Office Update

Well it's been about two months since Mike and I ripped out the closet in our spare bedroom in favor of putting in an office and I must say it's one of the best decisions we've ever made! For the first four months in our townhome, the spare bedroom was nothing more than a storage room where we could dump all the stuff we didn't feel like dealing with at the moment and close the door.

Now it's a place where we spend time every evening. Though after living with it for a while, we have made a few updates:

//1.Hide Those Cords! I strategically hid them behind the chair in the original shot but really it was a mess under the table. Mike mentioned that he's like to build something to hold them out of sight and away from our feet so last weekend I let him go at it.

//2.  Add Another Chair. Originally I had built this space for myself but only a few days later I found Mike and I were fighting over who gets the chair vs. the ground. Since chairs are a hot commodity around here (meaning we have none), we decided to 'splurge' and by a set. The space already had enough to keep the eyes busy so we went with these acrylic, 'tobias' chairs from Ikea. It's so nice for both of us to be able to comfortably work side-by-side in the evenings.

//3. Add a Rug. For some reason, the wood line from where the sliders used to sit really bothered me so when CB2 was having a rug sale last week, I went for it and bought this 'pembetatu' cotton runner I've been eyeing. I like that it's basically neutral with pops of color & plan on using it downstairs once we rip out all the carpet and replace it with hardwood next year.

Goose has also claimed this as his room (no, not in that way...although he does love to mark every tree/fire hydrant/pole in the neighborhood). He has a handful of toys/bones and has to keep them all in here. Everyday when I clean up, I put all his toys in his bed in our bedroom and about 10 minutes later they are all back in here. He's also learned how to open his plush toys and pull little tufts of fluff out which means it often looks like a stuffed animal massacre in there but he's having so much fun we don't mind cleaning it up.

Nothing Better Than a Clean Home

When Mike and I moved from our apartment to the townhome we doubled our square-footage and tripled the number of bathrooms we had. While we love the space, it is amazing how much more cleaning we do everyday.

Looking at pinterest and other lifestyle blogs, it seems there are two camps of thought on keeping a house clean: the week-enders and the week-dayers. For instance, many of the cleaning 'lists' you will see floating around the web breakdown chores with daily to-do's Monday through Friday. On the other hand, Apartment Therapy published an article recently that broke down how to clean on a weekend-only basis.

I lucked out that Mike is tidy and bit of a germaphobe. While I am more focused on organizing and de-cluttering, he has no problem scrubbing toilets or washing dishes (no you cannot borrow him). We tend to keep the kitchen clean and at least try to throw our dirty clothes in the hamper, but I would throw us in the 'weekender' crowd when it comes to the bigger stuff. Mike wakes up before 7 am no matter what so we tend to get most of our chores out of the way before Costco even opens on Saturday.

With a bigger house, I tend to get side-tracked while cleaning so I came up with a "top-to-bottom" method. This applies the the house as a whole as well as each individual room e.g. I start upstairs in our bedroom and put away everything that has been tossed on top of the dresser or scattered around the bathroom vanity and then make my way all the way down to dusting the baseboards and lastly, Mike comes in with the vacuum (I got him a Dyson for his birthday while we were still in the apartment and it's tied with the waffle maker for his favorite present ever).

On that note, I'm off to fold laundry. My mom used to joke when I was little that I had more laundry than the other three members of the household combined and I have yet to break myself of that habit.

Image: Domino Magazine Holiday 2013 (I wish my shoe collection looked like that)

Friday Favorites

Mike's birthday is Monday so this weekend is full of friends and fun (and rain)! Also, my wedding dress is finally in so I get to try it on for the first time on Sunday. I have a feeling this bagel will be the last one I eat for the next five months...

READ: Feeling lost and a need for self discovery was an overwhelming theme for me in January so when I stumbled on this interview on Design*Sponge, it really resonated.

MAKE: This healthy peanut butter dip. I haven't tried it yet but if it can satisfy my pb cravings without all the calories, I'm in.

ORGANIZE: I'm a huge believer in making lists to get things done. This online tool & app is a straight-forward approach to organizing your to-do's. I especially love its sharing capabilities which comes in handy when planning a wedding.

TRY: This spray-on sanitizing spray is all natural, convenient, and smells great! Our good friend actually works for this company and I recently re-discovered the sample she gave me -- just in time for flu season.

DIY: Don't forget Valentine's day is this Friday. With a shoe-string budget, I was searching for a few cute projects to do this weekend. This watercolor and gold-leaf geometric heart is on my list of things to make.

Image: Ali Harper

Jewelry Storage

I was recently introduced to Stella & Dot and fell in love with pretty much everything they have to offer. Their merchandise reminds me a lot of j.crew in terms of it being feminine and somewhat preppy but it's very reasonably priced -- especially when you have a friend who shares her discount with you!

My jewelry collection is sparse to say the least. I tend to rotate between the same two necklaces and earrings but definitely was searching for a 'statement' necklace and a few other simple pieces that could be worn more often. I wasn't initially drawn towards S&D's pearl necklace but after trolling their instagram I was sold.

As my collection expands, I definitely need to update my jewelry storage situation. Right now I store it all on a jewelry 'tree' but there isn't that much room and it doesn't accommodate any of my longer necklaces.

I was searching around the web and found these that I really like:

one // two // three

Someday I want to pimp out our master bedroom closet and put in some awesome jewelry storage like Jenny from Little Green Notebook did in her Ikea Pax (third picture) but for now, I think I'll follow the tutorial by Emily Henderson and make those little jewelry blocks to put in my bathroom. As for stud earrings, I really like the thought of using something unconventional to store them like the egg holder in the second picture. Small bowls in a shallow drawer would also look cute and be more functional then my current solution i.e. leaving them wherever I take them off.