Lately, I've been finding myself drawn to black trim.  It feels unexpected but still classic. I've also noticed that black walls/trim seem to add character to newer homes such as the one below. What do you think?

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( I would love to credit the right person, so if you know who deserves credit for this photo please tell!)

and here are some links that have been catching my eye this week:

If you follow me on instagram, you'll know Reese turned two over the weekend, and if you know me at all, you know I love any chance to celebrate.  It's not only a creative outlet for me, but it honestly brings me so much joy seeing people I care about enjoying themselves.  Instead of doing a party, we opted for doing a picnic with her best friend and her family.  Originally, I thought it would be a great idea to do a picnic at the Indianapolis zoo gardens followed by a visit to the butterfly house.  After a recent zoo visit, it became clear that what would would really make this two your old happy would be to run around with as little boundaries as possible with her best bud.  So we ended up having the picnic at the gardens near the Indianapolis Museum of Art (where there was more room for them to run around).   I made them butterfly wings, little crowns, handed them butterfly nets, and then we made a teepee (her birthday gift) just in case they got antsy.  When planning things like this, you never know what you're going to get…..the weather could be horrible, not to mention the mood of your toddler!  I was fully prepared to put a lot of effort into it, but have nothing work out……thankfully it was quite the opposite.  The weather was perfect, the girls ran around with their butterfly nets thoroughly enjoying themselves, and the only "glitch" was that the butterfly wings I made for the girls were not a hit.  Oh well, if that's the only complaint, I'll call it a success! 

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These two girls have the sweetest friendship, it is the most adorable thing to watch them together and makes my mom heart happy.

and these links:

This vase

Tips to making your denim last

These white Birkenstocks made me a follower (and I'm still shocked that I'm saying that)

This bedding

All of Rifle Paper Co's new wallpapers

This pretty apartment

By now, this is hardly a reveal.  You have caught glimpses of the process of the transformation of our dining room over this past year (here and here), but not the entire room.  Well, here it is!  I secretly hate "reveals" because the word seems to connotate that the room is exactly the way you want it, finished, or perfect.  I don't know if I have ever felt that way about a room.  Don't get me wrong, I'm very pleased with the turnout…..I see this room as my very best effort with the budget we agreed upon. The table and bench were DIY thanks to Red, the bar cart and Bentwood chairs were cheap craigslist finds, and the head chairs were our splurge.  After the purchase of the head chairs, we agreed that we were done spending money on house things for a while (aside from Christmas and birthday money), so I sort of decided that I had to be content with the ugly standard-new-house-lighting we had from when we first moved into our house.  There are worse things.  Then one night when I was having trouble sleeping, I made up my mind that I could come up with a cheap alternative that would neither cost us much in terms of money or design….my favorite type of challenge.  Here I give you my $10 lighting….I will share the tutorial with you next week.

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And just for fun, here is a picture of the dining room when we first bought the house (our realtor's picture and previous owner's furniture).

The transformation with the new lighting:

Before I share our dining room lighting with you, I wanted to let you in on the brainstorming process.  While my finished lighting is very different from these two pieces, my inspiration started with them. Actually, I first dreamed of a crystal chandelier, but it wasn't long before I realized the space needed brass/gold lighting (so it wouldn't look too farmhousey)….. and that it needed to be DIY(for budget reasons).  These two modern ones caught my eye.  While both of them are DIY and (as far as lighting is concerned) not expensive, we made the decision to put lighting on the back burner as we spent money on more practical things…..like chairs. 

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via

Then on a shopping trip with a friend I saw something similar to this pretty mobile in Jcrew's window displays.  That's when the wheels really started to turn.

If you follow me on instagram, most of these are repeats.  If not, here is what I've been up to the past couple weeks:

1. A DIY coming to you soon….

2. A new find, and the prettiest lunch place