Not with a guy in the house!

I'd like to give a shout out to all of the single ladies out there. Why, you ask? Because you can still have things like this...

It's from Urban Outfitters, and it's quite fancy. If I had this in my room, half of the ruffles would be torn off in one night of tossing and turning.

You can have white rooms like this too. Never would you worry about coffee being spilled on it, or cereal slipping out of the bowl and making a big spot that makes you flip the cushion for the rest of the life of your couch. NOT that I'm saying this has happened to me...Mmmmm Hmmmm, it SO has!

Let us not forget about the single girl's kitchen! NEVER would you be harassed for your love of pink in a room like this if you were single!

So if you're bummed out about being single, go be a girl until you aren't! When you get married the girly house stuff will disappear and you will have to decorate more combined-gender-friendly! I just invented that term now. Pretty fancy, huh?

-Stacy

Let's hang some pictures!

I have an abundance of pictures in my house...okay, okay...maybe and over-abundance!  I love hanging pictures in groups because I find that it looks really cozy. As a matter of fact, I find it to be a huge compliment to me when people walk in my house and call it "cozy." Even if cozy means small, it doesn't matter to me. Sit down, relax, take a load off...I'm happy to have you over for a visit!

All of that said, the number one mistake that I see when I go into friend's homes, or homes that I've staged is their picture arrangement. Most of the time the pictures are WAY too high. I mean, no one that I know is 8 feet tall when they are sitting down! Lower your pictures, my friends! LOWER YOUR PICTURES! If you are sitting in a room, your pictures should be hung at eye level...not 3 inches down from the ceiling! A good rule of thumb is to hang your pictures 57" at the center. That means 57" from the floor to the center of the picture when it's hanging. THAT, my friends and followers, is the perfect height. In the living room (where you sit most of the time) I would go three to four inches lower than that. 

I will warn you now...if you are hanging your pictures like you are Jolly the Green Giant right now, your pictures are going to feel really low to you when you bring them down a bit. I promise you will get used to it, and it will even allow you to enjoy your art more! After all, if you chose it, you want to enjoy it right?

Now onto the next picture hanging tip. Let's try hanging your pictures in groupings. A picture here and a picture there is very boring in my opinion. Please don't say goodbye to me just yet! I'm not judging you for not knowing how to hang pictures, and if you like them that way...by all means keep it that way! I'm just suggesting you try something a bit different! 

Let me show you what I mean! Here are some groupings that I have in my house and I love them! Maybe you will too!

This one is a favorite. It's hanging in my kitchen. I have had these little prints for at least ten years. I put them away and take them out when I change things up.

Yes, this was 8:30 in the morning! I was up, I promise!

This is a very small wall. In all honesty, I'd probably do three pictures here if I had another one that I liked with these two. 

Here is the red room. I love these two pictures with these two mirrors. I did this on a whim one day when I was bored and sick of a bare wall. 

This grouping is above a section of my couch. It almost looks to small for the wall, but it is really quite perfect. Some people that I know would have hung just ONE of these pictures and it would've felt like something was missing! Not a good look. 

This is above the big section of my couch. The picture is relatively big, and can you see how low it is? My couch is just 6 inches or so underneath the picture. 

These are hanging in the "hallway" to my kitchen. They are higher because none of my guests will be sitting in this hallway anytime soon. I use the term hallway loosely. This house is too small for a hallway, really.

Here is my daughter's room. We have hung black and white prints in the corner. I love them en masse like this. They are perfect. I bet some of you are thinking, "WOW, that is too many pictures!" I invite you to come to my house and see how well this works!

These two are right outside my bathroom on a tiny wall. If I had one large picture that would have fit this wall I would have hung just one. I didn't have that so I hung two smaller ones and they work well here!

I'm sure you remember this wall from my house pictures. It's a wall of collections. A picture of our cat Sophie who we lost years ago, the card I got at my grandma's funeral, a few gifts, and a few that I got at antique stores. Each thing on this wall has a special meaning to me. I love it, and it feels cozy.

I hope this has helped you with ideas for picture hanging and encouraged you to try hanging your pictures a bit lower if you haven't already! I don't feel like these pictures of my pictures (get that?) do them justice. The lighting in my house is odd and I think it's time for a new camera!

Happy Monday!

Stacy

A new book...possibly today's love of my life

I wanted to share a book with you that I saw at a local gift store a few weeks ago. When I saw it, I quickly noted the name and author in my phone so I could go home and order it here for about ten bucks less! Plus, I needed to buy another book so I got free shipping.

The cover of this book, alone, spoke to me. I am not a minimalist in my house. I love stuff on my walls. I don't like stuff laying all over tables, but my walls are packed. I have pictures stuffed in drawers and closets just waiting to find a home. This book came yesterday and it is awesome. Don't get me wrong, they do have some walls ideas for the minimalist too. It just so happens that the pictures all over the walls on the cover made my heart flutter.

Think about getting this book...it's eye candy!

Stacy

Today's Etsy!

Today I have found more wall art! I love this family rules of the house in the form of a subway sign. You could probably make one yourself, but why not buy this for $49? It's cute! 

My personal favorite? Be happy!

So for Wednesday...be happy!

Stacy

A house I love

I look forward to the house tours on Apartment Therapy every day. I love house tours and being able to get a glimpse into people's homes. I always know that if they are on Apartment Therapy, their house is a labor of love. They have poured their hearts and souls into making it fit their personality, sense of style, and design preferences. I can't say I like every home that I "tour" on the site, but I have a lot of respect for the people who have been selected to showcase their homes there. It would be a HUGE deal to have your house featured on Apartment Therapy. I will probably never be so lucky.

Last week I came across a home that I would move into in two seconds flat! I fell in love with it the first time I saw it and have gone back to get design ideas and drool over it about 5 times in a week. These people worked so hard to make their house a home and I want you to see it too!

There's my little tease for you. Now go here and take a look for yourself. I might like it more than you do, but I guarantee you that you will get an idea or two. This couple mixed so many different styles and made it look so effortless that I am jealous!

Happy house touring!

Stacy

I might move...

Did you happen to see this house on apartment therapy?

Well, I'm CRAZY in love with leopard print everything. Every house needs some leopard print. A pillow, a rug, a chair, a sheet, a towel...SOMETHING! This house is in Chicago and I am going to need to go knock on their door and tell them that they are rockstars. Leopard print rockstars from heaven. No, I couldn't go this far, but I completely admire the people who did. If it were in my neighborhood I'd have to walk by it everyday. With my pet leopard. Just kidding. Do they have pet leopards? I want one.

What do you think? Cool or crazy?

Stacy

Today's Etsy!

Today's find is one that I'll be buying as soon as I paint my front door. I'll be getting it in white. Such an easy way to welcome people and add some whimsy to your door! Love it!

You can buy this in a multitude of different colors for $7! Yes, that is it! How can you resist?

Stacy

Today's Etsy!

I promised myself that I would take the weekend off, but then I remembered these and decided I had to post them. I was glad I did since they are on sale for the holiday weekend! They are the cutest most whimsical things I have seen in a long time. I wonder if it would be overload if I had one in every room?

At $32.99 these are a splurge for most of us being that they hold tissue! I'll take one in Green and one in Aqua, thank you very much. 

Sayonara till Monday or Tuesday!

Stacy

An urban bedroom.

If you noticed here that you didn't see any pictures of my bedroom, it's because I didn't post any. My bedroom is in a constant state of upheaval. It needs to be painted and I need to decide on a color scheme. STAT. Things have come and gone from our room more than any other place in our house. I think I like something, I buy it, and then I get sick of it. The master bedroom is in the upper half story of our urban home and the only time we are up there is at night. It's not a place that I want to spend lots of my free time but I want to change that! Here's what I've been looking at for bedding. That seems to be my biggest issue, and the thing I change my mind about the absolute most. I could have sent our daughter to college with the money I've spent on bedding. Don't tell my husband!

I've found all of the bedding at West Elm. I think I'm in love with all of it. So here goes:

I would like these grey and white striped sheets. I am in love with stripes. They feel cozy to me. However, the little wrinkle in this bedding would drive me nuts. Couldn't they just have made it all smooth? They had to make it all messy looking? Sheesh!

I need this quilt. I love the masculine stripe with the feminine ruffles. This is shaping up to be my dream bed.

Next I will need 4 of these pillows. I will get them for my husband since he loves removing mass amounts of pillows from the bed before he can get it. I might as well make him happy! Toothy grin...

Then I will take the dark grey throw you see in the pile below. 

Now for my pop of color, I will have some nice person buy this rug from Anthropologie for me. The size I want is only (just under) a thousand dollars. Go buy your lottery ticket and I promise this is all I will ask for when you win. I'm being very positive, too, because I think you're gonna win this time! I can just feel it!

So that is what I am thinking for our room. Soon I will post pictures and see what you think of it up there. It needs a mini-overhaul. I say "mini" because I am going to do it on a budget. I guess I'll be looking for a different rug. 

-Stacy

Today's Etsy!

Yes, you're very observant because I changed the name from "Etsy find of the day" to "Today's Etsy." Don't be surprised if I change it again because I'm like that. Alyssa and I have a good schedule set for posting so you'll start knowing what to expect everyday of the week. We're nice like that because we like you! We're pretty new to the blog world so we're still trying to figure things out. Thank you for stopping in to look at our posts! 

Moving on to my Etsy find, I'm very excited to share this with you! Yellow seems to be the new "in" color and I have added it to my house where I can. Because of my colors right now I can't use too much of it, but I LOVE the color yellow. WAIT, my bathroom is yellow! What the heck am I thinking? It's a warm color that doesn't cast funky shadows on my skin when I'm getting ready. For my bathroom I chose Butter from Restoration Hardware. I digress! On with it! Here is today's find...

This listing is for TWO 20" pillow covers. The inserts are not included so go pick them up at Ikea for seven bucks each. I swear these are sent from heaven. Even if you sew, they are worth the price! The fabric is great quality and the color and print is to-die-for! Please buy these since I can't...I will happily live vicariously through you. They won't work anyplace in my house...believe me, I've tried. 

Happy Wednesday! Just a couple more days till the holiday weekend!

Stacy

The kitchen I want...with a few changes.

I will start by saying that I will probably never have a kitchen that looks like this. I have no plans of moving from my tiny home in the city and a kitchen like this would not fit here. I like looking at pictures of kitchens that I love and then perfecting it for me. Who knows what might happen someday! I might win the lottery or something. I suppose for that to happen I'd have to buy a ticket. I've bought one in my whole life and it wasn't a winner so I gave up. You'll get used to how I am! I'm an instant gratification sort of girl. It's unfortunate, I know.

Here's the kitchen I love. It's not overly huge and seems completely attainable for the average person. I like white, but I would add more black. I'll show you that in a minute.

I would quickly get rid of the pot rack hanging over the island and hang two of these lights instead. I'm not a fan of that pot rack at all. It clutters the kitchen and I prefer a cleaner look. I can't link you to this because I found it a long time ago and I'm not sure where. You can buy something similar at Ikea on a budget!

Next I would put black subway tile in for the backsplash. I love the contrast of black and white in a kitchen and it looks really clean and polished. That's just my opinion. People have a love/hate relationship with black.

Last I would stain the floor really dark like this. Again, I love the contrast of white and black. Obviously this isn't black, but it's ALMOST black and I love the look. The stain they chose for the kitchen floors is way too traditional for me. I'm not fond of  the honey colored stain. That being said, it's the color that my floors are throughout my house. Insert frowning face here. If I didn't have to find a place for four animals during the refinishing process, I would have my floors redone. I'll just wait until I win the lottery for that.

I like to go here and look at kitchens. You will find everything from modern to country. 

Stacy