Category Archives: home

Spring Style | Fashion + Home

March 20, 2017

Hello first day of Spring!!! LOVE that winter is over with and we can look forward to warmer temps, longer days, and (hopefully) no more snow! Transitioning to spring in the house and in the closet is THE BEST. I love to get rid of the dark colors of winter and launch into some pastels, brights, whites, or just basically, COLOR. Winter gets so boring! Already dreaming about the first flowers popping up, pretty tulips draping over the vase, and a new wardrobe filled with flowy tops and trendy jeans!

I updated my favorite room in our house last week, a little ahead of spring, I just couldn’t wait! So nice to get some color in this room!!

And, I’m proud to say that all of my indoor plants are STILL ALIVE! Wooo hoooo! I totally neglected them over the fall and winter, and somehow they made it. Pretty pumped about that because I love a little greenery around the house in the nice seasons!

Now to update some of my wardrobe! I looooove this stripe off the shoulder maternity dress – so beautiful! I can’t wait to get into some dresses that show off the bump. Sick of wearing jeans! But will never be sick of wearing leggings :)

Here are some of my favorite spring fashion and home styles


blanket | clutch | sunglasses | vase | top | espadrilles | sneakers | white pants | denim jeans


Toooootally loving the embroidered jeans trend! They’re everywhere right now! Some are super embroidered and I don’t think I can do that, but I thought the ones in the picture were just a touch enough. Plus I love the frayed hem on the skinny jean! Channeling my (wannabe) inner hippie for those!

Loving all the summer sandals too! Espadrilles are so pretty, but can never go wrong with my yoga pants and sneakers look :)

Gimme all the flouncy tops and flowy blouses! Love the wide ruffle look on the sleeves and the romantic off-the-shoulder look. Finally get to show a little skin with these warmer temps!


Shop this post for my favorite spring styles and home accessories!

Swipe right to see more products, then click the arrow to view even more

Tops

Bottoms

Shoes

Accessories

Home


Happy Spring! Hope you had a fabulous first day!

Under the Stairs Dress Up Playroom

March 5, 2017

So excited to share this room! It’s been a really fun project – channeling my inner princess and making this as pink and girly girl as possible! I’m pretty jealous of Ivy on this, what little girl wouldn’t want her own little area for dress up and play! Pretty happy to utilize an area much better than storing junk in it!

This vision all started out one day as I opened this storage room door in the playroom downstairs to get out a baby pillow and bassinet. I then realized WHAT THE HELL is even in this room?! After recognizing that it’s all “junk,” I hauled it out to the garage and put it in my garage sale pile that’s seriously daunting, and started thinking of some inspiration… the fun part!

I thought about how much Ivy LOVES to dress up, but how much I HATE to clean it all up! I have all of her dress up clothes just in a big canvas storage bin, and she pulls out every single one until she finds the exact one she wants, which results in clothes ALL OVER THE PLACE. It bothers me every time! While she does pick them up, it’s still such a mess during the process. DING DING DING! I thought, how nice would it be to have all the dresses and costumes hanging up?! Immediately I knew, THAT is what I want this room to be! A place for Ivy to be her own little princess and dress up and put on pretend makeup and play and dream and sing Frozen “Let it Go” out loud! Her own little princess dress-up playroom. Ahhhh :)

I knew it had to be as girly as possible. Lots of pink and purple, her favorite colors! I took off the door because I thought a curtain would be really fun! And much more cute! She loves to keep it shut so “no boys” can get in, eh eh, Leo, even though he goes in there with her all the time! The curtain is really fun though, plus taking it off added more room for the mirror.

Next, I purchased a piece of wood from Home Depot cut to the size I needed along with pink and fuchsia glitter spray paint. I also purchased enough double hooks for all of her pretty dresses and costumes! I spray painted the wood pink and the hooks pink with the purple fuschia over it.

I thankfully already had the table (it’s a storage bench without the storage bins) and stools already, then I purchased this perfectly fitting storage organizer with these bins to hold essentials for dress up such as shoes, wands, purses, and crowns, of course :)

I also bought this mirror and spray painted it the same pink to go over the table so she can see herself dressing up and putting on her little girl makeup. I already had these pink and teal feather hooks and used them to hang her necklaces.

tiny bow wall decals

Furthermore, I had this cart and used these bins to organize her headbands, lip glosses, nail polishes, perfume (pretty sure I had those bottles since high school!!), hair brushes, dolls, etc. I keep finding new things in there everytime she’s in there!

Princess makeup kit

Princess mini lip gloss and nail polish

Lastly, I knew I needed a large mirror so she could see her whole dressed up princess self! I found this one on Craigslist for $20, so that was awesome! There’s also a super cute mini princess mirror that fits too! I used command strips to hang everything. They’re so easy! Pink garland I already had from her room to add a touch of pink, rug (similar here) I also already had, and voila!

princess mirror

Ivy is absolutely loving it! She goes down there to play all the time, by herself even! So that is amazing :) Plus the hooks are sooooo much better than the bin or hanging them by hangers! She can actually do it by herself and it’s so easy to take them on and off. Overall, now it’s just another play area, but organized! For now… :) haha

always wear your invisible crown wall art


 

 

Valentine’s Decor

February 1, 2017

Hello FEBRUARY!!! I LOVE when February hits because January is one of my least favorite months! It always seems to go by so slow and it’s SOOOO COOOOOLD. Feb 1st and I’m all like, winter is almost done! Plus, not to mention Valentine’s Day and it’s a LOVE month!

Ivy will be wearing this dress and bow and I can’t WAIT for her to put it on! Soooo many cute clothes for girls! And Leo, well I don’t know yet ;) He’d look pretty cute in pink!

After having some boring colorless winter decor around, I couldn’t wait to pop out my pinks and reds to bring some life into our room! Love the pops of colors for Valentine’s Day decor! Color fills up the room now!

top garland | bottom garland | xoxo | votives from local shop (similar herehere, and here) |

Here’s some more Valentine’s Day decor ideas!

– Candles –– Pillows –– Kitchen –

– Cards and Decor –

 

Our Family and Home

November 30, 2016

Sioux Falls people and businesses have been so good to us! Between John getting all sorts of home renovation exposure in the media (most recent news article here) with his business John Koch Construction, and then also my blog, we have both received so many generous opportunities to work with local businesses! We are so appreciative and thankful whenever someone reaches out to work with us.

In October, our family was selected as the family feature for our neighborhood magazine, Southside Living, and this was so nice! Such an honor. Our home has been featured several times, but never really our family! So it was a nice new change! I love that John gets interviews to help expose his business. It was fun to do a family photo shoot at our very own home and to get to include Ivy and Leo in the interview.

Get to know our family here!

screen-shot-2016-11-30-at-1-05-32-pm screen-shot-2016-11-30-at-1-05-00-pm screen-shot-2016-11-30-at-1-05-18-pm


Then! In November, our home was featured in the Etc. for Her magazine. Back to back months! I LOVE our house, and it’s always so much fun to talk about it and see it in pictures. NOT so much fun hiding all the toys in every cabinet and closet, but I love having a spic and span home for like 20 minutes for photos! I always love talking about how we made this house our home and the updates we did to it. I thought the article by Mary Michaels was written really well! And the photos by Julie Prairie Photography were magnificent!

© Julie Prairie Photography 2016© Julie Prairie Photography 2016© Julie Prairie Photography 2016

mural commissioned by Shaine Schroeder
© Julie Prairie Photography 2016© Julie Prairie Photography 2016© Julie Prairie Photography 2016 © Julie Prairie Photography 2016© Julie Prairie Photography 2016© Julie Prairie Photography 2016© Julie Prairie Photography 2016

ivy’s pink room – see more pictures and sources here and here© Julie Prairie Photography 2016

leo’s hipster nursery – see more pictures and sources here

© Julie Prairie Photography 2016© Julie Prairie Photography 2016© Julie Prairie Photography 2016

buffalo print commissioned by Shaine Schroeder

See the November issue, our article (p. 26), and more pictures here!

The magazine is still on stands around Sioux Falls, but not for long when the December issue arrives!

Thank you again Southside Living, Etc for Her, and Julie Prairie Photography for including us in your magazine! So honored. Thank you!

Thanksgiving 2016

November 28, 2016

What a Thanksgiving! It was filled with family, food, and full bellies! I soooo look forward to this meal every year because it’s always a delicious feast! Plus, it’s so nice to get together with family and just mingle and eat! We had everyone over at our house, my husband’s family and my family, so 12 adults and 3 kids made for a fabulous big Thanksgiving with lots of drinks, food, and cheers!

My sister Jillian and her husband Brian made the trek home to visit us for the holiday. They brought their cute little daughter Alexandra and she had SO much fun with her cousins Ivy and Leo! So hilarious seeing them all together. She is just three months younger than Leo so those two caused a lot of chaos around the house!

In my old age, I’m getting obsessed with decor and table scapes! I couldn’t wait to come up with a plan for the table and when I saw this blog inspiration, I had to do it! The eucalyptus leaves are a beautiful centerpiece on their own. And with the addition of the pumpkins and candles and my own little touch of the antlers, it turned out pretty fabulous I thought! The gold charger plates and gold lined napkins were so pretty and rounded out the table nicely.

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And I finally have a bar cart! I’ve been wanting one so bad now that we have updated our dining room (see that post here). I was soo excited to decorate it and get some drinks flowing for the night! Plus, score when you find this big awesome art print tucked away in the downstairs closet! YES!

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bar cart | candle | punch bowlthanksgiving2016-10thanksgiving2016-17

And now, for the feast!!! NOM NOM NOM
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Give me ALL THE GRAVY!!!thanksgiving2016-25

Cheers!

And of course, the kids table! :) SWOON! Leo lasted about 2 minutes, but Ivy and Alexandra sat there like good girls!

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Sooo many desserts!

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Gosh, so sad Thanksgiving is over! The food was delicious and leftovers are THE BEST. I love big family get-togethers and big feasts! Now onto Christmas! So anxious to finish decorating the home in so much red and green! Ho ho ho!

Hope you all had a very Happy Thanksgiving!

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thanksgiving garland | my dress