house decor – Page 3 – emerald city diaries

west elm kitchen light pendants.

after i did the big kitchen update last spring, i wanted to live in the space & use it for a while before we did any other big updates. i have always disliked the lighting in the kitchen – track lights – and i had big plans for an update to them. luckily for us we were able to upgrade without bringing in an electrician – hooray!

i have been searching for light fixtures for months, & fell in love with these globe pendants some time ago. they are from, you guessed it, west elm! {this is my go-to place for anything home décor! the best i tell you!} while the junction boxes – is that what they are called – aren’t perfectly located {i would have preferred them closer together & centered over our kitchen island} these lights are far better than the old track lighting!

you can shop for your own here: west elm globe pendant.

{before}

{after}

we still need to patch up the holes from the track lights & find round, frosted bulbs {right now we have frosted LEDs that have a weird plastic top}, but overall we are very excited about these lights – such an improvement!

{in the bottom two pictures it looks like there are two bulbs in each pendant, but it is just a reflection off of the glass}

have you been changing out any light fixtures lately?

my weekend in pictures.

{friday morning breakfast at starbucks: oatmeal & a latte. the best! #breakfastisbetterwhenyoudon’thavetomakeit}

{my parents were & we took them to boom noodle, one of our favorites!}

{of course we had to hit up nordstrom for the half-yearly men’s sale!}

{my mom adores the veggie salad at nordstrom café so i took one for the team & joined in for a lunch date.}

{loving my new saltwater sandals. i had at least one pair as a kid & loved them! so nostalgic.}

{last weekend aaron & my dad took down all of our storm windows. this weekend aaron worked on prepping the window frames for some new paint.}

{i had fun making a birthday card with fun paper & washi tape.}

{the view of the city skyline from i-5. #iheartseattle}

{we got to catch up with old friends from law school & meet new friends at my friend sarah’s birthday party this weekend. happy birthday sarah!}

{i finally got back to my beloved sunday morning yoga class after taking off the last month to do a body pump challenge (which i finished, yay!). #namaste}

{got some new fabric delivered for a project i am hoping to get started on this summer. so excited!}

{not that i needed an excuse to visit west elm, but there was a sale & we may have bought something. okay, a few things. can’t wait to share!}

{we finally got to the grocery store on a sunday which makes monday evening so much better. loving the shopping bag we got from our friend jerry – all the way from london, so fancy!}

{we attended a small law school reunion dinner party at oddfellows to see & catch up with our friend sarah – different sarah – who was in town for a wedding. it was so great to see everyone though!}

{we can’t go to capitol hill without visiting molly moon’s especially since it was right around the corner. one of the summer season flavors is a vegan coconut chunk – amazing & the best part is no tummy-ache!}

we had a fun & productive weekend with half of it being gorgeous & the other half of it being grey. & by productive i mean aaron got a lot done. i, on the other hand, still have a to-do list a mile long. #itnevergetsshorter

how was your weekend?

diy his & her maps feature

be sure to check out a round-up of map DIYs over on the Catching Fireflies blog including my DIY his & hers maps!

my weekend in pictures.

{feeling some love on friday from a west elm instagram shout-out.}

{we had a donut date at top pot on national donut day. did you partake?}

{we walked by cowen park on our way home from the u-district farmer’s market & sadie really wanted to see what was going on.}

{another round of peonies from a local garden – i just can’t get enough.}

{we also splurged on some local strawberries – so delish!}

{sadie waiting patiently for aaron to tell her she can get her treats.}

{we had dinner on saturday at urbane in downtown with a good friend.}

{the new star trek, but not in 3D. i liked it.}

{on sunday i introduced amanda to potbelly sandwich shop in bellevue. then we went antiquing. thanks for a fun afternoon amanda!}

{i finally got out the iron. i have decided i need to iron about twice a year, unless i really need something specific. any tips on how to get ironing done more frequently?}

{late sunday run to target – always a good time!}

we had a nice sunny weekend but i can’t believe it is already over! does time seem to be flying to anyone else? i just can’t keep up. we have been enjoying the summer-ish weather in seattle as well as the local, summer produce that is finally springing up in the local markets. we decided to buy into a CSA this summer {community supported agriculture} which means every week we get a bag full of fresh, local, organic produce for a mere $15 a week! we are excited to be supporting local farmers, eating seasonally, & pushing ourselves to cook & eat different veggies we may not normally pick. wish us luck! how was your weekend?

before & after feature {west elm blog}

as many of you know from our choice of house decor, west elm is my go-to place for anything we need around the house.

we are very honored & thrilled to be featured today on west elm’s home blog today, front & main! be sure to check it out here!

thanks west elm!
M

diy his & hers maps.

one of the gifts i made for aaron’s birthday was a framed his & hers map set. i had vintage maps of indiana & idaho that i picked up when i was antique shopping with amanda a few months ago. i had seen a lot of things pinterest, like here, here, & here, but i came up with a little something different.

supplies:

cardstock to make heart & banners
scissors
colored cardstock for background
maps – vintage optional
ruler
gluestick
letter stamps or pen
pencil

first i cut out two 5 x 7 inch pieces to fit into my frames. then i cut out a heart that was just a 1/2 inch or so smaller on each side than the 5 inch width. {sidenote: i find that when cutting out hearts, it is easier to fold the paper in half & draw & cut one side of the heart out. this way you have a perfectly symmetrical heart. think elementary school.} i opened up my maps & found the towns that aaron & i are from on each – alexandria for aaron & meridian/eagle for me. then i centered the heart on the town, traced around it, & cut out the heart.

to make the little banners, i cut out two strips of white cardstock that were 3 inches by 3/4 inches. i stamped “him” & “her” on each strip {being the stamping novice that i am, i got some ink on the edge of the stamp that showed up. i thought it looked sort of vintage-y so i left it}. then i cut out little triangles on each end of the strip. i glued one heart on one background & the other heart on the other background, & then glued on the banners to each piece.

have you made anything with {vintage} maps?

my {long} weekend in pictures.

{happy birthday aaron!}

{we had a birthday date night at pasta freska on friday. if you live in seattle & haven’t been here you should go. chef michael is awesome!}

{pleats & toe-cap for the birthday dinner.}

{we met ben & sarah at seattle center to see ironman 3. even though we didn’t go to the space needle, we saw it a few times & i feel compelled to take a picture of it every time i see it. anyone else do that?}

{we met our friend jerry at serious pie in south lake union for brunch on sunday.}

{aww, love. AL + MS = forever.}

{we followed up brunch with a screening of the new fast & furious at cinerama. who knew this was the sixth movie? #theyareallthesamemovieright}

{donned my fun bagley mischka shoes with my new kate young for target dress for our friends’ wedding.}

{it is hard to complain about the rain when it gives you a beautiful rainbow over lake union. gorgeous!}

{my wedding date.}

{i am half-way thru my rack it up challenge – 15 body pump workouts in 30 days. #bikiniseasonhereicome}

{needed a peony refresh this week. it is an expensive habit, but i am compelled to keep fresh peonies in the house for the entire (short) season!}

we had a fun long weekend filled with friends, family, & a bit of rest. no real projects on the house right now so we were able to spend our free time not enjoying the weather but enjoying the company of friends. we attended our neighbors’ wedding reception on sunday which kicks of the wedding season for us {even though we have already missed two family weddings so far due to distance. boo.}. i can’t believe it is the end of may already {where did the time go?} but i am looking forward to what the summer has in store! how was your weekend?

aaron’s thirtieth birthday party.

as i mentioned here we celebrated aaron’s big 3-0 this weekend with family & friends. his birthday isn’t really until this friday, but since that kicks off memorial day weekend, we figured it would be a better turn-out if we threw the party the weekend before.

i have spent the last few months planning & making party decorations, so it was really awesome to see it all come to life on saturday. originally i was going to do a james bond theme as it seemed like a good use of aaron’s white dinner jacket from andy & hailey’s wedding. but then i decided that as much as it would be fun to have the guys dress up in suits & the gals dress up in formals, it would be better as a theme for a big sit-down dinner (which we don’t have the space for). so i decided a beer theme would be fun for aaron (since i knew there would be beer at his party anyways) & went with that. i was able to find paper goods in the theme of a beer tasting & recruited a good friend who brews home brew regularly as our beer master.

i borrowed a few ideas from pinterest {if you are curious, my pinterest board for this party is here} & will share those & my sources below. for now, enjoy the pictures! {there were a few more pictures taken at the party, but for the sake of our guest’s privacy, i decided not to put all of them up here.}

there were {and still are} thirty gold balloons hanging in our front window & each one {well, almost} has a happy birthday wish or favorite memory of aaron from our close family & friends. it means a lot to aaron & me to have received these beautiful notes & thank you to those of you who i harassed to get them to me in time for the party!

source & inspiration list:

paper goods – JacksMaster etsy shop
“30” in pictures – via pinterest
tissue paper tassels – via Linen, Love, & Lace blog
doughnuts – Top Pot Doughnuts
“happp birthday” candles & sparkler candles – Target
dress – Thakoon via Rent the Runway

thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate with us – we had such an amazing time! &, last but not least, happy {early} birthday to my wonderful husband!

a fresh coat of paint: hallway edition.

one of the last remaining rooms in our house which hasn’t been painted was our hallway {the very last is the office, unless you count the interiors of closets, but i digress}. it is a pretty small space and has four doorways – to the living room, to the bedroom, to the bathroom, and to the office. the problem with the hallway was that it was yellow. the walls were yellow. the ceilings were yellow. it made you feel like you were inside of a butter dish. i would have painted it sooner, but i hate painting ceilings. a few weeks ago, i finally pulled the trigger and painted it all, ceilings and walls.

{the befores}

i decided that i should stick with a neutral color since this hallway {as mentioned above} connects nearly every room in our house. we have a pretty neutral pallet going in the house, but it was important that the hallway color look good with the living room color, the bathroom color, & the bedroom color. we happened to have some grey left over from our old living room at our townhouse, so i went with that. {it is martha stewart driftwood gray}

{the afters}

{the color is closest to what is shown on the very top picture // the “color scheme” in the house is well represented in the bottom picture}

how do you pick your paint colors? do you have a color scheme, or do you just pick the color for each room or space separately?

my weekend in pictures.

{on thursday evening i attended the anthro petite launch at the downtown store & got to meet joy from oh joy! she is as lovely in person as she is on her blog. #bloggercrush}

{i needed a few jelly bellys to get me thru my friday at work.}

{it is finally peony season – at least at whole foods. i am waiting it out until tj’s gets them so i don’t have to spend $12 a dozen. #mightbeworthit #peonyseasonbegins}

{saturday was a beautiful sunny day which called for a floral dress & my fun new oxfords..}

{i finally got a new wreath for the front door.}

{i ordered some moo cards & am so excited!}

{sadie was great at supervising yard work on sunday afternoon.}

{happy mother’s day to my mom! #circa1992}

{we finally hit 1000 miles on our new car. pretty exciting!}

we had a fun weekend with some sun & some storms. it was nice to get a few projects out of the way & gear up for aaron’s big birthday bash next weekend {spolier alert: he will be thirty!} we got a chance to catch up with both of our moms today, but since neither of them are in town, we took my grandmother out for a mother’s day dinner. how was your weekend?