skirting around + a discount code.

Outfit details: scarf - $9.80 @ Forever21; cardigan – $12 @ H&M; zebra top – $15.80 @ Forever21; leather belt – $0.99 @ Arc’s Value Village Thrift Store in Brooklyn Center; skirt – c/o eShakti; tights – $5 @ Target; Mossimo flats – $4.98 (on 75% off clearance) @ Target.

Now that it’s March and spring is just around the corner (hopefully!), I’m all about swapping out pants for skirts and boots for flats, which is why I was so excited to receive this skirt from eShakti. You might remember me briefly telling you about eShakti here, but just to jog your memory, they are a company that specializes in custom clothing at an affordable price. Upon purchase of an item, customers are given the option to input their specific height and body measurements, decide how long they want dresses or skirts to fall on their legs, choose from a variety of sleeve styles, if they want pockets or no pockets, plus more!  Another bonus is that their inventory is frequently changing so there is always a fresh selection of items.

Since I’m all for custom clothing, eShakti is offering my readers 20% off any purchase now through March 20, 2013. Simply enter the code “SMPLYCHCFR” at checkout! I’d love to know your favorite items from their website. Happy shopping!

 

a farm-inspired display.

When we first bought our house, the space above the fridge had unsightly floral, sheer purple curtains covering it in place of what should be cabinet doors. There were drill holes on the side where cabinets were clearly once attached, plus more holes along the inside where shelves could be adjusted, and a partition in the middle for cabinet doors to close onto… yet sadly the doors were nowhere to be found. So here’s what happened: the curtains came down (and made their merry way to the dumpster), the partition was removed, the holes were filled up, and the space got a fresh coat of paint during the cabinet makeover.

And then this is what became of the space for a short while:

A few wine racks and bottles of wine were tossed up there, along with a vintage cookie jar (it’s filled with an assortment of tea bags, in case you were wondering) and a water pitcher. But aside from the fact that it was a real pain to retrieve anything from up there (and upon realizing that wine shouldn’t be in direct sunlight — umm duh, Jeanette), I decided to make it into a little vignette of sorts.

Enter cottage-esque farm-themed display:

A closer look…

Item details: rooster creamer – $2.48 (on clearance) @ Target; vintage scale – free (a trade I made with my mom for this one that I already had but didn’t like as much as the one she had); succulent plant + vase – $5.98 @ Lowe’s; picture + frame - $2 @ St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store in St. Paul; antique milk crate + glass bottles – $36 (splurge!) @ Kismet Consignment in Rochester.

If we find ourselves needing more storage space in the kitchen, I figure down goes the display and I’ll simply put a few baskets up there to hold necessary items (the kind that don’t need to be of easy access). Or there’s always the option to re-drill some of the holes for where the shelves once were so that we could store cookbooks as our collection expands. In the meantime though, I’m claiming this once-cabinet as a rotating display case for my constant need love to find new ways to decorate and change things up around the house! ;) I’m already brimming with ideas…

Do you have any suggestions for what you would do with this space? I’d love to hear them!

mantel makeover.

Yet another paint project took place this past weekend at the Caban casa. After getting favorable results with the chair facelift, I decided to give our fireplace mantel the same treatment. It always bothered me that the mantel didn’t match the built-ins alongside the fireplace or the trim above it, so it didn’t take very much deliberating to decide whether or not to go ahead and paint it. I realize many people are opposed to painting wood, but I think after looking at the before + after below that everyone can agree that the paint prevails, or at least in this case it does!

You can see another picture of the mantel in its ‘before’ state here.

Voilà! Crisp, clean & most important — cohesive!

Now all the mantel needs is some cheery spring decor, such as a mix of items like seen here or here.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great week!

friday favorites: blogs.

In case you didn’t know, I am a blog addict. Every time I come across a new blog that I like, it seems as though I can’t. get. enough. (That’s the addiction talking). Within a short period of time I feel like I actually know the person behind the blog. (Creepy kind of?) But I digress. You can check out my blogroll to view the full list of the blogs I peruse, but today I wanted to share with you the four that I’ve been loving recently and why.

Food Babe – do you ever wonder what all of those complicated ingredients on your food’s labels are, or what they really mean in terms of your health? Vani Hari takes the guessing out of the equation with her thorough investigation of today’s food industry and shares the potential dangers lurking in our everyday foods. Her blog also features tasty and wholesome recipes,  as well as her exotic travel adventures. Warning: You just might find yourself purging through your pantry and pledging to forever for-go fast food after reading just a few of her thought-provoking posts.iHeart Organizing – if the title doesn’t give it away, this blog covers everything organization-related, and I mean everything. Pantries, entryways, drawers, closets of all kinds – basically you name it, it’s on there and it’s been organized. Since reading this blog, I have found myself re-arranging every nook and cranny in my house and trying to better optimize the space among our bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen cabinets and everything in between. Who knew organizing could be so rewarding… and addicting!

{never} homemaker – I saw this blog’s tagline of “healthy, balanced & whole living” and I was smitten from the start. I’d refer to Ashley as a young, modern-day homemaker who provides readers with healthy-living advice and know-how through her posts on running, grocery budgeting, and healthy, made-from-scratch recipes. I even find her motherhood posts intriguing (but NO – there is no plan of babies in the near future for this gal, FYI).

Making it Lovely – Nicole’s exceptional photography and innate design abilities effortlessly shine through her savvy styling of both fashionable outfits and home décor. I think I’ve seriously looked through her house tour at least ten times, and could easily look at it a few more. I sincerely adore Nicole’s quirky yet chic approach to her home as well as her wardrobe and find myself coming back for more on the daily.

I’d love to know what blogs you’ve been loving lately.

Have a great weekend!

a chair facelift.

I picked up this old chair back when I was in college from a local thrift store for $10. A piece of furniture with a retro vibe and aged mustard cushions? Yeah, I had to have it.

Even though it’s a relatively unique piece, it always ends up in the corner of any room I put it in, just looking all drab and neglected. I knew it needed something. But what? I tried sprucing it up using various throws and accent pillows over the years, but that only seemed to hinder the chair’s character… until the other day when I came up with a new idea: paint.

Since there was plenty of leftover white paint from the cabinet makeover, here’s what I did to take the chair from ‘blah’ to ‘ooh-la-la!’

BINGO! A bit of paint gave it a whole new identity and enhanced the modern factor. It almost reminds me of something you’d come across at CB2 or Jonathan Adler.

Instead of fading into the corner like before, the chair has become a statement piece. Now all it needs is the accompaniment of a side table and floor lamp. The power of a little paint, people!

Do you have any furniture items that you think you could perk up with a coat of paint?

springing ahead.

The holidays are over and I am more than ready to say so long to winter and welcome spring with a warm embrace (literally!). Here are some of the items I can’t wait to wear upon operation snow melt:

1 – Denim shirt dress. I love the versatility (and simplicity) of chambray — this particular piece can be worn as-is, or paired with a cardigan and a colorful belt.

2 – Messenger bag. Because everyone needs a pretty pastel bag for spring…

3 – Skimmers. Talk about ankle eye candy! These skimmers are the perfect mix between capris and skinny jeans, plus the variety of colors and patterns allow for endless outfit options!

4 - Tortoise cat eye sunglasses. One word: timeless. (Or perhaps “purrrfect.” Too far? I thought so.)

5 – Essie nail polish in “Where’s my chauffeur?”  A little bottle that packs a big punch of bright & bold. 

6 – Floral bib-like necklace. A fun statement piece to dress up any outfit, such as item #1.

7 – Striped tee. Stripes, stripes, stripes… I can’t get enough! For a fun combo, I’d pair this number with some floral skimmers.

8 - Polka dot pleated shorts. Similar to stripes, I am a sucker for all things patterned and these shorts are no exception.

9 – Pastel lace-up flats. Just plain cute. (Also available in black and teal)

What items are you excited to sport come spring?

on the walls.

Happy hump day! Hopefully your week has been going well! Today I’m checking in with another kitchen update… well technically an “eat-in kitchen” update, thanks to a few new additions on the wall! But before we get to that, here’s a little review of the room’s progression to date:

You might remember seeing the two photos above from this post way back when we first started making changes to the space.

In addition to the expansion of the doorway that you got a glimpse of here, we installed a small flat screen TV and a window turned message board to complete the space!

The details:

I scored this old window at a garage sale last summer for $1. Although it could serve as a decorative piece on its own, I decided to make it functional by giving the panes a coat of chalkboard paint and turning it into a message board. Below it I hung a rail from IKEA along with a wire basket for storing a small jar of chalk (and whatever else finds its way into the basket), plus a few S-hooks for hanging keys. (Inspiration for this project found here).

I battled with the idea of adding a TV to this space for a while, especially since the previous homeowners had one there so the cable for the area was already good to go.  I was on the fence because houses that have a TV in almost every room are a real pet-peeve of mine, so when we first moved into the house I told myself I didn’t want more than one TV. It’s just too often that nowadays the latest reality show or sports game on the tube becomes the center of attention rather than sharing a conversation. But after some thought, we decided to go for it since the majority of our time is spent in the kitchen area (and by “we decided” I really mean “I decided” because Rey was on board the second I simply made mention of doing some price checking). And I’ll admit, it’s nice to be eating breakfast at the island or cleaning and be able to catch a show without having to go the basement (where the only other TV is). I also like that we can sync our laptops to the TV and play music when entertaining.

Oh, and just for fun — here are the coffee mugs I’ve been obsessing over that I mentioned last week.

The next big change in our house is going to be the addition of dark wood blinds to the majority of all our windows, but unfortunately that won’t be happening until sometime in April as we just got word that the order we placed is on backorder. However, I have plenty of other updates to feature in the meantime so check back again soon!

foul faucet.

WARNING: This post contains unpleasant content that may result in the urge to inspect and clean all of the faucets in your house. Viewer discretion is advised.

This past weekend I was in one of those “get things done” kind of moods. I’m talking laundry, vacuuming, dusting, organizing, grocery shopping – the works. While on this little “get things done / clean ’til I drop” spree of mine, I came across a grotesque discovery… a monstrous substance living on my kitchen faucet [insert Jaws theme song here]:

So are you grossed out or what? Hey, I warned ya!

Well, no wonder why the water pressure from the faucet was weak – it couldn’t get out thanks to all that grime and those mineral deposits! Ugh. Luckily we have a water purifier and don’t drink from that faucet. (I can just hear the sigh of relief coming from those reading this who have drank a glass of water at our house.) The next step was to find a green cleaning solution to solve the issue. Enter ‘A Guide to Natural Housekeeping’ (the book I mentioned in this post.) The book talks a lot about vinegar – a very powerful (but natural) cleaning agent and its various uses, one of which was for my exact issue.

All you need to do is this: Using a rubber band, secure a small Ziploc bag full of vinegar to the faucet. Then simply wait 30 minutes up to a few hours, based on how bad the build-up is. (I waited approximately one hour). Lastly, take the  bag off and use an old toothbrush to remove any remaining build-up. The result?

A squeaky-clean faucet.

*A quick re-cap:

As you might have already guessed, I immediately inspected the rest of the sinks in the house (not as bad, thankfully) and gave them the same treatment. This method can also be used for shower heads. 

I hope that you found this post useful and that it might get you to explore other green cleaning solutions. Oh, and I also hope that I didn’t ruin your lunch! :-P

guest post.

Today you can find me over at the Allée Creative blog talking about the benefits of blogging for business and how you can stay on top of it in 2013.

Interested? Read the full article here!

Happy Friday!

loving lately.

As if the title of this post didn’t give it away, here are a few things I’ve recently been swooning over:

A fun and colorful coffee mug, like this one from Target, makes it hard to start the day on a bad note. I was so smitten by this quirky cup that I went back and picked up another one from the collection, and I’m eager to get even one more… hey, three’s a charm!

My new [prescription] specs! Although these glasses may come off as a bit loud, I couldn’t suppress my secret love for the trending geek-chic look and went out on a limb with this purchase. (I took a bit of inspiration from here & here.)

This book has served me well more than once these last few weeks in my efforts to keep a clean yet ‘green’ home. It’s an excellent reference for facts and tips on eco-friendly cleaning, gardening, repurposing & more. (Who would’ve known there are so many uses for vinegar!) Long story short – this is definitely a must-read if you’re seeking easy ways to create a more sustainable home.

As a self-proclaimed thrifting queen, you can imagine my fondness for this recently popular jam. Savers (as seen in the video!), along with Goodwill, Salvation Army, Arc’s Value Village, and all the small, local thrift shops are my go-to places for finding unique items for decorating my home as well as updating my wardrobe. (Check out some of my thrift hauls to get a glimpse!) And if you’re a rookie when it comes to thrifting, I strongly suggest you read up on my list of top 10 thrift tips!

What are some items that you have been loving as of late?