Keepin’ It Real: July 2014

July was such an easy month. I think with the languid weather it is hard to get the gumption up to do much of anything. But we did manage to get ourselves to The Fair, Comic Con, Turn Thirty Seven, and even stopped at The Rose Bowl Flea Market for two hours (post going up on Monday).

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I made a bunch of goodies I cannot wait to share soon.

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And one I won’t be sharing. Even though the recipe picture was so pretty it breaks my heart, I did not like this noodle recipe from Pinterest. And I only share recipes I love.

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My husband began cutting the kids watermelon fries. They love them cut this way.

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I read some books I will be doing reviews on soon. I really liked three out of the four books and the one I did not rate the highest is because I feel very strongly that it is not for kids although it is marketed as such.

And we cannot forget Outfit Outtakes. I ended up with more bad outtakes this month than in any other. I guess I got really lucky. It is definitely a huge boost to my self esteem. In fact, because of the nature of them, they garnered their own post. That will go up in the next few weeks, but until then, here are two from this last week’s outfit photos:

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I got hit in the face with that branch a mere second before. Thankfully my husband caught this face on camera when it happened.

I am grateful.

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My son was on the ATV and I needed to talk to him about safety rules. First I tried being Nice Mommy to get him to stop.

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But it didn’t work. So, Mean Mommy had to step in. As she does. Too often.

Last month, I made an outline of what would be going up on this blog in July, but then I never posted my Hulk Hands Part II. That is because I still need to take the picture for that post. I was even hoping to do a video, but at this point, that seems too out of reach (although once the kids are back in school and I finally have the house to myself, maybe that will be a possibility for a separate post). Hopefully I can get the written post up in the next few weeks, because I think it is funny.

Also, I have changed the feature, Littlest Things’ posting dates from Thursdays to Saturdays (except this week it will run on Sunday to accommodate the Overheard In July post going up on Saturday).

Whew! Sorry that was so long and boring.

I do know these posts will be going up in August:

Rose Bowl Flea Market Recap
The Day My Brain Broke (meeting Patrick Rothfuss again)
Chess Squares (a recipe)
Outfit: Goldilocks and The Hundred Bears
The Icky Itchy Incredibly Inspiring Tapestry

How was your July? Was it relaxing? Did it feel like summer?

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Ollie loved July. Never even flinched at the fireworks. He loved the relaxing theme of July. Although I suspect every month might be a relaxing opportunity for him.

Our Finished Otomi Bathroom

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I am so excited to share our finished bathroom! Here is part one and part two in case you missed them.

My friend, Jessica, owns Bella Wall Designs. She was such a sweetie and stenciled my walls for me. She did such an amazing job on the stencil. The whole bathroom just pops. The updated bathroom makes me smile. Just like Jessica does.

My philosophy on design is to do whatever makes you happy. And every room should have layers. Small bathrooms have so much potential, because you can really make them pop in a more bold way than the rest of your home.

Do not be afraid of color.

It has never bit anyone.

That I know of.

I wanted to share some tips on what I did for a quick update on a builder’s stock bathroom. Our bathroom is over twenty years old. I thought of replacing the vanity, but the tile in there is fairly new. And it matched the tile throughout the house. To replace the vanity probably meant having to patch some areas of the tile. This seemed risky (what if it didn’t match?) and costly. I also priced out several vanity pieces. I fell in love with an antique pine cabinet, but it sold out when I was not looking.

What’s a girl to do?

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Well, I simply purchased these furniture legs on clearance from a hardware store in town that specializes in molding. Our woodworker who did our library cabinets and baseboards put them in for us at the same time he did our mirror.

Then we just painted the cabinet a medium shade of grey to compliment the blue that was going to go in.

Added mustard knobs from World Market.

And voila’! Our vanity looked like a new one!

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I love the frame that Paul from Vrieling Woodworks. (he also installed our large baseboards and our bookcases) built us last year. It was installed around our standard builder’s mirror. It definitely goes with my Alice In Wonderland meets The Hobbit themed home.

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I love our farmhouse copper sink in our kitchen. I purchased that one off of eBay. So, I knew I wanted to continue the copper theme into our hallway bathroom. I continued the savings by purchasing this copper vessel sink from eBay, as well. Copper is a natural killer of bacteria. So, it is perfect for a bathroom. If you do choose to purchase copper sinks from eBay, it is important to do your research. Some copper sinks from certain countries have lead in them. That would be dangerous to have in your home!

The faucet was also purchased from eBay for a steal.

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We went to the local countertop dealer and requested a look at their scrap pieces. We were able to save money on the countertop this way. We also got a much higher end countertop than we thought we would be able to get, because of our savings. It is a concrete countertop with bits of blue glass and shells in it. Almost as if Alice came back from her adventure and put her souvenirs into this countertop.

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I bought the Otomi Stencil from Etsy. I have a collection of Otomi pieces from our trips to Mexico. I love the pattern. I knew I wanted to match the blue of the Otomi in the bathroom to the blue of the pattern below.

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Here is sweet Jessica, who did my stencil in the bathroom holding the Otomi piece with me. Notice her amazing vintage Ralph Lauren tie. She has the coolest style.

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Here we are in the finished bathroom. The embroidered crewel pieces are all part of my vintage collection.

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And here are some pictures of the bathroom sans us friends. The shower curtain is Anthropologie’s Flamenco Shower Curtain. I love the different shades of blue and green it holds.

I am so proud of this room. I think it came together in a variety of cool layers.

Have you redone a room in your home lately? Added any fun colors?

P.S. I shared this on Savvy Southern Style.

And My Romantic Home.