House of Hydrangeas

Me and my mom are heading down to visit my sister this weekend and help her get the nursery organized and put together.  Jon will be heading down with us as well, but he and the boys will be heading to a football game while we play design :)  With the exception of her Little Castle glider, Meredith has just about everything she needs to put the finishing touches on Cohen's nursery.  The glider should arrive sometime in the next two weeks, but until then, we'll try to knock out everything else.  I'm exciting to see it all in person and help her get just the right look for baby Cohen's room. Since we're heading out of town, I decided to look up the Craigslist ads in Mer's area just for fun last night to see what they had to offer.  Much to my surprise, I saw two wonderful finds. The first find are these factory carts. (Please excuse the picture quality on these...you know how Craigslist is).  The asking price for these carts is only $165.  You may ...

My thrift store find went from this... to this for Meredith's shower. But now that the shower is over, I'm thinking of other uses I can have for it.  Chalkboard trays have become all the rage--I think partly because they are so easy to make and also because they are so versatile.  Although my tray is completely covered in paint, I also like those left with an exposed edge or frame.  There are endless ideas of what you can do with these.  Here are a few ideas that caught my eye.    Hang it up... A great idea for your guests... Perfect for fall... Even a football schedule looks elegant in a gilded frame...

The long-awaited day finally arrived on Saturday!  I would like to say that Meredith's vintage-inspired baby shower "went off without a hitch," but that would be a lie.  We had to make a few adjustments and forgo a few ideas planned, but all things considered, I'd still deem it a success!  So let's take a tour of the shower through my camera lens...     The menu, which you'll learn below, was altered en route to the shower.  In the end, it consisted of chips and dip, fruit skewers, pasta salad, chocolate dipped pretzels, chicken salad sandwiches, ham and cheese rolls, whoopie pies and cake (made by your's truly and my mom-from scratch!). The cake decoration didn't turn out quite as planned due to some time issues that arose after the tomato basil soup that was also supposed to be on the menu spilled ALL over the car via transport to the shower.  And the icing coloring we bought was a little brighter green than advertised, but we rolled wi...

With just a few days away from Mer's baby shower, I've been busy running around getting all of the last minute things done.  I've been holding off on posting about a lot of details on here because Meredith reads the blog.   BUT since she caught a glimpse of some of the items stashed away in our room when she was here last weekend, I now can share a little with you guys.  I took two old gold frames we had in our yard sale pile and sprayed them with gray spray paint so that they'd fit in with the color scheme of the shower.  I put the shower invite in one (which will go on the sign-in table when you walk in) and a sign I created to go by the favors in the other.  Can you guess what the favors will be? :) While out running errands, I also picked up my coupon trip items for the week.  Here is what I got at CVS. Total spent: $27.23 Total saved: $24.30 + $2 back in EC bucks I had 2 Buy One Get One coupons on the Dove shampoo and conditioner so I got...

The latest issue of Ivy & Piper featured some beautiful spaced designed by Liz Caan.  Liz Caan Interiors is located in Newton, Massachusetts, and even their storefront is amazing.  I usually don't share rooms by designers unless I am inspired by a lot of work in their portfolio.  Liz is one of those people.  Let's take a look. Isn't the outside of her studio gorgeous?  That awning... *drool* Here is the inside of her design studio.  Wouldn't you love to work here?  I know I would! And look at this charming bedroom.  I have these black and white pillows, and I see them featured everywhere!  (Guess where they're from... Target! circa 2007) This master bedroom is so sophisticated- a traditional space with just the right amount of contemporary elements. This little boy's room is so sweet.  I love the open storage and streamlined upholstered headboard... and the striped walls.  Don't get me started on the striped walls. ...

Meredith's maternity shoot was on Saturday.  We were blessed with great temps and lots of sunshine!  And the fact that we shot all of the photos on my mom's land meant she could have as many costume changes she wanted :)  I think the photos turned out great, and more importantly, so did Michael and Meredith.  Here are a few of my favorite shots.     These shoes were mine and Mer's when we were little :)