Art // Glasses // Ottoman // Frame // Pillow 

Tablecloth // Basket // Beads // Pillows

What a time we are living in; never in a million years would I imagine we would be living through a pandemic...let alone one that extends globally. This week marks the 6th week of self-isolation for our little family. Now more than ever I am grateful for our health and home. But I must admit spending so much time inside is making me a little crazy {bet I'm not the only one!}. To keep myself entertained I decided to take on a little project to refresh our downstairs. Make a couple changes to update the overall feel; I am still very much into blue but want to tone it down to a softer shade and add on some pattern and fresh accessories.

Floral and block prints are at the very top of my list; love the summery look it brings inside. While searching for inspiration I fell in love with seagrass and rattan. They are everywhere these days! While I normally don't follow trends I do love the natural touch so I went for some glassware and picture frames in these textured materials. I will not be buying any large pieces but I do want a new slipcover for my ottoman coffee table. I am thinking sea glass color linen with a 1/2 inch flange. Can't wait to show you the final result. How are you keeping yourself busy during these Coronavirus days? 

Must admit I have not been feeling too inspired to blog, but my juju  it's coming back to me slowly. Maybe I'll go wild and do another post this week. HA!

Until then, stay inside and safe. Hope you and your family and doing well.

xx, 

N. 

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Decking the Halls for Christmas

December is certainly the most wonderful time of the year. Christmas is my absolute favorite season and I could not wait to go all out this year decorating our new home. We purchased this house last year and with all of the added expenses of furnishing it -we came from a small one-bedroom apartment in Santa Monica- as soon as we got it, we decided to wait until 2018 to buy Holiday decorations. Being crafty is no easy task for me, so I enlisted the help of my mama, a Christmas decoration extraordinaire, to help me create the classic look I was going for. 

Decoration style varies from home to home and while I enjoy seeing the pink trees and striped black and white ribbons, I am more of a traditionalist myself. I love a red and gold Christmas that is very elevated and elegant. My mom was able to capture my vision perfectly and over the course of five days we decorated all of my downstairs, including the guest bedroom! (And by “we” I mean I was her elf, because I had no idea what I was doing).

Christmas Tree

The focal point of the house and gatherings. I was very excited to partner up with Treetopia for my greenery. I selected this 9’ Alexander Fir Artificial Christmas tree since we have high ceilings. I have never owned a Christmas tree this big and am totally obsessed with how grand and full it is. It is pre-lit {which my husband was super excited about} and the set up took all of five minutes. It is quite heavy and substantial so if you decide to purchase it make sure to place it right where you will want it for the rest of the season. Moving it is so hard!

Mom decorated it with ornaments in different scales and materials, as well as printed ribbon. We then added the ornaments that are most special to me. Like our wedding keepsakes and travel souvenirs {I buy an ornament in each place we visit together}.

Bar Wreath

Because our home has an open floor concept we incorporated the Balsam Spruce Christmas Wreath over the bar to bring some of the décor into this corner. The wreath is battery operated so I did not have to worry about ugly cables hanging from the wall. And my favorite part of all Treetopia items is that even though the lights are LED, the color is actually very warm. Like a traditional Christmas string light. We added these Timeless Figures mini ornaments to the wreath for a fun touch. We also have a donkey head we purchased in Ibiza, her name is Camila.  Mom decorated it with a bow around her neck.

Stair Garland & Mirror Décor

Again, a first for me. Never really had a banister to decorate before. We added the Balsam Spruce Garland, which is pre-lit so no need to worry about cables here either. My mom incorporated the ornaments and colors ending it with a beautiful waterfall detail. This matches the piece she created for the mirror. This is perhaps one of my favorite pieces of décor in the house. This is on my foyer so it is the first holiday item guests see when they walk in, setting the tone for the rest of the house. 

Kitchen

And of course we brought the decor into the kitchen by adding more of the Balsam Spruce Garland on top of the cabinets. Because we had decorations going on at the bar, stairs and foyer, we decided to keep it simple by adding a few red ornaments here and there. We let the density of the pre-lit garland shine on its own. I love cooking in here even more!

Guest Bedroom

I always wanted to be one of those over the top people that decorate every room in the house, and my dreams are slowly coming true HA! I added another Balsam Spruce Christmas Wreath in the guest bedroom, swapping it for the usual picture that hangs over the bed. My mom continued with the red theme and added some sparkle with touches of gold. We also added a yummy red throw to give it extra color. My in-laws will be staying in this room over Christmas, so I wanted to make sure we brought the holiday spirit into the room.

That is all for my indoor holiday decor tour. Thanks to Treetopia for this wonderful partnership and to my mama for bringing her fabulous talents to Austin. 

xx, Nicole

Design: Norma Orozco
(How cute is she!?)

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The Friday 5

Happy Friday! I wanted to introduce a new weekly series of my favorite things I found on the internet  and around town during the week. From articles to items for your closet and home. Hope you enjoy!

1. JCrew Vacation Shop is open!
Earlier this week I got an email blast from JCrew announcing their vacation shop was open. I can't help but get excited for the warmer months ahead. We already booked our summer vacation in June and we are looking at a little Spring Break getaway sometime in April. Cannot wait!

Image via JCrew Website. 

2. Office Decor post from Glitter Guide {one of my favorite blogs!}
We are about the start the decorating process for our home-office, this post gives some amazing tips. We are heading over to CB2 this weekend to purchase the first piece of the pie...ahhh! So obsessed with home decor.

Image via Glitter Guide Blog.

3. Frittata Recipe
We made this recipe on Sunday for breakfast and I took leftovers to work on Monday. So delicious and easy!

Image via Real Simple Good Blog

4. Stretch Yoga

New years resolution was to do a strengthening workout {I usually only run}. So I decided to go back to yoga after 10 years. This little studio tucked on Austin's East Side is so perfect! Very clean, great instructors and lovely people.

Image via Alo Yoga Apparel. 

5. New Camera Lens

I got a new {and quite inexpensive!} camera lens for my DSLR. I wanted to try something different to shoot blog content so I got the Nikon - AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G from Best Buy. It's a little over $200 dollars and the images look great! I shot this picture of Mr. Chimi on Monday night in my room with really bad lighting, can't wait to try it out on Saturday!

Have a wonderful weekend!

xx, N.

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Target Home Wishlist

Sheets // Flatware // Succulent // Candle

Rug // Decanter // Canister // Side Table 

It is no secret that Target has THE BEST home decor at the most reasonable prices. This week they released Project 62, a new home brand focused on modern minimal furniture and accessories. I was perusing the website and found a few items I want along with some classics I've kept my eye on for a while. I love printed sheets and this mint and white set it's so precious. They are made out of organic cotton,  got them last week and they are the softest set I own now. Gold flatware was on my radar for a while, so when I saw these for $2.00 a piece you know I put it in my cart immediately! Plastic plants are always a safe bet {for me anyways} and I can't live without scented candles. The rest of the items surely belong in my home, I just have to convince my husband haha.

Happy Wednesday! {It's actually my Friday, helloooo long weekend!}

xx, Nicole 

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Target Obsessions - Spring

Target is BY FAR my absolute favorite discount store. I could spend hours in there sipping my latte and putting things in my car I most likely don't need. On my last two Target runs I noticed a lot of beautiful pieces from Spring with white and blush tones; I love that combo! I'm currently shopping for a new look for our guest bedroom so aside from the pillows I posted in Instagram today, these are a few of my favorite things:

1. Printed Mules - I'm still not sure of this trend will work for me but these mules are making me one to try it. I love beautiful prints and the colors would go with just about every piece of clothing I own. Waiting on my online package to be delivered as I type this :)

2. Wishbone Accent Chair - I am so very beyond obsessed with wishbone chairs. This one with the faux fur provides just the right amount of coziness.

3. Marble Cheese Knives Set - Marble, gold and cheese make my heart happy. This would make such an adorable hostess gift.

4. Artificial Plant in White Pot - Great news is you can't kill this one! {I somehow always do}. And the white pot would look great just about anywhere.

5. Modern Globe Desk Lamp - Modern and sleek lamp for the side table on my guest bedroom? I think so.

6. Dipped Seagrass Basket - These are so useful, I keep one in my living room with all of our throw blankets. The sweet blush tone would bring so much warmth to any room.

7. Kristin Ess Moisture Mask - If you're going to get anything from this list, make it this hair mask! I'm obsessed with her hair products. Aside from the beautiful minimal packaging, this mask leaves my hair super soft and healthy and it smells like I just got my hair done at a salon. I also love her serum and shampoo.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend ahead of you! I did not work today so I'm heading for the spa this morning {after my run} and some shopping. So excited!

xx, Nicole

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Dream Kitchen

Image via Apartment Therapy

Carlos and I have started looking at houses in Austin, we are hoping we can come to an agreement soon enough so we can purchase this summer -he wants brand new and ready to move in, I prefer an old home we can remodel to out liking-. 

One thing we are on the same page about is having lots of natural light and a white kitchen. I have been on Pinterest every night gathering ideas to decorate.  

Here are some of my absolute favorites:

Image via DecorPad

Image via Ohara Davies-Caetano 

Image via Traditional Home

Image via The Fox & She 

And extra credit if I get an adorable little breakfast nook and can decorate with colorful accents:

Image via Apartment Therapy

I'll keep daydreaming here, until later. 

Xo, 

N. 

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Organized Entryway

Images by Better Homes & Gardens, Decoist, Good and Grey, Belle Maison & Brit Co. 

My fiance and I moved to our rented Austin townhouse about a month ago. All of the boxes are unpacked but we are still looking for ways to get organized. The entryway presents a challenge since we mostly use the back door to come into the house. The door immediately opens into the stairs to head to the second floor, as you can imagine, there is absolutely no space for a console table or any kind of furniture; another issue is the fact that we are renting so we don't want to get anything custom made until we buy a house. We desperately need a space where our keys, phones and bags can live. I had been gathering inspiration from Pinterest and I think I found the perfect solution. We will be visiting Home Depot this weekend and creating a floating station of our own. Can't wait to show you the final result!

XoXo, 

N. 

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