Gold

The playroom is actually one of my favorite rooms in our home. It gets a lot of natural light so its always bright and cheery. I know I am totally crazy to put white furniture in the kids playroom but it’s kind of the best furniture ever! I have slip covered couches from IKEA and they are totally kid friendly. Anytime they get stains or my 2 year old colors on them (which is on a daily basis), I just take the covers off ,bleach them, and voila…NEW COUCH! I put lots of throw blankets on the couches too. I kinda feel like it adds an extra barrier to prevent stains. We have a lot of storage areas in our playroom for all of the kids toys. Since the playroom is right off the entrance to our home, I wanted to try to keep it as neat as possible…yea right. I try though! We have a large toy bin, baskets, a large closet, and even built ins under the staircase. The built ins were in the home when we moved in. It kind of sold me on the house. Since there is nothing under the stairs, it is such a genius way to add extra storage in a smaller home. It also adds another element of charm in our tiny beach cottage. Fun fact, the closet in our playroom oddly connects to the closet in our den. The kids think its pretty cool, so I have to keep it clear enough for them to go back and forth through the “secret passage”.
I wanted to keep the playroom as light as possible so I went with a cottage white color. My handy husband shiplapped the walls to add some texture and charm. He even added a cute chalkboard built into the wall too! (Stay tuned for a ship lap post. We did the whole playroom for under $100!) There is recessed lighting in the room and we even added a star pendant light which I love! I went with casual, neutral stripe drapes and bamboo blinds for the window treatments. To add some color to the room, I added fun throw pillows and blankets.  I also just added this colorful round area rug as well. I love all of the kids artwork, so I made sure to add lots of it to the room. I hung it on string with clothes pins.  As all of the rooms in our home, the playroom is still a work in progress, but for now, I am loving it and of course the kids do too! And by the way…this is the cleanest this room has ever been.

I’m due with a little girl in a couple weeks and couldn’t be more excited! Even though she will be too tiny to remember this Christmas, I’ve been dreaming up ideas for a girly Christmas party for months. Luckily some of my close friends have little girls old enough to enjoy the fun and sweets! 
I knew I wanted to stick with a feminine pastel color palette and mix traditional holiday elements with unexpected details. Instead of a traditional Christmas tree, I went with a space saving option using a pegboard and magnolia leaves. You can see our tutorial here! 
One of my favorite details on the table are the tinsel pom napkin rings. I glued gift toppers to thin ribbon and tied around each napkin. Such an easy but whimsical finishing touch! I snagged the pink ombre trees in the dollar section of Target then spray painted some of them teal with a similar ombre pattern. I know a lot of people choose to bleach and then dye the bottle brush trees but this way is much faster! The paper maché houses were painted in coordinating colors then we added in some fresh blooms and ornaments to finish off the table runner. 
The dessert tree was a big hit with the girls! I took a white styrofoam cone and covered it in donuts, macarons, donut holes, white chocolate truffles, mini cinnamon rolls and sugar cookies by Miss J’s Bakeshop. I used tooth picks to secure all the sweets besides the sugar cookies. For those I melted white chocolate and smeared it on the back of each cookie like glue. Then Phuong added in some fresh flowers for the finishing touch! Miss J’s also made the cute little house cookies hanging off of the mugs of pink hot chocolate. If you’re looking to recreate at home, use this pink hot chocolate recipe! We topped each mug off with a handful of marshmallows and dusted with edible gold glitter.
Here’s a link to my full blog post recap: https://www.cakeandconfetti.com/blog/colorful-christmas-party

When I was selecting a theme for Baby Lily’s nursery, my goal was to create a happy bright space that could grow with Lily well into her elementary years. Each element of her room was carefully selected and crafted to design the perfect sanctuary. I selected a secret garden theme as a reference to her name and creating a magical creative space for her to dream and feel safe and happy!
My key design elements are the 9ft paper flower nook, lace teepee and adding personalized elements throughout the room including, inspirational pillows, artwork, and a message board!
Watch the full nursery reveal video: https://craftboxgirls.com/blogs/articles/baby-lilys-nursery-reveal?_pos=1&_sid=ce8759e57&_ss=r
DIY Elements:
-Paper Flower Wall (9ft tall with over 100 handmade flowers)
-6ft Lace Teepee
-Inspiration Pillows (made using my Cricut Maker)
-“Welcome to Lily’s Garden” door sign
-It’s a Mermaid Thing” Bathroom Sign
-Bow Holder
-Floral Mobile
 

Having the privilege to decorate a nursey was something I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to do. For my husband and I our journey to parenthood was a 3 year or so up hill battle. It took us 6 IUI cycles and 7 IVF cycles (including 2 early miscarriages) to finally get the love of our lives, little baby Sloane.
I didn’t really start planning the nursery until we were far enough along in the pregnancy. Although I will admit, once we got to the IVF point I thought it would work right away and did buy her rocker. Originally it sat in its box in her empty room, where eventually it got moved downstairs to either hopefully be used one day or sold if not. Thankfully a couple years later we got to bring it upstairs and it still suited the room well.
Even though I didn’t plan any of the décor early in advance I always knew I’d want neutrals of gray, white, black & gold along with a pop of color throughout, just like the rest of our home. I chose corals and peaches as the main pop of color. The nursery is overall a budget friendly project. I like to find higher end inspiration ideas and find a way to make a cheaper version. The “marble” shelving is actually Ikea plastic brackets spray painted gold and pine shelves covered in marble contact paper. The mid-century dresser, which is one of my favorite pieces in the room, was a Craigslist find that I refinished adding the white paint, staining the legs and underside darker and drilling holes for the new knobs. Another one of my favorite items would be the heart blanket my Mom crocheted. Most of everything else was purchased from Home Goods, Target, West Elm, Urban Outfitters and Pottery Barn Kids. I couldn’t love the outcome more and I think her room can easily grow with her as the years go by!

For our daughter’s 4th birthday, we decided to go with a donut theme. My daughter loves donuts and I love how cute they look! I bought most of the party supplies on Amazon. I made the banner and the cake pops myself. The cookies were baked & decorated by Best Cookies By Farr and the invitation was designed by JanePaperie on Etsy. For additional information, please see my blog: www.unsaltedmama.com
 
 

Within days of finding out I was pregnant, I came across the Jolie Mural Wallpaper on Pinterest and fell head over heels in love with the print. Once we found out that we were having a girl, that print became the inspiration behind the nursery’s design. It was the perfect combination of whimsical and feminine. The room that we had decided to turn into the nursery is fairly small, so I needed to keep the design light and airy in hopes of making the space feel larger than it actually is. I knew we would be spending a lot of time in that room once our little girl arrived, so I wanted to have a space that was super comfortable and inviting and have lots of different textures and materials throughout.
I started with the installation of the wall mural and paint color (Benjamin Moore’s Revere Pewter). I knew I wanted all the nursery furniture to be white, and had identified some key nursery items I wanted to purchase like the bassinet, dresser, and rocker. I held off on buying any decor early in the process because I wasn’t completely sure of the accent colors/materials I wanted to incorporate into the space. Shortly after completing the installation of the mural, I came across the pendant light and side table and really liked the look of the geometric shape of the light and the gold color of the side table. I began to build on those pieces from there.
I designed and built the geometric air-plant crib mobile. I wanted to incorporate some greenery into the nursery, and love how low maintenance air-plants are. I found the geometric shapes at Hobby Lobby and the idea for the mobile took shape. I used transparent fishing line and tied the geometric shapes to a metal ring (spray painted gold). I love how this mobile ties in the pendant light and adds dimension to the nursery.
My husband (who is an electrician) retrofitted the geometric pendant light from a plug-in fixture to a hardwired fixture. We also spray painted the pendant light, the curtain rod, and the shelf brackets gold. 
Social media can be a huge help when it comes to finding inspiration for a nursery design. When I am designing a room, I try to find one or two pieces that I love and let those items be my inspiration, and then build upon the design from there. If I try to do the design all at  once I tend to get overwhelmed and apprehensive. I also found it helpful to identify the big items I wanted in the nursery and held off on buying decor until those key items were in the room. 
A note of caution to any parent interested in installing a vinyl panel mural like the Jolie Wallpaper – make sure the roofline of the wall you’re working with is level. We found out the hard war that ours was not level, which led to the panels not lining up like they should. Thankfully, Anewall accounts for such a situation and each panel has extra length on both ends so you can adjust accordingly. After attempting to install it first ourselves, we ended up making the decision to hire a professional to complete what we had started – and boy am I glad we did!
The Jolie Wall Mural is probably my favorite ‘thing’ in the nursery! If my husband would let me, I would have that wallpaper in our master bedroom. Not only is the design beyond beautiful, but the mural is vinyl, which means it’s removable and requires no sticky wallpaper paste during installation.

What I love about this nursery more than anything, is the relaxing and inviting feel of the space. I really enjoy spending time in the room, which makes those 3 am feedings a little easier.

 
 

Whether you’re hosting Thanksgiving with lots of kids or just want to celebrate with a fun Kids Thanksgiving Party, this adorable party will have you gobbling for more!
Kids love crafts and this party kicked off with each guest wearing a whimsical apron from Pottery Barn Kids and making a turkey or feather hat for their big Thanksgiving feast! Materials for the craft were neatly displayed in small square crates with personalized Thanksgiving gift stickers from Tiny Prints, which guests later used for leftovers!
Instead of telling the kids about the Thanksgiving why not read a kids book about the first Thanksgiving and have them share what they’re thankful for on craft paper!
Often times the kids table at holiday gatherings is an afterthought. However, this kids table was anything but boring with the whimsical turkey table linen, dinnerware, chair backers, and stuffed turkey from Pottery Barn Kids, personalized Bon Appetite napkins, and centerpiece of seasonal squash, pumpkins, and cotton.
Kids enjoyed feasting on pumpkin chocolate mousse bites, pumpkin chocolate chip blondes, pumpkin pita chips and hummus, pumpkin space caramel corn with roasted pumpkin seeds and walnuts, and mini apple pies!
Every party should have a signature drink, even a kid’s party! Kids enjoyed apple cider from one of the local farms in Charlotte.
Gobble gobble gobble until you wobble!
Vendor Credits
Coordination, Planning, Design, flower arrangements and centerpiece – Sarah Sofia Productions
Photography – Ariel Perry Photography
Venue – Private residence
Table top décor, dinnerware, leaf table runner, turkey aprons, craft paper, and book –Pottery Barn Kids
Thanksgiving card, invitation, gift stickers, and personalized napkins – Shutterfly
Crafts and square crates – Target
Food – Trader Joe’s

What once was a generic shared room for our daughters, is now a fun space for our youngest to call her own. When her big sister moved to her own bedroom, we wanted to create a space for our youngest that reflected her fun, spunky, and eclectic personality. The walls got a fresh coat of white paint, and we hand painted the black and white feature wall. We found some amazing pink and turquoise decor and accessories to finish off the space. I had been on the hunt for the perfect curtains for this room, and just couldn’t find what I was looking for. Until a quick Ikea trip, were I spotted a duvet cover that I fell in love with! I refashioned it into curtains, and they are perfect for the space! Not too busy, but just busy enough to add that pop of colour and fun to the room.