The light fixtures in our house are perfectly serviceable, but they are also not exactly our style. I guess you could call them “builder fancy”? (The upgrade from builder basic achieved via faux wrought iron detailing.) We knew we wanted to switch out almost all of the downstairs fixtures eventually, but I wanted to move slowly because a) it’s an expensive undertaking and b) our downstairs is pretty much one big open room, so all of the fixtures have to work together. We do now have a rough plan, and so have proceeded with step one!

But first, here’s the before:

For the pendant lights over the breakfast bar, we wanted something bright and that took up very little visual real estate. The fixture over the dining room table is very close by and will eventually be a larger statement piece, so we didn’t want them to compete. I first came upon the idea of the glass funnel lights after seeing Courtney’s kitchen (which you know I love):

I like that they’re clean and modern but kind of classic at the same time. John was worried that they’d be too bright since they’re clear glass, but we decided that if we hung them a bit higher than eye level, we’d be okay. The lit-up example in the store helped convince us they wouldn’t be blinding, as well.

Once everyone was on board, we picked out these ones from Home Depot (the pewter finish, which is not available online), and waited patiently until we received them as a Christmas gift (thanks, Mom + Dad!!).

I was SO excited to see that Young House Love ended up using the exact same pendant in their kitchen! Even better, they posted a step by step tutorial for hanging, which was the main reason we didn’t electrocute ourselves during install.

I also found this example, which is just gorgeous:

Maine Home Design

And here’s our version!

The chandelier you can see in the above photo will be next to go! We’re very happy with this light + bright change, and proud to have some electrical work under our belts! :)

It’s official: John and I have booked our plane tickets for California! It’s going to be our big trip of the year, and we are very excited! We’re flying into Los Angeles and then driving up the Pacific Coast Highway. We’ll head east for two days to explore Yosemite, then finish up in San Francisco for two days before flying back to the East Coast.

As thrilled as we are, the planning has actually been a bit stressful so far. As opposed to, say, our Nevis honeymoon, where we were staying on the same small island for seven days and could have done little advance planning and still had almost every option available to us when we arrived, there are SO many decisions that need to be made months ahead of time for this trip. And there are SO many amazing things to do and restaurants to try and places to stay that we’re feeling the pressure of choosing the BEST ones. Of course, it’s also a large financial outlay, so we want to feel we’re making the most of the money we’re spending. Finally, since we live on the East Coast, a trip like this is far less easily repeated than, say, a trip to New England or Florida, so we’re trying to check off as many things as possible — possibly too many things.

When conversation snarled over whether to stay in Santa Barbara or Montecito last night (oh the difficult choices!), we had to take a step back and laugh — and remind ourselves that no matter what we do, even if we simply drive from point A to point B, it’s going to be a breathtakingly beautiful trip, and well worth our time and expense. And whenever we need a reminder, there are plenty of lovely photos to dream over, like these of Ojai from the Sweet Thing blog (a great recommendation from Meredith!)…

Jessie grew up in Ojai and shares beautiful photos from her travels back home. Doesn’t it look like a magical place?

Though we probably don’t need any more information (ha!), I’d love to hear your recommendations for the stretch of California coast from LAX to SFO. At the moment, we’re planning to spend one night in Montecito, one in Cayucos, one in Big Sur, one in Monterrey or Carmel, two in Yosemite, and two in San Francisco!

I loved weddings long before I started planning my own, and happily, I still love them, a year and a half later. I still consume lots of wedding inspiration daily, and in addition to the color-coded images I catalog on Pinterest to help with inspiration boards, I also still add to my “personal” wedding board. It’s the one where I stored the inspiration for our wedding when I was actively planning it, and it’s still where I keep my very favorite bits. I thought it would be fun to share a few of the pins I’ve added over the last few months — the pieces that would be inspiring my wedding today, if I still had one in front of me!

Tim Will via Southern Weddings

Jemma Keech

Geneoh via Style Me Pretty

Byron Loves Fawn via 100 Layer Cake

Adam Barnes via Southern Weddings

Dennis Basso via This is Glamorous

Sarah Joelle via 100 Layer Cake

Marcus Nilsson via Martha Stewart Weddings

Jose Villa

Sylvie Gil via Snippet & Ink

Elle Golden via Style Me Pretty

Byron Loves Fawn via 100 Layer Cake

Adam Barnes via Snippet & Ink

Jemma Keech

Sylvie Gil via Snippet & Ink

Josh McCullock via Southern Weddings

Sylvie Gil via Snippet & Ink

Arna Bee via 100 Layer Cake

Claire Morgan

Jodie Chapman via 100 Layer Cake

So to summarize, I like all things classic and romantic, and I like tulle. A lot. Also, little sleeves. It’s fun to see how many echoes of our actual wedding there are in this post!

How would you describe your wedding style? What are you drawn to over and over?

P.S. Taken as a whole, this wedding is by far one of my favorites I’ve seen in a while. Exactly my style!

Hi friends! Thank you so much for your thoughtful comments on my last post! I loved reading them!

Going back a few more posts, I had mentioned that I was considering DIY-ing this Sugar Paper note card set. And I did! It ended up turning out very well (if I do say so myself!), so I thought I’d share it here.

Supplies needed: white cards (I used A2), colored envelopes (my favorites are from Paper Presentation), metallic gold craft paint, a 12″ bamboo skewer, a small paint brush, something to hold your paint, and an old magazine

There are really no instructions for this project — you’re just making dots, however you think looks best! But I do have two very helpful hints. The first: I like the look of dots going off the card, but if you do so, you’re depositing paint on your work surface with every card, which can make finding a clean place for your next card difficult. My solution: use an old magazine you’re ready to recycle! You can turn the page after every card so you have a clean surface for each one without using an excessive amount of paper.

Second tip: When you use the base of the skewer to deposit the dots, it leaves a tiny peak. I wanted a cleaner look, so I went back over each dot with a small paintbrush to pick up some of the extra paint and smooth things out. It sounds fastidious, but only took a few seconds for each card! Before and after below.

And that’s it! I tied sets of six with satin ribbon for gifting after letting them dry overnight. They may not be letterpress like Sugar Paper’s, but I think they’re pretty fun!

DIY projects don’t always turn out that professional-looking, which can make them hard to give as gifts, but I think this stationery is the perfect candidate. Tuck this one away until next December, or make a set for yourself! :)