Zara Home

I'm sure you've all seen a plethora of posts on the introduction of Zara Home for the US market, but I couldn't help myself but to look through the site and see if anything caught my eye.  Lots of pretty, texture and goodness among the products and pricing seems pretty decent.  I'm not sure that there's anything I absolutely have to have, but I definitely welcome another source for items for my home!  Lo and behold, my fave Zara Home products.

Zara Home by wpolanco on Polyvore

Have you checked out Zara Home?  Anything you're dying over?

Once You Go Black...

A few weeks (months? years?) ago, I picked up a gallon of black paint from the ooops pile at my local home depot.  I think it spent a few days rolling around in my trunk, and then a few more (days? weeks?) stashed away in our garage awaiting the perfect project.  Then yesterday, on a whim, I decided I was going to redo one of our guest bedrooms and quickly remembered that I had a gallon of black paint stored away.  And thus, one of my walls went black (I don't have a before picture, but I had, at some point, painted some haphazard grey and white stripes on the wall).  Excuse the crappy Iphone pictures too ;).

I decided to paint the sloped part of the ceiling as well so that the wall would read as one. The rest of the bedroom walls will be white since, this being a fairly small room, I didn't want it to feel too cave-like. Now I'm all kinds of excited for the moody, glam feeling I'll be able to create in here for my guests. Behold some inspiring images:



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Of course, this being a totally impromptu project, I'm working within significant budget constraints - meaning I'll be using mostly things I already have around the house to pull the room together.  Behold my inspiration board:

Guest Bedroom by wpolanco on Polyvore

Stay tuned for the big reveal!

Friday's Fancies - Short & Sweet

As part of my (non-intentional) blogging hiatus, I've managed to miss out on some fabulous Friday's Fancies themes.  But I think I came back just in time, as this week's theme is Short & Sweet.  I imagine a lot of outfits will revolve around shorts, but one trend I'm really loving lately is high-low skirts and dresses, and, in my mind at least, they are totally applicable to the Short & Sweet theme!

Friday's Fancies - Short & Sweet by wpolanco featuring diamond bangles

I would totally wear this out for dinner and drinks with Esposito or a group of friends, and love how the girliness of the skirt is contrasted by more masculine accessories. Head on over to Long Distance Loving to see the other Friday's Fancies posts!

Loving Lately ~ Potting Benches

One of the best things about summer is spending time outdoors, and Esposito and I really try to make use of our yard by grilling dinner and eating al fresco every night that the weather permits.  Though our patio area has taken a backseat to other house projects we have pending, now that we are making more use of our yard, we are starting to long for a prettier space to enjoy.  Of course, budget considerations won't let us do too much too soon, but I am looking forwards to making it a prettier space no less.

One look I'm loving lately is potting benches.  Now, I don't have the greenest of thumbs so I don't do much gardening (you should see what my herb garden looks like now - poor plants!) but I think a potting bench could be so useful for entertaining as a place to put beverages, utensils, and food while still serving its utilitarian purpose when not entertaining.  Plus, a potting bench tends to look so charming when staged.  Behold:

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I must figure out a way to make one of these ... stay tuned! Do you have a potting bench?

Positive Affirmations Jar Favor

I created these favors for a sorority function last year, and it received such rave reviews that I was asked to create them again.  I thought I'd pass along the idea/steps for any of you that may have events you are planning for.  What I love about these favors is that they are easy to make, relatively cheap and also meaningful.  There's little I dislike more than receiving a favor that just becomes clutter in my home. 

I started off with a list of affirmations gathered from a variety of inspirational quotes websites.  In this case, I used mostly quotes having to do with women and achievement as that was the audience.  But the quotes can be tailored to be as generic or specific as necessary.  I added the affirmations to a table in Word, and printed them out on colored paper.  Each column of the table of affirmations includes the same affirmations, so that I only used half a sheet of each colored paper per jar.

I left the gridlines on the table in Word for printing, so that I had a natural template to cut across.  This is probably the most tedious process of the entire project - cut each affirmation into a strip, and then fold into a tiny square and fill each jar.

I used a label template to find a circle that would fit the top of each lid (just google mason jar lid template) and also printed labels for each jar.  Cut and attach (the jars I used had a removable top that I affixed the label to - you could also use a hole punch and ribbon to tie the label around the jar instead).

Assemble and display - a quick and easy favor that the recipient is sure to love.