GREEN GOALS

It is the WEEKEND! Can I get a hallelujah?! I really needed this weekend to just relax. I brought the pup to the dog park for a few hours. Went and bought some stuff for the new house. And scored this awesome neanthe belle. I may have a slight obsession with buying plants. I much rather buy plants than purses hehe! My husband says we are slowly making our way to looking like a jungle, but I don't see the problem with that ;)

I just adore nature. My body craves it. It makes me happy. Plants are not only beautiful to look at but they also have their health benefits. We all remember learning about photosynthesis in science class. Plants absorb the carbon dioxide that we release and in return they release oxygen that we absorb (inhale). Our relationship with plants is a beautiful thing isn't it? But there is more! According to Tree Hugger, "When photosynthesis stops at night, most plants switch things up and absorb oxygen and release carbon dioxide. However, a few special plants – like orchids, succulents and epiphytic bromeliads – flip that script and take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen. Meaning, use these plants in bedrooms to keep the oxygen flowing at night."

Another health benefit to having plants indoors is they help deter illness. The moisture that they produce is something our bodies desperate crave during the drier months. According to Bayer Advanced studies have shown that indoor plants have decreased dry skin, colds, and sore throats. UMMM how amazing is that?! I used to get sore throats a lot but ever since having our indoor plants, I have not had one sore throat!

The biggest plus that indoor plants provide and I am sure most of you know is, increase is purifying air! I think that this is huge especially with all the pollutants and toxins that we are exposed to everyday. It is nice to know that I am coming home to a place where the air is a bit cleaner and better for me!Now lets discuss their beauty! Plants are simply stunning. Whether a bouquet of flowers, a terrarium of succulents, a yucca, a palm plant, cacti, etc, plants are a beautiful and pure creation made by the hands of God and entrusted to us. I am eager for the day that I get to experience heaven because I envision it being filled with rows of sunflowers, luscious green fields, beautiful palms bordering gorgeous waterfalls....ok ok back to NOW...plants are a wonderful starting point to adding color in your home. They are not permanent and they are small which means you can constantly change them out and see what you like when it comes to color in a certain space. Not to mention your health will thank you in return!

What are your favorite kinds of plants? Go out this weekend and pick up a bouquet of flowers and a pretty vase and display them somewhere in your home that you spend a lot of time. Do you have an empty space in a particular room, go get a yucca plant (one of my favorites) it is animal safe (which BTW always check on the ASPCA website and make sure a plant is safe to have in your home if you have any pets!) and display it proudly in your living room or dining room or maybe even your entryway. OR you can get funky and hang your plants! 

If you don't have much floor or counter space hanging plants are an AWESOME alternative! I have my eye on this woven plant hanger for our bedroom ;) 

You see, you don't need to have a bright color rug, crazy wall colors, or say a green couch ;) in order to bring fun bold color into your home. A good starting place is plants.
Did you get some beautiful plants to display in your home? Take a photo and tag me on instagram @rebelydecor

happy decorating

NITTY GRITTY BEFORE PICTURES

Howdy guys! So if anyone has noticed, I have not been blogging too much lately :/ uhhhhh, sorry! Since we are in this moving phase I have not been doing too many projects around the apartment, well because it would be pointless since we are about to move!

UPDATE: We have been signing so much paperwork for our fixer upper of a home! At this point I don't even know what we are signing, we are just signing away hahah! Just kidding, we clearly read everything carefully before we sign! Thank God our realtor, broker, and contractor have been amazing through this whole process! They keep us informed with everything and answer all of my annoying questions that I will think of at like 2 in the morning haha.  For real though, they are such amazing guys, we are beyond grateful for them!
So for those of you who have been asking, we are so close to our closing! Hopefully within the next few weeks we will be closed and construction can begin!

So I wanted to show you guys some before photo's that I was able to get when we were over there last. I know once we sign at closing, things are going to move fast and I wasn't sure if I would be able  to get all the before pics that I wanted to get! So I went picture crazy! I won't share all of them because I took literally a TON but I will share the majority of them!

Our home is one of the only ones in the neighborhood that is set far back off the street! We are removing those two big trees. Sorry tree huggers but it is killing our front yard's grass!

The house is a pale yellow with blue shutters. I do not know who made this color decision. EW. We are brain storming what colors we want to do. We are def doing a black front door and black shutters and then the siding either grey or while. We shall see!

The hubby is excited about yard work! He is going to uproot all those sad looking bushing. I found some blue festuca grass and may night meadow sage that we are thinking of planting along the house! If you don't know what either of those plants look like, take a look:

Aren't they AMAZING?! They are vibrant which I adore but they are also low maintenance and drought tolerant...win, win!

I'm eager to make this little space welcoming! The lantern we are looking to get to replace this outdated one, it a matte black pineapple! I mean, come on! A pineapple to greet you at the door! How could you not love that?!

Ahhh the arched doorway! The beautiful accent to our home that makes my heart flutter every time I see it! The flooring is going to get ripped up and will match the rest of the house which will be laminate. The cabinets we are keeping cause despite their ugly appearance they are in GREAT shape so I am going to give them a little facelift. The counters will be new, new lighting to replace that hideous "hospital" light as I like to call it and new pretty stainless steel appliances!

 I just adore our cathedral ceilings in the living room! We love high ceilings so this makes us so happy! The popcorn ceilings are going to be the first things that will be removed, thank God! Again, new floors throughout! A new ceiling fan. Originally we said we were going to do a wood beaded chandelier BUT then realized having a fan in there would be nice if it gets hot when we have company over during the cooler seasons when we won't be using our AC. We are going to do white paint throughout the whole house (Except the bathrooms. We will probably do them a super soft grey) We have a lot of bright pieces so I want them to be the focal point and the walls be a perfect backdrop for our furniture and accents. 

This is our dining area! I am super excited about this because I just found our dining table and it is every bit of gorgeous! It is this old, worn, rustic, some may say beat up; wooden circular table (with inserts if we need it bigger) I am SOOOO excited to put it in this space! We are still trying to decide on what type of lighting we want here. Wooden or metal? Probably metal since the table is so rustic. 

So there you have it! That was the main living area! Later I will share the bedrooms and bathrooms. Our bedroom is obviously the main bedroom that needs to be done, the other two we can take our time in putting together since there won't be an immediate use for them just yet!

We are so so sooooo excited to get started on making this place our own! Once the floors and ceilings are done we are going to move right in and live there while the rest is being done and then obviously do some ourselves over time! But the big things we want to get done now!

We cannot wait to share this process with you! The moment we get our keys and the crew gets in there, I can guarantee lots and lots of photos of the work being done!

happy decorating

THAT Post

SO for all of you who follow my blog, THANK YOU! I am so grateful for the outpouring of love and support I have received especially over the past month! I have noticed that as time goes on more and more of you are stumbling across my tiny corner of cyber world!

You might have notice that my blog looks different. Well, it is! I decided to give my page a new look because, well I am finally starting to understand what I want from this blog and my old page was not in line with my vision. How something looks is what draws people in, right? I know it sounds superficial but it is true. When I first saw my husband I was like "DANGGGGG, you are HOT!!!" his looks are what initially drew me in, and then his love for the Lord and killer personality was what kept me around. Well that same concept is applied to the blogging community. I can't tell you how many blogs I passed by because they just didn't look pretty :/ I feel guilty even admitting that but I am a visual learner and how something looks is vital for what I give my attention to. And I know there are many of you out there that are like me in that aspect.

I want to inspire others. I want to help others be daring when it comes decorating their homes and eclectifying (totally not a word) their lifestyle. I want to show people that they are capable of creating beautiful things and not everything needs to be bought at a high price. The original look of Rebely Decor was FUN. I mean come on, gold pineapples! Who doesn't love a chic gold pineapple? But I realized as fun as the image of my blog was, it was taking away from my work. The photos that I was displaying were competing with my loud background and I didn't want that.

I want people to be drawn into my art, I want their eyes to be fixated on my work and that just wasn't happening with my old page.

So I decided to switch things up. It's more black and white, it's a bit more edgy, but I like it. It's ME. I love the look of the hand drawn arrows. I love that they aren't perfect because well, neither is my work or my life. But that is what Rebely Decor is about. Using imperfect things and making them look beautiful. Taking my crazy and random ideas for decor and turning them into something that exemplifies my family's lifestyle.

This post is boring, I know. But I just wanted to let my readers know that this is still MY page. My vision for Rebely Decor has not changed, I am just now perfecting and understanding how to display what I love to do...DESIGN and DIY! 

I hope you guys like the new look...if not please let me know! I care what you think and want to please my readers! 

*I am working on a COOL and FUNKY accent wall in our bedroom which I am thrilled to share with you all this weekend, so be on the look out for that*

happy decorating