Blog - at home with Ashley

Kitchen- Home Tour

Hi guys! Are you ready to check out my kitchen? Well, let’s start here:

When you walk into our home you go up the stairs, turn right, and then you are in the kitchen:

Ta da! Here is our dining table that my parents gave us and I grew up using. It is old but fits perfect in this little space. We have two chairs at the table since it’s usually our little family eating together, but we can fit 6 chairs squished together here if we want.

To the left of the table is a closet that holds kitchen storage and our washing machine and dryer.

Turn right and you have my teeny, tiny galley kitchen. It’s pretty cute. I hate the laminate counter tops and the tile. This house was a bit of a flip when we moved in- the previous owners were desperate to sell so they did some quick fixes. One of the quick fixes was they painted the cabinets and wallpapered the doors with a paintable wallpaper so it looks like beadboard. It is a cute idea and looked great at first, but does NOT wear well. You nick the wallpaper even with your fingernail and there is a huge dent. And don’t even think about keeping your puppy who likes to bite things in the kitchen when you are gone a few hours (not that I know anything about that)…

That was the negatives, but there are things I love! Like this valence that I made. It was the easiest project ever- especially with using the clips to hold up the fabric. I embroidered these two dog portraits and they make me smile whenever I look at them. I’ll have to do a “how I taught myself how to embroider” post because it’s a pretty easy DIY project.

To the left of the sink is this cute little vignette. Isn’t Julia Child a genius?!

I’m sad that this is a terrible photo because I have the cutest collection of white ceramics above my fridge! One day I will have a proper hutch to house them all in.

And… we’ve circled back around to the dining room. The chandelier is from Z Gallery. I used to be a wedding planner and got a very generous tip from a bride. I used it to buy this chandelier and it always reminds me of that sweet girl.

I stalked my local craigslist site (ksl.com) for this high chair for months! Finding a Jenny Lind high chair with the tray is kind of hard. Finally I searched for “wooden high chair” and found this for $30! I refinished it and added the cushion. I love this little piece!

And…. Since I know you want to hear my ~~awkward~~ sweet voice taking you on a tour of my kitchen, here ya go!

Resources (if it’s not listed, it’s not available- so sorry!):

Dining Chairs: Pottery Barn (no longer available)

Drapes: Wayfair

Chandelier: Z Gallerie Venezia Chandelier

Paint: Olympic Thin Ice D58-1 (walls) (no longer available)

Olympic Black Magic D58-6 (trim) (no longer available)

Organizing your Closet so it stays Organized

Something has gotten into me recently. I now hate chaos and mess. Not that I enjoyed them before, more that I put up with the small messes and clutter life inevitably creates. So today I woke up from a nap and started reading my book*. Here’s what it said “There’s a great line from the poet Anais Nin that reads: “And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” This is how it was for me… My journey started with my decision to make some serious changes.” I leapt out of bed remembering that I was determined to live a more beautiful life, and thus it was time to… clean out my closet!

Don’t laugh. Maybe it’s not world changing, but now that I have this little baby; I just have this uncontrollable urge to live a beautiful, gorgeous life- down to every detail. I don’t want to spend forever in the morning picking out something to wear. I don’t want to wear 5 outfits on repeat because my clothes are everywhere and I am too tired in the morning to hunt for them that actually work for me in this time in my life (this has never been truer than being up with a baby 3 times in a night- he is now sleeping much better, but the zombie feelings I had was legit). So I did it! I have also been reading “The life changing magic of tidying up”* and I have loved it! This is totally a must read and only $10 from Amazon. I used some of her principles and some of my own tried and true organizing tricks. The first one is to pull everything from one category onto the ground.

I have this beautiful closet that my husband built me and it fits a lot of stuff! But just because it fits everything, doesn’t mean I should keep the old nasty clothes I have been holding on to. Today I worked on my tops. The empty closet:

Besides my closet, I also store off season tops under my bed in storage bins. In the book, it really pushes you to not store off season clothes somewhere else because you will get too lazy and never change all of it over (guilty- there were still shorts in there even though it is August). And like I mentioned above, I want to spend my time with my family, not moving one season of clothes over. Something else to consider? Storing clothes in the bins under my bed makes the clothes stink! I am pretty relieved that I no longer have clothes hiding under there feeling lost and forgotten. Side bar, I did all of the organizing in one gloriously long nap my son took. Hallelujah! I took all of those off-season clothes out of the bins and dumped them on the floor too.

I then went through every single item and did three things. 1. I asked if this item sparked joy (mock me, but it totally works) 2. I looked for damage- if it was just a string I clipped it off. If it was yellow armpits or major pilling, it was toast (TMI, gross, sorry!). 3. I made sure all of the hangers were facing the same way so as I flip through my closet I am looking at the front of the garment, not the back.

If each piece of clothing didn’t pass part one and two of the test, they went in the donate or sell pile. If they did, I fixed the hanger and put it in the keep pile. When I had gone through every top, I had gotten rid of 25 pieces of clothes!!!

My donate pile was huge and I enjoyed shoving it in the garage (now to get myself to Savers… I am so not perfect!) I put all of the clothes in the closet and organized them. In the book, she recommends hanging your heaviest items in the back of your closet so that it is physiologically lighter to walk into your closet (this also works since it is still 90 degree weather in Utah). So sweaters went in back and everything else went in front arranged in rainbow order. To finish off my project, I put the same spacing between each hanger because I am a freak and that is beautiful to me. Ha!

So now I have this beautiful closet and I can’t wait to conquer the rest of the closet. Oh, and life! Because if you can organize your closet, you can do anything! (here’s a selfie of my on the floor organizing- I live the glamorous life)

So how is it going? You know, now that I only have clothes I love? Pretty dang good! I went in to pick out clothes to wear for work tomorrow and it is quicker since I only have stuff that I love and fit and work in there. I’ve heard of lots of bloggers doing a Capsule project- I never read much about it, but maybe that is what I have done? A week before I did tops, I did my dresses. I had an obscene amount of dresses. The good news is that most of them were Anthropologie dresses that somewhat held value. I put a bunch of them up on eBay and have made $300 so far! The money will go towards paying off our last student loan so now I have only clothes I wear and money to achieve my dreams. Win win! Last side bar, but having a baby and having my body and life change so much in so little time probably were huge triggers to cleaning out my closet. I’ve had clothes I haven’t worn since I was pregnant and clothes I can’t wear now that I am breastfeeding. If I don’t really love them is there really a point to holding on to them until I can wear them again? Odds are they will be sad and tired by the time I can wear them (p.s. to listen to the BEST podcast episode about this, I strongly recommend this one…link to The Longest Shortest Time “The New You…It’ll Do”). Even if I wasn’t at this huge transition point, I still think only having what you love is life changing, but it was definitely fulfilling for me!

Master Bedroom- Home Tour

Welcome to my master bedroom! I have a video below that walks you though the space. In it, I mention that this room is dark and cave like, but unlike the rest of my house, I think it works. It’s cozy and perfect for sleeping. There are a lot of things I want to change in the rest of my house, but for now I think the bedrooms are ok. So let’s start the tour, should we? When you walk in, to the left is my vanity where I get ready every morning. It has all of my jewelry storage which includes an old stand from Pottery Barn teen (no longer available) and a home made bulletin board that I just painted mint and then added push pins as a tangle-free way to hang my necklaces. It was so easy and inexpensive to make and effective! Since I don’t think I will do a whole post on what I would like to change in here, one thing is that I would like to reupholster the vanity stool. I am sick of that old fabric. I have always thought a velvet would be nice.

I love pattern and this bedroom has a big focal wall! The wallpaper is fun but starting to feel a little dated for me. Our bedroom is long! The newest addition to it is the Elton Settee from West Elm. It is so perfect for putting on your shoes or watching a movie or as a step into bed for my littlest dog 😉

We have a fan in the room which isn’t the prettiest, but we use it all of the time in the summer. Maybe I’ll paint the blades white to get it to disappear a bit.

This is a terrible picture of the view out my window. It is of a vineyard! In the middle of a city! I love it.

A little gallery wall behind our wall, mostly of travel collections. And here is our biggest DIY to date- our new closet! In the picture above, where the door is used to be was a sink. It was so strange, but kind of nice since we only have one bathroom (it was my sink… I might miss it now and then- haha). Anyway, Preston (my hubs) used to use the closet in the nursery, but when we had the baby we decided to tear out the sink and extend the master closet. My side stayed the same in dimensions and Preston got the section where the sink used to be. We re-did my side so it is more functional. It is so hard to photograph, but it is large and amazing and so efficient. We love it!

So many shoes- and that’s not even all of them! (Boots are on the bottom left under my dresses. On the right side under the shirts is a shelf for my flats).

Here is a video of the space so you can better understand the layout:

And that is the master bedroom! We only have the kitchen to tour and then we can move on to some DIY posts (what to do first- new runner for the stairs? Paint and wallpaper the entry? Light for the baby’s room?)- so exciting!

Resources-

Bed- Drexel Heritage Postobello Style- Byron Bed (no longer available)

Nightstands- Drexel Heritage Postobello Style- Gina Night Stand (no longer available)

Lamps- Drexel Heritage Postobello Style- Pewter Nonogram Lamp (no longer available)

Dresser- Drexel Heritage Postobello Style- Monaco Dresser (no longer available)

Settee- Down East Home via West Elm

Vanity and Vanity Mirror- JC Penny (no longer available)

Vanity Stool- Target Shabby Chic (no longer available)

Paint- Martha Stewart Shale MSL276 (walls) (the paint chip is no longer available, but Home Depot can still mix it with Glidden paint)

Olympic Black Magic D58-6(trim)

Bathroom Home Tour

Today is a very glamorous day in our home tour- the bathroom! First of all, we will walk down the hall. To the left are some art of my husband’s favorite bands. I am sick of these, so we’ll see how long they will last.

To the right, is my Instagram board. I made it with a thrifted frame and then I print my Instagram photos at Walmart and just tape them up. I update it every few months. I love it- especially now that it is getting covered with baby pictures.

Alright, let’s hop into the bathroom. It’s small and humble and the only restroom in our condo. When you walk in, to the left is a towel rack and this adorable print. I painted the walls grey and then stenciled* over them with a metallic spray paint. It was a gruesome project- so tedious! And it’s not perfect. So that’s just a warning to anyone who wants to stencil.

Next, we have the vanity. It was painted brown when we moved in and was so ugly! I really need to find the original pictures- you would appreciate these “progress” photos even more. To the left of the vanity are two ledges with framed photos from our trip to Italy. It also holds a clock and q-tips. I love this little area- lots of personality!

In this corner of the room, we have an Anthropologie shower curtain (it’s no longer available, sorry!) which was too short so I added some grey fabric to the bottom. I actually love that detail.

And here we have the world’s ugliest floors! I hate them. Can I change them yet? I am dying to learn how to tile so I can demo these asap. I am a little scared to replace them since this is our only restroom. Hopefully this is a one day project.

Here is a video of the hallway and bathroom so you can better understand the layout:

Sources:

Paint: Olympic Thin Ice D58-1 (walls)(no longer available)

Olympic Black Magic D58-6 (trim and vanity)(no longer available)

Stencil: Cutting Edge via Amazon* (I just used a metallic silver spray paint to paint the stencil. Sorry, I don’t have the specific name)

Shower Curtain- Anthropologie (no longer available). This one is similar

Floors- Terrible tile. I don’t know the source- they were here when we moved in

Mirror- Lowes (no longer available)

Black Ledges- Michael’s (no longer available). This one is similar

Clock- Urban Outfitters (no longer available)

Click Click Click Print- Sycamore Street Press Etsy (no longer available).

Towels- Down East Home via Pottery Barn

*denotes affiliate link

Nursery Home Tour

Nursery Tour- safari/ elephant themed. Mint, grey, white, black athomewithashley.com

Nursery Home tour with athomewithashley.com

Today’s tour takes us to the nursery. This is my favorite room in the house right now, so I’m really excited to share it with you! Oh and so is baby Don. He’s usually napping while I do my blogging, but since I was focusing on his room, he got to be awake to join in on the action. One of my favorite parts of the nursery is the wallpaper. It’s where the design for the whole room started. I wanted to do a safari/elephant themed room and when I found this wallpaper, I knew it was the one. (If you want tips on finding wallpaper on a budget, read here)

Years ago, I bought the Jenny Lind crib off of Utah’s local Craigslist (ksl.com) for $35 and refinished it the mint color. I figured it would work for a boy or a girl and I am glad I hoarded it! Babies are expensive so it was nice to have one less thing to buy. I love that it adds a subtle pop of color.

I wanted to hang items on this wall, but the light switch is in the worst spot! So I figured a gallery wall would help with that. I love that it adds personality without taking up valuable square footage in this tiny room. Probably the only thing I would change in this room is I am thinking about adding some chalk paint to the nursery doors. Something like this. Oh and speaking of changes (I almost forgot this one), I should bring up that I need to install a light. We bought a cheap fan for the room and loved it, but it caught on fire one night (!!!) and we still haven’t replaced it. Confession- we use a flashlight for middle of the night feedings/diaper changes. These closet doors lead to his closet on the left (here is a tutorial on the best way to organize a baby’s closet) and the remains of our office on the right.

This room used to be our office. The only thing that survived from that is this map*. Isn’t it perfect for a safari nursery?! Here’s the tutorial so you can make your own 🙂

For the nursery, we bought two big pieces of furniture. The dresser (no longer available) and the rocker. The dresser might be too big, but I love the functionality of the top. The rocker is my most used piece of furniture. I love that it is comfortable and pretty. The ticking on the fabric is so classic and works with the room. The only problem is that the fabric is such a light color. My baby has had a few blowouts on that chair (sorry, so gross) and it was not fun to clean up.

This little reading corner is another favorite of mine. I love collecting books for us to read together. And how perfect is that giraffe head?!

When I first found out I was expecting (but before I knew the sex), I bought this ABC embroidery sampler and embroidered it. It might be a little girly, but it is so sentimental that I don’t really care. The painted elephant is from a humanitarian trip I took to Guatemala and the “Oh the places you’ll go” quote is from a day by day calendar (with the date cut off).

One of the things I was most excited about when I found out I was pregnant was that I got to finally decorate a nursery!!! I had dreamed about this moment for years! I immediately knew I wanted it grey and mint and with elephants. When I saw this elephant rocker I was obsessed with it. Haha, it was a totally unpractical purchase, but I figure he will love it when he is older.

I recently made this mobile and here is a tutorial so you can make your own too. Mobiles are so expensive and I found it hard to find one that I loved. The materials for this is less than $5! I wanted a marquee light for his room, but couldn’t find one that was affordable. So I got a cardboard D from Joanns and spray painted it black. I actually love that it is cardboard because it is super light (even though I don’t think it would fall off since I used command strips to secure it).

My grandma made Don the elephant quilt. We went to pick out the fabric together. It is so special to me and I know that my baby will love it as he grows up (the back is minky, so how could he not?!)

Behind the door is a growth measuring chart. Growing up, my grandma would mark our measurements against the wall. I loved seeing how much I had grown! The problem with doing it on the wall is that if you move, you can’t take it with you. So I made this ruler and mark Don’s growth every six months. I followed this tutorial to make it.

Here is a video so you can better understand the layout:

Nursery sources

Wallpaper- Amazon* (no longer available)

Changing Table- Down East Home (via Pottery Barn Kids). For those of you who have never been to a Down East Home- they get Pottery Barn returns and sell them at a discount. Because of this you can get great deals, but there is never a guarantee that you will be able to find the same item twice. So that’s why I’ve provided the source from Pottery Barn if you want the exact same item.

Rocking Chair- Down East Home(via Pottery Barn Kids)

Elephant Rocker- Down East Home (via Pottery Barn Kids)

Grey Striped Drapes- Wayfair

Ledges for Books- Ikea

Sconce- Ikea

Giraffe Head- Down East Home

ABC Sampler- Pine Needles at Gardner Village

Printable Closet Dividers- Here (free printable and tutorial!)

Be Brave Little One Printable- Here (free printable!)

Mint Arrow Pillow Cover- Etsy

White Art Ledges- Target (no longer available)

Mini Globe- Target (no longer available)

Mint picture frames- Vintage Fern

Crib Skirt- Down East Home (via Pottery Barn Kids)

ABC Blocks- Amazon* (no longer available)

World Map- Amazon*

Diaper Genie- Amazon*(no longer available)

Changing Pad- Amazon*

Changing Pad Cover- Target (no longer available)

Elephant Hook- Anthropologie

Sound Machine- Amazon*

Cardboard D- Joanns

Growth Ruler- DIY from this tutorial

*denotes an affiliate link

Living Room House Tour

Let’s continue on the tour of my house! Today we have the living room house tour

This room features a strange layout- fun (below is a video so you can more easily understand the area).

There is a huge walkway from the top of the stairs to the kitchen and then a more cramped sitting area. We’ve tried a few different layouts and I have floor planned options, but this is the one that works best.

It’s a little frustrating that this condo has this area of wasted space since we could really use the space is other areas of our home (what I wouldn’t give for a second bathroom).

When we first bought the condo it was bad- so much green and beige, but it’s not great now. The issue, I think, is that everything is so heavy. The walls are dark, the furniture is dark, the carpet is dark- it needs lightened up! The huge TV is also not cute, but it’s not changing; my husband loves it too much.

The living room has so much potential! I just haven’t really tackled it yet- just done a few bandaids. I think this could become a great “after.” A big issue with this space is also the flooring- the carpet is not great in our house. When we moved in (6 years ago) it was old. Now, with two dogs, it’s really old and somewhat gross. I would love to put in hard wood floors, but I still haven’t decided if that is the best idea with dogs and a soon to be crawling baby. Plus, we’d have to get a rug and rug pad for by the sofa- I love that idea, but it does make the whole project super expensive.

Here are the last issues (I didn’t realize there were so many until I listed them out. I feel like a Debbie downer! But wait until tomorrow; I have some really fun ideas!)-

The sofa is worn (its 8 years old). There are a few holes in the fabric and the down in the cushions doesn’t hold its shape very well. One day, I’d love to replace it
The wall art (the 9 squares) are dated- I need to replace or update them. I made these out of canvas when we were first married. I covered them all in paintable wallpaper* and then they were painted 2 colors of grey and black. I updated them when we moved here with fabric, but I’m sick of that now. Even though I am over these, they sure have been versatile! Maybe I’ll come up with one more way to update and use them again
The coffee table is not baby safe- the sharp edges scare me when my baby starts pulling himself up on furniture (luckily, that hasn’t started yet). I really want to change it out for an ottoman

Here are some pictures of the deck-

The deck needs some love with the planters and the outdoor chairs could use recovering.

And lastly, here are the resources-

Paint- Olympic Dover Grey D58-4 (-50% off formula) (walls)

Olympic Black Magic D58-6 (baseboards)

Furniture- all of the furniture (besides the dining chairs) were purchased from Drexel Heritage. It looks like the items from the Postebello Collections are no longer available from Drexel, but the links are here:

Media Console- Postebello Collection Gramercy Console (no longer available)

Coffee Table- Postebello Collection Enrico Cocktail Table (no longer available)

Side Table- Postebello Collection Franco Table (no longer available)

Club Chair- Postebello Collection Classique Chair (no longer available)

Sofa- Drexel Heritage Holloway Sofa (no longer available)

Console Table- Vera Bradley console by Drexel Heritage- no longer available

Side Chairs (dining chairs)- Queen Anne Chairs Pottery Barn– no longer available

Ukulele- Amazon*

Record Player- Amazon*

NYC Skyline Poster- Amazon*

Shabby Chic Coffee Table Book- Amazon*

Dorthy Draper Coffee Table Book- Amazon*

*denotes affiliate link

House Tour- the Entry

I decided that to start my blog, I should tour the whole house. “It’ll be fun!” I thought. “Everyone will see where I am right now in my house!” And all of those things are true, but it’s a little embarrassing. We’ve lived in this house for almost 6 years and I did the majority of my decorating when we first bought it. And it has all been done on a super tight budget. About 3 years ago I decided we needed to get out of debt so all “extra” spending got frozen and we have since paid off almost $40,000 of debt off. So I shouldn’t be embarrassed about where we are right this second decorating wise, but I am! I am an interior designer and I want a beautiful home! Plus, I want to help you get a beautiful home so mine should be pretty great, and much more Instagrammable (is that even a word?!). But this is my starting point and if it was prefect, neither of us would be here, right? So, the entry- it’s a bit of a snooze. When you walk in the front door, this is the space you first see.

Turning to the left is the door to the garage and turning left again are the stairs to the second story

(I also included a video that walks through the space- my first vlog! Haha! Fingers crossed it’s not too awkward).

The rest of the condo is all on the second floor with lots of gorgeous sunlight and some beautiful views, the entry and garage are the only part of the first floor. There are a few obstacles in the entry- it has zero natural light, it’s tiny, it’s the parking spot for our huge stroller (and that is not changing anytime soon- there’s no room in the tiny garage and there is no way I am lugging it up and down the stairs everyday), there’s no personality, there’s a weird column in the ceiling splitting the small room in two, and the water access and door stop aren’t pretty.

Let’s also talk about the stairs. Sigh… they are my biggest DIY failure ever. And I am usually great at DIY! Here’s what happened- we had carpeted stairs and the carpet was trashed. We didn’t just want to re-carpet the stairs. So we ripped it out and I followed my bestie Pinterest for inspiration, and wallpapered the stairs risers and painted the treads white. It looked gorgeous! And then I listened to a girl at Lowes who said I needed to add a coat of Polyurethane. And that’s when disaster struck- the wallpaper started rolling, the white paint slowly turned yellow and bubbled. Those bubbles have sense collected dirt that is impossible to get out (believe me, I’ve tried). And now that I have a baby, I believe in my soul that they are the most dangerous thing in my house (thank goodness for baby gates. I have this one from Amazon that works with my stairs)*. Luckily, right now he is not mobile, but soon, these have got to be softened (I’ll talk about plans and dreams tomorrow- the fun part!). Lastly, the entry finishes off with a gallery wall on the stairs. It’s a collection of frames that I painted black and filled with quotes and black and white art. Its fine and isn’t a priority for me to change yet.

Let’s talk about what is down here already-

Paint- Olympic Dover Grey D58-4 (-50% off formula) (walls)

Olympic Black Magic D58-6 (baseboards)

Valspar Du Jour 7002-6 (door)

Flooring- some type of beige stone that I don’t have a source for (it was here when we moved in)

Entry Table- Drexel Heritage, Postebello Collection (no longer available)

Entry Mirror- Lowe’s

Wallpaper on Stairs- Amazon*

Decorations- Framed postcards (from our honeymoon to Jackson Hole)

“W” Anthropologie (similar option)

Candle Target

White Owl Down East Home

There you have it! The little dark entry. Join me tomorrow for what I would like to change (this is the fun part!)

*denotes affiliate link

Hello world!

Hello! My name is Ashley! I am a 30 year old married to my high school sweetheart- Preston. We love to travel together and eat amazing food.

We live in a little condo in Bountiful, Utah (a suburb of Salt Lake City) with our baby boy, and love of our lives, Don (born in February of 2015).

We also have two dogs Derek and Lucy. They are King Charles Cavalier Spaniels- same breed, but so different in personality! Derek is black and white, Lucy is ruby colored. I went to college (FIDM) for Interior Design and now work as an Interior Designer/ Visual Merchandiser/ Accessory buyer/Stylist for a furniture company. I work 4 days a week so that 3 days a week I get to stay home with my littlest love. When I was pregnant, my husband and I worked like crazy to get our home ready for the baby. We added lots of details to this home of ours that made our lives easier and more beautiful on a budget. I became obsessed with living intentionally. I believe that having a home you love that works with your life style will make you happier. Now that things aren’t so crazy with the baby (knock on wood), I wanted to start this project. Why? I couldn’t stop thinking about it once I came up with the idea. I dreamed of it and I’m not one to not live my dreams. I have so many projects I want to do to make our home more beautiful! I believe my calling in life is to create beauty and I want to help you (yes, you!) have a beautiful life. So here I am blogging about the process. I am so excited for you to follow along!
Follow my blog with Bloglovin