Spring/Summer Wreath

Ok so I am sure you all know I used to live in Virginia (I only talk about it like every 5 seconds because that place is amazing) but the place I lived in was called Old Town and yeah. Pretty much the cutest neighborhood in the entire world hands down. There is so much history over there it is ridiculous, I mean George Washington pretty much created the town when he was a teenager, but I just remember taking walks down the street from my house and noticing plaques on some houses that would say, "House of Robert E. Lee" and all these old historical figures. I was always learning something new and totally awesome. But one of the things that I think makes Old Town so unique amongst their many unique things are the door wreaths. Holy cow, those people over there take a lot of pride in their front doors! And they have this awesome obsession with fruit, which I totally love, and they like to stuff as much fruit as they possibly can in the windows above their front doors. It is actually quite pretty! So today's post is about wreaths. And by the way, there will be a holiday wreath post as Christmas nears and I will have even more awesome pictures to show for that so keep an eye out for that one!

Anyway, I just love wreaths a lot, and I like making one for every season! But today I am sharing an awesome spring/summer wreath that my cute sister-in-law has on her front door because it is way better than mine haha.

I love this wreath because of the hose! It is such a cute idea for the spring or summer! And the flowers and bow are the perfect touch. A lemon or two would also work wonderfully to match the hose as well. So props to my sis for her cute wreath on her cute awesome house!

Enjoy these little extra photos of the doors of Old Town:)

Ruler Growth Chart

I remember every time I would ask my mom to mark my height. It was in the same spot every time. We had a wall completely dedicated to my sibling's and my hight and I just remember being so excited to see when I was finally going to pass up my big brother so I could be the one in charge for once haha....that never happened. But those little height records on that wall will always bring back great memories. It will always be in that house. So I wanted to do the same with my daughter, but one that I could bring with me to any house we live in so I liked the idea of the ruler growth chart! And I made my own:) 

All you need is a 1x6' wood plank from any hardware store, stain, number stencils and a black paint marker from any craft store. And a ruler would also help to get the measurements right:)

So before anything, you will want to sand the wood to make it smooth. Then stain it (I used the Minwax Golden Oak stain). Then use a pencil to mark the measurements in case you mess up. I made the inch marks and foot marks, and every 3rd inch I would make a little bigger, and every foot would be the biggest mark. And that is pretty much it! You could put a finish on it if you want as well!

So here it is!

High-waisted Flared Shorts

I just got these awesome things from Pacsun and I am totally obsessed. It is like my new favorite thing to wear. I would wear them every day if that were socially acceptable because they are so cute AND the most comfortable shorts ever. It almost feels like you're not wearing any shorts at all haha. So if you want to be cool this summer (cool as in chill, not cool as in awesome, even though you will be awesome wearing these) get some of these high-waisted flared shorts here: http://www.pacsun.com/womens/shorts/soft-shorts/

Working With Small Spaces: Office

Being in the Military, Jay and I got pretty dang good at fitting into teeny tiny places! I mean, our first house in Washington D.C. was 480 sq ft! And that is pretty much as big of a place as you will find over there in D.C., unless you are a billionaire. Then maybe you could afford 500 sq ft. But thats a maybe. Anyway, we moved furniture around like at LEAST every weekend, painted walls to make it look bigger, and downsized on pretty much everything to make the tiny space work. Then we moved to California and thankfully the houses there are a bit more livable, so we acquired more things while being there. Then we moved back to Utah into a basement apartment and ran into the same problem. SO I wanted to share with you guys a few projects we have done while living in these places to make things work in small spaces in case any of you are dealing with the same situation!

Oh and on a side note... I love Better Homes and Gardens so much, I am pretty much obsessed, but whenever they have an article on how to decorate small spaces, or storage solutions for small spaces, it is a joke. They have no idea what small spaces really means. They will never know until they see the houses I have lived in haha. Seriously...what is considered small to them would be like a mansion to me. I would never be able to use their ideas from their small spaces articles because none of that crap would fit in my house! But besides that, Better Homes and Gardens is seriously like my biggest home inspiration of all time. If you want awesome ideas for your home, subscribe to their magazine!

So here is our office. We had a little storage room in our basement apartment that we weren't using so we decided to make it our office. And we actually kinda didn't mind the whole unfinished wood, industrial look! So for hardly any money and little time (literally only like an hour) we put it together to fit that look.

 Using chalkboard spray paint, we painted an area of the wall so we could write notes and reminders. We also added cork board so we could pin reminders, photos, and pretty much anything!

 To cover up a lot of really ugly wall without having to do like any work whatsoever and without having to spend money on paint, I tore out some pages from my magazines that I find inspirational and pinned them in those areas. Super easy and quick.

I did the same thing but with pictures that I had already printed out.

And for the big wall, I just hung some posters I love. I usually NEVER use posters, EVER because they can so easily look tacky, but I didn't want to spend money on paint and this was all I had. So when I display things like this, I like them to have meaning to me so I am not just looking at a random picture. I like to be reminded to go out and explore, find hobbies, take adventures, or just reminded myself of a good memory. I chose these because it reminds me of my surfing days when I lived in California. Unfortunately it was not long enough, but they were some of the greatest memories.

Working With Small Spaces

More small space ideas.

 This is our house in Old Town Alexandria, VA. Oh and this was before my awesome camera, so sorry the pictures are so crappy!

What we did was buy a wardrobe for anything we could fit in there! Clothes, shoes, office supplies, toiletries, kitchen stuff, etc. And that took up the whole wall. Wardrobes are perfect for storage of all kinds and they work for any room. This one is from Ikea.

 A dinning table behind the couch. This was my favorite way of having the living room, it took up more space, but I think it flowed together better.

Saving up for a large bookshelf was another great investment for this house because there are so many things you can fit into all the cubbies, plus we got baskets for the entire bottom row so you can store the things you don't want to be seen in those. Yes that is Charlee on the couch, not a doll haha.

 A shelf behind the couch is a great idea if there are no studs in the walls to hang shelves, plus you can fit a ton of storage behind the couch, under the shelf! We were able to fit some camping gear, and kitchen appliances under that thing!

 And you can decorate it how you want on top:)

This was our house in California. It was bigger (thank goodness) but something I love to have to keep space on the floor is to have a ladder in the living room. We hung blankets on it to have handy instead of having the blankets take up closet space, or floor space. During the holidays you can also hang christmas decor on there as well! So a ladder is on of my must haves!