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I cannot tell you how EXCITED I am to have a front porch to decorate for the holidays! It’s our first Halloween at the townhouse and whether we end up getting trick or treaters or not, the decorations were going up! This is the first time EVER in my adult life that I’ve actually had a front porch of my own and not just an apartment door so I definitely had a lot of fun with it!

Bats: Similar | Skeleton: Similar | Spider Webs: Similar | Candy Corn Lights: Similar

Our front porch isn’t super big so we decided to also take advantage of our Juliette balcony for some decor! We added a skeleton we had, as well as some spider webs and lights. Since he gets s little windy up there too we also tied the skeleton to the balcony with some twine.

My other favorite part of our decor are these bats! How fun right?!

Next up is the front porch! Of course we all know the real stars of the season are pumpkins! We picked up a bunch of varieties at Trader Joes this year. I also brought out a wood crate we had to add a little height and give us more space to stack pumpkins. Add in some corn cobs and some lights and the front porch was ready to go!

Wreath: Option 1 & Option 2 | Halloween Ornaments: Similar

Another fun decor element is our wreath. I actually got this years ago when I was living in NYC and thought I was splurging (it was a whole $30 😂). What I love about it is since it’s black and silver I can change the decorations to match the holiday. In NYC this was more a matter of space, but even still I like having the option. So for Halloween, I add a spider and some Halloween ornaments. For Christmas, I swap out the ornaments, add some ribbon and a hanging snowflake. Then for Valentine’s Day, I add some cute heart lights. It’s nice to have something that is versatile!

Spider Webs: Similar | Plastic Spiders: Similar | Halloween Tombstones: Similar

To finish off our decorations, we added spider webs to our bushes with plastic spiders sprinkled throughout them. Then a few faux tombstones in our flower beds!

It was so fun getting in the spirit! I hope you liked the tour and maybe even got some inspo for your decorations too!

Shop my Halloween Decorations

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When we decided to make pickles I thought it would be a big production involving canning and all of that. Turns out you can also make small batch refrigerator pickles and they are SO easy! I’m talking you can have them prepped in a matter of minutes. I made 8 jars in 30 mins the last time and then they only take a few days to be ready to eat! I told you guys…. easy peasy!

Below are 3 of the recipes we’ve used that I recommend! The fun thing about making pickles too is you can experiment and get a little creative on the spice side of things. Pickling cucumbers are preferred for these but honestly I’ve used just normal cucumbers too (because that’s what we grew in the garden this year) and they turned out great!

Sweet Pickles

This recipe fills about 3 pints jars of pickles

• Couple of pounds of cucumbers

• Yellow onion

• 3 cups of sugar

• 1/4 cup Kosher salt

• 2 cups white vinegar

• 2 teaspoons mustard seed

Make them sweet and spicy (my favorite)

• Add 1/4- 1/2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes to each jar (depending on how much spice you want)

Directions:

1. Wash jars and rinse cucumbers and onion. If they’re homegrown cucumbers be sure to rub off the spikes too.

2. Roughly chop onion and cut cucumbers how you’d like them — you can keep them whole if they’re pickling cucumbers or try quartering them or slicing for bread and butter pickles (my go-to)

3. Mix spices and vinegar mixture into bowl and stir well

4. Fill jars with cucumbers and a couple tablespoons of onion then top with pickling mixture

5. Put lids on jars and shake each a couple of times.

6. Put in refrigerator and shake each day for 2-3 days and then enjoy!

The pickles will be good in the fridge for about a month and I do want to note if you make spicy pickles they will get spicier the longer they’re in there so just keep that in mind.

Dill pickles

This recipe fills about 3 pints jars of pickles

• Couple of pounds of cucumbers

• 1.5 cups white vinegar or apple cider vinegar

• 2 cups water

• 1/8 cup of Kosher salt

• 2 tablespoons sugar (optional)

• 3 sprigs of fresh dill

• 6 garlic cloves

• 3 teaspoons dill seed

• 1.5 teaspoons black peppercorns

Make them spicy

• Add 1/4- 1/2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes to each jar (depending on how much spice you want)

• As an alternative, you can also add sliced jalapenos or serrano peppers to the jars

Directions:

1. Wash jars and rinse cucumbers. If they’re homegrown cucumbers be sure to rub off the spikes too.

2. Cut cucumbers how you’d like them — you can keep them whole if they’re pickling cucumbers or try quartering them or slicing for bread and butter pickles (my go-to)

3. Mix vinegar, water, salt, and sugar in a bowl until dissolved

4. Add a sprig of fresh dill, 2 garlic cloves, 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns and chili flakes (optional) to each jar. If you don’t have fresh dill you can double up on dill seed or if you’re in a pinch you can use dried dill it just makes the mix a little messier.

5. Fill jars with cucumbers and then top with pickling mixture

6. Put lids on jars and shake each a couple of times.

7. Put in refrigerator and shake each day for 2-3 days and then enjoy!

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Welcome to our living and dining room! Something I absolutely love about our townhouse is that it gets such great light! Add in the yellow paint that’s throughout most of our house and it always has bright and cheery vibes. Which is definitely nice during our gloomy PNW winters too! Another thing that is really awesome about the space is all of the built-in shelving! I definitely didn’t waste any time filling those puppies up.

Couch: Similar | Cowhide: Similar | Pom Pom Throw Blanket: Similar | Tray: Similar

Our living/dining area is located on the main floor (which is kind of the second floor) and something else I really liked about the townhouse is it didn’t have a huge dining area. I know that’s not a popular opinion and maybe my thoughts on this will change. For me though, having a full separate dining room is such a waste of space… We really wouldn’t use one, so I love that we have an area that is functional but doesn’t take away from the use of the room. We also have a balcony right off of the dining area which gives us another little area where we can eat or hang out.

When it comes to our shelves, let’s be honest, they’re mostly used for my plant babies 😂🌱. They’re certainly the stars of the room with my sun-loving plants on the shelf nearest to the window and the ones that need less direct light on the other. Definitely serving out that purpose well!

For the rest of the space, I wanted them to be both functional plus highlight things that were personal to us. We do spend a lot of time in this space after all! So you’ll find that reflected through the artwork, different family heirlooms, and some of the rocks we’ve picked up from our adventures (yes we do that) that are on display. Designing each shelf was really all about purpose, meaning and a dash of styling.

Also, I’d like to let it be known that when I designed the “Let’s Stay Home” print for Evan’s first apartment… I did not anticipate the pandemic of 2020! It definitely has a different meaning these days.

Rug: Similar | Plant Basket: Similar | Decorative Suitcases: Similar

The other end of our living room, connects to our kitchen which is super handy! It’s really nice to be able to still chat while one of us is cooking and also being able to watch the TV if something is on. Plus being able to hand things through the opening if very practical.

When it came to the TV, the big opening where the plant and suitcases are was actually where the TV was intended to be. Our house was built in 2003, back in the era where the TVs were so deep! We decided against putting it there though and went with mounting it instead. It just worked out better and made more sense for us.

Light Fixture: Home Depot | Bar Table: Amazon | Bar Cart: Target | Bar Stools: Target | Shelves: Ikea

Now onto the dining room area! Like I said, this space isn’t too big but it works out perfectly for us. We had this bar table from our old apartment and decided to stick with it here too. When it comes to the dining area, my favorite part is the new lighting fixture for sure.

The one that was there when we moved in was a lot bigger and a little dated. I mean, it worked and everything, but since we opted not to have an actual dining table it ended up just looking too big for the space. Plus, with everything being very move-in ready it was really the only thing I kind of wanted to change. Queue me starting to look for light fixtures… My goal was to find something that was smaller, was a little more industrial, and wasn’t a million dollars. It took me a hot minute to find something I was into but this one ended up being perfect + it was only $150! Which, if you’ve looked at lighting before you know that’s a steal for those types of lighting fixtures.

On top of the bar cart, is my tried and true open shelving for some of my favorite glasses. I’ve integrated this design element into pretty much all of the apartments I’ve lived in since my NYC days and it’s always one of my favorites. I also swear by these shelves from Ikea for doing this. They are SO much sturdier than others I’ve tried. Another thing you can do is spray paint the hardware so you can put a little of your own touch on the look too.

Spray paint is my friend let me tell you! Another thing I spray painted was the barstools! I had a set of two but since we put the table in the middle of the room we needed another set. Of course, after buying a house I was trying to save wherever I could and didn’t want to spend the brand new price for another set. So instead, I looked on Facebook Marketplace, got a set of 3 for a whopping $25 and then I spray painted all 4 of them black so they all matched. My original two were a bronze metal color and the new ones were white, but the spray paints didn’t match perfectly so I just went black so they’d all match.

I’m a little biased but I think it turned out pretty good! Here’s a final look from the dining area peaking out onto the balcony. This is a fun little corner too because our hummingbird feeder is right outside and then they also like to sit in the trees right outside the window! They’ve officially become my unofficial pets now. Plus that tree has been moved into many rooms and was on a mission to die but has been thriving in this corner ever since so it’s staying there for the long-term! Oh to be a plant mom!

I hope you enjoyed the tour and I’ve linked to more of the products we used + some similar options below! if there’s anything specific you’re interested in though be sure to shoot me a note!

Shop the Living and Dining Room