I have curated holiday lists for everything you may need to survive the shopping overwhelm of the season — prepping, organizing, hosting, gifting, and of of course… decorating! Because for some people, the idea of decorating can seem overwhelming — where to start, what to buy — I’m sharing 5 themes & color stories to get your inspired with just enough time to spare to get your decor up while enjoying your Thanksgiving leftovers… because round these parts, we decorate AFTER Thanksgiving, and never before.
Here are five holiday themes that you can shop from — mixing & matching is encouraged by the way — to get your in the holiday spirit this year.
Read More
Y'all... I don't have the words to even begin to put together for this post... and this ain't even a full reveal or a behind the design. For the past 6 or so months, we decided to finally cross off a major task from our exterior projects to do list - our deck!
Here's the thing... working on the deck wasn't just about the deck... it was about creating an al fresco lifestyle. This project was, first and foremost, always about bringing the hygge outside. While we'd always had a deck, because it didn't feel like an extension of our interior spaces, I didn't really appreciate or enjoy it. I would always joke that I wanna do more than just sit on a folding chair... because that was literally all I could do. And after all of the work that would go into upgrading the deck & adding a pergola + so many other details, the last thing I wanted was to resume just sitting on a folding chair. So once we made the decision to tackle this project, I simultaneously began doing what I do best - shopping!
Read More
In the past 4 years I dabbled with quite a few bra brands, however, none quite fit the bill for me across the board and I'd soon find myself right back to just not wanting to wear a bra at home at all. They'd be great for outside and/or for working out, just never found anything quite right for my lifestyle as someone who spends 94% of their time at home.
You can tell by the title that I finally found my groove, and specifically, with Harper Wilde.
Read More
Ya'll... this is the year I officially start gardening and I am super geeked about it. You guys have seen me talk about gardening before - both here on the blog and on Instagram - however this year work on #thehyggeranchjardin will officially begin... like with a plan. What do I mean? Up until this point the garden was (a) whatever we inherited when we bought the house or (b) a few seeds we tried out when we put out our new garden beds. There was no layout, there was seed planning... none of that. For the past 2 years now, while I have wanted to actively start gardening, other things always took precedence; however, not that we're nearing the completion of the deck reno, I feel comfortable moving forward with truly beginning #thehyggeranchjardin.
Read More
If you recall last year, I shared my plans for the hygge ranch backyard resort. Going into this new year of projects, we made a conscious decision to prioritize exterior projects. We're extremely comfortable with the current state of the home's interior, in that we wanna spend time just living in the house, not tackling projects around the house. Summer spaces are made in the Winter, so instead, we've been spending the majority of the Fall into the Winter tackling the next phase of the backyard renovation - our deck.
Read More
It shouldn't surprise you that I'm writing this post while also enjoying a homemade "medicine ball" - honey citrus mint tea - because nine times outta ten, I'm drinking tea. My love of tea grew exponentially in the last 4 years when a health concern required me needing to scale back my coffee consumption. I was distraught at first & then decided to make the most of it & explore tea varieties. Now, 4-ish years later, I'm plotting growing my own tea garden... that's how much I've come to love having tea as part of my days.
Read More
In this new digital age, just about everything is driven my technology — there isn’t anything you can’t do online nowadays! So it’s no surprise that there’s been a growing interest in smart homes — which, in lamens terms, is automation for different areas of your home for everything from lighting to climate control to your appliances. From voice activation to everyday appliances to cloud based integrations, here are 15 ways you can make your apartment smarter.
Read More
It's no secret that I am a big coffee and tea drinker, so with every home I've ever had, I've always made sure to have a dedicated space in my kitchen for my daily coffee & tea routine. No matter the footprint of your home, if you are a tea and/or coffee lover, here are four reasons you need a coffee corner, tea cart, and/or hot beverage bar.
Read More
A few months ago, I began sharing weekly and/or monthly edits of what you've been clicking & shopping... similar to my monthly Amazon favs series from 2021. Now that we're in a new year, I decided to look back at the entire 2022 year of shopping.
Wanna know what everyone's been buying?
Read More
Year 3 of sharing annual goals for our home & this might be officially be my favorite annual exercise. Finding that sweet spot between what we want to do and what we have the bandwidth to do is paramount this year. All in all, I think this year we have a nice balance of projects - needs vs wants, what we'll do ourselves vs what we'll hire out, and what'll be low lift weekend projects vs what'll be long term projects. More importantly, because so many of these projects are intrinsically linked, I am optimistic that we'll actually be able to tackle all of them alongside our lives outside of home improvement projects.
Read More
I recently purged my closet & it should come as no surprise that I have my fair share of black wardrobe pieces. When I turned my attention to shoes & sneakers, however, I realized I had a whole lotta color & very little black. With the exception of my Suede Nike Blazers (similar), stacked heel lace up bootie (similar), a pair of Mary Jane inspired pumps, and Crocs clogs, and Crocs sandals - so basically one of each shoe in each category lol - it's been a real long while since I've had an truly ALL black shoe... meaning no white sole or colored logo or some kind... just black on black on black. So, naturally, I began online window shopping for all black sneakers, shoes, and boots, in hopes that over the course of the year, I'll actually purchase a few.
Read More
After a year of unpacking a lot of emotional baggage in therapy, I began to realize that there are already enough “rules” around the holidays & all of my anxiety was self-imposed. The only traditions I needed to observe are the ones we created together as a family - what activities filled our cup and brought us the most joy versus the ones society and/or social media said we should be doing.
Read More