The month of August involved a lot of home projects and some big changes. Here is just a few things we did this month:

• Bought a new couch for the living room (we have SO much space now we had to get a third couch!)
• Made a lot stops to Target and Hobby Lobby where I came out with more bags than I anticipated to
• We switched out all the horrible cream outlet plates to white so they actually match the white walls yay!! It took a bit of convincing for our landlord, but Ryan gave him confidence that he knew what he was doing and the place looks so much better.
• Out of pure luck or divine navigation, I joined the GADABOUT team where I help make drool-worthy websites and work with the coolest down-to-earth woman ever.
• For the past year and a half I have had this design of a dot map in my head (see the web interactive page here!) and I FINALLY got it on canvas. I absolutely love it and I think it would be really cool to sell but I have no idea if anyone else would actually want it in their home.

I have learned that I am very indecisive when it comes to home decor. I will research for hours and hours for one rug and then decide I don’t like any of them. I create moodboards and spreadsheets (yes I know I’m weird) and then just go with my gut and it works every time! We’ve made a lot of progress on making our pumpkin house a home — our wall-neighbors call it the pumpkin home and adopted the name. 🙂

We have officially finished the dining room and I couldn’t be happier with it!

The dining table was made by my husband Ryan. I love love love it. So glad we have the same style. I think it’s more like he doesn’t really care and just wants what makes me happy, but he has mentioned he likes the look of it. We bought the legs on Amazon. It was our first wood project and we learned a few things, so we are hoping our coffee table turns out even better.

I found these pins that each have a number on them just before I bought the canvas and that was exactly what I was looking for! I was hoping to find stickers so I didn’t have to poke into a canvas but it didn’t look great and I just couldn’t settle with a foam board and frame so I held my breath and punched a hole in the canvas. It is a nice quality canvas material so it stays put! I just love the 3D look and how interactive it feels. It was definitely hard to decide which dot meant where and whether or not driving through or a plane layover counted as visiting that state/country but so far we have 25 places which I think is really good!

I spent forever trying to decide what to have as a centerpiece for the dining table. Ryan didn’t want something big and tall that would be in the way when we have people over. I wanted something cute, but knew it wouldn’t work (or stay there) unless it was functional so I decided it would hold our paper napkins and plastic utensils for when we have BBQ parties and guests. I saw these at Hobby Lobby and fell in love! They obviously aren’t real, you can tell by the pattern of the marble, but they are heavy and they were from Hobby Lobby so they were priced well! I’m all about that right now, with dental school debt and all.

I am so ready for September. I think if I had a job where I didn’t have to work year-round, summer would be my favorite but as of now I just love fall. I makes me feel so productive and motivated to make things. Here’s to a great new season!