Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day

Urban Finds

Woah...i have been on quite a blogging vacation. It certainly wasn't planned, but a week preparing for out of town family and then a long weekend with family took it's toll on me. I did a whole lot of nothing over the past week, well except for browsing Urban Outfitters. I thought I'd share some of my fave finds:

1. Jewelry Cupboard or Key Holder. 2. Lettered Hooks.

1. Flowered 3-D Wall Art. 2. Decorative Door Knob Curtain Tie Backs. 3. Bird Cage Lantern.

1. Mirrored Birdcage Hooks. 2. Olive Planter

I hadn't visited this store/website since college, but I think I've been missing out!

Rain

The weather forecast for this weekend calls for nothing but rain. Seeing as my grass is still a shade of beige, I'm all for it!

My hubby's sisters and brother in law are coming to stay with us next week so I have about a million little projects to get completed. I'll have my camera in hand to share any/all finished projects with y'all!

(powder room reveal, dining room additions, new window treatment, scrap pillows, etc!!!)

I hope this weekend is restful and productive for each of you...rain or shine :)

Crafty Room

After seeing this post from this super sweet blogger, I thought I'd give ya'll a peek into my craft space:

it's currently located in our spare 3rd bedroom, but someday...when we finish the basement...the space will be much bigger. Right now, though, it's great to have a space that's all me. I can forget to shut the hot glue gun off and it can melt globs all over the table and no one even cares!

Gardening: take 1

I've been thinking a lot about gardening lately (now that the snow has finally all melted & **fingers crossed** we don't get any more)! We've been in our house for 11 months and we bought a lovely home that hadn't been lived in for 18 months, so you can imagine how the yard looked. aaahhhhh, it was bad. But, the landscaping had great bones. We kinda just let it ride last year and were excited at what popped up out of the ground. In the fall, we started to make some small changes to make the exterior more "our style".

Here is the front landscaping as it sits right now, snow melted as of 10 days ago! We took out some evergreens and replaced them with 4 Yews that will eventually grow into a large hedge to form a foundation in front of our porch...

in like 3 years they should look the way I want them to :) You'll notice that 2 are big (they came from our back yard) and 2 are newbies. Hopefully some pruning and fertilizer will make them more uniform by the end of the summer.

Here's the front last June. Not bad, but a little boring for my taste. I think the previous owners wanted nothing but low maintenance. Those evergreens are now in the backyard.
I love a good COTTAGE style garden. Obviously this would be a dream!! The color, the texture, the fullness...LOVE it!

More realistically, this looks a little more attainable presently, especially since I also love hydrangeas

The red in this next photo is seriously pretty.

I've always been a fan of black-eyed susan's and my mom has a billion to divide and give me this year.

The purple and chartreuse along this walkway are amazing.

While container gardening is a whole other post, I couldn't help but share this beauty!

I'll leave you with an aerial shot of a garden center in South Minneapolis that I can't wait to check out once it's actually planting season here in MN (like 2 months from now...sigh)

I'll be back with more gardening inspiration this spring and of course real shots of my ever evolving landscape.

photos from here, here, here, & BHG.

Spring Fever

Spring fever has lead me to change out the pillows in my living room!

If it doesn't warm up soon, it may cause me to buy new furniture too...

Parade of Homes

A few weeks ago my mom and I visited a bunch of open houses on the Parade of Homes tour in Minneapolis. It's basically just builders showcasing their homes for a few weeks each spring. I've gone every year since I was little. In fact, when I was little, my best friend and I would plan out a day full of the most expensive houses and our moms would take us to each one and we'd go to lunch afterwards. It's a little less exciting these days, but I thought I'd share a few random highlights:

I thought the exterior of this home was a nice twist on my long time favorite style - cape cod

the mustard yellow island and slate backsplash are so cool :)
This next kitchen caught my eye because of the mosaic backsplash

mosaic up close:

The last house I toured was so interesting. This is the outside: I thought the inside would have an upscale cottage vibe, but oh my was I wrong...

It was very eclectic & contemporary. This is part of the kitchen - notice in the back below the giant range hood that the granite panels all slide and reveal shelves and spice racks - kinda cool I guess? The floors on the main level were all white washed black walnut which my mom explained to me was "outrageously expensive!"

Here's the master bathroom: love the tub, not crazy about the cabintes

I love the sconces in this extra bathroom

here's the matching tile in the shower of the above bathroom - again, kinda cool

If you care to see anymore of this last house, link to it here, the website's pictures do it way more justice than I can.