BEDKNOBS & BAUBLES

House Progress Report

June 27, 2017 by jessica Leave a Comment

Happy Tuesday! We’ve owned our house for one week and have already made quite a bit of progress in transforming it into something we’ll call home. I’m going to start putting all home-related content over on Curated Couple, which is where our week one progress report resides (wood paneling, bedroom cabinet removal, and exterior painting — oh my!). I’d like to keep this blog style-related so you’re not inundated with content you don’t care about. 😉 I haven’t had a chance to update all of the individual pages, but I’m entirely too impatient to wait to start posting our progress! (Plus, seeing how far we’ve come keeps me motivated for the next tasks.) If you’re interested, come on over! We’ll get back to clothes and accessories tomorrow!

Weekend Reading

June 24, 2017 by jessica Leave a Comment

Nope, not sick of this bag yet!

What a week! On Tuesday, we closed on our house. It was actually kind of anticlimactic to receive the keys after signing off on all of the paperwork. I think I was expecting to feel intensely elated and while I was certainly happy, I was mostly just ready to move on with it and start working! We’ve made some pretty impressive progress for the first week (after we were able to actually get into the house — some of our keys don’t work and there’s a trick to opening the front door). We removed the kitchen cabinets in the upstairs bedroom from when the house was converted into two apartments, pulled out remaining carpet, removed carpet finishing staples in the staircase, primed and painted the wood part on the front of the house (scroll over to see the original), and primed the railing and column on the front porch. We’ve been working for a few hours on the house after work every day and would like to finish those outside projects today so that we can start painting inside before our floors are refinished in two weeks. And I wish I could say that the walls and floors were all we needed to do in this house. There are a lot of projects that I’ll be documenting over on Curated Couple (and the blog once I have time to sit down, pretty it up, and add content). It won’t be the most glamorous Instagram feed, but I really wanted it as a way to document our progress and our mini successes. In more exciting house news, I ordered this jewelry cabinet for my closet. ::heart-eyes:: It arrives on Tuesday and while it’ll sit in its box in the kitchen until the floors are done, I can’t wait to start seeing the place come together.

WEEKEND READING:

We’re a long way off from hosting parties at our house, but I just love this flamingo ring toss game! I’d love to spray paint them gold instead.
Why has the statement earring grown in popularity?
Take an extra 30% off sale items at Tory Burch with code EXTRA30. Obviously I have no money now, but if I did, I’d spring for these shoulder-dusting earrings.
Start planning your Fourth of July menu. I’m all about corn salad.
Photography tips for shooting in crowded places.
Skittles gave up their rainbow colors for a limited time.
It’s not often I fall in love with something from LOFT, but this has captured my fancy (and soon, my money).
The story behind the world’s largest watercolor painting.
The best U.S. cities for an affordable getaway.
Disney has the best paint color for camouflaging unsightly things on their properties.

FIVE UNDER $50:

An unexpected bow detail in back makes this striped tank a favorite of the summer.
How great are these raffia tassel earrings? They’re a steal at just $10.
I love the look of this dress, but Old Navy is always hit or miss for me (and usually a miss). Has anyone tried it?
This vintage-inspired bag is too cute.
Update your pajama drawer with this charming set.

ICYMI:

We bought a house!
I finally wore the jumpsuit I bought last November.
Rounding up the best woven bags under $100.

Jump Around

June 22, 2017 by jessica 7 Comments

I bought this deeply discounted jumpsuit at Anthropologie in November and it sat in the closet with the tags still attached until it was finally warm enough to wear it last weekend. Bathroom acrobatics aside, it was such a fun, eye-catching piece to wear! Plus, it was a practical choice for a windy day because I didn’t have to wrestle with a hemline threatening to cause what I call a “Marilyn moment.” 😉 Next time, though, I’ll style it differently with these statement earrings, pearl sandals (in this post) and a black DVF clutch (seen here).

We bought a house!

June 21, 2017 by jessica 9 Comments

I wanted to pop in to share that we’re now homeowners! We closed on our house yesterday and spent the better part of the day embarking on our ambitious to-do list. We pulled carpet out of the coat closet, removed dozens and dozens of nails and screws from the walls, ripped out hundreds of tiny carpet staples that were left in the stairs (when the house apparently had ’70s gold carpet), and removed kitchen cabinets from one of the bedrooms upstairs. We didn’t get to everything we wanted to do on day one, but we’re feeling pretty good about the progress we did make. I’ll start posting on our shared Instagram account for the house at @curatedcouple soon and we’ll get our home blog up and running, too! Until then, things are going to be on the quieter side ’round these parts. We really need to get the painting done in the house before the floors are refinished in three weeks.

Left to right:

A light globe we found at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore for $1. We purchased two. One is going in my upstairs walk-in closet, which the city assessed as a fourth bedroom in the house. We’ll need to have the house reassessed since you can’t actually fit a twin-size bed into the room and still walk in and around it.
Our closing-day selfie! I look jazzed and Dave looks like he’d rather we put down the phone and get to work. 😉
Adding some life to the place — literally. The most recent owner purchased the house in 2001, but then started dating a woman and moved in with her, leaving the home all but abandoned. We met our neighbors who said prior to his ownership, students lived there and even earlier, there were drug dealings. I’m not sure how true the last one is, but who knows. A house built in 1929 probably has plenty of stories within its walls — and maybe old pot, too. (Kidding!)

The Best Woven Bags Under $100

June 19, 2017 by jessica 2 Comments

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that this summer’s “It” bag is a vintage-inspired woven one and, as is the case with many trends, these often come with an inflated price tag. Fortunately, there are plenty of on-trend, affordable bags to get your hands on this season. (After I put together this collage, I actually came across my favorite affordable woven bag: Caterina Bertini’s mini bucket bag. It’s lined with a drawstring pouch, has a leather handle, and comes in four colors.)