adorn – Designing Goldilocks

Summer vibes

One of the features that sold me on the new house was the front porch. I had the perfect furniture for it: two acacia wood chairs and matching table that I picked up at World Market years ago.

I also had two black-and-white striped lumbar cushions from Target that went perfectly on the chairs. The porch was one of the first spaces I set up after moving in. I loved it. I still do.

But now that we were entering our second summer in the house, I thought the porch needed a refresh. Not a completely different ensemble. But just a few pieces to make the space look new again.

Over the past few weeks I had seen black-and-white striped outdoor rugs on social media. I wasn’t completely sold on outdoor rugs. This town is dusty, especially in the summertime. How would I keep them clean?

But the more I saw the rugs, the more I realized I needed one for the porch. I found the perfect one online at Target.

I am still blown away by the difference. The rug makes a statement. It pops. It draws attention to the ensemble. The rug was the missing piece I didn’t know was missing until I had it.

What do you think?

*The black-and-white striped* outdoor rug makes the ensemble pop. Photo by Cindy Hernandez

Budget friendly decor

A lot of Americans are struggling financially in this pandemic.

Some Americans are doing okay, but are holding back on buying non-essential items.

Others are frugal, pandemic or not.

The argument could be made that home decor falls into the category of non-essential items.

While I would agree with that, I also believe that home decor doesn’t have to be expensive, pandemic or not.

For those who cannot make such purchases right now, I get it.

I too have been unemployed, or employed but financially strapped. But I never stopped dreaming about how I would decorate my personal spaces once circumstances improved.

If this blog serves as inspiration for your home, that makes me happy. Because the purpose of the blog is not to spend money you don’t have, but to use new or existing items to create calm, functional and happy spaces for you and your family.

Many of the items you will find in my house I have had for years. It’s true that I have splurged on some of the decor. But for the most part, the purchases I have made lately complement any budget.

Below are some examples.

*This Project 62 landscape wall art from Target was under $15. Photos by Cindy* Hernandez

This wooden accent lamp was under $10. It’s also from Target.

This accent plant was about $5. And yes, it’s from Target too.

A home is never done

I was talking to a co-worker recently who had just bought her first house. She was loving her new home, but was surprised that a week off of work was not enough time to get settled.

“You’re never done,” I told her.

I had been in my house for 8 months and still had boxes to unpack, artwork to hang, items to donate.

And I still do. In fact, I always plan to have furniture to arrange, bedding to buy, closets to organize.

That is because a home is never done. There is always something to decorate, refresh, update.

As the house ages, there will always be a repair to make, a major appliance to replace, a bathroom to remodel. And just when you think you’re done with the last room, the first room needs attention again.

It’s a vicious cycle. But a necessary cycle, if you love your home. The best plan of attack it to stay on top of everything as best you can.

Strike a balance between staying stylish and maintaining the major systems, such as the roof and HVAC.

Build routine maintenance into the budget so that you’re not in fix-it mode, which can be more costly in the long run.

If and when the time comes to sell the house, most of the major updates will already be done. I had to pump $7,000 into my condo in order to sell it and never got to enjoy the improvements.

This is the boring stuff, I know, but well worth it. Think of it this way, it’ll give you more money to spend on the fun stuff.

*These items are stashed in the guest bedroom until we decide whether to keep, sel*l or donate them. Photos by Cindy Hernandez

*Staying on top of* the house’s major systems will prove less costly down the road.

Statement pieces

You won’t find clutter in my house.

No bric-a-brac on shelves.

No knickknacks.

No trinkets.

This is mostly because I hate to dust. So the fewer items on display, the fewer items to get dusty.

Instead I go for statement pieces. A vase. A plant. A votive.

The pieces are grand. They speak for themselves. They encapsulate my decor. They don’t take center stage, they take the whole stage.

If you’re in the process of organizing your house and want to de-clutter, take these steps to maximize your space without forgoing style:

Pick a cluttered tabletop.

Choose a favorite object that represents your decor. Be sure it is large enough to pack a punch without overtaking the table.

Place it in the center or the corner, wherever it makes sense.

Stand back and evaluate. The piece should be eye-catching. A conversation-starter. It should cause someone to do a double-take and say, “This piece looks like you.”

Here are 3 examples of statement pieces in my house

This pineapple piece takes the stage on the buffet, all from Pier 1 Imports. Photos by Cindy Hernandez

*This artificial* plant from Target adds greenery to this mirrored accent table from Pier 1 Imports. It’s okay to leave the bottom shelf empty.

*This centerpiece says it all, ‘centerpiece.’*

Utility sink

I knew from the start that I wanted a utility sink in the laundry room.

I pictured myself making menudo on weekends and needing the larger sink to wash the oversized stockpot.

I pictured myself doing loads of laundry on weekends and needing the convenience of a sink to scrub stains before tossing a shirt in the wash.

I have been in the house 10 months. I have yet to make menudo. John does most of the laundry. There are no stains to scrub.

But the utility sink is still one of the best upgrades we could have made.

I color my own hair at home. But instead of washing my hair in the bathroom sink and risk staining the marble or, worse, kneeling on the floor and bending over the bath tub, I use the utility sink to rinse the color out.

Even John has used the utility sink to wash his hair on days he skips a shower. In fact, I am just now learning that John has used the utility sink for sponge baths.

If it’s a no-chore, no-sweat day, John opts for the sponge bath instead of a full-on shower. Because of limited mobility following his stroke, the sponge bath is a great alternative for washing up.

Yes, the utility sink has … well … a lot of utility. It looks nice too.

The utility sink is one of the best upgrades we could have made. Photo by Cindy Hernandez

The story of an accent table

I love accent tables.

You can put them anywhere. They’re small. They’re cute. They can match your decor. Or not, because they are so functional, they can stand on their own. No pun intended.

The accent tables in my house run the gamut from pricier ones from furniture stores to the ones that belonged to John’s Mom, Diane. And the ones that belonged to John’s Mom are my favorite.

The one in the water closet came all the way from Michigan in the 1970s when John and his family moved to Arizona. It has short wooden legs and a tile tabletop reminiscent of the Southwest.

It’s not exactly the table you would picture in Michigan, so it’s almost fitting that it would end up in the Southwest.

The table is small and perfect in the master bathroom water closet where it holds the tissue box and – if I am being honest – my coffee cup and cell phone during morning visits.

The other accent table from Diane sits next to John’s chair in the living room. He uses it to place his coffee on weekend mornings. It’s a newer piece Diane picked up here in Arizona. It too does not match my decor but I love it all the same.

But what makes these pieces so special is how I came to acquire them.

Diane spent the last 15 months of her life in a nursing home. When it came time to collect her belongings, John let me pick the items I wanted before donating the rest. The tables were among her belongings. I grabbed them immediately.

From there, the tables went from the nursing home to my condo, to my storage unit while the new house was being built, to the new house.

Actually, the table from Michigan had a layover at my parents’ own water closet between the condo and the new house. My Dad needed a place for his own coffee cup during morning visits. So I brought the table over from storage on the condition I would take it back once the new house was ready.

Dad loved that table. Almost to the point of threatening to hide it from me so that I would never take it away.

Who would have thought that an accent table would make its way into so many lives and bring function into so many houses?

This accent table belonged to John’s Mom who brought it down to Arizona from Michigan in the 1970s. Today it sits in the master bathroom water closet. Photos by Cindy Hernandez

Organizing tips

It seems everyone is organizing these days. They’re passing their quarantine time getting their house in order.

Closets. Pantries. Garages.

I’ve been organizing my house since the day we moved in 10.5 months ago.

It helps that I had a clean slate. The house was brand new, it came with plenty of storage space, and all of my belongings were boxed up. All I had to do was find spots for items I wanted to keep, donate the items I no longer wanted but were still in good condition, and throw away the rest.

If you’re unmotivated to organize your house, allow yourself to buy storage bins that add style and functionality to your home.

Choose bins in the same color or pattern for a cohesive look behind your closet doors and cabinets.

Settle on bins that come in a variety of shapes and sizes for large and small items and spaces.

If you have to clean out a space before you can organize it, set out three empty boxes – 1 for items to keep, 1 for donating, and 1 for throwing away.

To make organizing less daunting, tackle one space at a time. For example, take on the linen closet and only the linen closet before moving onto a new space.

For larger tasks, set aside a block of time. For example, allow four hours on a Tuesday afternoon to make a dent in the master closet. When those four hours are up, stop. Then set aside another block of time the following week.

If you’ve organized a space in the past year or so, give it another scan. You’ll likely find more items to purge that didn’t make the cut last time. On the flip-side, if you’re undecided on an item, keep it. It just might make the cut next time around.

*These storage bins from Target come in different colors and sizes for style and functionality.*
*Photos by Cindy Hernandez*

Putting metals to the mettle

Every home decor has a metal.

Gold. Silver. Nickel. Brass. Antique brass.

Some decors have a combination of metals. I used to think you had to be either/or. That was, until I started designing Goldilocks.

Because John and I wanted yellow for the exterior color, we kept with the warm color palette and chose brown for the interior walls. This made it easy to go with the standard sable-colored cabinetry. And when I think of yellow and brown, I think of gold metals.

But I had a growing collection of silver and grey furniture at my condo that I wasn’t about to part with. Plus, the kitchen appliances and vent hood were going to be stainless steel and the chandelier over the dining table, silver.

What to do?

How was I going to mix the cool effects of grey and silver with the warmth that exudes from yellow and brown?

Enter the monochromatic artwork we found for the dining room walls. The art pieces include gold, silver, grey, cream and black and help transition the warm color scheme in the kitchen into the cool color scheme in the adjoining living room.

I realize now that it would have been okay to mix the metals without the monochromatic pieces. But the artwork gave me the permission I felt I needed at the time to cross the color palette lines.

What metal is your house? Have you ever thought of metals in this way?

These monochromatic art pieces help mix the warm browns and cool greys throughout the main floor. Photo by Cindy Hernandez

Because she fits just right

I joke to my friends that my house picked me.

I wasn’t looking to buy a house – by myself or with John.

But five months prior, John had suffered three strokes. He wanted to get out of his three-story condo that included a spiral staircase he now found precarious.

John’s condo was under contract. He was only weeks away from closing escrow.

It was early 2018. John wanted a single-level house that he could navigate easily. He lived alone. He was making strides in physical therapy, but he also had outgrown condo living, even before the stroke.

I had my own condo in the next town over.

Then one sunny afternoon, John and I happened upon a hidden community that was just a stone’s throw from his current neighborhood. The houses were larger than he needed and more than he wanted to spend, but it didn’t hurt to look, right?

As soon as we opened the door to the bright yellow model home, there was no turning back.

The house had everything John and I wished our own condos had. The floorpan was compatible with our lifestyle. The square footage allowed John and me to have our own spaces, and with common areas that would bring us together, too.

A week later, John signed the purchase agreement for a house of our own and I got the ball rolling on selling my condo.

Follow me on this journey of designing, decorating and adorning the home I named Goldilocks for her striking yellow-gold exterior… and because she fit just right.