One of our favorite photographers, Gray Malin, recently released a collection of prints all from the coast of Orange County. We went to an event to celebrate a couple of weeks ago and fell in love with a few of the shots. We were even lucky enough to snag one for our house and found the perfect spot for it to live… right over Crosby’s table!

We chose this beach aerial shot of Emerald Bay in Laguna Beach and like to call this “when your 2-year-old has the best art in the house”. But really, how perfect is it over her little table?!

Right now, Gray is offering free framing on all the prints on his site. This is such an amazing sale, as framing alone for this 11.5×17 can cost up to $180 and it’s one of the smaller prints. Such a good sale to take advantage of if you’re eying any of his prints.

Check out the rest of his Orange County series here… there are so many great ones, it’s really hard to pick a favorite!

We have been jamming in the nursery the past few weeks and made major progress! Once we moved Crosby into her new room we really got to work. We’re just waiting on a few items that were back orderd until we’re completely finished. Here’s what we’ve done…

Mud Cloth Wall Mural: I partnered with Minted on a few pieces for the room. One was this cool mud cloth wall mural for an accent wall behind the crib. It comes in strips and just sticks to the wall. Jeff and his dad spent a few hours installing it one day. We love the way it turned out!

Joshua Tree Art: Another piece from minted is this large framed art of Joshua Tree. It brings a lot of life into the space and I love that it’s something he can grow into and will never feel baby-ish.

Crib: We’re big fans of Babyletto cribs and this is the one we decided on. I wanted something different from what we have for Crosby (since she’s still in a crib) and love the way this light wood looks in his room.

Mobile: I ordered this mobile from Etsy a few months back. Love how the wood and feathers look in the room.

Cactus Hamper: This hamper was a hot item! Every time I shared it on IG stories it sold out, but Pottery Barn kept bringing it back. If you want it, I would suggest checking every few days to see if it’s re-stocked. Once they re-stock they go fast!

Mattress: We went with the same mattress we had for Crosby, this one from Nook Sleep. It’s highly rated, breathable and so comfortable. Crosby has loved it and we hope baby boy does too.

We already had this rocker, pouf, side table, changing table (with new leather pulls) and shelf

We’re waiting on our new rug and changing pad and still need new curtains. Other than that we’re done and it’s really coming together!

This year I wanted to create a boho table scape for Thanksgiving. I’m not hosting, but I thought it would still be fun to pull together some pieces I already had for this. Styling a table is another fun way to be creative and dress something up. Plus I love an excuse to show off our dining room table that Jeff built. 🙂

china, napkins, napkin rings, glasses, table runner, similar pumpkins, chairs

Just don’t look too closely… we still don’t have chairs on one size of the table. Jeff planned to build a bench, but I’m still undecided. We might just buy three more of the rose gold chairs from Anthropologie for an easy fix.

Back to the table scape…

I bought fresh dried lavender and eucalyptus at Trader Joes to get it started. Now my house smells so fresh, I’m reminded why I need to have lavender on hand more often. The glasses and napkin rings are a World Market find and I had everything else already. I also love an excuse to bring out our wedding china. It seems silly that a big purchase like that is only used once or twice a year… if you’re lucky. Ours has been used once in three and a half years. #oops I also want to talk about this macrame table runner. I found it on a crazy sale at Anthro awhile back. I think someone bought it and returned it so they marked it way down. I love a good find like that and it’s been on my table ever since. I’ve loved styling it for fall and think it will be really pretty at Christmas time too. Maybe with some other greenery or my new obsession, fairy lights.

china, napkins, napkin rings, glasses, table runner, similar pumpkins, chairs

Thanks for reading – hope you have a great day and weekend!

Crosby is at an age where she’s starting to hate sitting in anything that she needs to be strapped in. Car seat, stroller, high chair etc. I’m hoping this is a short phase because it’s making life a lot harder! We decided it was time to get her own little table, but had trouble finding one that we liked and thought would fit in with our decor. Jeff had the idea to get this $30 IKEA LATT table and DIY it into our own creation. We couldn’t be happier with how it turned out… but the best news is Crosby is a huge fan too!

I posted the finished product on my IG stories and had an overwhelming response to it. Seriously more questions than anything I’ve been asked before… I knew we needed to do a tutorial. This is not revolutionary by any means as there’s already a bunch of tutorials online, it’s just what we did.

To start, here’s what the table looked like when we bought it:

Materials you’ll need:

Primer

Paint and/or stain

Painters tape

Fabric for the seat cushions

Foam for the seat cushions

Spray adhesive

Staple gun

First up, Jeff primed the whole table to get it ready for paint. Next he applied two coats of white no VOC paint. Make sure you paint the upper edges of the four table pieces that face inward – those will show once you slide in the table top. We let it dry for about a day in our garage and then it was time for the stain. We wanted it to fit in with our dining room table so we picked out a stain that matched for the tips of the legs on the chairs and table. Jeff taped off where we wanted them and did two coats of stain. Again letting it dry over night.

While the paint was drying we made the seat cushions. We cut squares of foam so they’d fit inside each of the cutouts of the seats and be comfortable to sit on. Cut the fabric to size so that there’s a few inches of overhang on each side, pull tight and staple in place. You want to put the foam side down on the inside of the fabric. If you have any sort of pattern with lines just make sure the pattern is lined up right. Last you use the spray adhesive to attach the foam cushions into the seat of the chairs.

table and chairs, fake cactus, Crosby’s pj’s, sippy cup, plate

I hope this helps if you’re trying to do something similar. If you do your own version make sure to tag me so I can see it! XO

Is it too early to start counting down to the weekend? I thought a cheese plate post might help turn up this Tuesday. I’m definitely not the most domestic, but I can handle a cheese plate. They’re the perfect appetizer for a dinner party… or just a random Tuesday. And they’re so easy to make! A little creamy, a little savory, a little tangy, a little sweet… my recipe for making the perfect cheese plate. It’s taken me a few years but I think I’ve finally mastered this fine art.

table runner, cheese board, wine glass

I picked up everything at Trader Joe’s, here’s what I got:

1. Brie Cheese
2. Fig & Olive Crisps (Jeff’s not a huge fan of these but I can’t get enough of them)
3. Spanish Meat Sampler
4. Raw Almonds
5. Green Olives
6. Toscano Cheese with Cracked Black Pepper (a favorite in our house, we go through this so fast)
7. Strawberries
8. Olive Tapenade
9. Blue Cheese
10. Classic Original Water Crackers

Cheese boards are one of our favorite things to order when we’re out for drinks. And we often make them at home for dinner when we don’t want to or can’t go out. Add in a little (or a few bottles) of wine and it’s the perfect at home date night.

There’s really no wrong way to create a cheese plate… at least in my book. Have fun with it! Make sure you have a few different cheeses, crackers or bread, and whatever else you’d like. I forgot to pick up my favorite Fig Butter the last time I was at Trader Joe’s but that’s usually a big staple for me. I also love to do honey or another kind of jam for a fun sweet spread.

What do you put on your cheese plates? I love hearing and seeing different ways to do it!

Over the past few months, we’ve totally re-done our living room. With a new couch, rug, poufs, throw pillows and coffee table. The room looks completely different than before and I think it’s finally just the way I want it.

It started with the rug. Back at the end of April I was online and saw a huge sale happening on Wayfair and quickly purchased this rug. I never really liked our old rug, it was kind of an impulse buy and I felt the colors kind of clashed with the rest of our decor. So a new rug came and we sold the old one on Craig’s List.

Next up was the sectional. We knew we need more space to spread out. Jeff was sick of me taking over the couch every night, so a sectional where we both could relax was key. We found this one during a Memorial Day sale at Living Spaces. It checked all our boxes and looked perfect with our new rug. I can’t find it online, but I found this one that’s pretty similar.

I knew I wanted new poufs for the space too and found these on Etsy and my parents got them for my Birthday. They came from Morocco – un-stuffed so we played around with what to put in them. Finally came up with a mixture of old clothes and pellets like these. They’re a great weight now.

For the throw pillows I collaborated with a local shop Willa Skye Home. They amazing prices and online inventory, so definitely check them out.

The hardest item to find was a coffee table. I knew I wanted a lighter wood top and base that wasn’t too bulky. Jeff finally found this one online at West Elm. I say finally because it took months. We actually just got it a couple of weeks ago.

other product links:

hanging chair

faux sheepskin

ceiling fan

faux cactus

Here are some photos for what the room looked like before…