Tag: sponsored

The Things We Love

I am a compensated Scotchgard Brand-sponsored blogger. Opinions are my own and additional products used in the project were selected by me.

The Randolph Street Vintage Market is happening this weekend — their last indoor/outdoor show of the season. I’ll be there tomorrow, partnering with Scotchgard Brand to show people how to protect the things they love. I’ll be chatting with people, making a few videos, and checking out all the vintage awesomeness for sale. Come say hello!

I talk a lot about how to incorporate special things over time — it’s the idea behind my whole Making it Yours series. It applies to the furniture in our homes, to the clothes in our closets, to all of those interesting items we gather over time. One of my favorite things that I’ve had for years now is my owl purse.

It’s just a thing, sure. A purse. But it’s a kooky purse that I love to bits and hope to either tote around when I’m an eccentric old lady (life goal), or pass down some day, should my kids want it. It’s mostly suede though, so it isn’t the hardiest of materials, and it has to make it through Chicago winters with all of the ice, snow, slush, and salt that accompany them. Scotchgard Protectors come in a range of products for carpets, fabrics, upholstery, suede, and leather too, protecting them from stains and water without changing the item’s look or feel. Treating my bag keeps it in good condition so it can last longer, because it’s got many more seasons ahead of it.

To learn about all the ways you can protect the things you love, come find me with Scotchgard Brand at the Randolph Street Market this weekend! I’ll be sharing all my tips and tricks, you can check out some cool demos, and join the conversation by tagging your social posts and images using #LoveYourThings and #Scotchgard. See you there!

September 25, 2015
Our New Mattress

This post is sponsored by Leesa.

The stairs in this house don’t make it easy to get anything large up to the second floor. A traditional spring mattress? Only if it’s a twin size. Anything larger and it needs to be foam so it can round the corner on its way up. A mattress that arrives magically compressed into a box that’s smaller than me? Ideal.

Leesa ships their mattresses, for free, rolled up in a box that makes it easy to transport. The mattresses are made in America, with three foam layers: the bottom is dense foam for support, with a 2″ layer of memory foam in the middle that contours to the body, and then a 2″ layer of Avena^® (similar to latex) that adds bounce and keeps the mattress from feeling too hot.

Because they’re a direct-to-consumer company, they can offer lower prices than brands typically bought through nationwide showrooms. Yep, this means that you’re buying a mattress online without ever having slept on it, but they offer a 100 night risk-free trial period. If you don’t like it, they’ll arrange for the mattress to be picked up and recycled or donated. Leesa also has a charitable component to their business; for every 10 mattresses they sell, one is donated to a homeless shelter or others in need.

I was easily able to get a king-sized Leesa mattress setup by myself. Gif time! Enjoy.

* A few people have asked about the box spring in the comments, so I thought I’d better add the info to the post itself. It’s actually just a foundation (no springs), it is indeed one piece, and I had to build it in the room. It’s not needed for the mattress, but it is necessary for the bed I ordered. *

I like shopping for bedding — looking for colors and patterns that will mix well with the linens we already have, and giving the bedroom a little update every time I swap out the sheets or change the throw pillows. Heading out to go mattress shopping though? Not so fun. Being able to order a luxury mattress online is so much nicer.

If you’re in the market for a new mattress and want to go with Leesa, the first 30 readers to redeem promo code MAKINGITLOVELY at checkout will get $75 off.

September 23, 2015
Color Your Home with Fall Leaves

Brought to you by Pier 1 Imports

Pier 1 reached out with an opportunity to decorate with their latest collection inspired by the colors of fall leaves. Ah, fall! My favorite. Sweaters and boots! The kids are back in school! We can take out our ugly window AC units! Fall is the best.

You know that our house has a ton of wood everywhere. I wasn’t sure about adding in more autumnal colors, but I walked over to the store to check everything out in person and there were a ton of options that I wanted to bring home. I decided I was in, and then I started by choosing a garland for the fireplace mantel. They had the typical fall leaves (oak, maple, red, yellow, orange), and a few pretty berry options, but I was drawn to the subtle colors of this garland with a bit of gold mixed in.

When I saw the matching wreath, I picked that up too. We always hang one on the front door for Christmas, but I’ve never had a wreath during the rest of the year. We know a few people that put different ones up all the time — spring flowers, stars and stripes for the 4th, autumn leaves, traditional Christmas — and they always struck me as being very welcoming. Now we have one of our own up for fall.

Back inside, the garland was to form the first layer, and then I’d planned on adding candles and flowers to create a fall display in front of a large mirror on our fireplace. That was the plan, before I saw the birds.

I ended up using a few pillar stands to give the birds a place to perch for some height, and then I used a couple more on the other side of the room for candles.

Dueling mirrors! I think the peacock mirror is staying put and the other above the fireplace will be relocated. I mean, this mirror (from Pier 1, a while back) is kinda perfect where it is.

The red of the table, the brown of the wood, and the garland of fall leaves are all working together for a nice autumnal feel. Candles always make a room cozier too. And the birds! I am fond of those birds.

Do you like to mark the change of seasons in your decorating? And of course there’s the wreath question. Do you prefer your door unadorned? Or do you go for a wreath year-round, or just at Christmas?

September 16, 2015
Six Designs Inspired by Tile
This post is sponsored by Floor & Decor.

I’m working with Floor & Decor on a few posts for the blog around the three main things they carry: wood, tile, and stone. I’ve already shared my experience with wood (and bamboo), and for the other two posts, I thought it would be fun to put together a bunch of designs inspired by tile and stone. I went to my local Floor & Decor and picked up a whole bunch of my favorites, then came home and played around with paint swatches, wallpaper samples, and other design elements to create different designs.

Today I’m sharing looks inspired by ceramic and porcelain tiles, and in a future post, I’ll do the same for marble, slate, and travertine tiles.

And yes, I totally want to make all of these happen in real life now.

Subway and Hexagon Tile

Pick a color. Any color! Subway and hex tile are classics that go pretty much anywhere with pretty much everything, and they’re cheap to boot. We had both of these in our first house.
Penny Rounds

I imagine this in a cheery kitchen with vintage (or vintage-inspired) green appliances. A tulip table and colorful shaker chairs form a little breakfast nook, and retro/vintage accessories (bread bin, kitchen scale) in shades of green and blue dot the space.
White Arabesque Tile

The tile is a classic decorative shape and it can take star billing if you keep everything else simple. If you want to have a little more fun with your decorating, it pairs up nicely with figurative wallpaper — especially when it’s hot pink. I’d love to see the two in a powder room with wood floors, brass fixtures, and a sink dropped into an old piece of furniture that’s been painted in a rich ochre. A vintage wooden stool with turned legs would make a fine stand for a plant or a stack of fresh towels.
Gray Glass and Striated Tile

Here we’ve got that same tile shape again, but in a very different design. This time it’s sleek in glass, and I’d pair it with long horizontal glass tile in a shower enclosure. Tile with some depth to it (thanks to inkjet printing!) would counteract all of the glossy surfaces elsewhere, and paint or accessories in cool greenish blue shades would finish off the room.
Spanish Red Tile

If you have inherited a house with this tile, you likely either love and embrace it or curse it and wish it gone. It goes rustic with warm, worn woods and creamy white tones, or you can take it boho with plants everywhere, natural textures and a smattering of jewel tones and gold embroidery. And if your taste runs like mine toward pink and feminine? Yep, that’ll work too. Peachy pinks like the paint and wallpaper below look fantastic with the earthy red of the tile.
Wood-Look Tile

I’m not a huge fan of faux-wood tile in large expanses because the grout lines look a little off (wood does not and should not have grout), but they can be great in basements and bathrooms. Our bathrooms have hardwood flooring, and they are not a good mix with kids that sometimes (often) splash water around and don’t clean up after themselves, leaving you to find puddles hours later. Not that we would know anything about that. *ahem*

Anyway! I think the key to pulling off wood tile is to let the wood be in the background by pulling attention toward other design elements (either texture or pattern). Pair one of these plank styles with one of the wallpaper designs — your choice.
Of the designs above, do you have a favorite? How about any that you would do completely differently (a least favorite)?
August 31, 2015
Glidden Paint Review & A Giveaway

I write for Glidden^® over at My Colortopia and I’ve been using their paint for a few projects around the house recently, so today I’m sharing my experiences with it. I’m also hosting a giveaway for a $100 gift card to Home Depot — details are at the end of the post!

So. First impressions with the paint? You don’t get a lot of that classic strong paint smell, since it’s a no-VOC formula (most brands have moved toward a low or no-VOC option these days). The consistency is good, average compared to other brands (not too thick, but not too thin either). There’s a nice range of options in the color palette, but not so many that it gets overwhelming for the average person. Sometimes I find myself wishing that they offered more subtleties in color, but I think I’m in the minority there. I go in thinking ‘show me all 796 shades of icy blue with a hint of gray’ and other people want to see the best three or four options for light blue and go from there. If you get confused when there are way too many versions of red, or blue, or whatever, you’ll probably like the smaller palette — there are still hundred of colors to choose from.

I went with Crisp Linen White for Calvin’s nursery. I wanted the light and bright feeling that white gives a room with plenty of natural daylight (which the nursery has), but nothing too stark because of our home’s unpainted trim and woodwork.

We remodeled that part of the second floor to create the nursery, closing off openings, adding new ones, and moving the door. We also stripped wallpaper from the walls and cleaned up the residue, leaving clean, smooth walls that seemed to be in pretty good condition. Normally, if you’re painting a light color over another light color, you can get away without priming first. We did prime the new areas of drywall , but since we were painting over previously papered walls for the majority of the room, I thought it might be a good idea to use a primer everywhere else too. I picked up a gallon of Glidden^® Premium Collection Interior House Paint (a paint and primer in one) and we were able to skip another separate step.

The paint gave great coverage, went on well, and has held up just fine. One coat covered nicely with lighter colors, but I’d count on two for dark or really bold paint jobs. And the best part is that it’s super affordable, so you can pick up a gallon for about $25 instead of $50 or $60 (or even $100, if you like a certain fancy European brand)! Here’s another project done in Glidden^®, this time a deeper, darker color (Shaded Fern). The paint updated that old thrifted armoire perfectly.

Glidden^® has enabled ratings and reviews for all of their products, so you can read other peoples’ experiences with their paint. If you’ve used it yourself, you can rate and review it too. And if you haven’t used it yet, well… I’m giving away a $100 gift card to Home Depot! That’s plenty to cover a gallon or two of Glidden^®, plus any supplies you may need (and if you’re in need of tips and tricks, check out my posts for My Colortopia). Leave a comment on this post by midnight, August 25 to enter, and a winner will be randomly chosen. Open to US residents only. Good luck!

I have been sponsored by the Glidden^® brand paint for PPG to write this post but the thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

August 20, 2015
A Post-Summer Perk Up

This post is brought to you by Target Style.
Shop the new Home collection in stores and online.

Everything has kind of been up in the air, house-wise, waiting for the rewiring work to be done. There are some holes in walls waiting to be patched, and some pretty terrible patchwork waiting to be fixed up. (The electricians are fine electricians, but not so fine at plaster repair. We told them we’d handle that part after seeing how they did it.) I have all of these ideas swirling around for things I want to do in the house, but I have to wait. Gah.

Target asked if I wanted to take on a little post-summer perk up, and I was definitely on board. A quick and easy decorating project was sounding pretty good right about now! The rewiring on the top floor is done, so I gave the bathroom a good cleaning (plaster dust was everywhere) and went out in search of a new shower curtain. This city sketch print was cute, but I chose coral pink because of course I did. We may be transitioning from summer to fall, but I’m always in favor of bringing in more pink all year long.

Since I was changing out the shower curtain, I picked up new brass shower curtain hooks to replace the plastic white ones that were there. It’s easy to find silvery finishes for bathrooms (chrome, nickel), and oil-rubbed bronze is all over the place too, but I was looking specifically for brass and I was glad to see a couple of options for the bathroom at Target without having to order from a more expensive source.

There’s a pink hand towel on the pirate ship hook (why not, right?), and matching bath towels. I hung a couple from the hooks on the back of the door for a picture, but they would normally be tucked away below the sink, in the bottom drawer.

(And I feel like I should point out that the mirror’s dark spots are the result of aged mirror glass. It’s clean — promise.)

I picked up a little red accent rug too. It isn’t a bathmat but it is cotton, and I think it will work well in that spot.

Our routines are about to shift once school starts again. Obviously the kids will be going back, but I might be going back too (depends on whether enough students sign up for the new course I’m supposed to teach). I love that I was able to knock out an update while our days are still relatively calm by just picking up a few new things in a favorite color.

August 18, 2015