Recent TJ Maxx Finds

TJ Maxx has recently become one of my favorite stores! I don't know if it because I have been stopping by on a regular basis or if they are just getting better things these days...but I have found so many great things for my house lately so I thought I would share :)

Aren't these pillows adorable :) They were the perfect color for my living room! I don't remember the exact price...but I think they were $12 to $15.

I found this great set of curtains for my master bedroom a few weeks ago! They were $40 for the set and definitely worth it! They look great in the room...I'll be doing a post soon on our master bedroom.

Not the best picture of this...but I found four of these turquoise frames yesterday! I LOVE them! I think I am going to put them in my dining room...I just need to find some prints to put in them. You can't tell from the picture but they are really big and they were only $14.99!! YAY!! I think this is my favorite find yet!

I also found all of these things yesterday. I am not sure what I am going to do with the lantern...I just thought they were cute :) I will probably use the bowl in my new kitchen. Lanterns: $9.99 and Bowl: $12.99!!

And last but not least...my Dining Chairs!!! I am beyond excited about these!! I had to go to 3 different stores to get four of these but it was totally worth it! I love them and they look great with my new table! I will be doing a post about my dining room soon as well :) This chair was $99 which I think is great because I found a chair just like this online for $400!! WOW! My husband should be proud that I saved so much ;)

Happy Shopping!

Kelsey

Kitchen Inspiration!

I am getting soooo excited! We are planning on having our kitchen renovation complete by April! Which means I am quickly trying to decide on everything I want to do. One major reason for doing the renovation is the fact that we don't have a dishwasher :( According to Nathan...I (Kelsey) am the dishwasher haha! Not really...he is actually a big help!

So we have gone back and forth on different ways to arrange the cabinets and appliances. A few weeks ago I got my Southern Living February 2013 issue in the mail and I fell in love with one of the kitchens they did a Before and After piece on. For those of you who also love Southern Living you can find it on page 26. It just so happens that the layout of this kitchen is extremely similar to mine. It is meant to be!! Here are a few pictures of my kitchen...

Now do you see why we need an update :)

My original idea with this little blue table was to repaint it and build an L-shape bench around the left side of it. I think it would've made a cute little breakfast nook. However, I am WAY more excited about the NEW kitchen!! Now keep in mind, mine will not be nearly as fancy as this one...Nathan continuously reminds me that this is not our dream home. He wants to use this house as a rental house when we upgrade so he is not wanting to put a large amount of money into it. But I am still excited :) I think I can make it look super cute on a small budget!

So here is a picture of what I am calling "Inspiration Kitchen"

Isn't it BEAUTIFUL!!!

And here is a rough picture of the layout





Layout:

As far as the layout goes...our refrigerator is in the same place as this one...#3. We are going to move our stove in between our two windows and hopefully find someone that can build an oven hood really similar to the one in this kitchen. I think the oven hood is my favorite part about it! We will leave our sink where it is under the left sink and we will add a 6ft island in the middle. I have gone back and forth about the island table like the one above. I think it is a really cool concept however I am afraid it would not be a functional as a full island. So I think i have decided to just go with the full island instead.

Decor:

I love the colors in this kitchen! In my house I have incorporated a turquoisey blue and a beigey grey. I LOVE blue!! My dishes are a very faint blue and I also have some blue linens that I adore! So I am extremely torn. I have looked for some fabric in the coral family but have not found anything I like :( But I did come up upon this amazingly beautiful fabric that is "You Guessed It" a turquoisey blue! Here is a picture of the swatch the ladies at the fabric store gave me:

I LOVE this fabric! So needless to say I have a feeling that I will be going with it!

Another thing I LOVE about this kitchen is the lantern light fixtures!! I have seen this exact fixture in three different kitchens...but I cannot find where to get them!! But I love the idea of a colored light fixture so I am going to keep looking!

And last but not least is the colored island! I love it and think I want to paint my island a different color from my cabinets. The cabinets and counter tops are both going to be white...so I am looking for the perfect paint color for the island. And if you know me you know it takes me a year to decide on a color! I better get to it!

Until next time,

Kelsey

Spare Bedroom Makeover!

I love working on decorating my house :) I have spent a lot of time working on the living room and dining room and am really pleased with the way it is coming along! However, the rest of the house has been a little forgotten about :( but that's about to change! This week is devoted to the spare bedroom.

Here is a picture of the spare bedroom before we moved in

Here is the room today

YUCK!! So dark and boring!!!

Spare Bedroom Makeover Plans include:

A fresh coat of white paint

New Bed

New Bedding

Curtains

Dresser Makeover

New lamps

AND MORE!!!

Here is a small preview of the changes to come...

Alle loves the new bedding!

Picture Frames!!!

Alle is so excited  :)

And this is only the beginning!!

Stay Tuned for the complete reveal!



Miiiiiami! ROLL TIDE!

Two weeks ago my husband and I took a trip to Miami for the BCS National Championship Game! If you know Nathan you know that this is no surprise! We had a blast!!...probably because our team (ALABAMA) won!!...which kept Nathan happy :)  Here are a few pictures from our trip!

We caught an earlier flight just so we could go to a Miami Heat game. Neither of us had ever been to a pro basketball game...it was really fun! Definitely glad we made it in time to see the Heat blow the Wizards away :)

Headed to the game!!! We are beyond excited!!

Here is the stadium...I was standing here taking a picture and all of a sudden we look up and there is one of Nathan's friends from high school crossing the street! Good to see old friends at a great game!!

BCS Discover Zone! Don't we look cute in our Alabama gear :)

After standing outside the stadium for 2 hours to watch the players walk in we finally made it to our seats!! Anxiously waiting for the game to start! We weren't nervous though ;)

FIRST ALABAMA TOUCHDOWN!!!! I know I know...he looks mad...he's really not though. He just gets intense! He is actually VERY excited!! Roll Tide!

After many more touchdowns we OFFICIALLY won the game! And I got the perfect picture :)

YAY!!! National Champs!!! So glad we got to be there for this exciting moment!

ROLL TIDE Y'ALL!!

House Tour Sneak Peek!

This is our living room. This is the room we have worked on the most so far...but there are several things that I still want to do :)

This is the kitchen which is about to be TOTALLY renovated!! I am so excited! As you can see the kitchen is very small and sort of boring. I am especially excited about adding a dishwasher...I don't know how I have lived a year and a half without one! Hopefully I will be posting more about the kitchen renovation soon :)

Bathroom! We haven't done much in here...but future projects include re-painting, hopefully removing all the tile, putting in a new sink and a new vanity!

This is all for now! Hope you enjoyed seeing a little bit of our house! Much more coming soon!!

Meet My Family...

Meet Nathan!

This is my outgoing, fun-loving, type-A personality, precious husband! We have known each other since 2009 and married since September 2011. Nathan is a financial advisor but in his spare time he LOVES Alabama football, golf, wake boarding, duck hunting, x-box, traveling, basketball, and me of course! He is a great husband...I tend to need to be taken care of and he does that SO well!

Meet Alle!

This is our precious dog Alle. We got her a few months before we got married. She lived with Nathan and they became best friends. So much so that when I moved in I felt left out...so we got another dog (I will get to that later). Alle's personality is a lot like Nathan...lively, outgoing, and busy! She loves meeting new friends and playing with her frisbee. Did I mention Nathan is a HUGE Alalbama Crimson Tide fan? He loves Alabama so much that he named her Alle for Alabama! She is a great dog :)

Meet Cricket!

Cricket was added to the family the week we got back from our honeymoon. As I mentioned earlier, I needed a dog too! Cricket is the total opposite of Alle. He is really shy and nervous. However, he has the biggest heart! He loves us so much!

Both of our dogs came from a local organization called PAWS (Pets Are Worth Saving). They were both taken out of a home that had 40 other dogs and were not taken care of. They were both puppies when they were removed from the home, however, Cricket is about a month older than Alle so he was there longer. I think this is why he is so nervous about meeting new people. It took him a really long time to warm up to us. Both of our dogs are precious and I try to encourage everyone I know to adopt dogs from organizations like PAWS or a local shelter!

I love my little family and cannot wait to share more about them, our house, and our adventures!