I am writing this post from my brand new desk (woohoo)! I finally set up a little area in our house to be my “home office.” It’s really just a desk and a chair on one side of our dining room, but hey, it’s a lot better than blogging from the sofa...or the floor. So far, I have this desk from Amazon (in white) and this chair from Overstock. I’ll share some photos of my setup soon! But first, I thought I’d share some of my inspiration, and my wish list of awesome office items.

I want my area to have a similar feel to these--bright, cheerful, and simple. Not too much clutter, and definitely not too corporate feeling. Especially since my “office” is right in the dining room, I want it to blend with the rest of our home decor and feel like a part of the room as a whole.

I love how colorful all of these spaces are! That gold L-shaped pencil holder is pretty fabulous too.

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 - Plus, check out my Office board on Pinterest for more inspiration.

And now for my wish list! Who knew there were so many cute office products? I want them aallllll. But especially these...

1. Aqua file cabinet from CB2 - $159 / 2. You’ve Gato Call phone stand from Modcloth -  $21.99 / 3. Office sign from Rejuvenation - $38 / Black and white spotted pillow from Furbish - $50 / Colorful desk lamp from Wayfair

Do you have a home office, studio, or craft space? What does it look like? What are some of your favorite office essentials?

It’s been awhile since I did my last “reading and watching” post! To be honest, I’ve been really busy, so I haven’t been reading nearly as much as I would like…but I’ve still managed to squeeze in a few good books. As you can probably tell, I gravitate more towards light reading than long, serious books. Here are some of the ones that I’ve read lately (plus some shows and movies, too). Do you have any suggestions for me?? What have you been reading and watching?

1. Show Your Work, by Austin Kleon. I wrote a whole post about Austin’s first book, Steal Like An Artist, so of course as soon as I saw this one at the bookstore, I had to buy it! / 2. Divergent, by Veronica Roth. I’m in the middle of this one right now. So far, I’m interested. / 3. About Time. I mentioned in this post that I couldn’t wait to see this movie, and I rented it the day it came to Redbox! It totally lived up to my expectations. Watch it now, if you haven’t already. / 4. The Mentalist (love this show). / 5. Frozen. Another good one at Redbox. The snowman is my favorite!  6. Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn. I kept hearing about this one, so I finally read it last month. It was goooood. Thought-provoking, unpredictable, and well-written. I totes recommend.

And here are a few of the books and shows that are next on my list:

1. Decorate with Flowers, by Holly Becker and Leslie Shewring  / 2. Where’d You Go, Bernadette, by Maria Semple / 3. Mr. Selfridge. I think this show is somewhat similar to The Paradise, another show I wrote about awhile ago and really like. / 4. Creative Block: Get Unstuck, Discover New Ideas, by Danielle Krysa / 5. Design Bloggers at Home, by Ellie Tennant. / 6. Insurgent, by Veronica Roth. The next book after Divergent…of course.

So! I’d love to hear your recommendations. What books, movies, and shows have you been enjoying lately?

This is the one of the easiest projects I’ve shared on here so far. It’ll only take you about 5-10 minutes tops, and you probably have all the supplies needed at your house already: a printer, white paper/cardstock, tape, and a pair of scissors! Not only is it sooo simple, this idea is also really versatile. You can do the state where you live, like I did, or you could adapt this to any shape you please (hearts, animals, the silhouette of your kid’s head…a cloud, perhaps). You could even cut out letters to spell out a quote or a name!

The first step is to print out the outline of whatever it is you intend to cut out. I found a silhouette of Washington state to use as my template.

Next, tape a piece of white cardstock behind your printed template. Then, simply cut out the shape, making sure to cut through both layers (your template and the cardstock). Also, cut out a piece of paper the size of your frame (I used this extra deep frame from Ikea). I was originally going to use white paper for the background as well, but then I decided to go with this light gray. I still think tone-on-tone white would look really cool too!

Once your shape and the background paper are cut out, turn the shape over and put a few loops of painter’s tape behind it. Turn it back to the front and press it lightly into the center of the background paper. You want it to be raised off the paper a little bit, so don’t press too hard.

The last thing to do is to frame it and hang it up!

I think this turned out really well, especially for a project that was so quick and inexpensive.

I really like how it has a little bit of dimension from being raised off the background paper--it makes it more special than just a printed silhouette.

Let me know if you try the same technique in your house! I’d love to see photos of your version(s).

I’ve been a fan of 91 Magazine for quite awhile, so when Caroline contacted me and asked if I’d be interested in having my home featured, I was totally flattered. And a little bit terrified. I mean, our house is nothing fancy, so I was worried it wouldn’t be "magazine-worthy." Plus, I took all these photos myself--which was so scary, you guys! I am no photographer. But I’m really happy with how the feature turned out, and really, really excited to see my name in one of my absolute favorite magazines. As I promised on Friday, I’ve got a whole lot of photos to share with you all today. This is the fullest house tour I’ve shared on here yet, so I hope you enjoy!

Let’s start with the living room. It’s the first room you see when you walk into our house, and it’s the room that I’ve done the most with. That sofa is actually the first piece of furniture we bought together. I worked at Pottery Barn at the time and I got a 40% discount, so we just bought the cheapest sofa Pottery Barn had. I don’t necessarily love it (I still want an English roll-arm or a Chesterfield), but it’s simple and comfy, and we got it for a great deal.

The crate side tables are one of my favorite DIY projects that I’ve ever done (although, to be fair, mostly it was Ben who executed them). If you look in the photo below, you can see my laptop inside the table. We put little magnets on the front board, so it pops right off. You remember those coasters, too?

This white table is where I keep all my craft supplies (it’s seriously overflowing).

The next room in our house is the dining room. The table is also from Pottery Barn, and I’ve gotten all the chairs for about $20 apiece or less at thrift stores, antique malls, or Craigslist. I’ve been meaning to paint my bentwood chairs for ages and keep procrastinating it. I’m now debating whether to just sell them and switch to fake Eames chairs (I bought one to use as a desk chair, and I really like it!) What do you think I should do?

The sweetgrass flowers are from our trip to Charleston, and the hugging salt & pepper shakers are one of my favorite antique mall finds.

Of course, by now you’ve probably seen my DIY shelves.

Remember when I talked about different ways to use cake stands, and how much I wanted a jadeite one? I have one now! I actually have three cake stands, but this one’s definitely my favorite. I’m also collecting all different kinds of white plates, from thrift stores, Anthropologie sales, Ikea, etc.

Past the dining room is our kitchen. I’m grateful for the white cabinets (the last apartment we lived in had awful dark wood ones)…but  the hood above our stove is pretty hideous, isn’t it? Oh well.

You may remember when I polka-dotted my fridge…and when I made that kraft paper grocery list…and when I made the concrete magnets too (both the stars and the colorful gems). I do love me some DIYs!

After the kitchen, there’s a little winding hallway with a bathroom, a den area that we mostly use for storage, and our laundry room (all of which are not very cute). Then at the very end of the hall is our bedroom. I haven’t shared any photos of the bedroom here because I’ve put pretty much zero effort into this room so far. It needs so much work! I was kind of embarrassed to send any photos of it to 91 Magazine at all, but I figured a house tour would be somewhat incomplete without the bedroom. I’m still planning to get a headboard, some new nightstands, and cute bedside lamps (and I wish we had hardwood floors instead of that gross tan carpet). But there definitely wasn’t the time or the budget to do all that in time for this shoot.

The one thing I do really like about our bedroom is the mint green duvet cover, which was a gift from Crane & Canopy. Remember it from this post?

And that’s my house! Or at least, my house as of a month ago. A lot of things have already changed since then, but that’s to be expected. I’m always switching things around!

I also took some time to read through the whole issue of 91 Magazine yesterday, and it’s a really good one!! I highly recommend getting yourself an issue, right here. A huge thanks to Caroline for having me in the magazine--it's such an honor. And thanks to Catherine, who wrote the article, as well! She made me sound much cooler than I actually am.