I am a monthly contributor to Everything Home Magazine. It is an online magazine where bloggers are the writers and feature spaces that catch our eye for the section we write for. I was excited when Collette, the editor asked me to write for their "Kids Spaces." I have two daughters and am always on the look out for unique ideas for their space.
I found Brittany York on Instagram and love every single picture she posts. Her home is so gorgeous!
Her kitchen is beyond charming.
She also used the hashtag #ehkids to share her unique kids space on Instagram that I featured to find kids bedrooms to write about. You can see more of Brittany's home on her Blog, Duchess of York.
When Brittany started planning her boy’s rooms she really wanted them to feel bright, fun, and just really youthful! She wanted the space to be somewhere her boys could hang out in and feel proud to call their own. She was a little more free spirited with their spaces and stepped out of her comfort zone a little bit with colors.
She said that it obviously shows in the playroom and she is so glad that she did because it’s one of her favorite rooms. I asked her if her kids had an opinion about the décor of the room and this is what she said “Neither of them had much interest in designing their rooms (too young to care, I guess) so this mama had free reins!”
Brittany’s two kids are currently sharing a bedroom so they use their 3rd bedroom as their playroom. Both rooms fill the entire square footage of their 2ndfloor. Once you walk upstairs you enter a totally different world, and it’s run by kids. She said they do confine most of their toys to their playroom.
She found that the kids were getting super distracted by toys while they were trying to get them to wind down for naptime or bedtime. Because of that she wanted their room to be free of distractions and filled with more beneficial things that helped promote quiet time, like lots and lots of books. In the playroom each toy has a place, its own basket on its own shelf.
The playroom also serves the purpose of their homeschool room, she I tries to keep it organized that way things can be found quickly and easily. Every couple of months Brittany will go through the toys while the boys are napping and fill a donation box with things they haven’t played with in a while. The boys never know they are missing and it helps keep the mass of toys they always seem to be collecting under control.
I asked Brittany what her main inspiration was for the kid space. She said it was those triangle vinyl decals from Urban Walls. She had seen them all over Instagram and Pinterest and just loved how easy and fun they were. They add that dramatic effect of an accent wall, but they don’t take the same commitment that say paint or wallpaper would.
In the playroom she planned the room around Ikea’s ABC poster that is hanging above the craft cart. She loved the colors in it. It is bright and fun and she wanted the playroom to reflect that.
It was also really important to her to have a full chalkboard wall in one of the rooms. In their previous home they had one in their kitchen and she loved to sit and doodle with the boys. She said “It was just a lot of fun for us and I was really sad to leave it behind when we moved.”
Brittany shopped Ikea and flea markets for her kids space. She scored the boy’s beds at a garage sale for $10, a little paint and they were good as new. Their bed side table, which is a vintage school desk she got at a flea market for $5. The kitchen in the playroom is from Ikea and Brittany adores it.
I asked Brittany what her son’s favorite part of their kid space was and she said it was the rocket ship tent that she bought from Land of Nodand it is actually their favorite spot in the entire house. They love curling up inside of it with a book, their iPad, or a flashlight at night. It’s ALWAYS their first and only hiding when we play hide-n-seek.
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I am pretty proud of myself...I made the most delicious cookies. Good reason to be proud! We are doing The Giving Manger this Holiday season and are looking for ways to give to others.
And who doesn't love getting cookies?
(you can read about The Giving Manger HERE)
If you shop at Trader Joes and passed by these cookies, well I am sorry. Because your life was not complete in the Holiday season! Until now... you are welcome
I crushed up a cup of these chocolate star cookies and added them to one of my favorite paleo cookies.
Rolled up little balls of amazing dough, ready for the oven!
As soon as they come out of the oven you push down a chocolate star to flatten the cookie and for the chocolate cookie star to stick. The chocolate cookie stars get so melty and are hard to resist.
Good luck trying to keep everyone's hands off!
Mint Star Cookie Recipe-
1 cup almond butter (I drain the oil off of mine) or you can use any nut butter
1 cup coconut sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon mint extract
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 cup Mini dark chocolate mint stars from Trader Joes (chopped to small pieces)
30 approx.. Mini dark chocolate stars for the top of each cookie
Preheat oven to 350
Mix the nut butter and coconut sugar until fully incorporated.
Add in the egg and mint extract and beat for about 30 seconds
Add the cocoa powder, baking soda and salt until well blended
Add in the chopped chocolate star cookies
Form into balls (I use a small ice cream scoop like THIS)
Bake for 12 minutes
As soon as they come out of the oven top with the chocolate cookie star
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"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give." -Winston Churchill
That is exactly what life is about.
And what a better time to focus on giving than the Christmas season.
The Giving Manger has come up with a way to introduce this idea of focusing on giving to our families. This gorgeous package kicked off the season of giving in our home this holiday season.
The book alone is a real treat. This will be one of our favorites of the season.
When I saw this little handmade manger, so many memories came back from my childhood. My mom did this same simple manger for us during the Christmas season. We would prepare baby Jesus's manger by placing a piece of straw in the manger every time we gave to others.
Our favorite part in the book was-
"This Christmas we'll celebrate the great gift of all-
Jesus Christ born, a baby so small.
Throughout his life, Christ always was giving,
Loving, serving, and never receiving."
We came up with some ways to give this season and share our #mangermoments
-Make cookies for neighbors
-Go visit a nursing home and bring some Christmas cheer
-Thank you notes and treat to our church teachers
-Donate toys and clothes to a shelter
-Mail cards and little notes to friends and family
-Clean up trash at our park or beach
My girls jumped on board with the making each others bed and thought they could do that daily to place a straw in the manger. We discussed the purpose of giving, but to keep on making each others beds!
This baby Jesus is just so beautifully done. It is hand made.
My youngest thinks it is her new baby to hold and rock.
Growing up the tradition was to place the baby Jesus in the manger on Christmas morning.
But we just have to leave it out, it is too gorgeous.
The Giving Manger is offering FREE SHIPPING with shipping code NESTING until 11-12-2015
I am joining The White Buffalo Styling Co, House Seven, My Sweet Savannah and Bliss at Home to share how we Style with Purpose.
I am excited to be apart of this ongoing series.
I style and design every home with the purpose and try to make it comfortable for those who live in it.
We all love to think that everyone we follow on Instagram, see on Pinterest has perfectly staged homes, but that isn't reality. Our homes are not perfect, we have toys, sewing machines out, books upon books stacked in corners, breakfast dishes in the sink while we try to throw together dinner.
I had a friend tell me
"we want to see where all the toys are in your house and the mess." That is exactly what this series is about!
Showing how we live in our houses, I might not show the dirty laundry... but I personally love to see the family, friends, kids, animals and the mess you created while creating.
I share a lot of pictures of my family living in our CT home on Instagram. I probably wouldn't be able to share those if we didn't keep our house in order. My house is tiny, about 1200 square feet. There is literally NO room for mess...
my sign should say
"bless that there is never a mess."
We have a play area that I separated by floating a sofa in the room to define the space and hide the toys. Because we do have toys and little Legos, dolls, fake fruit, play kitchens we live here, but some of it is an eye sore that I don't like to always see, so I design around it.
It's all about styling each area of your home with purpose to function how your family needs it to, even a playroom.
You can see more pictures of this space HERE
My girls love to be in this room, making bracelets, coloring, dancing if you can think it they do it in here. That is exactly what I want, a home that nothing is off limits.
And lucky for me it is the first thing you see when you walk in our home! Yikes....
But all the papers, coloring supplies, projects, bracelets have a home and this large sideboard is it. My girls know where it all goes and that they aren't allowed to start something new without cleaning up the first mess!
When we bought this home in January of 2015. The previous owners only had a small sideboard in this tiny kitchen and their dining table in a bedroom... it was weird, you would have had to walk past the bathroom carrying your food. We are not those people, we don't need a separate formal room to eat everyday.
Our family needs an eat-in kitchen. I was able to remodel the small space around the idea that we live in our kitchen. My girls do homework, talk to me while I cook and we eat a nice home cooked meal everyday. My purpose when designing this space was for comfort and to promote family time. The settee helped to achieve that. Decide the purpose of each and every space and create a well styled space with those goals in mind. Our goal was to allow projects to happen and life to be lived.
Did I mention my house is tiny? We are still able to do all the things we love.
And that is what matters.
We have friends over and make cookies. There is room for it all because I styled it with the purpose that we create in it daily.
I had a designer friend tell me once, "a well designed home has a place for everything." I totally agree. I have a basket for all the extra papers I need to sort through, they aren't in a pile on the kitchen counter. There is a spot for the toaster and blender, hidden in the cupboard because I don't have the counter space.
I wanted to share some of many favorite Instagram accounts that show their homes being lived in.
They are well styled and full of purpose.
Brittany York has one of my favorite kitchens. And it is lived in a loved. Her caption was the best on this photo. She said that she was on a roll that morning, made breakfast, dinner, laundry, beds and dessert then looked at her sink and decided to watch a movie.
You can tell that everything has a place and it was styled with her young family in mind.
Whitney from Carpen Daughter she kills me. She is hilarious and has such a design flare. I love that she posts pictures of her kitty in the cutest spots (my mom would love this) and her hubby working or napping in their cozy home.
She keeps a very tidy, simple yet gorgeous home. It is styled with the purpose of their fun personalities.
Natalie from Hammmade has the most lovely family home. She shares their gorgeous product while also showing how her family enjoys it. It just look like love. And she styled every part of their new home with unique pieces, not all new but all selected with purpose.
Old Joy just makes you want a simple life filled with chubby babies. Her home is so simple, yet so striking. You just stop and stare at the simplest details that show how a home should be. Lived in and loved by whoever is there.
Jess Wasserman just built a gorgeous farm house. It is so eclectic and every inch styled with purpose.
I absolutely love this photo she shared. She said she had this tiny nook that wasn't being used. So she grabbed wallpaper scraps, old baby mattress, garage sale kids table and random things. She created a little dream space for her daughter. It was just what she had, no extra money spent or running around to create the perfect space. THIS is how you style with purpose.
We want to see how you live in your houses. Show us on Instagram by using the hashtag #purposewithstyle. We will pick our favorites every Friday and share on all of our blogs and Instagram accounts.
This is how I stay sane in a small space. Style your home for what works best for you and those who live in it and that will make you happy.
I wanted to share some of many favorite Instagram accounts that show their homes being lived in.
They are well styled and full of purpose.
You can tell that everything has a place and it was styled with her young family in mind.
She keeps a very tidy, simple yet gorgeous home. It is styled with the purpose of their fun personalities.
I absolutely love this photo she shared. She said she had this tiny nook that wasn't being used. So she grabbed wallpaper scraps, old baby mattress, garage sale kids table and random things. She created a little dream space for her daughter. It was just what she had, no extra money spent or running around to create the perfect space. THIS is how you style with purpose.
We get our moneys worth from this room, actually in a small house every room does. From playroom, family room, movie night room and guest room it does it all. It is upstairs and right off our daughters bedroom. Since it is upstairs they really use this room verses when I had a playroom in my basement in our old home and that thrills me!
"Bless This Mess" sign you can find HERE
I floated the sofa a quarter into the room to define the playroom space. It helps to hide the doll beds and toys my girls play with.
This Lego table used to be a sight for sore eyes.
After its facelift, I kind of like it.
If something is an eye sore, change it!
It used to be an ugly pine wood, with a hunter green Lego top, you all know the one. I just spray painted it white, I picked a spray paint that covers plastic. The stools were red and blue with Lego written on the top. I actually just hot glued this Ikea fabric over it, very easy and makes such a difference.
When I saw this love grows best sign from Between You And Me Signs I melted. I knew I had to have it. It fits our home perfectly.
You can find it HERE
The pillow on the floor can be found HERE
I personalized the space by framing my daughters artwork in Ikea frames.
The sofa also pulls out to a sleeper sofa. When we have multiple guests this turns into our second guest room. We live away from both our families, and we live close to New York so we get a lot of guests and we love it!
This sofa was a nightmare to get up the stairs and into this room of our tiny Cape. We broke our banister, made a hole in the wall and broke the light and I swear almost died. We ended up having it taken apart in an upholstery shop and put together in the room. I called two places the first quoted $1000 and the second was $400, guess who I went with. It was worth it, this is a quality sofa from Lee Industries and I couldn't find anything I liked better
you can find it HERE
I like to mix nice quality upholstery with thrifted or one of a kind accent pieces. Like this drop leaf narrow end table. I bought it for $10 at an antique shop. Just needed a couple coats of paint. I used Gray from Benjamin Moore in a flat finish.
The antler study is from VOL25 you can find it HERE
Another master piece from my daughter. And my cute friend Angie, painted that "and so the adventure begins" when we moved.
We ripped out the old carpet when we moved in. We replaced it with Kahrs Artic Oak you can find it HERE
I called a local carpet company and had them cut a thick carpet pad slightly smaller than my rug. It adds a lot more softness and comfort.
My bookcase used to be in my kitchen in my Utah home, it was full of dishes. There are some things that are hard to let go of, maybe because of the memories. This is one of those pieces. It is from Bramble Co. You can find it HERE
I love unique pieces of art. This is a piece of bark from a tree that was a focal point at my old design firm. One of the designers and friend Gwyn collected a piece and framed it for me. One of the most thoughtful gifts.
This space is not perfect, it is collected.
I designed it with the purpose of creating a space for our little family, my daughters friends and our house guests can feel comfortable in.
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