First Dates and Floor Plans

I was pacing up and down the hall, in anticipation of the doorbell ringing.  I peeked through the blinds.  It was raining.  Great.  I had butterflies, because I was excited...and nervous.  I peeked outside again, this time to find his silver truck pulling into the driveway.  It was my first date with this cute new guy I'd recently met.  I yelled to my mom, "He's here!"  She came to the door to wave to him and watch me walk out to the truck.  And as I was walking toward the car, I heard it.  The gentle reminder to "Make sure not to draw a floor plan on the kids menu! Okay love you have fun!"

Thankfully, he didn't hear.  Because if he did, I'd have to explain.  Explain that I've always drawn floor plans on the kids menu, ever since I was little.  So weird, right?!

Well, today is going to be a great day, because today I have my first floor plan drafting class and I'm excited.  Like, really excited.  Drawing floor plans for homework?  Sounds like a dream come true for me! Here's my text book:

I'll learn how to draw furniture, textiles and finishes and learn how to render the pieces.  For example, persian rugs, hardwood flooring, granite countertops etc.  Pretty soon I'll be able to draw elevations like these:

I love the text on the page, "Adding details takes a drawing from ordinary to beautiful!!"

I'll be able to draw space plans like this one:

I'm thrilled to be going to a class I know I'm going to love.  I'm eager to learn knew things.  I'm excited that we have a community of bloggers who we can share our journeys with.  And I'm continually blessed to be doing what I'm passionate about for the rest of my life.

Love and First Dates,

5

Finally...My New Room!

I'm so excited to share my new room with all of you! I arrived at our new apartment on Friday and have been busy decorating ever since.  Here's the reveal!

My new Made By Girl print (:

My homemade calender over my desk.  I like to see my schedule and homework big so I remember everything I need to do!  Tutorial on how is here (:

Desk area with my gum ball jar inspired by Juicy Couture's displays.  You can see them in my dorm room from last year, also!

More of my apartment to come later this week!

Love and Decorating My New Bedroom,

13

It's My Favorite Color

How sweet is this white bedroom?! I love that it's white and simple, but yet so complex at the same time.  Different textures, surfaces and finishes make this room beautiful.  And of course I love the touch of purple in the flowers!  Smitten.

Speaking of purple....

This color combination is lovely.  The dark purple and pop of yellow/green balances the room perfectly. All white lamps and a mirrored bed frame keep this space fresh and modern.

It is quite possible I've fallen in love with this room.  If I could, I would paint my walls lavender right now.  My roommates may need to stop me.  It's fun and playful brought in by the purple and the lamps, but yet totally sophisticated, as seen in the furniture and fabric choices. What do you think of the purple and orange combo?

(to find these images, go to Elle Decor)

Love and the Perfect Shade of Purple,

Michaela

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2 Timothy 1:7

"For God did not give us a spirit of fear; but of power, love and a sound mind."

This has been my favorite, most meaningful verse all throughout my college experience.  Though I am in a different place and the circumstances are rough sometimes, I do not have to fear, because the Lord gave us power to get through the day, love to show to others, and confidence in knowing we are safe in God's hands.

Happy Sunday!

Love and Power, Love & a Sound Mind,

Michaela

PS. SO excited to share my new apartment with you this week!! (:

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Fashion Friday #3, the airport & leaving my puppy

Coming to you live from the San Jose Airport, getting ready to fly to Seattle.  To be honest, I get kinda anxious about flying.  Our morning started out rough.  First, I woke up to this:

Shasta's guarding the door. She never lays here.  Ever.  But she has this innate sense in her telling her I'm leaving again.  So then she decided to lay about 6 inches from my foot as I was getting ready:

I didn't mind though, because really, who could deny this cute face?!

Luckily all this fit into 4 suitcases:

 The limo driver was supposed to arrive at 5:30 and we didn't see her until 5:50am.  Minor panic.  Then we loaded our suitcases into the trunk and the trunk wouldn't shut!  Major panic.  But guess what this crafty girl thought to do? Duct tape it shut, of course.  And it sealed our luggage in all the way to the airport.  We made it enough time for me to be typing this post! Phew!

Here's what I'm wearing on the airplane:

Skinny Jeans- Citizens

Top- from B.P. section of Nordstrom

Shoes- Steve Madden's gladiator sandals

Gotta arrive in the rainy city in style (:

Have a wonderful weekend!

Love and Flying to Seattle,

Michaela

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Wallpaper is a Goner!

This last spring I spent my spring break redoing our hall bathroom.  In our defense, this wallpaper was put up around 12 years ago.  But actually never-mind, there's NO excuse that it didn't come down sooner.  With that said, here's the before:

Stop it.  I know.

So, I told my mom I would take the bathroom on as my project.  This included taking the wallpaper down, priming, painting, picking out new towel and accessories.  Okay, let me tell you...wallpaper is so not easy to take down.  But after tears and chipped nail polish:

Here's the trick: score the wallpaper to no end.  You cannot score too much!  Then mix warm water with laundry detergent and soak the walls 3 times before you even start trying to pull the paper off the wall.  Glad we figured that out about 6 hours into the project (: After the paper is down, sand the walls and spackle any imperfections then sand one last time!  Prime (our walls were a little worn, so I did 2 coats of primer) and two coats of paint.

As you can see above, we were testing colors.  It's important to put the colors you're considering in a few different places in the room you're painting.  Key places are spots where the lighting is different.  Up high and low on the wall, by natural light, by a lamp etc.  Then you can see how the color looks according to the lighting.  One of the colors we had up in a shaded corner went green on the wall, so we vetoed that one.

Anyways,  here's the one we went with:

It's the yellow gold we drew from the painting we bought from Z Gallerie.  This painting lent itself to the color palette of our bathroom, since my mom found the painting first.  It was our inspiration.  From there, we bought brown and turquoise towels:

Then decor for the counter:

Then I did some wall art for behind the door and bought this shabby chic towel rack from Pier 1 Imports:

My mom found these adorable postcards from Capitola, California (near Santa Cruz) and it was the perfect artwork to frame in the sweet white frame above the sink.  (Color scheme and frame also coordinate with the inspiration painting.)  The white vases I made on the counter were the recent finishing touch (:

And there ya have it!  A wallpaper nightmare turns into a welcoming hall bathroom!

I'm sharing this post with Thrifty Decor Chick!

Love and Saying Goodbye to Flowered Wallpaper,

20

Slow Down, Sister!

Take a deep breath and count your blessings.  It's getting crazy around here, and to be honest, I'm stressin'.  Moving day is quickly approaching!  Today I vow to focus on what is beautiful, pure and lovely and of course, take everything a day at a time (:

Love and Blessings,

Michaela

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Karol's Bedroom Redo!

This past week I helped my friend Lisa's mom, Karol, redo her daughter's room.  Heather lives in So Cal for college, but she just got ENGAGED and needed a place to come home to in Nor Cal when she visits her parents. Unfortunately, we don't have any before pictures (but basically it was plain with a twin bed.  All the frames on the wall are new, or repurposed).  So I will just show you the finished product!  It turned out real cute and totally updated!

White picture frames were the perfect touch above the bed.  We spray painted some wood frames white and made our own custom gallery wall.

Desk Area.  The pictures above the desk are out of a small calender and the frames are from the dollar store! Love fun art on a budget!

Cute brown curtains tied back with silk blue bows are perfect to anchor that side of the room.

A wonderful candle stand and candle (that smells delicious) from Pier1 Imports completes the end table.

I had lots of fun with Karol working on this project! I loved all our little ideas that didn't cost us much! Hope you all enjoy it, too (:

Love and Cute Rooms on a Budget,

Michaela

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Bulletin Board Redo

A few weeks ago after we all did the "Where I Blog" posts, I decided my bulletin board area could use more pizazz! I went to Joanne's Fabrics and found a patterned fabric, which coordinates with my bedding and curtains, to reupholster my bulletin board.  Here's the before of my desk area:

In order to reupholster the bulletin board, I took everything down and measured the dimension of the space.  Then I added an inch on either side so I could fold the ends of the fabrics, in order to hide the fringed ends.  Secret: I simply used tape to secure the folded edges.  No time to sew around here!  Next, I put the fabric up on the cork with push pins to make sure it was all even.

After the push pins were in and I was happy with the alignment, I used a staple gun to permanently secure the fabric.  I stapled right before the push pins, removing each push pin as I stapled.

Done!

I chose this fabric because my bedding is flowered and swirled, so this organic print compliments that perfectly.  I went with the lime green, because only one wall in my bedroom is the green, while three are the blue.  So this brings the green to another side of the room.

I think it adds lots of color!  Makes me want to sit there all day!  But no time for that, because today I'm packin' up.....and getting a facial.  I consider it a back to school necessity (:

Love and Green Swirled Bulletin Boards,

5

I {Heart} Cupcakes

FRIENDS. I baked the most delicious cupcakes. I found them here (:

Cupcakes are one of my favorite things.
Give the recipe a try...they're quick and easy!

Recipe:

1. Get any type of chocolate chip cookie dough and plop them in the middle of the cupcake holders

2. Make your box mix of chocolate cake and pour the batter into the cupcake holders over the cookie dough

3. Put them in the oven and bake for as long as the cake mix tells you to.  The cookie dough will bake inside the cupcake...YUM!

4. Make your frosting:

1 box of powdered sugar
1/4 c milk
1 stick of butter at room temperature
1 tsp of vanilla

5.  After they're cooled, frost 'em and eat 'em!

Love and Cupcakes,

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Fashion Friday #2!

This is my second week writing my Fashion Friday segment.  Yay!

Here's what I wore today:

Dress: Franchesca's- $28

Sweater: Nordstrom- $30

Wedges: American Eagle- Not sure, but no more than $20!

Ring: Pier1 Imports (can you believe it?!): $3

Basically, I'm trying to wear all my dresses one more time before I move!! Cause when I get there, it's straight to this:

Leggings(sometimes multiple layers), coats, scarves, hats!

Happy Friday!

Love and Fashion Friday,

Michaela

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Guest Room: mini-makeover

We've lived in our house for 10 years now.  It's a ranch, country-with-a-modern-twist, style home with exposed brick in the family room and living room, a quaint galley kitchen and the most beautiful backyard over-looking a running creek.  The master bedroom was redone by my Grandma (Designs by Belinda) a few years ago.  My room was redone by me my sophomore year in high school (and edited ever since...I can't stop!) and my brother's room was repainted by my dad a few years ago as well.  So the guest room is the last one on the list!  We've had the bedding for a while now, but I've always wanted to paint the wall the headboard is on, just to spice it up!  My Grandma said she's laid in bed at night in the guest room, just dreaming about how great a coral color would look on the walls.  Well Grandma, you're dream has come true (:

I'm a sucker for a good before and after, so here we go!

Okay.  I realize the wreath is ugly.  That's why it ain't comin back!

During:

Is taping not just the absolute worst part about painting?!

After:

Opposite side of the room.  The valence my Grandma made matches perfectly with the coral color. The vertical canvas on the wall is a painting I did with the wall color and accent colors to spice up this side of the room.

Here's the artwork we decided to go with!

We're just lovin' it.  What do you think?  Are you working on any mini renovations??

My mom and I looked at each other and asked, "Why didn't we do this sooner?"  All I can say is...finally! 

I'm sharing this with Thrifty Decor Chick.

Love and Coral,

4

Warm Clothes, Please!

Since I'm moving to Seattle in 9 days (Oh my gosh!! Nervous. Excited. AH!), I've been looking at clothes. Not just any clothes, though.  Warm ones.  Because it rains there, if you didn't know, and it's also really cold for my liking.  But I will get through it!

Here are some cute clothes that I am now coveting:

This jacket over this cute shirt:

(from Nordstrom)

This is from Anthro, and it would work well with leggings under the dress.  This is my favorite outfit I found.  I also want the horse (:

On a more practical level, I'm going to need to invest in another North Face jacket to stay dry.  I have a pink one, but if I wear it everyday, I don't want people to think I only have one jacket.  Because jackets are your outfits in Seattle. This year I'm going to fully embrace the cold weather.  Yay.

Happy Wednesday!  I can't wait to show you my guest room reveal tomorrow!

Love and Warm Clothes,

Michaela

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