instagram statement photo wall

 Ever since we had to take down our gallery wall because the command strips began to fail, Tim and I have been really missing it. So, the other day, we did something about it.

BAM. Killer, right??! We love it so much. There are almost 500 photos on this wall, and only a few of them are duplicates. 

Yeah. We take a lot of pictures.

 Gaah, we love it.

Want to see how we did it? 

Minty fresh

Our dining room has seen the most changes since I moved into our little townhouse about two and a half years ago. That may not be saying a whole lot because we rent (and don't really have a ton of disposable money to buy more furniture to give rooms makeovers that way) so there haven't been a whole lot of transformations that we could do, period, but still. 

We made over a table and chairs (all of which were roadside rescues).

made-over table // upholstered chairs

2) We have switched out light fixtures:

old chandy // our painted one

3) We painted an accent wall (our bedroom is the only other room that we have painted) 4) and have moved furniture around to make better use of the space. Both changes are shown  below.

HOWEVER. Things still weren't quite right, and we realized recently that it was the dining room table we had. While it brightened up the space and we really liked it, it felt GIGANTIC in the dining space (especially when the chairs were pulled out); It was definitely intended for use in a larger room than we had. Our dining area isn't even really a room, just a shoot-off from our kitchen area, and is narrow. That size table just wasn't practical there, especially if you added in space for a walkway, chairs, and the storage console. Things just felt a little too snug; even a few extra inches would have done the trick.

It wasn't high on our priority list, but we kept an open eye for anything that we thought might fit better. A square table, a round one maybe? Who knows. Our minds were open. 

But then, on a trip to visit my parents' house (waaaaaaaay back in the summer), the heavens opened and shone down upon us. A neighbor was clearing out his garage and was getting rid of a perfect little rectangular table.

Cute, right? It was of tempered glass and solid-wood construction, so it was nice and sturdy, and the size was a lot better in the space (it's hard to tell in that above picture, but it's true!). It was a couple inches smaller on either side than the white monster we'd been using, and yet still could seat four comfortably. More than four, actually, when you pulled out the ends to reveal the hidden roll-top leaves...!  

 

Bizarre as heck! I'd never seen anything like it. We couldn't leave without it (Thanks, Terry and Dawn!).We had big plans for this little guy. We were going to add some color into the equation! Here's a sneek peek:

First up: get rid of the dinged and scratched-up spray paint job.

Work-at-home-husband

We've been keeping this on the down-low for awhile now, but Tim was recently offered a fantastic job at a new company, and this Friday was his last day at his old job.

Going away party at Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company on Friday night. His coworkers will miss him!

His new job is such an awesome opportunity. The company is located in Atlanta, GA, which means that we'll be moving!

Just kidding! Sales is a unique field in that it isn't necessary to be in the office, so he will be working remotely from home. Such a blessing!!!!! He will be traveling less than he was at his other job (PRAISE THE LORD), and since he's selling to the Western coast rather than the East, the trips he does take will be shorter. All this plus great benefits, a small ground-floor team with a collaborative mentality, and a bigger salary.

We are so grateful for this opportunity, since Tim has only been in sales for a few years and is still considered "green", so it is a huge blessing for this company to see his potential and invest in him. Whoo hoo!

We're doing a staycation in town for the next few days, since there was a week between the start of the new job and the end of the old one, and we're planning on drinking.that.in. We're on vacation mode! We're setting up the new office (which includes a few little decorating projects and one big woodworking one!), going to the beach, going on hikes, planning some really fun and interactive date nights... Going to be a fun and exciting week!

Here's a sneek peek about what we're doing for the office:

via Pinterest (Etsy store no longer accessible) // Home Decor Express

We're building Tim a standing desk using those two as inspiration. If all goes as planned, he'll have a split-level standing-height desk with a bookshelf on one side! We were going to go with a combination of a few Ana White plans, but are modifying it so much that it's not even recognizable. Wish us luck!

The weekend--a quick visit to Angel Island

This past weekend, Tim and I headed up to the Bay Area for a Westmont Alumni event up at Ebay and Paypal. The event itself wasn't really blog-worthy (except their offices are AWESOME and Paypal would have some really cool functionality for offline use IF stores actually adopted it...!). Long story short--it was a cool but not all that memorable experience.

The event was on friday night, so once it was over, we had the rest of the weekend free! We were lucky to be up there on a weekend that both my parents AND my brother and his wife were around, so we all loaded up the boat and took it out to Angel Island (like we did for the Fourth of July last year).

The weather was perfect compared to what we dealt with back in the summer--not a cloud in the sky! Typical for the Bay, I tell ya; there's never been a colder winter than summer in San Francisco.

Devon & Tim before we left shore

Dev, Adri, me, and Tim as we crossed beneath the new Bay Bridge. Dev blinked but it's the only one that came out.

Sailboats between Angel Island and Sausalito. Such a pretty day!

A short boat ride later, we arrived at Angel island. Dogs aren't allowed on the island, so we'd left Daisy at home, but the six of us still had fun without her ;) We picnicked on the boat for awhile, enjoying the sun, and took a really short hike partially around the island. So beautiful!

The Golden Gate Bridge from Angel Island

Devon and I like to make it a point to take at least one stupid picture per visit. This was ours.

It was so fun to catch up with the fam all together, like picking up right where we left off.

Adri & Dev on the Island // This is a rare photo of my dad&mom; they;re not even making silly faces!

After a leisurely day out on the water and on the island, we headed back home. I can't think of a more relaxing Saturday! 

formal

"Prom was what seemed like a lifetime ago,
I went to a lot of formal events in high school, and that continued through college and beyond. Winter ball, junior ball, senior ball, college formals (two a year), not to mention the random dinners throughout the year that we deemed as "formal" and would bust out the fancy dresses.

2003 dinner / 2005 winter ball / 2006 birthday dinner / 2006 senior ball / 2006 graduation dinner

For each event, the selection process was simple. I was never really one of those girls who lived and breathed prom; I didn't really care what I wore. The only exception to this was my senior prom; I didn't have a date until the last minute (like, the day before) and splurged on a dress to make myself feel better about it ;). Every other dress was thrifted or picked up from the sale rack. And I loved every single one of them.

2006 winter formal / 2007 dorm gala / 2008 birthday dinner / 2008 random dinner / 2008 moving-back-to-college dinner

For me, it wasn't about the dress, it was about how I felt in it. It was a state of mind, and the dress usually acted as an accessory for how I wanted to feel. Plus, with the addition of the right accessories, almost any dress would work for almost any event, so sticking to the emotion for me was the right way to go. Did I want to feel like Cinderella? Grab the ball gown!Was I feeling sassy? Snag the short little beaded number! Elegant and sophisticated? Slip into the pencil dress! You get the idea.
I didn't let the event dictate what I wanted to wear or how much I should spend, either, which was the ticket.  Formal for me didn't have to mean pricey; with the exception of the aforementioned Senior Ball dress (and the dress I had custom-made in Thailand), none of my formal dresses cost me more than $20. Everything else was thrifted, from the sale rack, or picked up at a store like Forever 21.

2008 Winter formal / 2009 Thailand graduation / 2009 Winter formal / 2012 Vegas show / 2013 Mercy Housing gala

I just loved being able to respond to a compliment with "Thanks! I got it for six bucks!" or something like that. Believe it or not, when I picked my wedding dress, I followed really similar rules:

our wedding, 2011

Gaah I still love that dress. I had a few ideas about what I wanted, but in the end, my final selection was about the emotion and how I felt in the dress. Could I imagine walking down the aisle to my new husband wearing it? I wasn't thinking "Is this the dress in which I want to get married?" or "will this work in the venue we picked?", my thoughts were all about how I felt and how I thought Tim would react. I wanted to WOW him, and I certainly was able to accomplish that ;)

And I didn't break the bank doing it, either. I got the WOW for 300 bones. Score!

The 2013 prom season is upon us, which means a lot of stores are pulling out their formal wear, but you don't have to be in high school to reap the benefits! Us ladies are lucky in the sense that we can get away with almost anything nowadays; again, with the right accessories you can dress anything either up or down. Take a look at http://www.1dress.co.uk/; they've got some gorgeous dresses to pick from! Just because they say "prom dress" on the title doesn't mean that's all they're good for, and every dress is custom made-to-order to your measurements, which is pretty cool.

I'm long past the "prom dress" phase and I've already worn my wedding dress, so the majority of my formal-gown-needing days are supposed to be over. But that doesn't mean I have to be done! Think about it, what about a pretty dress for a fancy dinner or black-tie wedding? Or just a versatile little black dress? If I had another formal event that called for an incredibly superfluous and over-the-top gown again, wouldn't it be fabulous to show up in something dramatic and swanky like this?

left// right

Gaah I love sparkly illusion necklines; deck me out in sparkles and I'm a happy camper! Or what about something like these celebrity red carpet-inspired dresses?

Olivia Wilde-inspired // Selena Gomez-inspired

 Pretty, right? I guess I'm into neutrals right now, haha. What goes into formal-wear choices for you?

This was a sponsored post, but as always all opinions are my own!

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Narrower dresser part 2: the drawers

Those of you following along with this blog back in July of TWENTY-TWELVE, you can finally release your breath. The Franken-dresser project has been completed! For those of you who haven't been around that long (or for those of you who have forgotten all the little details in the past year and a half), here's a quick recap of what happened:

Photos from this post

We had an awkward corner in our guest room that needed something, and an extra dresser that would have been perfect for the space if it were just ten inches narrower. So, we cut it in half! Using a circular saw, wood glue, putty, and a LOT of winging it, we were able to disassemble this dresser and reassemble it so it would fit in the space. We held off on doing the drawers at that time and instead hung a burlap curtain inside the dresser so we could store stuff in it without making it look cluttered.

Thing is, we never got around to narrowing the drawers. It's been like this for a year and a half.

Eventually, we switched up the function of the guest room from TV room to actual guest room, and so the bird moved into our bedroom, and at that point, we'd had it! The extra drawers had been sitting in our bedroom (so much for an oasis space, right??!) and it was TIME! The clutter was stressing us out, and since it had been long enough between the start of the project that I'd forgotten what a pain it was to use wood glue on furniture, I figured it was time to finish this puppy. Time to skinnify up some drawers!
Click to see the tutorial.