We haven’t done too much around here lately because we’ve been so busy with Darwin…and watching Modern Family on DVD…but really, it’s been hard to plan things and think ahead because we weren’t sure if he’d be around in the near future. It scared the bejeezus out of me, especially when we bought our couch and we were told it would come in three weeks. My first thought was that Darwin might not be around when the couch comes, which made me not very excited for the couch to hurry up and get here. There may have been a hysterical episode that day…

Thankfully, I’m pretty sure that Darwin will be around when the couch comes, so I’ve begun to focus on the family room again in anticipation of it’s arrival in two-ish weeks. A few weekends ago, we picked up two of these adorable white fish at West Elm.

I love having them mixed in with our books. I know items grouped in threes are normally more appealing, but I bought two and I like them. They add a nice pop of white to the dark entertainment center.

Our general inspiration for the family room are our pictures from our honeymoon. Mostly, this one that Mike took…

I mentioned a while ago how we are also incorporating some tealish accessories into the family room (psst, there are more dreamy Hawaii pictures in that post!)

I’ve always wanted some sort of large driftwood piece to sit on top of our entertainment center. I haven’t found one, but I did find a driftwood… turtle!

I found him at HomeGoods the day we bought our couch. Mike looked at me like I was weird for wanting him, but how could I say no!

He’s going to hang low on the entertainment center a) so that his pretty details can be seen and b) because he’s a cat proof accessory that Macky can’t break. Those gems stay low 🙂

Since I now have some driftwood, I feel justified in wanting this weird wood sphere that looks like an urchin from West Elm.

I’ve liked it for a while, but it’s one of those things that you really don’t know what to do with. Then I was watching Candice Tells All this weekend and I swear she put one in front of a fireplace. I couldn’t find a picture anywhere but now I really want one. Maybe two…because everything Candice Olson touches turns to gold.

I think I’m going to pick up a few other things for this room this weekend since I think I finally have a plan. Some of it will have to wait until the couch arrives to decide, but I’m feeling good about everything.

So maybe I should change the title of this post to One Fish, Two Fish, Sea Turtle, Urchin? 🙂

ps- I also recently picked up two new books on Amazon that I’m itching to read. One is Decorate by Holly Becker and the other is Undecorate by Christiane Lemieux (founder of the beloved DwellStudio). Am I the only one that noticed that a decorating book called Decorate and one called Undecorate were released at the same time? I love stacking them on top of one another because of the funny word play 🙂

This weekend, we ran into Target to pick up a card. We have a running joke that every time we set foot in Target, it will cost us $40. As usual, we didn’t get just a card.

We were zooming past the furniture section when Mike suddenly came to a screeching halt and headed down an aisle. He spotted a small desk, just 34 inches wide. We’ve been searching for an entryway table for ages, but our entryway wall is only 36 inches wide and most consoles are 48 inches. We figured we’d build our own since our chair rail adventures have made us more confident in our cutting abilities. But this desk? It was just too perfect to let it slide by. It was the right size, had a single drawer (which I ideally wanted but probably wouldn’t build into a homemade one), it was dark wood, simple and classy. I always envisioned a parsons style desk there, though I toyed with the idea of going more rustic to contrast with the molding boxes we will be adding. For $99, we decided to snatch it up and end our search.

We started putting it together the minute we got home.

It was simple and would have taken 15 minutes or so, but we’re constantly battling a small pack of lions whenever we attempt to be productive.

Seriously, whenever we try to do anything new we get a series of looks that say “what’s that!”, “mine??”, “I want!”, “for me??” I’m surprised Macky doesn’t know how to use tools by now.

But finally, it was together, complete with an accessory that complements the dark wood and the light molding.

We debated changing out the hardware on the drawer, but I actually like the handle that came with it!

Oh and while we were leaving Target, I mentioned how I’d like a not-so-simple lamp to put on it, since the desk was fairly basic. Mike recommended we go to HomeGoods since we were right near it, so we made a stop there before we came home and picked up this lamp.

(The cord has since been hidden so it’s not visible from the door :))

I just fell in love with the intricate design of it and how it has an artistic, vase-like quality all on its own.

I also love the large scale of this lamp. At first I was afraid it would be too large, but the table is small and understated, so I felt like we needed a LAMP, not just a lamp. The metal aspect of it was appealing since it is inevitable that this lamp will be knocked over by a cat during some portion of it’s life with us. Therefore, glass lamp bases are unrealistic and downright dangerous in this casa.  The shade is currently a dark gray, but we want to change it to a white one. Though the gray doesn’t look awful, I think a white one would really look great against the darker walls

Now I will be in search of a round mirror to put on this wall and maybe some storage ottoman(s) to put underneath the desk. Oh, we also primed the lower half of the walls this weekend and finished up our caulking, so we are all ready to semi-gloss the lower half of the walls soon! 🙂

Small storage ottoman, HomeGoods, $39.99

Small cat, PetFinder, free priceless.

Two of my best finds yet.

I threw my sister-in-law a baby shower this past Saturday.  I have a little niece on the way, so she requested a pink and brown theme.  I did not want to just pick up those horrid decorations from the party store, so I had to do a little thinking as to how to pull this off.  I have never been in charge of shower design and I have definitely never thrown a baby shower!  I had some ideas in mind, but the execution happened on a whim and with some prayer.

I bought these inexpensive vases (in 2 heights) at Michael’s and wrapped them in various ribbon from Walmart.  I taped the ribbon on since I planned to give them to guests to take home afterwards.  The stuffed lion is from Home Goods.  This display was on the corner of the bar and the mirrored version (with stuffed giraffe) was on the opposite corner.  I forgot my camera that day and am limited to the pictures I snapped with my iPhone to send my husband.

There were 4 rectangular tables which I covered with brown plastic table cloths from Party City (they were a whole $2!).  I then put either a hot pink or light pink “runner” made with another plastic table cloth that was folded (or not completely unfolded).  I knew I wanted this look and it was so incredibly easy to get.  I feared I would have to trim table cloths, so I bought a few extras.

For the flowers I followed a simple rule: either all one bloom or all one color.  I also made sure all of the leaves were removed from the stem and that the blooms sat just nicely above the rim.  I don’t like filler flowers, mixed bouquets, or long stems… but that’s just my personal taste.  I used some shorter vases also from Michael’s, wrapped in a single strand of ribbon and alternated between hot pink flowers on the pale pink runners and light pink flowers on the hot pink runners.  My flower philosophy goes something like this… I am no botanist, I don’t know what 75% of them are named, but I know what looks good.  The hot pink/white baby’s breath things I have never seen before, but I loved.  They really looked great paired with the light pink daisies.  All of the flowers came from the “build your own bouquet” section of my local supermarket.  They were 3 bouquets for $10.

Overall I was very happy with how everything turned out, despite the fact that I have no photos of the gift table.  The caterer even contributed these adorable menu signs for the buffet….

I gave most of the vases to guests at the end of the shower, but the lower ones would be a great storage solution for a little girl’s hair accessories, jewelry, etc…especially with some fun ribbon attached!