Lovely Links

Hello friends! Who's ready for the weekend?! I know I am. I've got a couple of housekeeping items to share before I get to the pretty eye candy I've rounded up for the week.

First, thanks to all who entered the Holly & Martin giveaway this week. I randomly selected a winner and must say congrats to the lucky gal, Davis Ann! I can't wait to see how the table looks in her home soon. Second, I'm going to sign off for a couple of weeks since I'm headed to Paris next week for vacation! If you have any recommendations on what not to miss while we're there, shoot them my way...I'm still on the hunt for some - especially the not-so-well-known spots :).

Alright, now to the good stuff!

1 | The Raskog cart from IKEA is a sleek little rolling storage piece and lots of people have fallen for it (including myself), but what if you want a surface and not a bucket on top? Turn it upside down like Deme did.

{House for Five}

How to Add Greek Key Trim Using Washi Tape

Happy hump day, y'all! First of all, thanks for joining in with me on the excitement of finding our new home in Philly! I can't wait to get there and start making it our own next month.

Today I wanted to show you a quick and easy project I did over the weekend to give my DIY upholstered sawhorse desk a little more visual interest. I've been happily working at this desk for about six months now and since I'm the only one who uses it, I've been thinking about ways to jazz it up a bit. I've always loved washi tape and thought that using it to add a little Greek Key trim would be a simple and sophisticated touch.

Philadelphia Housing Update {We Found One!}

As I mentioned last week in my hodgepodge-of-all-the-things post, we took a whirlwind trip a couple of weekends ago to Philadelphia to look for a place to live when we move there in late July. In that update, I mentioned that we found a place we loved and put in an application, but had not heard from the agent yet on whether it was "ours." Well, we signed all the paperwork, forked over a nice, big chunk of cash, and can officially say that we got it! It's such a relief to know where we'll be living for the next two years after trolling Craigslist and every real estate site out there for months. Let's just say I'm very thorough when it comes to this kind of stuff. :)

I'm super pumped about what we found and can't wait to move in in about six weeks. Y'all want to hear about the house (yes, it's a house!)? If you're reading, I'm guessing that's a yes! I think it's about time to tell y'all about it and share some photos the agent took of the place.

First, some facts about our little house:

• It's a renovated row house that was originally built in 1850
• There two bedrooms and two baths - quite an upgrade from a one bedroom!
• The kitchen, living and dining areas are one big open space on the first level
• A sliding glass door leads to a nice-sized patio out back
• The two bedrooms are upstairs on the second floor
• And bonus - there's a fully finished basement with great storage

It checked all the boxes on what we were looking for in our new place. I honestly couldn't believe we found a place that met all of our must haves plus all of our nice-to-haves. I'm excited to put our stamp on it and make it ours - I hope y'all will follow along with us on this new journey!

Now, onto the good stuff - photos! Keep in mind that these were the ones the agent took, so the quality isn't quite what I'd like it to be, but it definitely gives you an idea of what it looks like.

When you walk in the front door, the kitchen is immediately to your left. Although I generally prefer white cabinets, I can't complain too much about this kitchen since it's recently been renovated and in good shape!

Lovely Links

Happy Friday, y'all! Before jumping into the loveliest links from around the web from this week, I wanted to remind you to enter the Holly & Martin cocktail table giveaway I've got going on this week. It closes on Tuesday at 11:59pm, so don't miss it!

Now onto my favorite finds from around the web this week:

1 | Abby, from Just a Girl and Her Blog, released an e-book this week on all the things she learned from her first year of blogging. If you're currently a blogger, thinking about being one, or have been at it for awhile and are just interested in another person's perspective, this might be the book for you. I'm thinking I need to pick up a copy of this!

{Giveaway} Lydock Cocktail Table From Holly & Martin!

Welcome, welcome! Today's the big giveaway day! Last week I showed y'all my new Lydock cocktail table and how I styled it in my parents' already lovely living room at the river house.

I love this table, y'all. It really is beautiful in person, a great size, easy to put together and is something I'm going to enjoy for a long, long time.

A Hodgepodge Post Of All the Things...

Happy Tuesday, y'all! I hope you're having good weeks so far. We got back late Sunday night from a whirlwind weekend up in Philly looking for our new future home, so I'm feeling a little behind (and a little tired!) this week. I thought I'd change things up and share a few little updates on life and projects today. These aren't really things that deserve a whole post by themselves - just little nuggets!

1 | I'll be hosting a giveaway tomorrow courtesy of Holly & Martin for the same coffee table that I wrote about last week. Come back and enter!

2 | A Philly housing update: we toured about a dozen rentals on Saturday and Sunday (phew!) and we found an amazing little gem of a row house. I can't share many details yet because it's not officially ours (we're waiting on the listing agent to send us the lease), but I'm pretty confident we'll be moving forward with it! I can tell you that it checked all the "must have" boxes on our list and we even got almost all of our "nice to haves" - it's a huge answer to prayer, so we're crossing our fingers that everything goes smoothly with the lease signing over the next couple of days. Can't wait to share some photos soon!

Lovely Links

Hello Friday! Good to see you again :). And hello friends! How have your weeks been?

We're off to a weekend of house hunting in Philadelphia (our new home come the end of July) and hopefully we'll come back with some good news next week of where we'll be living! We've got an epic lineup of homes to tour, so you'll have to excuse me if I take a couple of days next week to get my head on straight. Maybe I'll have some fun stories to tell about our adventures...

Anyway, onto this week's lovely links! This is the time of the week where I round up eight of my favorite posts from around the blogosphere to share with y'all. Here we go...

1 | Speaking of touring homes, there were a LOT of really awesome summer home tours happening this week. Two of my favorites came from Jones Design Company and The Hunted Interior.

{The Hunted Interior}

River Living Room Update With Holly & Martin {New Cocktail Table!}

We're been at the river house for nearly a month now, and are loving our temporary abode and slower-paced life. Spending quiet evenings on the screen porch, weekend afternoons on the boat, and living simply have become our new normal...at least for the next couple of months! Though this house isn't "ours," we have found ways to make it feel like home and we are very grateful to be able to call it home base this summer.

Book Review: The Nesting Place

I've been following Myquillyn's blog, Nesting Place, for years now. She's one of my absolute faves, so when I heard she was writing a book as an extension of her blog, I couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy. Honestly, I wasn't sure what the book would be about (and if it would be any different than her blog), but I figured that since I loved her style and her writing, I would love the book too. Turns out I was right, but there's much more to it than that.

The Nesting Place: It Doesn't Have to Be Perfect to Be Beautiful (affiliate link) went above and beyond my expectations. It is way more than just another decorating book, it's her story - a story that includes both the beautiful and the ugly. She tells of how her family went deeply into debt (and got out), moved a ton, had children, etc., and somehow, in the midst of that crazy, she began to figure out how to create a beautifully imperfect home she loved. She also writes about how she learned to be content with the home she has now and how to fight the temptation to long for things she can't or doesn't have.

But this isn't just a book about her and a few tips on making a home purdy (though she's got some good ones!).

She invites us to join her in this pursuit. In our own homes.

Her mantra of it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful is something she wants us to embrace along with her so that we can enjoy our homes, take delight in the process of making them into places we love, and be free of the pressure of perfection. She talks about how fear of failure is often what prevents us from diving in and just going for it in decorating our homes. Sure, mistakes will happen along the way, but mistakes have a way of helping us get to know ourselves and our styles. Myquillyn also urges us to resist worrying about what others may think and to simply try. Take chances. Learn. Once you start turning your home into a place you love, you'll find yourself wanting to invite others into it. Ultimately, our homes are supposed to be comfortable, inviting places where people gather - be it family, friends or new acquaintances. I don't know if that's something you've thought about, but it's something I really, really desire for my own home. I want it to be a place my family loves and a place where I can foster community whether it's in a tiny, rented apartment, or a big, sprawling house.

When I finished the book you know how I felt? Empowered. Ready to take those chances. A renewed passion to make the home I'm in now a place that I love. And you know what? We're not even living in a home that's ours right now and I still felt that way. Being content with where I am is a big step for me!

If what I've written about today is something you want for your own home, I urge you to go get this book. Like, yesterday. Do it. You won't regret it.