Friday, March 1, 2013

Gotta love firmoo..

I'm a geek...and I love wearing glasses...I've accepted it. If you're a glasses wearer as well, and haven't heard of Firmoo, you need to check them out. Seriously, great glasses, great prices, and your first pair is wait for it (in Barney Stinson's voice)...FREE...yup you heard me. They also happen to be one of my newest sponsors! Need more convincing, check these bad boys out:




Now, go and click on that little ad on the right sidebar, and get your first pair absolutely free (all I paid was $6.99 in shipping and handling)....it will be legend...wait for it again...dary...I need to quit watching that show.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Benched...

Let's talk about benches, shall we?
Benches are fantastic pieces for any room, versatile, and they can add so much function to a space.
Here are a few of my favorites I've been coveting lately for our new home:
Come to mama.This one is probably my favorite, and will end up somewhere in our next house. It's not crazy expensive or crazy cheap at $275, but you do get free shipping, plus it's perfect in all it's gorgeousness. 
The Lola Bench from Zgallerie just screams elegant and tailored dining room bench to me. It's not easy finding a proper sized dining bench, they tend to be too short or not long enough to go the length of the table, but this one is perfect. The tufting makes it feel finished and sophisticated, and the color is to die for.
The Essex Printed Bench from West Elm is great for the end of the bed or extra seating in a living space. The print is fun (although I must admit the Chevron-ish print is getting kind of old to me) yet it's neutral enough to go in any space.
Another one that would be great at the end of the bed for added storage. Love this print and the colors, it might be one I keep in mind for our future guest room.
Again, love the color (don't act surprised) and the tufting gives it a classic look. Plus at $129 it's a great deal. 
What about you guys? Are you pro benches, or do you think they are a waste of space? Do tell..



Monday, February 25, 2013

As we've been discussing building our next home, we've talked a lot about the style of the house . We are definitely both contemporary at heart, but we want to add a little character to our next home. We've discussed kitchen cabinet colors, granite, crown molding and so forth. In the meantime, I've started "pinning", tearing, saving, etc inspiration photos for our dream home. No, we haven't even sold our house yet, or started on the official plans, but we are excited at all the possibilities, whether they will happen or not.
I know in a lot of instances, we will probably have to go with several builder grade choices, to get the other upgrades we want in order to stay under budget, that we will have to change down the road (probably mostly lighting). Regardless, I'm dreaming of our next house and all of the pretty inspiration I keep finding:
I'm dreaming of a contemporary kitchen with dark espresso cabinets and light granite counter tops  Add some stainless steel appliances, and my weird dream of a lazy susan corner cabinet, and you have my dream kitchen. I'm really not that hard to please, although my husband tends to disagree with that last statement.
I'm dreaming of thick crown molding surrounding all the windows, and cathedral ceilings in every room, especially any future kid rooms.
via
One of the most exciting things we are looking forward to is a media room in our new home. When we were buying our first home, my movie loving hubby got way too excited and went and bought all the fixins for an awesome media room. A 110" projector, surround sound, the whole works, but sadly to this day it has never been hooked up. There just isn't room in this house, so we are both very excited about the possibility of a true media room in our next home, but it probably wont look anything like this one---hey a girl can dream right?
via
Again, only a dream, but a jetted tub, vaulted ceilings, and his and hers vanity are a must in our next bathroom. I do love all the finishings in this bathroom.
We are very determined to stick to a tight budget, we are in no way prepared to give up our current lifestyle for a home, even our dream home, so a lot of our choices will be based on price. That being said, many of our choices will be builder grade, which in a way is perfect, because it gives us room to change things later since both of our tastes change daily. In the end, we will choose less expensive options for some things to make room for the upgrades that matter to us. Again, we have not even truly begun this process (we're hoping to have our house under contract before going any further,  even if this means renting for a few months, which to be honest is something I'm dreading). Until then, I'm going to keep pinning, tearing, and saving tons of inspiration, and dreaming of our next home.
On a last note, one of my favorite readers (Thanks Sara!) sent me an e-mail the other day and at the bottom there was this, and I literally almost spit out my wine....so perfect...I just have to remember that last part.
Man, Hemingway really had it all figured out, huh?