{My Life} A big blank wall.

Happy Tuesday blog friends!  I'm in the process of updating our living room a bit, and I thought I would bounce some ideas off of you all.  

When we bought our house last year, we went from a 1200 square foot town house to a 4200 square foot house.  As you can imagine, we had a lot of furniture to buy.  Sadly this meant I made some bad furniture choices, just to try to furnish as much of the house as possible.  One of those terrible choices was our living room furniture.  

Besides finding something cheaper, I also wanted something more "traditional" because our house is a more traditional, new craftsman style house.  I felt like that I should go that route, worrying that more modern furniture might look strange in our space.  It only took about six months for me to regret my decision.  Our furniture was complete crap, was falling apart almost instantly, and it didn't fit our personal style at all. 

So that brings us to this spring.  Despite the fact we had only had our furniture a year, we bit the bullet and bought new stuff.  This time we did lots of research and not only bought good stuff, but also bought stuff that was much more "us."  

Now that we have new furniture, I wanted to spruce up the whole space.  The former owners loved neutral colors, so our whole house is just different shades of beige (or should I say different shades of blah).  I wanted to give the living room a little splash of color, so I started testing some colors.     

I started with a color called Green Myth (pictured above).  We like it, but think it'll be a little too bright for the large area we would be painting.  It also looks a little more blue than I would like when it's dark out.  The new color we are going with is a color called Cucumber Crush (top left on the color palette), and we really like it.  I want to accent with various shades of coral, peach, and green (perhaps darker than the one on the the color palette).  Bottom line, I want to keep it light and airy in there.

Now here comes the part where I need some help, the massive wall to the right of our sofa.  Originally I thought that I would just get one large piece of art to put on that wall.  However now I'm thinking that I would rather do a gallery wall.  Here is some of my inspiration that I found on Pinterest (of course).

Photo Credits (clockwise from top left): 1, 2, 3, 4  

I know I don't want to use personal photographs because we have a ton on our mantel.  I also think I want to include some (or all) of the following: numbers (like in the top right picture....maybe our wedding date), a cameo of our pup, something funny (maybe a print like this), a map (maybe something hand drawn), and a clock (I'm still not 100% on this one).  I also would like to find some unique vintage objects.  I have this antique bingo card that I might have to put up there.

So there you have it.  What do you all think?  Do you have any go to places for unique art?  Any other tips, advice, or ideas?  

{My Life} This and That.

Hello blog friends!  I haven't been a very good blogger lately, but I have missed you all dearly.  Here is a visual of what I've been up to lately.  

Every year we have a bunch of friends in town to watch college hockey (WCHA Final Five).  This year it happen to fall on St Patty's Day weekend, so it was lots of fun.  

Just a few days after our company left we headed to Weisbaden, Germany to visit some friends who moved there last year.  They live in the most adorable town, city really, but it feels small.  The adorable little boy in the top photo is their little boy.  He was such a cutie!  

Since we had the time, we decided to do a couple little trips while we were there.  The first stop was Brussels, Belgium.  I've always wanted to go, so I was super excited.  It was beautiful!  A couple notables  from Brussels (beside the awesome architecture) were the delish cherry beer and of course the yummy chocolate.  

After Brussels, we headed to Amsterdam.  We didn't have a ton of time, so the only touristy thing we did was go to the Anne Frank house, which I would recommend to anybody.  I'm very glad I got to see it.  We spent the rest of the time just walking around and taking in the city.  I've been to a fair amount of European cities at this point, but I've never seen one like Amsterdam.  It was gorgeous.  Amsterdam notables, teeny tiny roads and oh so many bikes.    

When we got back from our wonderful trip, it was time to celebrate my last birthday in my twenties.  Almost twenty of my closest (in town) friends were able to come out, and it was the perfect little laid back night.  I had a blast.  

I host Easter every year, and just like years past, I ran out of time to take pictures of everything.  The only pictures I got were the floral arrangements I put together a few days before. 

Well I think that should be it for now.  Sorry to bombard you all with such a long post, but I had so much to cover!  Have an awesome week!

{Lovely Pins} Easter Inspiration

Image Sources (clockwise from top left): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Happy Tuesday everybody!  I hope you all have been well.  I have been extremely busy these last few weeks between company and traveling (and turning 29).  It was all a blast, but I'm excited for things to go back to normal for a while.  

This week's Lovely Pins was inspired by this upcoming weekend, Easter.  I always get really excited for Easter because it is the holiday I host.  I've been gathering lots of inspiration as to what I should do this year, and Pinterest is by far the best place to find it.  I like how it's becoming "acceptable" to mix pastels and brights together.  I can't wait to show you all pictures of the finished result.  

I hope you all enjoy the rest of your week!