m hoping to share our actual bedroom next week!

Oh and about our old bed, don’t worry I have plans for it! It’s in our storage room in the basement for now, but my daughter is getting older (she turns 11 this week – sob) so pretty soon she is going to be outgrowing her twin bed. I’m thinking when she is 12 or 13 we will put it in her room and do a little room refresh.

You can shop everything in this post below –

Lake house master bedroom design

February 12, 2019 By Kelly 22 Comments

Bookshelf Styling Tips

My kids are finally back to school today! We had snow day 10, 11 and 12 last week (but who’s counting?!) I don’t know if I’m the only one who does this, but when I’m stuck in my house for long periods of time, I start rearranging things. Redecorating as a cure for cabin fever, try it out – it works ;) bookshelf styling tips

Our living room bookshelves have long been on my list of things to tackle because they were getting overstuffed with books. I love books don’t get me wrong. But we have a whole bookcase downstairs that really serves as more of our practical library (you can check that post out here), and I wanted the shelves up here to be a little visually cleaner. Well, and what really prompted this little redo is the new security system we had installed, so now I’m busy trying to hide little cameras that are all over our house.

First, a few bookshelf styling tips in general, and then I’ll show you how I hid the camera

1. Display a collection. I love these old books I saved from my great grandmothers’ house when she passed. I’ve had them for over 10 years now. Some of them are actually my grandpa’s books from when he was a little boy and they are so fun to look at. I have some of them turned around because the spines are in rough shape. I know this annoys some people, but again my practical library storage is downstairs. I like the cleaner look of the old pages.

2. Change the direction of your books. It gets pretty boring visually to have just rows and rows of books facing the same way switch it up!

3. Mix in some decorative objects. These could be photo frames, bookends or pottery like I have here. I also love these baskets for hiding the tv remotes in. If you are new here, our tv is hidden in the cabinet below the baskets – you can read more about it in this post here.

4. Don’t be afraid of white space. I used to think you have to have every single part of your shelves filled with something. When you give your things some room to breathe they stand out more rather than looking like clutter.

Ok, now for how I hid our camera. I stuck it behind this planter and the cord to the outlet is pretty hidden behind the books. I talked about this on Instagram a few weeks back and you all had so many great suggestions on hiding your cameras, so I list a few others as well.

Tucked in an actual plant. I think I could have made this work with a leafier plant variety.
Fake books with a hole cut out – superspy status!
Decorative boxes with a hole cut out.
Decorative birdcage.
Putting them down low ex: under a coffee table.
Or up high like on the top of our bookshelf, this wasn’t a good option because our’s need to be plugged in.

If you have cameras hidden in your house, let me know in the comments below if you have other hiding tips!

I also rounded up a bunch of fun items that would be great to display in your bookshelves if you are on the hunt for a few new pieces to add to your collection. You can shop them below.

This is probably all you will hear from me this week as we are headed down to visit my parent’s over winter break (as if my kids haven’t been out of school enough!). We are so excited for some sunshine and family time. Have a great week!

OH, and I had so many questions about my new art above my table last week! I’ve been in the middle of a huge art swap (again I blame cabin fever for all the rearranging), and I’ll be sharing that soon. This beautiful piece is a print from DeAnn you can find her work here. I’ve been an admirer of her paintings for a long time now and I am so happy I finally bought a print from her beach collection. If you missed that post you can check it out here.

bookshelf styling tips

February 8, 2019 By Kelly 20 Comments

Green Console Table Refresh

If you watched my Instagram stories a few weeks back, I confessed that I’m a neat freak and clutter makes me crazy! I get it from my dad, he has been known to start vacuuming around my children as they are eating dinner – ha! I may not be on that level (yet), but I shared a few of my tips for staying organized. Today, I’m tackling one area that has always been a dumping ground for keys, spare change, and random legos – our green console table. I was determined to make this space work a little better for us in the new year, so I partnered with The Home Depot to refresh and renew this space!

The baskets that were under the table previously were just space holders for when I could find the perfect thing, and I finally found it! These striped ottomans are not only cute, but they have been so handy for game night and extra seating in our living room. Many of you spotted them on Instagram during the “polar vortex game marathon” and I’ve never had so many dm’s! My kids love to sit on these, and they are nice and sturdy.

I’m not sure how we lived without them before! The Home Depot has a great selection of home decor and accessories, and I actually had a hard time choosing between a few different ottomans.

I’ll link a few of my favorites below, but ultimately the striped ones stole my heart (big surprise).

Next up, I found this raw wood tray. It adds great texture and warmth and bonus is a pretty spot for the Mr. to toss his car keys and change. Now it’s my kid’s go-to spot to grab some coins for the popcorn sale at school on Fridays.

This floppy jute basket is great for extra pillows and blanket storage. They had so many great baskets to choose from that I linked a few more that were in the running as well. One big organizing tip I do every day is a little 15 minute pick up of our house in the morning and night to keep clutter at bay. Anything of my kids that I find throughout the house I toss in this basket for them to put away the next day. It’s become a little holding zone between upstairs and downstairs.

Of course, I couldn’t resist adding a few pretty things to round this space out! My ficus plant was in desperate need of a repotting and this pretty stoneware vase gave me the height I wanted on this table with extra room for the roots to grow. Can you believe this plant is going strong after 4 years?

There are so many fun home accent pieces and accessories at The Home Depot for styling bookshelves, coffee tables, and console tables, but I settled on this metal abstract piece that makes a great bookend.

I’m so happy with how this space looks now and it’s so much more functional as well.

If you are looking to refresh and renew a space in your home, The Home Depot has so many great organizational options as well as pretty things to freshen up your newly organized space. I’m linking all my favorites below!

February 6, 2019 By Kelly 31 Comments

Blue and White Bathroom Design

My daughter’s blue and white bathroom is one of the very first rooms I shared when we completed building our house almost 2 years ago now – seems crazy! The wallpaper in here is still my fave, but I recently partnered with The Company Store to freshen up this room a bit. Blue and white bathroom design.

First on the agenda were new towels.

There was a major “slime” incident over Christmas break (when will this slime making trend end?!?) and my daughter used her bathroom towels to clean it up – sigh. The good news is she saved the wood floors, the bad news is the towels were toast. It was time to upgrade, so I chose the Green Earth Quick Dry Towels from The Company Store.

I have the quick dry dog towels for Charlie and I’ve been keeping them by our front door with all the snow we have had as they are great for drying his paws up quickly. They are so absorbent and cut down on his drying time a ton (you can read more about my fave Company Store dog products here), so I was really curious to try them out for my daughter’s hair.

She has long hair and hates to have it blow-dried, but when the temps are in the negatives, going outside with wet hair is not an option. I’m happy to report these do really absorb the water in her hair so well! We have cut our blow drying time down for sure.

I love the lightweight yet fluffy texture of them and they dry really quickly (when my daughter hangs them up), so there is no damp towel smell. It’s great that they are eco-friendly too.

I got a few of the large bath sheets as well as the standard size, and she loves wrapping up head to toe in them!

We also added in these fun Carnival Striped Bathroom Accessories in gray.

The cute jar is the perfect spot to store all of her hair ties and accessories. It’s really helped us stay organized in the mornings. She decided to use the soap dish for storing her jewelry before she hops in the shower.

That photo of her and my son when we first brought him home from the hospital kills me! She was 3 1/2 in that shot and she turns 11 next month. She looks so excited in that shot, but she asked us to return him the next day…she still asks this from time to time ;)

I love the little bit of fun and whimsy the stripes have added to her bathroom.

Now is a great time to shop The Company Store because they are having their Semi-Annual White sale with up to 25% off solid bedding, and bath!

I can’t say enough about the quality of their towels and bedding (you can read more about all the bedding I have from them in this post here) and the sale prices are great. You can shop the full White Sale here, and side note if you are in the market for new sheets, the Classic Solid 100% Cotton Sateen Sheet Set is my absolute favorite.

You can find more details and sources about this bathroom in this blog post here.

Blue and white bathroom design.

February 1, 2019 By Kelly 17 Comments

Beloved Resort Playa Mujeres Mexico Vacation

Greetings from the middle of the polar vortex! We are on snow day #5 over here, which is why you haven’t heard much from me this week. The wind chill was -40 yesterday, it has not stopped snowing, and we all have major cabin fever! What better time to reminisce about sunshine and umbrella drinks? I am by no means a travel blogger, and I didn’t take my good camera along, but I have had a few requests to share some details about our recent trips! So today I’m talking Mexico, crappy iPhone pics and all. Beloved Resort Playa Mujeres Mexico Vacation

First off, I will say the Mr. gets all the credit for planning this trip! We aren’t big gift people, we like to spend our money on experiences instead. Especially as we get older and busier and our kids are busy too. Free time to spend with one another is harder to come by. So, when we talked about our 15th wedding anniversary, we knew we wanted to take a trip – just the two of us.

Our big requirements were – sun, beach, and doing absolutely nothing, with a margarita or two thrown in! He researched tons of places in the Bahamas, Fiji, Hawaii – all over! In the end, Mexico is an easy direct 3-hour flight from Michigan, which meant more vacation time vs travel time and the weather is dependably gorgeous there. We are going to save the further out more exotic vacations for when we can maybe do a 10-day trip when our kids are grown and we really have time to explore.

The Mr. found this boutique hotel called the Beloved Resort. It’s in Playa Mujeres 30 minutes north of the Cancun airport. It had amazing reviews on Trip Advisor, but we asked a local travel agent for her input as well. She had nothing but positive things to say about it, so we had her book it. What we liked was that it was small. They only have 100 rooms, so it wasn’t a giant resort to hike all over with a zillion people fighting for a chair on the beach. The service was amazing and really personalized.

We booked one of their nicer rooms – a beachfront 2-story casita (we stayed in Hermosa, you can see it above overlooking the ocean and pool). These are pricier, but it was our anniversary so we splurged.

Here it is lit up at night from the other side. There are only 4 rooms in each of these Casitas, so it was nice and private feeling. That whole top left section was ours. It was a large room with a balcony facing the ocean, I didn’t do a great job of taking pics on this trip (I was determined to relax and unplug), so I forgot to take a photo of the actual room. You can find room photos on their website here. The whole resort featured mostly white decor, white walls, white furniture etc…so I felt right at home ;)

The balcony was the perfect spot to have coffee in the morning.

We also had our own private rooftop deck with a plunge pool.

The views were amazing and we slept with the doors open every night to listen to the ocean waves. We also took advantage of the rooftop deck on days it was windier on the beach. It was so nice to come back to this space about 5:00 each day to pour a glass of wine and watch the ocean before we got ready for dinner. This is an all-inclusive resort, so the room was stocked with soda, wine, beer, alcohol, as well as snacks.

This is definitely the place for you if you want a super quiet, private, chill vacation. If you want lots of activities and nightlife and things to do, this is not the place, but a week of doing nothing was just what we needed!

The beach here was beautiful and the chairs and beach beds were so comfortable. There was a bit of seaweed every morning on the beach, but they cleaned it up right away. They have a beach concierge where you stop first and they help you scope out the perfect spot to sit, set your chairs up with towels and water, and let the beach waiter know you are there.

This is where I really excelled at vacationing and where I spent most of my week :). The Mr. decided to be all healthy and run every morning while I held down the beach for us. He did 35 miles that week, and I read 7 books – to each his own! The service on the beach was great – they brought around cold towels and kept us supplied with mimosas and margaritas. They also serve a different lunch on the beach every day. The ceviche day was my favorite, but the fajitas were fantastic too!

The last 3 days we rented this little cabana it was $50 for 3 days and it was nice, because it had cabinets to put your stuff in, more shade, and you could order snacks and lunch as well.

They did have kayaks, and catamarans for use on the beach if you are looking for more activity and jet skis available for rent. Isla Mujeres is a little island across from Playa Mujeres that you can take a boat or ferry to explore for the day, but we never got the itch to leave the resort.

They also had 2 beautiful pool areas as well with these super comfy beds.

This bar was our favorite to stop for a drink and shrimp ceviche before dinner every night. They usually had live jazz musicians playing here as well. Props to the Mr. for his casual modeling pose on the couch! This was about 6:30 at night and you can see we had the place to ourselves. This is what I mean by quiet and private, most nights there were only a few other tables filled at dinner. Oh, and I loved the martini glasses that kept my drink cold even in the heat.

Let’s talk food which can be pretty hit or miss at an all-inclusive. Which maybe, let’s talk all-inclusive first for a minute. We liked this option for Mexico this time around because of safety concerns. We have been to a few different places in Mexico over the years where we haven’t done all inclusive and have always found amazing restaurants. Lately, there have been a few incidents in the news and safety concerns in Mexico, so we thought an all inclusive was the best route this time. Also, like I said we were craving a week of doing nothing, so exploring new restaurants wasn’t high on our list this time around. We wanted a week of no brainer decisions.

They have 4 restaurants, which may not seem like a lot for a whole week, but their menus are large and varied and they were also super accommodating about making something off the menu as well. They asked about food allergies everytime we sat down, so this could be a great option if you struggle to find food that fits your diet while traveling. They also had 24-hour room service, a coffee bar with snacks, and a crepe truck. We both thought the food was some of the best we have had at an all-inclusive.

We especially loved eating at the seafood restaurant that was right on the beach above – the grilled lobster was amazing. Hands down the French restaurant had the best food (below I had salmon with risotto and the Mr. was eating wine braised beef). There were a few misses throughout the week (we both didn’t like their coffee, but their espressos, lattes, and cappuccino were perfect), but overall the quality of the food was great. Especially the seafood.

It rained one afternoon, so we hit the spa for massages and they have a relaxing hydrotherapy circuit, which was included with your stay. They lead you through a series of steam rooms. saunas, hot pools, cold pools, etc. and it was super relaxing and fun.

All in all, we had a fantastic week – it was so great to reconnect and just hang out without all the distractions of work and kids and home! I’m so thankful for all the adventures I’ve been on with this guy in the last 15 years, he is my absolute favorite.

If you have any specific questions leave me a comment below, but I have to say on Instagram I had so many of you message me saying you had stayed here as well and it was a favorite among you all for sure!

January 23, 2019 By Kelly 17 Comments

Budget Friendly Home Decor

Hey! I was hoping to share some shelf stying tips today, including how to hide our new ugly security cameras (if you watched my instagram stories last week, you know what I’m talking about). I had my shelves all styled and we had a major snow storm roll through with some crazy wind. The wind took our front door and slammed it so hard when I was letting Charlie out that our bookshelves shook and this happened… budget friendly home decor

Whoops! I’m surprised Charlie didn’t blow away. I’m reworking (and replanting) some things and that will be coming soon!

In the meantime, I had a reader comment how some of my latest pillows, bedding etc… weren’t in her price point. I totally get it! I’ve always been a firm believer in mixing inexpensive items in with some splurges here and there. I’ve also been really blessed to work with some fun brands lately, so I’ve been sharing stuff at lots of different price points. My approach is – if I save on an inexpensive throw or accessory from HomeGoods, I’ll splurge a bit on pillows from Serena and Lily to complete the look. I’m the same way with clothes, I will definitely splurge on good quality jeans (although I have a few inexpensive favorites too, you can shop my closet here) and pair them with $20 shoes from Target.

So with all that said, I recently discovered you can now shop TJ Maxx online and they have some great budget friendly home finds! Everything from pillows to furniture and coffee table books (which are great for styling bookcases) at a great price point. There are even a few great dupes for the Serena and Lily pillows I have. I made a little living room mock up below to show you how some of the items would pair together.

I linked all my favorites below if you are needing a little room refresh after the Christmas crazy, but your bank account needs to recover from the holiday too.

Just hover over each photo to see the price and click on each item to be taken to their site!

Contains affiliate links.

budget friendly home decor

January 18, 2019 By Kelly 39 Comments

What’s Coming in 2019

Hey strangers! I am sort of stumbling my way into 2019 here on the blog. After 2 great weeks off with my kids on break, a week in Mexico celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary with the Mr., and a snow day this week for my kiddos – reentry into the real world has been a little rough! My phone wouldn’t even recognize my face after I worked out on Monday. It was all “oh wait, you aren’t stuffing your face with a taco or a margarita, who are you?” :) I always hit this weird creative slump in January as well. The holiday season is crazy for blogging and I feel like all the Christmas hoopla sucked the last idea out of my brain. Don’t get me wrong, there will definitely be some fun design content coming this year…I just haven’t gotten there yet.

Some of the things I’ll be working on soon –

Our living room – we are getting new furniture! I’m so excited, if you remember this blog post way back when, this couch was bought after a round of margaritas with the Mr. (lots of tequila involved into today’s post apparently). I love the size and shape and comfort factor, but I was hoping for a more linen like fabric. The thought was we would buy this for now, to eventually put in the basement while I search for my dream couch. Guys, dreams come true and it’s being delivered in February. This cozy sectional will be right at home in the basement and our basement Ikea furniture is heading to my brother’s house. So a win, win all around.

The basement – I’m sure this room will get a little refresh with the upstairs furniture heading down here.

Green table – Remember the hunt for something under this table (read about it here)? I finally found it! The cute ottomans I found have spurred a little makeover of this space that I will be blogging next week-ish.

Kids rooms – I helped my brother out with his 3 year old daughter’s bedroom, and I’ll be helping him with his younger daughter’s room as well. I just need to get myself over there to shoot it one of these days.

Son’s bathroom – I’m still on the hunt for wallpaper in here…

Master bath refresh – I haven’t shared our bathroom in a year and a 1/2 and I’ve made a few fun changes in here since then.

Master bedroom – Ok this room has been my everest. In our last house it was the playroom, but in this house it’s our bedroom. I just can’t seem to get it totally right in here. I’ve switched the bedding a few times and the rug, but I think it boils down to the furniture. My $15 flea market nightstands were intended to just be place holders until I found the right pieces and it’s time I tackle that. I’m on the lookout for something with drawers, because we could both use more practical storage. I’m craving cleaner lines. Stay tuned for more changes in here.

Mudroom – I totally forgot to blog this room minus this sneak peek when I blogged about the laundry room. Coming soon.

See – I’ve got ideas! I just need to make them all happen yet :)

On the non-design side of things, I plan on blogging about our Costa Rica trip and our Mexico trip. More recipes, random thoughts, parenting stuff, book recs, and clothing finds coming your way too.

Wow, I’m feeling behind now reading about all my grand plans! I hope you had a great start to the new year (possibly more productive than mine) and happy weekend!

December 20, 2018 By Kelly 34 Comments

Night Time Christmas Tour

I have always wanted to do a Night Time Christmas Tour and I’ve just never gotten around to it. Until now! Today, I’m sharing a little tour of our Christmas decorations all lit up at night. The fun part is that I’m joining a bunch of my favorite bloggers as well. So get cozy and enjoy the magic of twinkly lights and fireplaces.

Come on in! Our Christmas tree is the first thing that greets you…

along with the view.

This is my favorite time of night at our house even though it gets dark about 5:00. I’m not complaining though, especially when we had a rare glimpse of winter sunshine in Michigan today.

I absolutely love the lights on our new Christmas tree as they make this room feel so cozy.

Charlie is in his usual spot holding down the back of the couch for us. Although, he has been known to curl up front and center by the fireplace too.

I don’t blame him as our fireplace makes the room nice and toasty. I’ve gotten a few questions about this fireplace lately and it is a gas fireplace, but it has a built-in blower so it does really heat the room nicely too.

I used those same light up glass ornaments on my coffee table again this year, because my kids love them. They were a HomeGoods find. Don’t mind my messy felt ball garland, I swear Charlie is half cat, because he hops on this table and plays with it all the time!

These pretty glass candlesticks with a simple garland have been my table centerpiece all season, and I’m going to miss the candlelight when they are gone.

This is my last post of the year, and I want to thank you all again for following along. I truly feel blessed to share our home, family, recipes and things I love with all of you. My kids have the next 2 weeks off, and I’m taking time away from the blog to do all the Christmasy things with them and enjoy my time with family and friends. It will be a little more extended break than normal, because after Christmas break the Mr. is whisking me off to Mexico to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary – seems totally crazy! Although it will be quiet over here on the blog for a good 3 weeks, I will be posting over on Instagram I’m sure. I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas and I’m wishing you all many blessings and happiness in the new year.

Be sure to check out all of the other amazing and cozy homes lit up for Christmas below! Oh and if you missed my Christmas tour in the daylight you can check that out here!