My parents’ now have eight grandchildren between my sister and myself, and the sweet bedroom we created for them to use while visiting has been outgrown. I love taking my girls to my hometown for extended visits during the summer, so I wanted to create a space where they could all comfortably sleep. My sister and her kids live in the same town as my parents, but they, too, frequently stay over and needed more bed space.

(sources for above: Wallpaper; Vintage Paint by numbers; Vintage Tennis Racquet; Vintage Horse Ribbons; Table Lamp; Nightstand; Knobs on Nightstand (largest size!); Pom Pom Pillow; Scallop Quilt; Throw Blanket; Curtains; Rug; Similar Twin Beds)

My old bedroom was the perfect candidate for a shared room. With tons and tons of space (before my parents bought this house, it was a big bonus room that wasn’t really used), we could fit four twin beds easily, and have lots of open space for sleeping bags for a big cousin sleepover. The above picture is the before, and you can see it had lots of potential!

My first task was selecting twin beds. We could certainly fit bunks, but I liked the open feel of the room, and bunk beds can be quite a task to keep neat and change bedding. I didn’t want to spend a ton of money on beds, and didn’t want to buy new cheap beds. I looked at facebook marketplace, and found two sets of twin beds that were perfect (highly recommend trying it, if you are looking for twin beds! Vintage ones have so much character!). Since we had them on different walls, they didn’t need to match, and I love the wooden set for my two nephews to use. I chose some neutral bedding to use on all the beds (which helps tie them together), and I love the punch of green that the pom pom pillows add.

(Sources for above: Ceiling Fan; Similar Vintage White Twin Beds; Similar new white twin beds; Twiggy Sconces; Scallop Quilt; Throw Blanket; Green Pom Pom Pillows; Vintage Horse Ribbons; Shell Lamp; Nightstand; Wallpaper; Knobs on Nightstand (largest size!))

I wanted to also find vintage nightstands, but I was having a hard time finding what I was looking for; also, the nightstand on the wall with the wooden beds needed to be small. I ended up going with this nightstand, and switching out the knobs (these, in the largest size!) for a more custom feel. Can you believe they matched perfectly?

I also LOVE this wallpaper. The pattern feels fresh, and it’s not too overwhelming for such a large space. (It does also come in red, which I think would be so fun!) I used a laser level to line up the pieces, which was hugely helpful in keeping the lines straight. It’s really easy to get off course with a geometric/linear pattern like this, so I highly recommend it.

(Sources for Above: Wallpaper; Bookshelf)

This room has three large dormers that the girls love to play in, and my mom had formerly put up makeshift curtains. I decided to just go with it, and we hung curtain rods and these curtains at the entrance to the dormers, so they can close them and turn them into little hideouts. It’s also a really fun detail in the room, and adds some interest and pattern.

For art, I used vintage paint by numbers (always a favorite!) and these beautiful vintage rocket photographs my great uncle gave to Vivi (he worked for NASA on the Apollo missions!) and I put them in these affordable wooden frames that go nicely with the paint by numbers. As always, the horse ribbons and vintage racquets add great texture to the walls.

I loved hanging up a few pieces of personal art, too; I included some photos I took of the girls and their cousins, made them look like vintage Apple paperbacks, and they make for great statement art!

Lastly, because this room is in South Georgia, and it gets quite hot in the summers, ceiling fans were a necessity! I love how these have such a soft, light look! I’ll do another post about these, but wanted to give them a call out, because it is such a great detail in the space.

My girls are BIG fans of this room, and I even slept up there with them the first night. It’s so cozy in there! They also gush about the rug on top of the carpet – it’s so cushy and comfortable and fun to play on!

Chip and I have had it on our to-do list to complete this home workout and gym space in the basement for quite awhile. Before the renovation, this room was my absolute least favorite in the house. It wasn’t completely finished out, and for a host of reasons it was just difficult to make it useful, much less pretty. In the redesign, because of where it is in the house, it still couldn’t have windows, the ceiling space is lower, and it has that recessed area on the right because of ductwork details, making it once again a challenging space.

sources for above: Frame Tv | Sconce | shelf brackets | balance blocks | foam roller | modern vase (similar) | gliders | weights | weight rack | 15 lb. weights | bands | wooden hook rack | similar shelves | acrylic bin | kettlebell | 5 lb weights | 3 lb weights | pink fan | bala bracelet | mat rack | wooden step | bala foam roller | bala mat | light strip behind arch

We weren’t sure how we planned to use the space, but after moving in and getting settled, it became apparent it would make a great home gym and music studio. Chip loves creating music, so we set up one part of the room for that (which has been super fun with the tween set – I’ll have to share more on it later) and the rest of the room is devoted to a workout space. I really wanted to create something that felt custom and intentional, and it has taken us awhile to get to it, but sometimes slow works out well.

We decided to use a Frame in here that Chip can use for video editing that he sometimes does, and it’s super helpful for projecting workouts up there to follow. I also love that it’s a fun, glowy piece of art. I wanted to give this wall some dimension, so Chip cut that arch from a piece of 1/2″ birch plywood, and he attached it with two 2″ x 4″ pieces of wood behind it so that it pops off the wall a bit. We added this light strip behind it for that pretty light effect (and it has different modes – one will sync to the beat of the music, or you can just have it glow!) and attached two shelves with these brackets, and that sconce at the top.

The shelves are perfect for holding some of my lightweight workout favorites, like these balance blocks, a foam roller, some gliders, and the vase makes a fun holder for bands.

I’ve been slowly collecting some workout equipment over the past few years. I love that this bookcase I formerly had in the girls room matches perfectly, and is great for holding weights. Chip gave me this weight set for my birthday, and these hooks are great for workout bands. I’ve been using this wooden box, and this wall mounted rack is great for yoga mats or large foam rollers. I’m also smitten with this cute pink fan, and I think I may snag another one.

Sources for above: weights | weight rack | 15 lb. weights | bands | wooden hook rack | similar shelves | acrylic bin | kettlebell | 5 lb weights | 3 lb weights | pink fan | bala bracelet | mat rack | wooden step | bala foam roller | bala mat

I love incorporating some barre workouts into my week when I can, so Chip hung this handrail, which works great as a barre, and he picked up the mirrors from Home Depot, and hung them with liquid nails.

The metal pole is structural and has to stay, so to make it more interesting, I painted an elongated checkerboard pattern on it. I think it is really fun now!

sources for above: handrail | mirrors

Just for fun, here is a peek at the music side of the studio. I bought this new chair to brighten up the space, and we hung the guitars with these hooks. Chip built the desk with galvanized pipe and butcher block.

This room makes me so happy – it’s such a calming space, and so inspiring at the same time! It honestly makes me want to spend more time in there, and it makes workouts extra fun. The transformation is really pretty simple – it’s amazing what paint and a little plywood and strategic lighting will do!

Vivi turned 11 last fall, and to celebrate, we threw a Mysterious Benedict Society party. All of my girls loved the book and the series so much, and it was fun putting together something very bookish and mysterious.

(Links above: red buckets (these are the exact ones I used, but they aren’t available currently); green velvet ribbon; green beanies; candy cane candles, gold fringe garland, dining chairs)

We decided to have the party in the library; that felt very much like something Mr. Benedict would do. Vivi dressed up like Kate, and for party favors, we assembled red buckets similar to hers, complete with all the tools and goods needed for any adventure.

(sources: red bucket, magnet, pencils, penlight, vintage dictionary, velvet ribbon, slingshot, felt balls, green beanie, mini telescope)

We set the table with white tablecloths, and placed vintage dictionaries tied with velvet ribbon at each place setting, which also felt very Benedict.

I love taking birthday portraits of my girls every year; for this year, I tried taking a serious portrait of Vivi that looked “fancy” enough to go over the mantel, and added that little hand drawn banner that I cut out that feels similar to the illustration style in the beautiful books. I added in a mini globe, a selection of books, and a festive gold fringe garland (I love this garland! It can be re-used over and over!).

Setting the table was so much fun, and I loved including lots of candles for a special feel!

For supper, we created a buffet of lots and lots of food displayed in beautiful vintage trays and dishes. Vivi wanted it to kind of have the “over the top” feel of the food the kids would eat at the institute, and it was fun making pretty sandwiches and cutting up the fruit! We also used vintage pink cafeteria trays for the girls to dine from.

So dreamy, right?

After dinner, they received a telegram from Mr. Benedict, sending them on a top secret mysterious adventure.

Here is a close up of what the telegram said:

From this clue, they had to find the deck of cards in the game cabinet. The clues were on post it notes stuck to the cards with hearts, and they had to place them in order to read the clue:

I wrote the next clue on a piece of paper, cut it into puzzle shapes, and hid them inside the playhouse. The girls had to hunt for the pieces and assemble the clue. The clue said “A container without hinges, lock or a key, yet a golden treasure lies inside me. What am I?”.

This led them to the carton of eggs in the refrigerator. When they opened the carton, the clue was inside!

This clue took them out to the mailbox, where the next to last clue was hidden.

The answer to this riddle is “matches,” so they had to find the matches by the fireplace for their final puzzle (I had it folded up in the matches container, so they had to hunt a little).

This puzzle directed them to the studio, where the cake was waiting and ready to be eaten! It was so much fun, and it was extra fun to do this while it was dark outside, so they had to use their flashlights for the outdoor clues.

It was such a fun party! Mysteries are always a hit, and I can’t recommend it enough!

This post is sponsored by Columbia TriStar Marketing Group.

Have you read “Where the Crawdads Sing?” It’s such a good read, a page turner that kept me up all night finishing it! The movie adaptation will be in theaters on July 15th, and I can’t wait to see it. Chasing Paper has released a line of wallpaper inspired by the movie, and I went with the Birds pattern to make our guest space feel more personal.

Here is a look at the room before:

The ceilings in this space are lower (about 7.5 feet), so I added some 12” wide stripes on the ceiling to add some interest and I love how they work with the wallpaper!

The wallpaper has a beautiful pattern of cattails, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other marsh details and it’s so pretty to look at up close.

To work with the wallpaper, I found a vintage headboard, a pair of vintage paint by number collies, and those beautiful vintage brass sconces. I love how they add so much to the space! I found the headboard on facebook marketplace, and the paintings and sconces are etsy finds.

To work with the wallpaper, I found a vintage headboard, a pair of vintage paint by number collies, and those beautiful vintage brass sconces. I love how they add so much to the space!

I can’t wait to have some friends use this room (and honestly, I’ll be using it myself when I need a little quiet!) and I’m so looking forward to seeing “Where the Crawdads Sing” in the theater. Movie dates are my favorite!

We celebrated Ellie’s 6th birthday party, and she adores Baby Grogu, so she wanted a Star Wars/Baby Yoda themed party. It was really fun to do something different, and it turned out to be such a fun afternoon!

At first, she wanted the party room to look like the inside of the Mandalorian’s ship. That is an awesome idea, but I decided to go with more of a Star Wars/space look because creating the set of a spaceship felt a bit ambitious, ha! I hung up this backdrop (I hung it using small thumbtacks) and strung some of these star garlands over the top, and had some of these pretty silver star balloons drifting around.

I set the table with this fun metallic tablecloth, and these iridescent plates and star plates and vintage looking napkins. Ellie wore this for her party dress, and she loved the little Yoda hood!

I love thinking through activities for a party. I usually make parties two hours, which seems to be just right for fitting in time for a few activities and eating a meal or snack together, and, of course, birthday cake! We decided to outfit Ellie and her guests like they were little Padawans, so we cut white felt into robes (pretty much like this, except we made ours longer, and we used strips of brown felt for the belt) and they also chose a lightsaber, made from these, but I added two strips of duct tape to the handles and drew on a button with black and red sharpie.

Next, the guests headed to the Jedri Bar (which is like a Dry Bar for Jedi) where they could choose a hairstyle. It was so much fun, and the kids loved it! You can download the art here to make your own poster, and they could choose between a Padawan braid (a colored hair clip in that I braided), Princess Leia buns (made from these – SO much fun!) or a Rey hairstyle.

I also had take home bags with hair clip ins and a mini page of the hairstyles if any of the guests preferred not to have their hair done, but all of them loved it and wanted to participate.

For the Jedri Bar corner, I hung up several of these foil curtains which always make for a fun moment, and each guest got to adopt their own Baby Grogu (I actually found these smaller ones from Five Below for $5, but they are sold out) to take home. After being outfitted as little Padawans, they went into the backyard for a training session from Rey and Princess Leia (I recruited a couple of our favorite friends to do this!). They taught them some lightsaber moves, and it was the cutest. You can check out this reel to see more close-ups of the party and a clip of them getting their lessons.

We came back in for supper and cake, which was a green cake with this cute little guy on top.

It was such a fun party, and I really enjoyed doing something a little different for this one!

I’ve rounded up some of my finds for the girls’ Easter baskets this year. I always love including some items we need to get them anyway, like a new bathing suit, slippers, an umbrella, or a few new clothing pieces. My oldest grows so quickly that it seems she is all of the sudden out of clothes at the beginning of each new season. The big girls play a lot of card games right now, so they would especially love a fun set of playing cards. All of my girls love Calico Critters, from age two to eleven. That karaoke set is really great because it has TWO microphones. The cat puzzle is a really huge hit around here, too!

This past weekend, we celebrated my Brigette turning 9. She loves all things animals and tiny and she adores Calico Critters. For her party, we had a little camp themed soiree, and put together little playsets for critters with her friends.

For the table decorations, I used two of these plastic tables (I have them on hand and use them ALL THE TIME – the height is adjustable, so they are great for both kids or adults, and when you throw on a tablecloth, you can’t see them at all!) and I added some of this canvas material (I also used it for the banners) layered with a lace tablecloth. We used these cute little strawberry plates, and each place setting had one of these cute little suitcases with a tag on it labeled for each guest.

The little “cups” are my favorite! They are little honey jars, and a straw fits perfectly on the top (so no spills, yay!) and I added little labels to the flat part on the front. They were another fun little take home detail!

For the backdrop of the food and critter table, I used the green canvas and hot glued cut out felt letters for a vintage camp look.

I put some little critters on the cake, and these fruit caterpillars are the cutest! The kids loved them – they are made of grapes and balls of watermelon stuck onto skewers with eyes added on with a little icing. For the food, Brigette really wanted tiny food, so we had baby goldfish, baby ritz crackers, tiny wedges of cheese, and miniature corndogs. The kids ate it all up.

For the “craft” project, we had a few stations for the girls to interact with. You can check out this reel for a little more behind the scenes, but here are a few snapshots!

First, the girls went into the craft room and painted wooden mushrooms (I had paper plates already set out with their names and a few mushrooms for them to paint) and made little campfires with sticks and tissue paper and hot glue. The mushrooms were SO cute, and they took forever painting them and really enjoyed it (a really good thing when you are trying to keep kiddos entertained at a party!!).

I pre-made little “beds” out of popsicle sticks and cardboard, and had already glued “grass” and a little backdrop I printed out into the suitcases. The girls made little sleeping bags out of felt, and added a little bunting to the top of their beds. We hot glued the mushrooms into their cases so they would stay, but everything else could be moved around!

They turned out so adorable, and the girls loved them! Brigette also set up a few of her calico critter storefronts on the table, and we stocked them with tiny cups, plates, bowls, plants, and pastries, and then printed out very tiny paper money so they could take their critters shopping. They also LOVED this, and it was another fun way to play. You can see some of the shops set up on the table behind Brigette in the picture below.

This was such a fun party experience – the girls had so much fun crafting and creating that we *almost* ran out of time for food and cake. We also had the fireplace on downstairs, and we made tiny s’mores with tiny marshmallows and tiny homemade graham crackers – it was another big hit, too! It was fun to have the “camp” experience with s’mores, but tiny since they also had cake.

Someone also asked if I have help when I do these parties, and for this one, I had my “friendtern” who is also one of our favorite babysitters, Mackenzie, help out. It was SO GREAT. She helped plate the food, make the crackers, and she was at one of the craft stations, helping the girls glue their sleeping bags and assemble their playsets. Vivi (my oldest, 11) also helped out, and it was great to have helping hands to make things work. The girls were at a really great age for this (8/9 year olds) and were able to do a lot independently. I think younger ages would have required a lot more hands on help, but this was the perfect activity for that age.

It was such a fun night, and everyone had a great time!

**Be sure to check out some of Brigette’s other parties like her Koala Care Party, her Fox Party, and her Hogwarts Hufflepuff party!

I recently swapped out the rug in the girls’ reading nook with this gorgeous piece from Revival. I plan to put it into Marjorie’s room eventually when she transitions out of the crib, but it is so lovely in here, too. 

Revival has an extensive library of beautiful handmade rugs in a variety of colors, sizes, and patterns. The colors and textures are just so lovely that it is difficult to narrow down the options! I ended up choosing a muted pink rug with punches of blue, (check these out for more with a similar feel!), which will be perfect in Marjorie’s room, but really work well anywhere!

I love that Revival endeavors to work directly with suppliers, ensuring that workers are treated fairly, and that their product is high quality. The fact that they work this way, means that Revival is able to offer beautiful rugs through a simplified process with less markups.

When it arrived, it was even more beautiful in person. The colors are just perfect, and I don’t often have the experience of feeling like the in person product is even more impressive than the photos online, but this was definitely the case with this rug.

So so gorgeous, right? Those colors are just so good!

Be sure to check out Revival’s entire collection here (it’s especially fun to shop by color!). Can’t wait to share it when I have Marjorie’s room all together, too! I love how different spaces will bring out different colors in the rug.

This post is sponsored by Walmart+.

There are few things that get me in the Christmas spirit more quickly than Christmas music. It’s also such a fun gift to give. Vinyl is one of my favorite ways to share music in a thoughtful way, and it’s so fun to have a tangible memento to put on display each year as we listen to our favorites. This year, my Walmart+ membership is coming in so handy for this family tradition and gift giving favorite, as we can get early access to Black Friday deals, making shopping from the cozy comfort of our own home even more appealing.

This year, Walmart also has some exclusive vinyl editions with the prettiest colored records! Some of my favorites are Bing Crosby, Johnny Cash, and Elvis. These make for such a nostalgic, thoughtful gift, especially when paired with one of the beautiful Crosley turntables (like this one pictured here, or this gorgeous aqua number!). And whatever items are on your gift lists this year, with Walmart+ you can get access to all of the Black Friday deals four hours early in the home, toy, and electronics categories! Best of all, you can be first in line from your home, which I call a big win.

And while Black Friday comes just once a year, Walmart+ provides value year round benefits such as unlimited free delivery for all of your grocery and gifting needs. I ordered these garlands and wreath with my Walmart+ membership, and they were delivered right away from my store so I could get them up quickly!

And even though Black Friday deals are great for gift giving, sometimes it’s nice to snag a few things for yourself – this turntable and additions to our vinyl collection will be so special for holiday date nights at home, or family game nights and getting in the spirit to get all my gift wrapping done! Whether you are shopping for yourself or someone else, be sure to check out Walmart+ here to take advantage of all the conveniences that are available.

Thank you so much to Walmart+ for sponsorint this post. Go here to find out all of the details of
membership.

I’m mostly basing these gift guides on my girls, and this list is perfect for my 8 (almost 9) year old! She adores Calico Critters, and these new guys in the costumes look like they are straight out of her imagination. I’m also smitten with these adorable Harry Potter characters – so fun! This chess set is so beautiful, too. These books are amazing – she has the baby animal one, and it’s a favorite that she reads often. It has so many fun and interesting animal facts, and the drawings are so lovely! I’m going to get the other two for her for Christmas. The Klutz craft kits are some of our faves, and she especially adores working with clay, so this pet adoption kit is so perfect for her. She also has that vet kit from our generation, and it’s the best doll set ever. I love all the pieces – so so cute!