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Amber Oliver

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Gorgeous Runner Rugs – Vintage Persian, Turkish, Moroccan Style Rugs

Since working on the kitchen makeover in my mom’s house a few weeks ago, I’ve been itching to make some changes in our house. We don’t need need a massive kitchen remodel, since our home was gutted to the studs and updated before we moved in. We do however, still have some decorating to do! I’m a self diagnosed “Pinterest-aholic” and one of my favorite things to do is puruse beautiful homes for inspiration. Lately I’ve been drawn to gorgeous runner rugs and I’m seeing them all over! From laundry rooms to kitchens, these beautiful vintage rugs in Persian, Turkish, and Moroccan styles are popping up everywhere. Here are a few of my favorites:

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The CUTEST Beach Blankets on the Internet

I have a thing about water. This isn’t one of those “I’ve got saltwater in my veins” kinda things; quite the opposite actually. I do NOT like water. Can’t swim, won’t swim, YOU CAN’T MAKE ME. I do however, LOVE the beach! Lucky for me, we live an hour from the gulf coast. Not the world’s finest beaches, but we’re pretty lucky for the proximity. We’ve been known to pack up the car on a whim, and drive to Galveston for the day. We’ll setup our umbrella and beach blankets, play some tunes, and read a book while catching some sun. It’s a perfectly relaxing escape from “big city living”.

This week we are spending an entire week at the beach! The whole crew from Eric’s side of the family has come to town and we rented out a beach house. There’s a chance of rain, but we are going to to make the most of it! I plan to soak up as much sun as we can and enjoy our time by the ocean.

I put together this roundup of cute beach blankets a while ago and figured this was the perfect time to share. I picked out the CUTEST blankets that are perfect for the beach, the backyard, or a picnic. They could even make super cute throw blankets to keep on hand at home.

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DIY Backsplash: How to Install Peel and Stick Backsplash

Whether you’re an experienced DIYer or a first time homeowner just dipping your toe into the wonderful world of DIY, you’ll love this project! It doesn’t get much simpler than PEEL and STICK! If grouting tile seems way too messy or overwhelming for you, I totally recommend this DIY backsplash project. Plus you can do it yourself for less than you’d pay for someone to come in and tile for you in the traditional method. You can install a brand new DIY backsplash in under an hour!
Kitchen remodel on a budget! Dark painted cabinets, peel and stick backsplash, and updated old cabinet doors!…

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How To Update Old Kitchen Cabinets – Kitchen remodel on a budget!

Last week I revealed the kitchen makeover we’d been working on. One of the most drastic changes we made was to update old kitchen cabinets for our kitchen remodel on a budget. We would have loved to gut the entire kitchen and start from scratch with brand new kitchen cabinets, but like a lot of people out there, a project on that scale just isn’t in the budget. Instead, we used wood filler and less than $100 on wood trim to completely transform these dated kitchen cabinets.

Kitchen remodel on a budget! Dark painted cabinets, peel and stick backsplash, and updated old cabinet doors!
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Dark Color Options for Painting Kitchen Cabinets

I partnered with Benjamin Moore on the kitchen remodel we spent the last week working on, and I wanted to share the planning process here before the big reveal! Since the kitchen we made over is in a home with a brand new baby, we took that into consideration with the planning. While I love clean, white cabinets, for this project we opted to go with dark painted cabinets. These won’t show dirt as much and will be great with a growing baby boy in the house. The cabinets are old and dated so we had to do some “doctoring” to give them an updated look. Paired with a fresh coat of paint from Benjamin Moore, we were left with a pretty amazing makeover!

For the planning process, I relied on my friends at Benjamin Moore Flagship here in the Houston Heights.

Benjamin Moore Flagship Paints in the Houston Heights

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Kitchen Updates on a Budget

This post is sponsored by Groupon.

We are smack dab in the middle of a kitchen remodel. It’s been a long time coming; my mom has been planning to update the kitchen in her house since I was in MIDDLE SCHOOL. We decided to dive in this week and do some updates, but we are on a tight budget. It’d be great to gut the entire kitchen and put in brand new appliances and cabinets, but that would cost way too much. Here are 5 ways to do kitchen updates on a budget.

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How To Make Homemade Fudgsicles!

It wasn’t until recently I realized how weird the concept of an ice cream truck is. The whole time you’re growing up you are told “never take candy from a stranger!” but for some reason an ice cream truck is ok? Just me?

My favorite frozen treat was always the FUDGSICLE! When given the choice I will always choose the most chocolatey treat and fudgsicles are totally that! But since I haven’t seen an ice cream truck since 1998 (and I didn’t feel like going to the grocery store), I made my own homemade fudgsicles.

How to make your own Fudgsicles!

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Watermelon Roundup

Summer is here! Summer is here! If there’s one thing that screams summer (aside from the stifling Houston humidity) I’d say it’s watermelon! I’m sure you *can* get watermelon year round, but this is my favorite summer time fruit. Plus, pink and green are my favorite colors! I’ve scoured the web and found the cutest watermelon items. Everything from clothing and accessories to pool floats and items for the home.

Watermelon Round Up! Super cute watermelon items that would be unique gift ideas or perfect for a watermelon lover!

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DIY Coasters – Made with FIRE!

This is a FUN project! Using a few basic materials you can create AMAZING DIY coasters with an unexpected twist: FIRE! There are some obvious precautions you should take with this project but with adult supervision this would be a super exciting project for kids needing entertainment OR for adults who want to create custom pieces for their home.

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