Good morning! I hope you all had a great weekend! Here’s a bit of what we’ve been up to over the past week or so.
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Home Projects & Updates
We had another flooring and tile meeting last week and got a lot of clarity about the direction we want to head in several spaces, particularly the bathrooms.
See that cement star tile in the top of the photo above? You can see all the color combos below that you can make on both the background and stars. We’re likely going to keep it really simple given the pattern and use the white stars with the sand colored sample you see sitting on the tile in the photo above so that it’s fairly tone-on-tone.
I really want to do a subtle checkerboard tile in our laundry room, but Kurtis has been hesitant. He said it reminds him of the 50’s and/or a diner. We found a combo below that is the subtle look I was after (neither of us love high-contrast in our spaces) and he actually really liked it. Thankfully!
The tile store (8five0 Tile) is working on putting storyboards together and pricing out our selections. I’ll likely be able to share more info on brand names and stone/tile types once I get that back!
They’re continuing to crank out tasks at the new house.
The biggest surprise of the week was seeing the support posts going up on the carriage house balcony.
By Saturday evening, they had most of the frame and covering built out.
They also wrapped up all the paper on the roof so everything is staying dry. With that, they also swept up all the floors and it’s so clean inside! This is one of my favorite views. I’m standing in our future bedroom, looking down the area that will have the entrance (on the left), our closets on either side behind that, and then our bathroom. The tub will be straight ahead under the window. We’re doing a lot of pocket doors in the area so those still need to be framed out.
We saw that a lot of ladders were delivered so we’re guessing they may start the Tyvek wrap on the exterior of the house this week!
We hadn’t really been given a tentative completion date yet, but now that framing is further along, they said they’re shooting for early summer 2026. So close, yet so far away!
In Case You Missed It
Following are the posts I shared over the past week, in case you missed some days!
Around Town & For Fun
I headed out on a solo walk one day and randomly took one of our neighborhood trails. About halfway through the trail, I remembered the bear we saw the week prior, and then that’s all I could think of. Ha! Thankfully there were no close encounters.
I joined a fun girls night out dinner at Amigos early in the week with Rachel, Katie and our new friend Josepha! Such a fun night.
Despite not seeing any bears this week, our neighbor sent us this picture of a large owl that was camped out on our carriage house roof.
Kurtis then spotted the tiniest little lizard on our garage door (I thought it was grass from the mowers)! And later that evening, I spotted a gator on the bank of a pond in our neighborhood!
Rachel makes one of our all-time favorite steaks. I had been trying to get my hands on her exact cast iron skillet and it finally came in stock a month or so back. So, we picked a week last night and she taught me how she makes them. She essentially seasons them with only black pepper and garlic salt. She then sears them on each side and then bakes in the oven. So, so yummy!
I’ve created mini monsters with these two divas. Over the past month or so I’ll add an ice cube to their water dish once or twice a week. Now they’ll sit in there and cry when they want one. Which is a lot more frequently than once or twice a week. Ha! But they love it so much, they’ll even drink at the same time.
Kurtis and I tried a new-to-us restaurant after our tile appointment Friday afternoon. We went to Down Island on 98 in Santa Rosa Beach. The food was really good, but I’m not sure we’d make a special trip there unless we’re down on that end. But it’s always fun to try somewhere new!
I had Kurtis go to Summer House Lifestyle with me to check out this seamless blue grasscloth-ish wallpaper in person. They also ordered a samplle for me so I hope to have it next week. It’s a Thibaut product, but I don’t currently have the product name yet. I’ll be sure to share once it arrives! It’s so pretty in person!
We also had lunch one day at Camp Creek. I finally asked what the door color is because I love it so much and they told me Sherwin Williams Aquaverde. Honestly, I have serious doubts that’s true unless it’s a reduced saturation of that color. It’s so much more blue gray in person. Have any of my other locals tried it? I’m tempted to order a sample to bring with me next time 😉
New hobby unlocked: I love ordering items on DoorDash that I already love and then submitting photos to try and earn a food credit (the app tells you which ones you can earn on). 95% of the photos are terrible on their app (at least where we live) so I figure even random ones like this that are in portrait mode and half the food is blurry are better than most of them on there, right?? Plus, it makes my next order on sale. It’s a new obsession and worth giving a try if you can take a photo in natural light where you can actually see some color. I’m serious – most of the photos on there are so bad (or at least in our area). This was my miso mushroom bowl from Idyll Hounds Proper – this quick iPhone pic earned me $5!
Saturday was pretty rainy and bleak so I worked on cleaning my office and closet and rounding up donations. I’m hoping we can actively purge for the next nine months or so to make moving that much easier when the time rolls around. And it always feels nice to donate while also cleaning up spaces!
Sunday it rained almost all day again and I was going a bit stir crazy. Rachel and I cooked dinner for our neighbor friend that had surgery recently. We made a double batch of everything so we had some too. We followed that with a game of Farkle. We hadn’t all played together as a group since our catamaran trip in January!
Kurtis is headed out to Nashville for a work event this week, so I’m hoping to devote a lot of time to mood boards for the new house!
Recent Buys & Sales
Following are some sales from the weekend that have carried over and are still going strong!
- ABERCROMBIE is offering $25 off $100+ or $50 off $150+ orders. You can shop their site here.
- AFLORAL is offering 25% off fall stems with code AUTUMN. You can shop their site here.
- AMAZON has a number of daily deals. Our cordless table lamp set is an item we use way more than we ever thought we would. So great for al fresco dining or ambient light in the kitchen and other spaces. You can shop their site here.
- ANN TAYLOR is offering 30% off full-priced pants, skirts and denim as well as an extra 60% off clearance styles. You can shop their site here.
- ANTHROPOLOGIE has added a number of new items in their sale section. You can shop their site here.
- AVARA is offering 15% off your regular-priced purchase with my code STEWART15. You can shop their site here.
- BODEN is offering 10% off new styles with code T3D7. You can shop their site here.
- CRATE & BARREL is offering up to 60% off during their summer in-stock sale. You can shop their site here.
- FRANK & EILEEN is hosting a sale with items marked up to 50% off. You can shop their site here.
- GAP is offering 50% off sweats, tees, denim and dresses. You can shop their sale here.
- J CREW is offering up to 50% off all summer styles. Plus if you’re a cardmember, take an extra 20% off your order with code CARDLOVE. You can shop their site here.
- J CREW FACTORY is offering up to 60% off everything as well as an 15% off $100+ with code TAKE15. You can shop their sale here.
- LOFT is offering up to 40% off new arrivals and $49 jeans. You can shop their sale here.
- LULULEMON has a number of new items in their sale section. You can shop their site here.
- MARK & GRAHAM is offering up to 50% off on their end of summer sale and free shipping on orders $150+ with code SHIPFREE. You can shop their site here.
- MARSHALLS is offering free shipping on orders of $89+ with code SHIP89. You can shop their site here.
- MCGEE & CO. has a number of new items in their sale section. You can shop their site here.
- NORDSTROM has some new markdowns in their sale section. You can shop their site here.
- OLD NAVY has a number of back-to-school finds from $5-$8. You can shop their sale here.
- POTTERY BARN is hosting an end of season sale with up to 60% off. You can shop their sale here.
- REJUVENATION is offering up to 70% off during their end of summer sale. You can shop their site here.
- SAKS FIFTH AVENUE is hosting a huge designer sale with items up to 60% off. You can shop their sale here.
- SALT & STONE is offering 15% of your purchase with my custom code SARAHS15. I have really been loving their clean deodorant! You can shop their site here.
- SERENA & LILY is hosting their Living Room Event with up to 25% off savings on living room furniture, coffee and side tables, throw blankets, pillows, lighting, rugs, and more! Plus get up to 40% off during their Outdoor Event. You can shop their sale here.
- SOMA is offering 10 for $40 panties. You can shop their site here.
- TARGET is offering multiple home deals like up to 50% off bedding, up to 50% off patio furniture and garden accessories, buy one get one 50% off select picture frames, and more. You can shop their site here.
- TJ MAXX is offering free shipping on orders $89+ with code SHIP89! You can shop their site here.
- TORY BURCH has a number of new items in their sale section. You can shop their site here.
- TUCKERNUCK has a number of new items in their sale section. You can shop their site here.
- WAYFAIR is offering an additional 15% off their Wayfair verified products, which is all of their top-rated, vetted products. You can shop their sale here.
- WEST ELM is offering up to 50% off sale and clearance finds. You can shop their site here.
- WILLIAMS SONOMA is offering up to 75% off clearance styles. You can shop their site here.
I hope you all have a great week!
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Hi, would Rachel mind sharing the name of her stone on her benchtops? it’s beautiful. I mentioned your bear story from last week to my son, it’s so strange to us (I’m in Australia) to see bears roaming around and the other wild animals I read about on other blogs, I stated there’s alligators in their ponds and you post a photo this week.
Hi! She used Taj Mahal quartzite throughout most of her home. She used it in her last house as well and used it again because it’s so beautiful! And we live not far from a state forest so it’s heavily wooded here (which seems odd since we’re so close to the beach) but it’s pretty crazy how many wild animals we have! We even have wild hogs (thankfully I haven’t seen those yet) and armadillos.
I like the look of grasscloth but hated the seams and that wall looks so much better. The checkerboard you chose for the laundry is also lovely and not at all retro.
I always felt the same way about grasscloth! The texture is so beautiful but I coudln’t deal with the seams. When my installers were working on our bathrooms last year, they had mentioned two seamless options and I had doubts. But when I saw that one in person, it was SO good!