Currently Loving: Bright and Colorful Sofas

Hello everyone! I wanted to share a new love of mine: bright and colorful sofas. I know a neutral sofa is usually the smart and safe way to go (and the way I went), but I am loving the impact a colored sofa makes in a room. Take a look.

Caitlin Wilson’s Living Room via Décor Pad

Living room by Anne Elliott via bossy color blog

via Décor Pad

Lindsey Harper’s Living Room via Style Beat

Jenna Lyons’ Living room via breakfast at toast

A sofa is normally an investment piece, which is why it is a safe bet to buy a neutral sofa and add color and prints with pillows, accent chairs, and other textiles. But there are a lot of affordable options for sofas in amazing colors, so I say if you love it, buy it. Here are a few sources for you.

Stockholm Sofa in Sandbacka green, Ikea, $999; Crosby Sofa in Lagoon, West Elm, $1249; Rue Petal Apartment Sofa, CB2, $999; Clare Fabric Sofa in Ocher, Macy’s, $699 (sale); Modern Purple Velvet Sofa, Overstock.com, $867; Chloe Velvet Sofa in Seafoam, Macy’s, $699 (sale)

Fall Party Food Ideas

Hello friends! Sorry for the lack of blogging this week, I’ve been pretty busy again. Last night we hosted a party for Ben’s residency program. It was just an informal gathering but I put a lot of work into getting everything ready. We had 23 people here; that’s the most people we’ve ever had over! Other than the smoke alarm going off briefly at one point the party was a huge success.

I was a bad blogger/too busy to take pictures, but I will share the recipes for the foods I made.
I went with foods that had fall flavors and ingredients and/or warm comfort foods. I would highly recommend all of them! Although I think the biggest hit of the night was Ben’s buddy’s home-brewed Bavarian Hefeweizen…if you have good beer everything else doesn’t seem to matter as much  

Fall Party Menu

• Chicken and Spinach Dip, served with tortilla chips and toasted baguette

• Roasted Butternut Squash Orzo Salad (recipe and photo by two peas and their pod). I made life a little easier for myself by using frozen butternut squash. I also added feta and pecans…yum!

• Tarte d’Champignon and Pesto Tomato Flatbread, both from Trader Joe’s

• Frozen Party Meatballs from Trader Joe’s with this sauce from All Recipes

• Brie and Apple filled Crescent Rolls

• Three Ingredient Chocolate Pumpkin Cookies (recipe and photo by I heart nap time). I used caramel kisses instead of pumpkin spice kisses.

Happy Chic Wish List

Have you guys checked out the Happy Chic by Jonathan Adler collection at JCPenney yet? I already showed you this sofa that I love but they also have a lot of cute accessories. And as you would expect from JCP they’re pretty reasonable when they’re on sale. Here are a few things I’m loving right now.

 

1. Elephant Lamp, $36; 2. Greek Key Tray, $28; 3. Foo Dog Bookends, $25; 4. Lola Zigzag Pillow, $24; 5. Love Pillow, $55; 6. Katie Owl Pillar Candle Holder, $11; 7. Chloe Lotus Table Lamp, $60

I want it all! What about you, do you have or want anything from the Happy Chic line?

Have a great weekend!

I’m Back!

Hello everyone, I hope you’re all doing well. I’m back from West Palm Beach and even though I’m happy to be home I do kind of wish we could have spent more time there. It was beautiful and oh so warm and sunny, not like Kansas City. Seriously, when we left KC the trees were green and when we got back it was 32 degrees out and all the leaves had turned red. Not cool.

But in all seriousness Palm Beach was amazing. We stayed at the Ocean Pointe Marriott on Singer Island in a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo with my parents. If you’re ever in the area I would highly recommend it. Great rooms, great location, easy access to the beach, awesome views and amazing pools and amenities.

The main event of the weekend was my brother Paul’s wedding. Friday he and Carrie threw a pool party at their new house for everyone instead of having a formal rehearsal dinner which was a lot of fun. Isn’t this pool and the view lovely?!

Saturday the wedding party and siblings took a trolley around Singer Island to take pictures before the wedding.

Then we went to the wedding and reception venue which was absolutely gorgeous. They got married on the rooftop patio that had this beautiful view:

After the wedding they served us delicious appetizers and cocktails before we headed downstairs for the dinner reception.

It was the perfect night for a wonderful couple. Congrats Carrie and Paul!

We didn’t get back home until almost 1:00 a.m. Tuesday morning and then I had to haul ass to clean my house and get it picture perfect by Wednesday afternoon because I was contacted by a reporter to have my house photographed for a feature in Ink Magazine!

Look at all that fancy professional photography equipment! I can’t wait to see how the article and photographs turn out! My story will be in the November 6 issue so if you’re in the Kansas City area make sure to pick up a free copy, and if you don’t live here don’t worry, you can still view the article on Ink’s website.

Preparing for Palm Beach

I’m so excited for tomorrow. Ben and I leave early in the morning for West Palm Beach, Florida! My brother is marrying a wonderful woman there on Saturday, which is fantastic for several reason, including the fact that it gives us the perfect opportunity for a mini vacation!

I’ve been to Florida many times but I’ve never been to the Palm Beach area, I’m really looking forward to checking it out!

 

All images via Elle Decor

Beautiful Chairs at TJ Maxx

Hello friends! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I spent mine trying to get ready for our impending trip to Florida; I’ll share more about that tomorrow. So Saturday I went to TJ Maxx to look for sunglasses and a few other things, and of course I ended up finding a lot more.

I was amazed at their selection of chairs, there were so many beautiful styles!

I L-O-V-E this navy blue velvet modern armchair. If I had an extra $200 to spend on a chair this would have been mine.

Another pretty blue chair. I really did consider buying this to pair with my new desk, especially since it was on clearance for only $70.

TJ Maxx always has a great selection of Cynthia Rowley chairs. My store had a bunch, including these adorable yellow chairs and…

This gray hexagon print chair. This would be another great option for a desk chair.

How fab is this chair! Wood, brass, and woven leather…it’s kind of mid-century modern but in a nicely updated style. It was either $300 or $400, I don’t remember.

Hello lovely. Gray velvet + nailhead trim + modern wingback shape = awesome. I think this was $400.

Not a chair (obvs) but I was surprised to see an upholstered headboard at TJ Maxx. Pretty stylish for only $400.

I didn’t make it home with any new furniture, but I did manage to find a new set of sheets, a blanket, some books (including The Great Gatsby for $0.70!), a jacket, sunglasses, and a few other things that I probably didn’t need.

Has anyone else spotted some great chairs at TJ Maxx/Homegoods lately?

Zara Home Sale

Have you heard that the fabulous clothing store Zara now has a fabulous Home section?! What’s even better is their Home sale section. Look at all this great stuff at amazing prices!

Silk-Percale Billy Bedding, $39.90 for a Queen duvet cover; Pink Velvet Pillow Cover, $4.90; Tiger Pillow Cover, $10.90; Garden Table, $39.90; Bird Bookend, $16.90; Rita Urn, $19.90

I don’t really need any of it but I’m tempted to buy it all…what about you?

Fall Table: Done!

Last week I showed you my fall décor table inspiration and a sneak peek of the nearly finished product, and today I am excited to show you the fully decorated table!

I started with this 10’ roll of burlap I bought from Michaels.

Then I took 3 simple vases I already had (originally from the dollar store), and wrapped them with the same yarn I used for my Autumn Wreath. I don’t have any step by step photos for this DIY but the process is simple. I just used a small dab of hot glue to secure the ends of the yarn to the vase.

I found a pretty bunch of faux flowers from Michaels for $4 for the center vase and I used simple pillar candles for the other two.

Then I added some faux fall leaves I had from last year, some mini pumpkins and gourds from the grocery store, and some faux acorns I got in the dollar section at Target.

I’m so happy with how it all came together!

And like my wreath I was able to complete this project without spending much money.

• Burlap runner (with 40% off coupon): $8
• Flowers: $4
• Mini pumpkins and gourds: $4.50
• Acorns: $1
• Total: $17.50

Not bad if I say so myself What do you think? Have you put out any fall decorations yet?

Fall Table Sneak Peek

My table is almost ready to show you; I just have to get a couple more little things. But I said I would be ready to show it to you by Friday so here’s a small sneak peek until I post the finished project on Monday.

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Autumn Yarn Wreath DIY

I have a new DIY project to share with you today! I’m still working on my fall table decorations, but in the meantime I made a new seasonal wreath for the front door.

I started with a plain foam wreath and two different colors of yarn from Michaels.

Then I marked the wreath with a sharpie so I would have a guide for where to start and stop with each color.

Then I started wrapping. I just used a piece of scotch tape to secure the pieces of yarn to the back (marked) side of the wreath. That’s it. And I wrapped…and wrapped…and wrapped. It takes a surprisingly long time to do this, but I got in some quality TV time while I worked on it.

P.S. This whole process would probably be much easier if I didn’t have a cat constantly watching me and trying to get ahold of the yarn so he could play.

Once I was done with the yarn part I added a coupe simple embellishments. I used wire cutters to snip a few flowers off this bunch I bought for 50% off.

I left about an inch and a half of the stem on each flower so that I could just poke the wire stem into the foam wreath. Easy!

For the last step I added a simple bow using some green ribbon I got on clearance for $1. Then I hung the wreath from the 3M hook on the back of my door like I did with my summer wreath.

I think it turned out pretty well! It was fairly inexpensive too:

• Foam wreath: $7
• Orange yarn: $4
• Beige yarn: $3
• Green ribbon: $1
• Faux flowers: $4
• Total: $19

So for less than $20 I was able to make a fall wreath that I love. Not a bad deal!

I’m sharing this project on the It’s Fall Y’All link party on Southern Hospitality, check it out for more awesome fall décor ideas!