New Office Sneak Peek + $100 Giveaway

 **THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED**

Hi friends! Excited to finally see some sneak peeks into my new house? Well, how about some pics AND a chance to win $100? Yeah buddy, this post is more exciting than Bachelor Tierra's twitching eyebrows.

Last week, I shared some fun goodies that I recently found while shopping at Kirkland's. This week, I'm back to share what I bought and where it ended up in my new house!


Meet my new office/guest room!


Since I do a lot of my work from home, I've already set up my desk in the new office. I absolutely love that it faces a beautiful wall of windows. So much pretty light!

I set up my thrift store bamboo chair along with my desk and some fun accessories, including my DIY nailhead trim art. And do you notice one other fancy schmancy addition to my desk?

Look a little closer....


Oh yeah. A new lamp from Kirkland's! The moment I laid eyes on this lamp, I knew it had to be mine. The brass, the linen shade, the glass drum, the brass, the brass.... it's the bomb dizzle.


It's kind of large for a desk, but that way I get to sit and stare up under the lamp at this view all day. Love.


Oh and for those of you wondering what the rest of my office looks like currently... womp womp. #keepingitreal


Ok. Now which of you wants to win a $100 gift card to Kirkland's to put towards your very own bomb dizzle lamp? Or anything else in their store for that matter?!


a Rafflecopter giveaway
 
 The giveaway closes at midnight on Sunday, March 3rd, 2013. Good luck! 
 
I received Kirkland's products for my Treasure Your Home blog post. Kirkland’s partnered with several bloggers like me to raise brand awareness in the month of February. All purchases and content are on my own accord and reflect my personal opinion and style. Kirkland’s blogger outreach policies abide by the WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations. For official Kirkland’s giveaway rules, visit http://www.kirklands.com/content.jsp?pageName=blogger_rules-03.

Oh Heyyyyy There


Oh hey, friends. Remember me?

Yeah. It's been a long time since I've had the chance to knock out a killer blog post. Or any blog post, for that matter. And I miss it! Life for the last month or so has been greatly consumed by all things baby, moving, David traveling, work and trying to squeeze in some sleep in between all of the above.

But.

We are officially moved. And I am officially in love with our new place. It's not big. It's not fancy. It's not completely updated. But it's (temporarily) ours. And my hunky hubs has been getting home to me and HDawg in thirty minutes! Beats the 1.5 - 2 hours we've experienced for the last year, right?

Anyways, life is good. I am decorating my little hiney off as I unpack, box by box. Which basically means I've put like two things up, since most of our life is still in boxes. I've also started gearing up for a few mini projects around our new casa- hopefully a few ideas that all of you fellow renters out there can also use! I can't wait to show y'all pictures of the new place. I have lots of fun things to share, that's for sure.

With that said, stay tuned because we're about to amp back up here at Ten June. Once I dig myself out of the bubble wrap tunnel I'm currently in, of course. Until then....

It's Almost Game Day... Time To Move!


Well, friends. The big day is almost here. The day that David, HDawg, Tucker and I pack up our beloved little house and move into a rental home closer to D's job.

We are so excited. 

We are also so sad to leave our sweet house. There are so many memories in these walls... it's the first home that we owned together, the place with the walls (and floors and ceilings and everything in between!) we invested so much time and energy in and the house we brought our sweet baby H home to. 

It's not easy to leave what feels like so much behind. But, instead of being sad, I'm going to take my own advice and remember that the house itself isn't what makes a family, but, rather, "what I love most about my home is who I share it with."

David and I are very excited to start this new chapter in our lives and, of course, to share it with all of you! So wish us luck as we move this weekend. Hopefully we're ready! I forgot how much fun moving is... umm, said no one, ever. I'm pretty much drowning in bubble wrap at this point! HDawg is ready to flex his guns and do some heavy lifting, but if any of you want to come help, I pay in margaritas.

Have a great weekend!

Kirkland's Window Shopping Finds

A couple of weeks ago, I received an email from the folks over at Kirkland's. They've got a really fun promotion running right now and they asked that I do some shopping there at the store and share my finds with you. Um, yes, please. Home decor shopping? Do I have to? Not really my thing.... Sike.

So I charged up my iPhone and HDawg and I headed over to my local Kirkland's to shop and snap some pictures of their goods. Okay, so maybe H slept in his stroller, but this momma shopped, that's fo sho! And y'all are going to love what I found!

They've got a ton of cute throw pillows, including these adorable jute bordered pillows. I love them!


I kind of fell in love with this gold picture frame... and, hello, $9.99?! Amazing price. They had the frame in a couple of different sizes.


 Check out these pretty glazed earthenware candler holders.


This little vintage-esque mail sorter needs to come live in my office!


Love, love, love this bench. An amazeballs price, too!


Oh, hey, dining room chair. Want to be my dining room table's new best friend?


How precious are these little owl canisters? Would be so cute lined up on the counter in a kitchen.


This rattan lamp is so different! I'd like to see a pair of these on either side of a buffet in a dining room, yeah?


If we were staying here at our house, I would have definitely picked up these faux boxwood topiaries.  They're so preppy and classic.


Right now, Kirkland's is doing a fun treasure hunt, where you can shop some of their items online or in their store and win all kinds of fun products and discounts, as well as a chance to win $10,000. Baller!

And stay tuned if you like what you see, because you might just get lucky. In the next week or so, I'll be giving away some big time moolah for one of you to use at Kirkland's! Get excited!

I received Kirkland's products for my Treasure Your Home blog post. Kirkland’s partnered with several bloggers like me to raise brand awareness in the month of February. All purchases and content are on my own accord and reflect my personal opinion and style. Kirkland’s blogger outreach policies abide by the WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations.

I Cheated On My English Degree.... {Hello, E-Reader}

 I swore I'd never do it.

Like, told people there was no way in h-e-double hockey sticks that I would venture down that road. Basically proclaimed to the world that I thought it was the worst invention eva-eva.

The e-reader. Every real book lover's worst dream. Honestly, I'm a huge fan of the old-fashioned book. Sniffing the "new book" smell... turning the weathered pages of an old book... collecting stacks of hardbacks... I love it all. And after spending most of my life as a major book worm, including four years studying English in college, I'm pretty proud of my extensive book collection.

Thus, why I swore I would never get an e-reader.


Ummm, guess who got an e-reader last week? And. I. Freaking. Love. It.

Seriously, what was I thinking? I was so scared that buying an e-reader would make me feel like I was having an affair on my loved books. But truly, this thing is every book lovers dream! In the span of minutes, I can download any book that I've been wanting to read. It's actually kind of dangerous. I've already poured through three-quarters of Gone Girl in the last couple of days.

As we've been packing up our house (moving day is right around the corner!), I realized that I have so many books that I don't plan to re-read. In fact, I've added so many of the trendy paperback novels that I bought and never plan to touch again (cough, Fifty Shades, cough) to the "donate" pile. Now that I've got my fancy e-reader, I can simply purchase those types of books paper-free and not junk up my bookshelves! Of course, I plan to continue to add to my collection of classics and my personal favorites in hard cover form. Really, it's win win. 

Now that I've caught up with the rest of you and this century's technology, I'm totally excited about reading again. And I'd love to share my excitement with all of you. Soooo, are any of you a member of an online book club? I'd love to find a group to join for book ideas, book discussions, that kind of thing. I'd love any suggestions if you've got them!

Hot Momma Fashion: Part III

Hiiiii, friends! This wanna-be fashionista (wow, never thought I'd be using that word to describe myself) is back with another "Hi, I'm a mom but I can still look cute" post. I promised myself that I'd keep up with fashion in 2013 (well, to the best of my sweatpants-loving ability) and here I am, keeping myself accountable here on the el bloggo. 

Casual fashion tip: keep it klassy.

And to be reallly classy, you spell it with a K. Duh.

Even though it's fun to bring trendy elements to an outfit, don't forget that all of our favorite good ol' classic pieces can bring style to an outfit, as well. Think something your grandmother would wear. Like what? Try a chunky bauble necklace or a pair of polka dotted tassel loafers. In my opinion, these kinds of pieces scream style. And klass. 
 

necklace from Charming Charlie's
 

loafers from Target

Workplace fashion tip: bring in the unexpected.


chambray shirt from Target, skirt- really old from my mom's closet, 
necklace from World Market
 
 First of all... woah! I have a face! And I'm posing it in my best Zoolander fashion. I'm? Blue? Steel?

Workplace fashion doesn't have to be all pencil skirts and pointy toe heels. And when I say that, I'm directing that mainly to myself. Step outside of the box and add a casual piece to a workplace outfit, like my chambray shirt and black skirt combo. Granted, this was for a more casual Friday at the office, but I still think it was fun to bring in denim to a workplace outfit in an unexpected way.

What are you wearing this week?

Oh, hey...   h a p p y    V a l e n t i n e ' s    D a y !

Check out more of my hot momma fashion posts!

 

Got Any Sofa Bed Advice?

Hi friends! I need some advice. David and I are shopping for a sofa bed for our new place. I think we'd like to make one of the three bedrooms an office/guest room combo, so it makes sense to save space and add a sofa bed to the room instead of a full sized mattress. The only problem is that we don't want to invest a bunch of money in a piece we only need temporarily. 

With that said, do you have any suggestions?! Unfortunately, Craigslist or anything thrifted is out of the question... I'm not a big fan of secondhand upholstered items and we don't have the time to reupholster a piece right now.

Here are a few that I'm looking at.

This Ikea classic is good on the eye, but a little pricey for something that folds out to be pretty small. Or is it big enough for two? Anyone ever seen it in person?
This Ikea option is pretty much a glorified futon, but it's cheaaaap. 
I would love this contemporary Ikea beauty, but I'm pretty sure it's too expensive for what we're looking for. Although I've heard great things about the sofa!
Along the same lines, this Urban Outfitters contemporary sofa is better priced, but it's foam padding instead of a mattress. Do you think the foam padding is comfortable? Does it wear well? Would this size sleep two? If any of you have seen this one in person, please share!


This Target retro futon is kind of cute. And cheap.
Or maybe I should just get this one from Overstock?


Yessss. Red, white and blue, baby.

But seriously, I'm like the Goldilocks of sofa beds. Too big, too small, too expensive, too cheap. So, I need your help! Got any sofa bed shopping suggestions?!

The Perfect Play Room



Over the weekend, I finally got around to reading my February Land of Nod catalog... and wow, was I impressed. If you follow me on Instagram (@tenjuneblog), you'll know that I was most impressed by this playroom. It's perfection in my book. I love the mix of new and old furniture, bright and subtle colors, "kid-friendly" furniture and adult pieces. It's beautiful! The room belongs to Trina McNeilly, the blogger behind La La Lovely. She's got incredible taste- you should check out her blog, for sure. 

I was digging around trying to find more pictures of the room for y'all and actually found something better- a full video tour of this room and some other rooms from Trina's house. It's sooo amazing. I kind of want to just move on in with the McNeilly's so I can hang out in her beautiful spaces. Is that weird?

Anyways, thought you guys would love to see this space as much as I did. Enjoy!

PS. Please tell me I was not the only one absolutely drooling over my love, Mr. JT, last night. He killed it at the Grammy's y'all. Love that man!


Friday Find: A New Pottery Barn Rug


There's not much more that makes this Frugal Franny's heart race like finding a good deal. I stumbled acrosst this sweet little chenille find last week at the Pottery Barn outlet near me. A $100 rug marked down to $40 and I used a $25 gift certificate on it? Um, yes, please. Fifteen smackeroos later, I've got myself a new 3x5 light blue chenille rug. And I've already got a special place picked out for it at the new house! Woot.
 
Did you find any good deals this week?

DIY Valentine's Day Art + Gift Ideas

Heyyyyyy friends. Hope you guys are having a great week so far! So, I've shared with y'all before, but David and I share a tad bit of Grinch in us when it comes to Valentine's Day. We're honestly not really big celebrators of the holiday. Sorry, Valentine's Day. We're just not that into you.

Of course, this year, with our little H Dawg bug around, things will probably be different. And as he grows, we'll obviously start up with the fun V-day treats, notes and love gifts. But until then, we like to keep Cupid's holiday low-key around here. That's why, in years past, I've shared with you my version of a Valentine's Day series- the Ten June Not So Valentiney V-Day Series! In this series, I shared a couple of sweet but not too sappy gift ideas for your love. They're really ideas that you could use year-round, which wins points in my book.

Some of my favorite ideas from the Not So Valentiney series are ideas for "special to your heart" art. I've got some cute DIY art around my house that lends more than just decor elements to each room. These are sentimental pieces I created to remind me and D of our wuv. Yup, just said wuv. Who said I wasn't sappy?

I created this printable by simply finding a sign language "I love you" via Google, printing and gluing on top of some textured scrapbook paper. Now it sits on our dresser, greeting my wuv (see, I've caught the bug) every single day. Boom. Easy peasy.


Over by our bed, we have a framed wedding photo and a couple of pieces I created with chipboard letters, a print from Etsy and fabric as matting.



In the hallway next to our bedroom, I have a shadowbox filled with some of our wedding items.


Can't you feel the wuv? You can learn more about these pieces (and a few more!) here and here.

Do you decorate your home with lots of sweet sentiment?!

Look for Less: A Sweet Green Kids Space

Back in the day, I had a fun series rolling here on the el bloggo entitled: Look for Less. Remember? Basically, I use the series to recreate a fancy pants home decor magazine vignette Michelle style... ie. I recreate it on the really really cheap. The other day, I was thinking about how fun that series was and decided it was high time for it to make a comeback. Kind of like New Kids on the Block... please tell me you are also trying to buy NKOTB/ Boyz II Men/ 98 Degrees concert tickets? Yeahhh buddy. Anyways, the Look for Less series is back. And we're starting off today with a sweet green kids space!

via

How cute is this kiddo vignette from the January/February issue of Lonny? Me loves. Now it's time for me to pull out some tricks from my magic bag of cheap and recreate this look on the cheap.
Lonny Look For Less

One way to keep things inexpensive is to DIY your own fabric projects. And you don't have to know how to sew to make your own pillows and window treatments, I promise! You can use this tutorial to make pillows from the striped green fabric and this tutorial to make roman shades from the green trellis fabric. Beautimous. And cheap. Love it.

A few of my favorite inexpensive sources are Etsy, where I found the leather Moroccan pouf for only $90 bucks, and Rugs USA, where I found this jute rug. By the way, y'all... that rug is ridiculously cheap right now. The 5x8 foot rug is on sale for $100 right now! Get itttttt. I tracked down the vintage white metal daybed on my local Craigslist for $50. I'm sure you could find something similar in your area! The sweet blue pillow is from Ikea, $9.99.

Finally, I didn't find a cheap alternative to the monkey doll because I have a soft place in my heart for this brand- Bla Bla Kids. It's a local Atlanta company that makes the cutest little knitted toys. In fact, the mobile in baby HDawg's nursery is made by this group. Their dolls are totally worth the splurge, in my opinion : )

Ta-da! Just a few steps gets the look of that fabulous sweet green Lonny kids space for less.

Want to see some of my older "Look for Less" posts? Check them out....

an eclectic entryway vignette


a modern dining nook


a styled parsons desk


If you've got a fancy decor space that you think would be fun for me to recreate for less, send it my way! Feel free to shoot me an email with the image: tenjuneblog@gmail.com.

I Like To Move It, Move It


Guess what those are? Yes, duh, boxes. But special boxes. Magical boxes. Moving boxes

{Picture David and I doing the sprinkler dance in our living room right now!}

YES, FRIENDS. WE'RE MOVING! It's true. At the end of February, we will finally be ending David's year-long stint of driving 150 miles a day to and from work. When he accepted his new job over a year ago, we never expected that our house wouldn't sell and that he would have to make the lengthy commute for so long. But, that's the way the cookie crumbled. I'm not gonna lie, it hasn't always been easy. David has really long work days in order to avoid some major Atlanta traffic, which means he oftentimes only gets a few precious minutes with baby H each day. It has also been really stressful having the house on the market both when I was pregnant and with a newborn. But we've been pushing through, having faith in the fact that David is in love with his new job and understanding that a temporary long commute will be small potatoes in the grand scheme of life.

While we are moving now, we actually haven't sold our house yet. Let me explain. Back in December, I was chit-chatting with my best friend about our frustrations when she shined a whole new light on the situation. Instead of waiting to move, why didn't we rent an inexpensive place closer to D's job while we kept our house on the market and continued to try and sell it? My brain went crazy thinking it through. Hm. It must be too expensive. Well, to tell you the truth, we spend a gigantic chunk of change each month on gas for David's car... almost a house payment's worth. So if we weren't driving as far and spending that much money on gas, we could spend it on a rent payment. Right? But what if we sold our house while we were renting and were stuck in a lease? Well, that would actually give us some time to find a dream home to buy instead of having to buy immediately after selling our house. But if we weren't living there, how would we show the house while it was still on the market? The more we thought about it, we realized it would be easier because the house would be empty and ready to show at all times. Dang. This all made sense. Holy cow... why didn't we think of this sooner?!

To add to the story, little H has been in temporary childcare since I went back to work in January. We planned for him to go to the corporate daycare at David's office (an ah-maz-ing program!) once a spot opens for him in early March but, clearly, he can't make David's lengthy commute each day. We've been stressing about how to get him in a more permanent situation. So, if we move closer... well, you get the picture. H gets his daycare. D gets his shorter commute. Even I will be driving about ten miles less to get to work! Bada bing, bada boom. 

To give you some background, that idea came to fruition in December. From about mid-December until the end of January, we pretty much obsessed over finding a place to rent. In case you guys have been wondering where I've been (hello, it really shouldn't take a normal person three weeks to answer an email... so sorry!), I've been researching rentals online or spending my free time visiting them. It's been all-consuming. But all of our efforts paid off, because we found an adorable house to rent. With three bedrooms and two bathrooms, it's definitely a much smaller home than we've got now, but we're okay with that. In fact, we're excited. We're in the midst of paring down what we own to take to the new house, storing some things and selling/giving away others. It's a great feeling.

To make a long story short, I can't even handle how excited we are. David and I will each be less than thirty minutes from our offices. We'll be closer to most of our friends and some of our family. We'll be in a part of town that we've always wanted to live in. It will be amazing! And we (as well as our realtor) has faith that we will sell our house this spring/early summer when the market picks up. So hopefully everything will fall into place. Of course, we have a few back-up plans if life doesn't pan out that way, so don't think we're going at this blindly. God has definitely made some wonderful plans for our little family, and for that we are so, so grateful. David and I feel very blessed to have this opportunity to move and get situated in a place that's better for us. We're counting our lucky stars a lot over here these days!

What does this mean for you guys? Well, thank goodness... home projects! You obviously won't see any major bathroom renovations or big time makeovers since we'll just be renting, but you can be sure you'll see lots of fun decorating going on at our new house. I have so many ideas! And for those of you out there who are also renters, hopefully I'll be able to come up with some great home improvement tips for all of us in temporary housing. At least that's the plan!

Well, that ended up being quite the wordy blog post... but it does certainly feel like a great big ol' end to a long saga. Or if you look at it another way, the very beginning to a whole new story for us! And I'm excited to finally share it with all of you who are along for the ride.

Now, who wants to come help me pack up boxes?!
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