Living Room Wish List

Hi everyone! As most of my friends know, Dillon and I are currently living with my parents while we wait for a package with the Marine Corps to be approved and to receive new orders. Meanwhile, we are working/ going to school/ and taking care of the kids while planning and dreaming about our next chapter of our lives. A lot of the budgeting/ planning/ saving all falls on my shoulders so I have a lot of lists and plans going on in my head. I figured I have so many things in my shopping carts and bookmarks online, why not share a few of them here for fun? :)

So first I am going to do my living room! It is the room you walk into first typically, so its the first stop in my virtual shopping cart! 

I feel I should also mention that the majority of the stuff I want is from Target and IKEA. They're my favorites and typically close to most places, or deliver the things I want! I have also been looking on Wayfair and Overstock!

First, I imagine an entry way bench near the door, with baskets for the kids shoes, our running shoes, and a compartment for dillon's combat boots. I also imagine a stylish mirror, I'm definitely leaning towards a sleek, round mirror. I'll probably keep using hanging baskets like these for mail, keys, etc.  last but not lead, obviously some hooks for coats!

entry way sources:

Hillsboro Entryway Bench with Cushion - TARGET

ROUND MIRROR - TARGET
hooks - TARGET
JUTE RUG - TARGET
SIGN- JAXN BLVD
baskets - target

My little laundry room ❤️

I have been slowly working on organizing this room and making it functional. It is so small and can seem cramped if we don't put things in here correctly. I think my favorite thing that I've done to make it seem larger is the $5 sheer curtains I hung from target. The natural light makes this room seem much larger and feel so fresh.

I've tried to utilize me decor and picked up things that were multifunctional. The laundry sign and black shelf with hooks hold things in here perfectly without making it feel cramped. 

I had this white cubby from my kids' room that was kind of falling apart. I ended up fixing it and using it here to hold the trash bin, a plant, and eventually some baskets too. 

I LOVE this shelf so much because I can air dry and hang my delicates on here! #nomoreuglyhangers 

I'm working on my green thumb and am repurposing those vases, jars, and measuring cups as flower pots. I just planted some seeds in them.

I've actually got that plant's ugly pot hidden by an old blue colander! I stuffed my grandma's old boots full of plastic bags from target (lol) and am going to find some faux flowers to set up top. I love seeing bits of her around my home.

Well, that is our little laundry room! 

Things from Marshalls:

Rug

Set of three strawberry pots

Broom

Things from target:

Tall white shelf

White cubby shelf

Trash bin

Things from Kmart:

Marching wicker laundry basket and tub basket (on washer)

Things from Homegoods:

Shelf with hooks

Wood decor

Colander

Things from World Market:

Laundry sign w/ hooks

Bag holder

Eye mask

Measuring cup

Things from Dollar Tree/ 99 cent store:

All garden tools

Strawberry plants 

Towel holder

The boots and wicker basket seen above white shelf were both family heirlooms.

💗

Our super small toddler room.

Hi everyone! So I'm really happy to say that I'm in the middle of unpacking and moving into our new home!! We ended up finding a 3 bedroom craftsman style home in the historic homes part of our town. Our home was actually built in 1926!! It's almost 100 years old and sooooo beautiful. I really love it. 

It has a ton of built ins, charm, and a bigggg backyard. I just really love it. I am not going to share photos of every room just yet because I am still trying to find a place for everything and soft out the things I'm going to donate to my local thrift stores.

Buuuuuut- I'm going to share photos of the kids' room today with y'all. Funny story: before I got to see the home, my realtor said that it was more like a 2 bedroom with a small room that maybe a desk could fit into. This had me not wanting to even see the house because UHH HELLO WHERE WILL MY OFFICE GO? Soooooo long story short when we saw the home I originally thought, "well, she was wrong it could work for an office." But honestly- the more I looked and thought about it I really could see that as the kids' room. It is 7ft by 9ft and more than enough space. 

My sisters pretty much thought I was crazy, but I closed off the door that had access to the kitchen and made it work. I've been very selective over what goes in there and how I store toys. I didn't want to have to get rid of all of their toys, (that would just be so mean), haha! 

What I love most about their room is that it is attached to our bedroom. I feel that it is much safer and leaves me feeling better. Another nice thing is the built in closet. It has added storage up top and a drawer on bottom. I am using the top to store things I don't need right now and bottom drawer for clothes that don't fit (yet) and shoes.

I donated a bunch of their clothes and I feel so much better now that they have less in there!! It was a disaster and was so overwhelming!

I wish that I had more wall space for art, so I'm having a hard time finishing the gallery wall and actually keep changing it completely. 

I am obsessed with the pillowfort collection that Target is carrying right now. I let Opal go crazy and pick out her bedding, rug, and wall art. They're actually gonna be on sale 20% off starting tomorrow (march 6th). I wanna go get my receipt adjusted so that I can buy more!!! Hahaha!!! 😂

So now y'all are up to date on my first completed room in the new home. I'm almost done with the laundry room so I'll share that one next ❤️

Our ever changing nursery.

 Opal and Oliver's nursery has been mostly used as a play room and storage for baby things thus far. Since moving here, Opal has been afraid to sleep in her own room, so we've just kept a crib in our room for her. But recently she has been more comfortable with her toddler bed, so we actually moved the crib to the nursery and the big girl bed to our room. So the bedrooms now look different, but I wanted to share some photos of her room BEFORE we moved everything around, along with links to wear I found some of the ideas for projects I've done.

I got Opal's bed from IKEA. It is called the MINNEN.

I really love this bed because it will grow with her. It starts out as

a toddler bed but can actually extend 2 more times and eventually be a twin size bed.

Peeking out from underneath her bed you can see the extendable mattress pieces.

This is super helpful for me, and will actually be a comfy bed for my sister to sleep on 

this summer while she visits. Way better than an air mattress. :-)

I made the "Scout Oli" banner before moving here. 

You can see the tutorial here.

My mom and I made the faux bear rug! It is my favorite of our DIY projects.

I first saw it on pinterest, and found a tutorial on a fellow Marine Wife's blog.

We ended up not following her's exactly and pretty much hand drew our own pattern.

We also gave our bear extra padding and what not. 

But for those that need a tutorial with step by step instructions THIS ONE is great! :-)

Here's a little close up image of our bear.

I got this bookcase and toy organizer from Target last summer. I think they've discontinued it, because I can't seem to find it online. I totally wish I could though, because I want another one.

I love this fabric bin so much. I use it as a toy box for Opal. I found it at home goods and plan to get another one for Oliver once we get moved into our next home. 

This is the other wall in her room. I got this chalkboard from IKEA. 

I will definitely have to take some photos of this room now that I have yet again changed it. 

It is now full with the crib, Oliver's little clothes, and I've moved around all of Opal's toys and things.

It wont be like that for long either though- because soon everything will be boxed up and on its way to our new home. Wherever in the world that may be. Hopefully I can let you guys know by the end of this month! :-)

XOXO- Chelsea.

half way there.

My pregnancy is going by amazingly easy. With Opal, I had a miserable time from day one. It was really honestly the hardest time.  I am loving this pregnancy, mostly because it is SO easy that I forget that I am even pregnant.

I recently started to feel him pushing up against me. I can feel his feet against my tummy and then release them away. My belly is nice a round up in the front. I don't look pregnant anywhere else, and in my last pregnancy you could tell from every angle that I was expecting.

I can't believe that we are already half way to this baby being in our arms. I don't know exactly how I am going to handle an 18 month old, newborn, packing my house, and moving two weeks postpartum to somewhere we still don't know of. I am the epitome of stressed and excited all rolled into one big pregnant messy haired lady.

I have a lot of excitement for the next 2 weeks though, because Opal and I will be driving to Washington, DC with Dillon to finish out the rest of his contract with the Marine Corps. We are still unsure of the next step for his career... we find out by the middle of March...
and we're nervous. So to get my mind off of that I have been getting myself super excited for the decorating of my new apartment!

This will be my fourth move.. and our third home. I am very excited. Our first apartment (400M) was on Capitol Hill and was basically a studio. I can't believe we lasted a whole year there. Our second home (on base) was a beautiful town home, but it was just too darn big. We loved it but it was hard to keep up with. I'm not sure how it will be going from three stories (and three bedrooms) to a smaller 2 bedroom apartment. I certainly hope it will be easy to maintain and to not get too cluttered.

Dillon went out and faithfully ordered our table and sofa set (without seeing them! The store didn't carry the specific ones I wanted in his location!) I just love them so darn much. I can't wait to get them in our new place. I feel  like they will look perfect and just so amazing. I have been day dreaming of cream colored curtains and a beautiful area rug... and cuddling my hubby with a soft throw on our sofa.

I can't wait for my life to be perfect and whole again in just 2 weeks!! And I can't wait to show you guys the transformation of our Virginia apartment.

Favorite things Friday.

So I've been gone for a while, but I promise I am back. Opal has been giving me such a rough time with a horrible sleep regression and teething with a molar. I have had a lot of sleep-less nights the past 2 months. It has given me a lot of time to surf Pinterest around for some neat DIY projects, beautiful room decor inspiration for Opal's next room, and of course plenty of things I can task to my husband. ;-)

First off, my favorite things to pin to my boards are decor, projects, and plans for Opal's next room. We definitely see another baby in the near future so we are going ahead and planning on transitioning her from the crib to a toddler bed once we move in. I want to have the crib in the room as an option for her, but also so that she doesn't have to go through a weird process of bringing the crib back in once the new baby is on their way.


I also can feel it in my bones that we will have a boy next, so I plan to decorate her room with a gender neutral palette. I am going to keep her side very girly, but I don't want to overwhelm the entire room with pink or purple. Here is my room inspiration for our child(ren). I found the pin on pinterest, and have bookmarked the original author on my computer, phone, ipad, etc.. Go check out Laybabylay.com for some amazing ideas on this shared room inspiration. I absolutely adore the styling and can't wait to order some of these gorgeous pieces. 

I just cannot get over how gorgeous the colors flow together. I hope that our base housing has a nice big room that our babies can share and grow up together in.

I am definitely going to have to make some wall decor similar to the one on the door. It is so cute and looks so easy to do. I can just picture "Opal" and "Oliver" on the pillows and everything else.

I need to find a nice big dresser for their room, that I can redo. I've been considering going with painting the dresser so that it provides a pop of color to the room.

 I probably wont be able to paint their walls, (something base housing generally frowns upon).. So I have been looking up different places that I can order cute wall decals from too.

I'll go ahead and share some photos and links to some of my room decor inspirations and wish list.

I truly cannot wait for the day we receive orders so that I can pull the trigger and order all of this truly amazing and cute stuff. If only Dillon would let me decorate our master bedroom like the kids' rooms! So whimsical and exciting!!

:)

Have a blessed Friday everyone!

xoxo -Chelsea.

WALLS:

Arrow wall decals -Trendypeasdecals on Etsy. 

 Ice Cream Decal- Madeofsundays on Etsy

Donut wall art- Milkandcookies on Etsy.

BEDDING:

Asher Duvet Ser- Petitevintagebel (follow them on instagram too!)

 Hampshire toddler bed (clay) -The Land of Nod

Larkin Metal bed (mint)- The Land of Nod 

 FLOOR:

Gulort rug- Ikea

 

PLAY:

 

Pavillion Play home- The Land of Nod