Bedroom Lighting Change Up

Hi friends! It's hard to believe its been a month since my last blog post! June has truly been a whirlwind month, filled with two birthdays and two behind the scenes projects that I'm not yet able to share and lots of DIY projects and design updates around our house that I am able to share, confusing right?

I'm super excited to share this recent update to our bedroom. We recently decided to change the light fixture in our bedroom for one we absolutely love. When I was shopping for new lighting for our bedroom during our house re-build I wasn't able to find light that was within budget and that I loved. So we decided to buy the same light fixture we previously had in our bedroom. I loved the lighting our bedroom before and this time around, I liked it but was never married to the style of it in our bedroom. Just like personal style changes, I also believe our taste in home design changes. We go though different cycles of what we love and so on. Looking back, I should have just stuck up boob light and called it a day until we found 'the one.' Live and learn right. 

Ever since I picked our Avery's atomic lighting for his bedroom, I've been smitten with the idea of adding a grownup version in our bedroom. However a grownup version is pretty pricey, but I couldn't get these images of atomic lighting in bedroom out of my head. I love how modern whimsical the light looks and love its nod to our homes mid century roots. Plain and simple, I wanted one to enjoy too! Isn't the bedroom below fantastic, for the lighting + vintage credenza is everything. 

Image via Pinterest 


Image via Pinterest 

Checkout this Statement light fixture in bedroom, large and bold and perfect


I absolutely love the 'bones' of our bedroom all its natural light, french doors plus now having a en-suite bathroom make me giddy to create a lovely retreat with wow lighting. I totally believe the right lighting can be a game changer. Recently Lowes debuted a new Sputnik like light fixture and I loved it! Tiffany from Living Savvy recently installed the Sputnik in their dining room and gave it a makeover with gold spray paint and it looks fantastic! 



But Hasani wasn't on board, he didn't like look of the light for a bedroom, until we were shopping in Lowes one Saturday afternoon and he loved it! A few seconds later the light fixture was in our shopping cart and we were speeding home for the installation. Here's our bedroom before the lighting change up.





The light fixture originally came with 18 60 watt vintage style bulbs, making it to hot to leave on, casting a yellow tone and too large in appearance, not the look we're going for. We switched out the light bulbs for simple clear round ones, the instant change up was exactly the look we're going for. Here's a little peak of our new light fixture in place. I recently made some new Euro pillows and added more pattern in our bedding which I'll be sharing very soon. '




In the near future, I plan on trying out a few other light bulbs just for fun! With this light fixture, light bulbs can also it a whole new look. I'd love to sprinkle in a few silver tip light bulbs sprinkled in with clear light bulbs. 



The plan for our old light fixture is to hopefully sell it on Craigslist and re-coop a little of the money we originally spent on the light fixture. 

What's your take on lighting simple and understated or big and bold?


Taming Our Garden Beds

I loved the curb appeal we had at our house before, well groomed lawn and pretty flower beds, along with a bright cheery red front door and spot to sit on our petite front porch. After being displaced from our home for close to a year due to a fire in July 2012, and recently moving back home late June 2013, we we were left with a front and backyard in terrible shape. We've made HUGE progress on our front yard landscaping, having broken sprinklers replaced, getting sod installed and having our tree cut back in the fall.  Read more about the progress from  here. Over the weekend we finally started working on our upping our curb appeal by working on our flower beds. Below is a picture I took of one of our garden beds on Saturday, the other one looked same but with less rocks. 



Here's our starting point of our yard in June 2013. I considered this a progress picture, because this picture was taken after three yards of debris were finally removed from our front yard. 


We visited a local Nursery and picked out a variety shrubs and perennials that are water-wise once established. Meaning they'll need little water once they start to grow in. We really want maintenance free plants, that as they mature only need little watering and pruning. I also avoided annuals in favor of evergreen shrubs that bloom from Spring to late Fall to add bursts of color in our garden beds. In our large bed to the right of our front door, we added water wise flowering ground cover. I used to buy annuals throughout the year and plant them, but I've over that. Going forward, I most likely won't buy any annuals, and if I do they'll only be used in containers.



Our garden beds are still rough around the edges. we need to clean up pour sidewalk, front porch and tame our wild garden hoses in the font of our house and the back. Here's a few pictures of our garden beds now, don't they look pretty! The varying shades of green with bursts of color from the flowers make me so happy. 



We choose plants that would create various layers of height as they grow in.



I love these pretty sweet pea bushes and hope they grow in nice and round over time. In the past I had them in containers, I'm hoping these are happier in the ground. 



We had several garden stones that we decided to move to our other garden bed, to help create a nice edge border between our grass and garden bed. I'm so happy we added the extra stone from the other garden bed to this spot, it really helps define the pretty curves we established in this area. 

Right now our garden beds don't have irrigation, so we're using a hose with a doughnut sprinkler attachment. We plan on adding irrigation in our garden beds in the future by tapping into the existing sprinkler system and adding an additional valve.   


As I mentioned earlier, we wanted to add some vertical height to both garden beds, so we opted to add  a few Purple Emperor Butterfly bushes. I'm excited that they attract both butterflies and humming birds. They're also know to get pretty huge! I love how the pretty purple blooms look against our grey exterior. 

We used leftover cedar mulch from our backyard for our front garden beds. We're still short about 1/2 yard of mulch, we'll pick up more this weekend for our favorite local spot for soil, mulch etc. We also need to buy three more border stones, to complete the new border we created using extra stones we had on hand. 


Due to the placement of our sprinkler system PVC pies, we can't plant anything in this area. To help disguise the valves, I'm thinking of adding a few containers or those large faux rocks? If you have any ideas to help make this area prettier please let me know.  



I love my little home, and I'm happy to see all the progress we've made so far on our homes curb appeal. Here's a little list of things we want to add down the line. 

Curb Appeal Plans

Add Modern House Numbers // Black Shutters // Modern Doorbell // Garden hose Holder // Pergola over Garage? // Seating on front Porch // Plants in Containers // Irrigation for Garden beds // Welcome Mat 

What do you think so far? Are you working any curb appeal projects for your home? What's on your list?