HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?

Up until a few months ago, I had always been the fresh cut flowers type of girl. They were cut, and I knew they'd eventually die. They didn't take much maintaining, and prettied up a space quite nicely. Stephen was the one who planted, and tended to our past gardens. I always did the harvesting though! All that to say that I never really hopped onto the succulent/cactus bandwagon...until a few months ago. My mom gave me a cacti garden for my birthday, but it didn't even start there. On a whim I bought a giant succulent from Lowe's, brought it home and was surprised how happy it made me! Since then, I may or may not have purchased 12 more. (not including the one I made for Angela, because when you love something, you've gotta share it right?) And you know what, I'm not even ashamed! I'm addicted. I am also so surprised at how just a few indoor plants can change the whole feel of a space. I've never considered my taste minimalist, but with the addition of a few plants, our whole house feels much more calm and simplistic. It's amazing. 

I've found that I like the cactus side of "gardening" more than the succulents. Out of the 12 that I purchased, 3 bit the dust a couple of weeks after. The cactus my mom gave me for my birthday in March however, has been watered once and is still thriving! I've found that keeping succulents alive is a little more fickle than a cactus. I've been enjoying learning what works and what doesn't though. If you have any tips, please share! And here are a few favorite blogs that do an amazing job of incorporating succulents into their homes: one, two, three.

HOME SNAPSHOTS

I feel like I'm in a constant state of dissatisfaction and longing to change things up when it comes to our home. I cannot tell you how many times within the past few months Stephen and I have looked into buying houses, only to realize what we are looking for in a home doesn't come with our ideal price tag! I've commented on how "when we move, I will paint everything white" and "if we had an unlimited amount of money, I'd burn all of this stuff (ahem, crap) and start fresh" also, "if I had unlimited resources then this place would look how I really envision it." It's okay to want to better ourselves, but for me, this constant hating of where we live and ragging on all of our random furniture has got me in a jealous funk, and I don't like it! I took some pictures of random rooms in our house, and seeing them through another eye has given me perspective. I should be thankful that we have a house at all. That I could afford that silly 30 dollar pillow from Target that I just had to have. That we have so much wonderful stuff that I can even make trips to Salvation Army to drop off some for someone else. To put it this way, I am blessed. 

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 

We've decided that we are going to give Dakota a new big girl room for her birthday! Well, that was the plan anyway when I made this little board two months ago! Within the last few weeks, Dakota has learned to get in and out of her crib, open her door whenever she pleases, and get out way after mom and dad are fast asleep and roam the house silently. No joke, this past Saturday we found her in the living room passed out on the floor with a flashlight in her hand. I guess even Dora the Explorer needs a few hours of sleep! ;) As you can imagine, we've made the switch from crib to big girl bed faster than I expected.

Anyway, her room was is u.l.t.r.a baby girly. Pinks, browns, and creams everywhere. Great for a baby, not so appealing for a toddler/big girl. We are the family that bought the matching furniture. I was young, what can I say! I'm looking forward to repainting what furniture she does have, and on the hunt for some new special pieces. I want it to be bright, happy and fun. Something that she can grow in for years to come. Also, I am 100 percent sure there will be a chalkboard wall in there somewhere. And I will find and paint metal lockers if it's the death of me! I bought a few blueprint copies over the weekend and it already feels like a different space! I can't wait to finish it all. ps, You can see her standing on her new bed, in all her proudness in the instagram pictures on my sidebar! 

OUR BEDROOM: GATHERING INSPIRATION

{headboard, dreamy landscape, light bulbs, fawn print, room 1, room 2, duvet, sheets}

I mentioned it last week that we are planning to redo/revamp a few rooms in our home. The number one on  my list is our bedroom. Let me preface by saying, we live in a rental space that is under 800 square feet. We've lived in this home for pretty much all of our adult lives so far...a whopping 3 years. Stephen and I both had very weird home-y type furniture in our own rooms before we moved out. I bought a yellow/mustard vintage sofa when I was 14 because I loved it so much. I kept it in my room up until I moved out. Stephen had an entire entertainment center. Like middle console for TV etc, and two very tall towers that stood next to either side to house his rather large record collection. So when we moved in together, being 18 and 21,  we pretty much had furniture and no reason (ahem money) to buy new things. 

This has taken a toll on almost everything in our home. We've accumulated things here and there we needed, but for the most part, all of our furniture is either hand-me-downed, gifted, or something we already had. Nothing goes together completely the way I want it to, but right now we make it work. Somehow in the spirit of make things work our room turned into to a giant collection of blue, orange, and whatever else we could find. There isn't anything particularly wrong with it, and I am amazed by the amount of things that go with this scheme we have in our home, it's just not what I want. 

I've been gathering ideas and inspiration for this room for months now, but putting together a visual really helps! I'm more excited than ever to get started on this project. I can't wait to share before and after photos of it all. First and foremost, we must get to an ikea! Can you believe I've never been? 

Craft *Room* Tour: behind the scenes!

I say *room* because I really shouldn't be in here! We have a two bedroom apartment, a lot of crafting supplies, and not a lot of room to store them. The shape of our living room to kitchen makes a big L with the dining room being a galley between the two. We don't have the luxury of having a dining room table (apparently I'm pretty picky, even though it was Bean who passed up the perfect yellow Formica table and chairs set!) and our dining room sat empty for months. Cue me, having the genius idea to make this my craft space! I honestly can't remember what we had in here before, other than our tiny (adorable!) china cabinet, and at Christmas, our Christmas tree. This little room has taken on quiet a few faces though, because it was also the pass-through with all of the food for Dakota's first birthday. I think it's so fun to walk through here to the kitchen, and see all the colors and cute fabrics, projects in the works and "organized chaos." This obviously isn't my dream space, but it's perfect for my + our needs right now. It works + serves it's purpose and, I have almost enough space (minus the huge 3 drawer rubbermaid in Dakota's closet!) I also like that during the day if I need to be in here, she can be playing/watching Yo Gabba Gabba in the living room and I can see her, but still have a gate up if she can't be in here. For now, I'll just be dreaming up the perfect, detached, studio with actual storage space to call my own.

As you can see, it's still a work in progress! If I had my way, I'd cover the walls with pretty art and pages torn from books and magazines but, I don't think Bean would like that very much! What would your dream craft space look like, or do you already have your dream craft space? xo, Meghan