Bites of My Life

I feel like I’ve put in more time driving up and down I-35 than my own job these days. All for good reasons, but I’m slightly relieved to be back in Dallas for the foreseeable future. I’ll be forever grateful for my choice to move to Dallas and have close proximity to run home for family, friend and work occasions, but it’s sometimes a strange place to be in going back and forth so much. Beggars can’t be choosers though! You guessed it, but I was in Oklahoma over the weekend for a best friend since 4th grade getting engaged. Another one bites the dust.

-Started the week with sunflowers. Highly recommend.
-Little Monday night creativity turned into my new favorite piece of apartment art work.
-Snacking like it’s my job these days. Anyone else relying on the afternoon snack with working from home.
-Y’all know it, y’all love it. My ultimate single girl meal is Cauliflower Fried Rice using freezer and pantry staples.
-Wine Wednesday feat. rosé, popcorn, and my new coffee table.
-When in Oklahoma City. You can find my favorite Brandy Ice roundup here, and my own recipe here.
-Brunch with MaryKate Saturday, but with an alliterative motive…she just didn’t know yet.
-About an hour later she was engaged! Brunch was a decoy to get her out of the house and looking cute, for her now-fiancé Connor to propose in the house that will be their home!
-Slow Sunday night back in Dallas watching old seasons of The Bachelorette.

Annie

Why, when, and how I started my blog, did you catch it?

Bedroom Revamped

Just a few changes here and there, but I’m so happy with the mini revamp of my bedroom. It’s kind of wild how a new pillow can update things in just the right way. Okay. I’m officially 45 years old.

Let’s refer back to my inspiration post for this revamp. I was in need of all new bedding after some weird staining from a facial oil I was using and looking to add a punch to break up all the white, cream and beige. I love a neutral look, but you’re only 26 and single once and can get away with pink velvet pillows, so we out here.

You may remember, or read, that I wanted to paint my bed frame black. I even took to Instagram polls for your advice. While I appreciate the feedback, I decided to keep it white.

My friend Kristin and I went back in forth in DMs talking about how it needed to stay white, despite our love for a black bed - ha!

The swirls and curls on the headboard seem too whimsical to be painted a mod black. Something I want down the road, but I think that means buying a new frame all together. And we are taking baby steps over here.

Also standard = rectangle and euro = square when it comes to shams. Please excuse me —>

Bed Frame
$19 Sheet Set
$23 Amazon Duvet (folded at end of bed, standard shams included)
Textured Coverlet
Piqué Euro Shams
Orange Velvet Pillow Covers
24x24 Down Inserts (always order a size large than your cover, these are heavy and really good quality)
Pink Velvet Lumbar Pillow Cover
12x24 Lumbar Pillow Insert (again, one size larger than the cover)
Gray Malin Print
Rug
Lamp (similar)

Annie

New End Tables

Disclosure I give all credit to my mom on this one. She scouted these side tables in our friend’s garage sale and knew she could do something great with them. They were originally in a single guy’s bedroom, hence the masculine dark brown finish.

My mom loves a project and has been inspired by one of our favorite design studios and Dallas. They take dressers, end tables, desks, and then update them with a coat of lacquer paint in either white or a range of colors.

I brought my mismatched white end tables from house to house to apartment over the past five years. They were from Home Goods and cute, very cute. But as my mom said, the symmetry of the new matching tables just “anchors” the room - LOL but true.

We used Benjamin Moore high gloss lacquer in Ice Blue. The hardware was then brushed up and they came out perfect. See below for our inspiration! *Let me add that these were professionally painted. When it comes to lacquer I wouldn’t trust either of us.

My living room:

End Tables - garage sale find, painted (similar: white and blue)
Lamps - originally from Home Goods (similar: spend and save)
Assouline Hamptons and Palm Beach books
Rug
Couch - old
Pillows - custom
Painting - by my dad!

Okay mom, what’s next?

Annie

Bedroom Revamp Inspiration

Since college I’ve had a similar look for my bedroom that has carried me from house, to house to another house to my now apartment. You can see my college home tour here and my current apartment tour here. With subtle changes here and there, I’ve stuck to all-white bedding, white furniture with pops of color in either pillows, a rug, or artwork.

After mysterious staining to my West Elm bedding (that I loved), I decided the culprit was a face oil I was using. I had yellow stains all along the edge of my bedding from pulling it up to my face, it forced me to throw it away after only having it for about 2 years.

I’m currently in limbo using random hand-me-down bedding from my mom and sister. I’ve decided it’s time for a little bedroom revamp. I have looked for some non-white bedding options, but I can’t stray away. There’s just something about white fluffy bedding. I have however thrown out my face oil and have more confidence with my next round of white bedding.

I want to keep things girly, but more modern and less shabby chic. My plan is to paint my Ikea iron bed frame black, and to pull in vibrant velvet pillows to create a punch and to tie in my rug and butterfly artwork. Below are my inspirations. I have my eye on a coverlet like this with this basic duvet folded at the end of the bed. Then matching white shams and velvet pillows from here or here (H&M is my secret weapon when it comes to cheap home goods). More home ideas are pinned in my ‘homestyle’ board on Pinterest.

I love the rust and pink pillows from my main inspiration picture, but I’m also always tied to navy. I’ve also been having a moment with dark forest and emerald green. This shade is pulling me in. Thoughts, comments, suggestions?

Also now that I’ve posted this out in the interwebs I’m digitally being held accountable to actually make changes to my bedroom. Stay tuned. Hopefully a completed bedroom revamp post will come soon.

Annie

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Dallas Home Tour

Greetings from Texas! I’ve officially been here for a month and half and feeling rather settled for a somewhat short time frame. People couldn’t believe how quickly I got things unpacked and organized, but that’s just how I roll. I’m the kind of person who gets home from vacation and unpacks my suitcase and starts laundry the second I walk in the door.

My Dallas apartment is a little 650 square foot one-bedroom that I couldn’t love more. I love the white walls, marble countertops and windows. I’ve become my mother’s child and only rely on lamp light, so the natural light is incredible.

I’m oddly lucky to have had almost everything I needed for my new space. I bought one rug and that is it. Being the baby of the family has huge perks, and in this case, years of furniture falling into my lap. Almost all of the pieces you see have been with me from college, to my first house post-grad, and then my second house, and now my apartment.

Majority of my furniture is years, even decade old hand-me-downs. My navy velvet chair? It used to be a silk chartreuse toile fabric and I’ve known it to be in my parents formal living room since I was born. My mom recovered and gifted it to me a few years ago. I love how most pieces have a little story and memory attached to them. See my coffee table? It’s from the OU Kappa house.

My dining room table is older than me. I spent all my years growing up eating dinner at that table and it continues to serve me the same in my own place. As for the chairs, they are new, and cheap! My artwork ranges from HomeGoods finds, to Gray Malin, to Craig Tucker (my dad) originals!! I have a large canvas above my couch - painted by dad! As for the few new pieces, most of my homewares are from HomeGoods, Amazon, RugsUSA, and Ikea. I’ve linked as much as I can in my ‘Home Sweet Home’ list on Amazon and at the bottom of this post.

I got this acrylic bar cart for Christmas last year. It’s from HomeGoods, but I found a similar one here. Due to space issues we piled up all of my cookbooks on the bottom shelf, but I actually love all the pops of color they give off.

Many o’ Perfect CCCs have already been baked in this oven. The kitchen space is limited, but just right for one! If you are looking for the perfect housewarming gift, please check out my friend Kate at Kate & Co. She monograms the cutest towels, cocktail napkins and more. My best friends sent me off with this pink turkish towel before I left and I love having it prominently displayed on my oven.

Kudos to my incredible parents for assisting with the move and being the ultimate coffee table stylers and shelf hanging folks I know.

My home is where my heart is (and where Southern Charm is always on loop).

Annie

I’ve linked as many pieces as I can in my ‘Home Sweet Home’ list on Amazon as well as individual links below. If you have questions about a specific piece, feel free to ask in the comments or email me!

Bedroom Rug
Ikea Leirvik Bed Frame
Gray Malin Waikiki Print
West Elm Bedding
The Best Amazon Sheets
Beige Pom Pom Throw (similar)
Ikea Floating Shelves
Mini Light Box
Acrylic Picture Frames
Acrylic Chair
Acrylic Bar Cart (similar)
Eames Chairs, set of 4
Coffee Table Books
Nest ‘Bamboo’ 3-wick candle
Living Room Rug
Navy Throw Pillows
Pink Monogrammed Turkish Towel
Pink KitchenAid Mixer
Wooden Salt Container
Williams Sonoma Monogrammed Marble Cutting Board

If you buy something through my links, I may earn an affiliate commission.