My dream living room

The past 6 weeks of motherhood have flown by, and not only has our sweet baby girl changed my daily routine (or lack thereof!), she's also inadvertently caused me to rearrange my living room. Visiting friends have joked about how our Snug-a-Monkey baby swing has become part of the permanent living room furniture arrangement.

Arhaus recently contacted me to imagine my dream living room. They have a location in  North Carolina and I enjoyed browsing through their living room options. The key words that come to mind for my style are: modern, neutral, and classic, with a touch of gold.  

Standing lamp // Side table //  Futon // Ottoman //Fiddle Leaf Plant // Armchair // TV stand // Rug

My current living room has a similar ottoman that I reupholstered and added tufting to (tutorial coming soon!), a similar futon, and the exact rug from RugsUSA. In real life my futon has many more than 3 pillows...if you ask my husband he will tell you that I have a real pillow problem!  

Armchair: I've been on the hunt for an armchair since we moved into this townhouse a few years ago. I love the clean lines of this chair, and the wood easel back adds such great character! It doesn't hurt that this chair was made by North Carolinians. The fabric looks easy to clean which is a major plus now that we have a little one in the house.

Accent pieces: With such neutral colored furniture, the side table and standing lamp add a little bit of drama with their bronze and gold accents. I especially love how the side table creates visual interest with its round shape and geometric sides. 

Greenery: I'm working on developing a green thumb, such as the succulent above that I've been propagating. In the meantime this artificial fiddle leaf fig plant adds a bit of color and breathes oxygen into the living area without requiring any watering or maintenance.

TV stand: Who knew that Walmart has affordable furniture finds like this TV stand? I liked the modern legs and the functionality of the cabinets and shelves for storing our favorite board games and DVDs, providing easy access when we had guests over to play Settlers of Catan.

This project helped me realize that I prefer classic furniture pieces that provide a neutral palette backdrop for the DIY wall decor that I currently have, like the bicycle pallet sign that I made for our mantel or the framed calligraphy hanging on the wall. When I get the itch to redecorate, it will be easy to switch up the throw pillows or the wall art.

Check out Arhaus' other dream living room inspirations on Instagram and Pinterest!

Quilled lion nursery decor

My friends recently adopted a sweet boy from India and named him Aslan after the character in Chronicles of Narnia, one of my favorite book and movie series that I grew up reading and watching. As they patiently went through the long process of paperwork and logistics, I had some time to make a quilled lion for his nursery art. It took me awhile to find a lion that didn't look too fierce! I didn't want his wall art to give him nightmares overnight.


Click below for more of the step-by-step photos!

Marble breakfast tray tutorial

I've always loved the look of marble and recently discovered that there is such a thing as marble contact paper. Who knew?! You can get the look of polished marble for an affordable price of $7, and it's not as heavy as a real marble slab. I'm not saying I would stick this paper all over my kitchen or bathroom counters but for smaller decor items like this breakfast tray, this contact paper was perfect.

Read on for the tutorial!