HOME DECOR
Design on a Dime
BLOG
Welcome to our home! We have lived here for just over a year now and are slowly making this house into our own. When we purchased the place, it was dark, sad and dirty. It has come a long way from when we first moved in. We put a fresh coat of white paint in almost every room and it has brightened up the house so much!
I randomly bring up our empty double parlor ALL of the time. I love a cozy home and this room is just so bare and empty! If I had all of the money in the world, I would buy more furniture to fill it up, but that is just not the case. It’s also an awkward space. It sits between the dining room and living room and boasts a huge bay window and a fireplace flanked by French doors. The other sides of the room are open to the dining room and the living room. I can’t quite figure out what to even source for it since the layout is so complicated.
We redid my office slash spare bedroom right after we moved in since I work from home. We painted, purchased a bed frame, new linens, curtains, and I got a new desk, but I never got a desk chair! We have tried thrifting for one a few times, but none of the ones we found were height adjustable.
If you caught my Instagram stories last weekend, I randomly decided to spend Saturday painting our bathroom… black! Honestly, I was torn between white and black or just straight black and we happened to have an entire gallon of Behr Limousine Leather in satin, so black it was. I have no regrets!
Last year, we were moving into our home during the holidays. We came to Michigan with barely any furniture or decor, let alone holiday decor! I picked up just enough last year to make it feel like the holidays. This year, I had the time to add a few things here and there and we learned that our bay window deserves a 10ft live tree! I wanted to keep the Christmas color pallet black & white. Welcome to our home at Christmas!
After Christmas 2016, I completely ditched ALL of my Christmas decor. It was bittersweet. Last year, I traded out that lime green, gold and red for black and white and I have zero regrets. I’ve had my own home for about 5 years now and I’m finally figuring out what I like and don’t like.
If you have been following me on Instagram for awhile, you know that we have been trying really hard to reduce the amount of waste generated in our household. It’s been a slow process. We tried to go cold turkey, and found that wasn’t realistic for us. After that, adding back in products with wasteful packaging felt defeating, BUT I wasn’t giving us enough credit. It’s all about progress, not perfection and that goes for you, too! You don’t have to be an extreme zero waster to make a few small changes that can have a big impact on your waste generation, so here are some waste reduction tips for people who are NOT zero waste!
This weekend, I started refreshing our main entryway. I was itching for a house project, but needed to spend as little money as humanly possible (wedding planning probs). It’s a space we haven’t touched since we moved in. When you open our front door, the staircase is beautiful, but the space is tight, and the walls were a light purple. To top it off, we still have the midget, cheetah curtain that came with the house covering the window next to the front door.
Okay, you guys have been head over heels for my black, metal, platform bed I got off of Wayfair. It has been sold out for a little while now, so I wanted to share my other favorites from when I was shopping! The one I ended up going with seemed like a total steal for $158.00 and free shipping. The platform beds below vary in price, but there are a couple that I’m drooling over, like the canopy beds. Unfortunately, we have to use a really low headboard because of our angled ceilings.
Our bedroom has gone through quite a few “phases” since we moved in last fall. I’ve recapped them below for your amusement. That said, I’m finally feeling like I have a vision for this house and the vibe I want to go for. I truly believe design is a journey and not a destination.
I’m finally ready to share some photos of our budget kitchen updates. Initially, I wanted to gut this thing, but I knew that was not financially smart for us. That said, I couldn’t live with our disgusting, outdated kitchen. A little, jk a lot, of paint, and some elbow grease have gone a long way on this kitchen. It might not be my dream kitchen, but it feels so much fresher than it did with what we were able to do on a $500 budget!
Time for a little kitchen renovation up date. I officially have all of the trim, walls, and ceiling painted polar bear white by Behr. I’m obsessed with this paint color (or lack of color, I guess). It’s in every single room in our house.
I’ve had a vision for our kitchen since we moved in, but now that I’m committed to getting this thing renovated and put back together, I have to get serious about the design, layout, and finishes. Andrew and I are obsessed with black and white, wood tones, and different metals, so all of that is going to be incorporated into this tiny box of a kitchen. Good thing the kitchen is tiny because so is our budget.
This summer, we saw countless houses and all of a sudden we discovered this big, purple (some claim it is grey) Victorian. Andrew made us drive by it before we even met the realtor to see the other houses that day. As soon as we walked inside he looked at me, and we both knew this was the place we would call home. The closing kept getting pushed back, and we were on the seat of our pants for a couple months. Finally, in October… keys!
Miranda Schroeder
Miranda Schroeder
A woman can never have too many accent chairs! I used to have an actual chair problem (maybe I still do). Most of the ones we have in our house right now were thrifted, but I need a pair and that can be so hard to find. I’ve rounded up some of my favorite Wayfair finds. They range in style and price.
Read More →
Miranda Schroeder