Lifestyle

Casual Friday: Our Family Grew, Greta’s Room, Dining Chairs, The $3 gift I can’t stop gifting, 2 favorite skincare picks, and MORE!

December 18, 2020

We believe we should all love where we live.

We’re a couple of homebodies, working to uncover the home our home wants to be. And we’re so happy to have you here. 

Portfolio

Projects

Design

We're Chris + Julia

read more

What we're                   right now

Loving

browse the shop

Befores, afters, mood boards, plans, failures, wins. We’ve done a lot of projects, and they’re all here. 

We have a long-standing relationship with DIY, and love rolling our sleeves up and making it happen. 

Even when you don’t want to rip down a wall, you can make that space in your home better. Right now.

browse all

browse all

browse all

02

01

03

Popular Posts

1.

2.

3.

Top Categories

I still haven’t sent our Christmas cards out–partly, okay mostly, because they haven’t arrived yet–and half of our house is currently covered in plastic because the painters showed up YESTERDAY to paint the entry and Faye’s room and the hallway and Polly’s room and our ceilings, finally. We’re still short a shower door and even more–the absence of a furry member of our family. But we couldn’t be more happy to have this home that feels like part of our family. This year, we grew together. Our family and our home. We grew and we grieved and we grew some more. There were big changes and rough patches and when I look at us in the photo above, I feel proud of the family standing in front of the home as we leave 2020. We grew together in sadness and confusion and mistakes and we made new memories. And yes, the girls grew so much in height, too!

We have a few more posts and projects to share in the coming days–and then we’re going to take a couple weeks off to just be. I’ll surely organize the bathroom and rearrange a few rooms and deep clean all the cabinets in between judging snowman building competitions, because that’s also my definition of relaxing. How are you spending your holiday?

Other fun things this week!

• I’m deep into all the girls’ rooms right now, picking paint colors and wallpaper and curtains and furnishings and in doing so, I tweaked a few things in Greta’s room and it brought a smile to my face all over again!


Beds | Duvet | Duvet Insert | Sheets| Nightstand (From Wayfair–no longer available)| Curtains (sold out, similar) | Curtain Rod| Curtain Rings | Wallpaper | DIY Floating Fames | Carpet: Godfrey Hirst Wool Blend Carpet–Glen Abbey II in the color Thatch | bench | lamp | mask by jennifer ament | pennant | blind

Next year, I think I’ll finally paint her trim and address her ceiling (I’d love to do shallow beams over headboard and a LOT of small flush mounts dotting the ceiling).

• I finally decided on captain’s chairs for our dining room. (eeee!)

A fun Santa printable!

I got this for Faye, but it’s also for me to be honest. (I was a Jacob’s Ladder wiz!)

• Really so excited about the resurgence of blue. Especially this very sophisticated, slightly grayed cornflower blue (via @stevengambrel with photography by @ericpiasecki). Big inspo for the color we’re going with for Faye’s room!

• Can’t wait to play this and this over Christmas.

This plaid matchbox is on sale for $2.99. I have already given 3 away and it was like I gave them a fluffy puppy–they. were. thrilled! Turns out, cute matches are always a good idea.

This serum is so moisturizing! And this budget toner has done wonders for evening out my skin in 2 weeks!

• Brooke showed up to work this week with the most perfect clean pink nail dashes on. And now we’re all copying her.

*Insert squealing cry laughter*

• I was searching for some shelving for the girls’ rooms (they ALL need varying types of bookshelves in their rooms) and I went into a DEEP dive on Urban Outfitters. I sometimes forget about their home section, but it’s REALLY good right now. And they have a lot of amazing dupes for more pricey pieces I’ve had my eye one. Here are a few of my top picks right now:

green accent chair | wicker tissue box cover | floral sheets | green ceramics
floor lamp | gingham tassel duvet | wicker desk (obsessed) | bentwood chair
black mango wood bowl | concrete dining table (looks so much like ours!) | salmon sheets | arch cabinet
wicker side table | office chair | dresser | leopard lamp

 

We’ll pick up Casual Friday in the New Year. Hope you all have a happy weekend! I’m going to be wrapping presents like crazy so all next week I don’t have to think about it!

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

What do you think?

  1. Mari-Ann Russell says:

    Merry Christmas!
    I’m kinda confused about the dining chairs – you already have them there! You want more? Or different ones? What’s wrong with the current ones?

  2. steph says:

    Have you shared what happened with Willow?

    Merry Christmas, enjoy the break!

  3. Ashley says:

    That Urban outfitter cabinet ????. I have been looking at one from Anthropologie that’s over 2000.

  4. Andrea says:

    Julia, I’ve been eyeing that desk too! You should get it and tell us what you think! I even think it would make a pretty entry table with a storage basket or some cube ottomans under it!

  5. I am obsessed with blue- literally all over my home (and instagram feed, lol) and I love it so much!!

  6. Can you tell me the make and color of the blue cabinets? I love them and can’t find anything on the two Instagram accounts you link to. Thanks and happy holidays!

    • Lena says:

      The cabinets from Steven Gambrel are more than likely custom cabinets in a custom color. CliqStudios sells something similar with blue inset cabinet doors. Erinkestenbaum on Instagram used them, if you want to take a look!

  7. Corine says:

    That family picture! So so beautiful! Together in front of your new exterior. Missing Willow ???? And just every description of your 2020 from this post is captured in that simple pic. Lots of love and growth and change and together and life. Happy casual Friday, CLJ!

all the latest

We believe we should all love where we live.

We’re a couple of homebodies, working to uncover the home our home wants to be. And we’re so happy to have you here. 

HI! We're Chris + Julia

read more

Load More

Reader Faves

SHop all

What We're                     Right Now

What We're                 Right Now

Looking for our favorite things? A place to shop our home room by room, or just catch up on what Julia's wearing / loving right now? Browse the CLJ shop. 

Loving

looking for inspiration? 

A reader recently asked me if I’m starting to fully embrace traditional style and whether we still consider our house to be a “modern Colonial” and why. It was a really great question and so timely — I had really just been thinking about my approach to this home and how my style has changed […]

Can We Send You Our Love Letter?

Another way for us to stay in touch! Joining our weekly newsletter gives you access to exclusive content, never-before-seen photos, your questions answered, and our favorite DIYs. Sign up below!

Follow Along on Instagram

Welcome to our online community where we've posted home, DIY, style, renovations, and family since '09. Renovating our #cljmoderncottage in Idaho and headed for new adventures in Raleigh, NC. #cljfam #cljtransformations

@chrislovesjulia