Home Decorating Ideas

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So I never have to leave my house again...

So I've been wanting to tell you about this little gadget for a while now, but really wanted to see how it worked before doing so. I freaking LOVE it...so it's time. :)

I discovered the Amazon Dash buttons last year on Prime Day. I had no idea what they were but they kept popping up as I shopped so I did some research. They were super cheap that day (I think a buck each?) so I put a few in my order and decided to try them out.

Well...as I said, I LOVE THEM. I've found the older I get the less I like to leave our house. I mean, I'm no hermit...we're out nearly every evening for activities and love to go out with friends. BUT...when it comes to running out to the store to grab that one thing we need, we'd rather just stay home. Annnnd now we can. ;)

We got a few of the buttons and there are a couple we use quite often. I'll show you how to use them here -- it's kind of amazing. We keep a couple in our laundry room cabinet:

(DIY floating shelves tutorial)

No, those cabinets still aren't painted. Someday.

We keep our Downy and Gain buttons in here -- they come with a sticky back so you can hang or place them just about anywhere:

When you notice you're running low on whatever the product is...you just push the button. It will flash with a white light (the Downy button on the left) and then when the order is completed, it will flash green (the right):

The AWESOME Amazon dash button and how to use it

And then in a day or two your products arrives at your door. That's it!

I mean. Come on! It truly felt like the Jetson's when we first tried it...I just think it's awesome.

I love ordering online because I know I spend less. We've even started ordering groceries online occasionally because I can sit with my shopping/recipe list and I only order what we need. No impulse buys.

Same goes for these items, that I would run into Target for and then just happen to stop in the dollar section "real quick" and then forget why I even went in and come out an hour later with a cart full of other stuff. I hear that's how it goes for some anyway...

My favorite button is the one for toilet paper that we keep in our master linen closet. Down to just a couple rolls? Hit the button and voila! TP to your door:

A few things to consider:

- When you get the button you need to set it up for the item/size you'll want to be shipped each time. It comes with instructions and it took just a few minutes for us to set up each one. After that you just push it and you're done. There's actually a Kindle book that tells you all you need to know for these buttons now! It has excellent reviews so there may be info in there I don't know about these little jobbies.

- As far as I know, you can only set it up to order one thing with one button. So if you use Downy fabric softener and the pellets, you can only use your button for one item. I am pretty sure anyway, I could be wrong.

- Because I kind of hate how Amazon uses so much packaging for small items, I try to coordinate our smaller purchases with other orders.

- You have to have Amazon Prime to use them.

- I could have sworn the buttons used to be $3 but now they're $5. But I truly believe we save over time by not running out to grab a few items. Be sure to watch for promotions -- I'm sure they'll do something special for prime day again this year.

We use the Downy button, Ziploc, Gain button and my favorite, the Cottonelle, but they don't seem to have that one right now. (They do have Charmin!).

They have a TON of buttons -- it's kind of fun to look through the list. Everything from paper towels to dog food, diapers, trash bags and food products (for those of you with toddlers, Goldfish crackers have one!). They even have a Nerf button! 😂 (Just don't tell our son!)

Have you tried these little gadgets? We love them in our house and are always considering more. I'm all about anything that lets me stay in my pajama pants a little longer ~~every~~ some days.

Have a great weekend my friends!

Affiliate links included for your convenience!

Coming up for air!

OH my goodness people! It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks! I'm finally coming up for air. :) I don't think I've had a busier two weeks in my life, and it's all been amazing stuff, so I'm not complaining. I am thrilled to be home though!

I'm a homebody who loves to travel -- it's an odd combination. I love visiting new places and those we already love, but man, I ache to get back home at the same time. I mentioned that we took our annual trip to Disney World a couple weeks ago:

We like to go around Thanksgiving but this time we stayed a day later than usual -- and it kind of threw me off! I'm joining in on a blog Christmas tour later this week so I was trying to get the whole house decorated in just a few days but got sick while at it.

So I didn't get much done last week because of sickness and then I was off for another amazing (but quick!) trip to Georgia. Last month Delta Faucets asked if I'd like to join in on their trip to tour the 2017 HGTV Dream Home, and of course I said yes! Even though it just happened to be the day before another trip I've had planned.

I went down to St. Simons Island for less than 24 hours and had an amazing time. I cannot wait to show you more of this beautiful home!:

I'll share a ton of pics soon and I have a fun giveaway for you too. It was such an honor to get to be one of the first to walk through this gorgeous house (that will be on TV in January!).

The backyard has a small dock on an inlet -- it was so incredibly peaceful back there:

I didn't get to stay long but I loved that little island and the homes there were stunning.

I flew home that night, got home at 11:30, got three hours of sleep and then woke up early to take a weekend trip to my favorite city that we've had planned for awhile:

Christmastime is my favorite time to visit NYC!

Three friends and I took one kid each and I dragged them all around the city for a whirlwind tour:

We checked out Rockefeller Center, saw a Rockettes show (always amazing!), did some shopping for both the kids and the moms, Empire State Building, Ground Zero, Little Italy, Grand Central, saw Aladdin (it has turned into one of our favorite Broadway shows) and walked around Central Park.

The kids (and moms) were total troupers and we made some wonderful memories.

We've talked about this trip for at least a year now and a few months ago finally made it happen. I'm so glad we did. I LOVE to share this city with friends and love watching them fall in love with it even more.

We had seven ladies and one man -- my little guy. He loved being the tour guide too. :)

The store windows in NYC this time of year are reason enough to visit. :)

I thank God for these women every day -- they make life so fun. It's funny how people come into your life just when you need them. 😊

If you're a Friends fan you may recognize this one! It's the Cherry Hill fountain in Central Park -- but little known fact (that's kind of sad for Friends fans), this isn't the fountain they actually dance around. They built a replica for the opening credits of the show. ;) It's still cool a cool spot to visit though!

I totally wore everyone out -- we are all struggling a little bit today. I'm resting up (trying not to get sick again so I'm taking a ton of Vitamin C!) and then finishing up our Christmas decor -- I'm so inspired now! I'm also finishing up some small details on the basement fireplace -- we LOVE it! I'll share both that and our Christmas tour this week!

Hope your start to your holiday season has been wonderful. I always say I'm not going to make many commitments this time of year and that NEVER happens. ;) I'm so happy to be home now nesting for the holidays and have so many things I can't wait to show you this month!

Have you been busy already? Any fun trips scheduled during the holidays? Or do you love to stay home the whole season?

P.S. If you are considering a trip to New York City, you can see all of my posts about the city here, and my tips on how to do NYC in two days here.

Haven Mentor -- Let's Meet in August!

Hello all! I'm joining in on a fun blog hop today -- if you're visiting from Katie's place, welcome! :)

As some of you know, about six years ago I took a leap of faith with some blog friends and created the Haven Conference -- a conference dedicated to those of us in the "shelter" field of blogging. For those who love talking about and sharing home decor and DIY projects with all of you.

We were nervous but knew a conference like this was needed. Thankfully it was a huge success, and has continued to be over the years. I am crazy proud of what we've accomplished! I decided to leave the planning team last year purely to have more time in my life for my family and my own blog. The dedication and time to create an event of that magnitude is no joke -- I felt like I was falling behind with the rest of life and I hate that feeling.

It was one of the hardest decisions I've ever made, but it was the right one. I'm thrilled to still be involved in the conference as one of the Mentors:

The mentor group is new this year and I love the idea. Do you see all of that talent?? Those of us involved will have a group of attendees we will meet with numerous times during the conference. Think of me as your guide throughout the experience. :)

If you're thinking of starting a blog, just started a blog or been at it for years -- this experience is extremely valuable! I will hit my eight year anniversary in a couple months and I always walk away having learned so much.

Our mentor group is introducing ourselves to you this week through this blog hop, so be sure to click through to find some incredible blogs full of inspiration. Our assignment is to answer a few questions to share more about ourselves and our experiences with you this week, so here we go!

1. How many years have you been blogging?

I answered this one already but I'll start my ninth year in May -- I can hardly believe it. I was in marketing for years (even went back to get my masters) but when I had my son my heart was not in it anymore. I then followed a dream of design work and was a decorator with a local firm for two years. It was during that time that I started TDC. It turned out I enjoyed working on my own home and sharing it with you all way more than doing it for others so I decided to take a chance and focus on blogging only. It was one of the best decisions I've ever made -- I know this is my calling. Although blogging has changed SO MUCH since the early days, there's always something to learn!

2. What's the favorite DIY project you've completed?

I'm all about adding character where there was none in our home. I add built ins wherever possible and lots of trim work throughout the house.

One of my top three favorite projects I've ever tackled was definitely changing our dining room into a library:

I worked on it for years and finally finished up the last details a few months ago. It is such a pretty space but extremely functional too -- I have SO MUCH storage in those cabinets!:

I finished up our kitchen renovation late last year and it's my favorite project, hands down. I'm crazy proud of what I accomplished in there. One of my favorite aspects of the space is the new window seat:

The room is completely transformed! I still walk in there and smile, every day. This is another one that functions so much better for us now -- even though I removed a few upper cabinets to open things up a bit:

Not every favorite project is a big one though! I recently painted my son's bathroom after eight years of bright yellow walls that were driving me crazy. The difference new paint and a few new accessories made was huge!:

You really have to see the before to understand why I'm so excited about that room. A can of paint can work wonders my friends!

3. What was something significant you learned from a conference?

This one is tough because I've learned more than I can even begin to express here -- but the I believe the real value in conferences is the feeling of community and friendship. Anyone who works from home knows that it is wonderful, but you miss that connection with coworkers. Blogging is weird because your coworkers live all over the world.

Beyond that -- these bloggers will become some of your closest and dearest friends. They are the ones who "get" what you do. Some of my closest friends are those I see once a year and that in itself is something most don't understand.

You will walk away with connections to businesses -- but the real value in my eyes is the connections you make with people who do what you do.

4. What is is one piece of advice you would offer a blogger -- new or otherwise -- who is attending Haven?

Conferences can be overwhelming. So many people (most you don't know but feel like you know because you see their faces every day -- another weird thing), so many things to look at, so much information to retain. My advice to anyone attending Haven, but especially those who are new or thinking about blogging, is to remember you do not have to do everything the second you get home.

Take your best bits of information and incorporate them over time. Know while you are there that you will get more information than you know what to do with and that is OK. Focus on building relationships while you are there, not worrying about what you will do when you get home.

If you are interesting in attending Haven (I would love to meet you!!), go here to register.

Here is the list of bloggers participating in the hop today:

And be sure to check out tomorrow's group starting with Beth at Unskinny Boppy!

Curated sale at Joss & Main

Hello there! I’m SO excited to tell you about a fun event I have going this evening. Well, not me personally – I mean, I’d love to have you all over but that would get a little crazy.

I was thrilled when Joss & Main asked me to curate a collection on their site:

Have you shopped Joss & Main? They are a members only online shop with AWESOME decor at great discounts. I just started shopping their site last year and it’s some serious eye candy.

I was able to pick out a bunch of fun products that I loved and felt like showcased my style for my collection. I’m not a fancy decorator – I always want our home to feel lived in, with a simple but timeless feel. I named my collection Classic Comfort because that really symbolizes what my style is all about.

Here’s a few of my favorites that will be offered in my sale:

See those trunks above? Love those things! You can see how I used one in on the sofa table in my family room photo. You can get a better look at them on this post too.

Here’s some more shots from the collection:

How COOL! It was an honor to be asked to do this.

Joss & Main is an invite-only site, so if you aren’t signed up yet you can use my invite here. The sale is now LIVE and will be open for a week. Perfect excuse to shop for ~~yourself~~ family and friends!

And I hope to see you back here tomorrow for my Christmas home tour! No, I’m still not done. I’m having fun with it though and I can’t wait to show you! My son reminded me this morning that there are only FIFTEEN more days till Christmas. I haven’t bought one gift…but this is normal for me. I like the thrill of the last minute I guess. :)

Again, the link to the sale is here and if you aren’t a member you can go here to sign up.

Have a great one!

Outdoor decor ideas (My HD video)

Hello all! You gotta love Thursdays right? I do! We’re in the home stretch as far as school for both the hubby and the Bub. Can’t wait to have them home all summer!!

Today I’m sharing one of the Home Depot videos from the shoot I told you about last week! It was a whirlwind of a day and as I mentioned, more fun than I thought it would be. (I was not, in fact, a ball of nerves like I thought.) ;)

All told I did about 15-20 different videos that day that will air on other sites, but this one is just for you guys! I watched it for the first time yesterday and did not want to puke…that’s a good thing.

I haven’t watched it again cause I would nit pick myself like crazy, so I’m sticking with the first decent impression.

I feel like I’m squinting the whole time – they had a big screen up to block the sun but man, those production lights are crazy bright! Soooooo, other than that and I loathe listening to myself talk, it turned out pretty OK! :)

I’m sharing a few quick tips to get ready for outdoor decor and entertaining, enjoy!:

Have a great one Squeezes!

Home Depot video shoot

Hello all! First of all, I have to send out prayers to those in Oklahoma. We are just seeing all the news this morning and it’s heartbreaking.

I’m back today with a recap of the recent Home Depot video shoot at my house. When they contacted me about doing a video in the backyard a couple months ago I was all, sure, that sounds like fun! I don’t have to leave my house, low stress right?

Well then I realized I was doing interviews for three hours and the nerves started to creep in. ;) I gotta say, in the end it was actually a really fun day and I feel like it went pretty well. (Everyone else said so too, but I’m still not sure if they’re supposed to say that or what.)

The promotion was set up so that I could chat with about 15 other bloggers via the phone while I was taped. We were talking about the new Procter and Gamble cleaning items at Home Depot specifically -- they are great for outdoor grime and dirt. The bloggers and I talked about getting your outdoor spaces ready for the season and some fun entertaining ideas.

I’ll share one of the videos with you soon (I haven’t seen any yet – yikes!!) but for now I wanted to share what went into the shoot. It was mind boggling! The production crew came a couple weeks earlier to check out the house and patio, and when six guys walked in I started to realize what a big deal this was. ;)

The day of the shoot we had more like ten crew members and then the producer from NYC (thanks Evan!) and the PR contact from Chicago (hey Mara!). They were super efficient but still took a couple hours:

There were monitors and cords and stuff everywhere! It was insane! (In a fun way!)

Here’s a better view of the kitchen:

Thank goodness for the new, bigger kitchen table. ;) There’s no way all of that would have fit on the old one.

Speaking of, the old one served as our food station – both breakfast and lunch were catered in, ohh la la!:

Having the food brought in was actually a huge relief to me. All along I had been planning on feeding everyone and that was a huge thing I didn’t have to worry about that day.

The patio was as crazy as the inside – they moved everything around so the fireplace was the focal point:

We had a beautiful, sunny day so the big screen was up to offer some shade for the shoot – I asked if they would leave it and they said no, dangit. :)

My sis was there for the day, thank goodness! It was a relief to have her there to help me prepare and just for support. She got a bunch of pics while I was getting prepped for the shoot:

Nice face:

I have to say, EVERYONE was awesome -- the crew, Evan, Mara – they all made it fun and it was surprisingly laid back, which is good for me. I feel comfortable in front of a camera and have done it numerous times in my life (both for blogging and in my previous life in PR), but if everyone is stressed and hyper it makes me nervous.

It was quite fun and even though I was nervous, I was way more relaxed than I thought I would be. I didn’t mess up too bad – except for the time I kept saying “cucumber” instead of couponer – over and over. And over. It didn’t help that I’d also hear everyone inside through my earpiece cackling every time I said it. :)

You know how you say something wrong a couple times and then your brain just quits on you and you just CANNOT say it right after that? Yeah. I think it took six tries before I got it.

Oh well, everyone needs some outtakes right??

It was a fun day and we flew through the interviews – the crew was packed up and the house was back to normal by mid-afternoon. It was a blast and I couldn’t have done it without my sister there with me:

Love her. :)

The lovely folks at Procter and Gamble and Home Depot have put a little giveaway package together for one of you to win! You’ll get all the items I talked about that day – the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Outdoor Pro pack, Mr. Clean Outdoor Pro spray, a roll of Bounty paper towels and a $50 Home Depot gift card!

WHOOT! I have already tried the cleaning supplies and they rock! Anyone else obsessed with the Magic Erasers? Love them. And with the gift card you can kick off Memorial Day right with some flowers from Home Depot, or maybe some outdoor pillows? Hope the winner does something fun with it! :)

**This giveaway is now closed – the winner has been contacted.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment here. Remember if you are anonymous, leave your email as well! This will be open through Thursday at noon.

10,000(!) and month in review

Hey all! First of all, before I say anything else – I need to say a huge THANKS and a WHOOHOO!

Tonight I hit 10,000 followers:

I had to take a screenshot, just to remember that milestone! (I really, really hate that “followers” term by the way.)

But it’s pretty cool to hit five digits. I now have 10,000 of you Squeezies! Squeezays. Squishes. :)

Crazy!!

Anyway, I want to try to bring back the month in review I started doing last year. It’s been a while since I did recap of the month and it’s kind of fun (for me anyway, you may be snoring already) to see what I accomplished around these parts every month. (I link to each one if you want to check it out.)

The start of this month was an especially special one. We became debt free (except the house) for the first time in our adult lives!!

It’s still so surreal. I find myself thinking about a bill and it hits me -- and I’m grinning from ear to ear. :) We haven’t called in to Dave Ramsey’s show yet – we’d like to take a trip down to Nashville instead. I’ll let you know what we end up doing!

And I’m SO SO excited about an idea that Dave’s peeps have been helping me out with. I hope to announce it in the next couple of weeks.

Next up this month, I took an unused spot in our loft and turned it into functional (and cute!) storage wall:

At the February Before and After Party, I showed you how I took a $5 Goodwill pitcher and transformed it with spray paint:

Can you believe there were 499 posts linked up? Wowza! How cool is that?

Since we’ve become debt free, we are now researching our first “cash” furniture purchase in a long, long time. I’m so excited about a new sofa, I can barely stand it:

There was a great response to that post – I’m pulling all the info you shared together and will do a recap post soon. Lots of great info!

I worked with the folks at My Design Guide to provide my readers an affordable online consultation resource:

I’m not able to do these anymore, so I was thrilled that they were able to help me and my readers out!

My friend Beki shared the love with a fantastic giveaway over at The Rusted Chain:

And then one thing led to another when I took down the drapes in our living room and the transformation started:

When the ice storm of the century hit (that’s what I’m calling it anyway), and we couldn’t leave the house for days, I passed some time by decluttering a linen closet:

You won’t believe how much STUFF was in there. (Many of you asked about the light I used, and a very helpful reader put a link in the comments!)

Next, I showed you a total project FAIL – my beautiful painted pitcher didn’t hold up well, in more ways than one:

Boo. I found a pretty and affordable replacement though. :)

At the Organize It shindig, I showed you how I’ve been using Ziploc bags to organize games and puzzles:

LOVE those things. I used more of them in the basement today! (Check out the nearly 300 links at that party too.)

And finally, this week I shared how I use photos as art throughout our house:

Of course, I’m so thankful to all of my wonderful advertisers…over there to the left. :)

Whew! What a month! Thanks so much for coming along for the ride -- can’t wait for a great March!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Well, it’s official. We’re WEIRD.

You know that guy Dave Ramsey I keep talking about? You know how he says people who don’t have debt are WEIRD?

Well, if you don’t know him…that’s what he says.

“Debt is normal…be weird.”

Well.

As of this morning, we are officially,

completely,

gloriously,

totally,

happily

WEIRD.

WE’RE

DEBT

FREE!!!

(Except the house.)

Whoo, people!! WHOO!!!!

It still hasn’t hit us. Surreal is an understatement. I haven’t cried yet. But I will. Buckets. :)

It’s major. Like, $125,000 in just about three and a half years, MAJOR. (Yes, there were three zeros.)

I told you about our debt story here, (I way underestimated how much we had already paid off at that point) and for the past three years or so, we’ve been fighting, scratching, clawing at it -- taking our finances BACK. And it’s truly been a fight.

We had flooring debt, school debt, hot tub debt, medical debt, clothing debt, I-have-no-clue-what-we-bought debt – you name it, we had it.

We were so tired of it. It was a monkey on our backs. A large, 125,000 pound monkey. And it was exhausting carrying him around. ;)

Getting rid of that monkey – exhilarating.

I thought it was impossible to live without a car payment.

I thought I would be paying off my student loan till I was 45.

I thought I couldn’t pay for a piece of furniture unless we charged it.

I was wrong.

We decided to live like no one else. So now we can live like no one else.

And it is rockin’ our worlds.

We can live without credit cards. We can save for something and pay for it when we have the money. We can save for our future and change our children’s lives.

It makes me so emotional when I think about how we are completely changing their futures. We will leave them security, not a financial mess. That makes every minute of this process worth it.

Yes, we could have done this without Dave Ramsey. It’s not rocket science. It’s making a budget every month and sticking to it – and telling our money where to go. That was a biggie for me. We were never telling it where to go, we were just floating along. La dee da, la dee da.

But Dave Ramsey inspired us. His conviction and enthusiasm is absolutely contagious. You want to attack your debt like a raging BEAR after you listen to him for five minutes.

And today, I clicked the button that sent the payment to my student loan – our very last debt. It’s all gone – forever and ever and EVER.

It’s the first time in our adult lives we’ve been debt free. We’ve both had debt since we were 18 years old. I have never been an adult and NOT had debt.

Till today. I feel like I could float away, it feels so good.

We are SO WEIRD!!!!

And if being weird is wrong, I don’t want to be right.

I wanted to take a minute and thank you so much for sharing this journey with us! I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your comments and emails about our story. It absolutely makes me smile every time.

One thing I know for sure – if we can do it, YOU CAN DO IT. It may take you longer, it may take you less. I know you will be so proud of yourself.

It made us more mature, it bonded us, it changed our marriage, in a really great way. It is one of the best things we have done in entire lives.

And I’ll say it again – WHOOOOOO!!!! :)

**And yes…we will be calling in to the radio show to scream. But now we want to take a trip down to Nashville and scream it in his lobby. It’s a big deal, and we want to celebrate it. :)

***I’m quite sure my Google ads will go crazy with credit companies after this post – I don’t personally endorse any of them. Just sayin’.