Layered Cowhide Rugs

I'm a big fan of the layered rug look, especially when one of the rugs is a cowhide.  I have a large greyish cowhide rug from Z Gallerie that was previously in our living room, on top of a sisal rug on our hardwood floors.



But, I also liked the look and feel of the cowhide rug in my office.  Liking the rug in both places, I ordered another hide rug (this time a spotted leopard cowhide rug from Jersey Road) for my office.  But, ug, it was way too small for the room!  I LOVE the rug though and it didn't come larger, so I tried layering them together in my office.

I consider it a happy accident!  The smaller one doesn't have quite the cool shape of the larger rug so I definitely like how they look layered.

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Thank you to everyone who entered the Festive Home Decor pillow giveaway.  Congratulations to the winner, Michelle! 

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Operation Office Organization

The best thing about a long weekend?  A short work week!  I hope you are refreshed and had a great weekend.  My family (Dad included) rented a boat on Sunday and spent a few wonderful hours on the lake.  I had some moments where I just soaked it all in that we were all together and enjoying this day, enjoying life.  How beautiful.  Back at home on Monday, I spent a good chunk of the day getting down and dirty with my office closet.  A major clean out and reorganization was necessary.  Did you do any cleaning and organizing over the weekend?  Seems like the change of seasons is upon us and before I felt ready to bust out the fall decor, I needed to get some things in order.



Ready for a few scary pics?

Yikes.  It always gets worse before it gets better.  I emptied the closet contents and it covered the entire office floor.  I've got it all put away now, and just have the little details to sort through.  I plan to purge old photos, documents, and files this week.  Then, I need to add labels- I've got sticky notes up for now identifying what's in each box. 

Here's to being able to see the floor again!  This isn't what it looks like fully packed back up, but it's the only shot I have so far!

My campaign with Nestlé® Pure Life® Purified Water ends this week.  Thank you to everyone who has visited their Facebook page! :) 

This year, Nestlé® Pure Life® Purified Water wants you to hydrate healthfully by Pledging to drink more water. You can join thousands who’ve already Pledged and inspire others to do the same by sharing your Mom’s Wisdoms – any tips you use as a mom (or your mom used) to encourage healthy habits in your family. 

The Hydration Movement started in 2010 when Nestlé® Pure Life® Purified Water challenged its fans to take the Pledge to swap one sugared beverage a day for water for one year.

On their Facebook page, you can pledge to drink more water for a healthier lifestyle and be entered to win a trip for 4! 

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On Honey We're Healthy, I'm sharing what VITAMINS are essential for women.  Hope to see you there!

Rifle Paper Magazine Holders

I'm forever rearranging the items in my home office bookshelf.  I have the large Ikea Expedit which is perfect for housing books, containers, photos, decorative objects, etc.  Each cube is 12x12 so there's lots of space to play with.

While the contents of the bookshelf were generally very colorful, it used to be dominated by aqua.  Now, I'm going for more pinks, blushes and golds in the bookshelf.  Not wanting to purchase more magazine files, I opted to cover my existing aqua ones in wrapping paper.  

I'm a huge fan of Rifle Paper Co. designs and knew I would not quickly tire of looking at their latest floral patterns.

In order to save paper- each roll only comes with three sheets and I had six files to cover- I opted to take a short cut and only cover the back and part of the sides. Sneaky huh?

I'm thinking of adding bookplates to label them.  For now, I know there are 3 House Beautiful and 3 Martha Stewart Living. 

With the striped paper, I covered a hexagon cardboard box I found on Amazon.  They came in a set of 3 sizes and I was thinking of painting them a colorblock combo, but haven't done it yet on the two smaller boxes.  

I just wrapped, folded, kept cutting, and taped until it was all covered, trying carefully to keep the lines straight, which I somehow managed to do.  The top photo below is the lid and the bottom picture shows how it's all crazy underneath- but that's okay- it's the part never seen. 

My favorite addition to this bookshelf is my gold coral (an easy DIY update with a can of gold spray paint).

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I put together a Workout Playlist of 60 songs on Honey We're Healthy if you need some tunes to spice up your workout. 

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Visit Nestlé® Pure Life® Purified Water FACEBOOK page for a chance to win a trip for 4 to Universal Studios Hollywood or Universal Orlando Resort.

They are also giving away a YEAR supply of Nestlé® Pure Life® Purified Water!

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Office Updates // Inspiration Board and Rattan Chair

Ever since switching up the paint in my home office from light yellow to white (Divine White by Sherwin Williams), I've been making changes to the room and it's finally coming together.  I decided on a color palette of black, gold, pink, blush, and white -- which I am also considering for a blog redesign.

via Saffron Avenue

I put together an inspiration board filled with these colors and added it to a nook in my office, just to the right of my desk. You can see how I made the inspiration board HERE with the black and white polka dot fabric.

The inspiration board if full of colors, quotes, photos, and illustrations that are meaningful to me.  

Some of the prints are pins I pinned on Pinterest and printed at Walgreens.  

I like the white font on black background and can always be reminded to "be still."  I'm still looking for "Thy will be done."

The chair was a random find at Ikea.  I'd been looking online for something similar forever, but finally found this one day while browsing the store with my son.  When we took it to the car, he noticed me struggling and kept saying, "The chair won't fit in the car Mama."  Yes, I know.  We had to be rescued from the store:) Oops.  Has that happened to you?

The chair is called the Storsele and is made of rattan, but they aren't selling it online.  The shape and height is just right for this corner of the room.  It would also be nice to layer a throw blanket in the seat- need to see what I have around the house.

I'm using my silver HomeGoods table here too with some books and gold urchin.  

You can see how I covered that second book with fabric HERE.

I hope y'all have a great weekend!  I'll be announcing the winner of the $100 gift certificate to Festive Home Decor on Monday.  Go HERE to enter. :)

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UPDATE: I just made these images with Recite website.  It's so easy (and free!), you just type in your quote and scroll through a list of backgrounds to choose the one you want. 

Cool, huh?!

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Washi Tape Bookshelf

Can I just say that I am truly grateful for the love and support I felt from your prayers and warm wishes for my dad over the weekend.  Even if you did not comment, I still felt lifted up and appreciate so very much that you took a minute out of your day to pray for my family.  I normally don't post the not-too-pretty side of life since my blog is my "happy place" but this was just too important not to reach out.  My family thanks you from the bottom of our hearts.  We got a chance to have a nice visit this weekend and it was good to just be together.



At home, I dove into a major toy organization overhaul and then didn't have any energy left over for much else.  I did add a bit of easy pretty to my office (James' room too- just didn't photograph his yet).  Check this happiness out.

I swear sometimes it really is the little things.  I unwrapped a new roll of washi tape and was delighted by the bright, colorful pattern and immediately thought, I need to see this sunshine everyday!  So I pulled a big ole strip across my bookshelf.



And then I added a pink and white chevron patterned tape . . .

Little polka dots . . .

And big polka dots. . . (and yes that is a SATC trivia game.  I rock at it too.)

What about this floral tape?!

The cool thing is, washi tape pulls off easily without any damage.  If you get it crooked, just peel it up and restick it. 

This is a project that is fun for the whole family.  Look closely at the bottom left-hand side of the bookshelf.  James was helping.  

He was all, "I want some tape too."  I'm not gonna lie.  I gave him some plain old masking tape.  He looked at me like really?? and I felt ridiculous.  Then I let him have the "good tape."  

To see what else I've done with washi tape, go HERE.

To see how I covered some of those books with fabric, go HERE.

To see how I lined the back of my bookshelf, go HERE. 

Have a great week friends!

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Pretty Paper Things

After I published my post yesterday, I couldn't believe I forgot to add the funniest thing about my wonderful and loving Grandma -- She is crazy for those 50 Shades of Gray books! She's been on me to read them for months, but I still haven't gotten around to it.  I know lots of people are fans- I just didn't know my Grandma was one of them!



I've been busy doing other things, like going crazy buying washi tape and starting a blog calendar.  These are the things that make my inner 12-year-old girl all giddy.  Brightly colored markers . . .

sharpened colored pencils . . . 

pretty notebooks . . .

with equally pretty pages.

And this Jonathan Adler agenda.  It's so whimsical and fun.  June says, "Liberate your inner hippie"

washi tape + planner = a delightful way to schedule blog posts.

Too bad I'm already behind:) 

But the process makes me happy.

Looking forward to Haven!  And Cassie coming my way!  Not jury duty.

Do you stop for way too long in the paper section of your Target store too? 

Good to know I'm not alone. 

Thank you all for reading my blog.  It makes me immeasurably happy.

P.S. A big CONGRATULATIONS goes out to my friend Emily who won the Pottery Barn Kids/PBS Kids Book Nook challenge!  Her nook was super cute and creative- check it out HERE. 

Z Gallerie Jett Desk

I get a lot of questions about the Z Gallerie Jett Desk in my office.  Yes, I love it and would definitely purchase it again.  It's sleek and clean looking and has a large surface area (57W x 30D x 32H).

One minor inconvenience is the bar on the shelf underneath.  I have hit my knees on it occasionally, and, I like to put my bare feet up there, but the sharp edges aren't very comfy.



I found an inexpensive, quick solution by putting a piece of pipe insulation over it.  So much better!

The bar/shelf can be used to store magazines or books like below.

via Lonny

If you want to see more images of similar desks, check out my Office Pinterest board. 

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