Kitty Deschanel

When SN and I bought our first home in 2007, we loved that it had an open floor plan, a two car garage, and was on a large corner lot in a desirable part of Albuquerque. We also loved...well, that was about it. Ours was just another plain box in our cookie cutter neighborhood, featuring the same white walls and not much else as all our neighbors. We spent the next few years upgrading our home and, when we sold it last year, the result of our effort was a 4-way bidding war. We were just poor college kids back then. Here are a few of the affordable improvements we made. Budget Interior Design Idea #1 Swap out some of your mirrors. More photos of our Budget Master Bathroom Remodel See the fancy mirrors above? Everyone thinks they're from Ballard Designs. Ours are actually from Michaels, which marks all of their mirrors down 50% every few weeks. These were about $35 each. We followed this same design rule for the mirrors in our new luxury home , forgoing the exp

Here are some bathroom photos we love, saved while planning a renovation in our previous home. I collected all these randomly before I created a blog, so unfortunately I do not have any links to post with the photos. I don't think Houzz even existed when I saved these bathroom photos!  Most of them, and quite possibly all of them, are from the now-defunct HGTV's  Rate My Space . Remember that site? I would upload photos of our house, proud of my first-ever decorating attempts, and just about die when mean people left comments. People are jerks. If you know where any of these should link to, please let me know and I'll be happy to provide credit where credit is due or remove the photo. Now, onto the bathroom photos to inspire your next remodel! From a million years ago when I saved this post as a draft and forgot about it: I'm definitely leaning toward an all or mostly white bathroom, with lots of sparkly & shiny accents. However, sinc

How to Create an Outdoor Meditation Space Confession: I'm skeptical that the woman above is in her yard. I dig her peaceful, zen vibe though. Okay, on to the guest post... Meditation is about finding peace within, even when you’re under a tremendous amount of stress. Sometimes meditation is easy, but sometimes it’s difficult, and we have to concentrate hard in order to get to the place where we feel free and unburdened. Where you choose to meditate is important; the setting should help you find your own inner balance. Outdoor Meditation Space Can I meditate at home? Yes, and if you have a yard, large or small, you can transform it into a meditation oasis using the following tips. Creating a Meditation Space: The Groundwork Survey the outdoor space you have to work with. Is there a part of your yard with shade? A favorite plant with a pleasant scent? If you don’t live alone, remember that your garden will be used by others, so find a spot where you can be on your own.

One of my favorite things about our new home is the unique assortment of lighting, including custom-made pieces and luxury designer fixtures. We even have an Arteriors light.  If you added everything up at retail price, we'd easily be looking at thousands of dollars just in lights. But, of course, we would never pay the retail price. (And you shouldn't either!) Everyone who knows me knows I love a bargain . Here are my tips for scoring the best deals on light fixtures for your home. Money-saving tip #1: Use Amazon Move, Wayfair, and Lowes coupons to save 10%, then save even more. When you move into a new place, be sure to fill out a USPS change of address form online, not at the post office. As we have a new construction home, we were required to go to the post office either way and, while there, we were encouraged not to fill out a change of address request online because it would cost us a dollar. (I've always thought this was dishonest of the post off

After anxiously waiting for construction to end for more than a year and a half, we moved into our mountain dream home and lived happily ever after. Ha ha ha ha ha. Six months in, this place is still construction central! Biscuit is walking away in frustration. SN built the kitchen island. It only needs to be stained and it will be finished. But before he can stain it (for some reason), he must first install a brick backsplash. He must also do these things before he can complete the complicated matter of installing any toilet paper holders. No, not even one. That's right. You think we're here living the dream in our fancy mansion, but little did you know we are storing our toilet paper rolls on the back of each toilet like animals . In SN's defense, he has also been busy diligently replanting trees, installing light fixtures, and creating an ingenious tennis ball system in the garage. Oh, and remember our Amerisleep   Superbed , in all its excessive glory?