Holiday Hints for Her: My favorite things for under $20

Posted in Home For the Holidays, Life As A Wife by Tanisha

Stuck on what to bring to your Yankee Swap/White Elephant this year? Well to help you out, I’ve created a list of my favorite things of 2013 for…..wait for it….under $20!!:

1. Scottish Fine Soups- Au Lait Body Milk- $17.50 Scottishfinesoaps.com

2. Gelous Nail Gel- $5.99 Sallybeauty.com

3. MAC “All That Glitters” Eye Shadow- $15.00 Maccosmetics.com

4. The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom- $13.39 BarnesAndNoble.com

5. Boot Socks- $17.00 Etsy.com

6. Q & A a Day: A 5 Year Journal- $16.99 BarnesandNoble.com

7. Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat- $7.99 Seche.com

1. Scottish Fine Soups- Au Lait Body Milk

I absolutely love this bath milk. Not only it is smooth in texture and subtle in scent, but it lathers into luxurious long lasting bubbles making this the only bubble bath I use!

2. Gelous Nail Gel

Want a long lasting manicure but don’t want the damaging UV rays from a gel manicure at the salon? Try this base coat with your favorite colored polish! My nails have gone up to 1 week chip free!

3. MAC “All That Glitters” Eye Shadow

This was gifted to me by a girl friend a few weeks ago and I absolutely love it! It’s the perfect shadow that gives you that slight shimmer without making it look like you have disco fever 🙂

4. The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

I cannot say enough good things about this book. Here’s the synopsis:

When a white servant girl violates the order of plantation society, she unleashes a tragedy that exposes the worst and best in the people she has come to call her family.

You will not be able to put this one down!

5. Boot Socks

These are such a easy and adorable way to add some personality to your boots! Plus they keep your toes nice and warm!!

6. Q & A a Day: A 5 Year Journal

If you have ever wanted to journal but never could make a habit of it, then this journal is for you. Each page asks one question (each day for 5 years) to which you write a sentence or two in response. It’s so fun to look back on past answers and see how you’ve evolved over the years!

7. Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

Never waste time waiting for your manicure to dry again! This top coat polish seals your polish in seconds making it a must have for any girl on the go! *Tip- Use with Gelous Nail Gel to maximize results!

Give one (or all) of these items a try! I’m absolutely sure you’ll love them as much as I do. Do you have any favorite items that you swear by? I’d love to hear them!!

Happy Holidays!

4Dec2013

Home for the Holidays 2013: Family Room

Posted in Family Room, Home For the Holidays by Tanisha

Happy December everyone! Can you believe Christmas is here already? Mr. H and I are so excited to celebrate our first Christmas in our new home! The Friday after Thanksgiving, my family was gracious enough to come by to help us “deck our halls”. The guys (Mr. H, my dad, and my brother) were on outdoor lights duty while the girls (myself, my mom, and my brother’s girlfriend) were trimming the tree and putting magical touches on the interior. Thanks to everyone’s hard work, we’re about 90% done! Go team!

I thought it would be fun to share some of the spaces we’ve transformed through a December series I’ll be calling “Home for the Holidays”.

The first room I’d like to share is the Family Room.

I am so glad that we are finally in a home with a full fledged fireplace! Not only does it provide a stunning focal point in the room, but Santa actually has a chimney to come down at Christmas 🙂 If only we could figure out how to light that fire… Oh the joys of owning a new home!

I love how cozy we’ve made this corner. We just added a warm throw and pillow and now it’s the perfect place to curl up with a good book and a cup of hot cocoa on those chilly snowy evenings.

How darling are these stockings!? When I saw these beauties, I just couldn’t resist. You can’t really tell from the photos but up close the thread shimmers adding a truly elegant look to room.

Also peeking through in this photo is our memory tree. Our main Christmas tree is located in our living room. But here in our family room, we have tree containing important ornaments that mean something special to both Mr. H and me.

Among these treasures are an ornament from the Roatan where we vacationed 3 years ago, a Lenox piece my mother gifted us to celebrate our first Christmas in our new home, a gingerbread man to honor our annual holiday cookie exchange we throw, our wedding invitation ornament I made, our “H” monogram we bought for our first married Christmas, and red bone specially made for our puppy Cooper. These all represent amazing memories if you ask me!

We are lucky in that we have a great mantle to work off of. We really didn’t need to do much to make a statement– just a bit of garland and a rustic wreath and the place really illuminates!

These stocking holders were a great find by my mother. I think they’re absolutely adorable and add a unique touch to the mantle. This one’s a snowflake but the set also came with a tree and a reindeer!

One of my favorite parts of the room is this DIY “firewood” basket I made located by the hearth of the fireplace. It was a cinch to put together and cost only about $10 to assemble!

Well I hope you enjoyed our family room holiday tour! Thanks for stopping by– and remember, there’s no place quite like home for the holidays.

30Nov2013

Update: Dining Room Makeover

Posted in Dining Room, DIY Renovation by Tanisha

It’s official…my favorite room makeover in our house is our dining room! I am in absolute love with the color I chose (click here for the post discussing my inspiration and paint selection). Picking that was easy. Selecting our table/chairs, however, was a different story.

I knew I wanted a rustic table with upholstered chairs I saw on Pinterest.

Something like this…

Or this…

I searched several department stores and furniture galleries. I eventually had my eye set on a Pottery Barn table, but just could not get past the price tag.

Then, I found the perfect table for an even more perfect price. And you’ll never guess where I saw it…TJ MAXX!?!?! WHAT?? And the price? $400!!! A STEAL. I also found a tufted upholstered bench on CLEARANCE the next aisle over!!

I immediately told the store to hold it. It was mine!!–as soon as I figured out how the heck to get it home I knew there was no chance it would fit in our 4 door sedan, but our midsize SUV gave me hope 🙂 I rushed back to the house, told Mr. H about my amazing find, and headed back with our larger vehicle to bring this baby home! All I needed now were 4 chairs.

Well, the bargain gods must have been looking down on me because 2 days later, I found these treasures at… HOMEGOODS!!! I cannot begin to express how PERFECT these chairs were. I wanted 3 things in my dining chairs: upholstered and tufted , high backed, and studded in nail heads. Well these chairs absolutely NAILED IT 🙂 I was on a roll!

Here’s how they looked in the room:

The table accessories were also from HomeGoods :-). To finish off the room, we added a large mirror and two paintings that have followed us on 3 moves.

Here’s the way the room looked when we first moved in…

And here’s the way the room looks today:

I’m sooo pleased!! The room looks a lot more expensive than it actual is. I’m still looking for a wine cabinet/credenza of some sort (and you all already know where I’ll be going to look first!) I’m stamping this one a success 🙂 Now to host my first dinner party…