Our Mudroom {the evolution of}

We have no "mudroom" in our house.  Living in a home built in the 1920's in the city, there isn't a lot of extra space.  With two boys now, this has become more of a need than ever before.  I have made a space in our living room that works as the mudroom, and gives my boys a space to put their items away when we enter the house.  The less picking up after them the better!!

Here is what our house looked like in the beginning {before children}

We lowered the original picture rail and added crown molding above - to create more formal detailing, finished the wood floors {in a stain that is WAY too dark for a house that is actually lived in!} and painted the walls Revere Pewter by Benjamin Moore.  This is the best picture I have of what it looked like before it became our "mudroom"

I needed a place for my little ones' coats and shoes, and we needed some decor updates, so here we are...

For shoes {and socks} we have a basket under the desk.  I heard from a professional organizer that labels help everyone to stay organized, so I took a wood tag and spray painted with chalkboard paint...

For little ones' coats, these adorable hooks from Anthropologie...

Originally I was going to do something to the letter hooks but I kind of like that they are a similar color to the wall, it keeps the area from seeming too busy...

At Christmas, we had an abbreviated Advent Calendar {we only did 20 days} on this wall...

and on the typewriter {that I found at a garage sale in Montana for 25$!} I typed what Riese told Santa that he wanted for Christmas...

Now in the new year, the wall was a little too bare, so I hung a "P" that I wrapped in natural rope...

And some Hyacinths, thank goodness for forced bulbs while we await signs of spring, seriously...

And here we are yesterday, in the midst of crazy snow and ice storms, not nearly enough space to contain all of our wet gear...

I think for now the space is sufficient and I am happy with it.  And remember this chalkboard, here is where it has ended up, and I LOVE it.  Ali wrote our "house motto" on it for us.  Love that girl's handwriting.  And back in the corner, you can sort of see one of my favorite pictures taken by Kristen when Peyton was a newborn...

Hope you are all well this week.  The Seattle area is experiencing some crazy weather storms right now. Thankful for a heated home that {for the most part} I love.  Praying for all of those who are without heat or home.

Happy Thursday.

Best,

Kirsty

a little warmth {a wedding highlight}

Even though the temps are dropping...we're trying our best over here at Lucia K to keep summer {and warmth} on our minds. We have friends and they have friends that are planning summer weddings, so what better timing to offer a little summer romance inspiration {Lucia K. style} for those of you coming down off the highs of getting engaged?!

Shauna and Travis got married on a warm August day in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota. Shauna has great style and remarkable attention to detail that made their day packed full of fun and sentimental touches. When it came to jewelry, we wanted to compliment the details and enhance her beauty. She was in search of something romantic, vintage inspired, and warm. This is where we landed.

For the bridesmaids we paired two original pieces with a pink stretch bracelet that Shauna spotted at The Limited. I (Ali) had the joy of being at this wedding and got to see the bridesmaids open their little linen bags and gush over their bracelets {a true delight}. It was a gorgeously sunny day, so the the light hit the crystals we choose for Shauna's earrings really perfectly. Shauna was a very flexible and trusting bride to work with, we were so pleased that the jewelry was just what she had hoped for.

Are you in the market for wedding jewels? Visit our website.

* Photos courtesy of Emily Steffen Photography

because January birthdays are special too...

My littlest's birthday is in January.  Its hard to compete with the Christmas high that just happened.  I am trying to come up with ways to celebrate him and his month!  So I decided to make a birthday countdown of sorts.  I got the idea from this company, mix that with all these fabulous Advent calendars of the last month, add that my younger son is learning to count, and behold our countdown chain...

Here's what I did...

First my older son and I picked out a bunch of fun small items for his younger brother , sometimes we bought two in the event that my younger son would want to share with his older brother or it was an activity that they both could do together like bubbles.

{Side note}  I really wanted my oldest to participate because we are working on having joy and being excited to give others gifts, not just receive them!  For a 3.5 year old this is a challenge but he got really into it and has been super excited each day for his brother to open that days package.  Of course it helps that he is also benefitting from his younger brother's treasures.  Baby steps here folks.

Ok project, then we lined them up in ten groupings {for ten a ten day countdown} on parchment paper...

Then folded and pinned with alligator clips so I could sew a zig zag stitch on the sewing maching, but you could easily tie with jute or butchers twine or pipe cleaners {older siblings could do this one by themselves even}...

and of course numbered the days...

Then we hung it up!  {I added some old circle garland from birthdays past that I had because we just needed more color, which is literally twine with punched card stock circles that I just stapled to it}

{had to re-number the backside because I had done the countdown in the wrong order, oops!}

Yay for January birthdays!  And for my baby boy turning two!   Oh my goodness.

Happy Wednesday.

Best,

Kirsty