Backyard birthday.

This past weekend we celebrated Emery's birthday by having some of our close friends come over for a party in our (newly re-done) backyard. When we bought our new house it was winter and there was still at least three feet of snow on the ground so we didn't know what to expect as far as landscaping and yard condition... and unfortunately there wasn't too much going on. A lot of patchy grass and weeds was basically what our backyard consisted of. Sort of a bummer, but hey, that just gave us total freedom to create whatever type of patio, deck, or entertaining area we wanted! We decided that the best remedy for patchy ugly grass was to build a big deck (obviously we could have also re-seeded it too, but there are just so many big trees in our area that it makes lush green grass very tricky to maintain, besides Emery is a total sucker for a building project.) So we spent the previous few weeks planning and building in hopes that maybe, just maaaaybe, we would have the backyard up to par by Emery's birthday weekend. Sometimes it just helps to have a deadline, even if it seems slightly unattainable, ya know?

Well guys, low and behold, we actually pulled it off! The backyard looks so much better and is actually so much more functional for entertaining now! I am so excited that we were able to get this done in time to still be able to enjoy spending some warm summer days out here. We had our first party this weekend and we dusted off our old film camera to document the occasion. We listened to music, ate cheese, drank wine and hung out with close friends on a gorgeous August summer evening.

(Psst... Emery also got pretty much the best birthday present ever: we got a hot tub! So we also did some late night hot tubbing as well.)

 

 

  

 

 

  

   

 

 For some reason this ends up happening at all of Emery's birthdays, ha. 

All in all it was an amazing night. A big thanks to all of our lovely friends for celebrating with us. You guys are the best.

 XO, Stef

Design idea: Retro wallpaper.

Since we moved, I thought it would be fun to try out some new decorating ideas in our new house. I recently posted the above photo of some 1960's wallpaper I had put up on one wall in my bedroom and many of you inquired about where I found wallpaper that was in such good condition, so I thought I would share a few options with you today. Unfortunately, the wallpaper I purchased from this Etsy shop has since sold out (sorry guys!) but not to worry because there are still many cute retro wallpapers available on Etsy.

It is also important to remember that when working with wallpapers that are 40-50 years old that their adhesive is probably a little bit worse for the wear. When I put up my wallpaper (with the help and advice from my lovely dad) I used an adhesive called Metylan Wallpaper Paste and it worked like a dream! Just be sure you take extra care to insure that your pattern lines up properly, then you're golden.

I also only did the one feature wall in my bedroom to act as kind of a focal point for the headboard of my bed. I am really pleased with how it turned out, and I definitely think that less is more when it comes to bright bold prints (ie: one focal wall is better than an entire room devoted to that print.) I made sure to keep my bedding and curtains neutral and am really happy with the overall look!

Here are some more cute wallpapers from the 1960's & 70's that are still currently available that I think would make a great addition to your vintage homes, should you be so daring to try:
(click the numbers at the bottom to go to the shops)

Shop here:

1.  2.  3.  4.  5.  6.  7.  8.  9.  10.  11.  12.

It really does make a space more cozy and inviting! I absolutely love spending time in here.

Happy wallpapering friends! 

XO, Stef

Home progress.

For the last couple of weeks I have been in full nesting mode and our new place is finally starting to come along! Don't get me wrong, we still have a lot of projects and decorating to be done yet, but it is definitely starting to feel more like home now. This house has been super fun to decorate but also a bit challenging at times because not all of my pieces fully work in the space. As I'm sure most of you know, our previous house was decorated from floor to ceiling in strictly 1950's/60's furniture and decor but our current house has a much older feel to it, and some of the items just don't suit the design. Some of my favorite items I am still trying to work in, while others I am having to part with to make room for some new 1930's/40's additions. So far I am really liking the mix of eras, it's fun to try out new things and put a different twist on pieces that I've had for awhile. With that being said, here are a few peeks at what's happening around our new place:

XO, Stef

Getting settled.

Well, we have officially moved! This past week has been a blur of cleaning, unpacking cardboard boxes and trying to find the best new "home" for things. I am a very neat person, so I have been doing my best to unpack as much as possible because living in a state of constant chaos is not exactly my ideal environment. That being said, our new house is really starting to look and feel like a home! I am so excited to be feeling settled and am having a lot of fun decorating, making new displays, and hanging photos (aka my favorite part of this whole process!) I will definitely be sharing more house photos once everything is fully unpacked but for now here is a little peek from last weekend during our big move:

Even though we only moved about 3 minutes away from our old place, the decision to rent a Uhaul truck was a no-brainer after seeing how much stuff we actually had coming with us...

This is what our dining room looked like during the last few days before the move... Eep! Anxiety overload!! And this was the "streamlined" version beccause I had already donated many things! How in the world did we manage to accumulate soo much stuff?! Gahhh!

So we decided that this is not a job we could tackle alone so we called in the troops to help! THANK GOODNESS I have the best friends/family! Because of them we got the job done in an impressively short amount of time and had a surprisingly good time doing it! I'm also super thankful to have a friend like Erin because during those times when I was feeling particularly burnt out and barely able to form a straight thought, she would come over and bring me dinner and help me get focused and organized. She really is the organizing master and the reason Emery and I stayed fed all week long, haha! I can't thank ya enough girl! ;)

This is a rare sight: my little brother transferring piles of my dresses from his car to my new closet. Aww what a champ! The promise of free beer may have been the prime motivator but whatever works. Haha!

Whew! Slowly but surely it is all coming together! Time for a nap.

XO, Stef

Packing party!

This past couple of weeks has been super challenging and extremely exhausting for me but I feel so lucky that I have so many incredible people in my life that have been there to lend me a helping hand. It's times like these that really make you appreciate and be thankful for what an amazing support system you have. I just wanna say a huge thank you to all my amazing friends and family who have spent countless hours and sacrificed many evenings and weekends to help us pack up our old place and renovate our new one. I can honestly say that there is no way that we could have done it without your help. You guys are the best of the best. We owe you all countless dinners and numerous bottles of wine.

Here are a few photos that we snapped last weekend because it was our last Saturday night at our old house. I have lived in this place for over six years now so I thought it wouldn't be right if we didn't have a last get together with some of our favorite people for a final cocktail and backyard bonfire (and I would be lying if I said this night wasn't a little bit emotional for me.)

Out with the old and in with the new!  Farewell old house! I will be sharing more photos of the move and some peeks at our new place in the next few days, but first I have a ridiculous amount of unpacking to do! Speaking of which... I better get to that now...

Thanks again friends! Love you!

XO, Stef

Nesting wishlist.

Lately I have been daydreaming about fun new items to incorporate into the decor at my new home, so I decided to do a little bit of 'window shopping' on the wonderful internet and it didn't take me long to compile a little nesting wishlist! Here are some cute items that caught my eye:

clockwise from top left:

Blumenfest poster: I love love love the retro flower graphics on this poster! I'm pretty sure that this needs to be hanging in my new dining room.

Cathrine Holm bowl: Wouldn't this bowl filled with lemons make the perfect centerpiece?

1950's French tea towels: I'm really into the classic simplicity of this set.

Cathrine Holm salt and pepper shaker set: Whoa. I didn't even know these existed. How incredible!

Mrs. Meyer's household cleaner: Am I the only one who gets excited at the thought of new cleaning supplies? I'm not gonna lie, one of the things that I'm most excited about is having new and different things to clean! Ha.

Edison bulb pendant lamp: I've always had a soft spot for these lightbulbs so we decided to instal some pendants over our bar top. Yay!

Pimm's Blackberry & Elderflower liqueur: I have really been into Pimm's cocktails lately and I think this limited edition mix would taste absolutely delicious and would also make the perfect housewarming gift.. *hint hint*

Potted plants: My new kitchen has not one, but two (!) big sunny windows so I am really looking forward to filling my windowsills with lots of potted plants and herbs.

Retro juice set: There is something so nostalgic and cheerful about these orange juice set.

Brookfield Zoo print: This is a reproduction print of a promotional poster for the Brookfield Zoo from the late 1930's and I think it is just the cutest! (I may have already ordered it...)

Set of three farmhouse white enamel pots with red trim: I already have a few pieces like this so these pots would be the perfect addition to my growing collection.

XO, Stef

Home progress update.

So guys, I can't believe that I will be moving in only one week. Gahhhh! Holy moly, where has May gone?! It's officially crunch time for getting all renovations and packing done! I'm not gonna lie, this has been a pretty hectic and stressful month because on top of moving, there has also been soo much stuff happening with the blog and store (all exciting things, but busy nonetheless) so I am really looking forward to being moved in and settled so I can take some much needed time to relax. Sometimes it feels like there just aren't enough hours in the day! Haha!

Now, that being said, our new place is really starting to look absolutely incredible! It actually looks like a home now and I am sooooo excited to start moving my things in and decorating (aka the fun part!) I will also be sharing before & after photos once I am all settled but for now I thought I would give you a little peek into what has been going on over the last couple months...

One of the reasons that we fell in love with this house was because it had all of the original details such as sinks, cabinets, light fixtures, etc. We really wanted to try to find an old home that was in as original condition as possible so we could do our best to preserve its historic beauty. We both absolutely loved the old farmhouse style kitchen but it did need a little bit of work (okay, so that turned out to be a bit of an understatement.) Some of the cabinets were broken and the layout definitely wasn't making the maximum use of the space so we tore them all out and re-configured them into a much more pleasing layout. I am so excited for all of the counter space and storage that I'm gonna have!

We also decided to do a subway tile back splash underneath the cabinets in the kitchen. I had done tiling in the bathroom at our previous house years ago and apparently it's like riding a bike - it came back to me very quickly! I'm so in love with how it turned out, it has such a clean fresh look.

Color decisions are so tricky! I don't want to be too impulsive and pick a color and then end up re-painting it a few months down the road because it's not the right shade or too bright (that has happened to me more times than I'd like to admit.) So far I have only decided on two rooms: the kitchen and the bathroom. I have always wanted a sunny yellow kitchen so I picked a very pretty soft buttery yellow for the walls. As for the bathroom, I went with a warm seafoam/mint color because in my opinion, you really can't go wrong with a pretty mint.

Since the kitchen tiling went so well, I decided to move on to the bathroom. This was a bit trickier because, as I'm sure any of you with older homes know, none of the walls are even. I did my best to keep all of the tiles level and in the end it turned out looking great! Man, I love the clean look of those subway tiles, they instantly brighten up a space.

I had found this gorgeous turquoise blue sink years ago while thrifting and I just couldn't leave it behind even though I didn't have any use for it at the time. So it has sat waiting patiently in my basement for the perfect moment to make an appearance and I think that the time has officially come! The bathroom sink in our place needs to be replaced anyways, so I think this would be the perfect addition to our new home.

Alright lovelies, that's all for now! The moving countdown is on! Eep! Wish me luck!

XO, Stef

A sneak peek at my room swap!

With Spring finally showing it's beautiful face around here, it had me wanting to switch everything up in my home. So, I finally took the plunge and flip flopped our oversized bedroom and our rather small living room and I couldn't be happier with the big switch! The living room finally makes sense for having friends over and the bedroom feels so much cozier! I'm still not finished arranging, but here's a look into my new living room.

This room was a little tricky to coordinate where to put big pieces of furniture due to a built in fireplace and a beautiful old radiator. I'm not sure that I'm 100% in love with the couch in this spot, but it's the only place that it really works in this room so I guess I will have to get used to it!

Remember this vintage bar makeover? Pretty convenient that the wallpaper matches the wall perfectly! I recently got this lamp from a friend's parents and I'm really liking how it looks next to the bar!

I have had this vintage shag rug for many years, but for the past three years I've had it in storage because of my cat. Now that my cat is gone I hauled it out and cleaned it up and I love how it pulls the whole living room together!

Trying to brighten up all of the black technology in this home...

Here's a little more of a peek. Don't worry, more to come once I've finished everything and I'll be showing you the new bedroom soon as well!

xo, Erin

Vintage/rustic bedroom inspiration.

Wow guys, I can't believe that it's already May 1st! Not only does that mean that summer is just around the corner but it also means that I have exactly one month to get everything packed up and ready to move into my new place! Eep! A month may seem like a long time, but when it comes down to it I know that time will fly by way quicker than I anticipate. (Doesn't it always?)

I had briefly talked about the fact that we are moving a few weeks ago, but now that the time has come to start packing up it definitely seems like more of a reality. It is sort of bittersweet because a part of me is pretty sad that I will be leaving the house that I have lived in for the past 6 years (and that has been in my family for almost 70 years), but I am also really excited for the challenge of making a new house into our home. It is also exciting to think about starting fresh when it comes to decorating; don't get me wrong, I still love having a vintage aesthetic in my decor, but I do plan on doing it with a bit of a different twist this time. Our new house is older than our current house (it was built in 1939) and is very much a character home filled with lots of original architectural details (which I absolutely loooove!) It is such a gorgeous, well-built house and I want to try to enhance it's beauty rather than pack it full of a million different trinkets and bulky furniture, ultimately hiding any special details. I think it's safe to say that I will have a big spring cleaning session in my future!

I have a folder on the desktop of my computer where I am constantly saving photos of interior inspiration and new ideas, so I thought it might be fun to share some of my ideas for my new bedroom with you today:

Let me paint you a bit of a picture of what our new house looks like so you can envision what I am planning on doing: first off, I think that our new house sort of has a cottage-like feel to it, I can't really pinpoint why that is, but every time I am there I feel like I have been transported back in time to an old cottage in the English countryside. There is just something so tranquil about it that I really want to try to embrace when it comes time to make decisions on decorating. So I decided to try to incorporate some of that rustic feeling into the decor along with my staple vintage pieces.

- Black and white photos: I love the look of how the old neutral photographs pop against the bright color of the wallpaper. There is just something so magical about old black and white photographs.

- Wrought iron bed frame: Our current bed frame is a teak-colored, angular wood frame and I have personally just grown tired of looking at such a heavy piece of furniture in my bedroom (especially considering that our new house doesn't have a huge master bedroom either, so maximizing space is a priority.) I also just love the rustic country feel that the old wrought iron bed frames have and how much more open and airy they look compared to my chunky wood one. We also have a beautiful wrought iron staircase leading to the second floor of the house so I think it would be great to play up that feature.

-Vintage floral print wallpaper: Not gonna lie guys, I'm pretty surprised that I don't have any wallpaper in my current home. What's wrong with me?! This is something that I have always had a soft spot for so I am pretty shocked that I have never incorporated any of it into my house. (Okay, that's a lie, I did once when I first moved out when I was like 20, but it was ultra-modern looking and not exactly what I am talking about here.) So yes, this time around I really want to work some into my decorating. I am thinking of just doing one feature wall in my bedroom (perhaps the window wall?) with a pretty floral wallpaper and then just painting the rest of them a soft complimentary tone and having nice neutral bedding with pretty throw pillows. Mmm... that sounds pretty perfect right about now.

Anyways, that's all I have for you at the moment, but I will be sure to keep you posted on the progress! Many 'before photos' have been taken and I'm so excited for the day that everything is done and I'm ready to share the 'after photos' with you! 

XO, Stef

photo sources: (clockwise from top left)

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