Tanya

Our new home office + how to faux wallpaper your walls

September 10, 2018 by Tanya 10 Comments

Hello gorgeous, I have missed you!

We have spent every waking moment (when not at work) working around our new place painting and getting fix-its done before the rainy weather arrives.

I’m saving a few things for winter that are inside that desperately need a redo, like our kitchen that is getting a much-needed pantry.

Our circa 1978 main bathroom Farrah Fawcett may have feathered and sprayed her hair in.

And navy blue Corian kitchen counters that will either become butcher block or brushed concrete.

These are huge decisions and some of them are taking me a while to decide on.

So I keep pinning and sketching, and probably over-thinking (tell me I am not alone in this) and I have come to the point that I wonder if just going with my gut on each will be the winner.

I’m not usually one to err on the safe side when it comes to my home, I like to be a bit adventurous and try something new.

But since a bathroom remodel and kitchen counters are pretty big commitments I am ok with giving myself the time to figure out what I really want.

One decision that was SUPER easy to make was to try a beautiful new wall stencil for a quick spruce-up in our home office just off the kitchen.

I was provided some stencils to try out and share my experience with by Stencil Revolution and I couldn’t be happier with the results.

We are seeing wallpaper everywhere right now, and while I love the idea of creating an accent wall with wallpaper, the cost and difficulty of removal has always turned me off.

We had this desk at our last house, added a “new” $5 goodwill wood chair, and lots of plants with a few things we already had. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Decorating, DIY, How To Decorate

Modern Bohemian Master Bedroom progress

August 15, 2018 by Tanya 5 Comments

Have you found yourself smitten with a color immediately and you can think of nothing else than it being on your wall?

While we are barely making a dent on the to do list at our new place, I had to eek out some time to make the master bedroom feel relaxing.

I wasn’t going to do what I did last time, and that is decorate and re-decorate every room five times over and leave the master bedroom lackluster for so long.

Not this time.

This time, I saw the color. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Boho Style, Decorating, DIY

Watermelon Gorgonzola Salad

August 5, 2018 by Tanya 2 Comments

Watermelon is undeniably a summer staple.

I love to serve a bowl of diced watermelon with our weekend breakfasts that are less hurried and roll more into brunch.

Or with juicy beef ribs and a big green salad.

Or try something new like adding cheese and basil.

I have seen different variations on this, some with bacon, some without.

Some have grapes or dried pieces of fruit too.

I thought I would keep it as simple as possible and incorporate a couple sweet things, something a little tangy like the Gorgonzola. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Recipes, Salads, Summer

The perfect Paloma

July 31, 2018 by Tanya 2 Comments

We have had such a warm summer here in the Pacific North West this year.

Many days in the upper 90’s and the evenings don’t seem to cool down fast enough.

But, it’s the kind of weather that the big pots of petunia’s flourish in, and tomatoes take over, so we love it.

The perfect kind of weather for a perfectly refreshing drink.

I have to admit, until we had a get together recently and I was looking for a few new recipes to try, I had not heard of a Paloma.

I am typically not a big mixed drink person typically because they are too sweet and syrup-ey, and I feel like I just consumed a dessert.

Experimenting with a few different variations, I came up with a good balance of tequila, lime juice and ruby red grapefruit juice (I like ruby red as it does not have the tartness that regular grapefruit juice has.)

We have been painting the deck and covered patio on our new house all weekend, and the reward after a long day in the heat is blessed shade with your feet up and a hard days work behind you.

And, sometimes….a perfect Paloma. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Entertaining, Recipes, Summer

We bought a house + our living room reveal!

July 21, 2018 by Tanya 4 Comments

For the past ten years I have rented the home we lived in.

It was a lovely home with lots of memories, but we were ready to begin a new chapter.

So we looked a lot online first, and wanting to keep the kids in the same school limited our area.

The real estate market right now is pretty fierce here in the Pacific North West, and more than once we found something, scheduled a time to look at it, and it went pending before we could see it.

We realized that we would need to know exactly what we wanted and be ready to submit an offer quickly when we found “the one.”

Only actually walking thru two homes, the second we immediately knew was what we were looking for.

We found a mid-century modern home built in 1978 on 1/3 of an acre. A huge piece of land in our area, with all the space we need and lots of room to grow and add on if we want to someday. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Boho Style, Decorating, DIY

Boho vibe summer front porch

June 4, 2018 by Tanya 12 Comments

Hi friends!

I am super excited to share my recently refreshed outdoor space for our front porch. It’s kind of a wonky narrow area so you cant really lose your mind with big pieces.

But before I get into that, I want to thank Katrin from Kreativ K for putting together this fun Outdoor Space hop. If you are not following Katrin and her gorgeous boho-scandi blog, make sure you start, she so creative!

While there are some exciting changes happening behind the scenes while we house-hunt, I still have to have my porch ready for summer. Am I ready for summer? Not so much hah, but at least my porch is rocking a global vibe full of plants and pretty colors.

I find myself flip flopping every few years between a bolder, brighter color palate and a soft, light, neutral color palate.

Lately, everything mid century modern and indie/boho has been making me swoon, so I guess it’s good that I like a super eclectic home and I am not tied to one theme. I am fairly certain this began on an extremely tight budget many years ago, and since I still love to thrift, I have kept going and never questioned what I like.

So, onto the front porch space. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Boho Style, DIY, Thrifty Living

DIY Geometric Succulent Wreath and the worst quilt ever

May 29, 2018 by Tanya 20 Comments

Quilting has absolutely nothing to do with this project.

You like wreaths, I like wreaths, and I bet we both really like an easy DIY wreath that is cool, affordable and quick to make.

I bring the topics of quilts up because I love them, and I am absolutely the worst quilter that ever quilted.

I realized this after carefully shopping for just the right fabrics, planning and choosing the week of a snow storm in the early 90’s to try my hand an quilting.

AND MAKE A QUEEN SIZED QUILT.

Yep.

Queen sized, lots of snow, and the saddest attempt at quilting ever. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Boho Style, DIY, Wreaths

How to paint a refrigerator

May 11, 2018 by Tanya 10 Comments

Oh friend, I cannot tell you how fun this before and after were.

I always have a running list of things I want when thrifting and junking.

Do you keep a similar list?

Right now mine looks like this (probably pared down due to recent deep cleaning and getting rid of stuff we don’t need)

Good quality white curtains
2 side chairs that need minimum work
Entry way table
Anything that looks remotely close to Ironstone
Pedestal base for new dining room table

There are little things too but those seem to be the items top of mind for upcoming projects.

And, this weekend I was able to take one off the “list” a refrigerator for my office at work! [Read more…]

Filed Under: DIY, How To Save Money, Spray Paint 101

When less is more: De-clutter with the 80/20 method

May 6, 2018 by Tanya 4 Comments

I am unsure of how so much stuff accumulates so quickly.

We have cleaned closets, donated, and done what we thought was a house purge before.

But this time is different…

This time is for a very special reason. [Read more…]

Filed Under: DIY, how to organize, Thoughts, Thrifty Living

Keto Arugula + Pepperoni Salad

April 23, 2018 by Tanya 3 Comments

Sometimes you hear salad and the last thing that comes to mind is a meal.

Or that it will be filling.

Well, when you put the right things in it, you can’t finish it!

I have been watching my carbs and following the Keto-plan for about 3 1/2 weeks now. I am not hungry, and I am finding myself excited about meal planning and cooking again.

While I am staying away from processed foods, but eating more vegetables and fats, and moderate protein, I had to add pepperoni to this salad.

Blame it on the mozzarella, but those two just go together right? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Keto, Low Carb Recipes