DECOR – THE MODERN MUGGLE

DECOR

Baby Belle’s Nursery

October 14, 2018by themodernmuggleLeave a Comment

We finished baby Isabella’s nursery and it was just in time because the little peanut decided to make an early debut! I’m by no means savvy with interior decorating but I’m so happy with how the room came out and wanted to share the finished product with you all. I had the hardest time deciding on a theme for the nursery. I wanted to do something Disney themed but it was just too hard for me to decide whether to focus on one movie, Mickey Mouse himself, a mix, etc. I think I finally gave up and just typed in “modern nursery ideas” into Pinterest and that’s when I saw it – a black & white themed nursery. At first I thought it might be too serious for a baby but then I started thinking about how easy it would be to match things and how newborns can’t even see color at first. I was sold.

From the beginning, my husband and I both agreed that we didn’t want to spend a ton on the nursery. We knew that the baby would only really be in the nursery for sleeping and didn’t see the point in spending hundreds on an actual bedroom set. Instead, we tried to opt for economical and practical and I think we succeeded. Everything in the nursery was purchased from Ikea, Target, Amazon, & Etsy. The only items I would consider a “splurge” would be the pouf from Crate & Kids and the dream catcher.

The walls are a neutral gray – Behr Gentle Rain. We actually have this color downstairs as well and I love it. I thought it would be a good backdrop to the black & white but I guess we could’ve also gone with a brighter color if we really wanted some sort of pop. The book ledges are meant for photos but I saw them used for books on Pinterest and fell in love. They’re quite sturdy if you use wall anchors and they fit a ton of books! We also opted to not get a changing table and got a dresser instead to save space and be able to store more. All of the prints on the wall were from various shops on Etsy. I purchased the digital files and got them printed at Sam’s Club. If your local wholesale store has a photo center, take advantage! It was so cheap to get these printed, especially the 16×20 ones over the crib, compared to getting them printed at Snapfish or Walgreens. And that’s it. Our attempt to create a Pinterest worthy nursery without breaking the bank. I tagged all of the shops below but let me know if I missed anything!

IKEA Poang Rocking Chair x Blanket & Pillow from Target

IKEA Hemnes Dresser x IKEA Nissedal Mirror

IKEA Sundvik Crib x Prints from Etsy

IKEA Flysta Shelf Unit

IKEA Mosslanda Picture Ledge

XL Round Storage Bin from Target

IKEA Fiskbo Frames

Hamper from Amazon

Prints from Etsy

Pouf from Crate & Kids

Black bins from Amazon

XoXo,
K

DECOR

FALLING BACK INTO IT…

August 9, 2018by themodernmuggleLeave a Comment

I’m back! OH MY GOODNESS. I’m back and I’m so excited! I don’t even know where to start. Yes, I’ve been gone awhile. Yes, I’m sorry. But the hiatus was all for good reason, I promise. First, I enrolled in two classes for the Summer and severely underestimated the amount of time and effort they would take and then we found out that we’re pregnant (YAY!). So to sum up the past few months: homework + complete exhaustion + life = no blog. Boooooo. 😦 But as I said, I’m back! And I have so much to share with you all (food, baby, decor…we’re doing it all guys!) 🙂

Completely unrelated to pregnancy or school – because momma needs a break – I wanted to share my latest buy from Bath & Body Works! Not sponsored at all. I’m just a sucker for candles. There’s something very calming about the faint glow and they make the house smell amazing. In fact, as I write this, I have a vanilla Ikea candle burning. Yum!

Last week Bath & Body Works had a sale on the Leaves 3 wick candles – $10.95 each. And being that as of the first of August I was already day dreaming about Fall and how I want to decorate, I thought it was totally necessary to stock up on some fall scents. They also had some of the single wick candles mix & match 2 for $16. There were some “fallsy” (totally a word) scents and I thought it couldn’t hurt to try them too. All four with the 20% off promo code I found plus shipping brought my total to $38.49, about 9.62 per candle. Not bad, but probably not the best deal I could’ve gotten. I’ve seen steeper sales but as I mentioned, I was already dreaming of Fall and felt that I would die if I didn’t buy these. And let’s be real, I will totally buy more when/if there’s another sale (sorry hubby).

So. What did I wind up with? I got two of the 3 wick candles in Leaves, one single wick in Cinnamon Spiced Vanilla, and one single wick in Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin. I have yet to light them so I can’t comment on the throw just yet. One, I need to finish the Ikea candle I’m halfway through and two, I feel like I need to wait until we get just a *little* closer to September to avoid any crazy looks from visiting friends and family. But for any of you considering picking up some fall scents for yourselves, here are my thoughts:

Leaves – Smells like straight up fall. I lurve it. The cold scent is super strong and even with it just on the table next to me with the lid on I can still faintly smell it. You’re supposed to smell crisp red apple, golden nectar, and warm clove spice. I definitely smell the clove and the apple is very subtle, but the sweetness is there. I don’t know what nectar smells like so I’m not much help there. Overall, it definitely smells like the crisp leaves of a fall day. 10/10 would buy again.

The single wick candles were smaller than I expected but that’s my fault. I never read the dimensions on anything. I’ve also never purchased any of the Bath & Body Works candles made with essential oils so I’m interested to see how they burn & how strong the throw is on these.

Cinnamon Spiced Vanilla – The cold scent on this one is also very strong but I’m not confident it’ll smell as strong when lit (I hope I’m wrong). Sometimes when I open this candle the first thing I smell is the vanilla and other times the cinnamon is stronger. Overall, I would say it’s a great balance. You’re supposed to smell ground cinnamon, sugar crystals, and vanilla bean. I’d say they nailed it. I have high hopes for this little guy.

Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin – This one definitely smells sweeter than the Cinnamon Spiced Vanilla but not in a bad way. It’s not an overpowering sweet…just like a stronger punch from the cinnamon. While this one also smells great cold, it’s definitely more subtle than the other two. You’re supposed to smell warm cinnamon, fresh ground clove, and vanilla cream. I’m not sure where the pumpkin comes into play here but I still love the scent. If you don’t like the smell of cinnamon this isn’t for you.

I am so excited to light these bad boys. I would definitely buy the two single wick scents in three wick next time. They all smell fantastic! If any of you have tried out some of the other fall scents let me know how you liked them. I bought these online and did not get to smell them first so I had to go based off of the fragrance description and reviews. Risky…but I’m really glad they’re all winners. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for some deals and let you all know if anything good comes up and hopefully you all will let me know if you see something first!

♥,
K

DECOR

Paint the bathroom they said…It’ll be fun they said…

February 15, 2018February 16, 2018by themodernmuggleLeave a Comment

Happy Friday Eve Friends! Tonight, I wanted to share one of our latest projects. It’s not 100% complete but it’s pretty much there and I just can’t wait any longer to share. *eek!* We had our home built coming up on two years ago and it’s STILL a work in process. I learned very quickly that although you want everything to look perfect and be done, it is very expensive to furnish and decorate an entire new home. The good news is that little by little, it gets done.

I had a week off of work recently and had a list of things I wanted to get done around the house. One of those things was painting our upstairs guest bathroom. I was so excited. In my head I thought – this is going to be great! so much fun! what will I do with the rest of my day? Mind you, I had never painted a room in my life. All I can say is OH MY GOD. WHY? What in the world made me think painting by myself would be fun or easy or quick? HA! One example of my naiveness – I only used painter’s tape around the cabinetry & faucet area. I thought my handy dandy edger would give me wonderfully perfect straight lines everywhere else. SO WRONG. Anyway, long story short, it was a very long two days with lots of spills, elbow bangs, touch-ups, and tears (just kidding)…(not really)… but the bathroom was finally painted and it was time to decorate!

Naturally, I bought everything and then tasked my wonderful husband with putting it all up. Thank you, handsome! Check out his handiwork below. I’ll tag where I got everything in case you see something you like. I love the black, white, and gold and the light pop of color on the wall. We still need to put up the towel rings and I still can’t decide whether I like the picture frame horizontally or vertically but this bathroom is giving me all the feels right now.

Before: