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The Manor: Almost There

If you’ve been reading for the past few months, you are well aware of the renovation of our new home, nicknamed “The Manor” (related to the street name). Sasha surprised me with the house as part of his proposal (read the story here), and we’ve been doing major renovations since early November (think walls being added, moved, etc.): Demolition post, Progress post, Further Progress post, A Lick of Paint post. While we still have work to do – i.e. moving the furniture from my apartment into the house, buying blinds, yard work, buying accessories for the two guest rooms – it’s almost there. I see the finish line! Below are a ton of pictures – I’m dying for the other Maxwell couch to arrive! I’m in love.

The Front

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The Study

Waiting on my futon + lots of books + desk accessories – also want to do a gallery wall above my desk! Need to find the perfect prints…

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The Living Room and Entryway

Waiting on the second Maxwell Couch + Paintings/Hanging Pictures

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The Bar

Waiting on new glasses!

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*The gold lions above are amazing – I bought them on Etsy here.

Guest Bathroom + Bedrooms

Waiting on… lots.

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Kitchen

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Master Bedroom + Bathroom + Closet

Waiting on a new rug, accent chair and more clothes

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A Work in Progress: The Manor

There has been a lot of action taking place at The Manor recently. The front wall was taken down; the exterior, painted; the bathrooms, retiled with new cabinets; the living room, new lights and fireplace. A new bar was built, new granite and tile put into the kitchen, a new closet built for the master, and new shelves in the laundry room. There’s a lot of work left though, like the wood floors being installed, the TV being mounted above the fireplace, kitchen cabinets painted (along with the entire interior), mirrors and blinds installed, and the ice machine and wine cooler plugged into the bar. Then there’s decorating! We’ve got the couches and an idea for the entryway, but there’s a lot of design decisions to be made. Progress pictures here and original demolition pictures here. Stay tuned for more to come!Manor_Old_New2

Progress on The Manor

I promised house updates, so here we go. Sasha and I stopped by The Manor after church, and I’m amazed at the progress so far. We have a team of 8 guys working everyday, and they are so diligent. We’ve got new doors, popcorn ceiling removal (in progress), a new bar, a new closet, cans for the recess lighting, holes for the invisible ceiling speakers, and all new siding on the house. Click here for ‘before’ pictures.

photo 4 (3)New cedar-wrap on the entry room beamsphoto 2 (3)

New hardy board all around the house – need to decide on a paint colorphoto 1 (2)

Standing in the new closet – recently placed sheet rock!

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All new doors in the rooms

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Popcorn removal in all of the rooms
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The newly re-walled studyphoto 5 (1)

Where the treehouse will go (one day!)photo 3 (2)

The cedar-plank (pre-stain) in our bedromphoto 4

Space shoes for popcorn removalphoto 3

The new bar spacephoto 2 (1)

Absolute chaos
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The Taylor High School blue kitchenphoto 2

So much popcorn – good thing that this guy is speedy!

My Favorite ‘Small Shops’ (Giveaway!)

ShopSmallGiveawayOne of the greatest blessings that has happened this year is the newly formed friendships I’ve made with some incredibly inspiring women. I started my Instagram account almost one year ago, and through it, I’ve ‘met’ (and really met) very talented photographers, bloggers, makeup artists, event planners, and last, but not least, small business owners, most of whom are ‘mompreneurs.’ Being a WAHM (or ‘Work at Home Mom’ – so many acronyms to keep up with!) is not an easy task, as balancing raising children with running a business is no easy task.

I am such a big advocate of the whole ‘shop small’ and ‘shop local’ movement, which I believe was greatly empowered by the creation of Etsy. Although I would be lying if I said I didn’t love buying clothes from big retailers like Gap, Nordstrom, Carters, etc., I do make a very conscious effort to purchase a lot of our outfits and gifts from ‘small shops’ (this always feels like a funny term, since some of the stores below are far from small!). 

Today, I’m sharing eight of my favorite shops, all of whom have kindly offered some of my favorite items in a giveaway (which, to be honest, I’d really like to win!). Enter using the widget below and make sure to read about each of the shops below! Also, make sure to check out my favorite Etsy stores post here for more small shop love! 

PS This post was supposed to be published yesterday as part of the Shop Small linkup (here), but I had a nasty stomach bug! Make sure to check out some of the other posts in the linkup.

Shop Small Giveaway

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Cuteheads: Esther, the owner of cuteheads, is one of my favorite mamas around – you’ll quickly know that from reading her #GIRLBOSS interview here. I’m sad that Isla no longer fits into her adorable cuteheads chambray pom-pom romper. It’s so cute! I am so excited to see the new collection, and I’m even more excited (read: jealous) that Esther is including a seersucker top in the giveaway. 

Week in Review

This past weekend, we hosted a wedding shower at our house for two of our close friends, Scott and Amanda. We tested the capacity of ‘The Manor,’ and had 67 people eating, drinking, laughing and taking polaroids (or Instax Minis, to be precise). Sasha and I had such a good time, and seriously cannot wait for their wedding in New Orleans in just a few months. I’ll share a handful of photos later this week – although it’s hard to play photographer when you’re busy being a host! I’m glad I got some photos taken before the party started. I did share one of my favorite pictures below – Amanda’s two adorable nieces came, and they love the photos. You’ll see the ‘World’s Best Selfies’ below!

The shower was by far the biggest highlight of the week, and getting ready for it took up most of the week. There were a few other fun moments, including:

  • Meeting two sweet friends for lunch at Adair Kitchen and getting one of my favorite meals in the city – their black bean quinoa burger (it’s heavenly)
  • Getting our new ficus lyrata set up – we ordered it from Houston Interior Plants and love it
  • Ordering a British passport for Isla
  • More mushed berry finger painting with Isla, as her aunts commissioned pieces of their own
  • Hanging up lights in our backyard (well, Sasha did) – we ordered these ones from Amazon and love them!
  • Taking Isla to the park with her cousins and swinging for the first time!
  • Receiving packages from one of my best friends, Sophee, and from Kendra Scott – details on what was inside will be shared tomorrow!
  • Catching up with one of my closest high school friends, Joy (who owns the amazing jewelry company, Priya) over lunch at Zoe’s Kitchen
  • Receiving my two new wedding bands, as the tiny pave ones I had kept losing diamonds!
  • Discovering that Isla is obsessed with Plum Organics squeezable purees – we are doing baby led weaning, but want to make sure Isla practices eating from a spoon too! She is obsessed with the Greek yogurt, spinach and raspberry flavor
  • A playdate with McKenzie and Sasha’s mom on Friday – we had Isla time, then enjoyed lunch together at the house
  • Getting pampered on Saturday morning with a mimosa and blowout (something I need every day!)
  • Buying at least 7 outfit options for the shower, then wearing something I already owned (how often does this have to happen for me to learn?)

A definite low point was spending hours on the phone with Apple to fix my iPhoto – where I store all photos. Yikes. I was extremely cranky last night while this was happening!

What were your highlights this week? IslaDSC_0033Isla2