MOVING!

So I finally made the switch over to wordpress, follow along at www.topitoffmel.com!  Hope to see you there!

GREEN WITH LACE

Asos Dress, Similar, Similar // J.Crew Belt // J.Crew Mules // Spitfire Sunglasses

I love lace.  It's a cold hard fact.  Whenever I find it I want to buy it.  That's why when I got married and started looking for a wedding dress lace was all I wanted.  Well turns out (as you saw yesterday) I also like beaded things; dresses, sweaters, etc... When I bought this dress over a year ago I wanted to buy it in cream but I justified it as a dress for a friends bridal shower so anything white-ish was off limits.  I suppose this dress became the substitute for the lace wedding dress I never had and a substitute is alright by me.

THE SPICE OF LIFE

 J.Crew Sweater // H&M Pants, Similar // J.Crew Mule // Madewell Bag // Selima Sunglasses // J.Crew Bracelet

I've been told a time or two that variety is the spice of life but I'm just not sure that I buy it.  That's the reason you can see these shoes here, here, and here plus the next two outfits to come. The heart wants what it wants is my only explanation for the lack of creativity on the shoe front.  That and my other spring shoes are still boxed up.  Regardless, these shoes aren't going anywhere fast so you could say monotony is the spice of life.  Yes, I think we'll say that.  At least this sweater is something new to look at and she sure is pretty (and on sale!)

TOTAL KITCHEN OVERHAUL

The next step on the home tour is the kitchen.  Everyone's favorite place to hang out!  We truly have learned that in the short time we've lived here and the few get together's that we've thrown, the kitchen is the heart of the hangout!  



The kitchen was originally pretty small, dark and not all that functional.  Since we didn't have a ton of space to work with we knew that we needed to not only maximize the space but make it feel visually larger.

We were lucky with this house because right off the kitchen there was a mudroom/laundry space that wasn't big enough to be functional that we were able to combine into the kitchen which made the space far larger than I would have ever imagined.  My husband and I both love all white kitchens and so deciding on white cabinets and subway tiles was an easy decision for us.  We chose a medium grout so that tiles could pop a little and also bring out the veining in the marble.  An all white kitchen look is great because it serves as a blank slate and allows for fun and eclectic decor.

I'm so glad we chose the hardware that we did, I absolutely love how it contrasts all of the white but still keeps the space so simple.  I also like the visual interest of the vertical and horizontal lines it creates. 

 

This is my husbands favorite thing about the kitchen.  It's our pantry and extra storage for all those appliances you forget that you have.  It's currently about half full but we know through the years we will be happy with all the extra storage!  Plus, the hardware looks especially cool here.

After a lot of back and forth we finally decided on these chairs and I'm so glad that we did! Since making so many decisions through the whole process some of the smaller ones were really hard for me to commit to.  These chairs ended up being a great choice because they're pretty affordable and honestly one of the most comfortable barstools I've ever sat on!  And the dark wood really contrasts nicely with all the white.

Counter Stools // Plates // Pendant // Hickory Hardware Pulls c/o

CELEBRATE IN STYLE

Teepee Tent // Paper Plates // Paper Napkins 

The little dude turned one so (obviously) we threw him a big ole' birthday bash!  We kept it pretty casual and the decor fairly simple and almost everything we used we already had!  Turns out that our house has some pretty cool old treasures!

The theme started as simple as it gets with the color blue but morphed into blue & green with dinosaurs.  The dinosaurs were only incorporated on the cupcakes which you can see Jonah was a huge fan of!  My favorite part of the decorations was the pictures of the birthday boy himself!  We had an old fence in the backyard and used that to create a spot where everyone could see how this kid has changed over the year!  We knew it was going to be a hot day so what better way to cool off than with little kid pools!  Jonah seemed to think it was a great idea!  We had so much fun celebrating the little guy.  Can't wait to see how he changes over the next year!

HOOKED

H&M Sweater Dress // J.Crew Mules // J.Crew Belt // Spitfire Sunglasses // Marc Jacobs Watch

I found this dress at H&M a while back and it's lack of shape, plunging back line and super sale price hooked me.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, longer hems have 100% caught my eye this season.  Can't explain why just know it's all I want to wear these days!  There's just something comforting about your clothes not touching you!