Favorite Spaces Around The House

I have received SO many requests to post pictures of our new home and I wanted to give you all a little new casa update.  We moved into our new place just over a month ago, and I still feel like there is SO much to do!  We have furniture that has yet to arrive, and I haven't hung a single picture or piece of art on any walls {waiting to see how the furniture looks in the rooms once it arrives before working on wall art}.  I've been trying not to rush this process, and only purchase furniture/ home decor that I truly love, rather than purchasing stuff to simply fill up empty spaces.  

Decorating a new house is definitely a labor of love, and while I'm not yet ready to showcase it on the blog via a home tour just yet, I thought I'd share a few of my favorite spaces around here.

Hope you enjoy!

I've been so paranoid about ruining my marble countertops that I purchased a couple of huge butcher block cutting boards and placed them around the kitchen as little work stations.  I love how this one turned out!

cutting board / olive oil bottles / marble salt bowl / utensils crock

A few of my favorite cookbooks displayed with some fresh pomegranates & pears.

marble fruit bowl / marble & glass cloche

I love the look of mixing rustic serving boards against the marble.

large serving board / marble & wood board / spice cellar / pumpkin candle / mercury glass vase

My bookshelf is basically complete {full post on how I styled it will come later}.  This was such a fun project for me to work on.

bookshelf / bench

I love the character & untold stories found in antiques.  I found this French terracotta pot that dates back to the 1800's, and love the patina that it has developed over the years.

And the small clay jar that is sitting on top of the Cars book was found underwater in an area of China that was destroyed by a flood.  I love objects that have a history :)

I ended up switching out the console behind our couch to this one which features reclaimed wood, and placed two large baskets underneath which I filled with throw blankets & pillows.

reclaimed wood console / basket / throw blanket

A little fall decor around the house.

glass hurricanes / candle snuffer

I filled this basket weave tray with travel related books for our guest bedroom.

basket tray

Pretty bedside table vignette in the guest bedroom.

jewelry box

Our hallway is SO long, so instead of having one long runner made, I ordered 2 of the same runners and added a little space between them.  This added a bit of visual appeal to the space and draws the eye to the gap between the two which seems to break up the hallway.

runners

Cheery flowers on our entryway console table.

console table / wood medallions / horn & brass catchall / crystal vase

I took old books, tore out the pages and created fake scrolls.  Kinda fun :)

coffee table / large display bowl

I like to collect books of matches from hotels that we have traveled to.  I love this look of the matches in a small wooden bowl we picked up in Zambia combined with one of my favorite Diptyque candles under a cloche.  Glass cloches make just about anything seem more interesting! 

candle / glass cloche

Thanks so much to everyone who has reached out to me requesting pictures & home updates.  I am beyond flattered that anyone is even the least bit interested in what goes on around here :)  You guys are amazing!  Thanks for reading! xx

New Furniture For The New Casa

So I haven't blogged all week.  #Fail.  My bestie has been visiting from Cali for the past couple of weeks and girl time is tres importante to me....so the blog slacks.  I've also been pretty preoccupied with our move to the new house which is coming up FAST!  10 days to be exact.  I'm a pretty hands on gal, and even though my husband encouraged me to hire a moving company that packs everything up for you, I'm determined to box it all up myself.  Moving ain't no light task, and I'll be beyond thrilled when this is all over lol!

Today I thought I'd share a few of the new pieces we purchased to furnish our new home.  Our condo is pretty modern & the decor is very "Miami".  This type of contemporary furnishings just didn't seem to fit the feel of the new home, so we gave away the majority of our furniture to family & friends and are starting fresh.  

I love the look of Restoration Hardware furniture; it just reminds me so much of Italy and of all the amazing villas that we've vacationed at in the past.  I certainly didn't intend on only purchasing RH furniture, it just sort of happened that way.  A lot of the decorative objects I've purchased so far have been antiques, so the Restoration Hardware furnishings just blended seamlessly.

I'm in love with linen anything, and this couch is no exception!

I purchased this huge bookshelf to take up some space in our open concept living room area.

Two of these coffee tables side by side at different levels.

Storage space is a little limited in our new home {love the character of older homes but hate the storage space!}, so I picked up this hutch to use for bathroom linens & bath products in our master bathroom.

Natural fiber area rugs are my fave.

This iron console will be living behind our couch.  I thought the iron tied in nicely with the details of the coffee table.

I custom ordered 2 of these chairs for the living room as well.  They are beyond comfortable and I can't wait to receive them!

This sideboard, which matches my new dining room table & breakfast table, will be dual purposed in our dining room.  It acts as extra storage for my nicer dinnerware sets, and I plan to use it as a little bar area as well {think the look of bar carts that are so popular right now, minus the cart}.  Above the sideboard, I plan on creating my black & white gallery wall photos.

This was my latest purchase from RH.  I think this guy is going to be a side table next to our couch.  I just need to make sure it's not too much iron for the living room.  I haven't received it yet, so I'm still not 100% sure. 

Furniture In This Post:

couch / bookshelf / coffee table / hutch / rug / console / chair / sideboard / side table

That's all for now regarding furniture.  Our kitchen remodel should be wrapping up next week - excited to share lots & lots of home posts with you guys in the future!

Have a great weekend! xx

Coffee Table Decor

Recently, I gave my coffee table a fresh new update to reflect the summer season.  I like to make small changes in my decor to embrace the changing of the seasons, but do so in a way without breaking the bank :)

Read on for more deets.

Our living room is a pretty tranquil space, and believe it or not, we don't really watch a lot of tv.  For that reason, I like to outfit this space with comfortable furniture + decorative accents that create a welcoming environment to both entertain and relax.  Since we live on the beach, I wanted to bring those elements in and create an endless summer/beachy vibe; something you might experience on a chic island getaway.

Decorating with trays is an easy + cost effective decorative accent.  After your initial investment of the tray, you only need to make small tweaks & changes in the decor to reflect the current season.

I love the natural woven rattan look of this tray, and the metal handles gives it character.  I usually try to decorate with natural elements; in this case the faux coral, sea stars, the beachy driftwood, and sand.  Using candles, small photo frames, and summer vacation mementos & souvenirs also make for great decorative accents.

The small small lantern is a great buy from Pottery Barn {under $25}, and all that I needed to do was walk down to the beach and collect some sand in order to transform it to my beach theme.  Lanterns really can be used all throughout the year; in autumn you could switch out the sand for some pretty red & orange faux leaves.  It would also look beautiful glowing on a front porch with some festive clipped cedar branches or pine cones during the holidays.  

I always decorate our home with coffee table books.  They really have the ability to make a wide variety of spaces look chic.  I have so many of them, and place them all throughout our home, often rotating with the seasons when I make small changes around the casa.  Grouping them together by color makes for a much "cleaner" look.

Another great aspect about using coffee table books is that they make a great platform for displaying smaller trinkets & objects of curiosity.  Here I've displayed a pretty candle with this interesting hand carved bowl that we picked up while in Africa.  I always bring back something for our home whenever we travel to other countries as I prefer authentic decorative accents vs. mass produced box store versions.  I've also picked up the habit of bringing home pretty books of matches from our travels and display them in bowls around the home.

I'm so pleased with how everything came together, and think that this really embodies the beach chic look that I was going for.

I've linked below to most of the items that I used and also included a few budget friendly picks that I found from good old Target.  I can often find extremely similar decorative accents at places like Target or Home Goods :)

Additionally, Restoration Hardware is currently having a sale on coffee table books and two of my books {Vogue Living & In The Spirit Of Capri} are both on sale.  Since they can sometimes be a bit pricey, sales are a great time to start or add to your book collection.  You can view the sale by clicking here.

How do you decorate your coffee table?