Summer Must Haves
I normally talk about about home decor related projects, but thought mix it up and and share my top 6 Summer must haves. Where we live in Northern California the weather can easily reach the triple digits, I'm talking 105 degrees { & up } in the July & August. It's supa dupa hot here. I love finding a good deals on getting projects done around our house for under budget, this also applies to my top Summer Essentials.
Summer must haves.
1. I love wearing maxi dresses in the spring and summer months! I love that you can easily dress them up or down depending on what shoes you are wearing and what accessorises your rocking. I love wearing a mix of Jersey cotton maxi dresses. For inexpensive maxi dresses I shop at Old Navy, JC Penny's and Forever 21 { they have a great selection of these dresses } The blue maxi dress above is from Forever 21 and its a steal at $ 15.50!
2. I'm a huge fan of wearing big sunglasses. I prefer buying inexpensive ones so I can own a plenty, there's also the no stress factor. If you accidentally leave your sunglasses behind at a restaurant its a big deal. For affordable and stylish sunglasses I stop in H & M and pick a few pairs here are there, can't beat the $ 5.00 price tag.
3. One of my favorite Summer Scents is Very Sexy Little Things Noir from Victoria's Secret. It's the best selling fragrance, so light and yummy since its a mist. I wore this fragrance on my wedding day, and love wearing it a lot in the Summer.
4. I use the Almond Cookie Shea Souffle from Carol's Daughter daily on my hands and feet daily. It keeps my skin so soft. I plan on buying more of her products, they ones I've tested always smell so yummy. Her products are also available at Sephora. If you look close, you can spot my Caral's Daughter product and my Very Sexy Little Things spray.
5. I'm a Neuatragena girl and have been using their products for years. There are the only product that are gentle on my skien. I use Neutrogena Healthy Skin Face Lotion every morning, I also love that is has SPF 15 - its keeps my skin feeling healthy.
6. My last summer essential are sandals! I love buying tan to brown sandals for the warm months the colors look great with anything. I recently bought a pair of Bandolino sandals { the exact ones above } for $ 19.99 at Marshall's. The Marshall's near me has a great selection of shoes on the cheap!
Here's a picture my son took on my sitting on our front lawn { akward angle, trying not to get licked by Mojo! } I'm wearing two my summer musts: maxi dress & sunglasses.
What's on your Summer must haves?
1. I love wearing maxi dresses in the spring and summer months! I love that you can easily dress them up or down depending on what shoes you are wearing and what accessorises your rocking. I love wearing a mix of Jersey cotton maxi dresses. For inexpensive maxi dresses I shop at Old Navy, JC Penny's and Forever 21 { they have a great selection of these dresses } The blue maxi dress above is from Forever 21 and its a steal at $ 15.50!
2. I'm a huge fan of wearing big sunglasses. I prefer buying inexpensive ones so I can own a plenty, there's also the no stress factor. If you accidentally leave your sunglasses behind at a restaurant its a big deal. For affordable and stylish sunglasses I stop in H & M and pick a few pairs here are there, can't beat the $ 5.00 price tag.
3. One of my favorite Summer Scents is Very Sexy Little Things Noir from Victoria's Secret. It's the best selling fragrance, so light and yummy since its a mist. I wore this fragrance on my wedding day, and love wearing it a lot in the Summer.
4. I use the Almond Cookie Shea Souffle from Carol's Daughter daily on my hands and feet daily. It keeps my skin so soft. I plan on buying more of her products, they ones I've tested always smell so yummy. Her products are also available at Sephora. If you look close, you can spot my Caral's Daughter product and my Very Sexy Little Things spray.
6. My last summer essential are sandals! I love buying tan to brown sandals for the warm months the colors look great with anything. I recently bought a pair of Bandolino sandals { the exact ones above } for $ 19.99 at Marshall's. The Marshall's near me has a great selection of shoes on the cheap!
Here's a picture my son took on my sitting on our front lawn { akward angle, trying not to get licked by Mojo! } I'm wearing two my summer musts: maxi dress & sunglasses.
What's on your Summer must haves?
Ps: There are only two days left to enter the giveway! For a custom print!
All Stacked & Organized
Last week I spent time organizing our books by color of their spine for our new Ikea Expedit bookshelf in our living room. I also spent time looking at inspiration photos, to artfully display our books and bring in more style in on shelves. I also got a bunch of tips from the pros at Martha Stewart & Style & Home, that I applied on our Expedit.
Here's our almost Ikea Expedit after it was put together.
We moved the Kasset storage boxes the the lower shelves to create more balance to the bottom of the bookcase. To keep all my magazine in one place, I put them in a basket I bought a while back at Cost Plus. I'm so glad it fit perfectly in the Expedit.
Here's our almost Ikea Expedit after it was put together.
We decided to use two large Ikea Kasset storage boxes to hold the frequently watched DVDs, all the barley watched DVDs are in our coat closet. I really the like how well the storage boxes fit in the Expedit and there are such an affordable storage option.
Here's our bookcase now, all stacked & organized. As I mentioned before each book was organized on the shelf by the color of the book spine. I really like the cohesive look the color grouping gives the bookshelf. Even a stack of four orange books looks eye catching.
We moved the Kasset storage boxes the the lower shelves to create more balance to the bottom of the bookcase. To keep all my magazine in one place, I put them in a basket I bought a while back at Cost Plus. I'm so glad it fit perfectly in the Expedit.
Here's a better front view of the bookcase. In place of bookends I used a vase and candle holders. Both the vase and the candle holders tie in perfectly with our living room palette.
Below are two more close up pictures. I took these pictures early this morning on my way out the door - so I will take a few more pics when we have a full sunlight in our living room for cleaer shots.
What to do think our Expedit bookcase? Now the question, I'm asking myself is one bookcase with and art wall or two bookcases? What do you think?
Artful Updates { Part One }
One of the best place to shop for interesting and sometimes original artwork are thrift stores. I'm sure we've all seen our share of craptastic 80's art and fuzzy art posters at thrift stores. However, when you take your time digging though the unwanted and no longer loved art work, you just might find a special piece for your home. Last week I was shopping at my local Salvation Army, hoping to find some thrifty finds. When I saw a bird print that caught my eye, meanwhile Mr. CLH spotted a black and white print that caught his eye. He didn't dig my print, but I loved the print he found! My print was $ 4.99 and the print he liked was $ 4.99 too. It just so happened we popped into the Salvation Army on a 50% off day for the entire store! We paid only $ 4.99 for both pieces of art work. Bot have nice frames and glass!
When we brought the frames home, I did a quick assessment of the changes we should make to each piece of art work. First up the bird print. I like the style frame it was in, but knew it would look better a glossy white, that way it would match our existing frames that we have in our house. In addition to painting the frame white, I planned on using caulk to fill in the miter edge, the seam looked wide. I love this bright bird print, but the fake matte and border made the print look so cheap. The only way for the print to standout and look amazing was to buy a new crisp matte.
Because both framed are in good condition { minus } there color, I knew the only extra cost to the art updatesince we hoard white glossy spray paint in the garage would be mattes. Since both pieces of artwork are old size and not stock matte sizes, I knew I would have to order custom mattes. That's just what I did, I stop into Michael's framing department and placed an order for two custom mattes. I've always feared getting custom anything related to framing, because custom framing is expense!
After I came home from Michael's. I began the task of removing the paper backing on each frame along with the old hanging wires. The bird frame, had a really nasty backing on it full of funky stains.
Next, Mr. CLH will be spraying painting the frames and hopefully our custom mattes will be ready for pickup tonight. I'll have a budget breakdown in part two.
What do you think of the thrifty art we bought? Have you found art artwork from a thrift store that was fab or needed a little artfull update?
When we brought the frames home, I did a quick assessment of the changes we should make to each piece of art work. First up the bird print. I like the style frame it was in, but knew it would look better a glossy white, that way it would match our existing frames that we have in our house. In addition to painting the frame white, I planned on using caulk to fill in the miter edge, the seam looked wide. I love this bright bird print, but the fake matte and border made the print look so cheap. The only way for the print to standout and look amazing was to buy a new crisp matte.
Up close you can see the miter corners that need help & the tacky fake matter and border that makes the bird print look silly and cheap.
Next up the tree art work my husband found. I'm still shocked he found this & that we only paid
$ 2.50 for it! It's a nice size piece 22inches wide by 19 inches long. We both loved the picture, but thought the mustard yellow matte was taking away from the print and not enhancing it. I also loved the heavy duty well built frame, but knew the color was too dark for our space. Again I knew a white coat of paint would be bring new life to the frame.
Another plus, is the tree art had been previously custom framed, talk about a score we got.
Because both framed are in good condition { minus } there color, I knew the only extra cost to the art update
After I came home from Michael's. I began the task of removing the paper backing on each frame along with the old hanging wires. The bird frame, had a really nasty backing on it full of funky stains.
I carefully removed each picture from the frames. Under the paper backing on the tree picture, I found a stamp saying Cresent. More than likely its Cresent City, California. I've been there once its very pretty. The city is right on the ocean and is almost on the California / Oregon border. I'm guessing the picture was taken in Cresent City of maybe even in the Redwoods { which are amazing!}
Next, Mr. CLH will be spraying painting the frames and hopefully our custom mattes will be ready for pickup tonight. I'll have a budget breakdown in part two.
What do you think of the thrifty art we bought? Have you found art artwork from a thrift store that was fab or needed a little artfull update?
PS: Don't forget to enter the CLH Giveaway: For your chance to a Win a print from
Our Humble A { bowe } d! Click Here to Enter.
