Small space entryway rearrangement and styling.

The difference between minimal and unfinished decorating

I've been lying in bed thinking about this quite a lot over the past year. My life ritual is to swing from one extreme to another, then gently wander my way into middle ground. I did this with boyfriends. I did this with work. I'm doing this with my bedroom decorating, duh. So my once packed bedroom became quite a blank canvas this past year. And it's from this place, I have been contemplating the difference between minimal design and something not quite finished.

For Sale: Modern Tulsa Home

At the moment of writing this, our dear friends Sarah and Adam Heatherington's Lortondale home is up for sale! We've had it on our list to take photos for a home tour, so we ran over there as soon as we heard our time was dwindling. We are so happy to share this thoughtful home with you.

You can adorn your home festively even if you do not store a bunch of decorations in storage sheds. I get anxious thinking about lugging out things that may only be used a couple weeks, six weeks if I am lucky, before I have to put them all up again. This holiday home tour, believe it or not, reflects my crazed one storage tub for ALL holiday decorations rule. I will note, I have another container that only stores my ornaments because I want them to be safe and sorted with cardboard around them. I'm minimal, but not reckless, people. 

There are a few things to remember when you are an anxious human who gets overwhelmed about decorating for the holidays.

We first met Emily Netz at The Alliday Show a few years ago. She made and sold beautiful brass air plant hangers. She and I (Daly) figured out that we were both pregnant and due within a few days of one another. The excitement and anxiety of impending parenthood bonded us, but I must admit enjoying our friendship on the background of her beautiful homes has been a nice perk.

Emily and her affable husband Jeff flip houses, and if I were a house, I'd want them flipping me. They take care to respect the home's character and breathe fresh life into the walls. All the while, they are raising their sweet, handsome boys Theo and Auggie. 

This past weekend we were lucky enough to spend a few hours at the beautiful home of Ashley Mayes, creator of the home interior and DIY blog Bigger Than the Three of Us. We've been following Ashley on Instagram for a couple years now, ogling and reading about her home renovation and decor projects, so we were super excited to meet her! 

So, I like to traffic in decorating trends. It's true. I enjoy timelessness, but I also get sucked into the hype of the newest thing. Right now, my husband and I are all razzed about the color pink. I mean, so are a lot of people. We recently switched our once edgy chevron patterned wall to a sweet, coy blush tone. And here is why.

When we do a mini-session, we first give you homework meant to get you really thinking about what you want out of this room- how you want it to look and feel. We send you our home survey full of questions (kind of like a home therapy worksheet) and ask you to make a Pinterest board. We use these pieces to help us get to know you and wrap our heads around where you want to go. Then, we take you there. And you like it. 

Hands down, my favorite way to shop vintage is flea markets. There is something extra fresh and exciting about them. Vendors set up booths in a large facility or outdoor space and fill their spots with vintage treasures. Rows and rows of tiny shops to peruse! It's like an antique mall, but these booths are set up and torn down within a matter of days or even hours, so everything feels new and urgent. You cannot come back another day hoping that gold polkadot pyrex bowl will still be there. YOU HAVE TO GET IT NOW. Or you may live your lives apart forever. Cue the heartbreaking music and imagery of you stirring up chicken salad in a plain, non-polkadot bowl.

My bedroom has seen a lot, folks. Take that how you like, but I am referring to decorating styles. It's first days featured a large brass bed handed down to us by my parents. It was exactly like the bed Bob Dylan sang of in his song Lay Lady Lay. And as much as I loved the joke of that song and my bed mingling in my mind, the compromise of two people sharing a home meant that I had to part with my brass bed. Maybe my husband Ryan didn't like sleeping in his in-law's bed? Maybe we are just thirty-year-old hipsters aching for the non-sense of a low-lying platform bed. We'll never know. Unless I ask him, I guess.