It’s been a while since I’ve done a post on what I’ve bought. Partly because I wasn’t buying anything interesting or worth mentioning. But recently we’ve been doing a big push to get some things done around the house and buy things we’ve been putting off since moving in.
We have guests coming at the end of the month and that always sends me into a frenzy (in the best way) to get things done around the house. We replaced our terrible Ikea sheets that we’d been using for our guest bed, replaced our guest towels with fluffy fresh new ones, and updated random things like colanders, wash cloths, and things that were looking a little worn down.
We figured out the living room mirror, finally ordered a large plant and planter, and I’m in the middle of figuring out how to style the fireplace mantel. I plan on doing a whole run down of our living room once it’s done – hopefully in May!
Trees and Plants
When we moved into our home last summer, I sold our faux fiddle fig tree that we’d owned since our days in SLC. We didn’t have a good spot for the plant and it needed to go. After much deliberation, I found this black olive tree. It’s tall and narrow which is what the space needed. It will go in this extra large planter in the corner of our living room. I’m hoping it works! It will all be delivered next week. Fingers crossed!
I’ve recently found a lot of inspiration from this woman’s home. I love how airy and light their space feels. Living in our craftsman home for a while now, too much decor can make it feel crowded and cluttered. I chose these stems for the couch’s side table and this plant for the mantel. These also show up next week, and I’ll give a review once I eventually get around to doing a living room rundown. I looked at so many faux plants and branches in person and online, and this website makes the best ones in my opinion.
Kitchen Things
We’ve had plastic colanders since we got married. I’ve been talking about replacing these for years. I finally chose this stainless steel set.
I’m not sure why, but it had been engrained in my head that every household should have a set of 8 plates – whether it’s dinner plates or salad plates or whatever it may be. We love our mercer plates, and I grab a few each time I’m in the store. I don’t even know how many plates we have in each size at this point. There is a pile of the salad size and the dinner size and we never seem to run out.
I’ve done a whole post a nonstick pans before. I’m here to report that I was wrong about the Always Pan. I’ve gone through two, I thought I loved them, and now I’m here to admit they are terrible. It’s not just the Always Pan that is terrible, though. All nonstick pans drive me insane. We love love love our Le Crueset dutch oven, and when I saw they offer an enameled skillet, we made the switch. We’ve used the Green Pan and the Our Place nonsticks and both were not great. They only brand I have yet to use is Caraway, and I’m guessing they’d give the same results. I’m excited to see how this new skillet from Le Crueset does.
A Few Statement Pieces
Our living room continues to be a work in progress. We are closer than we were a few months ago, but I still need to figure out a few parts of the room. I searched high and low to find this mirror. We had many options we were choosing from, and spent a lot of time over the course of a week taping out different sizes on the wall. More on this whole debacle later. But this is the mirror we chose and I’m excited to see how it looks. It won’t show up until next month.
Pottery Barn is knocking it out of the park right now with vases and planters. They have so many good options. Another vase I’d been looking at for months on end was this textured beauty. She’s going on the end table with the stems mentioned above, and I can’t wait to see it all come together. This other pretty vase is going on our fire place.
Other Random Things
The studio that I work at sells these Bink water bottles and they’re awesome. They’re glass, can have a straw or a screw-top lid (I switch these all the time depending on where I’m going), and are super chic. I prefer them over the Stanley, and if we aren’t hiking I’ll even grab it over my beloved Hydroflask.
We needed new towels and bedding for our guests. I got these super plush towels on sale and I love them so much I think I’m going to switch out the towels C and I use for these.
I mentioned this on IG, but I bought the kids these floor cushions last month and they are awesome. They’re used every day, super durable, and aren’t ugly… three things I always look for when buying things for the kids, lol. They’re on sale right now!
