There are a few things I love more than hosting a party even if it’s just a small gathering with friends. Even though we can’t get together now that doesn’t stop me from putting together a fun drink setup! We have been spending a lot of time in the backyard whenever we can so I thought it would be nice to bring out some sweet tea for us to enjoy in pretty glasses last week. Instead of waiting for quarantine to end to use my fun outdoor decor, I thought we should celebrate whenever we want no matter the occasion! These faux seagrass wrapped glasses are perfect for everyday and special occasions!
I’m also so excited to share that these glasses and pitchers were a dollar spot find from Target! On one of my rare trips to Target to get a few food essentials, I gasped when I saw these cute cups! They are a really good dupe for the popular Serena and Lily seagrass wrapped glasses, and pitcher, too for a much smaller price.
I love how our backyard is coming together! I used old pillows from Target to add some color. The vase and faux hydrangeas are a recent purchase that I borrowed from our dining room. With all of this time at home, I’m working on making our home a happy place and welcoming. Even if it’s just enjoying a glass of sweet tea in the backyard enjoying the sunshine and our pretty garden!
The last few weeks our dining room has turned into my office so it’s often cluttered with my laptop, papers, notebook and planner. Now that it looks like we will be staying home for the summer I thought a little dining room refresh was needed! I wanted something simple and budget friendly so I focused on a new table centerpiece. Growing up my family had giant white hydrangea bushes in the front yard so we would have vases all over the house filled with hydrangeas. I was starting to get a little homesick and then Pop of Pippi inspired me to get a new vase and fill it with faux white hydrangeas. I love how this easy arrangement brightens up the space for summer! It’s also super easy to push to the side to work and then setup again when I’m done working. It’s quickly turned into my new favorite room in the house!
Our coffee maker broke last week and our Starbucks down the street is closed preventing me from getting my daily cup of coffee! It makes me wonder how many times is it acceptable to order Starbucks or Dunkin from Uber Eats??? Luckily I didn’t have to go without my coffee for that long because the day our Keurig died, Jake went on his phone and ordered a new one with next day delivery as a surprise for me. Of course we didn’t realize we were also out of K cups so we did a big order on Amazon of coffee supplies! We are officially one of those couples who share a pot of coffee together now and it’s great! Our K-Duo has the ability to make single cup coffee and a whole pot of coffee with one machine. Super easy to use and it’s going a lot cheaper than a daily coffee from Starbucks!
I’m turning the word “bored” into “free time” because right now boredom is just experiencing more free time than we ever had before. When I get bored, I make myself excited that I have time to start a project. I mentioned earlier on the blog about making a list of things to do to keep myself busy to prevent boredom and keep my spirits up. Gardening was one of thing things on my list and now that we have nice weather, I’m excited to get into the backyard and get my hands dirty. Gardening is easy to do and keep up with during the summer months. It doesn’t matter if you live in a house or an apartment, you can easily add some greenery to your home!
This weekend I hope the weather stays nice so I can walk down to my local hardware store because they are selling flowers and supplies. Lowes and Home Depot also have some great deals going on right now if you are able to get there. I’m going to order a few things online so they are ready for us this weekend and I have them listed below. For those living in apartments, start small with an indoor plant and herb garden. I had succulents all around my old apartment because they were easy to keep alive and did a great job of adding some greenery into my small space!
Luckily we already have a table and chairs set that I’ve been sitting at to have my morning coffee in the morning. It’s been marvelous! I grew up spoiled with a couch on a wraparound porch where my family and I would have breakfast and coffee every morning. I’m trying to make our little row home have the same feeling so we can create new memories. Our budget is small and we don’t have that much space but I am determined to create a space that I love to use. I hope you have nice weather this weekend so you can get outside and enjoy some sun while you work on your garden!
There is a room in my house that I immediately fell in love with right away (my kitchen) and a room that I did not like at all (my bathroom) when we moved into our home almost a year ago. The kitchen had great natural lighting, newly renovated with so much storage. Meanwhile, my bathroom was the complete opposite. It’s a room that has barely been touched and everything from my previous bathroom went into our new bathroom without much thought. Now that I have some more free time, I thought I needed to spend some more time in my bathroom making it a bit more functional.
There is very little storage in our bathroom so I have to keep most of my products out of the bathroom and in the linen closet down the hall. I only keep products in the bathroom that I will use every single day. At first, it was annoying but over time I was able to figure out what products I really needed in our tiny cabinet and what could be in the linen closet. I’ve gotten creative with storing products so they are organized and disguised as decor. One thing that really makes the room look clean and not cluttered is having themed bathroom accessories that are functional. I like our sink and tiny bathroom shelf completely clutter-free because clutter can accumulate quickly. It can look messy very easily! One thing that made a huge difference was using a soap dispenser instead of a plastic hand soap bottle. I’ll buy a big bottle of hand soap and fill up the soap dispenser when needed. It is also so much cheaper to do it this way than to keep buying hand soap. Our guest bathroom on the first floor has the Bath and Body Works or Mrs. Meyer’s hand soap as a nice treat for guests. We like to have themed soap in the guest room for each season or holiday so we change it each season.
The wastebasket can be an eyesore because it’s literally a pile of trash! I splurged and got a pretty ceramic garbage can that matched my hand soap so it is more decor than a typical plastic garbage can. It’s something that I will have forever and looks a lot prettier than the typical plastic. Be sure to buy all of your bathroom accessories with the same pattern to give it a more cohesive design. It’s an easy way to decorate a bathroom and make it look nicer. Over time I have accumulated three bathmats that all match so every Sunday when I bring the sheets down to the laundry room, I will grab the bathmat with me. I’ll replace it with one that I have in the linen closet. This way I feel like the bathmats get washed consistently and don’t get too much wear and tear since they are rotated. If you are renting and can’t decorate the space like you would like to, having a bathmat with a design with color is a great way to add your personality and decorate the space. It can also hide the tile if you are unable to change it.
When you open the door to the bathroom, one entire wall is the bathtub so all you really see is the shower curtain. When I moved into my first apartment, I wanted to get an adult looking shower curtain that fit my personality but didn’t have a design that I would grow out of overtime. I am so happy I was able to find a beige shower curtain with ruffles because it’s girly but subtle! It’s easy to buy a cheap shower curtain but it makes your bathroom look more expensive when you have a nice shower curtain. You can buy a cheap shower liner and replace it once it gets moldy. I like to get a new one every year because it’s hard to wash them. In our shower, we have this shower caddy so it fits all of our shampoos, body washes, etc. If it doesn’t fit in the caddy, it’s not in the shower. Again, I hate clutter! In the corner out of sight, I keep a bottle of bathroom cleaner so I can easily spray and clean our bathroom every few showers.
One thing I am so happy we spent money on when we moved was new bath towels. I love these because they are so soft and plush! The towels come in different color stitching so I got two for each of in our own color. I also bought a few hand towels to match so I can swap weekly with clean ones. I have a bunch of inexpensive wash clothes to wash and dry my face and I use a new one every day to keep my face from breaking out. On the weekend, I’ll spray and clean the sink with the washcloth before I put it in the laundry. Saves a tree and does a better job at cleaning too.
Hi friends! It’s another week of staying safe at home and I hope you are being productive while also taking care of yourself. I’ve done a lot of sitting which my body was not used to and my body is telling me to get up and move because I’ve been having aches and pains. Since I am at home all day I don’t get much walking in unless I am walking to the fridge or going to the basement to do laundry. My body is used to getting 10,000 steps in a day so this is a big change.
I was sitting on the couch one day watching another episode while scrolling on Pinterest and got motivated to do some redecorating. I went from rarely being at home to being home all the time so it made me really look at how my furniture was arranged and how it was decorated. Maybe I needed a change of scenery or just wanted to get up and moving but I woke up the next morning and started to move furniture. I took everything out of our living room, cleaned our floors and then started to put furniture back in the room. All it took was flipping our room 180 degrees but now it feels like a completely different space! I also removed a lot of clutter and put stuff into storage so I knew where it was in case I needed it later.
A few days later I moved my bed to another wall and rearranged a dresser making our bedroom look and feel so much bigger! I’m still working on the finishing touches of our bedroom but I love it already because it we have so much more floor space than before. I wanted to share my recent hobby because it costs zero dollars to move furniture around and it helps create a new space. Growing up I would constantly move my furniture around whenever I needed a change. Every few months I would sleep in a different guest room in our house for a week because it felt like a vacation. I kept my clothes and belongings in my bedroom because it was nice to sleep in a clean room without much in it.
A few friends and I watched a movie while we Zoomed each other the other night which was a lot of fun and I highly recommend! We watched Sky High because it was silly and just what we needed. After the movie, I did a quick home tour video to show them the new living room and talked about how relaxing it was to move furniture. Now I’m excited to sit in my living room because it’s different! Turns out, one of my friends does the same thing to her bedroom every few months so she understood that I wasn’t crazy for moving furniture around. Another friend saw how much moving the couch changed the entire room so now she’s motivated to do the same in her room.
It’s a great way to get up and get your body moving too! It can take a few hours or the whole day which is good if you are looking for a hobby that doesn’t involve buying anything or crafting.
Blonde Rosie Blog 