Lighting Tour

Posted on June 10, 2018 by queenofthepalas

One of the most cost saving areas you can manipulate when building a house is lighting. A light fixture can range easily from $50- $2,000+. There is a huge difference between those numbers, and when you have multiple to buy you can easily see how the savings can add up. My goal in our lighting budget was high impact on a low budget. We also made the switch in our new home to all LED lights. I have learned so much through the building process including: the many differences in light bulbs, the effect light has on mood, on energy, and health, on design, and finally the impact lighting can leave on you.

This post may contain affiliate links. Post is sponsored by Soraa Home.

I had general ideas of the kinds of lights I was thinking, but price helped dictate a lot of the decisions. Some of my favorite lighting suppliers are Wayfair, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Overstock, World Market, and Amazon for lights.

When you see our house from the outside we have a pendant lantern along with a series of lantern style sconces.

In the foyer, as you enter our home we have a light fixture that is formal, but understated. I love the contrast between the crystals and wood ceiling.

You enter the living room to see my favorite fixture in our home. It was the largest and most expensive, but also still checked my high impact, lowish budget lighting goal. Other lights of this size can easily be thousands of dollars. This light seems to be an excellent quality.

The original light fixtures in our kitchen were beautiful, but they turned out to be high maintenance.I updated the shades, you can find the post here about that, but these are the original pendants.

Our breakfast nook light fixture comes in second of my favorites. I love the geometric pattern.

Our bathrooms will one day have a little transformation with lighting. You’re not technically allowed to hang chandeliers over tubs according to our building code, and we aren’t rebels just yet. 😉 For now I do have this small chandelier in our downstairs master, but none in the other bathrooms.

We do have some fun, and simple vanity fixtures in the bathrooms. I love a serious farmhouse look, but I tried to balance that with traditional vibes we won’t grow tired of.

Outside on our porches and in our bedrooms we have fans because, hello, Georgia. I love light fixtures in both of these spaces, but I like a cool breeze more.

We use all LED light bulbs in our home, even the Edison styled bulbs are LED. What I didn’t know before, was the importance of the type if LED lights you use in your home.

We all are all still new to the LED bulb takeover of modern electricity. It was only in 2014 that the official phasing out of incandescent was put into practice. LED lights have proven there benefit by being very efficient in homes everywhere. We stand testament to this; our bills are consistently cheaper than in our smaller, previous home.

Just like it takes a minute to get used to seeing the whiter & crisper light produced by an LED bulb, it also takes adjustment time to buy LED bulbs because they are more expensive compared to incandescent bulbs on the upfront cost. However, on the back end they last much longer, and are a ton cheaper to operate over their life. Like the required adjustments of thinking about LED bulbs vs. incandescent bulbs, we now need to open up more dialog about the differences between LED bulbs themselves. Every LED bulb on the market is not created equally. Most LED bulbs on the market emit a blue wavelength that can be negative towards our health at the wrong time.

Each morning the sun naturally has these blue wavelengths that signal your body to wake from your slumber. In the late afternoon, as the sun starts begin its decent, the beams lose the blue wavelengths. Your body’s response is growing tired with the change of light. Our bodies depend on light in a very synergistic way.

What if the light bulb you flip on when the sun is going down is blasting you with the same blue wavelengths that are signaling you to be awake each morning? Could LED lights be making us sleep worse? It’s something I just never even considered before learning about the Soraa Home Healthy LED Bulb with Zero Blue light.

Soraa Healthy light bulbs are the only LED bulbs on the market that contains 0 blue wavelengths. I personally don’t have an issue with sleep, I am a mother to young children, after all. Sleep is a commodity over here. I do, however, know quite a few people who struggle with the ability to fall, or stay asleep. Could improper light exposure be an underlying problem? It definitely makes me wonder how this exposure to blue wavelengths could affect our sleep patterns over time. Regular LED light bulbs are actually considered melatonin inhibitors. That doesn’t sound conducive to a healthy night’s rest.

In addition to being better for health, Soraa Home’s LED lights consistently rate highest for full color spectrum. Some LED lights have color gaps, or colors that are not accurately shown in the light produced by the inferior bulb. Soraa Home’s Radiant light bulb has no color gaps AND they are fully dimmable (WITHOUT the buzz, hallelujah), and are headache proof because they don’t flicker. If you have ever been a witness to a flickering LED light, it is stroke inducing. Overall, I am impressed with the quality and excellence Soraa Home has brought into the home lighting category. They have been lighting spaces, like high end retailers and museums for years and have now moved into lighting our homes. Their dedication to producing the best lighting is unparalleled.

You can view the whole line of Soraa Home Lighting on their website, click here.

There is a load of information about light effects on their website too if you are interested in reading more about their Soraa Healthy bulb, click here.

Shop Soraa Home Healthy light here, and they offer free shipping on orders over $50.
Shop the Soraa Home Radiant Light bulb here.

The rest of the sources in this post are shown below. Thanks for taking my lighting tour and have a wonderful day!

XOXO
Kellye

Faux Basket Pendant

Posted on June 9, 2018 by queenofthepalas

This may be the easiest DIY I have ever done.

I saw some awesome baskets at Joann’s Fabric and loved the shape and pattern of the weave. It screamed light pendant to me. There are so many ways you could even add light without wires. Small string lights or battery operated pick lights could be attached to make them operational.

All the materials and equipment I used for this project was:

Basket (s)
Rope (mine is 1/2”)
Scissors
Command Hooks ( I used the 3lb)
Tape measure

First take the end of your rope and weave it down and then back through the basket in even places on the basket.

If your basket has no holes you would have to measure and drill/ cut the basket to allow the rope to go through.

Grab the two ends of the rope.

Tie it in a knot that’s taunt to the basket. Make sure it’s relatively even so the basket will hang straight.

That’s it!! You made the pendant part! Now to hang it.

I used Command Hooks because I’m not always the most decisive with my projects. I didn’t want to make holes and change my mind. The baskets are light weight so it’s no challenge for the hooks. I may make it permanent one day with screws or hooks, but not today. 😀

I started with the middle pendant, moved to the right and then measured for the left to make it all even.

Easy peasy! Below I linked some basket that would work as pendants and some pre made basket styled pendants as well.

How BBG Helped Mama Get Her Groove Back

Posted on May 16, 2018 by queenofthepalas

If you would have told me when I got married I would be nearly 200lbs. when I delivered by first child I would have laughed at you, like hard.

Post may contain affiliate links.

My entire life I was aware and involved in staying fit. I never had to live at the gym, but I tried to maintain a healthy weight. I am 5’4” and have always been around 125-135lbs. My parents are both slim. My mom has had four kids, and still looks absolutely amazing. I completely assumed it would be easy to stay at a healthy weight.

I never would have guessed I would go down a path that left me feeling uncomfortable and stole my confidence.

The picture above was taken on the cruise, my then fiancé and I, took when I graduated college. I felt amazing and confident and enjoyed working out.

After my husband and I got married I gained a little weight, but was still comfortable. I had no problem being slightly heavier than I was as a teenager. Like I said, I have never been crazy about my weight just aware.

Hubs and I were married about 8 months when I got pregnant with our first baby. For some reason, I thought I could eat anything I wanted. I ate, I ate, and I ate. I was craving sweets and unhealthy foods and had 0 restraint.

Before I knew it, my doctor was advising me to watch my weight. Huh??? I had never heard those words uttered about my body. I had a small panic attack, but I also knew at 9 months pregnant there wasn’t much I could do.

So I tapped out on my first pregnancy at 185lbs. I had gained 50 lbs. I kept telling myself , the damage is done, but it’s gonna fall right back off….right?!!! Nope. It kinda just didn’t go anywhere.

Breastfeeding made loosing weight absolutely impossible because I was even hungier than I was while pregnant. I was adjusting to my new life as a stay at home Mom, and because my husband traveled a lot it made working out even more challenging. In retrospect, I should have prioritized it more. I should have put myself first!

Flash forward to my daughter being 13 months old, and we surprisingly found out we were expecting again. I was around 145lbs when I got pregnant with my second daughter. Through severe “morning” sickness over the next 16 weeks, I lost the rest of my “baby” weight and was down to 135lbs.

I was very careful through my second pregnancy, and only gained 25lbs. I delivered my second daughter at 160lbs and was back down to 140lbs. in no time. I still wasn’t stressed, but knew I wanted to get back to “myself.” Breastfeeding again made it difficult to loose anymore. It wasn’t until my second daughter was 18 months old that I had the energy and desire to do something more about it.

I was introduced to BBG in January 2018 and was attracted to the ease of the program. I have a small at home gym and wanted something I could do at home.

I was feeling ok, and was very aware of what I was eating. I’m not big on diets, but I try very hard to feed my kids and myself nutritiously. The program offers a meal plan that had some awesome food ideas.

My main goal in starting the program was to get “hard” again, build my muscles and confidence back.

So what is BBG?

It’s an App based workout program, the Sweat app (can be downloaded in the App Store) that has multiple programs within it.

It’s a 12 week system with resistance, cardio workouts + diet program with food suggestions. I took this description below from Kayla’s website kaylaitsines.com because she explains it best. (Kayla is the creator of the program)

It’s cheaper than joining a gym and can be done from anywhere with minimal equipment.

The first few workouts were absolutely killer. I couldn’t walk for like a whole week. It wasn’t always easy to find the time, but every week I did the resistance workouts and tried to do the three cardio workouts. I didn’t always succeed. In fact, I didn’t complete most weeks 100%, but over time, I felt myself craving the workout.

Week 6

I still wasn’t being crazy about my diet because I honestly don’t believe in dieting. I did start to recognize I needed to be a little more careful though with food I was putting in my body. I tried to avoid eating sweets, excessive bread or pasta, and upped my veggie intake.

By the time I finished the first BBG program, even with not doing every single workout, and eating decent but not great….I had seen major results. (Imagine if you are super strict the results you’ll see!)

Flash to today, I have started the BBG stronger program and it’s a part of my life. I workout multiplie times a week and because I have seen such results it helps me to continue to eat healthy, and make good choices.

I couldn’t do a single push-up when starting this program and now I can do 15 consecutively and multiple sets. I currently weigh in at 125lbs and it’s been years since I have felt so good.

I couldn’t recommend this program more. I tell everyone about it and will continue to use it! I can’t wait to see how my body continues to change over time with this amazing program.

This post is in no way endorsed by BBG, Im just thrilled my progress. ❤️

Paint Colors

Posted on April 27, 2018 by queenofthepalas

Believe it or not we only have like 6 paint colors in our house. (Not including my girls rooms that’s their space.)

I have a post on all of our exterior selections you can find here.

The layout of our home is so open, I felt the colors needed to mesh all together. And to be honest, it was overwhelming trying to pick a ton of colors anyway.

I found this palette with Urbane Bronze by Sherwin Williams. It was the perfect warm gray tone I wanted. I love a warmer, brown gray as opposed to a cool, purple toned gray.

I knew I wanted my bookcases in our living room to be this dark color. Everything sort of built around those. I needed a light, neutral gray to balance these cabinets and it so happened this color stick had all the colors.

We used SW (Sherwin Williams) Amazing Gray 7044 on our entire bottom floor. The walls in our kitchen, great room, mudroom, foyer and stairway are all Amazing gray.

For cabinets I initially wanted gray. The Worldly gray color is much more gray to my eyes on the color stick. For some reason, I’m not totally sure why, but this color; Worldly Gray, reads so creamy greige in our house. I have grown to kinda love it. Our kitchen cabinets, and baby gates are this color. Our island is stained using a spray stain by NGR in brown.

Our trim color in our whole house is SW Alabaster 7008. Our dining room built in is also Alabaster.

Our bedroom is SW Intellectual Gray 7045. It’s a beautiful and tranquil color. It looks great with our SW Sea Salt 6204 bath. This is the only color I took that wasn’t on the color stick. Sea salt is a great color that looks very different in different spaces. It’s actually more a green toned color but reads more blue in our house.

Our basement we continued this same color scheme. We used shiplap wood instead of drywall. It’s painted SW Worldly Gray 7043.

Our cabinets are SW Intellectual Gray 7045. The bar is stained shiplap wood in Minwax Provencial.

I hope this is helpful for all those who have asked for our paint colors.

Resort Wear

Posted on April 18, 2018 by queenofthepalas

I think it’s totally safe to say I love stripes, black and white, and functional this summer.
Bathing suits and Momming can be a tricky collaboration. The little angels that made my boobs hang to my belly button also like to wiggle, squirm, and run causing me to actually have to move while wearing a bathing suit. The pre-kid standard for a swimmy was staying on. I didn’t have to move much, in fact, less coverage meant less tan lines.

Now-a-days us Moms have a different tune to hum. Please don’t let my saggy, bean bag boob slide out from inside my bathing suit.
These suits, so far, seem to do the job, and are cute. Just because the majority of my body hangs lower than before, I don’t want to be a frumpy 29 year old.

DIY Wood Wallpaper Planks

Posted on April 13, 2018 by queenofthepalas

From day one, I wanted to add wood to the back of the built-in, in the dining room. It wasn’t a priority by any means, and I went through some different game plans in my mind.

The room began like this. Not bad, but always missing something.

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you to the sponsors Boutique Rugs and Weaber Lumber.

Building cabinets in my past life, I originally planned to use a legit material in this cabinet: pine v-groove board laid vertically. (This is what our kitchen ceiling is made of). However, I decided because you couldn’t really touch the area and it didn’t need to actually be durable, I would just use wallpaper.

I got some suggestions to add color into the room and while I still haven’t painted the awesome nickel gap shiplap on the walls, sponsored by Weaber lumber, I only have the heart to go the alabaster route. I like the lighter color in here. Sorry for all those that voted darker on my Insta poll.

When I also had the opportunity to partner with Boutique Rugs, I was so excited! They offer a ton of really beautiful rugs in all different sizes. I knew this was the way to get the color I craved. I found this gorgeous rug, The Elaziz (7’6”x 10’3”). It can be found on their website, or by clicking here, and is so pretty! The colors are bright and vibrant without being overbearing. Boutique Rugs has great prices and I’m very happy with the quality of this rug.

One small problem though, after receiving this beautiful rug, I decided the color I painted the built in, inside was clashing.

I had tried to stencil it and it looked terrible.

Scouts honor, I had no intention of tackling this wood wallpaper project yesterday, but I had to share my gorgeous rug and I couldn’t kill the vibes with an ugly cabinet back.

I found this wood wallpaper by Valspar at Target. I liked the color, but didn’t like the pattern of the wood. I haven’t been able to find a herringbone wallpaper I like, so I decide to make one.

I’ll share my steps and the materials needed below.

For this project you’ll need:

- - - - Scissors
      - Razor (not necessary if your scissors are sharp enough)
      - Wallpaper rolls (1 roll covers 27.5 sqft.)
      - Measuring tape
      - Square
    xI started by cutting the “wood” into pieces.
    
    I marked the center of my space with blue tape.
    
    I proceeded to start in one corner of my cabinet and angled it approximately. You can be very technical and measure and calculate the angles but if you’re lazy like me you can do the “ish” method. This isn’t real wood. You will use the razor later to clean it up so be slightly sloppy, always following the rule of having extra and not less.
    
    Continue all the way up.
    
    For the center chevron where the two sides meet: the top angle of the piece must be longer than the center line to have enough to trim. You will go back and trim the center line all the way down.
    
    See stencil fail above. Here is my starting point sort of pushed into the corner at an approximate angle that looked good. I made sure the piece went further than the center line.
    
    This product was easy to cut and use so I would leave it slightly long and trim it with my scissors or razor.
    
    You can also cut first and then go back and hold it up before removing the back and remeaaure the other side and cut. You risk making a mistake more this way.
    
    Continue this the whole way. When you fill the space go back and mark the center again. Carefully cut the center line all the way down and remove extra on the outside of the center line.
    
    Repeat the whole process on the opposite side, trimming the center line at the end.
    
    You could do a tighter pattern but I wanted the full chevron looking straight on at the cabinet. To do this you would measure to the center the same way but would then divide those two spaces and do one more pattern. More cutting for sure though.
    
    As you do the top area that connects try to connect the pattern. Mine is not perfect but the darker piece is in a chevron pattern all the way across.
    
    This rug is so beautiful with the denim chairs. The colors are great!
    
    After I finished the chevron pattern, I added the wallpaper to the sides but going in the correct pattern. It went fast because I just cut the correct sizes and laid it out rather than using the planks method.
    
    I am loving how this whole space turned out. It’s a little more boho than I usually go but it still vibes well with the rest of the downstairs.

Spring Garden Center

Posted on April 5, 2018 by queenofthepalas

Aside from a rough start with the pollen and confusing temperatures, Spring is the most wonderful time of the year. The world comes alive again. Color slowly creeps back into the dead and dry landscape.

This post is sponsored by Tractor Supply Company. Post may contain affiliate links.

It is a renewing time of year; your home decor should bring the same cheery feeling to the inside your home. Your home should feel warm and inviting just like the spring temperatures.

It should evoke the same feeling as stepping outside on a warm spring day to hear birds chirping and sun blazing down. Beautiful blooming flowers and the mixture of new fresh green leaves livening up the landscape. Fresh, fun colors with natural elements are an easy way to achieve this Spring garden look.

I was so excited to have the opportunity to partner with Tractor Supply Company to share Trisha Yearwood’s exclusive, beautiful home decor collection.

It is a great assortment of functional pieces to use in and around your home. Industrial elements mesh with classic country colors.

This line is full of simple, but beautiful decor pieces that can be dressed up or down easily. I decided to bring my garden inside so I can enjoy some Spring foliage sans pollen.

The pieces I chose from the line are the pedastal servers (green and teal), the adorable finials, and the milk bottle carrier.

I used these pedestal servers as a gardening supply center drop. I have some flowers planted along our front porch so, I plan to use this spot as my garden drop. My gardening gloves, trowels, and watering cans can be left here on the way in to the house.

These servers could also be dressed up more for a party to serve food off of. The finials are effortless style that could be added all over the home.

I stacked a large and small pedastal server together to give more dimension. This small house I used in my Christmas decor doubles as “green house” decor in my garden center.

You can shop the pieces I used from the exclusive Trisha Yearwood Home Collection at Tractor Supply Company below.

And be sure to shop the rest of the line here.

Overall, I am impressed with the beautiful pieces in this collection. Scroll through their site or visit your local Tractor Supply Company store. I know I am eyeing more of the fabulous pieces they are offering.

At Home Gel Nails

Posted on February 21, 2018 by queenofthepalas

Nails are written in bold and underlined on #423 on my to-do list. So essentially, in the “ain’t happenin'” section.

Do I enjoy getting my nails done? Of course!
Do I have time to go every two weeks? Ha!

Do I find it to be a financially firm decision? Nope. It’s super expensive and literally grows (or chips) too fast for my frugal heart.

Occasionally, my daughter and I will have a paint our nails party. For her nails, I exclusively use Sally Henson instant dry polish.

It is super fast drying, and there are a ton of color options. It doesn’t last very well for my nails, which doesn’t matter for a 3 year old. For my almost 30 year old nails, half chipped off isn’t as endearing.

Occasionally, I’ll go splurge for a manicure but for the most part I have nakey nails.

I’ve seen some other people talk about at home gel manicures. At first, I was like, woah, way too technical– I’ll pass, but over time, and quite a few regular -polish manicures that lasted 20 minutes, I realized how genious those peeps were!

For the same price as one gel manicure at the salon I got a few colors and Uv dryer that I can use time and again.

Here is the dryer I purchased. I like that it can be folded to be compact for traveling.

A few guidelines to consider before ordering your gel nails pack:

You must be decent at painting your own nails and adhere to the steps of getting a gel manicure. (Or have someone around that is decent at painting your nails.)
If you have never had a gel manicure before, you may want to go treat yourself and learn about it before you put some hard to remove paint on your claws.

Amazon offers a ton of cool packages and lots of colors to choose from.

Don’t forget to get the top and base products as well.

Below shop some of the best ones i found and all the accessories you’ll need for your manicure kit.

My first at home gel manicure was quick and painless. In about 10 minutes I had a fresh coat of polish on my nails that will hopefully last two weeks or so.

Home Plan & Exterior Selections

Posted on February 17, 2018 by queenofthepalas

My husband and I both love craftsman homes so it was an instant connection when we found this house plan.

This photo above even pictures one of the two love birds, that live in the big tree to the left of our house.

This photo below was taken from the Architectural Designs Pinterest page. The specs and plan are for their home version which can be found here. Ours is a little bit different.
I still envision some rustic wood or painted gables for some extra wow factor, but we can add those over time. Craftsman homes have a ton of character. I have ideas to keep adding it over time, but this plan is a beautiful charming design on its own.

Click the photo below to go to the Architectural Designs page.

Exterior Paint Colors

Siding- Sherwin Williams, Anonymous 7046

Trim- Sherwin Williams, Shoji White 7042

Shutters- Sherwin Williams, Urbane Bronze 7048

We were unsure where to start with stone. I love the look of both stone and brick, but then this nasty thing called a budget came and made us rethink all our choices. We ended up finding a manufactured stone product that saved us money but stil gave us the beauty and design we wanted. We used Premier Stone Products and chose the “rubble” style in the color “Sierra.”

📸 http://www.premierstone.net
I love modern gray colors, but I also love warmth. The Sierra color stone provides both.

We didn’t add shutters right away, but I felt they were missing so it was on the immediate “to-do” list.

We painted them the way wrong color at first! I knew right away we had picked the wrong color. Whoops!

We finally settled on a darker color, and never turned back.

Our garage doors are by Overhead doors, and our front doors were custom built.
We used iron pickets for our front and back porch to avoid having to paint them over and over again. So far it’s a great choice because all the paint could used to be touched up.

The wood ceiling on our front and back porch is V-groove pine and is stained using Minwax Provencial Stain. The stone on the porch floor is real field stone and was bought from a local distributor.
One thing that sold me on this house was the layout! We had some uncompromisable requests for our home:

A full basement
A mudroom
A room for 3 kids and us
Hubs wanted master in main (I didn’t.. kids)
A functional & beautiful kitchen.
Beyond those items we were up for anything.This AD house plan (73330HS) checked all our boxes.

Main Level:Second Level:Basement Level:We considered moving the garage to the side because I’m not a huge fan of garage on the front, but then for our lot it just made sense to keep it as is. We can pull straight into our garage as opposed to making a big turn. (It’s not always just about design, sometimes the functionality of something matters more!)

Dining Room Revamp

Posted on January 7, 2018 by queenofthepalas

Post in partnership with Christmas Tree Shops And That, a store I absolutely love! All sponsored items are from their new line The Grainhouse™. This post contains affiliate links, full disclosure here.

I was thrilled to start off the New Year partnering with And That. (for short) They recently launched a brand new line, The Grainhouse™, a beautifully curated line of farmhouse essentials and decor at unbeatable prices. I want to start off by offering a huge thank you to this terrific company for helping this revamp happen.

I have been eager to finish our dining room. Our original table was too ornate and fancy for my matured taste, but I was going to live with it. I painted this room to match the upholstered material and was fine with using it. That is, until, we moved in and the realness of an open concept home was glaring at me.

This table did not fit in our new house, literally. It was huge. So, thanks Craigslist for the connection, and you’re welcome to the nice fellow who was dreaming of my table. (He told me so picking it up.) Bye, bye table! I proceeded to use the cash to buy a more suited farmhousey feeling table. End dining room revamp.

So there it sat, waiting for some final love. Some entertain your family and friends in my comforting space love.

Enter The Grainhouse Line at Christmas Tree Shops And That, and I easily styled this space.

The line is just full of entertaining goodness! They had the best selection of farmhouse style baskets I have seen in one store and honestly the best prices too.

I stocked up on some beautiful dining-ware and serve-ware. The lettuce serving plate is seriously so cute. They also had a smaller version of the lettuce server that I think I need to go back for to use as salad plates.

I loved how the dip bowl was used, in store, as a server for cups. They had all different sizes and materials (marble and wood, oh my!) of cutting boards and serving boards.

Also some of the cutest farmhouse pillows I ever did see. Some were sold out online, but were in the store.

Ignore the boo boo on the wall; (PT. 2 revamp will fix this, if you have been following my IG stories you’ll know what I’m talking about) I had a battle with a piece of double sided tape and the tape won 😵. Just focus on that pillow perfection.

This line offers so many cute signs too, like the rustic, galvanized farmhouse sign and the local sign. I also snagged an adorable pantry sign for the kitchen.

This affordable line is an easy way to revamp a space without spending too much or worrying about coordinating.

The fabrics and material used in this line offer so much texture and the perfect colors. This braided runner comes in multiple colors. All the colors go together and are easily mixed and matched within the line.