My Himalayan Salt Lamp

So, it seems that the new, trendy thing in health and decor these days is Himalayan Salt Lamps. Have you heard of them? I've been seeing them all over lately, both in the stores and online. 

We first saw them last summer in Colorado. Some of the gift shops had them. I had never really seen them before then and didn't pay too much attention to them at the time. But lately I've been hearing so much about them and all of the amazing things they're supposed to do! So, I had to see for myself.

I actually ended up buying one from The Vitamin Shoppe. I saw a lot of good things online about the WBM brand lamps, and the reviews were really great for this one. It's 100% natural and hand-carved Himalayan salt, so each one is unique.

I've had my lamp for a little over a week now, and I really love it. From what I've read about Himalayan salt lamps, when you turn the lamp on, the light activates the salt, which acts as a natural air purifier, and cleanses the air by releasing negative ions. These ions "cancel out" toxins in the air, and the effect is something similar to the pure air at the top of a waterfall.

The main reason I decided to get one was for the reported health benefits, and to see if it would improve my allergies. I mainly just get them during allergy season, so I haven't had an issue with them yet this year. But I can say that the air does feel "cleaner" to me now, and I love the warm glow that it gives off. It's kind of calming in a way.

I replaced my alarm clock that I never used in the bedroom and have it on my nightstand. This lamp has a dimmer, so I've been sleeping with the light on dim. It's a much better energy now than with my alarm clock there, and I feel like it's less dusty, too!

So all in all, I'm definitely loving my new lamp so far. I'd say that they're worth all of the hype just for the warm and pretty glow they give off! And I wouldn't mind getting another one to enjoy when I'm not sleeping, too. Maybe I'll give an update in 6 months or so and share what I have or haven't seen in terms of health benefits over time. Stay tuned!

Pillow Talk

Besides a new stove, we've also got some new pillows up in herre. Well, we've got new lots of things, since we recently tied the knot and all. And we're slowly trying to make space for everything around the house! It's going to be a while I think before we can clean out some space for it all. Anyway though, back to the pillows.

These were the cutest wedding gifts - from Trent's cousin Amanda and her husband Steve. Aren't they adorbs??

I have no idea where they got them, but everytime I walk into the bedroom now, I get Jack Johnson stuck in my head.

I'm going to just file this under one of the coolest wedding gifts we got.

And speaking of pillows with words, we also got these lovely little pillows from Trent's aunt Gloria. I actually think she made them herself!

She also made us another little pillow, and a quilt that Trent's mom and grandma had both worked on. I have to say that I haven't found a place for ALL of the picture frames that we received for the wedding yet, but I didn't have a problem finding space for any of these lovely pillows. I do have quite a few on the couch now, so it may be time to move them over to the side chairs. For now though, I kind of like them right in the center of the couch. :)

Ahoy, Matey! Our Nautical Additions to the Bedroom

So this post is two-fold, but it's all related. Remember the shelving unit that Trent made by hand for his side of the bedroom? (Click that link if you forgot) Well, it's been working decently but Trent still needs to work on organizing his clothes. :) Anyway, ever since we found a striped blue and white hamper for it (you can see it in this post), we were thinking "nautical." And have been on the lookout for a little decorative ship to put on top.

This past weekend, we found the perfect one!

That's right, it was at Hobby Lobby. And it was 50% off, so that made the price tag 20 bucks. Not too bad! Trent was happy to have finally found his ship. :)

That night when we got home, we excitedly gave our sailboat its new home on top of the shelving unit. Sorry these photos are so dark - it was at night, and the bedroom is always pretty dark with the thick curtains in there.

Next on the agenda is to paint that plastic cord cover we got a few years back to hide the cords for the TV. The ultimate goal was to redo the whole wall and actually install the cords in the wall. But, who knows when that will happen, so this was a temporary solution!

Maybe the next time you see this spot, that eyesore will be a little more camouflaged! Let's hope.

In the meantime, we think our new ship looks pretty spiffy on the shelf! We have kind of a vintage nautical vibe going on Trent's side of the room. The ship now matches the Dave Matthews poster that we hung between the windows.

It's from one of the many Dave concerts we've been to together over the past few years. At each of their shows, there is an illustrated, limited edition poster commemorating that concert, and Trent has gotten one from almost every show we've been at so far.

Needless to say, he definitely has the ship theme going on.

My side of the room is kind of a different story. I guess if I had any theme going on, it would be "Love." I affectionately call this wall the Love wall, and you can see why:

Somehow I've gathered way too many wall decor items with the word "love" in them. But what can you do! That mirror on the left is the new one we got from IKEA. And the blank space to the right of that is normally where the towel hamper is. But I was washing towels at the time this photo was being taken. :)

I haven't yet showed you my new ring holder. I talked about it a few weeks ago I think, but failed to get a picture of it. Isn't it cute? It's a giraffe lifting up its neck. It's from World Market. My engagement ring is so small it doesn't fit over the giraffe's ears. Ha. Oh well.

The bed hasn't changed much since we first made over the bedroom back in 2010-2011. Same pin-tuck duvet from West Elm, which we still really like.

Right now the same curtains and everything are still working for us. Maybe one day we'll remodel, but we still really like the warmth and coziness of this room.

I also still love my necklace holder and all of the new necklaces that it continues to collect. But I've mentioned that before. :)

Those pesky closet doors have been there against the wall for probably at least two years now. Really wish we would get on that closet renovation! They were a good deal (from the Restore), so I don't feel guilty about it. But dude, it's time to get on that.

Anyway, that's our new sailboat-related addition to the bedroom, which overall hasn't really changed much over the years. One thing will always stay the same, and that's that Trent's side is always going to be 10 times more messy than my side. Why do you think I never show the floor on his side?? At least mine is always clean. :)

My Necklace Holder - An Update

Back last winter, I made (with Trent's help) one of my favorite small projects to date. A necklace holder.

I needed one of these desperately and saw tons of them around - at the stores, on Pinterest, etc. Chunky necklaces have become popular over the past couple of years, so I had all of these big necklaces but no place to hang them. So I decided to make one myself out of some wood and some mismatch knobs.



Today I wanted to share a little update about my DIY necklace holder, in case anyone else has thought about making one. Since making it I have gotten quite a few new necklaces, and it still holds them, no problem. I am here to tell you I still love this, and if you're thinking about making one, DO IT. It has seriously saved my life!

They now hang right on my bedroom wall, and are all right in front of me, so I never have to worry about finding a necklace again. I have one for every outfit right in front of my face, which makes getting ready ten times easier in the morning. They also make really cool shadows on the wall when the sun shines in, which is totally a bonus. :)



So, long story short, this is a DIY project that is well worth it for me! You can see more about how I made this here.  I also made an earring holder a couple of years back, which has equally saved my life! Give it up for jewelry organization everyone! And Pinterest. :)

Bedroom Shelves Complete!

It seems like forever ago when Trent started his Bedroom Shelf project. I mean, it was in April when it all began! For all my former posts about these shelves, visit here, here, here, and here.

Well, he's finally finished, and I'm excited to reveal it today! Drumroll please......

Here's the finished product:

Isn't it beauty-ful? I'm so proud of Trent and what he accomplished! It's actually lighter than we had planned - we were going to go for more of a dark chocolate brown...but the stain color showed a lot lighter than what we thought, and we decided to just roll with it. It almost has an antiqued look, and I thought it turned out pretty cool, and unique. Here it is before we moved all of the storage bins inside:

He started with a bunch of pieces of wood, and to think that he got all the way to this awesome, custom made shelving unit is pretty awesome.

You can't beat a custom-built and designed storage unit - it has a lot more lasting power than a cheap Target shelf system made of particle board! And this thing is HEAVY. I know - I helped move it multiple times!

It took a lot of sanding - there were screws that Trent had to cover with wood putty, and trim pieces attached to all front edges of the shelf, which give it that chunky, thick look. So after sanding and sanding, he was finally able to apply a couple of coats of stain, then cover it with Poly to seal it in and give it a slick, shiny surface.

I think we're both really happy with how it turned out, and seems to be working well so far. Trent desperately needed a place to store his clothes, so now with these cloth bins, he has spots for each kind of clothing item. And the larger "cubby hole" in the bottom right corner is going to hold a hamper. For now, we just have two bins stacked together. 

I like that it has a large surface on top for Trent to set small things on, and his deodorant and cologne. I'm just hoping it doesn't get too cluttered. :)

Anyway, I'm super excited it's done! Especially since it looked like this just a couple month ago:

Substantially better and more functional now, don't you think?

Trent's current project is now putting in a new basement door. I'll definitely have to do a post soon...Not the most exciting thing ever, but it's another step closer to getting the basement to the point where we can raise the living room and kitchen to be level. No idea it would take this long, but it really does take time. It's definitely not an overnight thing. To find the time to finish projects is a task in itself!

On to the next project.....as always. :)

Bedroom Shelves...Still a Work in Progress

As you might know, a few months ago, Trent started a small building project - a shelving unit for the bedroom. You can see more about when he first started this project here (Back in April!), a little about why we need more bedroom storage here, and the last Shelf update here. 

He has been trying to work on this every week or so, but several factors have affected the progress of building it - like tons of rain, working all the time, and the fact that it is quite heavy and takes both of us to carry it outside just to work on it. 

He has made progress though, slowly but surely...all of the trim pieces have been added to the front, and as you can see, he tested some stain in one of the sections. It will be a darker stain color, to match the rest of the bedroom wood. You can also see all of the wood putty to cover up the imperfections, like the seams and where the trim was attached.

He's been sanding this wood putty (which is stainable), to get it smooth and blend in with the rest of the wood. All that is left now is a little more sanding, then stain!

Here he is with the electric sander in action:

I'm hoping this project will get done sooner than later, as we definitely need more bedroom storage! It will be much nicer when all of Trent's clothes are organized! ;)

Shelves, and the Missing Keys

Trent has been so busy this week with his birthday, the Cubs game, and working...that he lost his work keys today and we spent a good chunk of the evening looking for them. We found them by the way, but he would lose his head right now (well, most days) if it wasn't screwed on. So needless to say, he's had very little time to work on the shelving unit for the bedroom this week. But I do have some in-progress pics to share.

These are from the other night (can't remember when - my days seem to be running together too for some reason). Saleen decided she wanted in on the action too, so you'll see her mug in a few pics.

At this point, he was still connecting all of the larger pieces to form each individual "cubby hole" as I like to call it. He used dowels and wood glue to attach all of the sides together.

I shared a picture of Saleen on Instagram and Facebook the other day, along with the photo below. I think Trent is pretty pleased at how his first shelving unit building project is going so far. I have to say I'm pretty impressed, too! 

Here he's putting the trim pieces up to see how they'll look when they are all attached. There will be trim pieces (about an inch wide) in front of all of the edges, to finish things off more and make it look cleaner and a little more polished.

It's not finished yet - still needs trim, some light sanding, stain, and the back, but all of the sections are now in place and it's starting to really come together. Just for fun, once all of the glue was dry, we took out all of our new bins and stuck them on the shelves to see how it would look.

It's coming out just like we pictured, and I think once it's finished, with trim and a dark stain, it will look pretty awesome in the bedroom.

Lord knows we are in need for some storage for Trent's clothes..especially since those keys that he lost....were in his piles of clothes!! Go figure! :p