My Signature Style
My friend Carrie from Making Lemonade asked me the other day to be part of a Signature Style Series with 22 other bloggers. It’s lasting all week, and I’ve got links down at the bottom of this post to everyone posting today. Today is day one, and I wanted to first give a shout out to Beth at Unskinny Boppy who is up today as well. She’s got a gorgeous home that is laid back, vintage, and southern traditional. I’ve had the chance to meet her a couple of times and she is such a sweetheart.
This series got to thinking about what my signature style is. My first reaction was…I’ve never thought about it. Do I even have one? OMG am I a fraud? How do I not already know this??
But, then I looked around my house and went through my home tour, and focused on my favorite pieces. What jumped out at me was that I like clean, casual, and happy rooms.
I’m a less is more kind of gal when it comes to decorating, and I like my things to have a function. I’d rather have an empty space than something I don’t really like or that’s just taking up space.
We don’t have formal spaces in our home. It’s casual all the way. With a baby on the way, I’m not too worried about a rogue toy crashing into a piece of furniture or a spill on something upholstered. The other thing that rings true for my rooms is they make me feel happy. I shared our plans for a boy’s nursery the other day, and I’m hard at work as we speak putting it all together!
When it comes to where I get stuff, Ikea and I have reached total BFF territory. Craigslist joins in the fun pretty frequently too. But, just call me a mean girl now because I don’t want my house to look like it. So, we’re like secret friends. They don’t mind.
When I have an item I don’t love anymore, I try cheer it up with a little makeover, or I style it in a different way. Now, you guys know I’m on the frugal side (check out my Involved Living series if you’re new here) so that weighs heavily on the things we choose as well.
The two rooms I’m probably most proud of are our kitchen and hallway bathroom. They are the two rooms I think most accurately reflect my style and that I feel are the most complete in our home.
Our kitchen was a total overhaul and was really budget friendly (for a kitchen at least). It was $8.500 for the whole thing including new cabinets, counters, appliances…everything but the floor really. We used Ikea cabinets but I didn’t want the kitchen to look like it (see? mean girl here) so we added a lot of custom molding and trim. Really the only thing in there that is from Ikea are the cabinets, which were a big money saver. We got most of the appliances as scratch and dents, and we DIY’d some extra custom molding and trim which was an inexpensive way to make it look a little fancier.
These little canisters that live on our counter make me smile daily. They are right by the main food prep area, and I use them to store different types of rice. We eat tons of rice in our house!
Check out all of my kitchen posts here.
Our hallway bath was a really fun project for me. I’ve realized I REALLY like designing bathrooms. I like that they are small rooms, and I love choosing all of the elements from the different tile choices, counter, vanity, and paint…especially the paint (since I have that whole other blog about paint colors…check it out here if you’re stopping by the first time!).
Even though this is our hallway bath, I use this one and Marty uses the master. It’s one of the perks of having more bathrooms than people ;). I’ll be giving up this bathroom soon enough as my own territory with this little one on the way, but for now I sure do enjoy it.
I’m actually working on a small budget, big style redo for our master bath. It might not start until after the baby gets here, but we’re going to do it soon. The goal of this next bathroom is going to be a budget friendly, easy, mini makeover since the baby will be here, but high impact for looks. We’re trying to make it look like a brand new bathroom, but I don’t even plan on breaking out the tile saw.
I. Can’t. Wait. More details to come on this project.
Speaking of bathrooms, our first room to be completed was actually our downstairs powder room. I heart this little bathroom so much, and I am still in love with the color years later (Sherwin Williams Sea Salt). It is so airy and refreshing, and it’s one of my favorite colors ever.
As much as I’d like to deck my house out to look like something straight from Houzz, the nicer stuff won’t actually make me any happier, so I use it as inspiration and then hunt around for deals or ways I can DIY it. Sometimes it means my walls still stare blankly at me for a little longer than I’d like, and sometimes it means it takes me years to decorate a room (5 years and counting for some of them…). But, most of the time I end up loving the way things turn out even more that I would otherwise. I get pretty giddy at the idea of finding a great deal or when I finish a DIY project that cost me just a small fraction of buying something.
Next up today after me is Diane from In My Own Style. I’ve also had the chance to meet Diane a couple of times, and she’s such a fun gal! She has such a bright, happy home.
Make sure to also check out the rest of the bloggers participating today!
