Décor – Page 2 – Snapshots & My Thoughts by Ailee Petrovic

Home June 24, 2020

We’re Moving to Austin! (Plus, a House Tour)

Surprise! We are re-building our house and moving to Austin! It has been a crazy year-and-a-half since Sasha’s boss told him we needed to relocate to Austin just weeks before moving into the house we had been building for two years (in December 2018). There have been so many ups and downs and changes to our various plans, and despite some things still being uncertain, it finally feels like the right time to share this news! We won’t be moving until December at the earliest given that Google (Sasha’s employer) announced a work-from-home plan through October at the earliest, but we’ll be heading to Austin more often in the next few months to check on house progress, and I didn’t want to keep hiding these visits.

Décor October 28, 2019

Guest Bedroom Refresh with Serena & Lily

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Serena & Lily. The opinions and text are all mine. Thank you for supporting the brands my family loves!

When we were building our house, we had a great debate over how many bedrooms to have and whether or not Isla and Emilia would share a room. We ultimately decided to have them in separate rooms, and to dedicate our playroom as a guest room, since it has a closet, bathroom and a comfy pullout bed. However, the girls have recently started asking to sleep in the same room more and more often at night, and therefore, we’ve had them together in Isla’s room. This has been convenient because it allows for us to have a room for any guests that come to stay with us – most recently, my mom has offered to come and help for one night during the week while Sasha is traveling for work. It’s so nice to have her to help with dinner in the evenings and shuffling girls to their schools in the morning. Also, my best friend lives in Chicago and stays with us for a few nights when she comes back home to Houston.

Given that we’re having more and more guests come to stay, we decided to upgrade Emilia’s playful Pillowfort bedding to a beautiful French blue set from Serena & Lily, which is where we bought our master bedding from last year. I adore the quality of the sheets and duvet – they are truly so soft and luxurious. Serena & Lily is known for their best-in-class bedding, and the products live up to the reputation. The Cambria Quilt that we have on the bed is so well made, and I love the beautiful, vibrant blue color. We kept some of the fun elements of Emi’s room, like her pink ceiling, blue pom pom drapes and colorful lamp – she isn’t often in this room any more at night, but still claims it as her own and loves the new look of the space.

Décor February 4, 2019

Georgie’s Blush Pink & Robin’s Egg Blue Nursery Reveal

Special thanks to Megan of Megan Hermis Interiors for all of her help with this room! I truly could not have done it without her. If you’re looking for a designer in the Houston area, I highly recommend you contact Megan!

I am so excited to share photos of Georgie’s nursery on the week of her impending arrival! I was very anxious to get started on this room before we moved in, but it was hard to visualize the space and colors from the rug (which I’d fortunately ordered months earlier because it was sold out by the time we moved!) until it was setup in the room. So once we got into the house, Megan Hermis came over, and we got started very quickly! As soon as she showed me the Block & Brayer fabric to reupholster the glider that both girls had used, I knew it was a must. I adore that fabric and how it looks on our West Elm Graham Glider. We looked at a ton of gorgeous fabrics that she had picked out, then narrowed down our favorites for the crib sheet, bumper, day bed, etc. I had never ordered custom textiles or furniture for the other girls, and gosh, 2-day shipping spoils you – but it was definitely worth the wait for the curtains, sheets, glider, bed, and pillows. With the good natural light and high, wood paneled cathedral ceiling, this room is definitely a favorite of mine in the house. I cannot wait to spend hours and hours with Georgie in it very soon.

I also want to thank two ladies who helped make this room extra special – Leslie of Blue Bamboo Embroidery and Sarah of By George Baby Boutique. I met up with Leslie for the first time at a local Starbucks, and we had the best chat – then she quickly sent me mockups of the world’s sweetest monograms for a pillow on the glider. I chose the ‘G’ and couldn’t be happier with how it looks! And Sarah, where do I start? I’ve had By George Baby Boutique goods since Isla was a baby! Sarah did a custom crib sheet, Boppy cover and changing pad cover all to perfectly match the colors in the room. I adore her!

Without further ado, here are sources for the room with tons of photos below (the girls weren’t home when I took them, but Belle managed to sneak into a few!).

Room Sources

Our House January 4, 2019

My New Elfa Office Closet

Ahh, The Container Store Elfa systems – truly what my dreams are made of! Each of the girls (including Georgie!) have Elfa systems from The Container Store in their closets. In fact, one of my most viewed blog posts is this one which shows the different Elfa components in Emi’s closet at our old house. I absolutely love how easy these solutions are to install and how helpful they are in keeping me organized and maximizing space.

My ‘office closet’ at the old house was the playroom closet, and after it got a serious organizational makeover by Meggie of Organized Life Design, I was finally able to find things I needed for shoots, lifestyle photos, crafting, events, etc. It also made transitioning all of the goods (per se) over to my new office closet so much easier. I am fortunate to have my dream office now, and I have a nice-sized walk-in-closet for storage. It is an odd shape though, as part of it goes underneath our stairs.

Décor January 3, 2019

Isla’s New Big Girl Bed & Casper Mattress

As part of the move to our new house, Isla’s got a whole new bedroom set. I wanted Isla to have a queen bed, as we will likely use her room for guests who come to stay with us. She used to have a full bed, which Emi has now inherited (typical second child!). As soon as I saw this flamingo wallpaper, I knew it would be the center of the design for the room.

I wanted to design a space that was more grown up than a toddler room, but still young and whimsical. I am so happy with how it’s turning out! I still need to add personal touches like photos, art/prints, etc. (and a ficus, because every room needs one! Sorry, Sasha!), but it’s getting there.

Since we were upgrading her bed, we needed to buy a new mattress. I did a ton of research, and I was dying to try The Essential Mattress from Casper after reading and hearing great reviews. Sasha was more dubious about a mattress that arrived in a box, but once it was unrolled and on the bed, he was sold. It is truly so comfortable, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve fallen asleep on it while putting Isla to bed at night so far. Whenever friends come over to look at the house, I always tell them to sit on her bed to feel how comfy it is. I want one for every bed in the house. At $600 for the queen sized mattress, it’s hard to beat on price too. It’s the perfect transition mattress from toddler to big-girl, and Isla couldn’t be happier (can’t stop her from bouncing all over it!).

Thank you to Casper for partnering on this post, and thank you for supporting the brands we love! Also, special thanks to Megan Hermis for her help designing the room and the fun pillows/chair!

Room Sources: