Even though we write about home projects every day, it’s surprisingly easy to forget to mention the small changes we make—until someone spots a detail in a photo and asks, “Wait, you didn’t tell us you did that!” Sometimes it’s those tiny updates that make you smile when you walk into the same room you’ve been in for the last 700+ days. Since this blog is as much about oversharing small moments as big renovations, here are three little “oops, we forgot to show you” updates.
You’ve asked where the small ceramic houses John gave me for Christmas landed, and I’m happy to report they’ve been happily perched on the kitchen mantel for nearly a month:
Aren’t they adorable? The imperfect, matte ceramic finish is perfect. I tell John I want to move into one (we’ll take one and maybe the Bowers can move in next door).
This mantel still reads a bit wintery to me with the sweater vase and cozy accents, but those little white houses are versatile enough to be year-round fixtures. Imagine them beside a vase of pink tulips and a few small teal and yellow paintings leaning on the mantel—total spring energy.
Next update is one people have been asking about since our hosting post: full-room photos of our new chandelier. Sorry it took so long to share the wider shots.
You might notice we also added pillows to all of our dining chairs, so let’s talk about that.
Step one: put pillows on chairs. Step two: enjoy.
I tried a few combinations and settled on three prints: a solid satin-like, an ikat-inspired, and an abstract chevron-ish print. They might look a bit random in pictures, but in person they play nicely together since they share the same color palette—the same tone of blue runs through each, and two of them pick up the same plum and white highlights. They coordinate without being identical. Someone else might prefer perfectly matching pillows or solid colors, and that’s great too—do what you love. (Bottom and middle pillow were HomeGoods finds; the top pillow was made from on-sale napkins I turned into a cover.)
Because we already owned the cushions, this was a small, inexpensive moment of pillow madness courtesy of me—The Girl With The Pillow Problem. The curtains in the room are another pattern, but since they share the same colors, they work together the way a patterned napkin or runner would on the table. Think of dining-room pillows as three-dimensional patterned napkins and you’re good to go. Fair warning: it can feed a pillow habit.
As for stains, we haven’t had any problems yet. None of the pillows are super precious or expensive, so our approach is practical: spot clean, remove covers and toss them in the wash, or if something small happens, flip the pillow so the stain faces the back until you can deal with it. I am not a meticulous Downton Abbey–level maid.
The pillows also tie into the dark-teal on the back of the built-ins, and the abstract chevron-ish pattern picked up in the curtains shares a green that relates to the lime-green office chairs, which is a pleasant thread through the house. Even Clara’s little yellow high chair seems to wink and fit right in.
So those are three small updates that have made parts of the house feel a bit more loved. I knew some of you eagle-eyed readers would spot these details in other photos and ask for specifics, so now you’ve got them. And if you’ll excuse me, we’ve got a little Macklemore challenge to prep for tomorrow—$herdog is so excited she can’t hide it.