{happy toes}

So friends, I have a tough decision that I need some help with. In our soon-to-be family room, we will have two areas, which calls for two rugs (to protect those newly finished floors, remember?)

We already have this rug for our sofa/TV area...



And now we need to find a rug for our desk area. I'm leaning toward something solid in a shag (because shag rugs make my toes happy and hide graham cracker crumbs). Like this...

Here is a little mood board of our desk area to give you an idea of what the furniture and accessories will look like...




The desk is from Target, and purchased in our "cottage" days but it is a great piece so we will make it work. The chair we have is similar to the one pictured (from IKEA) but is a blonde wood instead of woven. We purchased the LACK shelf from IKEA to go over the desk and create a cohesive look with the chair. The artwork and accessories are items we already own, aside from the lamp. I plan on painting one we have a similar shade of green.

So what do you think...go with the ivory shag or maybe a darker shade like gray? Or go bold and pull out the green in the patterned rug? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

{love list x 2}

Let's see if I can make up for skipping last week with a double dose of love today...

1. Barefoot worthy floors...

Our front room hardwoods are finally refinished and what a difference some sandpaper and stain can do! I'm so excited to get the space furnished and decorated.

2. This necklace...



So feminine and whimsical. (and affordable!)

3. This living room...



Blend of cottage + modern + cozy = definitely achieved.

4. This quote.

5. This adorable family room arrangement...

I love the children's space at the coffee table. Brilliant.

6. Of course I would love this...

A squirrel garland. Enough said.

7. Nicole's tutorial on arranging a built-in...

Even though I don't have one anymore, I can definitely use this concept for our china hutch.

8. My twin speed racers...

How cute are they in these pj's? Seriously?!

9. Photo frame walls (and this entire home tour)...

I want to do a similar arrangement over our sofa in the "new" family room.

10. This print...

Although I would make my glass completely full these days...in the best of ways.

So there it is...two week's worth of love, for you my friends. :)

What are you loving this week?

{expressive}

The many faces of my Benny...

{productive}

Happy Monday friends!

We had such a productive, family-filled weekend and boy did I ever need that! We got some great organizing and cleaning projects done around the house and I even had time to make lasagna for dinner last night. My husband is our designated chef, so it felt good to be domesticated for a change.

I hung up my Halloween banner that I made a few years back in our entryway last night and I love the cheer it adds and the festive welcome it brings...

I originally made the banner to hang on our old front porch railing {sigh}. I miss that porch...

We had one of my favorite family moments on that porch...the boys' first Halloween...

Aren't they just the cutest?! I know...I'm a tad biased.

It was too long for my new purpose so I cut it in half and plan on hanging the rest outside the house on Halloween.

And in other semi-decorating news...we moved our desk into the soon-to-be family room last night. Since we don't have a rug for underneath it yet, and don't want to scratch the newly finished floors, my husband came up with a genius idea...

Yes, those are infant socks. I knew it would pay off to keep some of those suckers.

How was your weekend? I'd love to hear about projects you completed, or live vicariously through those who did absolutely nothing and enjoyed every minute of it!

Linked up with...

{insert great title here}

Today I need to allow myself to be imperfect.

I'm tired and worn out from the working mom of twins thing.



This adult stuff is no joke.



Bear with me friends...I'll be back with fun posts soon. Promise!

{yee haw!}

NYC's naked cowboy has nothing on ours...



Sorry for the shorts posts this past week friends...I've had a super busy work and personal week. Hopefully I'll be back to my usual posting soon!

{stripped}

Our hardwood floors are a little naked right now...and I can't wait to see them when I get home tonight! The area at the bottom of the photo is pre-sanding - you can tell such a difference!


Picture sent to me by our contractor - how sweet, right?

{batter up}

The boys helped their dad clean off the beaters after he mixed up a peanut butter pie. (YUM!) Aren't they thoughtful?!

{nice to meet ya}

The fall season is always a huge source of inspiration for me. The colors are so vibrant and intense. Orange has been a new obsession of mine this season. It surrounds us in nature right now (at least here in Indiana it does), and also in the fashion and interior design worlds.

So I decided to try something new today.

How about a little fashion meets nature meets interior design?

Today I'm wearing my new orange pashmina with a gray dressy tee, denim skirt, and gray flats. I snapped this photo on my way to work this morning (stopped at a stopped sign of course). I'm crazy about how the colors in these photos play off of each other....

And for my version of fashion meets interior design, I chose Nicole's former dining room. Love how the purplish gray walls, orange rug and console, and gold-toned dining set reflect the hues in my outfit (see my gold earring peeking out?)



Nicole had this orange thing going on way before it was the new black. But she is clever like that. (love her)

Gray + Orange. Give it a try friends!

{soon-to-be}

We had a pretty much perfect fall weekend with the boys. It first involved a big trip to this place...

Photo from the boys' 1st IKEA trip...boy how things have changed!

But I didn't take any pictures this time.

Shame, shame, shame.

We did buy some fun things for the house though. An orange paper lantern to hang in the boys' soon-to-be shared bedroom, a LACK shelf (in birch) for over our soon-to-be desk area in the soon-to-be family room, and some curtains for our soon-to-be dining room.

Our house is in sort of a state of limbo these days.

Our hardwoods are still waiting for their date with a sander, which is apparently the most popular date in town. Oh the joys of small town living! So while our house sits in disarray, with two rooms of furniture packed into one, we decided to spend as much time out as possible.

Yesterday we did what any Normal Rockwell-ish family does on a fall day - go to the orchard!

This time I definitely had my camera ready...

The boys had so much fun inspecting all of the "punkins"...

And it was Noah's first trip to the orchard (outside of his momma's belly that is)...

Their Gigi gave them juicy apples to eat on the way home...

After a nap (for all of us) and dinner, we took the boys to the park for some sliding, running, and most importantly, filling up their new pumpkin shaped water bottles with fresh spring water...

Some kisses from Mom of course...

And exploring with Dad...

And each other...

If only we could have 52 weekends like this every year!

How was your weekend friends?