Blank Wall Remedied

I have been plagued by this blank wall in our house. It's a horrible thing to have a room just the way you want it except for one problem wall. I knew I had to fix it, but I had nothing to hang there, nor did I want to spend any money to find a solution.

I then remembered that I had four unpainted canvas that I could put to use. I chose one of the larger ones to fill the space and got out the paint and brushes! Here is the finished product.

Ahhh much better.

Another view

Now to just figure out what I want to do with the other canvases...

Finding Love in All the Cheap Places

I am a girl who loves a good bargain. And I'm constantly looking for a good deal. So naturally I have a love for perusing thrift stores and Craigslist for my next big find. My desk, bookshelf, coffee table and end table from my college apartment were all refurbished pieces of furniture that my roommate and I found for next to nothing at our local thrift store. And they were actually cute and well-made! In fact, one of the pieces is still in my house today, and I still get compliments on it. It just goes to show that a little bit of paint or reupholstering can go a long way. And the best part is that you're finished, you will have a one-of-a-kind piece.

Here are a few before and after pictures that will show you exactly what I mean.

And check out this transformation featured on Living with Lindsey.

This old, tiered piece, shown on Design Sponge, looks completely with a little effort and a little paint.

And lastly, here is a dresser redo by Michelle at Three Men and a Lady. If you don't let door pulls and other cosmetic things cloud your vision, you too can come out with wonderful piece like this.

When you go shopping for your next piece of furniture, be sure to put Craigslist, thrift stores and flea markets on your list of places to checkout. You never know what you might find. And if you see something that looks too beat up or out-of-date to even think about bringing home, stop and give it another glance. If it has great lines, it has great potential.

Canopy Stripes

As I mentioned in a previous post, black and white canopy striped fabric is one of my current obsessions. It's classic, clean and oh so elegant. Not to mention that it can make a bold statement in a room without being too flashy. I normally favor a very neutral color palette with accents of greens and robin's egg blues, and this pattern could be put in any such setting and be beautiful. Here a few of my favorite examples:

Is this room spectacular or what? It's modern, classic and sophisticated! There is a large amount of stripes in this room, yet it's not overbearing. And the symmetry and clean lines displayed throughout give the room great balance. I could just plop this room right into my house!

This is another example (as shown in a previous entry). If you don't have the money to invest in a rug, buy a few pillows and get the same look in your room for a fraction of the price.

Whoever said black and brown don't go together was seriously mistaken. Look at this gem. The bold striped rug is a great anchor for the nearly all white room. And the mix of the distressed coffee table and chair with the tailored lamp shades and contemporary white Louis Ghost armchair give the room elegance without making you feel like it isn't livable. Talk about shabby chic.

And the last piece is one you can have made at Ballard Designs. It is sure to dress up any space!

Bring on the Pillows

This blog is about what's going on in the lives of Jon and I. And since interior decorating is a big passion in mine, it will be featured on here as well. So here you go...

I have a weakness for pillows. I'll admit it. I often find it hard to resist something so beautiful that can change a room at a minimal price with minimal effort. In fact, we have a ton of pillows in our house. Our house only has 2 bedrooms, mind you, and the countdown is as follows:

Our bedroom: 10

Guest bedroom: 10

Living room: 14

Attic/Storage (my out-of-season pillows) : 3

TOTAL pillows: 37

Is that out of control?

I hope not because I can't stop buying them. My "go to" place now that I live in Enid is Ross. "Ross?" you say. But I assure you, if you are patient, you will find some treasures. You won't find the gold every time you visit, but when you do stumble upon a gorgeous down pillow for the low price of $10.99, it is a glorious thing. That is where I snagged these bad boys.

If Ross doesn't tickle your fancy, you can always find what you're looking for online. One of my new favorite sites is Tonic Living. They have a number of pillows with absolutely stunning fabrics for the less than $25 a pop. Here are a couple for which I currently yearn.

Lemon drop keyhole. Yes, please.

Canopy stripe. Talk about class and simplicity. This pattern is one of my current design loves and not just in pillows. But I'll get to that in a later post.

Bold patterns like this one add interest to any room and keep the eyes moving.

People are often afraid to mix fabrics for fear of their room looking to busy, chaotic or simply not matching, but I say go for it. Layered textures and fabrics are one of the things that can really make a room. As long as you have a subtle background to work with, you can use as many patterns as you want. Take this room for example.

There are 3 very different patterns just on this side of the room alone. Not to mention the lampshade and framed floral images on the wall. And yet, it works beautifully. Because of the solid, neutral colors on the furniture and rug, the fabrics actually work together instead of compete. So the next time you're looking to spruce up your room for next to nothing, think of pillows and go bold!

Three Months and a Place to Sit

Today marks our three month anniversary! Three months ago we were standing on the white, sandy shores of Inlet Beach, FL, saying "I do." And I must say, it REALLY has flown by. Before we know it, it'll be our 1 year anniversary! I was looking at our wedding photos again and decided to put together a collage of all of the little details that went into make the day "our's".

It was a wonderful day, I wish Jon was here to celebrate it with me. However, he's presenting at an air show in Illinois this weekend for work. Thankfully, I have plenty to keep me busy as I prepare the house for our first visitor! My mom is flying in next Thursday, and we can't wait to show her our new home. And lucky for her, we will all be able to eat at the same dining room table because we finally have enough chairs!

We already had two dark woven chairs for the ends of the table and needed to find some others to compliment them and make a whole set. I searched for weeks for the perfect chairs that would fit into our budget. And while my heart was set on Chinese Chippendale chairs, they were very hard to come by and especially at the price point I needed. So, I went to my second choice of slip covered parson chairs. I think the end result turned out great.

The white is a good contrast for all of the dark wood tones already in the room, and I love the tailored silhouette.

Now let's eat!

Happy birthday Bryce

This past weekend Jon and I made our second trip down to Texas since we've been married. Our good friends and matchmakers, Colin and Noel, were celebrating their little boy's first birthday. It seems like yesterday we were just going to meet little Bryce for the first time. How things can change in a year. A year ago Jon and I were still living 5 hours apart, were not engaged and obviously not married. Now we both have rings on our fingers and have been living together as husband and wife in a little town in Oklahoma for almost 3 months!

But back to the weekend. Colin and Noel graciously allowed us to stay with them for the weekend and even told us we could bring Remington! It was so nice to not have to board him or leave him for another weekend. And he turned out to be WONDERFUL with baby Bryce. He was so patient with him and would let Bryce crawl all over him and pet and tug at him without getting frustrated at all. They would even follow each other around the house. It was so cute to watch and very comforting to know that Remington will be wonderful whenever we have our own bundles of joy one day :)

Jon and Colin are best friends from college, and Noel is an Alabama girl like me. It's great to see the Jon and Colin together because I feel like it's a rare thing to still be really good friends with people you knew ten years ago. And although Noel is older than me, we are a lot alike in so many ways! It's always nice to have "girl talk" with her while the boys play in the "man cave." So naturally we always have a great time together, and this time was no different.

On Sunday, we went to my old church, The Village, and got to meet up with my friend Samantha, albeit too briefly. Revisiting the church made me realize just how much of a blessing it has been in my life. The worship, preaching, atmosphere are absolutely wonderful and always stir my heart. And the people that run it are so incredibly gifted and have amazing hearts for God. It is definitely one of the biggest things that I miss about Dallas. Jon and I have yet to find a place we love as much here, but I pray we will soon.

Here is a picture of Remington on the car ride. He was resting his head on his daddy's seat :)

Denver, Colorado

Jon and I just got back from our first trip to Denver, Colorado. I had never been to Colorado and Jon had only visited briefly in Bolder so we were both in for a treat. My good friend Adrienne and her fiance Greg got married there, and I got the honor of being one of her bridesmaids. It was a fabulous affair, and we had a blast meeting all of their friends and family. We also got to see downtown a bit and go to a Rockies game. One of my favorite things though, was the amazing weather. It felt like fall! I kept saying to myself "I can't believe it's July, and it feels this pleasant outside!" We definitely want to make another trip back and explore more. Adrienne and Greg, thanks for a great weekend!

Jon and I at the Rockies game

Me and the beautiful bride

The happy couple!

At the reception

While we were gone, our friend Peggy was nice enough to watch Remington for us for the long weekend. He and her dog Daisy have become fast friends. Here's a picture of them from the weekend. Thanks for all of the help, Peggy!

4th of July

We spent the 4th of July here in Enid with the Ulmer's. They had us over for a yummy dinner, and then we grabbed the dogs and headed to the park for the fireworks show. We got there only to find out that the show had been cancelled due to rain early in the day. In the end, it worked out fine because we decided to make our own fireworks show! We had to head out of town to buy them and then shot them off on a country road. Because the area we're in is so flat, you could see everyone else's fireworks from miles away. It was a nice relaxing holiday spent with good friends. Here are a few pics from Peggy's camera of the evening.

Reutter family photo at the park

The boys with the dogs. Jeff and Daisy and Jon and Remington

Jeff, Peggy, Daniel, Sarah and Daisy. Do they look like a print ad for Ralph Lauren or what?

Hope you all had a happy 4th as well!

Meredith and Michael Get Hitched

My beautiful sister Meredith got married June 26 in Miramar Beach, FL. It was a small intimate wedding and beautiful day for a beautiful couple! And it was really nice for Jon and I to attend a wedding that wasn't our own :) Here are a few pictures from the trip.

Me and Mer before going to get our nails done.

My mom, the beautiful bride and me

Mer and Michael used the same photographer as Jon and I. It was so nice to see her again and catch up! And we know their photos will be just as gorgeous as our's were. Here's the shot of all of us with her.

Best wishes to you Michael and Mer! I pray that God may bless your marriage as much as he has mine.

Mallory's Birthday Surprise

I celebrated my 26th birthday on June 11th, but was surprised with my gift a few days before. Jon is notorious for not being able to hold in surprises. He had to go out of town for work the weekend before my birthday. He called me while on his trip and told me that he'd gotten me a gift for my birthday. When he arrived home from his trip on Monday night, he asked me if I wanted the gift then or on my actual birthday on Friday. I knowing that he hates keeps surprises, told him that I wanted to wait until Friday. He then informed me that that was fine because he left it at the office anyway. Apparently we both like to tease one another :) So Tuesday night rolls around and again he asks me several time in a row "Are you SURRRE you don't want your present yet?" I can see that it's killing him at this point, but I remain steadfast and say I want it on Friday. Finally he lets the subject go.

Meanwhile, I'm in the kitchen cooking something for dinner and Jon is on the couch watching TV before his softball game that night. He yells to me in the kitchen that he really wants to watch Finding Nemo. This might sound strange coming from most men, but not my husband. He loves animated films, especially Finding Nemo. I ask if he has time before his game, and he says he does. I tell him that I have I own the movie, and it's in the TV cabinet and he says "REALLY?!? We own it?" as if I've just made his day. I said, "Yeah you can go ahead and put it in if you want since your game starts soon." He says, "Okay." A few seconds later, he yells back into the kitchen "Honey, I want to watch Finding Nemo." I tell him "Okay, I told you you can go ahead and start it. I'll be there in a minute." Again, he yells the same thing. At this point I'm a little frustrated because I've already told him where it was and that he can go ahead and start it without me, and I don't know why he keeps telling me the same thing over and over.

I walk into the living room and say "Honey, I told you where it is. Can you not get it yourself? It's right in here..." And as I open the cabinet, I see my beautiful birthday present, a MacBook Pro. I gasp and yell and finally understand why he kept saying "I want to watch Finding Nemo." I had no clue because I was under the impression that my gift had been at his office still.

So in the end, he didn't make it until Friday, but he did REALLY surprise me and it was wonderful!

Here is a shot of me finding it.

So excited!

Thank you, Honey!

1 Month Anniversary-May 24, 2010

The first month flew by for Jon and I. Just getting to see each other every day instead of every 2 or 3 weeks has been such a treat. For our one month we made dinner at home and ate it on our newly finished dining room table that Jon did such a great job on. We bought champagne to toast with and finished it up with some special cupcakes. It was perfect :)

Just to give you an idea of the table before and after here are a few shots.

Jon had to rip off all of the trim and braided appliques on each side and then sand the whole table. The original color was that of the trim shown here.

And this is the one I originally fell in love with at Pottery Barn. Of course there's cost $1200 and ours was about $200 materials and all!

I love finding a piece I love, seeing the horrendous price tag and then figuring out a way to make it myself.

Graduation Dinner

Jon and I had to attend flight school graduation a few days after we got back from our honeymoon. It was nice to go as husband and wife :)

Let the Journey Begin!

I'd like to start from the beginning of journey so bear with me as I backtrack a bit.

Jon and I started out life together as husband and wife in Inlet Beach, FL, on April 24. If you want to hear how we got to that point, you'll have to check out our wedding webpage.

My dreams of the fairytale love finally came true! The dress was slightly different from when I was younger though. The following is a picture of me at age 5 and then 20 years later when I said "I do."

We had abnormally crazy weather with 30-40 mph winds and pending thunderstorms all day, but luckily the rain held off until we were making our exit and were on our way to enjoy our honeymoon in St. Thomas and the Virgin Islands. We absolutely LOVED or time in St. Thomas, St. John and the BVI and can't wait to return! If you're looking for a wonderful vacation spot, I would definitely suggest St. Thomas and the Virgin Islands. The food was the great, all the beaches were beautiful and everyone was so friendly. Plus you're only a boat ride from other islands, so you can island hop and not feel stuck at your hotel the whole time!

We are currently living in Enid, OK, where Jon is a flight commander for the 32nd flight training squadron. I am getting the house all settled and keeping our new puppy, Remington "Remi," company for the meantime.

Needless to say, he's grown very comfortable in his new home and has been a wonderful addition to our new family :)

He makes my heart smile :)

This is just one of the many AMAZING photographs by our photographer, Leslie Roark. To view the wedding slideshow go here.