DECORATING A KID'S ROOM FOR THE HOLIDAYS

This post is sponsored by The Land of Nod.

It's the day after Thanksgiving, so let the Christmas decorating begin! Before I finished decorating our mantel or hung up the Christmas lights outside, I decorated Levi's and Elle's rooms. Christmas through my kids' eyes is the best gift of all, and so I wanted to bring it into their rooms (check out Levi's nursery here). I designed Elle's big girl room with The Land of Nod, and I wanted to her modern decor style for Christmas. There's no other retailer that creates and sells modern decor for baby's and kid's like The Land of Nod.

I first added a little cheer to her art wall with this "Santa Said So" print and felt garland. Nod also has the cutest stockings for kids. Since she already has quite a lot of pink in her room, I thought this kitten stocking would go purrrrrfectly.

I replaced her woven hanging for this "holidays greetings" banner too.

Having your own personal Christmas tree is pretty cool, and this one from Nod is adorable. It comes with its own Christmas tree skirt and felt ornaments.

But my favorite item of all (and Elle's too) is this sweet Clara doll and her Nutcracker companion. Watching The Nutcracker Ballet and listening Tchaikovsky's music brings back so many memories for me as a dance and musician.

Elle got the coolest unicorn from Nod, and I thought it would be fun if Chilly (the unicorn) had a bit of Christmas cheer too. So, I put a wreath her as if she was a prize winning unicorn.

To get Elle's whole room, be sure to shop the look below. Photos by Rennai Hoefer.

Striped sheets Duvet Santa Said So print Unicorn Holiday Greetings banner Kitty stocking Felt garland Clara Doll Nutcracker Mini tree and ornaments

BEFORE & AFTER: LIVING ROOM REVEAL

This post is sponsored by World Market. All opinions are my own. 

We are coming up on our 1st anniversary of living in our new home, and I can honestly say it feels like our home now. After transforming the bedrooms (master, girl room, nursery and guest room), updating the kitchen, and sprucing up the dining room, we have finally completed our living room and truly made this house our own thanks to Cost Plus World Market. It's arguably the space with the most transformation because we had to fill in a sunken in room with 10 inches of gravel and 2 inches of concrete.

Formal living rooms are usually wasted spaces in homes, but I was determined to make ours one worth living in. After-all, you pay good money for that real estate. I'd love to share with you the elements that I included to make this space one that we would use often. But first, let's see the ugly before pictures so you can see how UN-livable the space was.

This house was built in 1993, and hadn't been updated since it was first built. Sunken in living rooms used to be a popular design element, but not anymore. Not only does it chop up the space, but it's not easily accessible. The banisters made the living room feel secluded from the rest of the house.

Eek! But, the reason we bought this house was that it had great bones and tons of potential. So, after filling in the living room with concrete to make everything level with the rest of the house, stripping off the banisters, painting the walls white and adding wood floors we had a beautiful blank slate to work with. 

The first element I made sure to include in our livable living room was plants. Having living things in your spaces makes you come back and care for them. Plants also provide oxygen, and with these tall windows, it was the perfect home for them. I love the popular design trend of using macrame planters, and I used them to bring the eye upward and fill in the empty space above (made by Sonora Handmade). I also made sure to have several plants on the ground to even out the green. My favorite "planter" is this geometric brass wall art from World Market. I decided to use it to host several air plants and add some interest to an empty wall.

The second element was creating a conversation circle with furniture. We already had a shag rug, vintage rug and a mid-century coffee table to start. So, those elements kicked off the inspiration for the space. Having enough seating for our family and guests is important. Our previous home didn't have a formal living room, so we purchased additional furniture for this space. I fell in love with this blue velvet sofa from Cost Plus World Market. It was unique and it married my dining room and living room perfectly with the color. We added two mid-century style leather chairs, and placed fuzzy throw pillows on them for texture.

To separate the chairs, I found the perfect mid-century style accent table at World Market that had hair pin legs, and then I found a brass mid-century table lamp to to with it. I love the unique bubble shape and marble base.

Good lighting is important for conversation. This room had plenty of natural light, but at night we needed something more than just a table lamp to illuminate the room. I spotted a cool wooden tripod floor lamp at World Market and grabbed a linen lamp shade to keep with the soft elements of the room. It was exactly what we needed.

The third element to our livable space is including inspiring art. For my birthday, my mom let me have a painting I had grown up with in my childhood home. It just so happens to be my favorite piece of art because of the memories I have staring at the colors and texture. It makes me so happy when I look at it every day.

This room has become my favorite space in the house. It's cozy, modern and inspiring, which are all of the elements that make me was to live in a house. You can shop the room below, and head on over to World Market STAT because that are having a big living room sale. Many of the items from this room are from their latest Naturals collection and on sale, so go quickly!

Shop the room:

Photos by Rennai Hoefer

THE PERFECT GALLERY WALL

Right when you walk in our front door you see my open dining room, and for the past seven months it has been a blank slate. I wanted to make sure Elle's room, Levi's room, our kitchen and living room were decorated first because we use those spaces the most. 

Our dining room is like many others' in that it only gets used for special occasions and entertaining. It's nice to have when we are hosting people, but for the most part it's kind of like a museum in that it's my space in the house that can look pretty and not be touched. 

A space like this deserves the best art, and so I headed straight to Minted.com to curate my gallery wall with modern art and photography that reflected my style and also incorporated the colors of the space. I love Minted because all of the art on their site is crowd sourced, and it gives the opportunity for lesser known artists to shine. They also offer custom framing, so everything came perfectly packaged and ready to go. There are so many cute prints out there, but half of the time I never hang them up because I have to go find the right frame. They have completely eliminated that problem for you.

Another great tool Minted offers at no charge is pre-arranging your gallery wall so you know whether or not your art works well together, if you need to order a larger size, if you need to change the style of your frames, etc. It's a genius, no fuss beautiful customer experience. In fact, I love Minted so much that I'm a Minted Curator where I have my own storefront where I share my latest art obsessions. You can purchase all of the art you see on my wall by heading to my store.

This huge wall was in need of a console table to host barware or appetizers when needed, but I had a really hard time finding something long enough and tall enough. Plus, I wanted something that was different enough from my dining table, but that didn't compete with it at the same time. So, I commission my friend Ryan Walsh to create me a custom live edge table, and he delivered beyond my dreams. He even had hairpin legs made for it. I HIGHLY recommend checking out Lumberlust Designs if you're look for a special piece for your home.

The oriental carpet in our dinging room is the same one I grew up with as a kid. My mom let me have this special rug that has pink, navy, and ivory in it. It makes me smile knowing that my children are going to have similar memories with this rug. 

Our table and chairs are contemporary designs by Ligne Roset. I also was given this set by my mom when they moved from Houston to Idaho. Doesn't she have the best taste? Our chandelier is by Restoration Hardware, and was the first major splurge I had ever spent on interior design (check it out in our old house). I added two linen chairs to the end of the table to lighten the space and marry the rug to the table. 

I'm so pleased with how the spaced turned out. When people come to our house now the tone is set with modern art, contemporary design and comfortable living. 

Photography by Rennai Hoefer

Modern Holiday Table Design

This is a sponsored post in collaboration with Coca-Cola.

It's the most wonderful time of the year. The season of parties and entertaining is upon us, and I'm sharing with you a simple, modern table design that you can put together in 20 minutes. You don't want to have to spend hours crafting away and stressing over details. You just want to create memories that will last a lifetime in a beautiful space.

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I'm the first one to admit that I get anxiety over entertaining. My insecurities rise to the top, and I start thinking about all of the things that I need to do for my house to look "perfect." Here's what I have learned, fresh greenery and candlelight is really all you need. You don't even need to pick a trendy color scheme. Stick with neutral shades and metallic accents, and you will have yourself a picture perfect set up.

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Here's what I did:

1| Buy linen fabric at your local fabric store. Fold it and lay it across your table. It's okay if it has raw edges. To clean up the ends of your runner, slide a napkin ring through the fabric and place some greens for a pretty touch.

2| Lay branches cut from your trees or nearby woods about a foot each. I used a mix of magnolia branches and evergreen branches. I even placed them in my chandelier.

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3| Buy some sprays of berries at your local grocery store and place them in small vessels or votives along with some more evergreen or fresh herbs like rosemary. Place the vessels throughout the centerpiece. I used four.

4| To add some height, place candles through the centerpiece as well. I used some vintage brass candle holders I found at Modern Manor.

5| Forget the placemats. Just place simple white dishes on your table.

6| Roll up your napkins and place them in your napkin rings. I found vintage brass napkin rings that matched the candlesticks.

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7| Place water and wine glasses on your table. I really love these Coca-Cola Reidel glasses. They have a beautiful shape, and they are so comfortable to hold. I even placed a classic Coca-Cola bottle on the table to add a pop of holiday red.

If you want to get crafty and go the extra mile without getting super stressed, try a couple of these personal touches:

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1|  Write out the names of your guest on a tag and glue to cinnamon sticks on either side. Just hold tight for a few seconds after you glue them and start on the next.

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2| You can also take a piece of black construction paper and write a special word with a chalk pen and pin it to the back of your chairs. Cluster any leftover greens you may have or cut some more off of your trees. You'll see a mix of the magnolia branches, rosemary and berries in this bundle. I found burlap ribbon at a local craft store and glued the paper to it.

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Don't miss out on the special moments by putting perfection ahead of your family, but don't feel like you can't have a beautiful experience for your guests either. Share, connect and enjoy the process. Work with what you can find in your yard or at your local grocery store. If you want to get crafty that's great too, but go the extra mile after everything else is set.

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So glad my dearest girlfriends could join me for this special moment. Each one of these women has helped support me in my career as a stylist, as well as my other roles of a wife, mother and friend. I am so thankful for each one of them.

Styling by Alex Evjen, A.V.E. Styles Photography by Melissa Jill Photography Florals by Hoot and Holler Calligraphy by Katie Sterbenz Design

Get the look: Drink glasses from Coca-Cola Vintage glass rim glasses from Modern ManorWhite plates from West Elm Dinner napkins from West Elm Napkin rings from Modern Manor Vintage candlesticks from Modern Manor Chandelier from Restoration Hardware Linen chairs from Cost Plus Wold Market White faux fur from IkeaVotives from West Elm Table from Chairish.com

Space.

I dream about space. Empty white walls, sunlight pouring in and clutter absent. Somehow I feel like I can breathe deeper in those spaces. So, here is some spacious architecture and interior design inspiration. I think this post may be more for me than for you. haha! However, I hope you enjoy it as well.