West Elm Wednesday: Sofas!

Since I have been working at my new job doing visual merchandising for West Elm, I decided to start a new series on the blog, West Elm Wednesdays!  I will share 5 of my favorite West Elm things from one category (furniture, bedding, kitchen, really anything!) for that week that I am obsessed with.

My New Job: Visual Merchandiser for West Elm!

Well I have some exciting news, I got a new job doing visual merchandising for West Elm, Bay Street!  I feel so honored to be a part of such an amazing team of talented people.  I have always looked at West Elm as one of those creative and visually stimulating stores you go to to get inspiration for ways to decorate your own home and now that I am getting to be a part of it really is surreal.

Pippa & Co, Basically the Most Amazing Party Store Ever

I honestly don't even know where to start with this.  I started following Pippa & Co on Instagram like a year ago at least.  Their bright colors, fun party accessories and adorable ballon displays had me instantly hooked.  Little did I know, the brick and mortar store was not only in  Alameda, but on the street that I live on! Jackpot!

How to Display Old Family Heirlooms in Your Home

Some of the things I love the most in our house are things that have been passed down to B and I from our families.  I love to display them and use them to decorate in our home.  I absolutely LOVE that they are not just something we bought at Homegoods (which there is nothing wrong with Homegoods, I'm a huge fan) and that they have a story behind them.

DIY Fabric Fringe Garland

So I am first to admit that I save waaaaay to many fabric scraps and tell myself I will find something to do with them, eventually!  Well, I finally figured out what to do with them!  I made this Fabric Fringe Garland to hang above our bed!  We don't have a headboard (I have these crazy dreams of designing and making our own upholstered one that have not become reality yet) and in our old place I had a giant gallery wall of pictures in the place of a headboard.  But since we moved to the Bay Area, it is not recommended to have anything that could fall on you above your bed since it is serious earthquake territory.  So here you have it, our Fabric Fringe Garland, aka our new "headboard"!

Our New Gallery Wall

Who needs a headboard when you have a pile of pillows and a large gallery wall?!  We recently redid the gallery wall above our bed, and by "redid" I mean expanded and added on to it! I have a soft spot for black and white pictures so I decided to keep it all black and white and mixed pictures with graphics.

DIY TV Entertainment Unit

We were getting sick of our old entertainment center and finally decided to make a new one!  It fits all of our things perfectly and it turned out exactly how we wanted!  It is crazy how some stain can really transform some cheap wood from Home Depot (granted there was a lot of sanding involved, but still pretty easy!)  

DIY Toy Animal Key Rack

I think that a key rack is one of the most important things to put in your house.  Maybe that is just because if I didn't have one, I would never have my keys and would send half my time looking for them!  When we moved into our condo, we wanted a fun key rack instead of the traditional one we had before.  We went to the dollar store and saw this big bin of plastic toy animals and we knew exactly what we wanted to do!  And out came our toy animal key rack!

DIY Bathroom Shelving (West Elm inspired for a fraction of the price!)

I first want to start this with an apology for having not so great photos/pictures taken at weird angles.  I have a really small bathroom so it was hard to get all the shelves into a picture!  Now, with that out of the way, I give to you DIY Bathroom (or really any room for that matter) Shelving!  I really liked how these West Elm shelves looked, but they were so expensive.  There was no way I was about to pay that much for something I could totally DIY for like a fraction of the cost.  I was originally wanting to do all white floating shelves, but was on a strict budget and out came these shelves.

Halloween Decorations we think are just Darling!

Well it's that time of year to get your scare on and start decorating your house for Halloween on October 31st!  I have to admit, I haven't ever really gotten into the halloween decorations that much, I just don't think they are has fun as some other holidays (hello, christmas?!).  But this year I have been seeing so many just DARLING decorations for halloween!  I couldn't help but share a few of my favorites with you guys! I mean how could you turn down a Halloween bunting banner or some burlap pumpkins?!

Just A Darling Life and Modani Furniture

Recently we were asked by Modani Furniture to reflect back on our first dorm room and our first apartment and about how don't we wish we had the design expertise we have now, then!  I will never regret the hot pink, black and white!! haha (ok, maybe just a little bit...)  They asked us to put together some of our favorite pieces from their store to see how we would style our apartment now that we have some life experiences under our belt.  Check out some of our favorite pieces and let us know which ones you would pick from Modani!

Boozy Birthday Brunch: Part 1

Since I had sooooo much fun styling, cooking for, and hosting a Boozy Birthday Brunch for my sister's 30th birthday, I decided it warranted 2 posts!  My first one (this one) is gonna have more of the decoration/decor pictures and part 2 will have more pictures of the food/meal planning to host your own brunch.  I was so excited to get the chance to host my sister's 30th birthday and if you know Lauren, you know that a Boozy Birthday Brunch was the best way to celebrate 30 whole years on this lovely planet of ours!  I couldn't have asked for a better backdrop to throw this (not so) little shin dig!  A beautifully decorated Washington D.C. townhouse with multiple exposed brick walls and an outdoor space? PURE PERFECTION!

DIY: Concrete Pillar Votive Candle Holders

So I have a bench on my front porch and I like to decorate it differently for the different seasons.  I have been struggling trying to decide what to do on it lately and then I saw some super cute pillar concrete candle holders.  I just HAD to have them but they were $15-$20 each and I wanted a bunch of them to have a little collection of them.  Well that definitely wasn't in the budget.  I figured it couldn't be that hard to make so I went on a mission to make a DIY out of them so I could make them in the sizes I wanted and with the color paint I wanted.  It  turned out it was super easy and super inexpensive to make them myself!  Here is my DIY instructions on how to make these oh-so-darling Concrete Pillar Votive Candle Holders! 

DIY: Cork Coasters

Coasters are something that everyone needs, and these DIY Cork Coasters are super cute, trendy, incredibly simple to make, and best of all, they're really cheap! You can tie them up with a ribbon and they make for the perfect last minute gift for the host.

diy. coffee filter peonies

These DIY Peonies are super easy but carry a big impact when you put them out in your house!  For only a few dollars you can whip up a bouquet of these coffee filter peonies for flowers that are always looking good and never die! 

a look into my house: kitchen shelving

When our Creative Director moved into her new condo she loved everything about it, except the fact that there was not very much cabinet space and virtually no pantry space at all.  After a long weekend, many hours spent at home depot, and some creative thinking, out came this DARLING industrial inspired kitchen shelving unit!