NOTE: the images in this feed have been downsized or removed for copyright reasons. To see them in their unmodified state, please view the original post by clicking here.

You’ve heard of Noma right?  The restaurant in Copenhagen that was voted best restaurant in the world for several years running.  The concept of the food there is not simply seasonal farm to table, much of the menu relies of foraged food. I desperately wanted to get a reservation when I went to Copenhagen a couple of years ago.  Ever since then I’ve been much more aware of foraging.

I’ve created tablescapes based on foraged greens from one of my morning walks.  Recently, a neighbor of ours at the Farmhaus surprised us with a whole basket of fruits and nuts that she had foraged around Sonoma.  The bounty included persimmons, pineapple guava and apples, along with an assortment of nuts. It got me thinking about ways of bringing that spirit into the upcoming Holidays. I have kids so I’m sure I’ll be wrapping a lot of plastic, but how about wrapping gifts with the beauty that surrounds us.  So, I went searching for modern, gift wrapping ideas that incorporated foraged elements.  The wrapping is so gorgeous that it immediately elevates the act of giving.

Do you want to tone down the commercialization of the Holidays and bring life back to the simpler elements? I sure do.

Sources clockwise from top left: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

NOTE: the images in this feed have been downsized or removed for copyright reasons. To see them in their unmodified state, please view the original post by clicking here.

2018 is off to a lovely start with a feature of our home in HGTV.  Yep, that’s right HGTV!  I’ve been watching the channel religiously since 2003, when we started looking for our first house in LA.  Through the shows, we used to go on virtual house tours and it helped make the process of first time home buying seem less daunting.

For those of you who have followed Relocated Living since the beginning, you know that our house in the Bay Area was a labor of love. For those of you just joining in from HGTV, welcome I hope you’ll follow along as I have more projects in store.

To give you more back story on our house, it was 2012, we had just moved up to the Bay Area. We were renting, paying a mortgage on the new house AND remodeling the new house from the studs up.  We stretched our budget as far as it would go. HGTV really captured how I managed to maximize the style of the house, while keeping costs of the furnishings low, since all our money was going INTO the walls.

You can see the full house tour below.

If you look at some of the my early construction posts, you’ll see what the house used to look like.  It needed everything! What’s great about the HGTV tour is that they show you some of the rooms I never got around to featuring on the blog in a Before & After.

I love design and would much rather spend my money on the pretty stuff, but the truth is that shoddy construction will come and bite you in the end. Very few of the pieces we had in our old home in LA worked in our current house, so I had to get creative and resourceful when furnishing 3,300 sq ft, and my Vintage Finds were a big part of achieving style on a budget, while injecting soul into what was essentially new construction.  Hope you enjoy. We certainly like living here!

NOTE: the images in this feed have been downsized or removed for copyright reasons. To see them in their unmodified state, please view the original post by clicking here.

Ever since our oldest started preschool (he’s 10 now), I’ve been creating DIY Classroom Valentines. You can check out a few of my past efforts here and here, and the ever popular on Pinterest You Rule DIY here.

I’m big on doing no candy.  For some kids it’s important because of potential allergies, but based on how well my kids brush their teeth (not well), I prefer to do no candy simply so that I can minimize the whole cavities thing.  This year my DIY is a simple pencil.  I found cute pencils that came as a pack of 5 for $1 and decided to work my DIY around them.  I created a “You’re Just Write” punny holder to make the pencils feel more special.

What you’ll need:

• Cute pencils
• Card stock
• Color Printer
• Scissors
• Exacto Knife
• Ruler

First buy cute pencils. Enough for everyone in the class.

Then print the free printable I created on to card stock.  Slightly heavier paper is better as it holds the pencils. Regular paper is too flimsy. Each sheet has 3 pencil holders, so print as many as you need. Next cut off the excess paper.

Once your excess paper is cut off, you’re ready to cut the slits that will hold the pencils.

Don’t make the slits too long or the pencils will slide right through. I placed my 2 slits about 2″ apart.

Slide your pencils through and voila.  You’re done!  How easy was that?  It will literally only take you a few minutes. More of course if you’re making them for the whole school.

Hope you enjoy this cute, super easy DIY.  Post a picture on Instagram or Facebook if you end up doing this.  I’d love to see the end result.  Tag @relocatedliving #relocatedlivingDIY

For printable, click here!

NOTE: the images in this feed have been downsized or removed for copyright reasons. To see them in their unmodified state, please view the original post by clicking here.

A long time ago I shared a Farmhaus tour where you got to see what the house looked like when we purchased it.  Everything needed work, but the room that arguably needed the most work was the kitchen.  As a reminder, this is what the Farmhaus kitchen used to  look like:

Not exactly my cup of tea.

I came up with a plan and a mood board (which you can check out here) and then we tore it all up and started from scratch.

The big changes that really allowed me to switch up the layout were 1) opening up the wall even further and 2) changing the size and placement of the window.  The removal of the wall allowed me to bring in a large island, and the change of windows enabled me to run counters along the whole back wall and move some of the appliances around.  See here for more photos during the construction phase of the kitchen.

We finished the kitchen ages ago, like 1 1/2 years ago, but there have been so many other projects to take care of that I never felt that I had the time to sit down and do a full before and after.  Proud to present to you what the Farmhaus kitchen looks like now.

If you follow me on Instagram, you know I’m not afraid to roll up my sleeves and get dirty, but for the kitchen I brought in professionals for some important jobs: plumbing, electrical, drywall and cabinet installation. Sounds like there wasn’t much DIY on our part but we actually took care of framing, tiling, flooring and painting. We could have probably done the drywall and cabinet installation ourselves, but this made things fall into place faster. I love how it turned out and when we spend time at the Farmhaus the kitchen is everything I had imagined and more.

Here are some close ups.

I really wanted to tile the back of the island to break up the black and add a pop of interest.  See here for my inspiration. I’m so happy I added this element.  It takes the kitchen to another level.  Plus, I love that when the kids sit at the counter the tile can handle their kicks and scuff marks.

The shelves were made from the left over butcher block scraps we had cut off from the counters.  No waste here.

Love my organized utensils. The pepper mill and salt cellar are from one of my favorite shops in Australia, a shop aptly named Country Road. Wish they had a store in the U.S.

The sconces from Pepe and Carols add a refined industrial touch that works perfectly. Plus they bring in a hint of brass that gets echoed through the hardware and some of the vintage accessories I collect and display.  I had the sconces customized so that the light would fall at just the right spot over the counters.

It was a labor of love but well worth the effort.

NOTE: the images in this feed have been downsized or removed for copyright reasons. To see them in their unmodified state, please view the original post by clicking here.

I’ve been a little MIA these last few months as I try to figure out how to balance things so that I can take better care of myself and my family. The beginning of the new school year is like New Year to me; it is full of promise and hope. So, my hope is that this school year will be better than last, as I refocus my attention on my priorities of family and health.

Our older son recently started Middle School and I am reminded how quickly time flies. He has grown in so many ways, not least of which he is now taller than I am. He is entering an important developmental phase that I believe can set the stage for the type of man he will become, so I want to be present for when he needs me, while trying to give him enough space for self discovery.  He’s becoming quite independent.  He may need me and he may not, but I want to pay attention.

Our younger son had an exceptionally tough year last year, from health to social exclusion.  The emotional scars are still there, both for him and for me. There is nothing quite as debilitating as seeing your child suffer. So, I am making every effort to be available to him in obvious ways, to help him rebuild his confidence and his joy. But in all honesty, I don’t know how to help him sometimes and it makes me feel so helpless.

As for me, I have to make some changes if I want to be around for the long haul. Healthier eating and a more active lifestyle are the name of the game. Also, my design work has evolved since the day I first started this blog six years ago, so I plan to work on reflecting those changes here.

In the meanwhile here are a couple of photos of a kitchen I completed at the beginning of the summer. Clean white quartz, warm walnut cabinets, and with just a hint of glam with brass accents.

NOTE: the images in this feed have been downsized or removed for copyright reasons. To see them in their unmodified state, please view the original post by clicking here.

Ask anyone who has known me a long time and I have always had an affinity for black.  I remember being 13 years old and being tempted to paint the trim in my bedroom black.  Ultimately, I decided that white would work better with my Dove Gray walls.  Did I mention that my older brother was really into Miami Vice and chose to paint his room in Flamingo Pink?  This is statement is totally dating me, but it was a bold choice that also highlights how colors can be part of a fad. Black on the other hand will usually stand the test of time, it just depends how you use it.

Over the years I’ve used it as an exterior paint color, as a cabinet color, as an interior paint color and as a trim color.  It goes pretty much everywhere, you just have to be thoughtful about what you pair it with. You’d think that black is black, and it’s not hard finding the right one, since black is the absence of color.  You’d be right when you are thinking of the color spectrum, but when it comes to paint you are still dealing with pigments and not all black paints are created equal.  Since I haven’t done a paint post in ages, I thought I’d share 4 of my favorite blacks:

**As with all paints,  I recommend trying out a sample so that you can see how the paint reads depending on the quality of light in your home.

NOTE: the images in this feed have been downsized or removed for copyright reasons. To see them in their unmodified state, please view the original post by clicking here.

In my effort to raise my kids more consciously, I’ve been thinking a lot about family traditions.  Turns out we don’t really have any because my husband and I come from such mixed backgrounds. I’m Filipino – Danish, but grew up in Italy and France, while my husband is German – Indian and grew up in England. Say wha?

So, for the holidays we generally just do what others around us do, but some local holidays aren’t very significant to us, while others are.  Take Halloween for example. Not a holiday that means much to me, or that I care much for. BUT, it isn’t about me, it’s about the kids, so I’ve decided to commit to decorating pumpkins.  I’m thinking something along these lines:

Our boys aren’t particularly crafty, so I want something they can succeed in recreating. Plus, the color scheme will work better in our home, so that’s a bonus.

But besides typically American celebrations, I want to celebrate our mixed heritage.  So we’ve decided that next up on the calendar will be Diwali, the Hindu celebration of light. Then we’ll move on to Thanksgiving, with a French twist. For the Christmas season we’ll go fully Nordic, by celebrating St. Nikolaus which is in early December, then for Christmas itself I’ll be sprinkling it with Danish traditions from my childhood.  That means, I’ve got some planning to do.

America is a melting pot.  How do you honor your heritage, while embracing local traditions?  I’d love more ideas.

Sources: Thanksgiving Table – Pumpkins

NOTE: the images in this feed have been downsized or removed for copyright reasons. To see them in their unmodified state, please view the original post by clicking here.

Sometimes a bathroom just needs a refresh.  That’s what’s happening in our boys’ bathroom.  For reference this is what I’m working with:

I really loved this bathroom, but a couple of things aren’t working for us anymore.  First and foremost our 11 year old son is 5’6″.  He’s GIANT. If you look at the gorgeous wall mounted shower head, it is fully extended. If he grows a couple more inches his head will be touching that shower head.  I designed this bathroom when they were both still little and I was not expecting height to be an issue so soon.  So, I need to replace the shower head with something that is positioned way up high. However, this creates a snowball effect.  Once I break the wall to switch out the plumbing, I’ll have to replace the tile.  Sadly, there’s no 6″x8″ white daltile to be found. I have a few leftover pieces but not enough to do a whole wall. I debated for a long time whether to just do one wall with different tile, but ultimately I decided against it because it felt like it would end up looking like a patch job.  Once I decided I needed to redo my the whole tub surround,  I decided it was time to replace the vanity, and so on.  I’m sad I have to let go of the pinstripe detail, but glad that I can incorporate the marmara marble-like floor tile into the new design.

Once I decided we needed a new vanity, it had to satisfy a few different criteria.  First an foremost it has to be a petite vanity that can accommodate two sinks.  Secondly, it has to have a ceramic top.  The current top is carrera marble and with the way my boys use the bathroom, that marble looks stained and dirty even though the marble was sealed. The marble on the master bathroom vanity looks almost like new, so I know the problem lies with how my boys treat the bathroom.

I’m hoping this bathroom refresh will be quick and painless.  Fingers crossed.

NOTE: the images in this feed have been downsized or removed for copyright reasons. To see them in their unmodified state, please view the original post by clicking here.

Have you noticed a trend in green kitchens?  At first, I thought it was more of a trend in kitchens becoming more colorful, but upon closer inspection it’s really green kitchens that are trending.  It’s not just one type of green, but really a whole range of greens, from fresh minty greens, to moody olive greens.  Check out these cool green kitchens from modern to traditional, you can see how the color just works.

You can still never go wrong with a white kitchen.  A black kitchen is just as classic, you just have to make sure your space has a lot of natural light (see here for a round up of black kitchens).  If you’re tempted to add some color, but can’t commit to the full treatment, consider just doing your island in a delicious shade of green.

In fairness, I think this green wave started a while back with Sarah Sherman Samuel’s DIY kitchen pictured here. I believe that kitchen catapulted Sarah into the general design consciousness. As a result she even designed her own line of kitchen cabinet doors for Semihandmade, which includes a lovely shade of green called agave.  Sarah is a trend setter, now green kitchens are a thing.

Want even more inspiration? Head over to DeVol kitchens based in the U.K. they are masters kitchen design.

Image source from top to bottom: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6