vacation recap: South Carolina

I know it has been a while since my last post. I've been busy having an amazing vacation with my family in South Carolina. It was so nice to be able to get away and spend time with everyone in such a relaxing location. The house we were staying in was right across from the ocean so it was perfect for this pregnant lady - I could make plenty of trips back and forth to get water, reapply sunscreen and of course use the restroom. 

While we spent much of our time on the island, we did make a couple trips outside of Edisto. We spent one day at Middleton Gardens which was my favorite excursion. Another day we drove into Charleston and did some shopping, dining and a historical carriage tour. We also took a trip to Botany Bay, which had a beautiful beach and fantastic shells. But wherever we were, my favorite part was indulging in the fresh seafood!


I feel so fortunate to have been able to catch up with my family and spend some quality time with the hubby before baby comes. Besides baby's upcoming arrival, the vacation was timed perfectly for some other celebrations. My brother-in-law graduated from med school, the hubby celebrated a birthday (I won't say how old), and my parents celebrated their 36th wedding anniversary! 

Here are some pictures from our trip. After a relaxing two-week break, I'm ready to start summer classes and get back to the world of design!

my sister and her hubby enjoying Middleton gardens

Mom & Dad celebrating 36 years of marriage!

the beautiful gardens at Middleton Place

Mom relaxing at Middleton gardens

walking on the beach at Botany Bay

sunset boat ride & my sister and her hubby

birthday dinner with the hubby

Edisto Beach & Botany Bay

the whole family!

vacation essentials: maternity edition

Finals are officially over and I am ready for vacation! My parents had been talking about renting a beach house for all of us to do a family vacation for a couple years, but the timing just never seemed to work for everyone. This year it finally has! I'm heading down to meet my parents, my sister and my brother-in-law in Edisto Beach, SC. It's extra special because my brother-in-law just graduated from medical school and got his first choice match. I am so proud and excited for him and my sister! 

I will be able to stay for a little over a week and I can't wait. The hubby is going to meet us down on Thursday and stay for a long weekend. I'm looking forward to laying on the beach with my belly, sipping iced tea and catching up with the family. 

With my changing body I didn't want to splurge on suitcase full of new things for this vacation, but I did snag a few items. Here are my must-haves for vacationing while pregnant.

1 :: 2 :: 3 :: 4 :: 5 :: 6 :: 7 :: 8 :: 9 :: 10 :: 11

I'll be checking in to share my vacation adventures, stay tuned!

inspiration of the week: wallcovering

Until a few years ago, I thought of wallcovering and I pictured the awful floral wallpapers of decades past - and the painful process of removing them. The first house we rented as newlyweds had this hideous hunter green wallpaper in the kitchen. It complemented the hunter green laminate countertops (ugh). As a wedding present, my in-laws removed all the wallpaper and painted the kitchen a bright sunny color for us. I know it took them days, but it was one of the best wedding presents! We both swore then that we'd never use wallpaper in our home.

But fast forward just a few years and I've changed my tune. Wallpaper is making a come back and has come a long way since it's Brady Bunch days. Wallpaper now comes in a multitude of patterns, colors and styles to suit any taste. Plus, many are now "removable" so they can be used by renters and commitment-phobes alike. 

Check out these spaces that use wallpaper to enhance the style of the room and in many cases, negate the need for lots of accessories and styling.

This bookshelf wallpaper adds some fun to this office space.
:: source ::

Adding wallpaper behind this open kitchen shelving adds visual interest and complements to the casual white dinnerware.
:: source ::

A powder room is the perfect place to do something bold.
:: source ::

This gold papered accent wall adds a touch of glamour without the need for lots of bedding and accessories.
:: source ::

I've seen this whimsical wallpaper used before, but I love this children's room application that allows the children to interact with the wallpaper and display their own art in the frames.
:: source ::

Wallpaper doesn't have to be bold, this subtle iridescent wallpaper adds a sophisticated feel to this hallway and allows the architectural details to take center stage.
:: source ::

The wallpaper in this glamorous bathroom brings in the color palette and patterns of the adjacent bedroom.
:: source ::

What a clever way to add interest to the ceiling of this nursery. I love the idea of giving baby something to look at while he falls asleep.
:: source ::

In a small dining room, wallpapering an accent wall adds just the right amount of formality without crowding the space.
:: source ::

So what do you think? I am just dying to wallpaper our master bathroom. The space is small and there isn't much room for accessories. I think wallpaper would be the perfect solution to liven up the space!

our home: guest room

I'm in the midst of finals week and feeling completely overwhelmed. On Sunday I was almost finished with my most important project board and then I accidentally screwed it up during gluing and had to go purchase more mat board and head back to school to cut it. I had a mini meltdown and it wasn't pretty. 

But yesterday I turned in my first final and started feeling much better. To give you an idea of the workload for this program, Monday's final was for a two credit hour class and consisted of: a huge 2-inch binder filled with everything you might want to know regarding finishes, a presentation board of finishes, a 3-5 minute presentation of that board, and a written final. I typically spend 6-8 hours/week outside of the classroom for this course alone and it's only 2 of my 14 credit hours. BUT, I love the program and am learning SO much!

So I was already in a great mood leaving class after finishing that final, but then I came home and there were packages on my doorstep! One of those was the rug for our nursery and another was the fabric swatches for the glider. The rug was even more perfect than I imagined. The crib and glider are also now on order, so the nursery is officially underway. See the nursery inspiration board here.

I think this is a great time to say farewell to our guest room and share some photos of what it looked like. We'll be keeping everything and moving it to the third bedroom in the basement. Although not as perfect for guests, there's no way I'm putting baby in the corner basement.

My favorite part of this room is how much natural light it gets from these gorgeous windows!

I love this little bird statue I snagged at a gift shop around the corner

This chair was a great find from Target and these bird paintings were from One Kings Lane

A little live plant is perfect to make guests feel at home.
These pillows remind me of my travels, I got while I was visiting my sister in South Africa.

Farewell sunny guest room, hello neutral nursery! 

nursery design: inspiration board

This weekend I finally started putting together some ideas for the nursery. I had been waiting to find out if baby was a he or a she, but then felt a little overwhelmed and procrastinated another month. In the end, I decided to stick with the neutral palette I had in mind from the beginning. Neutral is really my style and I want the nursery to be a relaxing place since we'll be spending a lot of time in there. Baby's toys and playtime can be stimulating, but I want the nursery to be soothing and (hopefully) promote sleeping!

Grey and white are the neutrals we have going throughout the rest of the house, so I decided to continue that in the nursery. As accent colors, the hubby chose navy and I chose yellow (no surprise there!). I ordered the rug and blanket from Joss & Main, and I'm waiting on some swatches for the chair so I can move forward with that order. Next step is to start painting and installing beadboard panelling. I'm sure this inspiration board will evolve as we go, but I'm excited to see it start to take shape!

1 :: 2 :: 3 :: 4 :: 5 :: 6 :: 7 :: 8 :: 9 :: 10 :: 11