Monday, September 24, 2012

September BirchBox


I am Falling in Love all over again!
Birchbox style ;)
Every month I love this beauty subscription more & more.
I have found some amazing products in the past year from Birchbox.
If you don't already know what Birchbox is  I talk about what Birchbox is, how to sign up && the whole nitty gritty in this post HERE.


This months Birch Box was just as amazing as the rest.
I was currently wearing one of my new Birchbox finds when I took this so my new twist band hair tie isn't pictured.
I loved that they sent a fall "look book" that listed all the fall beauty essentials. 
It was a great way to show the new products and it made me conscious of what products I need to restock on ;)


This month I got a ton of great fall staples:
Twist Band - Lace up for Fall : I got the cute salmon colored lace band.
BVLGARI Mon Jasmine Perfume : This stuff smells amazing!
The past two times I have gotten a perfume sample of BVLGARI's perfumes I have used them rather than my normal perfume. I'll probably be purchasing either of them in the near future.
WEI to go Sleep Over Kit: This had me smitten after one use.
This cleanser is perfect for washing your face at night or in the mornings, & the perfect finish is so neat.
Its a  "lightweight formula part of a new breed of products called CC Creams, or Color Control Creams" Birchbox says it best. But it works so well! I usually wear it as is without any foundation over it. I will definitely be purchasing this too!
Vasanti Brighten Up! Enzymatic Face Reguvenator: I was actually more partial to this face cleanser than the WEI to go one, I loved the smell of this stuff & it worked really good!
The first week I used it I actually broke out {which if you know me, that is very rare, I'm one of those freak of nature people who rarely get a zit} but I noticed a HUGE change in my skin once it started clearing back up. It was glowing more & it just looked a lot more healthy. I highly recommend this stuff. It is the beez knees.


BirchBox and Color Club - Custom Collection:  Pictured Above to show a better picture of the color ^
As I'm typing this post I'm currently wearing this nail polish.
This color is such a gem! It is the perfect metallic shade with a hint of neutral color.
Another great fall staple.
Brush Guard Variety Pack: Each month BirchBox gives out what I like to call a "box prize".
One time it was headphones, another time it was tea, & this time it is brush guards.
Not much to say here haha.

Overall this was a great Fall Staple Beauty Box.
You got everything really, nail polish, perfume, foundation/concealer, && face cleaner.
I really have no complaints, and once again, Birch Box has gotten me hooked on some new products.

Have you tried Birch Box yet? If not Sign up Here.
Do you have any great beauty products that you are smitten over?! I would love to hear about it if you do!
If you have any questions feel free to email me!
I love hearing from you all!

Happy Fall Everyone!
xoxox
Jordynluise

P.S. Don't forget about the give away at 200 likes on my facebook page!!
You all are SO amazing && I can't thank you enough for spreading the word about my lovely blog.
I am already at  165 likes! Only 35 more to go.

If you haven't already head on over and click "like" on my facebook page HERE.






Sunday, September 23, 2012

Progress


I can finally say that I have made a lot of progress in our master bedroom.
Why is the bedroom always the last place to be done?
There are still a few things missing that I can't wait to share with you all eventually,
but I thought it would be fun to show what we've been up too lately.


If you don't remember, here is a glimpse of what our room looked like when we initially moved in,


Pretty brutal huh? This was pre paint, pre furniture shopping, and basically pre everything.
This was my "I'm sick of un-packing, this will just have to do" phase.

But it didn't stay that way for long.
we painted it light grey,
then my husband had a great idea to putty all the "nail holes" through out our house && went putty crazy in our room.
& of course it was the only room I didn't remember what color, what brand or remotely anything in terms of knowing the paint color.
So I decided hey, lets try something new!

Insert Valspar's Spring Line.
I tried to paint it a light blue,
but once it was on the walls I wanted to crawl back into my grey cave.
Our tan carpet + light blue, = beach.
I'm all for the beach, But I don't want to live in it.
So I went back to my most favorite paint color ever {thanks Brittney}
City Smoke Stack by Color Place.
&& I am so glad I took the plunge.
Our room gets a TON of natural light so painting it such a dark color wasn't a concern for us.


AFTER:


So I'm going to try & make this as easy as possible to visualize,
I don't have a wide angle lens yet so It was hard to take pictures of our room without it looking weird so bare with me here haha! I feel it would be easier to share by highlighting the different "spaces" in the room.


You might remember this dresser from when I first refinished it awhile back.
It was an oak wood, But Im not a big fan of the orange look of oak.
So I decided to paint it white.
But then I was in a stage of "white over kill" sooo I painted it a light shade of grey to mix things up.


I always think its fun to see how people "accessorize" or "decorate" their nightstands/side tables & dressers in spaces.
When it came to our dresser I needed storage for my jewelry but I also wanted to add a few picture frames. { I seriously have a picture frame hoarding habit..}


I have a ton of jewelry {what you are seeing isnt even close to how much I have}
So I wanted to keep them in an easy access place but not make it an eye sore.
So I took a dish that we got from our wedding that was actually in our bathroom collection from Target to display my bracelets & earings.


As for my earrings, I came across this awesome antique horderve tray.
I loved that it was white & silver & for $3 at the Salvation Army, this baby was mine.
I thought it would be neat to use it as a jewlery display, i'm able to hide my head bands ect, yet have a place to separate my dangly earrings from my post earrings.
I love this little gem!


Another one of my favorite finds is this old milk bottle from the good will.
I use it as a flower vase.
I actually talked about it in this post here, where I showed some of my finds from when I was back home in WA.


So this side of the room has our closet, dresser & seating area in it.
We lucked out with this house, we have a HUGE master bedroom.
& it looks out onto the bay.
 Its perfect for those crazy southern thunderstorms we get all the time here, 
we can watch it right from the comfort of our bed :)


I love this little nook we made,
it is perfect for curling up with a book & reading away the rainy days that we keep getting!
Notice the mirror? It's from the entry way storage unit that we just recently converted into a dog food station. {that post can be found here}


The color scheme for our bedroom is white, navy, charcoal grey, light grey, mint green & little hints/ accents of red from time to time.
Our room before was grey white & mint green but I am a total sucker for navy blue.
I was surprised when I put the two colors together,
they compliment one another so well!



Next up is the other side of the room,
where our massive King Size bed dominates that part of the room.
Now this side is still the "in progress" part.
We still need a headboard, we have two different looks in mind but haven't decided on one for sure yet.




I am a huge sucker for TJ Maxx & Marshalls.
I've been piecing my bedding together little by little because I wanted a more electric look.
But as it turns out, I keep getting it from the same brand without even noticing haha!
I bought all of our bedding from those two stores, but everything is the Ralph Lauren Brand.
I'm still keeping my eyes out for either a navy blue throw from the end of our bed or a white & blue duvet color.


As for our nightstands, I got these for a steal of $10!
They were in pretty rough shape {as everything I usually get}
I decided to paint them the same light grey color as my dresser & stain the tops a dark wood color to give the room some warmth.


To match with most of the hardware in the room I opted to keep them black {the original hardware}
I love the simple look of these, & having the baskets underneath helps with more storage.




Right when you walk into our room the first thing you see is our huge sliding glass door that looks our onto our porch upstairs.
Its not all that exciting & I couldn't get a good picture because I don't have a wide angle lens.
But As for the opposite side of our room.
It's nothing spectacular but I thought I would still share.

Later on this week I will share my tips on organizing a small closet {likes ours}
& some do's&donts.
But until then,this is where our closet is haha.


Because of my massive clothes addiction.
No really, It was bad having to downsize when I moved out of my parents house.
I had an entire room as a closet..
I've taken over our entire closet,
& part of the guest room & downstairs coat closet,
I store some of my most used purses on a hook on the back of our door.



And as for more jewelry storage I made this cute little earring hook/display with some twine & a wood picture frame.
Its perfect because it makes it easy to see all of your jewelry at once when your getting ready and it acts as wall decor all at the same time :)


So that's about all we've done in our room for now,
We still have some more plans for the space but its about 85% done.
{but once its done ill probably change my mind again haha}
Stay tuned for some more posts this week about organizing/storage && some other fun things I have planned for you all!

We are getting back into the rhythm of things around here,
our normal schedules have been thrown off a bit.
I recently got a new job, & am still searching for another job, my husband started psychical therapy for his hand && classes are picking back up.

So more posts will be coming your way soon!
I just have to set more time aside for blogging all our fun things we've been up too ;)

xoxo
Jordynluise

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Fancy Dog Food Bowl

If you are one of my Facebook friends or Instagram followers then this won't come as a surprise to you,
I am a little obsessed with animals.
More so, my dog, Harley.
My husband thinks that Harley is so spoiled, but, can you blame me?!
He is so cute!




There, now that we have all had our photo blast of my fur baby, we can carry on haha.

We are slowly but surely getting our house the way we want it & I don't know if it is just me but
I think that looking at two bowls on the floor is a total eye sore haha.
So I decided I wanted to make a more "pretty" food/water station for Harley. 

A lot of you might remember this entry way mirror and storage unit, I was in the process of selling it.
But an idea struck me && I decided to keep it.



Our house is a town house, you walk in and you see the all the way to the back of the house,
we don't really have a set "entry way" area so this was no use to us.

But I loved the shape of it & adored the curved mirror.
Only would I look at a vintage piece like this && think, HEY lets make a dog food station!

I know what you are thinking, something a long the lines of "uh............what?!"
Yeah, So was my husband.

Here are the materials you are going to need for this project:


  • A Jig Saw {Not Pictured}
  • A box of some sort {I used the base of the entry way storage, but this could easily be made with some wood & pre made legs at your local hardware store}
  • Dog Food Bowls - We actually got mixing bowls from Walmart, my dog drinks so much water that it just gets annoying filling his bowl so many times in a day, we wanted something deeper then the average dog food bowl so we found these in the Kitchen isle at Walmart & they are easy on the eyes to look at && fairly cheap as well {$6 or $7 I believe?} so that was a double bonus.
  • Paint & Protective Coat & Paint brushes - I used Valspar's Dark Kettle Black in Flat & Rustoleum Ultimate Polyurethane in Matte Finish, & A separate brush for painting & protective coat.
  • I also Used Valspar's Chalkboard Paint & had some chalk that I picked up at Michael's.
Now onto the fun part!

Step 1: Cutting & Placement


Before you start cutting wholes you want to plan out where you want the bowls to go,



Once you have that figured out you want to take the bowl and make a clear cutting line for it.
But when cutting keep in mind you want to actually cut the hole about half an inch in from where you drew the circle.


You want the bowls to sit on top && not fall through the holes, so make sure that the bowls you use have some sort of a lip on them.
Along with these being a nice shiny silver, we chose them as the dog food bowls because of the wide lip around the top of the bowl for that exact reason.

Step 2: Painting & Top Coat



I chose to paint this black for multiple reasons.
This will be sitting to the right of our cabinet that houses our microwave/pantry in the kitchen.
I didn't want to paint it white like most of my furniture because this will be used everyday.
I also didn't want to paint it blue or grey {the other colors in our house}
because I didn't want it to compete with our dark grey kitchen cabinets.
{to see our kitchen update/renovation check it out here}
So I chose black.



Along with painting the entire thing Black I chose to paint the detailed insert with chalkboard paint.
I love that you can't tell that it's chalkboard, it all blends in, making it look classic and simple.
I wanted to give it a fun element by adding the chalkboard and making it more "personal".


Here is a picture of it before I put everything together,


We also loved that this had storage & that it opened up on the top. It was a must for us.
We don't have a lot of storage in our house so I use to just sit the dog food to the right of our fridge.
What I love about this new dog food station is we now have a place to store the food without it being an eye sore.



&& here it is all done!!
I am loving how it looks & isn't an eye sore anymore!


As you can see, Harley isn't the only one who loves his new water & food station.

 



So what do you think?!
I will admit, I was nervous about dismantling such a cute piece of furniture but this is so much more functional for us && I would do it again in a heart beat!


I have other places for the mirror that was once attached to this,
you will later see that when I show what we've been up too in our bedroom which has taken a complete overhaul over the past year.
As long as finishing up random projects around the house we are working on our laundry storage, bedroom & dining room right now.
So stay tuned for more updates on that && some client work I will be showing later this week :)

I hope you all are having a great  day & start to fall!
I go back to school on the 21st so I'm trying to get caught up with all our projects going on around here,
as well as a new job & more client work!
It is finally starting to cool down here in NC.
I am so ready to bust out my sweaters && boots.
I just hope NC keeps this up ;)

Talk to you all soon!
xoxoxo
Jordynluise