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Honestly, we didn’t really splurge on anything if you compare our wedding details with what you see on TLC, but what other word is there? Our idea of splurging has really been more of ‘willing to pay full price’ or ‘not on the chopping block’!

the venue

Our venue was about 25% of our wedding budget! We chose the most expensive package because it allowed us and some of my family to spend two nights in the attached lodging (4 suites) that also had a large kitchen and gathering area. The venue was absolutely beautiful and the owner has been great to work with. We chose convenience over cost in this category, and I know it’ll pay off in reduced stress! If anyone is wondering, we went with Deer Ridge at Lexington in Bedford, IA.

Brandon’s tux

Brandon rented a tux when we went to an adult prom last May, and while he looked great in it, he was really hoping for something that fit better for our wedding. We decided it’d be good to purchase a tux for him instead of renting. We ultimately went with Suit Shop! This was about double the cost of renting, but we’re going to another adult prom in March, so it’s going to pay for itself in time. Overall, we were very happy with Suit Shop. We did have to exchange the jacket for one that was smaller, but the only tailoring cost we have is hemming the pants!

our wedding bands

Since wedding bands were something we were going to wear (ok, we’re already wearing them) every day for the rest of our lives, we didn’t want to cheap out, but we also didn’t want to go too far over budget. We both decided to go with something that was a little more than we anticipated spending, but something we were excited to wear. I also only got one wedding band with a plan to add the other for an anniversary down the road.

a photobooth

This wasn’t outrageously expensive, but it was something extra we decided to throw in after we’d already decided it wasn’t a ‘need’! Our plan is to have our guests use our photobooth (the DJ prints us a copy of every picture) instead of providing a guest book to sign.

All other categories for our wedding: food, DJ, drinks, and my dress are around the average price you’d expect for a wedding. I’m very happy with how intentional we’ve been with planning our wedding. It’s so easy to go overboard with the extravagant weddings you see on social media and TV, but I challenge you to ask yourself what YOU want if you find yourself stressing over the wedding budget. At the end of the day, it’s about celebrating your marriage with your spouse. Trying to impress people or splurge for a ‘gram-able wedding scene is not worth the cost!

We hope to throw a great party for our guests in less than five months. I probably won’t blog more about the wedding unless I share our wedding photos later on! My blog is primarily about home design and that aspect of our lives, but I’d been tempted to post about our wedding for some time now so I did it!

Thanks for reading!

Davien

Light fixtures are relatively easy to swap out and make a huge impact for a room. I personally love unique lights! Today I thought I’d share some cool lights that I’ve been seeing across a wide variety of stores. Keep in mind that the price range of these lights vary from reasonable to expensive. Some lights it may make sense to invest in if it means getting the look you want, especially if it’s a dining room light or kitchen pendants. Other lights you can find decent matches for at a better price. One tip is to pin a light on Pinterest and see what similar ones pop up. You can also save a picture of a light and then search for it via google to find potential dupes.

I think it should go without saying that none of the lights I want to use are for sure lights we will use. Once we have a floor plan that is more or less set in stone with the builder, I should be able to play around with SketchUp and decide what size and type of light fits in each space. I also wouldn’t mind choosing a budget friendly option to live with for some time while I really nail down what kind of light looks good.

Also, a brief thank you to my readers. While I hope I’m entertaining you enough with my current content, I can’t wait to bring you on the journey of our home build (hopefully breaking ground in less than a year!!) if that’s what you’re here to read about. Until then, thank you for hanging around!

With all that said, let’s jump right in!!

brass sconce

This light is so cute, and I would love to have it in our new house! You can see it featured in my dream primary bathroom design. Etsy is definitely an underrated place to buy light fixtures!

ceramic pendant wall sconce

I actually saw this in someone’s primary bedroom reveal on Youtube and immediately recognized it. I like the idea of having sconces in our bedroom because it’s one less thing taking up space on a nightstand or getting knocked over by a cat. Maybe I’ll work on our primary bedroom design and see how this light would look!

dainty ceramic pendant

Another Etsy light I love that is very similar to the above one I shared! I am definitely planning on using these pendants in our dream kitchen design! They’re so cute and have just the smallest touch of brass.

globe chandelier

I’m a little too lazy to have to dust all of those globes, but if I saw this in someone else’s house, I’d definitely be pointing out how cool it is! I’ve seen some bathroom designs with this light hung over the tub, and it looks so dreamy!

bronze sconce

This sconce is a perfect example of a transitional design!

linear globe chandelier

This is a contender for our future dining room fixture! I assume we’ll need a larger light with our plans to have a big table, but who knows whether we’ll go with something that has length or instead pair some pendants together.

walnut and brass ceramic sconce

This sconce is so cute! I’m thinking our main floor will end up being more contemporary due to the marble and black/white contrast we have in the kitchen. However, this sconce could sneak into a hallway or even in the lower level where I hope to have a more cozy/warm vibe.

prairie pendant

Love this light! I clearly have a fondness for ribbed/fluted/crinkled/ruffled/all the things light shades, so of course this light fixture made the cut.

porcelain pendant light

This light looks like something that would be crafted in ancient Rome or Greece if they had electricity back then! Very sculptural.

ceramic ruffle and brass pendant light

How cute is this little ruffled light? I think this would be good in a secondary space like a small office, laundry room, etc. Not sure that it’d fit in our house design, but I’m sure it would look great in someone else’s!

brio polished brass pendant light

I love the metal on this light. There’s not a whole lot to say about it, but I had to include it in my list!

ribbed blackened bronze sconce

Another neat sconce! This fixture is pretty much all metal, which makes it interesting!

rattan pendant light

You didn’t expect to see this light on my list, did you? While I’m not a fan of the more boho, straw-like light fixtures (for our house, they look great for other homes!), I do like this fixture. The rattan is sturdy and the walnut makes it look like something you’d find in some old, dusty reading area. While I wouldn’t put this in any of our primary spaces, it’s another fixture that would be cool in a secondary space like a small table for crafts/card or even above a cozy reading chair!

bell flush mount

I’ve had this fixture on my radar for over a year now. It’s a good, simple option if you want a more modern take on a very common and cost effective flush mount.

marble fluted sconce

I mean, a fluted marble sconce was going to make the list no matter the price point. How cool is this?

There are still so many light fixtures that didn’t make it into this post! I have so much more to share from the common home improvement stores, Target, Wayfair, etc. In the future, I may do a follow up post, potentially one that features lights under a certain price point. A lot of the lights I had in this post were expensive, and ones that would be a tough sell for spending money on.

Let me know which lights were your favorite and if you have any recommendations for future posts. Thanks for reading!

Davien

Today I’m sharing one of my favorite contemporary home designers I follow on Instagram. Her and her husband build homes in Australia, and I am never disappointed with the homes they design.

It seems like over in Australia, they have designs that you just don’t see in the United States, or at least you don’t see them in more modest homes. These homes are definitely more contemporary, and I love how clean the designs are.

kitchens

This picture actually inspired our kitchen design! I love how bright it is for a kitchen with black cabinetry. We tried finding this countertop around our area (it’s engineered Super White from Talostone), but I wasn’t having any luck since it appears that the US doesn’t carry this supplier. The closest match we could find was Super White dolomite marble, with Eclipse by Vicostone being a close second. Seeing the Super White marble in person was no disappointment. It truly is a breathtaking stone, and I’m so glad I found it through this account!

Another view of the gorgeous kitchen. I love how well the countertop goes with the black and white cabinets!

Quite the contrast from the black kitchen, I love how bright and airy this kitchen is. The white cabinets, counters, walls, curtains, even light fixture! It really makes the flooring stand out, which is exactly what you’d want to do if you’re paying extra for herringbone floors.

One Aussie phrase I learned from following @builderswife is bulkhead! I think this word would be the same as soffit in the US. I feel like soffits have a negative connotation in the US with a design preference to take cabinets to the ceiling or capitalize on any extra storage opportunities. I personally love how this design makes the cabinets (although likely standard size) look custom by having the ceiling lowered to to meet them and also how the back wall of cabinetry looks built in. The horizontal window is also very interesting, and not something you commonly see in our country’s designs.

Another view of this kitchen. I love the lower cabinetry color and how the handles blend in. Brandon and I have tried this type of handle before, and I’m not sure it’s our favorite from a practicality standpoint. That said, it definitely looks seamless. I am also a big fan of the paneling on the upper cabinets and the interest that it adds. The countertop veining is beautiful, and while I know it’s just styling, the wooden serving boards look great against the slab backsplash. Finally, I just overall love how calming this color palette is.

bathrooms

Fun things I’ve learned from following this designer is that cabinetry is referred to as joinery, backsplashes are splashbacks, those skinny tiles are kit kat tiles, and medicine cabinets are frequently called shaving cabinets! The picture above features the Super White countertop I like, and I love the ribbed detail on the vanity cabinet. The wood tone goes great with both the dark terrazzo tile and the lighter countertop.

I’ve heard some designers say that Schluter trim (the black metal strip you see in this picture) is tacky. However, I love the contrast it provides in this shower design! It’s cost effective because it allows you to use tiles that don’t have finished edges. I also love the gray kit kat and lighter terrazzo tiles. Honestly the colors are walking a tight line between lavender and gray, and I love that.

Another notable thing about @builderswife’s home designs is that bathrooms usually have walls that are fully or at least halfway tiled, depending on budget. This bathroom is her primary bath in the same house with the black kitchen, and as you can see, the design flows very well between the two spaces.

exteriors

A lot of the home designs done by @builderwife and her husband’s company are boxy and modern. I do like this style of home, but it wouldn’t really fit in with the home styles in our area and likely wouldn’t appeal to any potential buyer (if we would ever sell a nice home like this). Overall, I really like the color palette of this exterior. The light wood on the garage door, cement accents, and overall white stucco or cement board are all materials I’d like to incorporate into our future home. The black windows are also gorgeous!

I hope you enjoyed reading! Let me know if there were any designs you liked or if there any other designers I should check out! Thanks!

Davien

Did you know the average cost of an Iowa wedding is over $23,000?! Our goal for our wedding was to stay under that number, and I think we’ll make it! Because we have so many plans for after our wedding – including building a house! – we wanted to make sure we only incorporated things into our wedding that we truly wanted. This meant skipping a lot of lovely things that are traditional and almost expected but not something we need to celebrate our marriage. Below I’ll outline some ways we’ve saved big on our wedding!

The featured image I used for this post is from Ling’s Moment. I exclusively used greenery from Ling’s Moment’s Amazon shop for my florals, and I am very happy with my purchases!

small bridal party

I have been in a handful of weddings, and it’s such a wonderful experience! For our wedding, we decided to just pick a best man and a maid of honor for our bridal party. Our primary reason was because we wanted our wedding to be just about us and the celebration of our marriage. It definitely reduced extra coordination and planning for me since none of my hypothetical bridesmaids would be closer than two hours away from where we live or our venue.

We also can’t ignore that it greatly reduced the cost of our wedding. There were no bridesmaid dresses, proposal boxes, additional florals, party buses, etc.

stationary sales

We spent less than $200 total for our save the dates and wedding invitations (not including postage)!! For our save the dates, we kept them simple and ordered during a 50% off sale on Zola. For our invitations, we spent a little extra to print on the back of the invitation so we could include RSVP information (with a note to RSVP online or by phone, which meant no return envelopes!). This was about half the price of having a separate RSVP card. We also ordered our invitations a month or two earlier than planned due to another 35% off Zola sale.

skipping fresh flowers

I made my wedding bouquet and I love it! I love that I can hold it in front of the mirror whenever I want and even bring it to my dress fittings. I love that it’s a keepsake I could store forever! Fresh flowers are beautiful, but they are so expensive. For me, it just didn’t feel worth it and honestly, I was looking forward to the exciting challenge of arranging my own (faux) florals! Honestly, I was sad when I had no more florals to arrange!

For the arch garland, 20 small table floral arrangements, my bridal bouquet, 6 boutonnieres, and 9 corsages (lots of women in my family!), I spent a little over $500 total. That’s pretty good in my book!

For my florals, I used a combination of eucalyptus greenery spray, pink roses, white chiffon ribbon, petite white roses, green and pink greenery, tender blush flowers (I loved these!!), small vases (loved these too!), blue roses, garland, floral tubing, floral tape, pearl wristbands and magnetic boutonnieres (no pins necessary!), and artificial baby’s breath

having a family member do our photos

This one is so controversial. I know many people say that having a friend or family member take your wedding photos is something you’ll regret, but I didn’t choose my sister as my wedding photographer to save money (although I did let her set her price), I chose her because I trust her and her photography skills. I also trust her as a person and knew I’d feel more comfortable with her behind the camera. My sister likes taking pictures of animals (and people occasionally), and I think if she can make a snake or toad look great, she can make me look great too! She already did a wonderful job with our engagement photos.

And while I do trust my sister 100% with our wedding photos, we’re not really picture people! If there’s a photographer you like and want for your wedding but they have a hefty price tag, go for it!

no videographer

This isn’t something we really cared about although it’s become extremely popular, so we decided to skip it. Videographers are not cheap, so do it because you want to not because of FOMO!

no wedding planner

For a low cost of $0, we got two wedding planners, myself and Brandon! That said, we have hired another sister of mine to be our day of coordinator and will be providing her with a very detailed planner containing all the important information for our wedding day. She’s an absolute boss at keeping things on schedule and making sure everyone’s under control. I know she will be a great day of coordinator!

making our own wedding cakes

This one isn’t for the faint of heart. We already know we make good cakes, and this eliminates the need to find a vegan baker that I like. Including the transport of the cakes (cake boxes, cake boards), the ingredients, and our cake topper, I think we’ll be under $100 for all the cake needed to feed our guests. And there will be NO compromise in taste! We’ve been making many practice cakes and plan on offering chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry.

doing my own makeup

I’m never really a fan of getting my makeup done. The makeup artist usually makes my eyebrows way darker than they already are and the false lashes (while I’m told they make your eyes pop) tend to distract from my actual eyeballs. I already have so many makeup supplies and plenty of time to practice doing my own makeup. This means I won’t have to pay for a makeup trial or day of makeup. I’ll also be more comfortable interacting with our guests knowing that my makeup looks good in person, and not just good in pictures.

My biggest wedding advice is to choose the things YOU want, not want is trendy, traditional, or expected! In the future, I will be doing another post to show what we splurged on (within reason!) for our wedding. Thanks for reading!

Davien

Unfortunately and fortunately, we’ve been reading a lot of financial books and now a major goal we have is to pay off our new house as soon as possible once it’s built. That’s exciting, I love goals! Especially goals I get to share with my fiancé! However, it means I got the reality check that we’re not putting everything we want into our dream house at build time.

The good thing about this is that it means we get more design projects in the future! I love the idea of our house slowly evolving over the years as we grow into it. Each room or design detail will remind us of a certain time in our lives when we were doing x, y, z and finishing that project at the same time. It also gives us the time and opportunity to decide what we’d like to try to DIY. You only get to live once, and building something or learning a new skill is an experience to be had! Of course, there are some things we’d definitely hire a professional for, but you get the point.

Another good thing about choosing some budget friendlier options to begin with instead of what you really want is while there’s a risk that you’ll have wasted your money if you just tear it out later, you may find that some things are just fine as they are! That laminate countertop you put in the laundry room might be just fine because no one goes in there anyway. Or that acrylic tub surround you used in the other bathroom might be just fine because kids don’t care about tile and your guests never shower at your house anyway! Down the road, you may be glad that you didn’t splurge because of the pressure of wanting your new construction home to look like all the ones you see on Instagram. It’s all up to you, your lifestyle, what you can afford, and what you personally like!

With all that said, let’s jump right into it!

(BTW in case you’re wondering, we still have not heard from the builder, and that’s ok! Just assume going forward that I will let my readers know when we’re actively working with the builder. Until then, we’ll be planning and saving as much as possible!)

marble fireplace surround

This one hurts a bit! But the last thing I want to do is spend money on a meh version of a marble fireplace when I could’ve gotten the one of my dreams had I just waited a few extra years to save up for it.

As far as what kind of fireplace we’ll end up with, I don’t know! But once we determine the type (gas, wood, or electric), I would be willing to have the mantel/surround finished in something super budget friendly for the time being. I’m sure the builder would be able to suggest something that would look good for now but also not need a lot of demo in the future when we upgrade.

mudroom storage

Above is a pretty common layout for mudroom storage, but I made some tweaks to have two rows of coat hooks (for both taller and shorter height items or people) and shoe storage that accommodates the more common low shoe height (versus boots). I prefer entry/mudroom storage layouts that are open like this versus cubbies, mainly because which cubby does a guest use? What happens if you have 4 cubbies but 5 kids? I think it’d be simpler (and less expensive) to just do something more open.

However, anything involving carpentry is expensive! In the meantime, I’d be just as happy with some simple coat hooks. It’s also very possible that we’d decide that coat hooks are just fine for our family and mudroom storage with cabinets and shoe shelves just aren’t something we need. We shall see!

a nice closet system

If I haven’t already blogged about it, we’re hoping to have a closet/workout room connected to our primary bedroom or bathroom. One of the designers I follow actually did this in her own house she built, although the closet in the fitness room is just her husband’s:

We don’t really use our closet that much because a lot of our clothes are in our dresser and with working full time remote, we don’t typically need to dress nice. I would love to build an IKEA Pax closet into our fitness room later on because the price is very doable and the system is very customizable. I also think it’d be a great idea to do mirrored doors because if this closet is in our fitness room, the extra mirrors would be great for checking your form while working out.

Above is an example of what you can do with the PAX closet system if you weren’t already familiar with it. There are so many options!

fully finished laundry room

Our laundry room is currently a washer and dryer in our bathroom with one long stretch of wire rack shelving above for detergent, cleaning products, etc. While I would love to have a nice sink, counters to fold on, and some more hidden storage, I would totally be willing to wait for that!

custom bathroom vanities

Bathroom vanities are another area where I’ve grown to be more open with having something more budget friendly. I’m not sure how much of the budget they will take up, but if it makes sense to either buy prefab vanities or do a cabinet design we like with a budget friendly countertop like laminate, I’d be willing to wait to do that for now. On the bright side, something like a prefab vanity could later be donated to Habitat for Humanity or some other organization!

Above is an example of a prefab vanity that looks really nice! What we choose will all come down to whether it makes more sense to do prefab, nice cabinetry + budget countertop, or even just go with what we want!

a basement kitchenette

We’d want to make sure we got the hookups right at build time, but a basement kitchenette is one area where I’d rather wait and have it done how we want versus try to squeeze it into the budget and pick things we don’t really like. This is different than the bathrooms where you kind of need a sink/vanity.. we don’t need a kitchenette, so it’s on the chopping block for sure.

so many cool details!!

I love these marble baseboards! However, details like this would definitely be a later on fun project that would be at the bottom of our priority list. Same goes for pretty much any other fun details that just make our home ours!

I plan on coming out with a post that includes things we definitely want to get right at build time. Stay tuned for that!

Thanks for reading!

Davien

Hey guys! Today’s blog is about a designer that I just discovered via a Crate and Barrel (Brandon take my wallet) collaboration. The first looks at the collaboration were chef’s kiss, as you can see by the marble casing on this doorway:

I’m first going to go through some of his designs (outside of the Crate and Barrel collab), and then I’ll go through some of the pieces that I adore but unfortunately don’t have a budget for.

So many things I love in this picture. The skinny wood flooring. The marble. The wood tone and grain.. and stop. The little curtains! I love how charming this kitchen is! It belongs in a book inside a little forest.

Again the wood grain! I love it! I like how dainty and shiny the faucet is. And the marble is exquisite!! The variation is linked as Calacatta Monet. These marbles are so breathtaking to me that I would rather put in something temporary and cheap in our new house’s bathroom until we can save up for something so beautiful! (Of course would have to get my fiancé on board with that) Although I stand by my previous statement that I would not do well with a marble vanity.. but as a little backsplash piece? Doable!

What more can I say? No comments, just this picture.

For this picture, I’m primarily in love with the tub (water damage safe? dunno, but it’s gorgeous) and the flooring. I am not a fan of bookmatched slabs, they just give me the creeps personally. The concept is there, but in actuality, they tend to look like something from Stranger Things. Don’t believe me? Here’s proof!

Back to the good stuff though, I really like the Jake Arnold designs because they are so homey and charming. I have a hard time nailing down what my actual design style is. Modern.. but give it character? Cottage.. but marble and clean lines. Don’t know!

Now let’s explore the Crate and Barrel collaboration.

I love the curved headboard on this bedframe. I think for the new house I’d prefer a wood frame for our bed, but this still caught my eye!

Where would we put a tray? What would we put in the tray? I don’t know. All I know is I can’t afford to buy nor can I transport a full slab of marble, so in the meantime, I have to settle with buying small remnants in the form of tiles, marble spoon rests, and coasters! However I will not be buying this tray because it is $200!

We have a dresser we like.. we don’t need a new one.. But someday maybe the kids will need a bigger dresser and we’ll upgrade our own to something a little moodier like the one linked above!

These chairs look so cozy, I’d definitely be eating at the dining table!

I love how dreamy these pillowcases are!

This chair belongs in a study. Which good thing we don’t have one, because it’s $1400!

It’s crazy how much variation you can get with marble! These coaster sets are all of the same type, but you just don’t know what piece of the slab you’ll get! I honestly love all of these colors and would be happy to get any of them!

This chair is so plump.. I would feel like Papa Bear sitting in it, and I’d love that for me!

Those were my favorite pieces from the Jake Arnold x Crate and Barrel collection! I hope you enjoyed and found some inspiration yourself.

Thanks for reading!

Davien

It’s been a while since I’ve window shopped some home décor, so let’s see what’s been new in stores lately. I primarily looked around Target (just a little bit), West Elm, Crate and Barrel, CB2, and Magnolia. Let me know if there are other stores you love browsing and I’ll check them out!

Grid Lines Terry Cloth Towels

We have an overabundance of towels, but if we were replacing and downsizing the ones we had, these would be a great choice.

Serving bowl

Last weekend we hosted a Super Bowl party, and it really made us see how little serve ware we have! I’d like to find a bowl that is cute and fun to bring food in. I was shopping around the internet a bit, but I feel like I’d have better luck searching in person or at second hand stores!

Grid lines pillow

I must be in a grid mood because I also liked this grid lines pillow from the same decor line!

Brass and marble candleholder

I love how fancy these candleholders are, and you know I’m a sucker for marble! Someday I’d like to have these tall candles in my house and actually have them melt down. They seem so old timey!

Red travertine bookend

I liked how this was a brighter color than the other items I was linking. Brandon and I have been reading so many books, so a bookend seemed like a perfect fit with today’s post!

Marble and brass vanity tray

This vanity tray would make cleaning the bathroom counter easy since you could just lift and move the entire tray to clean under. The primarily reason I mentioned it though was because it’s cute!

Wood and marble napkin holder

I’ve been using napkins quite a bit, so I want to start using cloth napkins to reduce waste. This napkin holder would be nice to keep on the table instead of our big stack of napkins that are still hanging out in their original plastic wrap packaging.

Fluted wood floating shelf

Fluted wood, half of my blog’s namesake! I thought these floating shelves were so cute. If you click the link, you can see how they look styled.

Looking at beautiful home design and décor objects is hard when you’ve just read a bunch of financial books and are determined to follow the principles. However I know that home design is fun for me to look at and as long as I’m being intentional in what I choose to purchase, I can still accomplish my goals!!

Thanks for reading!

Davien

I hope everyone’s year has been going well so far! I can’t believe we’re already nearing the end of February. This year Brandon and I have been reading a lot, as you’ll probably see by the number of books in this post. I try to do my best to use my library app Libby, but there were a handful that I couldn’t find and had to purchase myself. I’ve also been trying to find the makeup products that I’ll use for my wedding.

Let’s jump right into it!

Books

Know Yourself Know Your Money by Rachel Cruze – Liked it

This book was ok, and I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads. I think this book would be most interesting to someone who has identified a problem area they want to improve on with their money goals or are desperate to reel themselves in. I really like Rachel’s content (she’s Dave Ramsey’s daughter if you weren’t aware), so I was mainly just looking to read her books.

Love Your Life Not Theirs by Rachel Cruze – Loved it, would recommend

I really liked this book, and I rated it 5 stars on Goodreads. This book talks a lot about contentment and knowing your intentions with your money and your purchases. It’s easy to look at Rachel and think she can buy whatever she wants, but she talked about one experience that really reminded me that people with good money habits have to make sacrifices. Rachel and her husband had a goal to max out their retirement savings one year, so any extra income they made needed to go towards that. When she got a nice sized commission check, she was so excited to put that money towards the nursery they were setting up for their baby. Her husband had to remind her that they set a financial goal and unfortunately that meant there would be no Pottery Barn Kids shopping spree.

Another thing constantly talked about in the book is how young adults nowadays enter adulthood thinking they should be able to afford the same vacations, houses, and opportunities as their parents or someone who has been in the workforce for decades. She talked about how when her and her husband Winston bought their first house, their friends (who were older and more established) came over for dinner. Rachel felt pressure to instead suggest a restaurant (even though they’d already used up all their restaurant budget) because they didn’t yet have the finances to have furnished their house. The pressure to keep up with the Joneses (both in real life and through social media) is intense! But the overall theme in most financial books we’ve been reading is that the Joneses may be broke. Not everything you see is what it is, so you need to make sure you’re saving, spending, giving, and being for the right reasons!

The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley – Liked it

This book was dry to me, but pretty insightful. It went over the various qualities that the majority of America’s wealthy share and provides the survey results to back it up. The top mentions are living below your means, not trying to keep up with the Joneses, and staying out of debt. It had a lot of good information, but I feel like it wasn’t as narrative as I tend to prefer (which is personal taste, nothing bad about this book). Overall it was a good book, and I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads.

Everyday Millionaires by Chris Hogan – It was ok

I wasn’t a big fan of this book. Especially reading it after The Millionaire Next Door, it felt like a lot of repetition in concepts, which is good because it means there is consistency in what helps you build wealth. However I felt like there was a lot of repetition within the book itself. Why waste time say lot word when few word do trick?

Smart Money Smart Kids by Dave Ramsey and Rachel Cruze – Loved it, would recommend

This book was a great read. There’s so much to say about it, that it’s hard to say anything at all! If you have kids or want to mentor money smart kids, read this book. We plan on putting some of the practices into motion soon as it was very impactful.

Beauty

Hair detangler – Liked it

My hair was really suffering after getting a blonde balayage and using a special shampoo from the dermatologist. This stuff smells great and really helps with detangling. I wouldn’t say it was life changing, but I’ve come to a point in my life where something can do it’s job and doesn’t have to change my life too! I’m tired of wasting money trying to find the holy grail product for every hair/beauty category!

Hair toning mask – It’s ok

I bought this purple hair mask at the same time as the detangler in hopes that it would help with my hair’s dryness. It does a pretty good job at toning, but I wasn’t necessarily blown away with the quality. I think when this runs out, I would just get another purple shampoo. Having a hair toner as a hair mask is kind of inconvenient for me personally.

Sephora lip stain in Daydreaming – it was ok

I bought this lip stain in hopes of it being my wedding lip look. My friend and I stood in Sephora holding up different colors to see what they would look like (we didn’t know how to test lip products) and this is the one we landed on. The formula was good, but I can’t speak to the lasting power because I wiped it off shortly after applying due to it being too dark. I’m not sure when I’ll wear this because it’s definitely not a casual color for my lifestyle!

Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat in Pillow Talk – Liked it

This was my second attempt at finding a wedding lip look. The color is good, I love how natural it is, and it glides well. When I bought it, I wore it immediately with a lip balm on top. Brandon said it could definitely be a wedding day look, so I was feeling pretty good about it! Especially since it looked natural enough to wear everyday. However, I developed a cold sore within a couple hours, but my immune system may have been weakened by my cold. I’m going to give it another fair shot when my cold sore is healed, so fingers crossed I don’t have another reaction! If it doesn’t bother me next time, I think I would upgrade this product to an ‘I love it’ rating.

Urban Decay Mini Allnighter Setting Spray – it was ok

This is another product I bought specifically for my upcoming wedding. I don’t typically use a setting spray, but I wanted to make sure I tried one for my wedding. BTW – I’m doing my own makeup and going for an ‘elevated’ (that word is so overused) version of my everyday makeup. I mainly just want to look put together! As far as the review of this product, I’ve only used it once. So far, it’s just ok. I feel like the morphe setting spray had more of a mist than this one.

Physician’s Formula Blush in Butter Believe It – waste of money

I wanted to try out a lighter blush for my wedding that wasn’t so bright. I have the butter bronzer from Physician’s Formula, but this butter blush is just trash. There’s almost no color payoff, and I wish I would’ve gone with a blush I could test out/swatch. I feel like I should just throw this away. Don’t waste your money on it!

Smashbox Mini Original Photo Finish Primer – it was ok

I wish I liked this!! I mainly bought it because Rachel Cruze listed it in her life changing products video. It was honestly just ok. I felt like it didn’t apply that well and didn’t really sit well with my BareMinerals powder. I also got a free mini primer from Smashbox because of a promotion they were running, so maybe that is better. However, I feel like I would just go with a specific BareMinerals primer in the future.

BeautyCounter Counter Control Regimen – Love it

This regimen was expensive, but for me it was worth it. I doubt my skin will ever be as clear as someone with good skin genetics, but for me this keeps my skin a bit clearer than it is on Curology (despite indulging here and there in my acne trigger – peanut butter), and also keeps my skin hydrated. I mainly wanted to switch to prepare for not being able to use tretinoin (my Curology active) in the future when I want to get pregnant. This regimen is pregnancy safe since its main acne ingredient is salicylic acid and it’s not above the recommended amount. I liked these products so well that I’ve been itching to try other BeautyCounter products, but they’re very expensive.

If you want to borrow any of the books mentioned in this post, let me know! I’d be happy to loan them out.

Thanks for reading!

Davien

How is it already the end of January! This month I’ve been trying to remember that I’m getting married in less than six months! I’ve been spending so much time on this blog and planning the new house that I almost forgot to keep an eye on my wedding checklist. I got myself reorganized, and now I’m ready to get back at it with our home update!

So far, no news from the builder. Maybe next month! In the meantime, I thought I’d show some of the things that we’d love to have in our primary bathroom. Some of these may not work out with the budget, but there’s no harm in dreaming big! One of the reasons we’re so eager to start working on our blueprints is so we can actually see what our costs will be. Until then, I refuse to be reeled in!

Now, if this isn’t the namesake of my blog! Look at that fluting, wood, and marble!

I recently posted that I scrapped the idea of having a tub in our primary bathroom, so why is it back in this post? Well, I’ve been thinking when it comes to hair care, it’s nice to take a bath because standing around in the shower for 10 minutes waiting for your hair treatment to settle in goes by a lot slower than you’d think! Until further notice, it is back in our rendering!

My old apartment had laminate wood flooring in the bathroom, and I really liked how it wasn’t cold and I didn’t have to step on grout lines. Am I the only post adolescence person who still doesn’t like stepping on cracks? Wood flooring also makes a bathroom cozy, so I don’t mind being careful about water.

As far as the shower goes, I would love to use a bianco carrara marble tile. I’d like to use a larger tile like a 12×24 and have it set in a straight stack. I included the pencil trim, and honestly while we’re asking for anything, I want matching marble baseboards going around the bathroom too! LOL

With our black/white cabinetry in the kitchen, I’d love to do a lighter wood vanity in our bathroom. I would also lean towards a marble look quartz or similarly durable material for the countertop. As someone with high maintenance skin, I don’t trust that my products won’t etch a natural stone. I’d also introduce some brushed bronze vanity lighting and cabinet pulls to pair with the wood tones. I’d lean towards a brushed nickel finish on the bathroom faucet to blend in with the tone of the countertop. You know, we actually have mixed metals on our current vanity (bronze faucet, black light fixture, silver mirror), but we never notice because nothing really matches in our bedroom!

I’ve also been interested in having a medicine cabinet (not pictured). I have a handful of everyday things I like to store upright, and it makes more sense to use a medicine cabinet than have those stored in a drawer or wall cabinet. Wall cabinets are just so deep and I hate knocking down lots of products trying to reach in the back! We’ll see if that actually ends up in the plans though, it just popped into my head today!

I hope you enjoyed reading!

Davien

When I started pinning inspiration for our house, I scrolled past so many beautiful designs because I wasn’t going to pin them to our new house board due to either cost or just being a different style than we’re going for. Now I refuse to let any great design slip by without pinning it to my blog board! It can be any design that sparks my interest, there are no rules as to whether it fits a certain style or budget.

For today’s post, I thought it’d be fun to take a look through my pins and select a few to share!

chalky tiles

I love the earthy tiles, the gold bar for hanging (although I’d just hang something easy and noiseless like a towel!), and all of the different wood tones. To me, this picture says ‘staging’ more than ‘lived in’, but either way, it’s beautiful to look at.

cutesy curtains

I’m a sucker for a bold slab, and this tub takes the cake. I’ve been surprising myself lately with my frequent pinning of short curtains. Sure taller curtains are still being recommended as a way to eLeVaTe your space, but tell me something more practical than a bathroom curtain that lets in light but still gives you privacy! It’s a yes from me!

hey hunnies, lightbulb here!

Is she functional? …but is she fun?! The gold on this light bulb fixture makes it one of the first things you see in this beautiful kitchen. For me to notice a light bulb before I notice a gorgeous marble slab? Now that’s impressive!

small dose of cabin

Ooh every time I see wood paneling done well, I think of where we could put it in the new house. But… we painted over so much wood paneling in our current house. I know from personal experience it can be overdone! However this small scale paneling is absolute perfection. Maybe it’s because there’s hardly any other wood competing in the space, but I love this!

simple and cozy

You know what I loved about this picture? It’s easy and approachable. It’s a perfect example of a design created by taking away from the space rather than adding. If you find your decor or brand new Studio McGee furniture isn’t having the impact you intended, I’d see if there’s just too much competing in the space! I know when I purchased our bedding, It wasn’t until I cleared out a little clutter here and there that it really was the first thing you noticed when you walked in the room.

Thank you for reading!