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Once upon a time, too many years ago, I went to elementary and eventually high school with a boy named Nick. Some time later, Nick married a sweet girl named Michelle and now after many moves between cities and careers, it just so happens that we are nearly-neighbors with houses around the corner from one another. I recently stumbled upon photos of Michelle and Nick’s incredible kitchen makeover and was really thrilled when Michelle was on board with sharing photos of their revamped space. What I love about the chic, modern boho vibe of their kitchen is the incredible use they made of such a small space, without dramatically altering the footprint. They opened up just one wall to create better flow into the dining room, and paired white upper cabinets and a classic subway tile backsplash with dark grout with black lower cabinets, for a look that is light and bright and cozy. Click through for all the details of this sweet little boho kitchen and visit Michelle’s blog Dreaming Home to see the before photos!

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Writing this post today is one of those happy, emotional and surreal experiences that just make me love life. Friends, meet my sweet little niece, Marley Gray! Born on September 18th at 5:21pm, Emerson’s baby cousin and new BFF clocked in at 7lbs 9oz of seriously beautiful baby. For those of you keeping track, yes! Em and Marley share a middle name, which was derived from our maternal grandparents’ names (Gary + Kay) and I hope it always makes them feel close and special, like it’s them against the world. Today I am so excited to share a bunch of photos of Ash, Justin and Marley, along with all the details on her adorable little nursery, which Ash and I worked on together from 1400 miles apart. (Big ups to secret Pinterest boards!) From the beginning Ash was really drawn to mostly neutral nursery spaces with loads of texture and sweet little details. She definitely did not want anything that was pink or screamed girl, but she did want it to feel playful and fun which is where the touch of tropical comes into play. Scroll through for all the insanely beautiful photos from Jessica Bornder Photography, and you’ll find all the shopping links below. Welcome to the world, Marley! You are so so very loved.

Read More about The Sweetest Niece! Baby Marley + Her Pretty Tropical Nursery Tour

Hello, friends! It has been such a whirlwind in our world over the last few weeks, but we shot these photos of our fall front porch decor a while back and it feels like high time I give you a little peek at our house all decked out for fall. At least, my version of “decked out” which is probably a bit simpler than most of the front porches you’ll find on Pinterest this time of year, but that’s how I like things. Oh, p.s. We got married! If you haven’t yet seen it you can catch the quickest sneak peek on Instagram, and I’ll be sharing a few more photos here and there while we wait to get our hands on all the amazing photos our photographer shot. Because we had our wedding at our home, I wanted every aspect of our exterior decor to feel warm, welcoming and cozy, so taking some time to really make the front porch feel inviting was important to me. I used a lot of pieces we already had and just made sure to add enough color and texture to give it that warmth that fall begs for. (Keep scrolling for all the details and shopping sources below!)

Read More about Our Fall Front Porch Decor

When we first bought our house last year, it was practically begging for an amazing backyard patio. We considered putting one in right away, but figured we’d first live in the house for a while to see how we really used the backyard. And, let’s be honest, there was the whole budget issue too since we’d just bought a house and had already tackled big renovations in the living room and dining room most notably.  As it turns out, we lived in our backyard all last summer. Long, lazy dinners that lasted well into the evening, copious bocce ball matches, the grilling of numerous homemade pizzas and the construction of one very fun homemade slip ‘n slide defined our summer days. By the end of summer, the patch of grass closest to the house was brown and beaten into oblivion from being constantly trampled over and we knew constructing a patio would be a top priority come spring of this year. Then spring came and it didn’t stop raining. For months and months and months. (Which, no, is not our normal weather pattern.) That derailed our “must have a patio by Memorial Day weekend” timeline, but sure enough come early July we were finally ready to begin construction. After one seriously intense month of work (which so many of you followed along with on Instagram Stories), our backyard makeover is now just about complete as of a few weeks ago and we’ve been loving using living in this space. It feels like a huge addition to the back of our house and we just can’t get enough of oohing and aahing over the transformation. So today, I have all the before and after photos for you! Plus a few photos of the construction process, too, just for kicks. Scroll through for all the details and chime in below with any questions.

Read More about Our Backyard Makeover + New Patio Reveal (Before and After)

A year ago today, Bob and I carried a little baby girl into an attorney’s office across town. There may have been a lot of nerves. There may have been some pinching to be sure we weren’t dreaming. We sat across a big wide table, with our tiny girl sitting with us, and thanked the now former owners for selling us their childhood home. Their parents bought the house in the early 1950s (making us only the third or fourth owners of our 100+ year old house) and having lost their mother in her 90s back in 2014, it was a bittersweet day for them as they said goodbye to more than six decades of memories.

Read More about Celebrating One Year in The Sweetest Old House

This post was sponsored by Valspar. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that help make The Sweetest Occasion possible! I’m so excited to share with you today that I am going to be teaming up with my friends at Valspar again to bring you a whole bunch of colorful interior design and DIY ideas throughout the year! I …

Read More about A Fresh + Colorful Bathroom Makeover | 31 Days of Color

This post was sponsored by Valspar. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that help make The Sweetest Occasion possible! The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is always one where I start thinking about the year ahead. I think that’s a pretty natural tendency for a lot of us following the craze of the holiday season. …

Read More about A Mini Home Tour + Tips for Choosing a Paint Color Palette