The countdown to Halloween is on, and today I'm opening our doors and inviting you in to see how we decorate for the holiday! If you are like me, and you love getting a peek in other people's homes, then you are in luck, because there are 14 other talented and stylish bloggers who are also sharing their Halloween Home Tours today! You'll find links to each of those at the bottom of this post! But before you hop over to any of the other tours, let me show you around my place! Not a ... View the Post
Search Results for: label/Haven
Clean Up After Painting: How to Clean Paint Brushes and Get Paint Off Hands
Any day is a good day to paint! Whether I'm creating art with the kids, painting furniture, or changing the color of your walls, I'm always having fun, but I used to dread the clean up. That is, until I learned a couple of simple tricks that save me lots of time. Whether you're using acrylic paint for arts and crafts, latex or oil-based paint on your walls, or wood stain, I'll let you in on my secret for how to clean paint brushes and how to get paint off your hands. These pretty ... View the Post
{five minute friday} Gilded Knife Block
Hello Blue i Style readers! I hope you're having a happy Friday! I'm thrilled Angela asked me to be here with you guys today to bring you a easy way to spice up a boring kitchen necessity! Many of us have these giant knife blocks in our homes, right? They can be a a great tool if you want to keep your sharp knives out of drawers so little fingers don't get hurt when they go digging! But let's be real...they aren't the most attractive item that makes a home on your kitchen counter! Well, ... View the Post
{decorating with style} Metallic Wine Bottle Vases for Fall
Are you a fan of the gold trend? I am still more of a silver girl at heart - and there is a lot of silver in my home - but I am trying to embrace the gold trend by incorporating some gold here and there. Both gold and copper make me think of autumn, so I've been having fun mixing metals in some of my fall decor projects, including these shiny, happy wine bottle vases. I recently purchased some peacock feathers and some cotton branches that I wanted to incorporate in to my fall ... View the Post
How to Organize Gift Wrap In a Closet
Confession time! I am a gift wrap hoarder! I've never met a pretty roll of wrapping paper that I didn't like {especially if it's on sale}, and I keep every gift bag that comes into our house for future reuse. Those adorable gift tags in the Target dollar section get me every time, I can't pass up the giant bags of bows that are always on sale for 75% off after the holidays, and you'll even find me refolding tissue paper if it's not too wrinkled to use again. But what is a gift wrap loving ... View the Post
Three Kitchen Themed Wedding Shower Games
On Tuesday I shared lots of photos of the Stock the Kitchen wedding shower that I hosted for my soon to be sister in law {really, really soon to be - the wedding is tomorrow}! I had so much fun planning this shower, and finding ways to tie the kitchen theme through every element of the party! From the invitations {with enclosed recipe cards for family members to fill out}, to the decorations {flowers in small kitchen appliances}, to the favors {mini wire whisks}, to the games.. . ... View the Post
Adding Engraved Plates to Frames
We've all seen pretty engraved photo frames, but what if you have a frame that can't be engraved, or that you don't want to permanently alter? Simply add a sticky-backed engraved plate! When I was in college I studied abroad in Brisbane, Australia for six months and had the opportunity to travel all around the continent {and beyond}. Shortly after returning home I picked up a gorgeous blue 9-photo frame on clearance at Pottery Barn and filled it full of my favorite Australia photos to hang in ... View the Post
{organizing with style} 12 Ways to Organize with Baskets & Bins
Creating an organized and pretty, happy home is what this blog is all about, and I firmly believe that those things all naturally go hand in hand. Certainly organization should be practical and functional, first and foremost, but there is no reason that your organized spaces can't also be pretty and make you smile! My friend Melissa, from A Prudent Life, and I share a passion for creating stylish organizing solutions, and we recently started a hashtag challenge ... View the Post
How to Choose the Perfect Gray Paint for YOUR Home
One of the most common requests I get from friends, family, and clients alike, is for help choosing the right shade of gray paint. Each and every time, I know they aren't going to like my answer, but I have to give it them, and to you straight... there's no one gray paint that looks good in every home! Despite a million blog posts out there claiming to have found the "perfect gray paint," the truth is that the perfect shade of gray for my home may be totally wrong in yours. And ... View the Post
DIY Dollhouse Makeover
There are those presents that the kids lose interest in right away (womp womp), and others that are still favorites years later (parenting WIN!). A few years ago, I did a last minute DIY dollhouse makeover for my boys, transforming an off-the-shelf dollhouse into a mini-me version of our own home, and years later, the boys (now 4.5 and almost 6) still play with it all the time and show it to everyone who comes over! When we were little, my mom created several dollhouses for my sister and me. ... View the Post
DIY Alphabet Magnets that Actually Stick to Magnetic Primer
Yesterday I told you about the magnetic chalkboard wall that we created in our kitchen, and I gave you my not-so-glowing review of magnetic primer. While magnetic primer might not be strong enough for many uses, the only use I was specifically interested was allowing my boys to play with, and learn from, alphabet magnets. As I shared yesterday, I purchased some lightweight, plastic alphabet magnets from the toy store, but the magnets were not strong enough and they fell right to the ... View the Post
Christmas Book Countdown & Reusable Gift Tags Made with Cricut
Last week, I shared a post with some of our favorite family Christmas traditions, and at the top of the list is our Christmas Book Countdown. Each year, we create a calendar on the chalkboard wall in our kitchen, and the boys cross out a number each night to see how many days are left until Christmas. Then they rush to the big pile of wrapped books in the living room to find the one with the matching number. This year the tradition got a major style upgrade, which will also be a huge time saver ... View the Post