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Meaningful Spaces

A journey in creating a meaningful home

Archives for November 2018

Colorful Christmas Home Tour

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Joyful Holiday Home Tour

Where has the year gone? Anyone else feel like we were just packing up our holiday decor only to get it out yet again?!?  While I do wish I could slow down time, I absolutely love the holidays and am excited it’s that time of year again.  I’m thrilled to share Part 1 of our holiday home tour today with you, part 2 will be the next week. The sweet and talented Marci of Lemons to Lovely is hosting the Joyful Holiday Home Tour.  If you’ve popped over from  Kate’s of White Lane Decor welcome, I’m so glad you are here!

Now let’s get to the tour, grab your favorite hot drink and come on in!

FRONT PORCH

I wanted to keep things really simple this year.  We will be gone for Christmas so I’m trying a less is more approach with my holiday decor. I’m not using every Christmas item I own this year and am trying to resist buying too many new items.

ENTRY WAY

I was really looking forward to decorating our new entry way table that I recently built-find details on the table HERE.  Over the years I’ve collected quite a few bottle brush trees, and love to group them.

DESIGN TIP

When you have smaller decor items, group like items together-this will make more of a visual impact.

KITCHEN

Yesterday I did a complete tour of our holiday kitchen.  You can find all of the details, more pictures, and a complete list of sources HERE.

And now for my favorite holiday room of the tour…

Family Room

Last year my kids let me know that I had taken over the “kid tree” and they wanted it back.  Let me explain, each year we do a flocked tree here and that is supposed to be for the kids, and then we purchase a live tree for the living room and I get to decorate that one.

Slowly I started adding in my own style to the kid tree.  The other problem they had was that up until last year only allowed white lights on the tree.  You can see what the tree looked like last year HERE.  The kids had an intervention and asked for colored lights and colorful ornaments and I’m so glad they did!  They absolutely love the tree now and it really is beautiful!

It’s hard to tell in the picture but in addition to the white lights there are a few strings of colored lights too.  The whole family loves the whimsical, festive, and bright Christmas tree, I’m so glad I gave the kids their tree back!

Magnum has the right idea, this is the perfect spot to take a snooze by the fire.

In the previous few years I had also done a very neutral theme on the fireplace mantel.  I added in the colorful felt garland this year and a few bright trees from Target, this ties in the mantel with the rest of the more colorful room.


 

Next week I will share part 2 on another holiday home tour.  I’m so glad you came over and took the tour, please hop on over to Rachel of The Porch Light Cottage  and tour her gorgeous home.  Linked below is a complete list of the ladies sharing this week, you will have so much fun taking each of the tours.

XO-Laura

Tour of Homes for Christmas

Delightfully Noted

A House With Books

Lemons to Lovelys

JorDecor

White Lane Decor

Meaningful Spaces

The Porchlight Cottage

Christmas Kitchen Decorating Ideas

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CHRISTMAS KITCHEN TOUR

Today kicks off the first of my holiday home tours.  I’m so thrilled to join 19 other bloggers on today’s Christmas Kitchen blog hop. My dear friend Tammy of Pink Peppermint Designs is hosting this inspiring tour.  If you have hopped over from Heather’s of Southern State of Mind a big warm welcome, I’m so glad you’re here!  I absolutely love Heather’s kitchen, her kitchen window is amazing, all decked out with topiaries and gorgeous garland.

During the holidays we spend a lot of time in our kitchens, don’t we?!?!  That’s why I love dressing it up with holiday cheer.

I love to change up the shelves at the end of our island seasonally.  A few gold and white accents is all it needed to feel fresh and Christmasy.

CHRISTMAS KITCHEN DECOR

I like to stock our glass cabinet with extra mugs and glassware during the holidays, that way we’re always prepared for guests or impromptu get-togethers.

Above is my favorite hotel dish towel, unfortunately it is out of stock but HERE is a SIMILAR one.

KITCHEN ITEMS

The kitchen canisters are all filled and ready to go for holiday baking.  If you need a new holiday recipe THESE SALTED CARAMEL BUTTER BARS are amazing!

Another area in the kitchen I change up seasonally are these hooks. It’s a fun way to set the tone, and it’s very practical too.  A lot of times I’ll hand my apron and potholders from them.

DESIGN TIP

A simple centerpiece idea-fill a shallow bowl with your favorite ornaments, then add in some snow and battery operated twinkle lights. Wa-lah, a simple and festive centerpiece.

Thank you for touring our Christmas kitchen, I hope it gave you a few ideas on how to dress up your own. Next on the Christmas Kitchen Tour is the ultra talented Melanie of My Sweet Savannah. Fun fact-Melanie’s blog was the first blog I followed about 10 years ago. Actually I followed her even before blogs existed on the HGTV website, anyone else remember that? They had a section for people to upload pictures of their homes and that’s how I originally found Melanie.  You will not want to miss her Christmas kitchen!

Linked below is all 20 blogger’s who are sharing this week.

I’ll be back tomorrow sharing more of our holiday home.

XO-Laura

Monday collage christmas kitchen tour

Pink Peppermint Design | House by Hoff | Monica Wants It | Meme Hill Studio | Inspiration for Moms | Two Twenty One

  RemodelaCasa | Southern Hospitality Blog | Southern State of Mind | Meaningful Spaces | My Sweet Savannah

Wednesday christmas kitchen collage 2

11 Magnolia Lane | Life On Cedar Lane | Follow the Yellow Brick Home | Haneen’s Haven

Thursday christmas kitchen collage

Decor to Adore | This is Our Bliss | Refashionably Late | A Stroll Thru Life

Christmas kitchen tour promo

What I’m Wearing On Repeat

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WHAT I’M WEARING ON REPEAT-NOVEMBER 2018

Every month I share what fashion finds Ii find my self going to on a regular basis.  In other words what I’m wearing on repeat.  I choose my clothing carefully, I don’t like outfits to break the bank.  My fashion philosophy is “look like you tried, without having to try to hard.”  When you look put together you just feel better. Here are my go-to easy-breezy pieces this month.

This month will be a travel edition of outfits.  I’m writing this post for beautiful Banff, Canada.  We are here with my husbands family (19 of us!) and will celebrate Thanksgiving here.  I did some strategic shopping before the trip and am excited to share my favorite finds with you.

HANDS DOWN TOP 2 PURCHASES

I have worn these two items every day on our trip and LOVE them both.  Comfy, warm, and stylish and even though California winters are mild I can wear them back home or when we visit our local mountains.

PERFECT FOR THE PLANE OR PJ’S

This cozy sweat set from OLD NAVY have been perfect for the trip.  I wore this combination on the plane and have worn another set as PJ’s on the trip.  There are 19 of us on the trip and someone may pop over to our condo at anytime so I wanted something that was both cozy and modest.  This fit the bill and I know I’ll be living in them all winter long.

Linked below is the other set I brought.  Click on the top and you’ll see the striped top above and all of the other color options.  The pants are no longer available in black online, but they are worth checking your local Old Navy to see if they are in the store.

WOOL SWEATERS FROM threadUP

Have you heard of threadUp? It’s a large online clothing consignment shop.  You are able to shop by color, size, or brand-they carry name brands and designer clothing.  A new to me concept and I thought for our trip to Canada I’d try it out.  We live in Southern California and I don’t too often have the occasion to wear  wool sweaters.  Knowing how cold Canada could be I thought I’d try out threadUP and order a few from them.

I searched Wool-J Crew-Sweaters and then filtered by size.  There were so many options to choose from! I ordered 4 sweaters and I LOVE each of them.  One of the J Crew Sweaters came with a price tag still on it.  It was a $100 sweater and I got it for $15 (they were offering 25% off your first order).  This is such a great option, especially for items that you know won’t get a lot of wear.  They make returning very easy in case you order something and it doesn’t work out.

ThreadUP sweater | Jeans | Jacket

This is the sweater from ThreadUP, I purchased brand new with tags.

 

The other two sweaters I found on threadUP were both gray 100% wool, one was J Crew and the other one from Gap. I know a lot of you love a great deal just like I do.  I hope you find some great treasures on their website.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS

Here we all are, most of us looking at the camera, and the majority of the eyes open!

To all my fellow Americans I want to wish you all a HAPPY THANKSGIVING from our family to yours!

XO-Laura

Functional Entry Way Reveal

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ONE ROOM CHALLENGE WEEK 6

I’ve been looking forward to sharing this space with you and celebrating completing yet another ONE ROOM CHALLENGE!  Thank you to Linda of Calling it Home and Better Homes and Gardens for hosting this round.  Over the last six weeks I’ve redone our entry way and stair way.  I still have a few things to finish up, I’ll explain why in the post.   But without further ado, here it is.

You’re looking at my favorite project of this whole space.  For years I’ve looked for just the right entryway table to no avail, they were always too small or too big.  I decided to challenge myself and design and build this table.  By designing it myself I was able to get the exact height, diameter, and look I wanted.  I ordered an unfinished wood top from HERE, and made the legs from 2×2’s.  There will be a follow up DIY blog post with all the details in case you want to build your own.

Another change to the space was painting our front door Bothbay Gray by Benjamin Moore.  I can’t believe what a huge difference changing the door color has made.  The whole space feels more functional and inviting.

ENTRY WAY BEFORE

SOURCES

BARN DOOR HANDLES AND TRIM WORK

You can find the DIY blog post I did on how to make barn doors HERE.  The barn doors were finished in February but they have sat without handles every since.  The other thing that I hadn’t completed yet was changing out the trim work around the door opening.  Originally the doors to our home office were french doors, and the original frame for those doors didn’t look right with the new barn doors.

The stained wood handles cost $10 to make, and I love the warmth and beauty they add to the doors. Again, I will be sure to do a follow up blog post.

BARN DOOR AREA BEFORE

STAIRWAY AREA

This space took the majority of my time to complete.  Doing trim work on the stair wall took it’s toll.

The wood working and cutting the trim pieces were a labor of love.  However, the thing that took the absolute most time ( and the reason why I’m not 100% finished), was the painting. WOW! Painting all of those spindles and the large feature wall took some serious dedication.

I do not recommend you attempt to paint this many spindles without a paint sprayer.  I used THIS ONE and I have to say there is a huge learning curve.  When I had laid out my game plan for this space I had allowed one day for painting.  In all actuality it took three days to paint everything.

If you saw my original design board I had selected THIS ENTRY TABLE.  It arrived and I immediately knew it wasn’t the table for me.  The color is very off from what it is online.  So until I find or built just the right one this one will have to do.  I did add some beautiful Etsy art to the space.

 

WORK IN PROGRESS

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to finish this space.  There was an oddly placed art niche in the wall and I was determined to cover it up,  We were able to frame it out and cover it with drywall.  However, we still need to sand, texture and paint the area.

I purchased the oversized mirror from IKEA and my plan is to paint the frame black and mount it too the wall.  The mirror and bench will be the perfect spot to check your outfit and put on your shoes before heading out the door.

FINAL BEFORE AND AFTER

The whole space seems lighter and happier, and yes it was a lot of work and time but I’m so glad I was able to participate in the ONE ROOM CHALLENGE again.  You will want to head right over to ORC and see all of the other great transfomations.

When I complete everything, I will make sure to pop over and update with more photos. Thank you so much for following along with me!

XO-Laura

Thanksgiving Table Ideas

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Thanksgiving Table Ideas

One of my favorite things to decorate at the holidays is our dining room table!  Today is extra special because I get to share our own Thanksgiving table along with 18 other talented bloggers and their table decor ideas.  If you’re here from Laura’s of Decor to Adore a warm welcome, and a huge thank you to my friend Tammy of PINK PEPPERMINT DESIGNS for hosting this table tour and bringing us all together.

In case you are new here there are two things you should know about me-our house is always a work in progress and I love a great deal.  So whether I’m doing a DIY or decorating a table I’m always looking for cost effective ways to make it happen.

When I pull together a tablescape it typically starts with one inspiration piece that gets the ball rolling in the direction the table decor will take.  This year it was the faux protea stems from Target, I fell in love with the rich color as soon as I saw them.

I kept the rest of the table fairly neutral and just added a few layers of the gorgeous plum color.

I was able to use several items that I already owned which is my favorite way to keep costs down when decorating a table.  The mud-cloth napkins are from World Market, unfortunately they are currently sold out but I’ve linked a few other options below.

BLACK AND WHITE NAPKINS


I found the succulents in the clearance section at Michaels, they were marked down to around .50 cents a piece.  They make a great non-traditional napkin ring.

The MACRAME TABLE RUNNER adds so much texture and lightens up our heavy dark table.  It also happens to be on sale this week 🙂

 

CANDLELIGHT

There is nothing like lighting a few candles to make an event feel special.  I always make sure I have some candles on our holiday table.  Even if you’re hosting your Thanksgiving meal during the day candles add a special ambiance.

The candle holders are all from World Market.  I bought the larger mercury glass hurricanes, a bit of a splurge, but I know I can use them through out the holiday season.

SOURCES


This year we will be out of town for Thanksgiving but we plan on hosting a Friendsgiving  prior to leaving.  I hope this table makes our guests feel extra special!

Thank you for stopping by it was so fun to be able to share our Thanksgiving table with you!  For even more inspiration make sure you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the post for links to all 18 other bloggers who are sharing their creative Thanksgiving table ideas. Every day this week there is a new group sharing their tables, Anita from Far Above Rubies will get off tomorrow’s tours. You won’t want to miss it!  

Thanksgiving Table Setting Ideas

Pink Peppermint Design | Monica Wants It | Dimples and Tangles | Inspiration for Moms | Two Twenty One

Thanksgiving Table Setting Ideas

11 Magnolia Lane | Hymns and Verses | Our Fifth House | Decor to Adore | Meaningful Spaces

Thanksgiving Table Setting Ideas

Far Above Rubies | Follow The Yellow Brick Home | Heathered Nest | A Stroll Thru Life | DIY Decor Mom

Thanksgiving Table Setting Ideas

RemodelaCasa | Duke Manor Farm | The DIY Playbook | Life on Cedar Lane

Thanksgiving Table Setting Ideas

XO-Laura

Functional Entryway-ORC Week 5

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The finish line is in sight.  There is a huge to-do list between me and that line though!  This week the ONE ROOM CHALLENGE update will be quick so I can get back to work! Next week will come very quickly and I can’t wait to complete this space!

 FINAL DESIGN PLAN

In last weeks update I shared that I was conflicted on which entry console I should go with.  I love THIS ONE but the price was higher then I had budgeted.  I decided to measure again, before I ordered, just to make sure the console would fit. Once I re-measured I realized that the console was an inch too large for the space.  Hmmmm, back to the drawing board.

I decided on THIS CONSOLE, and it’s on it’s way.  It has doors, which I think will be nice for storage.  I’m praying the wood tone works, it’s so hard to tell the true color online.

SOURCES

PROGRESS REPORT

The trim work on the stairs has begun!  Between now and Sunday I plan on finishing it up completely, and prepping it for paint.  The plan is to rent a paint sprayer from Home Depot on Monday and spray all the trim work and banister.  I love my small PAINT SPRAYER, but I think for this size job I should rent an industrial sprayer. The spraying will be the easy part, I’m dreading all of the taping off!

BENCH | RUG

Here’s a sneak peak of the bench.  This will go on the “shrine” wall-yes it’s still there.  My husband is confident we can get that covered up on Sunday, we have to right?!! The quality and color of the bench is just what I was hoping for.  It would look great at the end of a bed too.

 

Let’s meet back here next week for the big reveal!  Thank you again for cheering me on and following along this years ONE ROOM CHALLENGE. Hop over here to check out all of the other amazing projects.

XO-Laura

 

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