Suzannah Hamlin Stanley's Blog, page 70

Finding (and blending) our style for the new house

You guys, we close today. If all goes well... the sale will be recorded at the County this afternoon and we will have our keys!!

We will begin a weekend (and several months) of hard work to make our new home our own! We've been planning for this for a year and a half now, kind of, and are using our inspirations (and what we learned with our townhome) to renovate and decorate the entire home! It's been a challenge to combine our tastes and design preferences and start shopping for new home...

4 ways to lower stress in busy times

TWO days till we close on our new home and we are purely excited!! We got a lot done this past weekend but have had some very busy weeks and have definitely put some focus on staying cool, calm, and collected.

When I changed the name of this blog to Create/Enjoy I knew I wanted to talk about more than sewing and decorating. I still love those things but I also really care about living an intentional, happy, healthy, grateful, low-stress lifestyle. (I do have several posts about stress and...

Grain-free, naturally sweetened pancakes (gluten-free, Paleo)

As I shared on Instagram the other weekend, I was recently inspired by one of our friends to master grain-free "blender pancakes" and make this super fun weekend breakfast element!

One of our friends, who never cooks during the week, has a tradition of making creative, many-ingredient grain-free pancakes in the blender with their 2-year-old on weekends. He throws in all kinds of stuff like maca and unflavored grassfed protein powder and MCT oil and they usually turn out. (We've been over there...

Trouser flare jeans makeover!

This post feels like a throwback! But it's not, it's brand new. I used to share jeans and thrift store find alterations all the time. But now, years later, I'm still modifying unflattering jeans using simple techniques I honed all that time ago, before I wrote a book about it! In fact, this project is in DIY Wardrobe Makeovers (the take-in-jeans project on page 70) but this is a great variation!

So last week I made this pretty ruffle-edge trim loose top out of a fun print....

Real wool rugs... 12 of them, huge ones, under $400!

Well, I've moved on from designing tile and grout color combinations for our new house (that's so two weeks ago), then to dining room and kitchen lighting, and now to rugs. It will still be a while till we're ready to lay a rug down, but I'll THREE big spaces on the first floor plus our bedroom to finish with area rugs, and right now all we have are small ones. One thing I've learned since jumping back into home decor is a too-small rug is a decorating sin. Apparently.

So I've b...

Trend & DIY: high neck tiny ruffle tops (with tutorial)

This was such a fun project!! It's been ages since I did a sewing tutorial but this tiny bias-cut ruffle neck and armhole edge trim look is new to me this season and I've never seen anything like it as a DIY... so here you go!

So early this season I went to Gap.com and saw in their list of early fall must-haves, among the jeans and sweaters: "5. The Printed Blouse (with a ruffled neckline that's oh-so-pretty." It was a boxy, loose top but indeed the neckline was interesting! I then saw a coupl...

Our kitchen redesign mood board

You guys, I just have so many ideas spinning around in my head (and on my dream kitchens pinboard) that I had to make this mood board for myself!

I couldn't even settle on an overall style, or a word to describe the style we wanted, until I put all my ideas in one place. Despite loving so many of those dream kitchens, not a single one has every element we've decided we want. But now I think I've got it almost figured out!


Part of the problem was, husband doesn't love all my absol...

(Grain-free, Paleo-friendly) rustic fig tart

It's fig season! I'm pumped. As I shared the other day on Instagram, my parents have a big fig tree and every year around this time I'm excited to go over there and pick ripe figs before the birds get them. When I was a kid I didn't know what to do with them, but now I know how amazing they are when they're really ripe (they seriously taste like pure HONEY) and quite a few things to do with them!

This time around I wanted to bake them. I pictured a rustic, slightly crumbly open-faced tart...

My new home dec obsession!! (It's fun! You'll love it!)

Well, as you might imagine, my head is just swimming with home decor and remodeling ideas for our new house!! It seems like I spend every spare moment thinking about grout colors, dining room lighting, and other essential considerations. I really need to organize my thoughts and pinned ideas onto some mood boards or something...

So while I wait for closing on the house so the projects and purchases can begin, I've found a fabulous new hobby that encourages my enthusiasm and teaches me thi...

Beach getaway and inspiration from the cabin in the woods

As I shared on Instagram throughout the weekend... I had the loveliest birthday weekend featuring family, visiting sister-in-law from the Bay Area, a trip to the most peaceful cabin at the coast (with a hike and visit to Hug Point, our new favorite), and a day to rest up at home before the week started. It was so perfect! (I also spent some good chunks of time perusing kitchen hardware online. Andpinned lots of house ideas.)

I stayed at this amazing cabin at my bachelorette party more than 5 y...