Flower Power

Since Valentines is coming up soon, my radar has been on alert for beautiful flowers.


I recently had so much fun re-arranging some ordinary store-bought bouquets in my home.

Actually, I bought only one, on SALE (you know me) for $8.99 and was able to make 2 arrangements!

Pretty pinks

I really love these colors especially with my blue and white pot

This one sits in our breakfast table

And I put the rest in our Dining room!

Got this small pot for $1.50 at an Antique store!

Still have my red flowers alive & well all the way back from Dec. 23!

I'm up for a VERY busy weekend ahead since my son is gonna be performing in Peter Pan Musical from Friday until Sunday.
He's just part of the Indian Ensemble, but even with that, technical rehearsals are still very taxing and time-consuming. My son is very happy to be part of the group though and is proud of his work, so we're on full support for this important event. Wish us luck!

Anyway, I'm Just loving all these beauties I see everyday that of course, to me, cost almost nothing.

How about you what's your favorite kind of store-bought flowers?

Have a Lovely Weekend!

VEL 

 Would love to hear your thoughts! Please share away...

Fiddle Leaf Update & tips

 Do you remember my Fiddle Leaf Find from Walmart 2 years ago?

Got them for $4 each

Well, surprisingly enough, despite my "black thumb" (which I wrote about HERE),

they have surprisingly held up well and thrived!

BEFORE

AFTER

When I first got them, I was expecting the worse, they weren't exactly in great shape at the start (hence, the clearance bin). But I believe that with our TLC (and bigger pot) they truly are quite remarkable now!

They grew so well that I was able to give 3 of my girlfriends this plant!

I didn't prune them, It turned, out there were 2 in each pot. So I actually ended up paying just $2 per plant?!!! My friends were so happy to get their own fiddle leaf fig too since ours have become so beautiful!

The tallest one so far

My mother-in-law who's an avid gardener in the Philippines, even thought my the Fiddle leaf figs were artificial since they looked so perfect!

What's our secret?
Not much really, but here is what we've been doing and so far, has worked well for these plants:

1) We water these babies generously once  a week in the summer and every 2 weeks in the winter. 

2) I do put some indoor plant fertilizer every 3 months or so (whenever I remember sometimes, so I didn't do this consistently)

3) Aphids can become a problem and nuisance. I just used water with some drops of dish washing soap in them, spray and wipe away. I don't put any oil in the leaves, their just shiny and perfect the way they are.

4) I do trim the bottom (not the top like most experts say) occassionally (like 3x  only since we got them)

5) We did transfer them right away to Bigger Pots for them to grow better! Actually we need to transfer one to a bigger pot soon...

See?

I truly love these plants, and they are perfect touches of green year-round inside our home!

I still want them to look like this though...

Source

So I better get my pruning skills honed right?!

How about you, do you have any indoor plants that makes you happy?

                          Have a Nice Day!

VEL 

 Would love to hear your thoughts! Please share away...

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Linda's Coastal Charm, Dwellings the heart of your home, Inspire me Monday, A Stroll Thru Life, Our home away from home, Gingersnap crafts, Savvy Southern style, The Life of Jennifer Dawn, The Style Sisters, French Country Cottage

Furniture that can grow up with your kid - part 1

Ok, now that the 'tour' of my Winter Blues home is done. I've got Nursery in my mind lately.

And with that,  I've been "Screen Shopping" for furniture and decorative items that can go in that special room.

For one thing, there's a lot of great pieces out there now, definitely pieces that can easily grow with your child and better yet, go anywhere in your home!

One of the stores I love is LAND OF NOD...

Campaign Dresser

Campaign Desk

Now You See It Acrylic Bookcase

Andersen Dresser

Campaign Nightstand

As You Wish Settee

Circulation Chest

Color Weave Toy Box

Do you see the versatility of these pieces? Gone are the days of  Car beds and Castle cabinets 

(well,  maybe not yet),  and kid furniture are now more practical and definitely more beautiful!

What do you think? Which one is your favorite and where will you put it or how will you use it?

Have A Great Weekend!

VEL 

 Would love to hear your thoughts! Please share away...

Winter Blues in the Living Room

I hope you all had  a wonderful weekend everyone!

Today is the last day of this "Winter Blues Series", I hope you enjoyed the last two since this one is the 'less blue' of all. Actually, I have more jewel tones in this room than in any other.

The house looks almost empty post-holiday doesn't it? But also feels more relaxing.

As always, it starts with the pillow change. These 2 - the denim and the country toile are both from IKEA I bought about a year ago but only got to use only now. I also switched back the lamps.

Coffee table didn't change much. Just added my amber grapes for the Christmas beads and added all the brass.

Brass galore on the piano

I think my pair of KERRY STEELE watercolors look perfect with all the brass along with the greens in my orchids.

Aisian-inspired console

I planted some Amaryllis which hasn't bloomed yet, so I placed my faux ones here first.

My Mantel is simple but I love how the painting captures all the colors in our living room

More Jewel tones here

The throw is a gift from my friend Grace.

Do you see Sophia's Playpen peaking behind? I need fix that area fast before she starts crawling around.

That's all folks! Thank you so much for following along!

Have a Great Week!

VEL 

 Would love to hear your thoughts! Please share away...

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My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia - 7 Fabulous Room Updates



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Linda's Coastal Charm, Inspire me Monday, Our Home away from Home, Color Paint Create,
The Dedicated House, A Stroll thru Life, Savvy Southern Style, Gingersnap Crafts, Fluster Buster, The life of Jennifer Dawn, The Style Sisters, From my front porch to yours, Serenity Now, The Shabby Nest, Diary of a Real housewife

Winter Blues in the Master Bedroom/Nursery

So, to continue on with my "WINTER BLUES" Series,
I just wanted to share with your our Master Bedroom/ Nursery.

Yup, we're still sharing our room with Sophia

I know, it's about time for Sophia to move into her own room, and believe me I hope it will happen soon too . She is 3 months old now and pretty soon would really need to move to her nursery, so hopefully I will have the time to get it started soon!

Anyway, I thought I'd share this with you because it goes with my series!

The Changing area

This area obviously hasn't changed much.

I love this Meadow Pattern from Dwell Studio for the changing pad cover

I did change up the decor on the shelves and as you can see, she has her shoes instead of socks on the shelves (sniff, sniff, growing up too fast ;-(  )

Our ribbons are too many already and so I had to transfer them to this PLASTIC
Candy Jar (one of  the ones from Sophia's Baptismal Candy buffet)

I also added these 2 cute brass bears I scored more than a year ago.

Sophia's stuff crowding even the mantel and the dresser

I just changed our bedding to match Sophia's bedding. This duvet cover  is from TAHARI Home.

This is what the 'Feeding" side table now

Yup, I stopped breast feeding already. A lot of factors on this, luckily she's ok with the formula.

Our Giraffe has a friend now! A gift from one of Sophia's Godmother
I also added monogram on all her towels

Here's my little cutie pie making our Meadow Crib sheet even more beautiful.
The puppy dog pillow is from H & M home.

I change my curtains to this blue too - scored this from TARGET years ago

This little one is surely getting more and more stuff the older she gets. Hopefully I can fix her nursery real soon. In the meantime, we are truly ALL wrapped up around her tiny little finger!

And Mommy's girl too!

Have a Wonderful Weekend!

VEL 

 Would love to hear your thoughts! Please share away...

Winter Blues in the Dining Room

Hello Everyone!

Thank you so much for all your sweet and wonderful comments about my TOP 5 POSTS! 

I do feel like you guys are family too since you've been a witness to one of the most important change in our life -  the birth of SOPHIA!

It's funny how this blog started out to be an outlet for something so 'trivial' as home decorating and blossoming into some sort of personal journal already! I really do hope that someday, my kids will browse thru this little blog of mine and find out more about me and our life!

Anyway, back to the 'trivial' things! ;-)

Today I want to share with you the first of 3 rooms in our home  which I call the 

"WINTER BLUES" series. 

Why? Well take a look...

Yup, the BLUE palate is definitely a stand-out!

Despite the name, I am SO HAPPY with this "BLUES SERIES" ! 

Did I ever tell you that BLUE is my favorite color?

It was all REDS during the holidays

My Blue ceramic collection is indeed growing

I moved most of my blue ceramics from my Kitchen sink. Remember this?

My collection has grown from this already

The ones on the right of the tray including the mini tea set and jar are from my mom

Would you believe these flowers lasted all the way from my birthday?? I celebrated Dec. 23 and shot this January 10!

The 2 biggest Ginger jars are scores from ROSS and the big one in the middle with the baby's breath (which are from Sophia's baptism -Dec.7-  is my recent score from TJ Maxx Clearance :-)

The plate behind is from an Antique store and did you notice that glass sticking out behind?

See? It's a recent score from WISTERIA!

I really love the vibrant color

I added some blues too on my mirrored shelves.  The dragon teapot is from my mom
and the plates are a score from TJ MAXX

I hope you enjoy this mini post-holiday tour of my Dining Room!

I'll be showing the Master bedroom/Nursery next time.

Hope you all have a Fabulous Week!
Stay warm!

VEL 

 Would love to hear your thoughts! Please share away...

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Feathered Nest Friday

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Dimples & Tangles


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Under the Table & Dreaming, Dwellings-the heart of your home, Be Different act normal, Our Home Away from Home, The Dedicated House, Gingersnap Crafts, Fluster Buster, Savvy Southern Style, The Style Sisters, The Life of Jennifer Dawn,The Pin Junkie, French Country Cottage, A Tray of Bliss, Serenity Now, Linda's Coastal Charm, Inspire Me Monday, From My front Porch to yours, Thrifty Decor Chick