Pin of the Week: Curb Appeal

Hi Everyone! I'm finally back with a Pin of the Week, oh how missed doing these and of course I miss blogging regularly. Hopefully we'll have a new laptop soon, which will make things so much easier, a blogger with out a computer is like a cupcake without sugar. Those ingredients work so well together. Luckily our apartment has a business center I can use to get my blog reading fix at. This weeks pin of the week is all about Curb Appeal. I love changing painting your home, landscaping, installing new lighting and small tweaks really help the over look of your home. When we fist bought our home, we couldn't wait to get started on curb appeal, click here to see how our home looked when we first moved it. Doing all the things I mentioned above really helped our little home standout. 

Now that we are going though a new transition of re-building / bringing stuff up to code inside & outside our home since our house fire in July, we've put of thinking caps and plan to change things up. I have to reminded myself that change can be a good thing, otherwise I can get super sad. So well be changing things up inside and out. so after a recent trip with the family to Barnes & Nobles I decided to buy the newest copy of HGTV Magazine its was full of curb appeal, so it had me a t first glance. I have to say I really enjoyed the magazine! Which shocks me because I haven't watched that channel in years, partly because we dumped cable a while back & I got tired of endless reruns & they didn't show enough of Sarah's House. 

Pin of the Week: Curb Appeal

Here's some of my favorite Curb Appeal related 'Pins' via my Pinterest 

I love this house I spotted in HGTV Magazine, the homeowner gave the whole outside of the home a face-lift and created pretty curb appeal. I love color of the shutters and how they frame the windows. I also love the lap siding, and the front porch looks nice and cozy. Although I'm not normally a huge fan of dark brown houses, I love how well this color works with the location of the house. You can see more of the transformation here. 

(via here)

I thinking of adding some flower boxes to the windows in the front of our house. I love how much color the bring to the overall look. And they are so pretty to look at. 

(via here)

I love the pop of green on this front door. We plan to make better use of our small front porch when we move back in. Maybe painting the concrete adding larger planters on both side of our front door. Hasani really wants to add a porch swing, hopefully we'll find the right one. 

(via here)

Next week, I have lots of progress share about our house. Its so good to see progress being done there, it means we are closer to moving back in and creating new memories. 

Whats your # 1 tip on creating Curb Appeal?

Big Boy Room Mood Board

I'm still hesitant to call Avery's new room a big boy room, since my baby is well a baby. But we figure when we move back in our home, the timeline still undecided (maybe December?) Avery will be a year and a half. So Hasani and I had to have the crib vs. the toddler bed vs. a twin bed discussion and what made most sense. In the end it really doesn't make sense to buy another crib or toddler bed, that he would soon out grow. Tabari was in a twin bed before the age of 3. 
So we have decided we'll buy a twin bed frame and use side rails on one side of the bed. The other side of the bed will be up against the wall. 

Even though we have no move back home timeline, I still thought it would be a good idea to put together some ideas for his new room. I'm really drawn to the colors of avacado pear, orange, pale blue and grey. I just love how those colors look in his room which gets lots of natural sunlight. I've also used the same colors for my baby shower invites & party (here), his first birthday invites & party (here) and his nursery (here) Yup those colors gets lots of love in our home when it comes to Avery. So it makes perfect sense to use them again, I'm already loving that the colors have grown with him thus far. For Avery's new room design, my goal is to add a play spot in his room, reading / coloring area and above all create a well organized happy room that he'll love & want to play in. I fully anticipate him playing all over the house, but creating his own spherical spot in his room makes me happy. Here's the mood board I put together for his room. 

1. A few days ago, I mentioned I was working on a gallery wall above his crib before the fire. I plan to create a new gallery wall is his room. So far I have the cute Alphabet print, which was a gift from Etsy seller Yulia of Giraffes and Stuff. She was sweet enough to send a print our way for Avery's nursery after she heard what happened, thank you again! I'm also digging this cute print from the Land of Nod. I think his gallery wall will be a mixture of artwork and my own little creations for him (framed gift wrap etc) I'm also loving this print, via Etsy sell Handz. I used to love my viewfinder when I was little, I'm sure my mom still has mine somewhere.

2. I want to add some bookcases to his room, for books, toys and baskets. Just the thought of making arranging a cute kids bookcases makes me smile. I'm on the fence, not sure if we'll get a pair of short bookcases of a pair of tall ones. Ideally I'd find a pair of bookcases with bottom cabinets on Craigslist that just need a little love. Cute bookends that can be played with will be a must for his bookcase, I anticipate lots of books and toys all over his floor. The Skip Hop Zoo Bookends, had me at hello and the colors are perfect for his room! I plan on using a few baskets for his stuffed animals and misc toys, I like these colorful ones from the Land of Nod. For his twin bed, I really like the modern clean lines of West Elm's bed frames, this one is my favorite. 

3. I love all things Melissa & Doug they have the cutest retro wood toys and huge plush animals, I'm leaning towards getting the Dalmatian or Giraffe for his room, big soft animals are must in his room (Don't be fooled by my picture, in real life the Dalmatian is huge) I love kids tables and chairs in bedrooms, they perfect spot to draw, play and 'read' books at. My mom has this little yellow pre-school chair and Avery loves to sit at when he's at her house. Adding chairs and a table will be perfect addition to his room. I really like these modern feeling dark walnut kids chairs I found on Target.com (they are almost twins of the pricey Land of Nod version) I loved the price $29.99 on clearance for two, so I bought them. I can't wait until they arrive!! I adore this Land of Nod table it fits so well in small spaces, and I love how the legs are off-set :)

4. Lastly one my favorites things to shop for fabric! I had Annia drapes in Avery's nursery from Ikea, but I they no longer sell that color Avocado Pear, boo! I'm considering sewing new drapes in the same color I used in his nursery or mixing it up sewing patterned drapes. I love both of the fabrics found on Tonic Living, just need to order swatches and see if they'll work. His bedding is still up in the air, but i'm in love with these sheets from the Land of Nod, love'em! Here's a closer look at the patterned fabric I'm considering for his drapes. If I don't use it as drapes, maybe I'll sew a throw out of it? Or sew a duvet? The possibilities are endless! This time around I plan on lining his drapes with blackout liner, this mom wants to sleep in just a little on weekends :)

It feels so good it get my ideas on paper, yeah know what I mean, lol. Nothing is set in stone except his chairs and the artwork we already have. I'm really looking forward to working on his room and my tweens room. What do you think of my ideas so far?

Are you working on any room update around your house? What's your favorite part bringing in cute accessories or fabric shopping? 

PS: Don't forget to enter the Home Depot Gift Card Giveaway!!