Controlled Chaos.

Christmas gifts for the little man were rolling in all month long, and I took a survey of the damage love afterwards. Yikes!

This boatload-of-gifts-with-no-place-to-go wasn't exactly in line with my whole "simplifying things" plan.

Thankfully, Costco came to the rescue once again!

When Will, his mom, and I were exchanging Liam's activity table (which we got a new one in last week and he looooves by the way!), Will spotted this gem and we snatched it up right away!

Don't you love it? Will put it together in under 30 minutes, and it's super sturdy and came with gigantic canvas bins.

I made labels for the bins with cardstock and popped them in. Quick and easy!

It holds all of Liam's Christmas gifts, toys he already had, and there's still some room to spare.

We chose to put it in our little nook in the living room, but we are considering getting another one for the office. We would turn it on it's side along the wall though. I love how easily it can be used for multiple spaces!

It totally took us from, "Where are all of these toys going to go??!" to "Where did all the toys go??!"

L-O-V-E!

Christmas Tour!

Welcome to our home at Christmas!

{The entryway}

DIY felt wreath.

{Dining room}

At night we move the end chair and put the tree in front of the big window for passerby's! I've always loved the look of a glowing tree through the front window of a house.

{Entryway bookcase - top}

{and the bottom}

{Living room}

I got these reindeer from Pottery Barn after Christmas a couple years ago. I think they are so cute!

{Mantle}

3 stockings this year!

{Our main tree}

I've never found a tree topper that I love so this year I just stuck a bunch of gold beady-stick things up in the tree. They used to just be in a vase, but I kind of like them better this way!

{Kitchen}

Snow + cranberries = simple centerpiece for the kitchen table.

{Liam's room}

DIY felt lights.

{Guest bathroom}

See that cute book?

My parents' gave it to me when I was six! They're giving one to Liam this year :)

And we all know what who MY favorite Christmas decoration is!

MeRrY ChRiStMaS!

Linking up with Kelly's Korner & The Nester!

The Living Room - In Progress

I thought I'd give a little living room update since I kept going on and on about new furniture and then never posted any pictures. The slipcovers are still all wrinkly and the pillows are squishy from being leaned against, but oh well.

So of course I completely changed my mind once we got to IKEA and we ended up with an ivory couch and a navy chair. We chose an Erktop couch and a Hovas chair, but even though their from different lines I think they go well together. Plus the Hovas chair is oversized and super comfy!

And I love, love, love the rug! It is much more bold than I thought I would ever get, and I think that's why I love it so much. It was one of those moments where we were just flipping through all the rugs they had hanging and I saw it and knew it was "the one!" It's very soft and baby friendly too unlike our old one.

Everything else in the living room is the same except I added two blue pillows to the couch I found at HomeGoods.

I still need to get Will to take down the map, but we're making progress!

Home Tour- Other Areas

The last stop on Natalie's Home Tour is "other areas" aka anything that hasn't already been covered! I missed the first week so I thought I'd do my entryway along with my "other areas."

Our entryway is reallllly long.

Entry left

Entry right

More entry left

More entry right.

The archway leads to another hallway and our guest rooms and office.

This is what is on the other side of that little cut out in the first entry picture. It has never been used as an office area, but rather a folding station since the laundry room is directly across.

This hallway houses our office and craft room on the left, guest bath and closet on the right, and I'm standing in the entry of the other guest room. There is nothing on these walls. I need to change that asap.

And finally, the doggie nook I've shown a thousand times complete with Toula rummaging through the toy box.

The End!

Laundry Time

Today Natalie's home tour is featuring laundry rooms!

Not much has been done to ours since we moved in. I have almost started working on it many times, but it just hasn't happened yet. It currently looks like this...

Quite small but it has potential. One thing I've learned is that for me it's almost harder to decorate small spaces like this one over large spaces. It's too small to use every idea I have, but I'm too indecisive to chose just one! So it sits like this for a year. I do have baskets on the shelf now to hold all the cleaning supplies, but that's it so far.

---------

If I had no size/budget restrictions, my laundry room might look like one of these...

images from here and here

A girl can dream...

Home Tour - Bathrooms!

Today's home tour is bathrooms!

My bathrooms are b.o.r.i.n.g. I'm just warning you. Nothing special.

Guest Bath. Not one thing on the walls. So sad. I was kind of going for a Parisian theme with the sign and the florals, but that's as far as it's gotten.

Master bath. I didn't even hang hand towels on the wall, that's how bare it is in here, ha. I do like the size though, Will and I have plenty of room to spread out!

My favorite spot.

Linen cupboard thing. This is my other favorite spot because it actually had a little space to decorate.

Apothecary jars, ballerina print my bestie Lera got me in London, and my jewelry box.

The shower area. This room is very creamy which I'm going to keep, but I plan on getting some more accessories soon!

Thanks for coming!