Category Archives: home

Playroom Reveal

January 18, 2015

Our toy situation in our living room was ~~getting~~ O U T OF H A N D. We have a great basement and I knew eventually I would want to turn it into a playroom. The time has come, and I couldn’t wait to put it all together!

Overall, I’m LOVING having all of the toys in one spot. Especially for the big ones! I kept a couple baskets, one of books and one of a few toys, in our living room, and Ivy is having fun going back and forth between the two. Most of all, we love the kitchen! I have fun in there too :)

1// Urban Outfitters Magical Thinking Charlize rug

2// Urban Outfitters Plum & Bow Circle Dot rug

3// Land of Nod Teepee

4// KidKraft Uptown Kitchen

5// Ikea Latt Children’s Table – I painted this table white and added seat cushions, stay tuned for the DIY!

6// Ikea Kallax Shelving Unit

7// Ikea Drona Storage Box – These are LARGE. Very nice for a ton of toys

8// Ikea Stuva Bench – I also have the Ikea Mala paper roll – this will be a perfect art table when she starts drawing. It’s a great size. Instead of using this as a bench, you can also input the Stuva Storage Bench if you want to use it as a toy box. And there is even a cute Vissla bench pad that sits on it. Lots of options with this bench!

9// Ikea Mammut Stool – obsessed with this. It’s very light and easy for Ivy to carry around from her bench to the kids table. And I love the color!

Other Decorations:

(I dislike our wall color in our basement so I tried to hide it with some cute wall decals instead of painting the entire basement)

— The Lovely Wall bunting banner wall decals

— Urban Outfitters Plum & Bow gold dot wall decals

— Urban Outfitters Walls Need Love paisley birds on a wire wall decals

View Ivy’s playroom favorites here and the Ikea Latt table hack here

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Home and Dainty Obsessions Magazine

January 13, 2015

I absolutely love our home. John and I used to run by it once in a while before we owned it and would dream about what was inside. It wasn’t until one day when we noticed it was for sale and lo and behold, his brother (Jeff Koch @ Sold By Koch Realtors, shameless plug) had it listed! We couldn’t wait to contact him to get a peek inside. Well, the stars aligned just perfectly, and pretty soon, we were home owners! We were ecstatic to get into our dream house!

We have lived here for 13 months now and I’m still obsessed with it. We love to entertain, and it has the most fabulous gourmet kitchen and backyard covered patio to have our friends and family over for any type of shenanigan (My 30th birthday party and Ivy’s 1st birthday to name a couple).

John and I were asked by the lovely Valerie Sampson, creator and editor of Dainty Obsessions magazine, a gorgeous wedding magazine filled with the latest wedding inspiration and resources for the Midwest bride (check it out if you haven’t, it’s GORG!), to be their first couple for their “Newlyweds at Home” edition. We were excited to share our married life and home! A bit personal, but, eh… :)

Click HERE to go to the online edition of the magazine

photo by dainty obsessions

Love that Ivy’s room even made the magazine! See more of her nursery here

photo by dainty obsessions

We have been lucky to be featured in the magazine twice before, as models for a styled shoot in their first issue (I was the cover model! EEE!!) and a peek into our adventure-filled honeymoon to Montana (which I SOOOO want to relive someday!). So we weren’t exactly newcomers, but, this time was extra special because it was just about us!

Here are some pics from the previous issues we were in

Pretty huh! I just love the magazine, it’s so gorgeous and so well done.

Ivy and I were even on the news for the magazine! Watch the video below or read the story from Keloland here when Dainty Obsessions marked their first year. EEEK, Ivy is barely one month old here! So funny to see her so itty bitty!

Convinced the magazine is AMAZING yet?! Bc it is!! Get your winter issue asap, only on the shelves for another couple weeks. It is sold all over the region – I got mine at Barnes and Noble. Perfect gift for you or your newly engaged friend, or buy one for yourself to just gaze at the gorgeous photos :)

Or! Read the Dainty Obsessions online edition below to see more of our married life and pics at home and any of the past issues. (Our article, “Newlyweds at Home,” begins on p.114)

——————-Click HERE to go to the online edition of the magazine

Also, check out Valerie’s husband, an incredible photographer here in Sioux Falls – Jeff Sampson Photography – talk about a talented design couple! Follow all of them on Instagram! @daintyobsessions @valsampson @jeffsampson – they travel often and hashtag them #sampsonsdo______ (insert cool destination) – They just went to NYC (#sampsonsdonyc) and I definitely lived vicariously through it all. Lucky!

Thanks for having us again Dainty Obsessions! xo

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Our home at Christmas

December 10, 2014

A home at Christmas is one of the best times of the year. I love all of the red and green decorations, the smell of fresh pine from the dazzling Christmas tree, and the happy memories that Christmas brings back from childhood. Last year, we had just moved into our house a week before Christmas, so we barely even decorated, but THIS year, I was very excited to finally get our own home to decorate and involve Ivy in making everlasting memories.

One of my favorites is decorating the tree. I could hardly wait to have Ivy help! I love getting out our ornaments that we have collected over the years and the ones our parents have given us from when we were babies and children. In fact, we have John’s little baby ornament from his birth year! Also, I love seeing the pictures that are in some of the ornaments. Our wedding photo, our childhood pictures from ornaments we made in elementary school (haha, those are the best, such good art…hehe), and pictures of Ivy from her first Christmas last year.

Indeed, Christmas is the best time of year, and this one is surely to be no different – full of new memories, happiness, and love. Now where’s that mistletoe…? :)

Ivy’s current status

Obvs, it’s a good start. I’m anxious to build my Christmas collection over the years. Can you imagine all the goods we will have when we’re 50!? Until then… check out some of these for some seriously spectacular decorations – I love these farmhouse and log cabin homes at Christmas! To die for!!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! It’s almost here!

Love, John, Kaylee, and Ivy

My current obsession

October 5, 2014

Mrs. Meyers has become my new best friend, my current obsession. Who is Mrs. Meyers you ask? Well she is Thelma Meyer, an Iowan homemaker and mother of nine. She is the name behind Mrs. Meyer’s home and cleaning products. I love her tagline, “our products smell like a garden, and clean like the dickens.” (Can’t you see an old cute little Grandma saying that!?) And she’s right. “The collection of household products contain essential oils, from flowers and herbs pack a real punch against daily dirt and grime.” From dish soaps, to laundry detergent, to soy candles, to window cleaners. I’m obsessed with it all. And it’s very environmentally friendly with pure ingredients in each bottle. Safe for the home! :)

I have heard of Meyer’s soaps, but had never taken the plunge from my regular products. When I received my last month’s Citrus Lane box for Ivy, there was a little sample bottle of the dish soap in lemon verbana scent. I loved the light, pure, and refreshing scent as I washed the dishes and I was instantly hooked. It cut grease and cleaned just as well as my trusty Dawn dish soap, but this scent, I couldn’t get over it. It was invigorating and uplifting. I actually enjoyed doing dishes as the lemon verbana radiated throughout the kitchen. I knew I had to get more. #obsessed

I went to Target yesterday to buy the large dish soap and found all KINDS of Mrs. Meyers stuff! I LOVE lavender and just bought a wreath and some dried lavender from Pottery Barn, so I was extremely excited about the lavender soy candle! There are 25 hours of burn time and the smell has a smooth, relaxing, and intoxicating scent.

I decided to try out the Bluebell dish soap because I loved the floral woodsy smell. It smelt like fields of wildflowers in the Black Hills.

I bought the honeysuckle and parsley scented hand soap. The soft feeling of the olive oils and aloe vera in them keep my hands soft. The honeysuckle is for our bathroom and is fruity and soothing. Parsley is one of my favorite herbs! It has a strong aroma that is very refreshing, I kept that one in the kitchen. Meyers soap-11

Lastly, I also bought the geranium soy candle. The smell is pleasing and uplifting as it fills the room.

I think I could have bought everything! I am totally obsessed. I love that it brings the garden into your kitchen and home. I went on their website when I got home to see what else they had and there are a ton of items! Next time I plan to get the multi-surface cleaner, as I use that often (I must have missed that at Target).

Plus, their limited edition scents just came out for the fall and holidays! Cranberry, orange clove, and Iowa pine. MUST HAVE.

Have you tried Mrs. Meyers products? Which ones? Which scent is your favorite? Comment below!