this week's clicks.

get your week off to a colorful start...

Good morning! How was your weekend? Last week was weird because Mr. Q was sick and we had three snow days off from school, so it felt like my weekend started on Wednesday. When Josh recovered enough to leave the house, we started our baby registry, which was a pretty exhausting experience, and I spent a large portion of today doing even more research about all the options for everything from bottles to playpens (too many decisions!). I'll be glad to get back into my regular routine today.

eye candy.

Gina and Ryan Photography via Ruffled

• A bohemian wedding with on-trend agate accents.
• Love Jack's creative and crafty Peter Pan nursery.
• A modern, earthy boy's nursery from Bre Purposed.
• At SMP, a stylish Washington, D.C. wedding.

made me smile.

• Audrey posted a review of so many maternity clothes!
• Thinking about taking on the Classics Club challenge.
• From Lia Griffith, a dreamy DIY copper leaf wreath.
• Emily Ley's been sharing little steps to simplify life.

flashback.

• 2017: January favorites (post needs editing)
• 2016: winter entertainment, Literary Junkies and late to the game TV discoveries.
• 2015: ideas for a living room makeover and my January in Instagram.
• 2014: entertainment favorites and my beauty routine.
• 2013: deep thinking and my classic style staples.

What's coloring your life this week? Share your favorites or link to 

your most recent blog post, Pinterest board, or Insta in the comments!

clicks of note: color in the snow...

get your week off to a colorful start...

SWOON.

• A modern white farmhouse kitchen makeover at D*S.
• EAD features a Pittsburgh wedding with sweet florals.
• A sweet mint and gold Southern Wedding in Florida.
• You MUST check out Alica K's Airstrem office on SMP.

REFLECT.

• Helen Jane writes about language and "trying on" Lent...
• and here are 40 ideas for Lent from Rachel Held Evans.
• From Into Mind, how to structure a day for less stress.
• Digging Jessica Lawlor's lessons from 100 yoga classes.

FLASHBACK.

• Last year I rounded up my blog loves and shared my favorite Oscar fashion, hair, makeup, and accessories.
• Two years ago I featured my favorite looks from the Oscars, easy cupcake decorating inspired by Gold Rush, rounded up City Hall wedding inspiration from around the web, and showed off my winter in Instagram photos.
• Three years ago I shared inspiration for a feminine wedding in shades of blue, purple, and gray.
• Four years ago I featured my favorite folk and heritage style and classical instrumental music for weddings.

 

home goals for 2014: a more efficient living room

We've lived in the Country Townhouse for two and a half years now and still haven't hit the lottery in an amount equal to a house down payment, so it looks like we'll be here for a while longer.  Even though I often find myself feeling a sense of discontent about the lack of privacy, sound control, yard/garden space, and freedom to paint, our townhouse is cute, safe, and VERY convenient to my school and Mr. Q's office.  In fact, I'm worried that I've gotten spoiled being able to leave the house with only a few minutes to spare in the morning, and able to dash home in an emergency if I've left something important.

We're here, and I need to embrace this townhouse as our home, not think of it constantly as a "temporary home" and treat it like a dormitory in terms of upkeep and decorating.  I've decided to follow along with Apartment Therapy's January Cure, and I'm finding the prompts really helpful.  My #1 goal is to make the spaces in our home more efficient.

When we took the Christmas tree down, it became clearer than ever that our living room is only super-efficient when it is time to put a large tree up.  Hey there, empty corner!

During the rest of the year, this empty corner is not a good thing for the flow of our lives.  It becomes a catch-all space for our gym bags and my school bags, stacks of magazines, and my laptop which just sits awkwardly on the carpet.

One day during the Christmas season, I was reading on the sofa and remarked about how happy the Christmas tree made me because it brightened up "my end" of the couch.  Mr. Q kind-of-snarkily replied, "You know what else would do that?  A lamp."

Obviously, we need some end tables and lamps, and I think the best solution for our living room is to center the couch underneath our large painting.  Here are three potential solutions that I whipped up using Polyvore:

Option 1:

That's our actual art and an approximation of what our couch looks like when slipcovered.  The open shelving is from Pier1 and those adorable Mason jar style lamps and linen shades are from World Market.  Mr. Q was skeptical the completely open shelving because he likes the idea of being able to "hide" some of the clutter we accumulate.  Mr. Q did like these lamps the best, and I like the idea of styling them like bookshelves and using baskets to deal with the clutter situation, so I decided to see what that would look like...





Option 2:


I have so many pictures of rooms with storage baskets on my Pinterest that it's kind of ridiculous, so I wanted to see what that would look like in our room.  The end tables (from Pier1) are a very similar wood and style to our entertainment console, so that would bring some continuity to the room.  I like the texture the baskets add to the space, and I chose a lamp from Target (paired with the same World Market shade as the first option) with a really low profile to balance things out.  I think this one is my second favorite because I could always remove the baskets and do something similar to the look above.

Option 3:

The most traditional design would be these end tables with drawers paired with mercury glass lamps.  I love mercury glass and the style of these tables is VERY similar to our entertainment console.  However, I'm not sure these tables would be versatile enough to hold our laptops as well as all of the other "stuff" we accumulate during our after-work couch lazytime.  I'm also worried that the drawers would become junk drawers!

Which of these looks is your favorite?  How do you manage clutter in your living area and keep the things you need available?

clicks of note: the direction of love...

get your week summer off to a colorful start...

LISTEN.

• "Tomorrow's a new day for everyone; brand new moon, brand new sun."  Let this song, "Follow the Sun," sink in.  I love how calm and uplifting it is, and I'm looking forward to possibly seeing Xavier Rudd perform live at Floydfest next month.  This week I'm linking up with Musical Mondays at My So-Called Chaos.

SWOON.

Elisabeth Millay Photography via Elizabeth Anne Designs

• Elizabeth Anne Designs features dreamy floral inspiration.
• Where was this BHLDN porcelain primrose serving set when I was getting married?
• Design*Sponge features a Living In... post that's all about Moonrise Kingdom!
• Purple Wedding of the Week: pure elegance from Katelyn James Photography at SMP Georgia.
• Wedding Chicks features a pretty pastel wedding in the country with fun DIY details.

INSPIRE.

• Gayle from Grace for Gayle has been sharing her experience as a breast cancer previor - worth reading for ALL women, but especially if you too have a family history of breast cancer.
• Kara from Simple Mom explains how her family got out of debt by cutting out non-essentials.
• Carmella Rayone from Assortment writes about the time her family "borrows" on a friend's ranch as they work toward their own goals:

"We can’t live out our futures, but we can live out our days."

FLASHBACK.

• Last year I shared inspiration for summer in the country, my poolside essentials, and why my flower girl is awesome.  Two years ago, I showed off my dyed wedding shoes and Etsy garter set as well as my bridal veil and jewelry, and a preview of our reception menu, which was inspired by Southern comfort food.

CALL FOR GUEST BLOGGERS!

• Next week, we're going on a family trip to Nashville!  Last year when I was out of town, I featured Beyond the Aisle's first guest post (from Micah of Unabashedly Me) and would love to be able to spotlight some fellow bloggers' work again this summer!

I would love to feature your:

• Wedding/party DIY tutorials
• Wedding/party planning advice (especially what you learned or things you wish you had done differently!)
• Inspiration for a particular wedding or party theme
• Favorite memory from the day of your wedding or other event
• Home/holiday decor DIY or home improvement tutorials
• Home tours (especially apartments, condos, townhouses and other small spaces!)
• Favorite thing in or about your home

If you're interested in guest blogging for me, please send a message to heatherbird at gmail dot com explaining what you'd like to post about and including a link to your own blog if you have one.  I would prefer that guest posts be NEW, ORIGINAL content, not a re-post of something that has already appeared on your blog or another website, but if you've got a favorite post that needs a wider audience that would work too!