Interior Inspiration: Laundry Rooms

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I get all the heart eyes when I look at these photos. There's just something about a pretty laundry room that makes me so happy! But let's be real, at this stage in life, just having laundry in our unit makes me happy. :)

Our current laundry situation is two small machines that are in separate corners of the room, with the washer hooking up to the sink and the dryer venting out into the room. Not exactly ideal, BUT we have a washer and dryer! All to ourselves! That we don't have to feed quarters! Woo!

But let's just dream for a minute, shall we? Eventually we'll be living somewhere else, and maybe, just maybe, I'll get to have a bit more fun with a laundry room/space. And when that day comes, I've got some inspiration for it.

I love the natural, clean feeling of the above photos, and I also love that there are some bold choices going on. Because a laundry room usually isn't a space that you're in 24/7 and is often smaller, you can go with some crazier patterns and colors. I LOVE that wallpaper choice on the top right, and the large map on the lower left brings in the perfect pop of color. The wood countertops over the machines are not only beautiful, but functional for folding and stacking. There's just so much good going on in all these photos. I love how the owners have taken something as basic and drudgery-esque (totes a word) as a laundry room and made it into something beautiful and functional. Every room deserves some love, so why not give some to your laundry room today?

Interior Inspiration: Southwest Vibes

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It's been awhile since there's been an Interior Inspiration around here! So as I did a quick scroll through my home board on Pinterest, I started to see a theme emerging from the images I've pinned recently... there are definitely some strong Southwest vibes going on! From patterns to plant life, textiles to colors, I've definitely been digging aspects of the Southwestern style lately. There's obviously some other styles thrown into the mix, but then again, when have I ever been one to choose just one style. 

So what's so appealing about the Southwestern style? To me, it's the beautiful mix of natural tones and bright colors, the rich variety of textures, the fun geometric patterns, and the combination of so many great materials, from leather and wool, to ceramics and natural woods. What's not to love? But I think my very favorite thing about the Southwestern style is that there seems to be a very mix-n-match quality about it. The more patterns and textures, the better! 

What about you? Are you a fan of the Southwestern style, or is it not for you?

Interior Inspiration: 3 Helpful Posts for Styling Your Home

Happy Monday, folks! Although the rain outside would suggest otherwise, it feels like the Christmas season is in full-swing around here. This week we'll be visiting Macy's showroom, as well as hosting a Christmas party for our small group and attending Holidazzle. And before you know it, Christmas will be here! Yippee!

Alright, enough with the Christmas rabbit trail since that's not what this post is about, I think I'm just a little high on Christmas cheer. Today I wanted to share with you 3 posts from around the internet that I have found helpful as I've worked on making our house a home. I hope you enjoy, and be sure to comment if you have found any helpful home posts lately!

I love this post that shares 3 ways to style an Ikea Kallax shelf. I think my personal favorite is the nightstand... if only I had that much space on the side of my bed.

This post featuring 10 room-sized rugs for under $200 is helpful. I also love rugsusa.com for their affordable huge rugs.

These 25 tips to make a small room look bigger might be just what you need if you're experiencing cramped apartment living.

Have a wonderful week, friends! Don't forget to slow down a bit in the next couple weeks and remember the reason for the season. I'm thinking of possibly doing some kind of technology fast... whether for an event, a whole day, or longer, I'm not sure. I just feel like it might be good to not be so glued to my phone so much. Any ideas? Shoot them my way!

Interior Inspiration: 5 Swoon-worthy Spaces

Happy Friday, ya'll! (Apparently I'm channeling my inner southern gal today.) Seeing as we're moving soon (if you didn't see the announcement on instagram, check it out, and follow me... shameless plug!), all things home decor have been on my mind lately. The thought of having more space and a new layout is so appealing and I can't wait to get in there and have some fun. So I thought I would share some of the spaces that have been inspiring me lately as I've been dreaming about our new place. 

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The light fixture, the basket, the rug, the lucite table that you can hardly tell is there... I love it all! Bring on a beautiful entryway! But this entryway isn't just beautiful... it's also functional! A place to sit, somewhere to corral your keys, and some extra storage. What's not to love?

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I adore the bright and airy simplicity of this living room. The use of color and texture is awesome and definitely inspires me to get a little bit bolder in my choice of both. I'm also a major fan of the bamboo roman shades and definitely need to look into that for window coverings in our new place.

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This bright living and dining space has a couple crucial pieces that I love—plants, beautiful moulding, and fun seating. Plus those floor-to-ceiling windows are to die for!

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I cannot sing the praises of this kitchen enough! It's the perfect blend of bright color and white, with a bit of natural thrown in. I think I would love doing dishes at that huge sink looking out that stunning blue-framed window. Although open shelving in the kitchen is a bit controversial for practical reasons, I think everybody can agree that it looks beautiful... and this kitchen is no exception!

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I love the black and white going on with the bed, and the warm tones in the rug and tables just makes this bedroom look so cozy. The simplicity is great... and I definitely want to try and incorporate 'simple' more into our new home.

So there you have it! Five spaces that I've totally been drooling over. Obviously, a lot of these spaces are the actual home themselves, but the general feeling and decor can be brought into any space... and I hope to bring them into ours! Do you have any spaces that you've been adoring lately?

Have a great weekend, friends!

Interior Inspiration: Black & White

I've really been digging black and white lately. Yeah, I know it's summer and I should be groovin' with the bright colors, or at least enjoying some nice light pastels, but there's just something so calming and peaceful about a simple black and white color palette. These photos inspire me to go a little more easy on color, and introduce more whites and neutrals, with little pops of black. 

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I especially adore black and white in textiles—rugs, pillows, blankets, etc. Mixing and matching patterns is pretty much one of my love languages, and when you have a bunch that are all the same colors, the more the merrier! So I'm going to be keeping my eyes peeled for some more black and white... specifically pillows. 

The hubs and I are headed to Nebraska tomorrow for a loooong weekend and to celebrate Independence Day in the 4th of July capitol of the world! It will be great to see nearly all my extended fam and to enjoy some of that classic Nebraska heat. 

What are your plans for the holiday? And I'm curious... are you a fan of the black and white, or do you say bring on the color?

Interior Inspiration: Kitchen Love

I kind of love a good kitchen. Which is sad, because the place we're living right now that I'm totally in like with has a not-so-wonderful kitchen [apparently I'm in a nice mood]. Forget the fact that it doesn't have a dishwasher [besides my cute hubby ;)], but the counter space is abysmal, the lighting is florescent (eek!), and the layout is not great. 

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But I'm counting my blessings with it's crazy amount of storage, normal-height sink and countertop (another apartment we applied to had a low sink and countertop!), and double sink (born and raised with one of those!).

All in all, it's not terrible, but it certainly isn't my favorite room in our place and doesn't super encourage me to cook, which is kind of bad considering that's not my natural bent. So I am left to Pinterest dreaming, in hopes that one day I will have a kitchen as cool as one of these. But until then, I guess I'm stuck cramped on my little slice of countertop underneath the florescent light. :)

Interior Inspiration: Sofas

I've been dreaming of pretty sofas lately. Especially those in the gray family. I seriously just went to my pinterest board and like 90% of the living rooms I've pinned have gray sofas. There's just something about them that's so beautiful. Maybe it's the fact that they go with everything without being white (read: dirty in like .02 seconds in our home), or black (a little too dark and the perfect little lint-collector). Basically, gray sofas are that perfect neutral in-between that hides imperfections and still goes with everything. Thank you, gray, for being so awesome.

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The hubs and I have had our eye on a couple gray sofas from Dock86. Super cheap, and the best part?? The selling point that the sales floor people actually use?? The pillows come with it! Ahahahaha... if only they knew that I was laughing at them silently while smiling and nodding in fake appreciation. I could really care less about the pillows when I'm purchasing a multi-hundred dollar couch. But whatevs.

So anyway, you might be seeing a new couch around here soon. Or you might not. It really just depends on our mood and what we decide to do. But regardless, I'm dreaming. And in my dreams, the couches are all gray and tweed-ish and wonderful. And of course, they all come with matching pillows. 

Not.

Interior Inspiration: Basket Frenzy

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I've really been diggin' baskets lately. There's just something about the textures that they bring into a room that I love. Whether they be wire or woven, big or small, rectangular or circular, I'm drawn to them all. [I could write a Dr. Seuss book about baskets!]

Plus, I really enjoy the versatility and utilitarian nature of baskets. From baking supplies to magazines, blankets to toilet paper, these babies will do just about anything for ya! I scored some sweet finds at Goodwill in Milwaukee last weekend that I'm pretty excited about. Best part? They were all new with original tags! I'm especially excited about the light tan one that was $1.99 originally made in the Philippines. Score!

And NEWS FLASH! We moved all our furniture and all of Loverboy's belongings into the apartment! I am jealous that he gets to enjoy the place for the next month and a half (44 days til wedding bells, guys!) but if the last couple days have been the judge of anything, I'll probably be over there a lot anyway. :) I'll be posting soon about the new place... I have some sweet $10 photo projects for ya, as well as some furniture revamps and thrift store finds!

Interior Inspiration: Dreaming

Loverboy and I have spent more than a few hours lately working on our wedding registry and dreaming about what our future place will look like. I must admit that it gives me strange kind of butterflies toward this man when he expresses how excited he is to see how our place will be decorated and that he's pretty sure we'll have the coolest apartment/house ever. Major points right there.

Today I read an article about defining your style. It was interesting because I don't know if I've nailed mine down yet. I so often feel torn between modern and vintage, sparce and cluttered, color and black & white... that I'm not really sure what my style is. As we have been registering there has been more than one occasion where Loverboy just laughs at me because I can't decide, or because I simply love two things that are so completely opposite. 

But regardless of what my style is, there's just something in me that loves pretty things! I love when a room is beautiful and welcoming, when there are so many things to look at and appreciate, but also a balanced simplicity. I delight in patterns and colors, florals and geometrics. I guess it's just the design nerd in me, but when this part of me is encouraged, I start to dream. I dream of ways that I can make my current space pretty. I dream of future blank walls and empty shelves, just waiting to be covered and filled. So dream with me...

Interior Inspiration: Collections

I've been feeling rather inspired lately in the realm of interior decor. I'm loving all these bright colors against plain walls... it really makes all the fun pieces in the room pop! Collected rooms are so much more fun than decorated ones!