Hi friends! How are you? It’s been a while! As of January 12 I have been figuring out my new role as “momma,” and it has been an adventure to say the least! We welcomed our little guy, Lawson James, into the world on my mom’s birthday, and it has been such a blessing watching him grow these past two months. Being a mom is all I ever wanted and even though there are really challenging days I wouldn’t trade it for the world. It really is the best! Throughout my pregnancy I researched all the best baby products, filled my registry with so many items and got them all put neatly away in Lawson’s nursery. I think it is probably the norm to register and buy all the things you think you will need only to find out baby’s are pretty simple and your baby may really dislike something you were so excited to use. I wanted to put together a list of things that I couldn’t have lived without these past two months hoping to maybe help out some of the mommas-to-be out there when they begin this crazy adventure of momhood.. because it really is as crazy and exhausting as they say (but TOTALLY worth it)! So here they are… 13 baby products that I love enough that I decided to write this post and share with y’all! (all items linked below) This is number one because it’s probably my most favorite baby product! One of the most exciting things to pick out while I was pregnant was a cute diaper bag. I knew I wanted a diaper bag that could be carried as a backpack because I couldn’t imagine having a bag falling off my shoulder while trying to pick up my baby. I quickly fell in love with Fawn Design’s simple aesthetic and quality leather but was not thrilled about the price tag. I ended up buying a simple diaper bag from Buy Buy Baby. On the day I went into labor, a couple of hours before our baby arrived, my mom and sister came in the room and surprised me with a Fawn Design diaper bag! I was so excited and thankful! It has been just as great as I imagined and totally worth the price, which is probably why they sell out all the time. I can fit anything and everything in it, and it is really easy to wipe down when it gets dirty. You can get one for yourself here! Okay, not going to lie this is something that had to grow on me. When I first got it home and put it together I was not happy to find out that it was SO big, like the size of our new recliner! I was sure there was no way I was leaving it out in my living room! But I left it set up and waited for the baby to arrive to decide if we would return it or not. When Lawson was really little, like the entire first month, I felt like even the lowest swing speed was too fast for him.. so there it sat in the corner not being used. Once he got a little bigger I decided to try it out again and now it is my saving grace! He naps in it like a champ! Something about it just keeps him asleep and that’s exactly what tired momma’s need: sleeping babies. GET ONE. SERIOUSLY. You will not regret it. (Fisher Price Cradle ‘n Swing) These two go hand-in-hand because I do not like the Bassinest without the Dockatot! Now I know both of these things are pretty pricey, but I guess that’s what registries are for! And if you don’t have a registry I still think anything that makes those middle of the night wakeup calls easier is worth the money. The Dockatot is a breathable little bed that makes babies feel snug and Lawson loves it! I place it in the Bassinest and he is right next to me, easy to reach for late night feedings. He didn’t like sleeping in the Bassinest by itself, but I’m sure he will once he gets a little bigger. It is true that babies like to feel snug and secure & that’s exactly what the Dockatot does! Law sleeps great, is safe, and this mommy doesn’t have to be far from her baby. (Dockatot & Halo Bassinest) This was the one baby item I handed over to my husband to research. After walking around Target with him and googling every monitor to check reviews, we were really discouraged to find that most didn’t have more than 3 stars… and were over $200! Then he thought to check out Amazon, because it never lets us down! He came across the Infant Optics baby monitor and it had almost 5 starts and was only $160. We thought we would give it a shot, and it has been the best. I didn’t use it for the first month because Lawson pretty much didn’t leave my side, but now when he is napping during the day I use it and it has been great! Plus it is gold and it never hurts to have a cute baby monitor 😉 (Infant Optics Baby Monitor) This was an item that seemed a little bit impractical to me. But when you first bring your baby home, you find that they are so sensitive to everything! After all, they have been cozied up and perfectly warm inside of you for 9 months. This is something that kept Lawson from crying during diaper changes those first few weeks. Trust me, a screaming baby in the middle of the night is not fun, so it’s totally worth the $20 if you ask me. We have since packed it away because he doesn’t mind the cold wipes now that he is bigger, but I still think it is worth it for those first few weeks! (Wipe Warmer) These ended up being the only pacifier that Lawson will take. But I love them because they aren’t constantly falling on the floor! The stuffed animal keeps them laying on your baby’s chest and Law loves to hold onto it while he sucks! The giraffe is my favorite because it is long and stays away from his face. (Wubbanub) Pretty much you’re going to need a drying rack and this one is cute so it won’t be as much of an eye sore on your kitchen counter! Plus the bottles and parts stand up really well on it! (Boon Drying Rack) I never realized how much my floors creaked until bringing home a baby. Seriously, the tiniest sound can wake them up from a nap and I promise you do not want to wake them up. I love the white noise setting on this one and pretty much crank it up all the way. Little guy stays asleep so much longer and I don’t have to tip toe around the house! (Noise Maker) I love this carseat cover so much! (It also doubles as a nursing cover which is awesome!) I just keep it on the carseat at all times and pull it over the front when I don’t want people to touch him, when he’s sleeping hard and there are bright lights wherever we are, or if its cold/raining! It has come in handy and this brand has really cute prints! (Milk Snob Carseat Cover) Bath time is one of my favorite times with the little one (naked babies are just the cutest). I love the Honest Company’s shampoo and lotion in the lavender scent. It smells so good, is all natural, and the lotion isn’t sticky! (The Honest Co. Shampoo) I love our stroller! We got the Baby Jogger City Mini Travel System that came with the carseat and stroller and it has been so convenient! I love how easy the stroller is to fold up and how smooth the ride is! We chose the charcoal color and I just love the way it looks! (Baby Jogger Stroller) The Lalabu Soothe Shirt is one of the coolest baby products I’ve seen! It’s a tank top that you can carry your baby around in! Just slide your sweet little one in and they will be close and snug and your arms will finally get a break. (Soothe Shirt) So that’s it! My favorite baby products as of now, because I’m sure they will change as we go! Baby’s really do grow up too fast, don’t they? If you have any products that you can’t live without that I need to know about please comment below! Thanks for stopping by! Im off to take a nap 😉 I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Hey y’all! I am so excited to finally share our gender neutral nursery that I have been working so hard on! One thing I knew for sure when we found out we were expecting was that I didn’t want to save everything for last minute. Who knows how I will be feeling during my third trimester, which is quickly approaching! I am so glad I have the nursery finished, now I just need to stock it with all the practical baby stuff! I plan to do a blog post explaining the reasons why we decided not to find out the gender of our baby, so stay tuned if you’re interested in that! I am so happy with the way our nursery turned out, and can’t believe how many things I ended up saving money on during the process. I will try my best to mention where I purchased everything!! Feel free to leave a comment below if you have any questions! Now, let me show you around!! I started my nursery planning process by spending lots of time on Pinterest. Not a big surprise there, huh? I’m not sure what people used to do without it! I pinned and pinned all sorts of different nursery ideas. I knew that I wanted to go a little more on the modern side, and obviously make it gender neutral but other than that I had no idea! After pinning lots and even ordering a few things that I decided to return, like a huge turquoise rug! I finally decided on what I wanted the room to look like. I made an inspiration board on Powerpoint, which was so much fun! Im sure there are more sophisticated ways to do this, but I am not great at Photoshop. Powerpoint makes it really easy to remove the background from images so you can see what things will look like all together! I even copy and pasted the paint color from Sherwinwilliams.com and made it the background color to see if it would blend well with everything. This is what my final inspiration board looked like: It was a slow process from there, ordering things as I found them, doing a few DIY’s and waiting over a month for my rocker to come in! But it finally all came together, and three months early at that! That is, if the baby stays in until it’s due date! Heres how it turned out! I have the mention the wall color! I knew exactly the color I wanted in my head, but you know how that goes! There are so many samples when you get in the store that sometimes your brain gets foggy! My husband and I made a trip to Sherwin Williams and I had kind of explained to him the color I was picturing. After about 5 minutes he pulled a swatch out, Incredible White, and I said “that’s it!!” We bought a sample and as soon as he painted a section on the wall I knew it was the right one! That’s probably the first time in my life I only purchased one sample of paint.. Woo! I told my husband that when we move into our next home I want all the walls and ceilings in this color. It is so calming and as you can see it blends perfectly with warm AND cool tones!! The light fixture that I originally wanted, that is shown in my inspiration board, was $200 from Pottery Barn Kids. I kept talking myself out of spending that much even though I loved it so! I knew that I would probably eventually end up buying it because I was not finding anything else that was even close to what I wanted. Then, a couple of weeks ago, after my not-so-fun glucose test, my husband took me to Ikea. We came across this light fixture and I knew it would look great! It was so much cheaper ($50) and would go so well with the gold accents in the room. What do y’all think!? Let’s talk about this DIY changing table! I had been keeping my eyes out for a used dresser that I could repaint because I knew I wanted the dresser to be painted in the color Chelsea Gray by BM. I went in my local goodwill not thinking I would find anything and there it was! All beat up and SO outdated, but only $34!!! I feel like it was meant to be a changing table the way the top has the little edge around it!  I knew this dresser would be perfect! We ordered knobs, painted it using my BB Frosch Chalk Paint Powder (blog post here) and my husband put the drawers on new sliders. It is good as new! The curtains I actually made out of fabric that I had ordered a few months ago from fabric.com! I had so much of it and it ended up matching perfectly and added another texture to the room! I wanted them long and gathered on the floor and luckily I had plenty to do that!! *And I have to mention, the sweet wooden rocking horse was handmade by my papaw when I was little. I love that my mom saved it for me and my sister to use with our little ones. I found this sweet fawn watercolor print from Chocovenyl on Etsy! (You can find her shop here) She was the sweetest to work with and was so helpful when it came to sizing! She has beautiful artwork and it comes all the way from the UK!! I am so in love! The rocking chair we found at Hayneedle! I love this website so much! I knew I wanted a comfy rocking chair, not glider, for the nursery and did not realize how much these cost!! After searching around we found this one to be the most affordable and definitely one of the cutest! It is super comfy and extremely well made! (You can find the rocking chair here!) This gold shelf was something I already had. It is the Vittsjo Shelf  from Ikea! I had originally purchased it in black but painted it gold for my sewing room! It ended up being perfect for the nursery! Most of the decor on these shelves I already had, aside from a few things. The “A” & “Z” bookends were a Marshall’s find and I couldn’t pass them up! They are white marble and gold, how perfect! The Lion Jellycat was a christmas gift from my husband a few years ago, and the sweet little bunny was a baby gift from my mom. I’m hoping it turns into the baby’s favorite lovey. The baskets on the bottom are from Michael’s! Last but not least, the cute little fox print I purchased from an Etsy shop called Happily Ever After Etsy! I thought it was so cute and went along with all the other watercolor art in the room. It downloads instantly so I quick printed it out and framed it! I think it looks so cute! Onto the crib! The crib ended up being something we saved money on. Although I wanted every crib from Land of Nod and Restoration Baby & Child. We just did not have room in our budget. We found this crib by Graco on Amazon for $140 and I loved its simplicity! I love that this crib will work for every child along the way! I struggled when deciding what to hang above the crib. I didn’t want to spend too much because I may want to change this once the baby is here and we know it’s name/gender. My mom had these two ikea frames at the beach house from years ago that we never used. I decided to use my love for watercoloring and make my own abstract art! It actually was so much fun and I think they turned out great! So that ended up being FREE! yay! Now it’s just a waiting game. Two baby showers’ coming up plus a little more shopping and I’ll be ready to meet our little one. We are so excited and can’t believe that there will be a little angel in this nursery so soon. Do you think we will have precious little girl or boy? I will be thrilled to have either!!

Hi there!! It’s been a while since I’ve sat at this keyboard and boy have I missed it! I recently got the opportunity to work with the company BB Frosch and I was thrilled to try out their chalk paint powder! Turning ANY paint into chalk paint by just adding their magic powder? It seemed too good to be true! It was always so difficult to find the right shade of chalk paint when most brands have such limited color choices. I couldn’t wait to give it a try and  show y’all how it works! I had a wooden chair that I bought from Goodwill a little while back that I thought would be the perfect thing to try the chalk paint powder on. The chair was already super cute and distressed but it always looked a little bit yellow next to everything in my house. Also I had two lamps that I had recently painted white and distressed but I hated how they looked and knew that a fresh color would look great! These are the two pieces I tried my BB Frosch Chalk Paint Powder on. They sent me the cutest package in the mail that included the 100% natural BB Frosch Chalk Paint Powder, BB Frosch Premium finishing wax, a tiny little whisk and a cute little plastic container to mix my paint in (not pictured). I was so excited to start this project! How cute is the little whisk?! My inspiration for choosing my paint color was this cute new entry way rug I recently purchased from Homegoods! I love the mauve-y pink flowers! I know it’s risky but I decided to paint my lamps and wooden chair PINK! I’m so lucky to have a husband who is so easy going and lets me decorate how ever I choose. After sifting through paint samples at Sherwin Williams I ended up choosing the color Faded Rose! When I got home and held it up to the rug the match was almost perfect! I just love pink! Time to get started mixing and painting! Step 1: Add Two heaping tablespoons of the BB Frosch Chalk Paint Powder to a small container. I used the container they sent me in my kit! (I doubt any of you make as big of a mess of this as I did, but the chalk powder was so light and airy, like a cloud! So as soon as I touched it some spilled onto the table.) Step 2: Add one tablespoon of water to your chalk paint powder and stir until its a smooth cream! The instructions compared it to “donut icing,” this made me hungry! Step 3: Pour the paint of your choice on top of your “donut icing” (aka chalk paint powder/water mixture)! Step 4: Shake, Shake, Shake! Put your lid on tight and shake until you can see no more white! It mixed so quickly for me! If you are making your chalk paint in a container that doesn’t have a lid, just stir the mixture until there is no more white! Step 5: Paint!! After one swipe of paint I was amazed at the coverage! It went on SO smooth and I loved seeing the pink color I had picked out myself! Step 6: Wax! I just wiped the wax on with a paper towel working small sections at a time and then wiping off the excess wax. This finished off and sealed the pieces! Here are some pictures of my new pink pieces in my home! What do you think?? I haven’t decided where I am going to keep my chair yet, maybe I’ll move it somewhere new every week! haha! Overall, I would 100% recommend purchasing BB Frosch Chalk Paint Powder if you’re like me and are always wanting to freshen up some of your furniture. I mixed that small container of pink and barely even made a dent in it! It really goes a long way because the coverage is amazing and I still have almost a full container of the powder for future projects to mix with fun new colors! Ultimately the biggest advantage of this product is being able to hand pick your color. There is no way any of the normal chalk paint brands would have had a pink color that matched my rug exactly, but with this product I was able to get a color almost identical! I am so looking forward to using my powder on projects in the future! Maybe I’ll be painting something for the nursery very soon! Let me know what you think if you try the BB Frosch Chalk Paint Powder! I have a feeling you will love it as much as I did! You can buy your own BB Frosch Chalk Paint Powder here! You can always find more pictures of my finished projects on instagram @thebloomingnest! See you over there and thanks for stopping by!! Disclaimer: BB Frosch kindly sent this Chalk Paint Powder kit to me so I could try it out and give it my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Hi there! I just can’t wait to share with you my new favorite wood watch! I love all things wooden so when JORD asked if I would wear one of their wood watches to review for them I didn’t hesitate! After searching their site for the one that matched my style the most, I went with the Frankie Zebrawood & Champagne. I fell in love with the champagne color of the face and the darker wood stain on the band. When the watch arrived I was too thrilled to see it came in a cute wooden box. I am a sucker for good packaging! The watch is super comfortable and they even sized it perfectly for me before they sent it off in the mail! These wooden watches make great gifts! I was so excited when mine came in the mail and I just know someone special in your life would be too! You can find my cute Bando agenda HERE! Isn’t it just beautiful?! And so unique?! JORD wood watches are definitely a conversation starter. I love the way the wood adds a natural elements to all of my outfits. So far I haven’t found anything in my wardrobe it doesn’t look perfect with! Want one for yourself or someone you love!? JORD has so generously offered to host a giveaway with me and my followers! The giveaway will run from May 19-May 26, 2016. Just click HERE to take you to their website and sign up to enter! The winner will receive a $75 gift card to woodwatches.com! And guess what else! Even the “losers” will each win $20 off coupon codes to the store! So it only makes sense to enter so you can get one of these beautiful watches at a discount!! Cant wait to see which one you choose! You can find me and Jord Wood Watches over on Instagram for updates on the giveaway! Give us both a follow! (@thebloomingnest & @woodwatches_com) See you over there! Disclaimer: JORD kindly sent this wood watch to me so I could give it my honest review. All opinions are my own. Wood Wrist Watch

As our one year anniversary approaches, I have been thinking back to our special day. I would say it was the best day of our lives, but we have had so many days since which I have loved even more, just enjoying each other and the blessing of marriage. Although it was a beautiful day and we got to spend it with so many of those we love, it does not compare to how much we enjoy our every day lives together! Marriage really has been such a blessing so far and I couldn’t ask for a greater man to be sharing it with. One of my biggest tips to those of you who are engaged or plan to be married in the future… don’t stress so much while planning! Enjoy every moment and focus more importantly on planning for a life-long marriage, because that is really what matters at the end of the day. Your wedding is over in a flash and then you have the marriage to look forward to! I thought I would share some details of our Texas summer wedding! We had beautiful weather and my vision came to life, which is what every bride hopes for!  Hope you enjoy! (All pictures taken by The Silhouette Studio, the rest of the vendors mentioned below) I wanted a big flow-y tulle dress for this reason alone! To be able to spin around in all the layers. So fun! I got this dress at a boutique in Florida called Malindy Elene. The designer is Theia and the dress was strapless when I bought it. I loved the look of an illusion neckline so I had it custom made and added on. It made my dress so comfortable and I just loved the classic look it gave. Lily Pulitzer sandals because I am all about comfort! (Hair and Makeup: Sunkissed & Made Up, Pearls : Tiffany & Co.) I wanted everything to be light and airy! Kind of how I like to decorate my home! (instagram: @thebloomingnest) So I chose light khaki suits and minty colored ties and dresses. (Bridesmaid Dresses and Necklaces: J.Crew, Suits: Jos. A Bank, Ties: Cheap-Neckties.com) We got married at Olde Dobbin Station in Dobbin, Texas. The venue was beautiful! The florist added the green sprigs down the isle, and I designed the center backdrop. My dad brought my vision to life and built it for me! He’s the best! (screens on the side were borrowed from my friend Hannah http://thewhiteandwoodblog.com) My friend Hayley designed our wedding programs! She is so talented. The cutest flower girl and ring bearer I’ve ever seen, but I may be a little biased. (I promise he loves us ha!) I wanted flowers to be the main focus of my wedding! I just knew that was how I wanted to bring color into the venue! Tricia Barksdale (Florist) made my vision come to life with so many pink peonies! I even brought a centerpiece with us on our honeymoon to enjoy! I wanted something simple for both Brett’s cake and for mine. I went with swiss dot for my cake, because I was a little obsessed with everything swiss dot at the time. It is just so feminine and pretty. Brett’s cake was simply chocolate with cute little succulents added on top! (Cakes made by Sandee’s Sweets) Me and my mom hand cut and stamped “yay” flags for everyone to wave as we left! Everyone naturally started to cheer “yay!” It was definitely a night to remember and I had a blast looking back through pictures! You can find our wedding video made by our friends, and twin brothers, Ben and Cam Lowe Here! (Wedding planner: Ashley & Co., Caterer: Global Event Group)

There is no better way to start your day than fueling your body with vitamins and nutrients! Although I would probably prefer a big buttery waffle, I always feel better and tend to have a more productive day when I start out the right way! I have been enjoying this healthy green smoothie and I thought you may want to try it out! I use a NutriBullet to blend mine up and it works so well, but I’m sure any blender will do! Let’s get healthy!! The thing I love about smoothies is you can change it up anytime you want! Add in a different fruit everyday and you have a new yummy smoothie! These are the ingredients that I have been enjoying, but feel free to add in your favorites!! 1/2 cup vanilla greek yogurt (I buy Chobani Simply 100 because it has no artificial sweeteners, they are my enemy!) 1/2 cup organic blueberries 1/2 of an orange (I just squeeze the juice in for the extra vitamins) Spinach! As much as you can fit in your blender!! Spinach is so healthy and it is what will give your smoothie that pretty green color! Liquid of your choice! I love smoothies with about 1/2 cup of apple juice and then the rest with water. But recently I have been using only water to cut down on sugar. **If you don’t use apple juice then I would recommend adding in some sort of sweetener (agave nectar, stevia or plain old natural honey!) **Sometimes I throw in half of a gala apple (peeled and diced), but usually I end up wanting an apple later for a snack anyway, so I usually leave it out. Simply throw in all of your ingredients! And squeeze some of that yummy orange juice on top for a little more flavor and nutrients! (I accidentally bought a blood orange, but it looked so pretty and tasted even better!) Make sure you add liquid all the way to the top of your yummy ingredients! But I wouldn’t cover them completely.. Just enough so it will blend easily! I usually add some crushed ice out of our freezer to the top before blending so that my smoothie will be super cold! It will be so refreshing in these upcoming summer months! In my opinion, you always need a cute straw to drink your smoothie with! It is just more fun that way! These beautiful paper straws were left over from my wedding. You can find similar ones HERE, from one of my favorite stores, BHLDN. Drink up and I bet you’ll feel more energized almost immediately!! God has given us so many amazing foods and I know I need to be enjoying them more! I plan to say goodbye to Oreo Thins (my weakness) for awhile and say hello to spinach and blueberries! I think you will have an easier time “finding the beauty in each day” if you start your day off the right way! When we fuel our bodies with good food we feel good! And I need to remember that. Let me know if your try out this healthy green smoothie! I think your taste buds will thank you!

Friends!!!! When my little friend Carley came to stay with me last week she came bearing gifts from her sweet momma, Amy, who just so happens to be one of my besties! I got new watercolor stuff and an amazing chalk marker!! She knows me so well. A couple weeks ago me and Amy were talking about how most chalk markers aren’t actually meant for chalkboards (seems so ironic), but it’s true! I don’t know how many times I have bought chalk pens and written on a chalkboard and it would not come off no matter how hard I tried!! This new chalk marker saved the day!! It works just like a paint pen but wipes off of my chalkboard with water!! I can’t believe it. Click here to get one for yourself!! Chalk Ink Chalk Marker ! They have so many colors to choose from too!! I am planning to try some out myself 😉 Let me know how you like it! (sorry for all the exclamation points, but I really am that excited!) Heres a picture of my Earth Day inspired chalkboard using my new favorite chalk marker!! Let me know if you have a favorite chalk marker!!

Hi there!! Hope you caught me live on the periscope app a few minutes ago!! I showed my favorite products and my everyday makeup routine! I do this same routine every single day! The replay will still be up for 24 more hours if you want to watch it, you can find me @reganmauck over there! Grab yourself some coffee and watch me awkwardly try to do my makeup into a camera! ha! I hope you can join live next time. Anyway, I wanted to do a quick post with links to all the products I used. I stand by these products and love them so much! Hope you will try some of them and let me know what you think! I have listed them in the order that I applied them. Thanks Friends! Revlon Colorstay Foundation Maybelline Concealer Covergirl Loose Powder Naked Flushed Bronzer Too Faced Snow Leopard Blush Anastasia Brow Definer Revlon Colorburst Urban Decay Sellout Covergirl Eyeliner Loreal Telescopic

Hi there! After swooning over everyone’s pretty blanket ladders on Instagram and Pinterest for far too long, I decided it was time to make my own! It took me about 20 minutes to put together AND stain! Yes I am fast at everything I do, it’s just who I am, BUT it was so simple even the slowest person could do it quickly! Quick projects are my favorite because I am always so ready to see the end result and be able to style it and snap a picture!! I hope you will be inspired to make this super easy and affordable blanket ladder to display all of your favorite throws. Let’s jump in to it and I’ll quickly tell you how I made it! These are the only two supplies I had to buy for this project!! Lumber & 3 packs of mending plates! I got the wood from Lowes and the mending plates from Walmart, but the plates are the same price at Lowes if you just want to make one trip. The mending plates come with screws so you don’t even have to buy those! You will need 2 mending plates for each “cross bar” you want on your ladder. I chose to have 5 so I needed 10 mending plates. Pretty straight forward! For the side lumber I chose 1X2X8’s and I had them cut down at Lowe’s to 6 feet. But you can decide how tall you want your ladder to be! For the “cross bar” pieces I bought 2 furring strips and had someone at Lowes cut them in 20 inch segments. You can decide how wide you want your ladder to be! I am just telling you what worked for my space. The first thing I did when I got home was lay out my lumber in the shape of a ladder. If you are a perfectionist, you can measure the spaces to make sure they are evenly placed. I just “eye balled” it. This saved me time and they ended up looking pretty even! Next I just placed a mending strip at each cross bar and drilled in four screws! It would be helpful to have someone hold it in place while you drill so it doesn’t twist and turn, but I did it all myself and it wasn’t too hard. Once its all screwed together, you can paint it, stain it or leave it natural!! If you screwed in your mending strips really straight it may even be cute to show that side if you like the industrial look! I chose to stain mine with my favorite wood stain. I will take any excuse to use my stain! (Behr-Cordovan Brown) I think the new blanket ladder was the perfect touch to my newly decorated guest room! What do you think?? You can see the whole tour of my guest room on my previous blog post. Thanks for stopping by & please tag me on instagram if you decide to give this fun blanket ladder project a shot! UPDATE* I decided to add baskets to my blanket ladder! I found these super cute ones at Hobby Lobby and couldn’t resist! I just attached them with twine and added some vintage books and succulents, because those are two of my favorite things 😉

Our guest room got a mini makeover this week and the transformation is making me so happy! I felt like I was constantly working to get this room looking how I wanted it, but the money in our “decor” budget was always spent in other places, so usually just the leftover decor would be stuck in there! We barely go in the guest room so it makes sense why this would be one of the last places to make pretty! The biggest problem I had was that I was not loving the bed frame that we had in there. (Ikea Noresund Bed) I got the bed when I was in 6th grade and maybe it’s just because it really was my kid bed, but it always looked “little kiddish” to me. I think it may have had something to do with the “swirls” that were on it. When I decided to spray paint it I knew the whole room would change! I dug in the garage for my hacksaw and sawed those “swirls” right off! It already looked like a new bed! I decided on an earthy green color and spray painted it. I was so pleased with the results!! Here’s a quick tour of our new and improved guest room! Who wants to come stay with us? Ikea noresund bed before.. Ikea noresund bed after.. Let me know what you think of our guest room makeover and my new ikea noresund bed!

Hello from Houston! After receiving so many questions on Instagram, I decided to write a blog post on how I painted our upholstery chair with chalk paint! I was not surprised by the questions because before starting this project I was wondering all the same things! Will it be too “crunchy” and “stiff” to actually sit on? Will chalk paint get on your clothes when you sit on it? Do you need to seal it with any sort of wax or topcoat? These are all questions that I figured out through the process and now I’m here to tell you what I learned so that it’s super easy when you want to upgrade your outdated upholstery furniture!! I didn’t plan on doing a blog post when I began this project so I didn’t take great pictures, but I did get pictures between each coat and I will explain exactly what I did!! This is a great alternative to getting your chair reupholstered and is way more affordable! Let’s get started! Chalk paint of your choice, I chose Rustoleum’s Chalked paint in the color Country Grey! It was more affordable than a lot of brands out there and worked really well! Any chalk paint sealing wax of your choice. I already had the Valspar sealing wax so that definitely saved me money on this project. A spray bottle to fill with water. (I bought one at Lowe’s but it ended up “squirting” instead of “spraying” if that makes sense, so I ended up emptying a spray bottle I already had and used it) A paint brush and 120 grit sandpaper!! Once I explain how I did this first coat you will do the same thing for every coat after. It took me four coats! (I know, thats a lot of coats and it definitely wasn’t fun at all times ha!) Just let it dry 24 hours in between each coat. I read a lot of different techniques online before I jumped in, but I quickly figured out what was working best and that is this… Pour some chalk paint into a cup (or whatever you want to be dipping paint out of) Pour some water into that same cup (a little less than the amount of paint you just put in) Stir this mixture Grab your spray bottle that is filled with water and spray a small area of your upholstery piece Then with your paint brush get some of your watered down chalk paint and paint it on. When you are ready to move to another area just make sure you spray it down with water first. Chalk paint is a porous paint and that is why it works for painting furniture! If it doesn’t seem like the chalk paint is absorbing into the furniture, but rather sitting on top, you do not have enough water in your mixture. Once you tell yourself you are “staining” instead of “painting” I think you will be able to get the right ratio of water to paint. But don’t be scared that it won’t absorb and make it too watery like I did on the first coat, or it will take you forever! I promise once you get started on your project, getting the right consistency is pretty easy! And if you paint a section and it is too watery and the color isn’t showing up very much, just go over it with less watery paint. **This is a very messy project and since the chalk paint is watered down it is very easy to splash, spill and sling it around the house! Be careful!! Let me just say, after this coat I was discouraged and very tempted to give up and put the slipcover back on the chair. Im so glad I powered through and figured out how to make each coat show up more as I went. So after waiting 24 hours for your first coat to dry, grab some of your 120 grit sandpaper and just rub it over the whole piece. Sanding fabric seems weird, and it definitely gives you the same feeling as “fingernails on a chalkboard,” but you will be so surprised how different it feels once sanded. I really just kind of wiped the sandpaper all over it very lightly. Don’t be too aggressive with it! After sanding,  you will do the exact same process as explained above. Water down your paint, spray furniture with water, paint it on! Were slowly but surely getting “gray”!! Again, after waiting 24 hours for coat number 2 to dry, go ahead and lightly sand and then paint your third coat! This may be the last coat for you! But it took me one more.. Finally the last coat! By this point I was SO ready to be done painting (my hands were sore!) and ready to get my house back in order. I hate messes! Once I finished this coat I let out a big sigh of relief! Again, I let this coat dry for 24 hours. Then I lightly sanded it one more time and grabbed my sealing wax! This was the part I had read that really makes your project look amazing! And it sure did! I just paint brushed it all over the chair in a light layer, let it dry for 5-10 minutes and then went back and wiped off the excess wax. It felt so smooth after this step! I painted the legs a creamy white color, distressed them and the entire chair was complete and looked so upgraded!! Now for your questions! Will it be too “crunchy” and “stiff” to actually sit on? Although it does not feel like the softest chair ever, and it may not be the chair you choose to cuddle up and take a nap on.. it does 100% still feel like fabric!! You could almost describe it as feeling like outdoor fabric. When starting this project I was not hoping to end up with my favorite chair to sit on, but rather upgrading a chair so that it would be prettier to look at! But yes, again, it is still completely functional! I wish y’all could feel it!! Will chalk paint get on your clothes when you sit on it? Absolutely not! The chalk paint has been sealed with wax, and even before that when you sand down each layer it gets off the extra “chalkiness” that is on the chair. Do you need to seal it with any sort of wax or topcoat? Yes, you will definitely not want to skip the wax step, as it seals the paint and makes the whole chair feel smooth to the touch! After adding this step the whole thing looked so much better!! If you have anymore questions please leave a comment below or on instagram! Thanks for stopping by and I would love to see your painted upholstery!

Hi there and happy Saturday! I know we’re all glad that the weekend is finally here! Do y’all have any fun plans?? We plan on staying home so my husband can get caught up on some school work, I don’t know how he keeps up with everything! He is amazing. Anyway, enough about my sweet man.. I don’t share many beauty posts on my blog but this week I stumbled upon two amazing beauty products that I have completely fallen in love with and I know you will too!! I decided to share them with you!! (and yes i know i need to paint my nails! haha) Okay, this stuff is absolutely amazing and SO affordable! I honestly have never felt anything softer on my lips, it really feels like butter!! I had seen this color on pinterest and knew I wanted to try it, but I didn’t know I would love it this much! The color I bought is “London” and it is a pretty, neutral color that I feel would look great on almost any skin tone! You have to try it, seriously!! Click here to buy it from Amazon, NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream ! Or you can find it at your grocery store or pharmacy! The special man in your life may not even hate kissing you with this stuff on because it is THAT soft and smooth! So I have been a huge fan of the Anastasia Brow wiz pencil for a while now, (you can read about it under the beauty tab above), but when I saw an advertisement for their new brow definer I knew I had to try it! Anastasia products are a little more expensive but I just haven’t found anything that works better. Their new Brow Definer is exactly what I needed, the tip is thicker than on the brow wiz so it literally takes like one stroke and your eye brows are filled in perfectly and look so natural! I wear the color “taupe.” I LOVE THIS PRODUCT!! I usually order beauty products from amazon, so here is the link, Anastasia Brow Definer ! Or you can find it at Ulta! Enjoy your pretty, natural looking brows, friends!! I would love to hear what ya’ll think if you try these amazing beauty products!! Have a great day!