It's the little things...

Are you ready for the weekend? So far the summer has been SO busy, and I'm not a person that likes to be busy. I prefer easy days with nothing planned, so I'm looking forward to slowing down this weekend. 

I haven't gotten any big projects done this week but have a few in the works. I have been doing little things around the house over the past few weeks that I thought I would catch you up on! It's been so fun to see this house become "ours" more and more over time. It has been a joy for me! 

I hung a light in my office finally, and found a chair for my desk! I searched for eight months for a comfy chair that wasn't crazy expensive. And this one rolls too. I absolutely love it (a HomeGoods find)!: 

The light is the Danville linen shade pendant from Lamps Plus. The shade is a bit darker than I thought it would be, but I really like it. It's going to look so great with bookcases behind it eventually!

The drawer on this desk catches a lot so I found a pretty drawer pull in my stash and installed it. I got it at a cute shop in Lexington Kentucky years ago but I found it online for you here! (Affiliate). Cute and functional -- my favorite!: 

Other than the drawer catching I love that desk! 

I returned a bunch of stuff from IKEA and got a few more frames for the Disney wall in our loft with the credit -- score!: 

We'll continue to add to it over time. I also spray painted the NOOK letters that used to hang in our book nook and hung them with command strips. It's looking cute up there!

I have the Disney pin art we made a few years ago on a nearby wall: 

We're missing a pin from one of his ears but otherwise it survived the move well! 😄

I've been hanging a LOT of stuff. I've purchased very little new art -- we had a ton from the old house. I mean, A. TON. I've enjoyed finding spots for the pieces I love:

You can see more about the guest room here. I have plans for it but it will be a while. :) 

Remember the other lights I told you about earlier this week? The ones I got for a steal at the Ballard Outlet along with the new one for our master? Well they are adorable and I just can't even stand how much I love them in the mud room: 

They are the Suzette Ceiling Mount and we have two of them in here (one isn't pictured). They work so well with the brass accents and are sooooo much better than the "boob" lights we had the builder put in. 

One of the best things about summer is a clean mud room bench. 😂 The shoe storage is high on my list of projects. Those baskets drive me mad: 

I'll tell you more about that sconce soon -- if my project works out the way I hope! ;) 

And finally, a little thing but it has helped tremendously. We really needed a small bulletin board near the kitchen and mud room, but I didn't want anything too big or bulky. I found a simple pin board at HomeGoods and used command strips to hang it on the small wall by the fridge: 

I love it because it helps keep stuff out where I want to see it, but is still kind of hidden away. Most visitors would never even know it's there. (And the command strips were great because I didn't have to put holes in my cabinetry! 

There you go! Just a few of the little updates around here. I feel so productive when I get these smaller projects done, and they take no time at all. (Except for the lights...boo hiss.) 

Have you added anything fun to you home lately? I love when small additions make a big impact! 

Going gold (and bamboo!) in the master bedroom

Well hello! We took a day trip to Kings Island last week -- one of our son's favorite places. After riding the coasters with my boy it was my turn. :) Before we got an IKEA locally I would always take a side trip there since it's near the amusement park. 

Now that we have IKEA so close (whoot!) there was no need for that stop, but there's another place I like to stop in when we travel to Cincinnati. The Ballard Designs outlet there is awesome and I always find a great deal. There's also a Frontgate and Grandin Road but those seem to have more outdoor stuff so I don't frequent those as often. 

The Ballard outlet has a ton of stuff and if you're looking for light fixtures, art, rugs or furniture you'll really love it! I always find a light I love. I shared our light over the kitchen table in the last house here. 

This time the lights were 60 percent off, and more than that on some. I found three I LOVED that totaled nearly $900. But I got them all for just over $300. Score! I was so excited when the light I was hoping to find for our master was there. 

I picked out this metal and wood light for our room, but soon realized it was too heavy in here:

And at the same time I felt like it was too small. I wanted something "lighter" but bigger. And the one I eyeing online was there waiting for me. :) 

Here she is! The six-light bamboo chandelier from Ballard -- it has a gold finish and looks like bamboo:

I've mentioned this before I know...but hanging light fixtures is one of my very least favorite DIY projects to tackle. I LOATHE it. Right up there with installing crown molding. 👍

The electrical part of hanging a light is actually the easy part -- takes maybe 30 seconds. Easy peasy. It's getting the hanging parts perfect that's a pain. They have to be just right - screw them in too tight and you'll be smashing the wires. Don't do it enough and the light canopy (at the top) won't fit right against the ceiling. Sometimes they come together more easily than others. Other times...it's two hours of cussing and sweating. 

You can guess what this one was. ;) 

I've already called someone to come hang the other two lights I found. Not doin' it. Anyway! I love love LOVE it in our room!! I'm on a mission to lighten things up in here and it's so lovely:

I was super close to spray painting it black -- because I don't think you can ever go wrong with black and I like how it makes fixtures more substantial. But I'm SO glad I didn't do it. This room needs this lighter tone and there's already plenty of black accents in the room: 

I hope to change out the drapes eventually, but finding light colored, light blocking curtains at this length isn't the easiest. (Oh yeah, and at a good price!) I have to have complete darkness when we sleep so that's non-negotiable. 

So anyway, this light goes a long way to lighten the feel in here!: 

You may notice I moved the bench at the end of the bed out too. It was bugging me -- the modern design just wasn't working in here. I couldn't believe the difference it made when I removed it! 

The funny thing is this light is only six inches wider than our old one! The drum shape that makes it feel bigger:

Our master is large and has ten foot ceilings so going with a larger light works well in here. In general I recommend going bigger than too small with light fixtures. I think a small chandelier is more distracting than a bigger one. 

The gold tone works well with our lamps, the knobs on the night stands and the side table by the chair. Just little touches here and there!: 

The old light is going to be perfect in my husband's office! And yes...a dimmer is coming. This light has two more lights than the old one and even that one was bright. 

Isn't it pretty? I lucked out big time that the very one I was looking for was at the outlet and was such a great price. It's on sale now and I still got this and two others for the current sale price! Nice. I'll be sure to share the others soon! 

Have you ever changed out a light fixture? Do you enjoy it? And if so, are you crazy? 😂 

SaveSaveSaveSave