Mother’s Day Gifts

Posted on May 6, 2012 by Allyson

Mother’s Day is just around the corner (May 13). Hopefully most of you have already figured out what to get your mothers, but for those of you who have yet to make a decision, here’s a fool-proof group of gifts that I’m sure any mother would love.

The Decorator: Coral Deco Pillow from Caitlin Wilson Textiles, $60

The Home Cook: 3-Piece Potluck Baker Set from Crate & Barrel, $29.95

The Bookworm: Imagine by Jonah Lehrer, $15.28 (A must read for everyone!)

The Entertainer: Linen Cocktail Napkins from Wisteria, $24

The Organizer: Wanderlust Tray from Furbish, $24

The Art Lover: Orchid Still-life by Caitlin McGauley, $85

All Moms: Freeform coral earrings from Ma Petite Faiblesse, $20

Bonus: If money is tight, here’s the recipe for my homemade granola, which has always been a hit.

How to Wear It: Ready for Spring

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Allyson

Happy first day of Spring! I’m soooo ready for it. I really, really don’t like cold weather. The weather has been gorgeous recently (with a high of 80° one day last week), and I hope that it sticks around for a while. Also, check out my etsy shop; I’ve added lots of new jewelry, including the earrings featured here today. They’re one of my favorite items in the new batch.

Outfit

Earrings

Small changes, big impact

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Allyson

When we bought this house, there weren’t house numbers. Scratch that, there were house numbers, they just weren’t on the house. They were on a dilapidated lantern (connected to the house by an extension cord buried in the ground!) located at the front of the yard. Well, it didn’t take long for the “numbers” part of the lantern to break, making it very difficult for new people to find our house.

Some time later we bought new house numbers, and more time later they were installed. Yay! We finally had house numbers! Several months after that, we decided to paint the house gray, which was really exciting. Then we realized that the house numbers that we had practically just put up weren’t going to work. They were brushed nickel and would completely blend in with the paint, essentially rendering them useless.

The only options were to buy new house numbers or to paint what we already had, so I took a page from Sherry’s (from Young House Love) playbook and suggested we paint them oil-rubbed bronze. Our mailbox had been spray-painted to match the previous house color, so that obviously needed an update as well. The mailbox thus joined our house numbers on the way to oil-rubbed-bronze-ville.

We’re happy with the results; we might even stick with this mailbox–it’s not so ugly anymore. To see the big picture and also the before, check out yesterday’s post.

A whole new house

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Allyson

So I failed to mention this before, but we actually did finish painting the house in November, which made for some very cold mornings on the roof of the back porch.

Both of our fathers came up to help.

And now that Tanner has been working hard to replace the trim, it’s starting to look really great–almost better than I thought possible.

The day we closed on the house 3 years ago

Yes, that is an old fridge sitting on the front porch. In this image, it’s tough to see how bad the paint really was. To see a close-up, check out this post from when we first started this project.

Today

The new seamless half-round gutters look pretty snazzy, as well. There’s still more we want to do to the front of the house, but that won’t happen until next summer. We also (obviously) still have some cleaning up to do, and the old trim is still hanging out in our front yard, but it really is a vast improvement. Needless to say, we’re thrilled with the results, and it feels like a completely different house.

How to Wear It: Pale pink purse, Part III

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Allyson

1. Faceted chalcedony and freshwater pearl earrings by Ma Petite Faiblesse

2. Urban Outfitters dress

3. Kate Spade Macdougal Alley Shimmer Stevie, $395

4. JCrew shoes

{N.B. The original post was lost in an evil hacker incident. I have reposted the images and all available source info.}