Hello Everyone!! 

I'm so excited to announce that House Seven Blog will be featured on 

Remodelaholic's Shut The Front Door Series this week! 

Pop on over to link up to their party and also enter to win the giveaway with your best Knock Knock Joke. Its that easy!

I have loved our middles room since we did the Sharpie paint pen wall last year but there was something about the room that had been bugging me. Even though the room represents Em's unique personality it didn't show her girlie side. The one that loves pink and hearts and all things glitter!

Well, glitter was never going to happen and I do my best to give the girls the kind of rooms they want but I also try my best to keep them simple with the bedding and decor. Things that will grow with them while we make minor changes along the way. 

Last night I took a little trip to Homegoods (shocking, I practically live there) after my class and as I spent this vary rare alone time wandering around when I saw this super cute pink comforter sitting high up on the shelf. I thought...this is so Emma! A few more items later and I had enough to update this cuties room!

Comforter

Sheet Set

Beaded Accent Pillow

Navy and White Woven Basket with Casters

Added in with some of existing bedding I kind of love it tons! (this is something she would say)

The floral blue, white and green sham is Anthropologie and the little white pillow is one I made so many years ago.

I'm so in love with this amazing Cynthia Rowley Basket on casters!

\

I also added in this adorable Bulldog wooden artwork from the Etsy shop Maebels. I had purchased it while back but wasn't sure where it would find a home but here it is!

The littlest one was of course right here to help the entire time! 

My goal was to get this all done and surprise Em when she came home from school....

I think it worked because that smile says it all!

 Now its time to get the rest of her room tidied up because 

I will be posting the entire room reveal tomorrow! 

{Sources}

Comforter-Tommy Hilfiger at Homegoods

Sheets-Happy Chic at Homegoods

Navy Beaded Accent Pillow-Nicole Miller at Homegoods

White down comforter-Walmart online

Small White accent pillow-handmade by me

Blue and Green Floral Sham-Anthropologie

Dust Ruffle-Ikea

Red Iron Bed-it was my childhood bed

Nightstand-Pottery Barn 

Childs Tolix style chair-Target

Bunny-BlaBla Kids Dolls

Wool Felt Garland-West Elm Holiday

Lamp-Homegoods

White frames-Ribba Ikea

Heart Print-TJ Maxx

Mushroom Print-Papyrus Card

Disco Ball-Goodwill

Shutters -Home Depot

Paint-Sherwin Williams Extra White

Do you love taking photos but really don't have a clue what you are doing?

This is me... I mean really! I pretty much have always just winged it but then somehow my photos have gotten pretty decent over the past few months and I am here to let you in on my secret.

It's because of my friend Kate. She is this amazing photographer and I have learned so much from her and it has totally changed how I take my photos now.

I have learned three main things from her that I now focus on with my pictures and so I wanted to share them with you!

Number one.....its ALL about the light. Natural light is the absolute best especially when you don't have all the fancy lighting equipment and you are just a regular gal like me wanting to take some half decent pictures.  So if you can, try to take your pictures outside in the early evening when the sun is slowing going down and you don't have the harsh (yet lovely at the same time) rays of light shooting across your image. 

When it comes to taking interior photos for my blog, I try to do it in the late mornings. When the sun is out and the light is good. I'm fortunate that we have lots of windows for natural light and the fact that most of my home is white on the inside makes a huge difference in the picture quality. 

Number two and this is the biggie.....learn how to take pictures without using the Automatic settings! Oh my goodness this is huge because all of a sudden you can take a picture that your little camera once said you could not and you don't have to use the flash!

I don't need my camera telling me what to do even if it may know more than me when it comes to taking pictures!

I take all my photos for my blog with my Canon EOS Rebel. Its not new (like maybe 4 yrs now) or super expensive but it has come in pretty handy for my blogging. But, up until recently I always used the Auto settings because even after reading the manual (no help) and looking up information on line, I was still confused. So one day Kate sat down with me and went over the basics and oh my goodness, what a huge help! Showing me how to work the ISO to let in more light and teaching me all about aperture and shutter speed. I learned more from her in 20 minutes than any information I had found up to this point. Then she gave me the greatest resource ever....The book Canon Rebel for Dummies! Oh yes people, this book changed it all for me! First, I learned what all of those buttons were for...please don't laugh. I also learned all about white balance, depth of field, how to sharpen a photo... all of a sudden I had a clue! I'm telling you what.... find the For Dummies book for your camera and you can thank me later because you will never use an automatic setting again! 

Number Three....be detailed with your photos! Look at everything that will be in your shot. For my house photos I look at everything and sometimes I don't notice it all until after I take the first picture. Look for things like...are the lamps cords showing? (huge pet peeve of mine) If so, roll those babies up and hide them. Lights shouldn't be on in your interior photos anyway so turn them off, unplug the lamp and hide those cords! Look under the furniture in the picture, is there anything hiding under there. Toys, zippy cups, a rolled up sock that is peeking out and you can see it in the picture? The beauty is in the details so make sure you have covered every inch of the shot. 

When it comes to photographing your kids, is their hair combed and out of their face, clothing straightened? Look at the photos after you have taken a few because thats when you tend to see whats wrong. Like for instance, I once took a bunch of what I thought were super cute pictures of my girls but when I started to edit them I noticed my oldest's arms were behind her the entire time so she looked like she had none! Okay, so not my best work. Now I just leave all those photos up to Kate!!
Now last but not least, I'm sure everyone has their favorite editing tools and I will tell you that I love Adobe Photoshop Lightroom5! I love it! There are numerous videos on line all about how to use this tool and I highly recommend it. I mean even if you're not the best photographer, I still believe you can have amazing photos once you get comfortable with the editing process. 

I'm super lucky to have not just an amazing friend but one that is so talented too! She has even let me photograph her while she works her magic... I love it!

I was in awe of how she could make these little kids bust out in giggles even in the coldest weather while they sat there freezing!! Have you ever seen how much a kid will laugh at the sound of a whoopy cushion?!? Pure Genious!!

Now look at what Kate can do! 

We are so lucky to have had her capture the girls growing up and how our little family has evolved over the past few years

 a very pregnant me....

 My sister and all our kiddos

If you live in the Indianapolis area I highly recommend her for your children and family photos! She is especially amazing when it comes to taking little ones photos. This is not a sponsored post by any means! She is honestly just that good and my dear friend so she deserved a little bragging on!

www.Kateleachphoto.com

I have struggled for some time now with what exactly to do with my entry way. 

It opens directly in to my dining room and even though I love how open the space is as times, I have toyed with the idea of actually having french doors put in to define the space. 

This is something that perhaps I might end up doing some where down the road but for now I will certainly work with what I have. 

But, it needs something. You know....something to say, 

Welcome- there is a pretty awesome family who lives here and we want you to stay awhile and enjoy your time here. 

Well, whats happening now isn't saying any of those things! 

If you follow my blog at all you will know that color is not something I gravitate towards. I'm a neutrals kind of girl but one entryway trend that has me on my toes is the Turkish rug,

 or Persian, or Oriental, or whatever you might be calling them.....I kind of love them!

Although these rugs are far from new, I feel like I'm a couple years late on this trend for sure... I'm just really starting to see them everywhere and fall in love with them. 

This could totally have to do with the fact that I'm looking for them...Ha!  

But in my search, everything that I seem to find, I just adore.

Not to mention I need a rug that can serve it's purpose and handle the responsibility of holding the title of entryway rug. Its not an easy job for a rug! This area sees more foot traffic then any other spot in the house and it has to be up to the challenge. It certainly can't be a rug that shows its emotions on its sleeve, or surface, or whatever...you get my point. 

If it allowed all the marks of every person that passed over it show then it wouldn't work here long!

 I need a rug that can take the abuse and keep "most" of the marks camouflaged to the best of its ability! I also needed a rug that appears to be more that just a gigantic door mat and maybe just maybe people won't wipe their muddy shoes on it because it happens to be in front of a door....doubt it, but a girl can dream! 

Check out these inspiration photos I came across recently while working on a client project....so good!

Cottage and Vine Blog

 Apartment Therapy

The Every Girl 

And my absolute favorite of them all....here below

Heather Bullard's entry way and the one I dream about!

Seriously people...its my all time most favorite ever!! 

Can you tell I love it yet?

I have even considered replacing my entry table with this one from world market to achieve the look but unfortunately this is not in my current budget.....blah!

 So instead I went ahead and purchased the rug!! 

Ahhhhh,

 I'm excited and a little scared at the same time because I know me and color can make me anxious.  But I had to remind myself that this is something I've been considering for quite some time...no impulse purchases here, thats for sure! 

  I have looked at so many rugs and when I saw this one, I knew it was the one. 

I think it can handle the job at hand and if it can't, well I guess I love her enough to find her a new spot in the house. 

I guess we will just have to wait until she arrives to see....I will keep you posted!

Do you have something you constantly gravitate towards when styling your home?

Maybe its rugs, lamps, baskets?

For me its chairs...

I can't stop. 

I just love me some chairs and I love pairing them up with a new piece of furniture. I'm constantly switching around the chairs in my home. 

Recently I found this image

Oh and I seriously died because I  L-O-V- E all of it! Every single thing!

Well,  if you follow me on Instagram you have seen this image on my feed because I shared it with the question...."what do you think of these ghost chairs?" 

My oh my I should have known the reviews would be mixed but never did I think I would get so many that totally dislike these chairs....like the response was "yuck" by some. 

Now believe that I welcome all of this feedback...you certainly can't put something out there like that and expect all answers to agree that they are as fabulous as you might think. 

I love that there are so many differences in what is beautiful in design. It creates a world of variety and opens up our design geared minds to maybe some things we wouldn't have thought of on our own. 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder after all!

So all the response got me thinking that maybe thats not the direction I want to go in after all. Although, I'm usually pretty confident that I know what I want in my home. I felt it wouldn't hurt  to open up my mind to other possibilities.
Here are some other ideas I've thought about for our kitchen table.

These I stole from the dining room just for a minute. I'm in love with these RH ones below and considered purchasing four of them for this table but then I wonder if they are too close to the dining chairs?

I used to have the parson chairs at the table but it didn't function well for us. Way too many dirty hands around here that see white chairs as giant napkins for those little hands!

It was so pretty but not functional.

So I switched to these...

Its funny because when I made this change everyone said "NO!! We like the others better!"

 But then they grew on everyone and when I considered the Ghost Chairs above.. again, it was "NO!!"

So I borrowed one from my friend just to see....

Well, I like it. My husband admits they are more comfortable then the metal chairs but he doesn't particularly like them. Thankfully, he doesn't care much about what I put in the house so I have free reign to do as I please. 

So after all this, what have I decided?

I guess to just leave the white metal ones for now. They do function quite well...clean up is a breeze and I guess I will do the smart thing and wait to the kitchen reno is complete before I start to style it!

So hard though!!!

Have you all heard of the online estate and consignment auction website called 

Everything But The House?

If you have, then you know why I'm so excited about this post.If you haven't then be prepared to have your interior loving mind blown!

Everything But The House offers a wide arrange of products from Prada heels (no lie) to amazing pieces of furniture perfect for any collector or DIY'er like me.

There really isn't anything that they don't have and with all bids starting at $1, the possibilities are endless on what you might score!

The sales change weekly, and there are always new products to choose from. Check out their monthly sales calendar here. 

Just a few items I'm currently swooning over that are up for bid..
{click on the pictures for direct link to product}

Blown Glass Oil Lamps

Just imagine how they would look styled on this sawhorse table...perfection!

Industrial side tables

I'm pretty sure you can complete this entire look with the items currently available...wow!

Balenciaga Envelope Clutch

Okay, so this is something that I could never own if I had to pay retail but with the option of bidding on this beauty, there is a real possibility it may be accompanying me on my next date night! That seriously gave me goosebumps!

Vintage Mattel Bicycle...how cute as decor in a little boy's room like this below.

Retro Metal Storage Baskets

I could so use these in our home with all the shoes that pile up. They are perfect for our cubbies.

Can you even believe all this amazing stuff is on one site?!! 

Now you all know that my most favorite thing to do is style a room and I love a bargain at that so when I started looking through all the pieces that Everything But The House had up of auction, I couldn't help myself but design a room around it.

Every single one of these item's are up for bid right now and this amazing room (if I don't say so myself) could be yours at a steal! Check out those ginger jars and that vintage blanket chest. Now tell me you wouldn't love those in your family room. 

Well, once I finished this one I couldn't help but make another. 

Check out this darling girls room. I can totally see my Emma loving this room. I mean look at this giant E! 

I'm so in love with this One Kings Lane settee, the crystal sconces paired with the striped rug. I added in the pillows for some pops of color but again, everything else is up for bid right now! 

Look closely, do you see those Hermes boxes above?

Look how fabulous they could be styled in your home. Did I mention that I really want them!

Everything But The House main headquarters are in Cincinnati but they have locations in Atlanta GA, Columbus OH, Indianapolis IN, Lexington KY, Louisville KY, Nashville TN, and coming soon to Southwest FL. If you don't live in or near one of these locations to pick up your item, than not to worry,

Everything But The House will ship the item to you! 

But then again, what if YOU are the one that needs to sell a house full of items or maybe even just have a few you that want to consign? Well, all that information is here on the website. 

So you think I've told you everything? Okay, then hold on to your hats because those sweet people at Everything But The House want you to like their site so much that they have decided to give you a chance to win a....wait for it....

$100 gift certificate to Everything But The House so you can experience it for yourself!

All you need to do is enter in the box below and a winner will be picked a week from today! 

But until then head on over and see all the goodies just waiting for you to bid on.

Enjoy!
{ Post sponsored by EBTH but all opinions are my own}

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