Friday Favorites

Happy Friday!! How has your week been? PJ has been out of town all week working on an exciting new project with our friend Brian Patrick Flynn. With PJ gone, Thomas has been spending a lot of time with his family and catching up on some much needed house cleaning.

What are you up to this weekend? We have a few friends coming to stay with us, plus PJ gets back into town (!!!) so it should be a fun weekend. 

We've been digging some items recently and we can't get them out of our heads. We think you'll like them, too. Check them out below and click the pictures to shop!

This nautical inspired bedside table that we ordered two of for our guest bedroom. 

This fun-shaped wooden end table that we also recently got from Wayfair. It's even more beautiful in person.

How fun are these linen pants from Gap? Perfect for summer don't you think?

We've been really into decorating with tans lately, so we can totally see this vase from Target on our bookshelves in our living room.

We're not normally into fake plants, but for $8, you can't beat this faux succulent that looks real enough that no one would even notice.

An oldie but goody, this lamp from Threshold is a cheaper alternative to similar lamps by Pottery Barn and West Elm. We have two of these lamps in our house and love them.

We hope you have a wonderful weekend, friend! 

Home Again

Not to be confused with the 2017 Hallie Meyers-Shyer movie, (which was so good, have you seen it?) but we are HOME!

We got home Sunday night and there’s no better feeling than walking in your front door after a long trip. We had an absolute BLAST on the cruise so expect to see a new YouTube video about the entire thing next week, including meeting a certain someone that we never thought we’d have the chance to meet!

To catch you up, we went on a 7 day cruise with Celebrity Cruises. We cruised with them in Feb of this year, along with our friends Beau and Matt from ProbablyThis, and had so much fun, so we were thrilled when they asked us to go cruising again last week.   

We’re just going to come out now and say it: we ate WAY too much. It’s honestly hard not to when you have so much good food readily available for you at all times!! We plan to get back on track this week with eating better now that we won’t be so tempted ;).

(Celebrating at the #PridePartyAtSea on board the Celebrity Summit)

We had the time of our lives celebrating Pride with Celebrity Cruises last Tuesday on the ship. How cool is that, that they support the LGBTQ community so much? We walked in a parade around the top of the ship, danced until we were sore, and just had an all around great time. Wish you could have seen how many people cheered when we all started the parade with our rainbow headbands and glow sticks. It was a beautiful site seeing everyone come together to support equality for all.

Happy Pride month indeed.

We'll be back later this week with more updates! So glad to be home!!!!

We Finally Finished Our Front Guest Bedroom

If you have been following us for a least a year, you know our ongoing struggle to finally finish our front guest bedroom. When we first moved in, it was staged as a bedroom for the show, and looked like this:

It was simple, clean, and honestly, not much to it. It did the job for what it was supposed to do, which was look like an upstairs bedroom as the camera showed it onscreen for maybe three seconds. After the show was over, though, it became something else. Something much, much worse. 

See, we moved into this house last year, but after we moved we still had some stuff over at our old house that we had to bring over. Why we didn't bring it all over in the first place? Honestly who knows. We think we were just so exhausted from the months of filming the show that we kind of took it easy for a second. Well, bad idea, because someone broke into our old house (where a lot of our stuff was still being stored) and stole a lot of stuff. It was bad and we felt so violated, but luckily it wasn't anything replaceable (though our old camera was stolen so, yikes).

After that, we moved everything into our current house and unfortunately, a lot of the stuff went into the front bedroom and it became a major junk room (which you can see footage of in the video below) for almost a year. You could barely walk through it and it always felt so overwhelming every time we went in there. 

Well, that feeling is no more! And you can walk through it just fine! We partnered up with Wayfair to help transform our guest bedroom into a room that our guests will actually enjoy staying in. We set a budget and surprisingly ended up sticking to it! We detailed it all in our YouTube video below, if you want to check it out.

 In the meantime, here’s how it all looks after we put it all together:

We wanted to go for a bright, classic look, so we used whites, blacks, warm wood tones, and blue got a fresh and somewhat coastal theme. This room gets the most beautiful light in the morning and we wanted the room to reflect that happy, positive feeling of waking up.

Again, you can check out the whole process in our newest YouTube video below! 

Source list: 

• Jute rug 
• White nightstands 
• Wooden stool

Feature Friday with Andrew Kutz & Tyler Coldwell

Happy Friday y'all! How has your week been? Doesn't it seem like they're flying by? We can't believe it's already June. Any plans for the weekend? We have a very fun (and last minute) trip planned that we can't wait to tell you about!! 

This week's FF is so cute and relatable for a number of reasons. They argue over what they want to eat (#same), they are big on family (#same) and one of them came out around the age of 20 (also, #same). Wait until you read how they each knew each other were "the one", it's one of those perfect moments you only see in the movies. We're excited to share Andrew & Tyler's story with y'all today. Take a look...

Where are you from? Andrew: born outside Seattle and raised in Newville Pennsylvania Tyler: born and raised north central Ohio

Where do you live? Currently we just moved back to the West Coast to Downtown Los Angeles.

 What’s your Instagram handle? Joint: AKTC0702 Andrew: ABKUTZ Tyler: TJCOLDWELL

Age: Andrew=29 (till July, holding on to my twenties) Tyler= 30 (we don’t discuss it)

Relationship status: Engaged

What is your favorite place you have travelled to and why? Paris, it’s where we got engaged.  Andrew flew into Paris to surprise me and propose outside Sacré-Cœur Basilica (sacred-heart basilica) for 24 hrs before flying back. 

How did you guys meet? Who asked out who? Tyler had decided last minute to go to Vegas for his best friends 30th birthday. Tyler and his friend, Vanessa were leaving a local bar to go to another place to continue the celebration. As Tyler was backing his car out of a spot so Vanessa could get in, she spotted Andrew walking towards her and asked him for a favor, she said her best friend was trying to leave her and he should call him a D-bag. To which Andrew obliged and yelled “hey Tyler, your a deuce.” Tyler being very puzzled looked like who is this guy. Vanessa laughed the whole way to the car and they left. About an hour later they came back and saw Andrew going between groups of friends at the bar. Tylers’  friend spotted me (Andrew) and said hey that’s the guy.  At that point I thought I should actually introduce myself and said “Hi I’m Andrew”.  After some time talking Tyler and his friend decided they were heading home while I was going to join other friends at a club near.  Upon leaving we exchanged numbers and I said I would call him or message him from a hour after I get in.  Well that hour came and when I was walking out to head home I walked to my car which was towed.  Upon letting Tyler who was still up came back with “I can come get you,” I was surprised at how nice and genuine he was and accepted. I put him through the ringer that next 24 hours when I not only introduced him to my parents who were in town for the holiday but also had him join us all for the car at the impound but also tell him that my mom said she wouldn’t mind Tyler calling her mom.  This one night lead to several other crazy events the next few days but have been together ever since. 

How did you know each other were “the one”? Andrew: there were two moments for me that I knew Tyler was the one, the first one that night we met and he offered to pick me up but also that night after meeting his three dogs we also cuddled that night and it’s the first night that I fell asleep on his shoulder in his arms and woke up in that same spot the next moment.  The second is right after we moved from Vegas to DC and were out with friends after getting back from his best friends wedding in the Dominican that I had decided to get the ring from Tiffany’s and when I found the perfect one the look I had on my face and the realization that I was more than happy to say he is going to be my fiancé.  

Tyler: the moment I knew Andrew was the one was when I had to leave on Monday (the weekend we met). I extended my trip and left Monday instead of Sunday. When I got in the car and said goodbye to Andrew and started driving I felt this awful feeling of pain. The further I drove the more it hurt and I wanted nothing more than to turn around and go back to him. I realized then in that moment that I never wanted to live another day without him. Even though I knew I would see him in a few days it was too long. He was the one for me and I was excited to see what our next adventures would be together. 

Any big plans for the future? Where do you see yourselves in 10 years? First we see ourselves married, we are big on family and are looking to foster/adopt.  We are also looking to continue to grow Tyler’s real estate/ development firm here on the west coast while having opening Andrews Coffee/ wine bar.  Ideally we are looking to settle down in Seattle with our own house big enough for the kids but also my larger family to visit and spend more time with us. 

How would you describe your home decor style? Well Andrew’s idea of furniture when we met was two bar stools and a couch and bed ( both of which were inflatable). Meanwhile I came with a fully stocked household with accents like my home was staged for sale. While admittedly almost all of the style is mine (Tyler’s) it’s because I do it for a living. Our perfect home style is a nice transitional farmhouse style as it is our roots but also keeps us in the trendy LA and developer community. We always want the house to be warm and inviting for guests while comfortable for us. 

What is the last show you binged watched? We regularly watch the real housewives of anywhere, but binge watch would be Grace and Frankie. ANDREW would choose Unearthed but I’d rather do my taxes. Lol

How do you guys handle arguments? AND what’s the silliest thing you’ve ever fought over? Typically over dinner and a bottle of wine.....sometimes it takes a few bottles but then we get to a resolution. The silliest argument we ever had was picking out what to eat after a night out. I wanted tacos and Andrew hates Mexican food. Lol

How old were you when you came out and what was your experience like? Tyler- I came out when I was 20 years old. I had met a guy who I found myself attracted too. I had eased into everything first telling my best friend I was bisexual and later my mom suspected and ask me. I told her she was right and all she said is “ now don’t you feel better that is out, I already knew and nothing is going to change as long as your happy.” My Dad on the other hand (divorced parents) threatened to hit me and said I was lucky I caught him in a bad mood. We don’t really have a relationship as see each other every few years. 

Andrew-I didn’t officially tell my family till the February before Tyler and I met in 2016.   For me it was waiting for that moment to feel safe and that it was the right time.  I wasn’t completely out as I had also dated Women prior and for me it was who I felt comfortable with and it didn’t matter if it was a male or female, It’s the personal connection that makes a relationship not the label. 

Have you faced any backlash as a couple since coming out? If so, how do you deal with that? Andrew- Yes- not from our friends and family though but from other guys in the community. Mainly the story of how is this guy the one when I wasn’t and how are you really going to make that work when you can’t make it work with me or even make time for me. 

Tyler- We tune it out. It’s not worth our time and energy as we both have very rewarding lives already and we know what we mean to each other. All of the rest is white noise. 

What is your favorite thing about one another? Tyler- my favorite thing about Andrew is how he is always so supportive and would move heaven and earth to make me happy (including Moving across the country and away from his family for my career). He is my strength when I am weak and my hope when I am beaten. I think the phrase I like best is that he is “the butter to my bread and the breath to my lungs”

Andrew- My favorite thing about Tyler would have to be the amount  of compassion he has and even though he’s the sensitive one he never loses the drive for the things or ones he loves.  He is always there for a family member or friend and regardless of obstacles makes sure that he is there for them or will find a way to be. He compassion is what many see right away and what makes him a true friend and soon to be husband

Currently

(Alyster playing on the desk in our bedroom while we were responding to comments on our latest YouTube video)

The last couple of days have been for getting back to normal after being out of town and for adjusting to life with a new kitten. We pretty much haven’t left the house except to go to the store :). We’ve been enjoying being home and cooking and cleaning and playing with Alyster a ton, which is just fine by us.

If you can’t tell, we’re pretty much obsessed with him!! He likes to climb on us and play with our feet (though many of you have told us to break him of that habit early otherwise he’ll be attacking us all the time!) and he cries a lot until we hold him, and then he starts purring, and then our hearts melt. It’s so crazy because we aren’t cat people, if there is such a thing. But this little guy has us wrapped around his tiny baby paws. He peed on the couch and rug last night but other than that he’s learning to use his litter box pretty well.

We kind of slipped off the wagon of eating healthy while we were on vacation (because duh) but we’ve been making smarter choices since we’ve been back. Last night we cooked lemon garlic zucchini noodles with white wine and mushrooms and it was a nice, light summery dish. We’ll be posting the recipe later on!

 (We moved an old desk that used to live in our upstairs bathroom into our bedroom as a bedside table/writing desk and we’re loving the warmth & function it brings to the room)

We just found out some crazy fun news yesterday morning that we will tell you about in a few days once we make sure everything is all set. It’s extremely last minute and we’re kind of nervous but are staying optimistic and think it will be a lot of fun. It’s one of those opportunities that doesn’t come up very often and it’s hard to say no to, no matter how much anxiety it might bring you. Can’t wait!!!!

We hope you’re having a great week so far, friend. Talk to you soon!