A Day Off

Today, I had the day off work and I dedicated almost all of my day to revamping, reorganizing, and adding my new decorations to my house. 

On Saturday, Charlie and I ventured to Atlanta to meet up with our newlywed friends who were soon moving to Alaska. Of course we had to make a trip to my most favorite store in the world - IKEA!
I love Ikea. I always love walking through and imagining all of the things I would buy when I own my home one day. There are so many possibilities and the kitchen section is my favorite!

Well, since I don't own my home... I look through all of the random things that I can add to my house. I love decorating!! Sometimes I wish I would have been an interior designer. While shopping at Ikea, I wanted to get something for my spices. Previously, my spices were stacked into a cabinet and very difficult to find the one I needed. I have been searching for a spice rack for several months, and with no luck I decided to be innovative.

I really like how this turned out -- 

It fits almost all of my spices and I even was able to hang up my oven mitts! 

It adds a new dimension to my kitchen :)

My living room also needed something new. The curtains I had on my windows were very simple - green and white sheer curtains. I love bright colors and I love unique things, so my curtains needed to help show off more of my personality and brighten up the room. I recently recovered my ottoman in bright yellow chevron fabric (read about that here), I wanted curtains that would look well with the pattern and the color.

And I found these beauties...

I loved them instantly and knew they would make the room pop 

and go great with the yellow chevron!

(Molly knew I was taking pictures, so she decided to pose and be the center of attention. HA!)

Next, I have been searching for something to be my centerpiece for my dining table. I have tried several things and I haven't been completely satisfied. I wasn't really looking for something for my dining table while in Ikea, but come on.. those who have been to Ikea know that you can find almost anything there to be inspired by! So I found a Lazy Susan and my mind started wondering what I could do with it. I first thought I could put it in my kitchen cabinet, but then I thought about my dining table...

So I carried it around with me and then I found this sweet lantern!

I knew I would do something cool with them for my table. Once I got home I remembered about my awesome find during my trip to the thrift store last week...

This awesome OWL napkin holder -- $.79!!!

It was very dirty. The paint was chipping. But, I loved it anyway.

I am a bit obsessed with owls!

After a nice scrubbing, it was a good as new!! 

I was so glad the paint came off of the eyes because it makes it look more vintage

Now, I couldn't wait to put everything together! I also remembered that my mom had bought me a really nice, large pepper mill that would be the perfect addition for the Lazy Susan. 

This is probably my most favorite piece in my whole house right now. 

I love how it turned out and came together. 

I am going to search for a fun salt shaker that I can add to it and it will be complete :)

By the way, these flowers were given to me from Charlie - 3 weeks ago and they still look good!! 

How does that even happen?!

I can't wait to recover my dining cushions in a fun new fabric in the near future!

I love all of my new additions. Adding new things always makes it feel even more like home :) My day off was very well spent.