New Year, New State, New Home....New Blog!

Thank you so much for following along on our fixer upper journey in New Jersey!!  Head on over to Gabbi and Co. to keep up with our new beginnings, new home and new renovations, in our beloved new state of North Carolina!

See you there! Xo!

Season's Greetings.

I want to wish you all a merry Christmas, and a healthy, happy new year!! Xo!

Our Christmas Home Tour | 2016

I cannot believe the last seasonal home tour I shared was from the fall of 2015!!!  I'm sure you all know by now that I love to swap things out as the seasons evolve.  The fresh colors and textures inject new energy and life into the house...it's the best!

Unfortunately, due to some major health issues, I could barely decorate for Christmas last year...let alone take pictures, edit and post them to the blog.  By the time spring and summer rolled around, I managed to spruce up the house and even took some pictures, but my brain could not handle trying to edit them or put a blog post together.  Same for the fall, but thankfully, I managed to decorate, take pictures and get myself onto the blog for Christmas!  Are my images edited?  No.  Are they "on time" in terms of posting my holiday home for the blog world?  Definitely no.  But hey...better late than never, right?! ;)

So without further ado, here's how our home is looking these days...

I love using bright pops of color around my home...and the unconventional pink, purple and blue theme drew me in this year.  I love how cheerful and fun it feels.  Hope you enjoyed the peek at our great room all decked out for the season!

Our Master Bedroom - The Billionth Reveal.

Ohhhhh, our master bedroom.  It's the room in our home that has never felt quite right to me.  I've painted (and re-painted...and re-painted again), stenciled, swapped out furniture (twice), rearranged the placement multiple times and made poor hubby mount and un-mount our TV too many times.  Every time I thought I'd be "done", I just felt unsettled.  And that is NOT a feeling you want for the space you are supposed to unwind in every night.  Finally, after "refreshing" it for probably almost two years, I'm finally feeling content.  And before the feeling fades, I figured I should get some pictures posted to show the "reveal".

There are a few things that help "make" the room for me...

1) My gloss-on-matte stenciled wall now competes with our hallway for my favorite stencil project, ever.  I love the statement made by the subtle pattern.  You can purchase the stencil from Sarah's Etsy shop here.

2) My fabulous pillows!!  If you are searching for a great pillow source, you have to check out Priscilla's Etsy shop, MotifPillows.  She has the best stuff!  Her radiant orchid and animal print covers worked so well with the older aqua pillows I found at Target.

3) The stunning Lamps Plus sconces that now flank our bed.  I'm no stranger to Lamps Plus.  I purchased a few items for our home from their website when we completed the major reno of our first level.  In fact, one of the most common email questions I receive is where to find our master bedroom ceiling fan/light combo.  (And in case you are now wondering, it's the 52" Casa Optima White Flower Ceiling Fan.)

Lamps Plus has the most amazing selection to look through.  I can (and have) spent hours browsing their options.  And the minute I laid eyes on our brass beauties, I knew they would be perfect for our room.  They have me smitten!

4) Our Rugs USA Windsor Overdyed Grove Rug in violet.  I already knew I had a soft spot for this rug.  Quite some time ago, I purchased the turquoise version to for our living room.  It created the perfect pop of color in that space, and when I realized I wanted to make a similar statement in our bedroom, I knew where to look.  I headed back to the RugsUSA site to find a pinky-purple version of the overdyed rug.  It's like it was made for our space!

Now, fingers crossed this will be the last "reveal" for quite some time. ;)

Jord Wood Watch.

My insta-friends, and lovely readers who caught this post, know I'm a sucker for accessories.  They are the finishing touches that really make an outfit complete.  Lucky me, I'll be making quite the statement this fall with the addition of my new wood watch.  It's my latest obsession.

A wooden watch...say whaaaat?!?!  I know.  It's not a traditional watch you would see every day, but that's what makes it so great.  The wood grain of the watch makes me feel like I'm wearing a piece of art.  It's lightweight and comfortable on the wrist.

It’s a versatile piece.  You can dress it up or down.  It pairs just as well with a cardigan and skirt as it does with a t-shirt and jeans.

This watch is from the unisex Fieldcrest series and I have to admit I've caught hubby eyeing it up a few times. Too bad for him, it was sized for my wrist before it was sent to me.  How cool is that?! Not only do they offer free shipping, worldwide, but for an additional $10, they will size your watch for you. That means your watch will be ready to wear when it arrives on your doorstep.  No trip to your local jeweler will be necessary. :)

So who is the genius company behind all this beauty?!  That would be Jord...a handmade, luxury wood watch company.  Their men’s and women’s series are equally amazing, but I’m partial to the unisex selections.  Which of their watches is your favorite?  I dare you to browse their site and not fall in love.

Thank you for my new favorite watch, Jord!!  Want to see how others wear their watches?  Check out their hashtag wall.

Wooden Watch For Men

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Jord supplied me with the watch featured in this post.  All opinions are 100% mine.

Our Rancher: Before & After - The Master Bedroom.

Here we are...post #9!  After a rather underwhelming post about our guest bedrooms, this post has been a long time.  I've "revealed" our master bedroom a few times, but things never felt quite right to me.  I've been working on it's latest transformation (so. very. slowly....blame it on the hypothyroidism ;)...) for well over a year.

Like I mentioned in my hall/guest bath post, we added our original master bath and part of our largest master closet to renovate the hall/guest bath.  Since neither of those spaces were very "masterful", I had no problem giving them up...especially since I had plans to turn our third bedroom into our ensuite.

Here are some floor plans to help you visualize it all:

Before:

After:

Besides creating our master ensuite, we removed some wallpaper and glue (ohhh, the glue...THANK YOU, MOM!!!), painted the walls, refinished the hardwoods, replaced the doors and windows and added some lighting.

Don't worry, I'll be posting a more-picture-filled-reveal after I wrap up this super fun series.

And if you are behind on it all, catch up with post one, two, three, four, five, six, seven and eight.

Our Rancher: Before & After - The Guest Bedrooms.

Andddddd, I'm finally picking the series back up!!!!  Can you believe this is the 8th post in my before and after series?!  I can't!!  If you are just catching up, make sure you check out the intro and parts one, two, three, four, five, six and seven.

Now that I've covered the guest/hall bath, it's time to show the guest bedrooms.  This post is probably the most underwhelming of the series.  Whomp, whomp.  Why?  Because we haven't made any major changes to these rooms.

Well, I guess that's not totally true.  Our third guest bedroom radically changed...from a bedroom to our ensuite!  That's right...two walk-in closets and our master bath!  What the what?!?

Remember when we added our original master bath (and part of the largest original master closet) to enlarge our small hall/guest bath?  We were able to do that since we were stealing our third bedroom to compensate.  Here are the floor plans again better illustrate...

Before:

After:

You'll see all that goodness when I reveal our master, but for now...it's all about our underwhelming bedroom #1 and #2.  (You're excited aren't you?!?!)  Both rooms received new windows, doors, paint, a light/fan combo and refinished hardwoods.  The first space is halfway presentable because it's the room my parent's call home when they come visit.

The second space, welp, I'm just keeping it real.  At first it was a smidge of an improvement....

But now, yeaaaaaa, it looked much better in the "before".

This space is where all my half-worked-on-crafts, maybe-going-to-start-one-day projects, extra decor and random junk live.  It's not pretty, but it's real life.  I'll get my act together one day, and actually paint this room a color I like, but I'm pretty sure I won't do it until we have a child to put in there. Embarrassing?  Yes.  True story? Yes, again.

Don't worry....after this less than stellar post, I'll be sharing our master next!  I've re-worked this room more than any other in our home, and I think it's safe to say, I'm finally loving the outcome!  Stick around! :)