Good morning! Not sure about you guys, but I’m ready to start a fresh week and put last week behind me! I’m guessing it was a long and stressful week for everyone. Here’s what we’ve been up to around here lately.
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Home Projects & Updates
Kurtis took Wednesday off, knowing that we’d be staying up super late to watch the election results. The weather outside was gorgeous, so we took the opportunity to wrap up some final winterization tasks. We finally took down our outdoor curtains (which is only a ten minute process but we always make it so much worse in our heads).
While we did that, we let the cats outside and they were in heaven. It had probably been at least a month since they last went out!
We also cleaned out two of my final remaining planters. Kurtis was pretty excited to do the potato “farming” on my sweet potato vines.
It was his first time ever helping me clean planters, so I let him go to town. I think he actually thought he grew the potatoes since he was the one that dug them up 😉
This next photo was to show that hydrangeas basically look beautiful, regardless of season! I’ve pruned them both in the fall and spring in years prior, but we may leave the heads this year until early spring. I love the dried effect of the blooms in the fall and winter months!
I get a lot of questions about where I store my seasonal decor. As you can likely imagine, as a blogger, I have more than any one person needs. But I have really tried to pare it down over the last year or so, so that it doesn’t flow into other rooms in our house. Here is our storage room in our basement. It’s the exact footprint of our dining room and the shelves were already here when we moved in. I have about 1/3 of the room with decor and then we store other random things (like 10 totes of every pair of Air Jordan’s Kurtis wore as a child – only half kidding). We both made a pact about a week ago that we’re tackling this room this winter. Admittedly, there are a few boxes in here with stuff from when we moved in almost eight years ago. Time to be sorted and donated! Since I store our Christmas trees upright and assembled, the room is only semi-navigable during the Christmas season. So, by the new year, we’re hoping to have half this crap cleared out of here before the trees come back down.
I ultimately ended up bringing up ALL of my Christmas greenery from storage. I laid it in our entryway on the rug to decide where to use it all and grouped similar stems together. These are all old, so I don’t have links for them. But, I plan to use it all because I keep most of my decor pretty simple. But I’ll always use greenery in every room!
The few new items I ordered for Christmas have mostly arrived. These tartan plaid lumbar pillows (with sherpa backs!) are so good. I have them folded in half here because they are huge! I also got these two darling prints from Lindsay Letters this week. I have the “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” and “Let Your Heart Be Light” in the 8×10 Evergreen print. They’re going to be perfect in the gallery frames in our mud room!
We made a quick trip to Lowe’s yesterday to get supplies for a few projects. Our courtyard patio concrete has really started to drop over the past few years. Kurtis wanted to make sure water isn’t getting in the cracks so he re-caulked everything.
We also looked at possible tile samples for our bathroom renovation. The picture below is one I shared when I announced our Tudor flip. But we actually got a few samples of some of these exact tiles. They’re all from Lowe’s and relatively affordable. They’ve really upped their tile selection lately. None of these are special order and can be bought right off the shelf!
Speaking of bathroom renovations. We finally got our bids back for both bathrooms. I’ll go into it all more in another post, but long story short, I’m probably going to have to scale my plans back quite a bit. I’m sure any of you that have done a bathroom reno recently were laughing when I thought we could tackle our smaller bathroom pretty affordably 😉 I’m not sure affordable should actually ever be used in the same sentence ever when talking about bathrooms if any demo is involved! I’m planning to circle back to the contractor and get a line-item bid so we can see what needs to be eliminated to make this happen. But I’m guessing the existing tub/shower inserts will be staying. And since I have a vanity sitting in our hallway upstairs, I know one of them rooms will still be moving forward in some form.
Top Sellers Of The Week
Following are the top sellers of the week across all of my channels. Links to each item are below the graphic.
Around Town & For Fun
Apparently the day we did a bunch of yardwork, the gate got left open. I opened the blinds in our bedroom one morning and the yard was full of turkeys. This was only about a third of them. I find them terrifying and fascinating at the same time. A giant one came charging out of a bush at one point when I was watching them, and I’m pretty sure I screamed. Inside my house. Haha! Thankfully they found their way out pretty quickly, because there was no way I was going out there.
We had to take several trips down to the flip house last week. The guys had a little memorial set up for our contractor, and to be honest, I cried every time I saw it. But it also goes to show just how much he was loved. Thank you for all of your sweet words last week. Last week pretty much sucked but I tried really hard to focus on the positive. The house is on the prettiest street and it was really showing off how beautiful it is each time we visited.
I pulled our stockings out of the basement over the week. Clearly it’s super early, but they were some of the easier items to find and decorate with 😉 And as of this morning, the garland in front is 25% off today with code HOLIDAY25. They’ve been known to deactivate codes by mid-morning on Mondays (after the weekend), so I’m not sure if it will work all day or not.
MANTEL SOURCES: Pom Pom Stocking | Chunky Knit Stocking | Real Touch Garland | Garland in back is old from JOANN
Kurtis and our brother-in-law went golfing Friday afternoon because it was another beautiful day. We then had dinner at their house and played some more cards. I thought this idea my sister-in-law used was super cute! She put some of those battery operated flameless candles under these cone trees you can find a lot of places. It’s hard to tell here, but they looked so beautiful at night when they were lit up!
These two love when any of our doors are opened, especially since it doesn’t happen that often this time of year! I think they want Kurtis to caulk the courtyard on a daily basis now!
My goal is to share our Christmas home tour next Tuesday, the 17th. It’s dependent on two more things arriving in time, and if they don’t I’ll plan to have the post up prior to Thanksgiving for sure.
I’m also planning to launch some of my gift guides this week, and continuing those through Thanksgiving (and possibly early December). I’m trying to get them up a little early this year since many retailers are still experiencing shipping delays. They’re always fun to put together!
Recent Buys & Sales
Following are some of the sales that have carried over from the weekend or new ones that have started today! You can see some of my top picks from the weekend here.
- AMAZON has a number of deals sitewide including their new holiday deals section! You can shop the sale here.
- ANTHROPOLOGIE is offering an additional 25% off sale clothing and more – no code required! You can shop their site here.
- BALLARD DESIGNS is offering up to 25% off sitewide – clearance & holiday excluded. You can shop their sale here.
- BANANA REPUBLIC is hosting their Friends & Family Event with 50% off everything with code BRCARDFF, plus get an extra 10% off at checkout if you’re a GAP Inc. cardholder with code 10BRCARD. This Cableknit Sweater Tunic looks darling! You can shop their sale here.
- BLOOMIST is offering $25 off your order of $125+ with code PRESENTS25. They are the ones that carry a nearly identical oversized wood chain like we have in our living room, but they have a bunch of other really cute decor finds. This charcoal version of the chain and the small natural option are really beautiful too! You can shop their site here.
- BODEN is offering 15% off new season items and free shipping and returns on orders $49+. You can shop their sale here.
- GAP is also hosting their Friends & Family Event with 40% off everything with code FRIEND. Plus get an extra 20% off if you’re a cardholder with code CARD20. I’m loving this asymmetrical button sweater so much! You can shop their sale here.
- GIBSON is still offering an exclusive discount to my readers sitewide with code SARAH20! It includes the new Hi Sugarplum collection I shared a week or two back. You can shop their site here.
- J CREW is offering early access to their Cyber Monday deals! You can shop their sales here.
- J CREW FACTORY is offering 60% off everything – prices as marked. You can shop their sale here.
- KIRKLAND’S is also hosting a Friends & Family sale with 20% off your purchase with code FRIENDS. You can shop their sale here.
- MADEWELL is offering 30% off your purchase during their Cyber Monday preview sale with code EARLYBIRD. You can shop their sale here.
- MARK & GRAHAM is offering up to 40% off gifts they love and have an extra 20% off sale styles with code EXTRA20! You can shop their site here.
- MINTED is offering 15% off holiday cards + free shipping + free custom foil upgrade with code HOLFOIL2020! You can shop their site here.
- NORDSTROM is offering up to 40% off on new markdowns sitewide! Be sure to also check out their price-matched section for even more savings! They are also price-matching Jo Malone, including my favorite cologne and tons of make-up favorites! I’ve wanted this clutch for ages, and it’s the best price I’ve ever seen! You can shop their sale items here.
- NORDSTROM RACK is hosting their Clear the Rack event with an additional 25% off clearance items. You can shop their site here.
- OLD NAVY is offering 50% off to cardholders today with code FORYOU. If you’re not a cardholder, you can get 30% off at checkout – no code required. You can shop their sale here.
- ONE KINGS LANE is offering 20% off orders $500+ with code OKLSTYLISH20. You can shop their site here.
- OVERSTOCK is hosting their pre-Black Friday Sale, with up to 70% off 1000s of items! You can shop their sale here.
- POTTERY BARN is hosting a Buy More Save More Sale with 10-20% off your order and free shipping on orders $79+ with code SAVEMORE. If you’re looking for some of their upholstered sofa, be sure to read my PB sofa review and my PB sectional review for tons of info! You can shop their sale here.
- REJUVENATION is offering 15% off cabinet hardware and up to 20% off several categories like rugs, lighting, and more. You can shop their sale here.
- RUGS.COM is hosting their Veterans Day Sale, with 70-80% off + free shipping! I bought this one for our kitchen and can’t wait to use it. You can shop their site here.
- SEPHORA has started their Holiday Savings Event for their loyalty members (it’s free to sign up)! Sephora Rouge members get 20% off, VIB Members can get 15% off, and Insiders get 10% off with code HOLIDAYFUN! You can shop their site here.
- TARGET is has started their Black Friday deals and is offering 20% off clothing for the family, BOGO 50% off boots for the family, and $20 off $50 home purchase when you use Target Circle (details and coupon here). You can shop their site here.
- TJ MAXX is finally back in the online game and is no longer limiting daily sales! And they finally have these Serena & Lily dupe pillows back in stock! You can shop their site here.
- TORY BURCH has added a lot of new pieces to their sale section – and it’s not just summer items! These cap toe ballet flats may be the cutest yet! You can shop all of their sale items here.
- TUCKERNUCK has also added some new sale pieces that are all darling! You can shop their site here.
- WEST ELM is hosting a Buy More Save More sale with 15-30% off your order with code SAVENOW. You can shop their sale here.
- WILLIAMS SONOMA is offering an extra 20% off clearance items with code EXTRA. You can shop the sale here.
- WILLIAMS SONOMA HOME is offering up to 75% off in their Fall Clearance Event. You can shop their site here.
I hope you all have a great week!
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