Spring clean with a FREE Mrs. Meyer's set (in their beautiful spring scents!)

Hello my friends! I'm SO very excited about this gift for you all and the weather lately -- even if it's been a little rainy around here, SPRING HAS ARRIVED. I was driving today and found myself smiling because the trees are starting to turn shades of green, white and pink here in Indiana. Spring and fall are the most beautiful seasons in the Midwest. 

For me, the warmer temps make me want to throw open all of the windows and clean the house from top to bottom. I really think I keep our house cleaner this time of year -- I just feel like keeping the house fresh and organized more than any other season. 

If you're feeling the same I'm excited to share this gift with you. Because...Mrs. Meyer's products. We all love them, right? They can be hard to find, especially the most sought after scents. I'm not sure anything screams spring more than these: 

I'm so excited about this people! I've been using these for years and other natural products from Grove Collaborative for months now and I love them for so many reasons. The scent of course...if you've ever used the Meyer's products you know. 

I have the BEST ones for you today: 

These are HARD to find, but they have them! Most of you know I'm a sucker for the peony scent, but I gotta tell you, the lilac may beat it out. They are both SO lovely, smell amazing and they WORK too (more on that in a bit). 

Right now if you sign up with Grove and place your first order of $20 you'll get this awesome Mrs. Meyer's gift set for free. Here are the gifts you'll receive with your first order:

Mrs. Meyers Spring Seasonal Hand Soap

Mrs. Meyers Spring Seasonal Dish Soap 

Mrs. Meyers Spring Seasonal Multi-Surface Spray

A two pack of Grove Walnut Scrubber Sponges

(PLUS free shipping and a free VIP trial.)

*Get your free set now by signing up for Grove*

You can pick your free set in the lilac or peony scents. The overall value of this gift is $30 and this offer is available for new customers only with a $20 purchase. Click here to get your free gift. If you are an existing costumer, we have something for you too. ;) Just go here to get a free hand soap. 

Grove Collaborative doesn't just sell Meyer's products. They sell a ton of natural items for cleaning, personal care and the home. Here are some of my recent favorites: 

Essential Oils 

I use and love oils anyway but the Grove prices are amazing. I have purchased eucalyptus (great for stuffy noses), lavender (wonderful to diffuse while sleeping) and grapefruit from them so far. The grapefruit and lavender smell absolutely lovely together: 

Natural Soy Candle 

Their vanilla and sandalwood candle is AMAZING. It fills our whole main level with the soft scent. I love that it's soy and it's just plain cute: 

Full Circle Mini Brush Set

I've purchased a few cleaning brushes from Grove but this is one of my favorites. It's adorable, I KNOW. But it's perfect for getting small messes off the kitchen surfaces (and not on the floor). I also use it to wipe everything right off the counter into the sink: 

Bubble Up Dish Brush

This is another one I love because it just looks so good (love the wood handle) and works so well. I love it for our bacon griddle we use in the oven. It scrubs all of that yumminess off and stays clean and stink-free afterwards: 

Squeeze Cellulose Sponge Clothes

I'm now obsessed with these and use them everyday. These are on my reorder list for sure. We use half the paper towels with these around. You just get them wet and they clean up great -- you can scrub with them too: 

Mrs. Meyer's Cream Cleaner

OK this is the BOMB. Do you have a black cooktop that you can't get super clean? I'd clean and wind up with smudges every time. It drove me crazy. I even looked online for a solution and nothing worked. Until this. 😍😍Look how shiny! It works: 

Mrs. Meyer's Multi-Surface Spray

I've used this stuff forever now. It works on anything. If I have a tough spot I'll spray it, walk away for a few minutes and then when I come back it wipes away. Love it and the scent...you can't beat it. Your whole house will smell like spring: 

I prefer the cleaning supplies but as I mentioned, they have tons of personal care items as well. I have their hand lotion and it is lovely. If you participate in the free gift, you'll get a free VIP trial. VIPs never pay for shipping and get free products five times a year.  

This is what I LOVE about Grove: 

1. Natural products at a great price. Simple as that. Over the past few years I've gone to more natural cleaning products and we all know they can be more expensive. It's hard to beat their prices. 

2. They make everything SO easy. 

• Your favorites will come on a regular schedule.
• Your personal Grove "guide" is assigned to you will offer suggestions or you can pick what you want. They email to check in before anything is sent. 
• It's super easy to cancel any shipment, just email them back to let them know.
• You can even text your guide! Tell them you want to add or delete something your order and they can give advice about the products. I LOVE this. 

3. The packaging. One thing that drives me BATTY about most shipments is the crazy amount of space wasted. Either the box is entirely too big or they ship one thing at a time instead of combining. My items came packed super tight (and thoughtfully) and there was no wasted space. They also secure all cleaning supplies with tape so there are no spills in transit. 

4. It's easy to opt out. You can choose not to receive any items at any given month and you can cancel anytime. AND it's easy to do so. Just email them.  

5. They offer a price match for VIPs. If you see any of the items cheaper (I doubt you will), they'll refund the difference!

If you are interested, click the image below and they'll ask you a few quick questions to help tailor your order. Your cart will auto-fill with $20 worth of products but you can change them out to whatever you desire! And you'll get your free Mrs. Meyer's products in the process. This offer is only good till April 3rd! 

I love this company and their products and am excited to share it with you. Have you used Grove yet? What Mrs. Meyer's scent is your favorite? I have always been a sucker for peony (it's so hard to find too), but I think lilac has taken over. :) 

As of now Grove does not ship to Canada, Alaska or Hawaii. 

I am a Grove Collaborative affiliate. (And I only share brands I use and love.) 

How our DIY kitchen renovation is holding up (1 1/2 years later!)

Hey all! Hope your weekend was great! We had so much fun -- family stayed with us most of last week through Sunday and it was fun to have a full house. 

My plan this morning was to take new photos for this post -- but then we had thunderstorms and it looked like nighttime outside. Too dark for pics! So this post is a combination of photos from recently and over the past couple of years -- if things don't match from photo to photo that's why. (And now of course as I write this the sun is coming out.) 😐

I finished our kitchen renovation a year and a half ago and I get a lot of questions about how things are holding up and how I'm liking changes I made. I wanted to follow up again to let you know specifics on some of the bigger changes I get asked about the most.

It's hard to pick a favorite thing in this kitchen...I'm just so pleased with all of it. But extending the island was one of my best decisions for sure. It is SO wonderful to have a larger space to prep/cook/bake on. And when we entertain we can now fit all of the food on the island 😊: 

If I remember right I added about three feet to the island -- almost doubling the size. If you have the room I highly recommend doing this. I built on to the previous island and added wine storage, a spot to hang towels and other items, storage at the end, a spot for the microwave and room for a third stool on the other side.

One of the questions I get asked most is about our microwave in the island and if I like it after all this time: 

I LOVE IT. One of the best things I've done in the house, let alone the kitchen. I love that it's not the center of attention anymore (it used to hang above the stove). It took a little getting used to having it down lower, but now it's no big deal at all. My husband had a harder time getting adjusted than I did -- I loved it right off the bat. ;) 

We look through model homes all the time for fun and microwaves in base cabinets are definitely becoming a trend. A lot of them are actually lower than ours (but are nicer versions with a drawer): 

You can see how I built the island here and how I built in the microwave and allowed for venting here. 

We only updated one appliance when I remodeled the kitchen and this trash compactor in the island  is the only one that doesn't match the rest of the kitchen: 

When we built I went with a combo of black and stainless appliances (wish I gone all stainless) and that's the last black one...and it's still doing just fine. I'm sure it will be years before we need to replace it with a stainless version. You can see more about that trash compactor and why it's my favorite appliance here. 

We splurged on a slide in range -- it had always been my dream to have the clean lines of this type of oven and the hood on the top: 

We bought the KitchenAid slide in and I LOVE it. We've only had one small issue with it -- two times now the display has gone out. The oven works but you can't see what you're setting the temp to without the display. Thankfully it comes back pretty quick (within minutes) but it's annoying when it happens. 

I think the question I get more than any other project I've ever done (EVER!) is about the planked/shiplap backsplash. I used cement boards specifically because we had a slide in range and I wanted something that would be heat resistant. Plus it's a fraction of the cost of tile...and way easier to install. 

I didn't leave much of a gap between the boards because I knew I'd want to caulk between them anyway (who wants grease/food in there). It's sometimes hard to see the boards in pictures but they are much more obvious in person. They are virtually care-free -- splatters wipe right off. They look just like the day I installed them! The only change I may make is to paint the backsplash a lighter color sometime this year. You can see the details you need to know when installing a cement board backsplash here. 

Years ago I thought I may not like a stone countertop but I'm so glad I changed my mind. I love our counters and love the deep sink: 

 

The counters were sealed well and we still haven't had any issues or had to reseal yet. It's supposed to hold up for years I believe. Often with granite you can see that the color changes around the sink over time and we haven't had any problems with that. I wasn't sure I'd like a shiny countertop surface but I immediately loved it when they installed them. The room needed that little bling! You can see which granite we went with and the company we used here. 

I like the look of a farmhouse sink but didn't think the cost was worth it -- especially when we loved our deep sink (the dark gray works perfectly in here). I have mentioned that you may want to reconsider a deeper undermount sink if you are tall. It took some time for me to get used to that (it dropped another 1 1/2 inches when undermounted) and I'm 5'9" and my husband is 5'11".

Another project I'm SO GLAD I tackled was taking down a few cabinets and then extending the other ones to the ceiling: 

I'll link to all the before photos at the end of this post but we used to have a few cabinets on the stove wall and I took those down. It opened up this room a ridiculous amount -- such a good move. If you are considering this I don't think you'll miss them:

I built in the area around the fridge and later built the cabinets up to the ceiling. Having them go all the way up makes the whole kitchen feel so much more custom: 

And of course the biggest change was painting the cabinets! I am asked about these a ton too -- and they have held up SO WELL. I'm honestly a little surprised at how well. I did a follow up about them a month after I finished the kitchen and you're considering painting make sure to check that out. You MUST let them cure for a couple months before the finish is truly ready for wear and tear. 

I shared the whole process of how I painted them (and how they look like they were sprayed professionally) in this post. You do NOT have to sand the finish off of your cabinets if you want to paint! Of all the changes I made in this room, painting the cabinets was the most dramatic and the biggest bang for the buck. (I saved thousands doing them myself and they've held up better than some professional jobs I've seen.)

I did take away some storage in this room by taking down cabinets, but more than that was added back in the form of the upper cabinets (I use all of those baskets for seasonal kitchen items), the storage at the end of the island and a ton of space in the new window seat:

I still get the heart eyes every single day when I walk in and see that seat. ;) 

The only project (so far!) that needs to be touched up is our kitchen table -- you can't see from photos but I need to repaint the top: 

It gets a lot of use so I need to sand it down, do a couple more coats of paint and then put a protective finish on it. 

Whew!! I've said it before but it's so true -- living with this space for years before tackling it and doing the reno over nearly a year (I would do one project at a time) really helped us to make great decisions about how this room needed to be set up. It functions so beautifully -- I don't think I could ask for much more. I'm so very pleased with how well everything has held up so far. It's fared better than I had even hoped. 

I tried to touch on the projects that I get the most questions about, but if there's something I didn't mention that you are wondering about, please let me know! 

You can see the full reveal of the room with tons of before and after photos (my favorite!) here and I went into more detail about all of the sources and projects in this post. 

Going vertical with storage (it always works!)

Well hello! I have a super quick, but SUPER effective organizing project today! This will apply to those of you who have children obsessed with Nerf guns. In our house the tiny little Lego pieces have (mostly) been replaced with the Nerf bullets that we find every-freaking-where in our house. 

Everywhere. 

😆

Our son used to be a huge Lego fan but as he gets older he's switched to Nerf. For every birthday and holiday that's his request. Our home has also become the place where his buddies house some of their guns too, so we have quite the collection. 

My son has been begging me to figure out a better solution for the storage. For a couple years we've had them in a bin in the little closet under the stairs: 

But this is how it looked on a good day. The games and the Nerf stuff got intermingled and most days this closet was a big mess. It drove me crazy and although he did try to keep everything put away, the bin wasn't working. There wasn't enough room and to get one out they had to remove everything. Plus we had smaller guns and accessories in bins in another part of the room, so things were all over the place. 

We found some ideas for Nerf storage that were fun and seemed like great options and all of them involved hanging them on a wall. At first we were going to do it in the garage, but I realized that would be a pain for the kids to run out and then take them down to the basement (where they play with them all winter). 

So I decided to move some things around and make this little closet work. And it is AWESOME! I moved the games to our storage closet:

We have empty shelves in there because of this major purge I did last year. Love. :) 

I grabbed some small pegboards from Home Depot and because this closet is not finished, I was able to screw them right into the studs. The end result? GLORIOUS: 

If you have finished walls you just need to screw some 1x2 boards into studs vertically and then attach the pegboards to those. You can't hang these right against drywall because the hooks won't go into the board. These pegboards are smaller and perfect for a project like this -- the bigger ones are so large and bulky. Each one of these was $7 and I believe they are two feet by four feet. 

I grabbed these hooks to hang everything: 

They are the perfect hook for the Nerf guns -- here are some that are the same size. I also ordered these locks that go over the hooks as well. They are great because they keep the hooks in place when things are taken on and off.  

Most of the Nerf toys have hooks but those that don't can just be hung by the handles:

I almost went horizontal and stacked the two pegboards, but then a majority of the bottom board would have been at the floor, so I would have lost hanging space. Hanging them vertically makes the bottom part usable. 

We took two of the storage bins and filled one with the accessories and one with bullets. Now there's no question exactly where everything goes when it's time to clean up the meeellions of bullets: 

Side note -- see the air hockey table there? Last year I added wheels to the end of it so it's easy to roll in and out of the closet for storage: 

One of my best moves ever, not gonna lie. ;) 

Our son is SO stinking thrilled with this closet and he's crazy proud of it. It's the first thing he shows friends when they come over. It's been a week now and everything has stayed organized...this is a record for the Nerf stuff! 

I know most don't probably have a dedicated closet for something like this, but if you are trying to find a good spot for these awkward toys, this may be a good option for a wall in any closet. I've also seen these done out in the open in toy rooms or family/basement spaces and it's a fun way to display and organize them. 

Every time I go vertical with storage I find it works so much better! And having them easily accessible means they are easier to put away! Hopefully this gives you ideas if you're dealing with the same Nerf problems. ;) Have you figured out a way to organize something awkward like these? I'd love to hear about it! 

Here's an image to pin if you'd like to save this idea for later!:

Affiliate links included for your convenience! 

My favorite hidden storage in the kitchen!

Hello and happy weekend! It's Friday the 13th, the full moon was yesterday and we're expecting an ice storm tonight. Good day to stay inside I say! 

This is one of my very favorite little details of our home and I can't believe in nine years I've never shared it with you! At least I don't think I have? I've been at this a long time folks! 

This organization idea is hidden away and you'd never even know it was there. We have them in the kitchen and master bath: 

Any guesses? I don't even remember picking these out when we built our house -- if I remember right they came as a nice surprise to us when we moved in. 

They are called tip out trays and they allow you to use that small space behind those upper, faux drawers: 

They work with nearly all drop in or undermount sinks. And of course with sinks that sit on top of the counter in bathrooms. When we installed this sink years ago with our old countertops I couldn't use the trays because there wasn't enough room. But when we got the granite they must have moved the position of the sink back just a bit because they work fine again! 

They are absolutely AWESOME for the little stuff you need to access daily:

We used to keep our sponges in there until I found these that I love -- they won't fit inside. But regular sponges fit fine and tons of other random stuff will as well. 

In our bathroom we use them for our toothbrushes, toothpaste and flossers: 

We each have one in our bathroom and I plan to add two more when I work on this room sometime in the next couple of years. They are so convenient and easy to access! 

It wasn't till about seven years ago or so that I noticed they had started selling them in the store -- I've seen them at Lowe's but the best price I've seen for them is on Amazon. (Make sure yours come with the hinges if you buy online!) You can also just buy the trays -- when ours didn't fit with our new sink I just took the trays out and attached them to the back of the cabinet doors. Still great storage! 

If you're handy you can install them yourself, but they do take some patience. To install them where there are none, you'll need to lay inside the cabinet to remove the drawer front and then install them. :) I had to remove the kitchen trays when I painted our cabinets and took photos of them to remember exactly how to reinstall them. 

I highly recommend these hidden storage trays for little stuff you use every day -- I think they're especially helpful in the kitchen! Do you have these hidden gems in your house? We love them and plan to add more! 

Have a great weekend and if you are getting the ice as well, be safe!

Affiliate links included for your convenience! 

How to not kill your fiddle leaf plant

Hey there! Hope you had a lovely weekend, and perhaps a long one for some of you! 

I get asked about two things more than anything on the blog and social media -- the first is what's that paint color? (You can find all of our paint colors here.) The second is one I would never expect -- how do you keep your fiddle leaf plants alive? 

It seems many have struggled keeping these beauties from dying. The fiddle leaf fig has become incredibly popular over the past few years because of their big green leaves and pretty shape. I think they are the easiest plant to grow but I know many have had problems with them. If you have or are considering one of these, read on! 

I'll share some of our fiddles first, and then some tips. We have nine fiddles in our home and I've kept them all alive over the years. Most are thriving so I consider myself to be a fiddle leaf fig expert at this point. :) 

Some are doing better than others. My favorite, giant one was a killer find at our local nursery. This is how it looked shortly after we got it: 

It was a $130 plant that I got for $30 because they said it was in such bad shape. At first I didn't see that at all, but then the leaves really started to fall. This is what it looks like now: 

It's still doing well because a.) the leaves are now a beautiful, healthy, dark green and b.) it's still growing and sprouting like mad. It's grown nearly a foot (I moved that top line of art up years back so it's not a good indicator) and most of the leaves on it are very healthy. 

There's plenty of new growth on the bottom and at the top, but it's not done so well in the middle. I'll explain why it's especially bare right now at the end of the post. 

When I added the fiddle to our new loft space in the early fall last year it was much fuller: 

It's been growing well and the leaves are getting huge, but it lost quite a few leaves at first: 

I'll go into more detail on that one too. :)

But most, and theses are the ones I ignore the most (remember that!), are doing incredibly well! Our master bedroom fiddle is a slow grower but has healthy leaves that are a lovely green:

So pretty! This one is in our master as well and has grown at least a foot in just a year!:

I should have turned it (and need to) so you could see the size of the leaves on that one. It leans that way to get to the direct sun coming in through our bathroom window. 

My pride and joy is our master bathroom -- it was just a little guy a little over a year ago:

Isn't that crazy? It's HUGE. 

Our family room fig started out as a little bitty baby (right side of pic):

Now look at him! 😍

(See the end of the post for why the leaves turn yellow.) 

I found this small leaf fiddle at a big discount at the nursery as well: 

They said he was doing bad and again, I didn't see it at first. 

He did struggle a little but now has grown quite a bit and is filling in a ton: 

So here is my advice for some common issues with fiddles: 

BROWN LEAVES:  I think this is the most common problem I hear! These are tricky because most people think brown crusty leaves mean the plant needs water. Nine times out of ten it's the opposite -- brown leaves are a sign of too much water: 

Most of my plants have leaves like this -- usually from overwatering at the place I purchased them. Sometimes if the overwatering stops they will just stay like that for a very long time so I usually break off the brown parts (just don't tear the green part of the leaf) so the plant looks a little better. If the watering continues the leaves will fall off. I think this is the number one reason why so many die.

WATERING:  I only water our fiddles once every two weeks. You just need to watch the plant -- if it's really droopy you know it needs water, but it's very, very rare that mine ever get to that point. 

Keep in mind, if your pot is smaller you will need to water more often. If you have a lot of brown leaves, consider repotting to a larger pot and watering less. 

BARE BRANCHES:  If leaves fall off the branches they will look dead...they're probably not. Just leave it alone and new growth will appear again: 

I will say, once mine lose leaves at the bottom and middle, it's very rare that they bloom new leaves again there. 

Our huge plant is getting some new growth at the bottom: 

But again, for my taller plants that's rare. Side note -- Nerf bullets. I told you I find them everywhere. Secondly, if you have cats that occasionally pee in plants, rocks work wonders. They don't like stepping on them. You can find them at the dollar store. (Yes she has clean litter, yes she is healthy, yes sometimes she's just a butt and wants to pee in plants.)

LIGHT IS EVERYTHING:  I hear from so many that growing these plants is hard -- but I've found them to be the easiest plant by far. This is because they really need very little -- water every week or two and really great light. That's it! I promise. 

My best plants are in full, direct sunlight from half of the day to all day: 

The ones that struggle more don't get direct light. They will love you forever and be so happy if you put them in full sun. They LOVE it. If you're plant is not growing, it needs more sun. 

Also, if you have yellow leaves (you can see a couple on the plant by our back door), it means that leaf specifically isn't getting enough sun. Often I see this on the lower leaves because the upper ones block them. Sometimes there's not much you can do about that and that can lead to the more sparse branches. 

Now I do my best to turn our fiddles every month so they get full sun throughout. 

REPLANTING OR NOT:  When I bring a fiddle home, most of the time I don't replant it. I keep it in it's original planter and put a plastic water tray at the bottom. If the plant isn't doing well I may put it in a bigger pot, but some of mine that are absolutely thriving have been in the same planter they came in for years. 

You don't have to replant them, but if you are getting brown leaves and want to water less, go ahead and put them in something bigger. Once they get huge, you'll want to replant to something bigger. 

DON'T GIVE UP:  With full sun and little water, these babies thrive. I don't fertilize them, I don't prune them. I don't drag them outside or to the shower to water them (some do and have great success!). I forget about them for the most part and they seem to love that. 

Keep in mind they will go dormant during the winter. So they look their worst right now. Even so, ours are still growing new leaves, just not as fast as usual: 

You'll need to be patient with them during these months as they pull back and slow down. :) 

WHERE TO BUY:  I get asked this a lot! Your local nursery will most likely have them. When I say nursery I mean a location with just plants -- if they carry indoor plants. I find they are the most expensive there though. If you find them, keep an eye out for one with damaged leaves and offer to take it off their hands for a discount. 

I used to find them at IKEA but it's been a couple years since I've seen them there. Now the best place I've found is Home Depot -- they usually have them in stock when I stop in. I've also heard Lowe's has started carrying them. I've purchased most of mine at Home Depot for $9 and that's a great deal for their size! 

I've heard some have had luck buying on Amazon, but the one I got there came and was ridiculously small. I mean, barely one tiny leaf so it was just annoying for the price. AND it died within a couple weeks. 

Have you had luck with these beauties? They are by far my favorite house plant, I adore them. They're awesome in decor because of their large leaves and fuller shape. 

If you have any additional questions I'll do my best to answer them!   

Here's an image to pin for later: