Redesigning the Kitchen Layout... Again! But This Time I May Have A Winner?!?

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Redesigning the Kitchen Layout... Again! But This Time I May Have A Winner?!?

If you know me IRL, or if you’ve been here awhile, you may have noticed I’m really indecisive and over think things WAY too much. I’ve been designing my kitchen for nearly FOUR YEARS now. I made minor upgrades to my current kitchen because I thought we’d only live with it for a mere 6 months. Well, here we are 4 years later and I’m still designing the future space. BUT! I think I may have come up with the best layout that makes the fewest compromises and sticks to a more reasonable budget! Check it out and let me know what you think.

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20 Instagram Accounts with Fewer than 4,000 Followers That You Should Be Following

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20 Instagram Accounts with Fewer than 4,000 Followers That You Should Be Following

Instagram is FULL of inspiration and sometimes it’s hard to find unique accounts - especially the smaller ones. I wanna give you some inspo and also send some love to the up-and-coming accounts. It was a bit over a year ago when Chris Loves Julia listed me as a top account with less than 10k followers and I’m forever grateful, so I want to pay it forward.

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Getting Our Home Historically Designated - New Rules for Renovations & Tax Savings

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Getting Our Home Historically Designated - New Rules for Renovations & Tax Savings

Our house is a 1915 craftsman bungalow in a charming old neighborhood of San Diego. While the house is special in our eyes, we’ve been going through the process of making it even more special with historic designation. It gives us cool street cred, plus with an extra step, we get a discount on our property taxes. There’s a lot of wins, but also a few hurdles to jump over, so I wanna share where we’re at in the process, how to apply yourself, and what this all means for the future of our home.

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A Crowd Sourced Guide to Seattle + A Vlog!

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A Crowd Sourced Guide to Seattle + A Vlog!

Back in early December Ross and I went to Seattle for about a week. He went for work and I went to explore the city and meet up with a couple of my blogger pals! I got to hang out with Cathy of The Grit and Polish at her beautiful farmhouse outside the city and we both met up with Joanna of Jojotastic for lunch and to check in on her kitchen renovation. I asked my fine Instagram followers for recommendations of what to do/see/eat in Seattle and you did not disappoint. I’ve listed everyone’s suggestions here!

But first, I give you a video diary - or vlog, if you will. It’s is mostly a video version of a photo scrapbook of where we ate, clips of pretty trees, and shots of animals - which is basically all I care about.

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My Favorite Online Art Resources + My Personal Art Collection

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My Favorite Online Art Resources + My Personal Art Collection

I love having lots of artwork throughout our home. It’s probably because of my years of art school and working in art museums. Yeah, that’s probably why. I enjoy having pieces I find beautiful, ones that make me think, those that make me laugh, and the ones that are nostalgic. Bad art is my biggest deign pet peeve, simply because I hate when people fill their home with nothingness just for the sake of having decor. It makes me sad to see junk hung on the walls of people’s homes just to fill the space.

In this post I round up my favorite online art retailers, list framing options, and share each and every piece of artwork in my personal collection. Take a look!

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The Easiest Sustainable Way to Get Rid of Unwanted Things at Home

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The Easiest Sustainable Way to Get Rid of Unwanted Things at Home

I wrote a blog post last year with a list of unique ways to donate a bunch of things when you’re decluttering. Things like dingy towels, toiletries, cleaning products, paint samples, light bulbs, eyeglasses, houseplants, and so so much more. Check it out even if you read it last year because I added a few more tips, and we can always use a refresher.

I mentioned the Buy Nothing Project in that post but I want to give it a big shout out and profess my love for this group. I mean LOVE. I’m in this group’s page literally every day and I’ve decluttered a bunch of hard-to-get rid of items (read my trash - I’ll explain later), plus I’ve saved oodles of money in the group, too. What is it, you ask? Well, I’ll tell ya.

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Taking a Really Close Look at Our Energy Usage

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Taking a Really Close Look at Our Energy Usage

Energy consumption has been on my mind lately as we’ve been gearing up to add solar panels to our roof and as we continue to think about our footprint on this lil’ world of ours. We hear lots about how we should use LED bulbs instead of incandescent and we should get energy star appliances instead of energy guzzlers - both of which I firmly believe and included in my list of ways to make green energy improvements at home. But, I wanted to know exactly how much energy each of my lights, appliances, tools, and electronics around the house were actually consuming. Because I’m type-A like that.

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