Tag Archives: my house

12 Best Wooden Toys for Christmas

November 23, 2015

With my oldest being eight years old, I feel like we have gone through just about every toy on the market. Many don’t last and hour, and some we have had an enjoyed for years. My favorite toys are the ones that both look great and are fun for my kids to play with. I enjoy well designed toys that when they are out, don’t look like an eye sore.

I wanted to pass along a few of our very favorite toys that we have had for years that we love.

With Christmas around the corner, I hope this will help you in making some easy decisions, plus many of the toys are currently on sale!

12 best wooden toys for children Hape Toys Melissa & Doug

Affiliate links are used in this post

Hape Toys Wooden All Seasons Furnished Doll House | Hape Toys Fire Station | Melissa & Doug Fold and Go Barn | Barbarossa Wooden Pirate Ship

Wooden Toys Rocket Ship Pretend Play Play Kitchen

Kid Kraft Kitchen | Hape Toys Parking Garage | Hape Toys Cash Register | Hape Toys Rocket Ship

Melissa and Doug Playdough Set | Plan Toys Parking Garage | Hape Toys Pull Crocodile | Melissa and Doug Wooden Tool Set | West Elm Console

I hope you enjoyed my top picks for wooden toys. Hopefully this will help you with your Christmas shopping and you can give some Christmas gifts that will last for years like ours have!

How To // Hang Christmas Wreaths on Outdoor Windows

November 10, 2015

This post contains Affiliate Links

I always knew that our home would look amazing with Christmas wreaths in the windows. But, last year being my first year to hang them, I was left scratching my head wondering exactly how I was going to securely hang them.

After asking around, and googling “How to Hang Wreaths on Outdoor Windows.” I found some ideas, but none of them seemed like simple ideas that actually worked. When I was wondering around the Home Depot, I found these Command Brand Strips that are made especially for the outdoors, and especially for windows. Finally, an easy solution that isn’t permanent and really worked! If you follow my step by step, the hooks will stay on no problem!

This is what you will need to hang Christmas wreaths on your windows: (affiliate links used)

Faux Pine 18 inch Holiday Wreaths from Michaels Craft you can also find them online here.
Red Holiday Bows or you can make your own out of Red Ribbon from Michaels Craft
Command Stripe Outdoor Window Hooks (It is very important to get the hooks specially made for the outdoors, the regular ones won’t stay on)
Rubbing Alcohol
Paper Towels

Shop the supplies:

step by step instructions on how to hang wreaths on windows

Step One

Clean your windows well. Take the Rubbing alcohol and put some on a cloth or paper towel. Rub around the entire area where you will hang your hook. You will want to do this when the temperatures are not freezing! Read the package instructions throughly.

Step Two

Remove the black and white liner side that says window or wall side and apply it to the window where you would like your hook to hang. Press the entire strip for a full 30 seconds pressing up and down on the strip. (be sure to place the hook in the same area on each window so they are uniform)

Step Three

Remove the blue liner. Press the hook to the wall stripe and hold firmly for 30 seconds.

Step Four

Wait at least one hour before hanging anything on the hook. This is a very important step. The adhesive needs time to bond or it will not hold the weight of the wreaths. I try to wait at least 24 hours to ensure the hooks are on well before hanging anything heavy on them.

Step Five

Hang the wreaths on the hooks. You can also us some string to tie them more securely to the hook if you experience a lot of wind in your area.

Step Six

When you would like to remove the hook, stretch the strip slowly against the window at least 12 inches to release it. Always pull straight down not towards you or it will break!

Pretty simple, and it doesn’t damage your windows. They hold up very nicely in the wind as well. With the kind of wreaths I had they have wire as the base and were able to hook on nicely. They stayed put really well. I think one may have fallen off in some really high winds, but that was it! My hooks always stay on because I have carefully prepared my windows, and made sure to buy the hooks that are specially made for the outdoors!

The command strips are very easy to remove and made it really easy to make my home festive for the holidays.

I loved how it looked on Christmas morning in the snow! My family during our magical snow storm on Christmas morning 2014!

I hope this helps if you are looking to hang holiday wreaths on your windows this year!

Can you believe Christmas is just around the corner?!

{all photos by me}

Home Decor // Living Room Progress + Minted Art

May 13, 2015

Minted Art Caitlin Wilson Textiles Pillow Lemmonlane Pillows West Elm Curtains West Elm Coffee Table

This post contains affiliate links.

Moving into a new home has been so exciting, but also so overwhelming. I have a hard time living in the now, when I have so many plans for our house, and so many things I would like to do. But, it obviously takes a lot of time and patience (and lets be honest, money too).

Minted Art Emily Jeffords Caitlin Wilson Textiles Pillow Lemmonlane Pillows West Elm Curtains West Elm Coffee Table

So, I’ve come to terms, with the fact that our home will be a constant work in progress, and things are going to take a while to get to where I would like them. For this room, I am thinking so beautiful finish work that will frame out certain walls, crown molding, and perhaps some wall sconce lighting around the Minted Art work.

So, while I still have a lot of vision for this room, I wanted to start sharing photos of our home and the progress.

Our living room is one of the first rooms that you see when you enter our home. It gets amazing light, and is a room that I try to keep clean and picked up at all times just in case a visitor stops by. I’ve always wanted a room like this, so therefore it is off limit to my kids so I know it is always in order. They don’t always listen, wink.

I fell in love with Emily Jeffords art, and when I heard that Minted was selling her art prints, I knew that her Land of Plenty print would be the centerpiece to our living room. I also was able to draw color inspiration from it as well!

When The Minted Art print was sent over, it came framed and ready to hang. The quality is amazing, and colors are beautiful.

When I realized the color scheme I wanted, I knew that Caitlin Wilson Textiles and Lemmonlane pillows would be perfect for the room.

We currently have a little love seat in there, but we will be moving our larger tufted linen sofa into this room when we find the right furniture for another part of the house that it is being used in.