Good morning! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, and your first week of the new year went well! Here’s a bit of what we’ve been up to this past week.
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Home Projects & Updates
Sunday, we made our weekly trek to the new build with our friends Chris and Rachel (who are building three doors down from us). There was some good progress this week to share since the framers finally came back to our lot. They wrapped up framing most of the second story and the roof, so I anticipate most of it will be covered this week!
It’s so fun to stand in what will be the entryway! They call it a “lighthouse” style. But it’s very similar to the entryway in our last house, with windows wrapping the top level on three sides. The wrapped staircase will be on the wall to the left. And yes, the houses really are this close down here. When you’re this close to the beach, land is a premium, and they don’t mess around with big lots!
One of the most exciting things to happen this week was the addition of stairs to our carriage house. As a reminder, our garage will be detached, and we’ll have a carriage house above that. Essentially a small apartment that even includes a mini kitchen! It will be so great when guests want to stay with us for longer periods but don’t want to feel like they’re intruding. They can basically come and go, and really stay as long as they want!
These two large openings you see below are a set of French doors that open onto a little Juliet balcony! We had the balcony placed on the back so they could have a view of the woods behind. It will be really pretty once it’s all cleaned up and some of the more sensitive plants come back to life and green up again!
We like to check out the other homes on the street too, to time their progress and see updates. One of the first to be nearly finished got their landscaping and pool area finished. All the houses by our builder include a pool/hot tub combo, but as I mentioned, the lots are quite a bit smaller here. Which means the pools are too. It really isn’t an issue though because we have access to more resort-style pools in our neighborhood and the beach club. But I thought I’d show you an example of one below! I actually took this picture to remember what the limestone pavers look like, so it kind of crops the pool. But we’re essentially standing at the back lot line near their garage/carriage house, and the fence is on their side yard. We’re actually most excited about having a hot tub, since the built-in ones aren’t usable year round in Omaha!
We spent a few hours at Hola Beaches this weekend, as we prepped for the painters to come in today. We had some furniture to sell and I wanted to remove some of the art from the walls that I don’t plan to replace so that they could fill the nail holes.
I also had to organize the chaos of my office. Between the move, decorating for the holidays, having to set up a new computer (thanks to filling 100% of my old hard drive), and working on year-end bookkeeping and taxes, it had gotten out of control!
Thankfully it’s “mostly” picked up now. But I’m still frustrated that the remainder of my bookshelves from Pottery Barn (that I ordered LAST JANUARY) have been pushed back again. As has my desk I ordered (hence the 6′ folding table). So, it’s hard to feel like the space will even be settled by the time we have to move again! Also, if you’re wondering about all the woven trays on the floor, the cats love to sleep in them. And we clearly know who’s boss around here 😉
Thankfully, I have Christmas fully taken down already, so I can focus on regular decor and organization now!
Top Sellers Of The Week
Following are the top sellers from last week across all of my channels. Links to each item are below the graphic.
BEST SELLERSÂ (each number is clickable):Â #5Â |Â #4Â |Â #3Â |Â #2Â |Â #1
In Case You Missed It
Following are the posts I shared over the past week, in case you missed some days!
Following are the most read blog posts of last week (excluding any of the new posts already mentioned above). Many times this includes old posts that are popular on Google or Pinterest.
- 50 Things To Do When Bored At Home
- The Best Green Paint Colors
- 2022 Top 10 Reader Favorites
- The Best Blue Gray Paint Colors
- Spring 2023 Studio McGee Collection at Target
Around Town & For Fun
We had lunch near the beach on Saturday, after running over to Hola Beaches for a bit. We didn’t fully walk down to the water, but it was such a beautiful day! It was one of the first in a while where the water was calm and there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky!
Saturday night, I went to a baby shower for our friend Ellen. She’s pregnant with twins, and it was fun to celebrate with her and meet some new ladies in the neighborhood!
Rachel was one of the hostesses and had two fun games for us. One was smelling the “dirty” diaper and guessing which baby food was inside. It was actually much more challenging than I expected! Then, she created a game where we were each given a single baby wipe and we had three minutes to wipe any surfaces in her house. Whoever had the dirtiest wipe was the winner. It was hilarious because she also basically got her house cleaned for free!
I had some rewards points to use at Mark & Graham, and found this adorable wicker pet house. It’s so chic but I wasn’t sure how the cats would react. Needless to say, Henley is full-blown obsessed with it. I’ve never seen her sleep so hard, so I think she feels really safe in it. The other two have gone in occasionally, but Henley has made it pretty well-known now that it’s officially hers.
The cats got to use the catio every day this past week. The mornings have been crisp here (typically in the 40’s) but the days end up in the mid to high 60’s or low 70’s. It has been so beautiful! Next I need to figure out which plants in the yard didn’t survive the deep freeze we had a few weeks ago. I might need a local expert to help me decide, because I honestly don’t know what more than half our plants are here! In Utah and Nebraska, I could pretty much name anything!
Our old kitchen is featured in the latest Food Network magazine for 2023 kitchen trends, so that was fun to see!
KITCHEN SOURCES: Counter Stools | Basket Pendant Lights  | Striped Runner Rug | Faux Orange Stems | Similar Glass Vase | Faux Orange Topiary | Large White Ceramic Dot Vase | Natural Wood Serving Board | White Serving Board | Small White Ceramic Dot Vase | Similar Faux Asparagus Fern | Sunday Suppers Cookbook | Similar Recipe Book Stand | Island Paint Color: Benjamin Moore Providence Blue
With the warm weather, we’ve been enjoying our bikes a lot. I did a few solo rides last week, since I prefer to go when it’s a bit warmer (and Kurtis is usually working by then). Kurtis took a ride by himself the other night and got this photo as the sun was starting to set. So beautiful!
He’s traveling for work quite a bit over the next few weeks, so I need to use the time to finalize a bunch of posts I have in progress! Lots of house updates, paint color ideas, maybe a final Omaha home tour (there’s still some updates I never shared on the blog), and get some work done at Hola Beaches so I can get some new photos with our updates! So much to do, so little time. Ha!
Recent Buys & Sales
Following are some sales from the weekend that have carried over and are still going strong!
- AMAZON has a number of daily deals happening now! You can shop their site here.
- ANN TAYLOR is offering $100 off full-priced outerwear and an extra 50% off sale styles. You can shop their site here.
- ANTHROPOLOGIE has a number of new items added to their sale section. You can shop their site here.
- BALLARD DESIGNS is offering up 25% off indoor furniture, drapery and pillows! You can shop their sale here.
- BANANA REPUBLIC is offering up to 60% off sale styles, plus an extra 30% off at checkout. You can shop their site here.
- BODEN is offering up to 60% off sale styles plus an extra 30% off with code USES. You can shop their site here.
- COLLEEN ROTHSCHILD is offering buy one, get one 50% off! You can shop her site here.
- DUDLEY STEPHENS has added a bunch of new items to their sale section, with items up to 40% off. You can shop their site here.
- GAP is offering 40 % off your purchase with code FLASH and an extra 20% off at checkout with code GAPDEAL. You can shop their sale here.
- J CREW is offering 30% wear-now styles and an extra 50% off sale styles with code SHOPNOW. You can shop their site here.
- J CREW FACTORY is offering up to 60% off everything plus get an extra 70% off 3+ clearance styles with code SALETIME. You can shop their sale here.
- LOFT is offering an additional 50% off sale styles and 30% off regular-priced items with code TREAT. You can shop their sale here.
- LULULEMON has a large new year finds section with some major markdowns. You can shop their site here.
- MADEWELL is offering an additional 40% off sale with code REFRESH. You can shop their site here.
- MARK & GRAHAM is offering up to 70% off in their winter clearance sale. You can shop their site here.
- MARSHALLS has a number of deals sitewide plus free shipping on orders of 89+ with code SHIP89. You can shop their site here.
- MICHAELS is offering 20% off regular priced purchases with code 22MADEBYYOU. You can shop their site here.
- NORDSTROM is hosting their Half-Yearly Sale, with items marked up to 60% off (ends tonight)! You can shop their site here.
- OLD NAVY is offering 30% off your order – no code required, prices update at checkout. You can shop their sale here.
- OUR PLACE is offering their famous Always Pan for $99. I finally ordered one for us and we’ve really been enjoying it! You can shop their sale here.
- OVERSTOCK is their New Year’s Home Sale, with up to 70% off 1000s of items! You can shop their sale here.
- POTTERY BARN is offering up to 40% off furniture, bedding, bath, and more found here. Plus they’re offering 10% off sofas in select fabrics and you can get free shipping on 1000s of items sitewide. You can shop their sale here.
- REJUVENATION is offering up to 30% off bedding, bath, and more. You can shop their site here.
- RUGS USA is offering up to 75% off sitewide as part of their New Year New Home sale. You can shop their site here.
- SERENA & LILY is offering 20% off and free shipping on furniture, rugs and lighting with code CHEERS. You can shop their sale here.
- TARGET has a bunch of deals sitewide including up to 50% off clothing, shoes, toys and more. You can shop their site here.
- TJ MAXX has a number of deals sitewide, up to 75% off select items, and is offering free shipping on orders $89+ with code SHIP89! You can shop their site here.
- TORY BURCH is offering an additional 25% off items in their sale section. You can shop their site here.
- TUCKERNUCK has a lot of cute new items in their sale section. You can shop their site here.
- WEST ELM is hosting their Big Savings Event with items marked up to 60% off! You can shop their site here.
- WILLIAMS SONOMA is hosting their end of season sale with items marked up to 70% off. You can shop their site here.
- WILLIAMS SONOMA HOME is offering up to 70% off in their clearance section. You can shop their site here.
- WORLD MARKET is offering 10% off curbside and store pickups to members (it’s free to join)! You can shop their site here.
I hope you all have a great week!
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Erin says
Thanks for the heads up on HomeGoods! I frequent TJMaxx online but haven’t checked HomeGoods in a while! Scored new curtain panels with the cutest button detail for our new kitchen! We live in Georgia and our landscape plants look like trash. My yard guy assured me they will come back.. just lost their current foliage due to the frost- hope that’s the case for you as well!
Sarah says
So happy to hear that! I was excited too! And that is so great to know about your landscape. Hoping that’s all that happened with ours, as well!
Sue says
Hi Sarah,
I always look forward to your weekend recap posts and you always make what has been going on seem enjoyable even though it might be hectic.
Great to see your new house making progress.
Sarah says
Thank you Sue! 🙂