Design Dilemma

Yesterday we came home to find a ton of furniture we ordered online sitting on our front porch. Finally! We were so excited because we had spent so long picking out each piece and deciding where we wanted it to go in our house. We ordered a bunch of different things for a few rooms and had spent almost a month choosing just the right pieces.

When we got them inside and started opening them and putting them together, we felt really good about everything. It was cool to see it all in person and finally in the rooms after spending so much time ooo-ing and ahhh-ing over them online. 

We set up one of the rooms with the furniture all in its place and stepped back to admire the view and...... well it didn't really look all that good to be honest. We were upset. We had spent sooooo much time going over the floorplan and where this and that would go and now that everything was in its place, it just felt off. It didn't have the look/feel that we were going for and we couldn't figure out why.

This isn't going to be one of those posts where we tell you our dilemma and then by the end of it we reassure you that everything is fine because we figured it out and blah blah blah. Nope. This is the kind of still-working-on-it post where we haven't 100% found the solution yet. We ended up rearranging the whole layout of the room in question and it made it somewhat better, and we still have to bring in accessories like art, lamps, and ~decorative~ items. But still, as of right now, we've kind of hit a wall creatively.

When that happens, we like to clear the room out and go back to the basics, back to what we had originally envisioned and see what we need and don't need to achieve that vision. We worked on it until late last night so a good part of our frustration with the room could have been that we were just tired and needed a fresh mind/start. We have a whole blog post/YouTube video about the process coming soon, so we can't reveal too much now, but we'll keep you updated about the final outcome. Do you ever go through moments of design frustration like this? 

In other non-design related news, we went to lunch yesterday in Warehouse Row in downtown Chattanooga with a few friends and felt like we were in New York City for a few hours. Have you ever been? It's absolutely gorgeous.

We ate at Public House (above) and noticed they have the same schoolhouse pendant lights that we have in our upstairs bathroom!

After lunch we went to look at a potential flip house. It doesn't look like much now, but it has a great layout and could be sooooo cute. We already have so many ideas for it. We'll keep you posted on what happens with it!! Fingers crossed!!

Estate Sale Treasures

If you follow us on Instagram, you know we went to one hell of an estate sale this weekend. We showed y’all the house and grounds (and to be honest, we might do a whole separate post on those two things alone because holy cow!!) as well as some of the items we found that we ended up bringing home with us.

We got a couple of lamps, trinkets, and baskets, but by far our favorite purchase, which may be our favorite piece of furniture we’ve ever bought, was the big hutch you see in the corner up there. When we went the first day, we posted a picture of the hutch to our story and SO many of y’all told us to get it. We thought about it so much but at the end of the day we decided not to spend the money, so we left with the items we mentioned above, and no hutch. 

We went back the second day, Sunday, which was the last day of the estate sale, just to make sure we really didn’t want the hutch. There were actually two hutches that we wanted but we didn’t put the other one on Instagram. It was bigger and for some reason $100 less than the one we ended up buying. We thought about using it in the upstairs bathroom as a linen and towel closet.

We offered a price we would be willing to pay if we bought both of them, but they didn’t agree to it, so we chose the one we loved the most and brought it home. We are somewhat kicking ourselves today knowing we didn’t just get both of them, BUT we feel good about our purchase of just the one, especially since we got it for $250 off asking price.  

Here are some of the other pieces we got from the sale this weekend:​

​The metal lamp with the orange empire shade that somehow perfectly matches the shades of our sconces we have throughout the house. PJ was iffy on it but Thomas absolutely loved it, so for $10 it was ours. We also took home the turquoise statue in the top right corner. Not sure about the placement, but it’s living there for now.

How cool is that gold and black lamp? We got it for $15 and knew exactly where we wanted it to go before we even bought it. The shade was painted black with fabric paint and the base was painted gold. Wonder what color the whole thing was originally?​

We also picked up this wooden stand for around $40. There was a giant crack down the middle so on Sunday morning PJ took it apart and is currently in the process of repairing it. This is what it looks like at the moment: 

Hopefully it will be repaired and ready to go in the next couple of days. Not sure where it’s going just yet. Maybe in the dining room with a really pretty plant on it? 

So that was where the majority of our weekend was spent! If you’re looking for great, one of a kind pieces for not a lot of money, you should check out estate sales every now and then. We’ve gotten so many pieces in our house from estate sales and we can’t recommend them enough. Happy hunting! 

One Trick We Tried to Get a Better Night's Sleep

One of the first purchases we made when we moved into our house last year was buy a bigger mattress. At the time, we still let our two little dogs sleep with us and, with a queen sized bed and four sleeping in it, things were getting tight. 

We made the decision to buy a king sized mattress and then started making the girls sleep on their own bed in the laundry room and it changed everything. It was glorious. Such a better night’s sleep! But we made another decision that’s made all the difference, too: every few months, we started switching which sides of the bed we slept on.

PJ suggested it one day, a couple of months in, just when we were getting used to sleeping on a new bed in a new house. We were both skeptical at first, but changing everything up turned out to be just what the doctor ordered. We're both so used to sleeping on one side each night that our bodies had grown accustomed to laying a certain way, and sometimes we would even wake up sore. 

Switching sides of the bed gives you and your partner the chance to experience how it feels to sleep in different directions and hopefully find the one that both of you agree on. If you don't like your side of the bed once you make the switch, you can change it in a month or two. This article  gives some statistics conducted by Saatva Mattress (a luxury mattress company) that we found interesting:

• Right side sleeping males feel relaxed instead of stressed most of the time when compared to men sleeping on the left (71% vs. 60%)
• Almost half (46%) say that when they first got together as a couple, both partners preferred the same side of the bed and 79% of them had to concede their preferred side to their partner.

Pretty crazy, right? Do you switch sides of the bed with your partner regularly? If not, give it a try! You might be surprised with how good you'll start sleeping.

(Bed from here. Lamps from here. Duvet from here.) 

Design Sponge House Tour

So, something amazing happened. Sort of a dream come true, really. Last week our house was featured on Design*Sponge and we collectively lost our minds. Like everyone else, we've been following D*S for YEARS and have fallen in love with the blog's house tours and essays. We were so flattered when they agreed to feature our house and tell a little bit about our family's history with it!

Now that the tour is up, we will be updating the house tour page on our blog to reflect our current home, but the other one will still be available to tour as well. We also plan to do a YouTube tour pretty soon, we just have to wait for a pretty day and sadly, we're pretty short on those lately.

Thank you Garrett at Design*Sponge and for our photographer Golden who helped put this together with us! Y'all can click here to see some before and afters and read a little bit about the back story with our house on Design*Sponge!

We’re Obsessed with the Style From “Call Me By Your Name”

Have you seen Call Me By Your Name? The film was nominated for 4 Oscars this year, including Best Picture, and won for Best Adapted Screenplay, though, we think it should have won in another category, too: Best Costume Design.

Even though it's still getting down to the 30's here on some days, we're daydreaming about warmer weather when we can wear the Oxfords, Polo's, and shorts like Elio and Oliver do. The film is set in 1983 but the style still seems classic and very doable today. It's all about short shorts, over-sized short sleeve button downs, and some slip-on boat shoes. Since Spring starts tomorrow, it seems like the perfect time to get our wardrobe together for the next couple of months.

Below, we've rounded up some items YOU can wear this summer to achieve the CMBYN look, too:

(above photo via here)

Are You Watching Queer Eye?

Ever since we finished Shameless, we have been fixated with another show on Netflix. The new Queer Eye reboot is SO GOOD and has a completely different feel from the original. This isn't your mother's Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (assuming she watched it?).

This time, they don't just focus on making over straight guys. They feature gay men AND straight men who want to change their lives for the better. Maybe they're stuck in a rut they can't get out of or struggling to come to terms with themselves. Every episode we laugh until we cry, then we actually cry. 

Each member of the Fab Five specialize in their own area of expertise (grooming, culture, clothes, food, and design) and each bring something fun and unique to the table. Our favorite? Jonathan, who focuses on grooming. He's hilarious and says the most ridiculous yet relatable things you've ever heard. The show is worth watching just for him alone, but you come away with a valuable and meaningful lesson after every episode. We can't get enough and can't wait for season 2 already! 

If you haven't watched it yet, we highly recommend checking it out!

(picture via here)

Breakfast Room Progress

The room in the center of our house has had a couple of names since we moved in. At first we called it "the library", because we were going to put bookshelves in eventually. Eventually has now turned into "umm maybe YEARS down the line or possibly never, whichever comes first." We had a rug in there when we first moved in that has since moved to our bedroom. Below is how it looked on our TV pilot "Down to the Studs".

So then we called it "the center hall" because, well, it's in the center of our house and we only used it as a hallway to pass through to get to other rooms in the house. We didn't have any chairs around it then and it felt very staged. You can see that phase below.

Now, we call it "the breakfast room" because we currently have chairs around the table and eat most of our meals there. We have a 9 ft dining room table (in the back of the picture above) that we usually only eat at for special occasions. Otherwise, you'll mostly find us eating at this table in the room of a thousand names. 

We've been very slowly filling it with frames and plan on doing some more above the table with the lamp on it to the right. This room gets the most amazing light in the winter and is right between the living room and the kitchen, so you feel like you're right in the middle of all the action. A room that we weren't sure what to do with when we moved in has suddenly become the central hub of the house.

Sometimes it just takes living in a house to get a feel and understand each room, you know? We plan on doing that a lot this year :).

Sources:

• Chairs
• Floor lamp (similar)
• Table lamp
• Stairwell garland

A Chalkboard Wall

We did it. We finally did it! We painted our kitchen wall in chalkboard paint. 

We went back and forth for months on if we should actually do it or not, weighing the pros and most certainly the cons (it's a trend! it will make the kitchen too dark! chalkboard walls were so 5 years ago!) over and over again. We even asked you guys what you thought about it on an Instagram story, with most of you saying no ;). But then we thought, what if we just tried it?

That's the great thing about paint, if you don't like it you can change it in a day, even if it takes you a few coats. In the end, we are so happy we made the jump and just did it. It makes the kitchen fun and, as our friend Anne said, it says we don't take ourselves too seriously. Thomas' mom has a huge chalkboard wall in her kitchen and over the years friends and family have filled it with their signatures and loving messages. You may have seen it in a few of our pictures from time to time.

Are chalkboard walls a trend? Probably. We tend to stay away from trends, but there is something so homey and inviting about a chalkboard wall, don't you think? And we love the industrial feel it gives our kitchen with the pots hanging up against it. It may not last forever, but for now we are glad we went with it. Follow your gut despite what anyone else says. It's your home, after all. There are no "rules" so we've always said do what you feel happy and right about doing and nothing else matters. 

We have a YouTube video coming out soon about the actual process of painting it and some tips for you if you want to do your own chalkboard wall, so stay tuned! Also,  pictured above are some sweet, no-bake treats we made last night. There may or may not be a YouTube video about those coming out even sooner ;).