Archive for the ‘at home’ Category

inspire me Monday : apartment painting madness!

Monday, May 20th, 2013

 Hello! Good Monday!

It has been a marathon around the Kent home as of late. The kind of life chaos filled week that creates a manic giggle effect. Do you know what I mean….It makes you good ever so slightly coo coo for a while. We have been creating and preparing for our apartment to be photographed tomorrow. It’s so fun, and it’s been a challenge because we have like zero budget. But that’s the kind of fun, creative challenge that I enjoy! We were preparing to paint most of our main living space yesterday morning when a water main to our water heater busted. BUSTED. Within ten minutes, our floors we covered in an inch of water. This threw off our schedule to say the absolute least.

But Matt and I are NOT quitters. We are determined, and maybe even a little bit stubborn. So, as soon as we got all of the water sucked up and fans set up on the carpeted areas, we got right to work! We spent all night painting and cleaning. Everyone should totally have a flooded apartment two days before it’s to be photographed….it keeps you on your toes. ;)

painting 1_053

 What our living room/kitchen looked like before the paint:

Light blue on two of four living room walls, and a very turquoise kitchen.

painting 2_054

 Goodbye turquoise, hello coral. YES.

painting 3_055

 Matt ended up taking all the cabinet facings off while he painted. And, since I’m a weirdo, I just had to take photos of my constantly growing mis-matched dishes collection.

painting 4_056painting 5_057

painting 6_058

We are using some paint that we have had left over from when we moved in, as well as some leftover paint from friends with fantastic taste in color to keep cost down. All this painting recently has got me thinking about our bedroom and the office. I’m inspired to paint the entire apartment! Most of my descriptions on Pinterest lately have simply been “paint”…there are so many gorgeous colors out there!

Some of my recent favorites, and a bit of paint inspiration for your Monday!painting candy 1_059painting candy 2_060

I’m so happy that we are in full swing again after “The Great Flood” ( which is what Matt has decided that we shall refer to it as. haha) The painting is done aside from some touching up…..it all happens tomorrow.

Should I document the process a bit for you to see? I may not be able to share any images until the issue comes out, but is that something you guys would be interested in?

hmmm…..now what else can I paint?

inspire me monday // plant life in our home

Monday, May 13th, 2013

Today Matt and I are working on all sorts of home projects. We are painting, re-arranging furniture, and plotting out a few other building projects in preparation for the lovely Tina Sergeant to come and photograph our apartment next Tuesday for The Lakelander. I have created multiple boards on Pinterest, each filled with inspirations for our home. One of the largest trends on each board is an abundance of plant life. This will be an undertaking for Matt and I, like adopting a few plant babies. We have never tried to keep plants alive before, especially indoors. But I love the warmth and liveliness that plants bring to a room, and I just know we need a little plant love in our apartment for this shoot!

I will be giving myself a how-to-keep-my-new-plants-alive education over the weekend and will also be harvesting some local plant life that grows near our apartment on the property for the project! Wish me luck!

 a few of my favorite indoor plant life inspirations:

plantlife in the home_045 plantlife in the home_046 plantlife in the home_047

 

Any advice for an indoor plant having newbee?

// 365 //

Thursday, May 9th, 2013

Thursday has become photography day here on the lovely lemon. One of my favorite ways to share photos with you guys is in my 365(ish) posts! A hodge podge of all my favorite photos the atI have recently taken!

I’m going to be very honest with you guys. I have fallen off the wagon a bit when it comes to this 365 project. I don’t always feel inspired to take photos every day.

I will say, however, that as I have been working my way through this 365 (ish) project, I’ve gotten to much better about paying attention to capturing the little moments of our every day lives, and have begun to notice all the little details in our day to day that I do find inspiring. I have, in the past had a very detached way of looking at things I think. It has always been easy for me to capture other people’s moments, details, and little bits of their lifestyle. But before this project I hadn’t really stopped to look at my own.

I still consider the project a success even though I’m not following it to the T!

The whole intention for me was to start looking at things in a new way, with fresh perspective…and that I have!

….let the hodge podge begin!

 

365 1_001

> awesome van we stumbled upon while taking photos of recently engaged friends

365 2_002

 > inside one of our kitchen cabinets. I have a slight obsession with dishes….

365 11_011

> a few of the colors/textures we photographed for a feature in the Lakelander

365 3_003

 >when you have an obsession with pretty dishes, even your dirty dishes are pretty.

365 4_004

 >lovely purple blooms in a Lakeland alleyway

365 5_005

 >self portrait in Ikea cabinet doors

365 6_006

 > a little hint of things to come  ;)

365 7_007

 > a man and his mug

365 8_008

 > the space above our kitchen table

365 9_009

 > Daisy in black and white

This photo is not a part of the 365 project. It is, however, one of my favorites photos that I took on Saturday when we took engagement photos for our sweet friends Elizabeth and Sean! I can’t wait to share the rest with you soon!

365 10_010

// just lovely //

Sunday, April 7th, 2013

I never thought that I would enjoy the sight of laundry so much….

I’m not sure if I ever mentioned this but we did not have a dryer for about 8 months. Well, we had one. It had just decided not to work any more. This meant that I did not have a “laundry day” , but instead had to do a load every single day because that’s all the space that was available on our two clothes drying racks. These racks conveniently took up our whole kitchen…every day. But that all changed last week!

We got a dryer! So ( naturally?) I washed everything!!

Having all of this clean at the same time? ….just lovely!

the smell of spring

Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013

Our home is starting to feel more “springy”. It definitely helps that the Florida weather is starting to feel a bit more warm. With this shift in season, I want my house to reflect this shift too! I want to see the color of spring in my home, and I also want my house to smell like spring…is that weird? Maybe.

I had been seeing these “home fragrance recipes” on Pinterest for a long time now, but the fall and winter seemed like odd times to try out a home scent that smelled so warm weathery – ya know? But here we are, at the cusp of summer, and I am armed with quite a few fun things to try!

__________________________________________________________________________________

Apparently ( according to my friend, Pinterest ) this is how you get your house to smell like Williams Sonoma:

- 1 lemon, sliced

- about three sprigs of fresh rosemary

- and 1 or 2 teaspoons of vanilla

-add these ingredients with some water and simmer on the stove all day long, refilling the water as necessary.

_________________________________________________________________________

….this really does sound like it would make you house smell like heaven, I was curious, so I gave it a try!

It totally did work, the whole house smelled warm and inviting. Although next time I think I need to add a bit more vanilla because it wasn’t as potent as it could have been. But, I will most definitely be making the most of this lovely trick throughout these warm months.

Do you guys ever simmer things on the stove to make the house smell wonderful? Do tell!