Good Morning friends, I have some exciting news to share with you, I've teamed up with The Home Depot as a DIY Influencer to host upcoming in store free DIY Workshops! I'm so excited! As you know The Home Depot is the go to spot for tools, supplies, and lawn and garden products to help you transform your yard from ho-hum into the perfect space to enjoy for Spring. My first project, is the perfect kick-off to Spring! More details below. 

Teaming up the The Home Depot is the perfect opportunity to share with all of you fun DIY building projects throughout the year, these projects help build confidence, in using a variety of tools and show you how to build a project from start to finish. 

My first DIY Workshop with The Home Depot is building this fun Vertical Planter Box. The vertical planter, is designed by Ben Uyeda of Home Made Modern. In store, I'll share step by step instructions on how to measure, cut and build the planter boxes. These fun colorful planter boxes add so much fun color to a backyard fence or patio. 

The Home Depot DIY Workshops are typically held on Saturdays and Sundays throughout the month are all about skill-building, from teaching how to tile, outdoor projects and fun seasonal projects, associates are on hand to answer questions you may have. Please Click Here to Register for the FREE DIY Workshop: Vertical Planter

Join Me! Saturday April 11, 2015 at 10:00 - 11:30am 

Daly City Store #1092
303 E. Lake Merced, Daly City, California  94015

Again please register below to join me for FREE The Home Depot DIY Workshop, I hope to see all my local San Francisco Bay area friends there!

Not local to the SF Bay Area? Please click here and register for a DIY Workshop near you! Also follow along on my Instagram / Twitter and Facebook on April 11, 2015 and use the following hashtag #DIYWorkshop to share and see what I'm up to. 

Sponsored Post: I acknowledge that The Home Depot is partnering with me to participate in this Workshops Program. As a part of the Program, I am receiving compensation in the form of products and services, for the purpose of promoting TheHome Depot. All expressed opinions and experiences are my own words. This post complies with the Word Of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) Ethics Code and applicable Federal Trade Commission guidelines. 

Our Bathroom Vanity Change-up

Morning friends, take a look around. Notice any changes? I recently had my blog redesigned just in time for my birthday later this week, I love how it turned out. My blog feels, clean, grownup and feminine and chic! I'm in the process of updating my home tour and popular posts and more, change is good. A few weeks back, I mentioned a few bathroom changes, I wanted to tackle in our master bathroom. I love the main design elements of our master bathroom: white subway tile, classic hex tiles and open bathroom vanity shelving. However, I was having the hardest time finding a bathroom mirror, the two styles I loved where at the very tippy top of our budget. 

As luck would have it, I came across one of the mirror styles I love at Home Goods a mirror framed mirror over the weekend, brought home and hung up the mirror later that night. Another recent update to our bathroom, is baskets! I've been looking for ages for baskets to sit in the lower portion of our bathroom vanity, I finally found the perfect pair at West Elm. The basket measurement and style where exactly what I was looking for. Below is my master bathroom. 

With these two happy additions, its time to make more changes. Taking our master bathroom from nice to wow: New hardware, Center Light fixture above Sink, Repaint Vanity, New Roman Shade and Towel hooks.  

During the re-building of our house, we where under a tight budget and one of the vanities I originally wanted for our bathroom was way out of our budget. When I came across this bathroom vanity within our budget, it was it checked off my list of wants: open shelving, furniture-like vanity etc. But about the bathroom vanity felt off, even after I painted the bathroom vanity. The cabinet drawer styles, were bugging me, see when it comes to cabinet door styles I'm not a flat front cabinet girl. I like flat front cabinets in some cases, but I just love shaker style cabinets.

I've decided to transform the basic cabinet doors into shaker cabinets, by adding trim around the door. I'll also use wood filler on the cabinet drawer to transform the faux drawers into two look drawers, and go from five drawer pulls to four pulls. 

Look at these pretty vanities below, the shaker cabinet drawers below make happy! 

via Crate & Barrel 

via Pinterest

Last night I started adding the trim to the bathroom cabinets and I'm already so happy with my decision to change up our bathroom cabinet style. Be on the lookout for a how to along with paint colors I'm thinking of painting the bathroom vanity.....I'm back to the drawing board with paint colors. 

London is Calling

A couple of years ago, my best friend moved to England for love, I know totally a modern love story. I miss her so much our daily chats, insane amount of texts back and forth. I could go on and on, luckily for me my sweet friend moved to England, which is a country I adore and I've always dreamed someday I'd visit. I'm finally visiting my friend this year in early September to be exact and I can't wait! This will be my first time traveling International, which meant earlier this year I applied for my passport and when it came in the mail, I screamed with joy no lie. 

Something about a passport in your hands makes traveling aboard so much more real. I'm sure your wondering if my husband or kids will be joining me on the trip and the answer is no, this time time I'll be traveling alone which my makes a little jittery to be honest. A long boring plane ride across the pond sounds dreadful! But I'm excited for the adventure ahead. 

Right now, I'm looking into flying into Dublin, since the airline I'm considering has layovers there it seemed to make perfect sense to stay one night in Dublin explore, then take the Ferry to England and from there a train ride into London. My girlfriend is planning on flying into Dublin to meet me. I love the idea her and I exploring Dublin for a bit catching up, since we're both talkers its so needed!!

While in England, my girlfriend and her husband want to show me the sights, so she's asking for my to compile a list of places I want to visit and things I want to do. My friend lives just outside London in the English countryside so visiting London is a quick train ride in and we plan to visit the sites while there, I'm looking forward to eating some of the best Indian food in the world. I'm also hoping to visit Bath or the White Cliffs of Dover and many more places. 

In addition we're planning a quick 1-2 day trip to Paris, yes and in Paris France! I'll be visiting her for about 12-14 days and figured a quick getaway to Paris is a must. Because as they say Paris is always a good idea. I've also be told by friends who've visited Paris, its life changing. I'm so excited to explore the city of lights, eat a french baguette and tour the city on a bike.  

I'd love to hear from all of you about, when is the best time to purchase plane tickets? Bu far my biggest expense is will be plane tickets, so please share all your tips and favorite site for checking out prices.

What's your favorite airline to fly to the UK or Europe? Any international traveling tips? Places I should visit in England and Paris? Places to visit in Dublin? Sites in Dublin, England and Paris to skip? 

I welcome any and all suggestions!  

Creative Workspace in Bedrooms

I've been wanting a creative work space in my home for a while. Currently when I'm working on a project / blogging or sewing my dining room turns into my workroom leaving our home feeling cluttered. When your a small home dweller, space is at a premium. In our petite 1950s rancher, there's no extra room in our house for me to have a dedicated office, which doesn't bother me at all since during the weekday grind I'm in my office 24/7. 

However, there is a nook in our bedroom that was formally our old closet before we re-built our home. I believe this space would work perfectly for my needs. I've been hesitant to claim the area as my own, because I pictured this area as a reading spot in our bedroom. It just makes so much more sense to create a functional zone in our bedroom where I can draw / paint / sew / blog and craft a little, leaving our dining room free of my creative clutter. I shared this picture on Instagram of this nook a few weeks back and since then, I've been working on a design plan to bring my needs and vision for this area to life. Here's the space. 

My plan is to use either an existing console table in the space or buy the West Elm Parsons console table, I also love the desk version but the depth console tables may work better in this space. Since I'm a laptop girl a console table should suit my needs just fine. I want this area of my bedroom to feel cohesive to the rest of the room and not like a plopped a desk in my bedroom, basically I want the look to feel intentional. I love my Safavieh benches and they're staying! I plan to have them reside under my console table and down the line if needed, I'll bring in a actual chair. I love large scale artwork and would love a large abstract piece residing above my desk. My plan is to also incorporate a pin board into the are along with a few Etsy prints, I've been admiring. I also have this pretty lamp from West Elm, I bought ages ago from a local consignment store that should work perfect on top of my console table. 

I've been pinning pretty creative work spaces like crazy and here's a few I adore. Notice how the desk / console tables all feel purposeful and pretty in these bedrooms / living rooms.

image via Pinterest

 Designed By Carla Aston via Pinterest

image via Pinterest

image via Pinterest

Now that the key elements of my creative work space have been decided on, I need to confirm the existing console table I have is a good option or take the plunge and buy the West Elm console table. As progress starts taking shape in his former closet turned nook in our bedroom, I'll be sharing sneak peeks on Instagram and my blog. 

In your home have you carved out a little creative space? Have a full room dedicated to yourself or like my current situation is your dining room currently your creative work zone?

Bedding Refresh with Whim

My favorite time of the year to do a bedding refresh is in Spring. Spring always feels like a re-fresh for the soul, its the time of the year your home gets a nice deep cleaning, pillows get refreshed and windows get opened first thing in the morning letting crisp cool air fill your home. 

I love anything Martha, as in Martha Stewart and was thrilled (huge understatement) 
to team up with Martha Stewart Living and complete a Spring bedding makeover with the new bedding line Martha Stewart Whim, now available at Macy's in store March and online. I've been a long time Martha fan, I love that she effortlessly combines chic, timeless in all things she touches. My oldest sons bedding has been in need of a fresh look for Spring season, the plan is to layer in key pieces of bedding essentials from Whim with a few of his existing bedding. 

For his new bedding we choose the Martha Stewart Whim Different Strokes Quilt, along with the Different Strokes Sham paired with Stripe Sheets. To say I love how his bedding refresh turned out is an understatement. His bed now looks so grownup, comfortable, while still looking like a teen. I'm a huge believer in making sure kids rooms feels like the kid that actually dwells in the room. I'm happy to say this feels like my son. 

Quilt Different Strokes / Sham Different Strokes / Stripe Sheets Set

 I also love the pretty quilted stitching detail on the quilt and how each strip almost feels brushed on and relaxed verses pretty lines. 

Just had to share this picture of Martha Stewart from her modeling days in NYC, love that her iconic image is on the her new bedding line. In addition to these cute stripe sheets from Martha Stewart Whim, there are several more sheet collections that your going to love too, from cute dots, floral prints and cute flamingos! To see more of Martha's new collection, please click here. 

My son is super happy with how his Spring refresh turned out, he said his bed feels perfectly comfortable and perfect for hours of playing on his WII U, and that makes me happy! Next up on our agenda for his room is hanging up more artwork, shelves for storage and possibly a desk revamp / change up. Stay tuned.  

This post is Sponsored by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia 

#Swap It Like Its Hot: Flea Market Swap

Morning friends! I teamed up with a slew of creative bloggers swapping flea markets finds and then making them over. Here's the deets, shop [items from a flea market, thrift store etc] for a fun item for another blogger to makeover, spending between $10-15 bucks and then send them the item and they get creative making it over. My Swap buddy was Christy from Our Southern Home. Christy sent me several gold frames and wood leaf tray. 

I recently saw some cute frames on Pinterest turned into pin cushions and love d the idea of turning one of the little frames Christy sent me into a pin cushion. I thought it would make the perfect cute addition to my sewing box.

I looked though my fabric stash and decided to use this  green floral fabric I bought a while ago. I stuffed the inside with batting and wrapped the fabric in cardboard and then hot glued the bottom down.

The pin cushion turned out so cute and will come in handy during my sewing projects

I have a few ideas for the other items, that I received I plan on using the other frames in a gallery wall. I'm thrilled with how my Swap It Likes Its Hot project turned out. My swap partner was Shavonda from SG Style, make sure you pop over to her blog and see what I sent her plus, see what she did! I can't wait to head over there too!   


Here's the list of other bloggers participating in Swap It Like it Hot today

Town and Country Living, Thoughts From Alice, Our Southern Home, SG Style, Two Thirty Five Designs