Since it’s Friday I wanted to share a few fun, summer favorites I have come across recently as our Friday Favorites are always among our most popular posts. I also promised some house updates though (if you missed reading about our new house you can catch up here), so first I thought I’d share a quick bit about what we’ve done here since moving in. Starting with planting some flowers as you can see below!
None of our rooms are pulled together enough yet for a real reveal post, it seems like there is at least one major thing missing in each space when I contemplate photographing it so it may be awhile before I can show off fully styled spaces–per the norm in the blog world! However, we’re all about sharing the process so I thought I’d briefly show what we have already done for those of you who might be curious.
We started by having the entire first floor painted before we even moved in, what a difference it made! The house seems so much lighter and brighter. I had limited time in the home ahead of settlement to pick paint colors so it was a bit of a gamble but all but one color (the dining room is more blue than gray unfortunately, more on that soon) worked out as I’d hoped. Here is a before and after of the foyer to show the difference.
Obviously the photo was taken when the home was still empty so the ‘after’ photo has less going on, but the space is so much brighter. The color I chose for both the foyer and living room is Alabaster by Sherwin Williams, it is a clean white but one on the warmer side. The foyer has pretty marble floors and while the chandelier isn’t perfectly my taste it is growing on me.
Here is another look at how paint can brighten up a space, the kitchen was painted Sherwin Williams Extra White (the color the painter recommended) to brighten it up. We do plan on a complete overhaul in here, which I am excited about, so I just wanted something to lighten it up in the meantime.
I’ll share more about the primary bedroom soon, but I snapped this picture of the new rug I ordered for our room, isn’t it pretty? It came from HERE, and arrived super fast. It looks perfect in the room, which I had painted one of my favorite paint colors–SW Rhinestone (a post all about it is here).
This is the only semi-finished room, it’s our main living room and I also had it painted in Alabaster. I ordered this (crazy popular) rug and I love the contrast with our white couches. We are really excited to finally have a real (wood-burning) fireplace, and I was really happy with the quality of this inexpensive fireplace screen. It covers the gaping black opening perfectly, but if anyone has recommendations on getting rid of the fireplace smokey smell, please do share!
OK, now on to Friday Favorites… I feel like summer arrived really fast here! I guess we’ve been busy around here 🙂 I shared in last week’s newsletter that I grabbed some fun and inexpensive items at Target, but the link was wrong for the bow-backed blouse below, so I am resharing here in case you missed it. I get compliments each time I wear this, and it’s less than $20.
There are definitely some really good sales this weekend, especially at J. Crew Factory and at Loft. J. Crew Factory even has a bunch of $10 deals, see them all here, including this scalloped cami, one of our best-sellers.
This tiered dress is just $25 plus you can get $10 off every $50 you spend this weekend with the code BIG10 too. (Sidenote: J. Crew has the best men’s shorts in my opinion, all my boys wear them). I thought this was a great lightweight dress or you could wear it with a jean jacket on cooler days.
I also think this floral skirt is really cute, it’s not too short and would look cute just with a plain white t-shirt.
Loft has 50% off this weekend, I have been waiting for a good sale on these white jeans. I love that they have the flare, aren’t cropped and aren’t ripped! I also love this bright pink dress, it would be great for a hot day.
Other sales worth mentioning and there are quite a few, Tory Burch started their semi-annual sale, always a good time to consider investment pieces like shoes and bags. Nordstrom is already hyping the Anniversary Sale coming up next month, but has plenty on sale already for spring/summer here. I plan to grab this lightweight dress to use as a cover up for our upcoming beach vacation, it comes in a ton of colors for just $23, shipped. I already shared this lightweight dress in our spring break favorites post; I have the olive color, and it’s now on sale for just $23. I wore this on repeat in Florida, it’s a great all around dress.
Finally, two pool and beach fun items to share. This fun hat came with me to the beach earlier this week, it stays on, provides great shade and it is super cute too! I linked the pink but I actually have the stripe.
Also, if you like to travel light or even better, so your kids can carry their own towels, these turkish beach towels in their own bags get rave reviews.
Well, enjoy your Friday and I also, it is a bit early but I want to make sure to wish a happy Father’s Day to all the Dads out there!
XO,
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Guesswhat, this is so funny. We have been in our home since 1988. We have a huge back yard filled with trees and my husband would cut and split wood by hand for so many years for our fireplace. A few years ago he bought a spliter. Wow I said I thought I would never hear you say those words( I am buying a splitter).The trees shade our lot so we didnt have central air. Guess wehat we got central air installed this summer. We also had our fireplace switched to gas. Im like who are you and where is my husband. My husband is 70 and I am 66, at some point you need to say lets just stop and smell the roses. As for the smoke smell, make sure your chiminey is cleaned every year my husband cleaned it himself, its not real hard. Ours is in the basement so noclimbing involved. You may be able to add air vents to your fireplace goiny outside. Im not sure all fireplaces are equipped for that. Good luck.
Thank you for your note–great info on the fireplace! I understand what you are saying and am sure the novelty for all this will wear off down the road. We’ll also have to see how long my husband enjoys splitting the wood for the fireplace! XO, Amy