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Living for Pretty

Celebrating all things pretty, happy and inspiring. From renovation stories, to recipes, decorating, parties and little life lessons, you’ll find a little bit of everything here.

the sun shines // maui



March 7, 2014

A month ago Billy, and I took a quick vacation to Maui to visit the sun and family.  My brother lives upcountry with a few acres and a bi-coastal view (that’s two shorelines in one!). His horses, Ben and Sweetpea, were one of my favorite parts of the trip. It’s so lovely to be around these magnificent animals again. 

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entryway inspiration



February 14, 2014

Now that we have our main piece of furniture, it’s time to kick Project Entryway into action, and turn our attention to the walls.

I’ve had my eye on vibrant wallpaper for the space. I was smitten with one from Hygge & West, but after some calculations, even covering a small space was out of budget. (10 rolls = > $1,000!!).  So we are spending our romantic valentine’s weekend working on our first stenciling project. I love the bright blue in the image above. I’m a little nervous since it’s our first go at it, but mostly excited. Wish us luck.

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small entryway design



February 13, 2014

When we renovated our house, we tweaked the layout, moved a few doorways, and in the case of the entryway, closed one off.

Next to the entryway was a small room that connected it to the master bedroom. The room contained two small closets, one in particular was a reach in that was two feet wide and five feet deep. Not the smartest use of space. Think of how many things would be “stored” back there, never to be seen again. So we closed the connecting door and incorporated the 2×5 closet into the entryway. This not only gave us a more spacious entryway, but a legitimate walk-in-closet for our Master.  WIN.

Welcome to our bigger, defined entryway. I was pretty excited. I had visions of a table, coat rack, mirror and darling chair in the space the closet used to be, but after living in the house for close to a year we found the space to be a black hole and not too useful since it wasn’t in the drop-zone. Coats, purses and keys would miss whatever table they were intended for and land on the couch or dining room table.

My visions of entryway vignettes, of rain boots set beside the door, trinket trays to hold incoming mail and dishes with last-minute jewelry add-ons quickly vanished. It was time to rethink the space.

While it doesn’t work for morning, noon and night work, the new space would be ideal as a transition zone. We have numerous jackets, motorcycle gear and a constant stream of items set aside for donation. As it turns out, we did need a closet there, just not the way it had been originally.

What to do when you don’t have a closet? Get a free-standing wardrobe. And the more it looks like it came out of Narnia, the better. I’ve been scouring Craigslist and found one in budget a couple weeks ago. Now that we have our main piece of furniture, it’s time to kick Project Entryway into action, and turn our attention to the walls.

Entryway Updates

  • entryway inspiration
  • graphic wallpaper look for less

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mixing it up – eclectic gallery walls



February 7, 2014

Once we got our wedding photos back I wanted to go framing, picture-hanging crazy. They were so beautiful and I want to display pictures of that special day to remind ourselves daily of the vows we made and the people that celebrated with us. But hanging each one of our 300 photos wasn’t in the cards, even though that may have been my first inclination. Have you ever gone to that certain friend’s house and all the pictures on the walls are of them? Like, just their mugs all over their walls. Man, as awesome as Billy and I are I just couldn’t stand looking at myself every time I turn around. But as mentioned before, our house needs a gallery wall, bad.  This provided the perfect jumping off point. 
My favorite gallery walls are ones of the eclectic nature, with mismatched frames and a variety of art in an array of sizes and shapes. I also love when things are incorporated. Who says wall hangings have to be two-dimensional? Not me. Below, are some amazing gallery walls that I think get the mix just right. Hopefully, I’ll be sharing our gallery wall soon, and yep, a few of our mug shots will definitely be in there. 

top to bottom: 
Lonny | Little Green Notebook | Domino, Southern Living  | Old Made New |
 Lonny | Strawberry Milk | Planete Decor | Apartment Therapy | Stokperd | Domino | Brooklyn Bride, Decor 8  | Style Deity | Anna Spiro

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mint to be! seafoam bridemaids dresses



January 24, 2014

Last year we got married and now all the cool kids are doing it. We’ve heard of the summer wedding take-over that happens in your mid twenties, but this has been our first (five and counting!). I’m sure it’s not the last. With our wedding behind us, it’s fun to look at others and revel in the fact that the stress of wedding planning is behind us. (Okay actually it’s also a tiny bit sad because we can’t mine any ideas fro ours!). My brother and sister-in-law are doing a small lighthouse wedding that will no doubt be adorable, down-to-earth and lovely in every way. I’m just ecstatic to be a part of the day and stand up there with them. Bridesmaids are wearing a mint/teal color so I’ve been mining the web for suggestions.  Wedding or no wedding, here are a few that I’m looking for a reason to buy!

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

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faux fireplace progress



January 20, 2014

Our fireplace mantel is up and finished (for now). We completed it just in time for the holidays and we were so happy to have a place to hang our stockings. We painted it with an oil-based paint (for durability) and finished the interior with black chalkboard paint. I eventually want to do a stacked-wood-look, but for now I’m happy. In the mood lighting of our Christmas party a few even thought it was real. Win.

Because the wall we put it on is the main walking path in the home, we couldn’t afford to push it out from the wall too far (which would have really given it a “real” fireplace feel). But we were able to afford a few inches. So we cut a 2×4 in half and stuck the pieces behind it, if we would have done any more we would have needed to find another top piece!.

What do you think? It’s styled in a gold motif, left over from the holidays. I can’t wait to play around with styling it for spring. I love the huge the mirror and how it shows off the tall ceilings, but am excited to change it up. 

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Decor and home with a little bit of daydreaming and real life sprinked in. My husband and I are slowly updating our 1900 Dutch Colonial. I love hunting for vintage and flying the pacific northwest and the world with my aviator husband.
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