We’re talking home design today! Now, I am totally not a pro in this area, but I know what I like, and I do my best to create our spaces in ways that work for us. We’ve been in our house in Charlotte for almost six months, and it’s really coming together. Although we’re still waiting on our dining room table that we ordered back in April, so we do have some empty spaces still.

I’ve been holding off on sharing too many pictures of our house until it was more complete. But I feel like I’ll never think it’s complete, so let’s start sharing. I took my time ordering things, and we brought a little bit over from our California house too. I wouldn’t exactly say our style has a name, but Dave thinks it’s traditional coastal, so we’ll go with that. What I’m sharing today are my favorite things in our house so far. 

By the way, there are a few affiliate links in this post. So if you happen to purchase from any of them, you are supporting me. Thanks for that.

My five favorite things I’ve bought for our new house

Faux fiddle leaf fig plants in pots

I knew I wanted a lot of large plants in our house, but I also knew I didn’t want to invest in real plants again. We had all real plants at our house in California, and I often thought of those plants as just one more thing I needed to care for. Right now, we have two small live plants in our kitchen (an orchid and a succulent), and that is plenty for now. But, we do have three large faux plants, and they make me so happy. Something about a large green element just makes a room more homey. It pops, if you will.

We have two of these faux fiddle leaf fig plants bookending our entertainment center in our family room. And I found these pots for them. We started with one plant, and I told Dave I really wanted a second, and when it arrived I put it elsewhere. Dave was the one who said we should put them both by the TV. That symmetry though — it gives me good vibes. We invested in these trees with hopes they last a long, long time with us.

We also have this faux money tree plant in our entryway, and it’s beautiful too.

Decorative coffee table books all over the house

Okay, okay, are books really worth sharing about? The answer is yes. I have always loved the look of hard-bound flip-worthy books on coffee tables, and we’ve had that before to a degree. But in our new house, I wanted to put books throughout. 

I’ve found all of our design books at HomeGoods, and we have a lot of them. They have great pictures, and if you need some to peruse, they’re there for you. They make such an easy way to decorate a table or shelf too, and I even have some under candles.

Every time I go to a home store, I keep my eye out for more books to place around the house. 

Our two-toned wood round kitchen table

We didn’t have a kitchen table in our house in California. There wasn’t enough room for it, really. We ate most meals at the coffee table, and sometimes sat at the dining room table or outdoor table when we had company. And I didn’t love that we didn’t have that “meeting” place for all our meals, close to the kitchen and easily accessible for us all.

When we first bought our house in Charlotte, we thought we may convert the dining room into an office to have an extra bedroom where Dave is currently set up, but we changed our minds and decided to do a real dining room. But because we had the space, I also knew I wanted a round dining table between the kitchen and family room and looked everywhere, only to find that all round dining tables were sold out in the spring and summer (apparently last year and this year have seen major delays because of manufacturing backlogs, potentially COVID related, as well as materials related).

I finally found a two-toned one that I love, which arrived in late April, and we use it every single day, three times a day, for all of our meals. It’s our spot. And it’s another item that makes me happy, as a focal point in our home.

We have four chairs, one which has a little booster-high-chair attachment for Brady, and one chair is for Rudy, and yes, he sits there for every meal staring at our every bites.

Our pink primary bedroom

I realize this is a whole room and not a thing, but I had to include it. It makes me happy. And if you don’t like my pink bedroom, that’s okay, because you don’t have to go into it. I wanted color in the bedroom, and I wanted it to be really feminine. Dave was okay with that, so pink it was.

We have a pink accent wall, pink bedding accents, pink accessories on our bedside tables and a pink throw rug (all pink accents are from HomeGoods, by the way). That’s the extent of the pink, and the other elements in the room, once we choose them, won’t be pink. (Speaking of paint, we did have to get the entire interior of our house painted after we moved in, and we chose “Alabaster” from Sherwin Williams as the main interior off-white color. I found it in the Pottery Barn catalog, and it’s a nice neutral. But then I did a few accent walls in rooms, including ours.)

We chose this pink color for the accent wall. And here are our side tables/nightstands, which we’ve had for many years, because Dave bought them for me for our fifth wedding anniversary long ago. I’ve always loved the mirrored look.

We need more furniture and wall-hangings in the bedroom, and I don’t know what those will be yet, but even unfinished, the pink bedroom is a fave for me.

Our lounge-y patio furniture

The reason I love our lounge-y patio furniture isn’t as much about the look of it all (although I love that it’s low to the ground and seems like it belongs at a beach club), but also because we’ve already made so many memories out there. It’s a happy place.

Here’s who we’ve spent fun times hanging out on the patio with over the last six months: My mom, my brother and sister-in-law (Matthew and Stephanie), my college bestie (Yolanda), Dave’s aunt and cousin (Connie and Nicole), our besties (Grant and Bre), our other besties (Phil and Kicki), Dave’s sister (Gwena) and the list goes on and on. Every time we have visitors, we sit out there. We catch up. Laugh. Look outside. Sip wine. And we totally just chill.

This patio has been the perfect spot for spring and summer hang-outs. And we hope to stay out there as long as the weather will allow. We didn’t have a screened-in porch in California, although there were hardly any bugs there, so you didn’t really need one. Also, it got cold every night in California, and it stays warm during summer nights here. This is our spot, and everyone who comes over seems to love it too.

We have another fake plant out there on the patio, which I picked up from HomeGoods, and it looks super fake up close, but does a good job as an exterior piece of decor. We also finally ordered a grill, which should be here soon — and that will nearly complete our outdoor set up for now.

(I’ve been wearing this dress all summer long. I’m in an extra small.)

Dave and I have been together for more than 12 years, and during that time, we’ve lived in many places. Those places include some super tiny spaces where we didn’t even have a real bedroom (550 square feet in Nob Hill in San Francisco, and it was glorious), but something about this house just feels more permanent, and so we’re doing our best to do it right.

That’ll do it for today! Hope you enjoyed this little diversion away from health and wellness into home and design. We’re loving our home in Charlotte and hope to stay here for a long time.

Have a great week, my friends! I’m off to teach my first ever Life Barre class at Life Time, which I’ve been preparing for for weeks. So wish me luck. 🙂 

Other posts you may like …

• Our first four months of living in Charlotte, North Carolina
• Splurge vs. save: How I spend money
• Small and realistic ways to take care of yourself as a busy lady

Questions of the day

What’s your favorite thing about where you live?

What’s one item on your wish list for your home?

How was your weekend?