Last summer it became quickly evident that between two dogs, loads of construction dust, and kids running hither and yon, we needed a better rug situation than previously thought. I love my indoor/outdoor Dash & Albert rug in our OKC family room, and with how easy it is to clean, I figured another indoor/outdoor rug would be the way to go. We needed at least an 8×10 size, and I finally found this wide stripe rug from Williams-Sonoma Home, and I was kind of surprised to see that it was a relatively good deal, especially compared to other rugs of the same size and material. With a little digging, I found a 20% off coupon, and we were in business.

I took the boys down to the lake house last Friday afternoon for a quick 24-hour trip and this was the only opportunity I would have for the next 3 weeks to get down there. The house is rented out consistently over the next few weeks, which is happy/sad because it means we won’t get to be there for Memorial Day. But oh well. (There is some availability still in the end of July and most of August. Oh, and now all the rental details are online so you can book hassle-free. Way easier than calling up there. 🙂

Tangent: in the photo above, the baby is screaming bloody murder for miles and look at Jude and Nickels. Dead to the world. Seven inches away from the screaming baby’s face. It took me pulling off the highway on an exit ramp, stopping the car, and rolling down the window after shrieking “Jude. JUDE. JUUUUUUUUUDE HELP ME WITH THE BAYBEEEEEEEE” BEFORE HE EVER WOKE UP. ::sobs into iced tea::  End tangent.

In addition to the rug, I’d also custom commissioned a coffee table. My friend Erin had the coolest coffee table in her CL house, and she pointed me to Chad Grubbs. I sent him a picture of what I had in mind and three weeks later, I picked up this beauty.

I. Am. In. Love. I seriously cannot stop grinning like a fool over this coffee table. The hairpin legs provide the perfect little modern spin to keep the whole space feeling breezy and casual, but I love how it contrasts with our relatively more traditional sofa. A little bit of midcentury goes a long way.

I’m consistently reminded that pulling together a beautiful room (much less, a house), is a slow process of accumulating finds and treasures. It’s pinching pennies, scouting sources, and sticking close with your original vision.  It’s lugging a coffee table in the car with a screaming baby and exhausted first grader. And neurotic Chihuahua.

I also brought down these custom window clings that I designed and cut out with my Cricut Explore. Weirdly enough our house doesn’t have house numbers on it, thus leading to loads of confusion by UPS and FedEx, so for a temporary solution, I though these might work. You know those Pinterest fail memes floating around? Well that was definitely how this turned out. I think the design was too intricate, and it wasn’t easy to get those clings to stick to the glass. Maybe adhesive vinyl would’ve worked better?  Luckily I made four and destroyed the first two. I finally got happy with the final result, but they barely survived the ridiculous deluge that happened Friday night (over 8 inches in two days – unbelievable).

So next on my list is a bookshelf of some kind, but all in good time. Seen any good ones lately that you think would work?