#They custom printed a painting I did of him and it hangs above our bed

[impossibilitygirl]

I always love seeing the names of your ocs in the tags. No clue who these blorbos are, but I sure do know Estel's name

"but I sure do know Estel's name" <- average experience when interacting with me

Fr I'm glad you find it amusing agskdhsk I just love my OCs a lot!! Estel specifically holds a special place in my heart tho <3

[brainyxbat]

Roronoa Venus- Hungry Days 1

New Friends, and Past Humiliation

One day after school, Roronoa Zoro was pondering a thought over kendo practice. His fraternal twin sister, named Venus, was always lonely; not to mentioned bullied frequently. Other than him, and their parents, she had no one to fall back on. No one to hang out with her during lunch, or after school hours. It didn't help that she was almost cripplingly shy; she had been for as long as he can remember, so he always protected her. Bullies mockingly called him her bodyguard in times like this, but he couldn't care less.

He himself had friends; Franky, Robin, Brook, Nami, boy genius Chopper, Usopp, and the group leader Luffy. Plus Sanji, to an extent... he shook his head in irritation at the blond Casanova wannabe. He didn't know them for that long, but they were all good people... even if Sanji was overeager with every pretty girl in school. What if Venus could join their little circle? Surely they would accept her; and she would finally have friends.

Huffing in fatigue, he set the bamboo shinai on its hooks hung on his bedroom door, and walked down the upstairs hallway to the room next to his. After a minute of waiting, the music from her electric violin had slowed a stop, before he heard her set it down. "Venus?" He knocked on the black-painted door. "Can I talk to you about something?

"Sure, come on in." He opened up, and lingered at the doorway. "What's up?"

One thing to know about his sister: She was a Goth girl. A "Mall Goth", to be precise. They both had queen-size beds with storage drawers, and black exteriors, but hers had a black dress-like canopy hung above the cushioned headboard, over an arch-shaped decal featuring the night sky with a full moon, so it wasn't hidden by the black wall. The window seat, and the small black tent, which was printed with white bats, were littered with small pillows, and stuffies, as was her bed around where her head laid. There were large moon and star shaped lights dangling front of the window, and alongside various cosmetics, her vanity had 4 different jewelry holders, one for more than just earrings. There was also a black and purple jewelry box with multiple sections for rings, bracelets, chokers, and... tragus earrings.

Now, she didn't have either of them pierced, but she planned on having the left done on their 18th birthday. What possessed her to have such a crazy idea, he still couldn't comprehend, but he didn't want to stop her. After all, it was her decision, and their parents approved of the idea when it was first pitched. And he supposed it was better than her actual face; their parents would each have an aneurysm if she came home with a ring in her septum.

"Well, tomorrow after homework, my friends and I are going to the mall for... stuff."

She nodded, while sitting on her bed. "Okay, hope you have fun-"

"Wait," He cut her off, "Do you want to come, Venus?"

Her eyebrows raised in genuine surprise under her green, asymmetrical bangs. "Really? Me?"

"Is there anyone else here named Venus?" He smirked coyly, earning a playful eye roll from her. "There's two girls in my group; you can shop around with them, and you could find some friends in all of them. You did just get paid, didn't you? And you're off tomorrow?"

"Y-yeah," She replied, "I did, and I am." In the same mall, she worked at a shop specializing in the Goth lifestyle, mostly stuff that was wearable, but with the occasional home decor, and some items revolving around witchcraft such as crystals. Basically, it was her dream job, despite it being only part-time, and even with occasional rude customers, she loved it there. "You really want me to come?"

"Yeah, if you want."

"But... what if they won't like me?"

"They will. Trust me; you'll fit right in."

After a moment of silence, she nodded, as a smile grew. "I'd love to."

"Okay. You can meet them during lunch before we go."

"Deal. Do they already know I'm coming?"

"Yeah, I texted them earlier, in our group chat. They're all good with it, as long as you're wanting to come. And they're eager to meet you."

"Awesome; feeling's mutual."

-

The next day, as the hours ticked by, Venus felt excited, yet nervous at the same time. She was going to not only meet Zoro's friends, but also hang out with them! But... what if they actually didn't like her, despite his assurance? What if they thought she was too strange? Or quiet? She never fit in anywhere, especially here at school; despite the love she received, she felt like the black sheep even in her family.

Before long, lunchtime came. Time to meet the friends. As she walked to the cafeteria with Zoro, her heart beat faster in her chest. He noticed her troubled expression, and her hands being more fidgety than usual. "You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm... just nervous."

"You'll be fine. They'll like you; I know it." They joined the line in the room, him watching for any bullies on the prowl. His heart boiled with fury at a certain, lilac-haired boy waving tauntingly at her; Zoro wished he could whack that smug grin off his insufferable face, but him getting detention wouldn't help her. When his turn was up, he looked over the pre-watered Nissin Cup Noodles available, while grabbing a Smokey & Spicy Sio for himself. "Looks like there's no chicken ones here, V."

"Yeah, sorry hon," Carmen, the flamboyant cafeteria lady, frowned apologetically. She was also the school's dance instructor, and had some boys, and girls, drooling with her fiery reddish-pink hair, purple eyes, and overall gorgeous looks.

"It's okay," Venus assured, and looked over the selections, "Hmm... I'll try this one. Thanks." She grabbed one of the mild curry cups, along with a pair of chopsticks, before paying for her meal, and following Zoro to the tables.

"There they are," He gestured to a particular one occupied by a certain group, and she looked nervous again, "They'll like you." Keeping an arm around her shoulders, he led her around the other tables, saving her from being tripped when passing one of the bullies. He also saved her noodles from being spilled, and her chopsticks from being dropped. "Damn bastard," He grumbled in irritation, before approaching, and turning to the group he sought out. "Guys, this is my twin sister I told you about, Venus."

"H-hi," She stammered, mentally observing them all, as Zoro introduced them. They all had cup noodles like them, but for the most part, different flavors each. One of the girls, aptly named Robin, had black, shoulder-length hair with even bangs, and an olive skin tone, while the other, paler Nami, had an orange bob, and a pink sweater vest. Luffy had shaggy black hair, and along with his school uniform, wore a straw hat with a red band on his head, while Franky, who looked pretty buff, had light blue hair in a cowlick almost like Ace Ventura, a red Hawaiian shirt with green palm trees under his blazer, and a bandage across the bridge of his nose. Tall Brook had a puffy, black afro, round black shades, and seemed to be merely skin and bones. He seemed to be holding a violin case in his lap.

Sanji was... reaching towards her? "Well hello there, Venus." He took her free hand with a chivalrous look on his face, as she looked on awkwardly. "Who would've thought a twin of Marimo would be so lovely?"

"Uh-" She was about to respond, but Zoro pulled her hand back for her, before the blond could kiss it.

"Back off, curlybrow."

Sanji sneered at him, missing her smirk of awkward gratitude towards her brother. "We were having a moment there, kendo brain."

"Will you two stop already?" Nami scolded, before turning to Venus with a smile. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"Y-you guys too," She responded timidly.

"Anyway," Zoro gave Sanji one last sneer, before returning to the original topic for the final introduction, "And this here is Usopp."

"Hi, I-" Venus turned to him, just as he looked up to her from the table, and they made eye contact... and she couldn't turn away. "I, uh..." His mop of wavy, black curls; his tan complexion; his dark grey eyes; his cute, long nose. Blood rushed to her ivory cheeks, turning them pink; he was so handsome. Wait, what? "Um, I-I'm Venus. R-Roronoa Venus."

Usopp in turn, felt like he was looking at an angel, as he lowered his orange headphones to around his neck in a daze. What with her flowing, yet messy green hair, her ivory skin, and her dark green eye; she was beautiful. Her uniform stood out with her white shirt having a black bat collar, and her sweater vest being black with a small, white moon at the neckline. "N-nice to meet you. Um, please sit," He stammered, "Room for one more."

"Thanks." She sat down on the bench, directly across from him, with her brother next to her. She noticed his noodles cup, and giggled at its familiarity. "You got the curry too?"

"Oh yeah, it's my favorite. Yours?"

"Well um, I love the tasty chicken best, but they're out of it right now, so uh, I decided to try this one today." Through her reply, she stuck her chopsticks in, and began twirling some noodles.

"Well, you're going to love it."

Zoro glanced back and forth, as his sister exchanged smiles with one of his friends. What was going on here? Were they... in love with each other? That quickly? From what he remembered, last year, Venus vowed to never date again after a... humiliating incident. But it seemed she was now retracting that statement. "Mm!" Venus' hum of delight snapped him out of his thoughts. "It's great! I do love it!"

"It is, isn't it?" Usopp agreed. "The little kick really adds to it."

"Little kick?" She blinked in genuine confusion, surprising him.

He was also flustered on how her long lashes fluttered from the movements. "Y-yeah, there's a-"

"She has a high tolerance for spicy foods," Zoro explained after a bite of his lunch, "Sour foods too. If her meal came with a lemon slice, like to squeeze the juice out, after getting some on her fish or whatever, she'd eat it like it was an orange."

Nami couldn't help but stifle a laugh. She could imagine the shocked expressions from any witnesses around them during such a thing. Not to mention any waiters realizing the wedge was completely missing from their platter when cleaning up. "Really?"

"Y-yeah," Venus nodded after swallowing some noodles, " I've been able to for as long as I can remember."

"That's pretty impressive," Usopp complimented, "You do take the seeds out first, right?"

"Thanks," She smiled shyly, before hiding it with gulping from her soda bottle. "Oh yeah, I do. Y-you should've seen our parents' faces the first time," She snickered, and they all laughed after she demonstrated.

The rest of the period went smoothly; Venus fit in very well with Zoro's peer group, as she felt less and less nervous by the minute. Needless to say, she was definitely going out with them after school. And she couldn't wait! Once they were seated on the bus later, Venus started on her homework, with Zoro staying alert next to her. He helped her on occasion, and she was done just as their home was approaching.

"See you guys later!" Luffy waved, as the bus stopped at the Roronoa household first.

"See ya!" Venus waved back, blushing again when Usopp shot a smile at her. After smiling back, she went to follow Zoro out, only for another attempted tripping to be successful. She toppled face-down to the floor, with her violin case thumping on her back. "Oww!" Obnoxious rich brat Charlos laughed mockingly, bringing his leg back in front of his seat, as her knee lightly throbbed in pain.

"Hey, you bastard!" Usopp glared, as Zoro helped his sister to her feet. "You can't do that to her!"

"What'cha gonna do about it, Pinocchio?" Charlos taunted him in retortion without looking back, as his sister Shalria, equally horrible, laughed next to him.

"If I had a nickel every time I heard that one," An unfazed Usopp rolled his eyes, "I'd retire at 18. Now leave her alone!" He recoiled nervously with a squeak when the porky bully turned to him with an intimidating, challenging look, but kept his defiant glare, before relaxing when he looked ahead again.

Venus smiled at him again in silent gratitude, with him returning it, as she and Zoro exited the bus. Tera, the twins' mother, turned to them as they entered the house. "Hey, how was school?" She gasped lightly in concern, and rushed to her daughter, as they stepped out of their shoes. She had a scrape on her right knee above her black uniform sock, that was an angry red, and starting to bleed a little. "Oh, Venus. Shalria tripped you again?"

She shook her head. "Charlos, on the bus."

Tera sighed deeply. "When will the principal ever do anything? You better patch that up, dear, before you bleed out."

"I will," Venus nodded, "I'll do that right now. M-my homework's already done." She rushed to the upstairs bathroom.

Zoro watched her go, before huffing in exasperation, running his hand on his short, green hair. "That damn Rosward won't keep them in line, no matter how many complaints I send his way. They get no more than a slap on the wrist; not even detention."

"Unbelievable," Tera frowned, "Something needs to be done."

"Agreed." He glanced up at the stairwell, as he heard Venus go into her room, gingerly closing the door. It was soon followed by her violin music. "So, after homework, my friends and I are going to the mall. Venus hit it off with them at lunch, so she's coming with us."

"That's wonderful!" She smiled joyfully. "I bet you'll have a great time."

"Yeah, and uh, lunch went pretty... interestingly."

"What do you mean?"

"You remember Usopp? Long nose, black curls?"

"Yeah, I remember him. He's a nice boy; what about him?"

"Well... it seems like Venus now has a crush on him." Tera's eyebrows raised in surprise. "And he her; like, when they were first introduced."

"Really? Aww, love at first sight!" She gushed. "Is she going to date him?"

"It's hard to say. I mean last year, she said she'd never date again, but I guess we'll see how today goes. I trust Usopp with her; I just dread something happening, that breaks her heart."

"That's understandable, honey. You're a good brother, looking out for her."

"Thanks, Mom. I do my best." Zoro glanced at the stairwell again. "I'd better get my homework done, and some kendo practice in before we go."

"Alright. But don't push yourself too hard in kendo; just because you can't defeat that Mihawk fellow, doesn't mean you're not amazing at it."

"Thanks, will do." He walked upstairs without another word.

Tera sighed to herself, as she watched him go. She wished he wouldn't push himself so hard; he was hospitalized for exhaustion recently, and had to have his shinai hidden, in order to make him take it easy. Venus was frantic, even having the idea of hiding it, and did everything she could to help.

She didn't want anything like that happening again.

-

After some practicing, she set her violin down in its coffin-shaped case, and began searching through her vast amount of clothes for something to wear later. This was the first time in years, if not ever, that she had friends to hang out with; she wanted to make a good impression. Especially on... Usopp? Yeah, that was it. She smiled, as her mind wandered; through the short time she'd known him so far, he was so sweet. Not to mention fun to talk with.

After snapping out of it, she stripped out of her school uniform, and for a start, pulled on her black fishnet tights with moons and stars accented all over. She scoured through her dominantly dark-colored wardrobe, before deciding on a black sleeveless dress with a pleather batwing collar, ditching the plain black belt in favor of one with a silver dual-rose buckle. In her hair, she shifted a black thin headband lined with five bows, before adding in ghost flower earrings that dangled with a light, delightful clinking. Noticing the oncoming, beautiful gloominess outside, she grabbed, and pulled on a black hoodie printed with clouds, some having fangs and lightning bolts. Under her tights was a bandage shaped like a Goth Milk carton to cover her small wound.

"Oi, Venus! Are you ready yet?! It's been almost 10 minutes!"

"Yeah, I'm coming!" She grabbed her spiderweb heart purse, lavender shopper tote, and black and purple batwing umbrella, threw her door open, and ran downstairs, oblivious to him tensing up at the latter. "I'm ready!" Zoro waited by the door, as she slipped her feet in a pair of black flats with shiny leather pumpkin faces in a darker black. He himself was in his usual black pants and shoes, with a yellow zip-up t-shirt.

"Mom, we're leaving!" He called out.

"Okay! Have fun, you two! Text me when you're getting home, so I can start on dinner!"

"We will!" Venus promised, before following him out to the public bus. "I'm excited."

"That's good. I told you they would like you."

"Yeah," She snickered, "You did. They're all really nice; though Sanji's kinda strange."

Zoro snorted with an eyeroll. "Do not look behind that curtain, I'm warning you. I'm just glad you like Usopp instead of that dumbass."

"Huh? W-what're you-"

"Venus, we're siblings." He cut her off, not buying her oblivious façade. "Twins at that; I can practically read your mind. And I saw it in your face."

She giggled, and pushed his hand away when he prodded at the side of her head. "Yeah, but... yeah," She caved, and shyly fiddled with one of her earrings, "He's just so sweet, and handsome."

"Well, I trust him, but I'm saying this because you're my sister... just be careful. Remember what happened last year; I don't want you going through that again."

"I know," She nodded, "But I have a good feeling."

Before he could respond, the bus stopped outside the mall, prompting them to disembark. Zoro held his much-shorter-than-him twin's hand to help her off the step without falling on her face, before checking the most recent text from the group leader. "Luffy said they'll be just inside this entrance."

"'Kay." With that, they began walking. In her peripherals, she caught him mindlessly wandering away, and yanked him back on the right path with a stifled snicker. "Going somewhere?"

"Shut up."

She giggled, as they walked through the automatic doors. She may have less emotional maturity between the two of them, but she had always been better with directions.

Less than a minute after entering, they found the familiar group standing close by, waiting on them by a large, digital directory. "Hey, guys!" Luffy called out with an enthusiastic wave of his hand. "Over here!" Venus brightened up upon noticing them, and made a beeline.

Now that they were out of their school uniforms, their real styles showed, and they their personalities quite nicely. Luffy was in blue denim Bermuda shorts, a red tank top, and a pair of brown flip-flops, along with what seemed to be his signature hat. Sanji was in a dark blue t-shirt with the word "Gentlecook" in lighter blue font, black jeans, and black Vans shoes. Franky was in his red Hawaiian shirt from school, dark blue knee-length shorts, and grey sandals. Brook stood out in particular, with his light pink skinny jeans with studs along the front pockets, brown loafers, blue and white striped t-shirt with "Summer Body" along the front in darker blue, and a large, cotton candy tie dye sunhat over his afro.

Robin was in a white button-up shirt-dress accented with purple specks, black shiny knee-high boots, and a black pleather jacket. Nami wore dark blue Bermuda shorts, brown strappy sandals, and a green tank top with darker green flower silhouettes.

She blushed at Usopp, specifically; he was in a white t-shirt, blue jeans with a lighter-hued belt, and patches on the knees, brown combat boots, and a thin, light purple button-up over it all, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. "H-hi, Usopp," She stammered after walking up to him, avoiding eye contact. Crap, she was nervous again. Why did he have to be so cute?

"Hey, Venus," He greeted her in return, struggling to keep his composure himself, "Y-you look great." More than great; she looked adorable. But he was scared of being too straightforward, remembering how Zoro told all of them about her shyness.

"Thanks," Her cheeks flushed even deeper, "So do you."

Nami smiled widely to herself while watching them; something was definitely happening. "Okay, so where to first?" Robin asked around.

As they wandered, and shopped, Venus bonded even more with the group. At certain places, she stuck by Nami and Robin, while the boys did their own thing across from the shop. "So, Venus," Nami turned to the shorter girl, prompting her to look down at her hands browsing necklaces, "You and Usopp are getting pret-ty cozy there."

"W-what?"

"You have a crush on Usopp."

"N-no," She fibbed.

Nami tilted her head with a look of skepticism. "Venus, I may have only met you today, but I can already tell; you're a terrible liar."

Venus was silent, as she moved on to hair accessories. "It's nothing to be embarrassed about," Robin assured, "You've had crushes before, right?"

She was briefly hesitant, thinking about the previous year. "Yeah, but this time feels... different. Although..." She trailed off.

"Although?" Robin repeated with motherly patience.

"I'm... scared to date again. Since last year; I don't want to talk about it."

"And you don't have to," The raven-haired girl said, "But Usopp is very sweet. He would never hurt anyone. And besides... he seems to be quite fond of you."

Venus looked up at her with surprise, though her gaze stayed downward after a split second of eye contact. "Really?"

-

"So, Usopp," Zoro approached his long-nosed friend, who was trying to pick out a game to try out next, "You seem to be getting quite close with Venus, huh?"

He was startled out of his internal debate by the sudden query. "Oh, uh... y-yeah?"

Zoro snorted at his wariness. "Chill out, I'm not gonna kill you."

"Oh good," He chuckled nervously, "Sorry, Zoro. It's just when I first saw her, standing in front of me... I couldn't look away." He sighed with a headshake. "She's so cute, and pretty. And very sweet."

"I'm glad you think so."

"Has she dated before?"

Zoro sighed in hesitation. "She has, and I won't go into details for her sake, but they were... never good."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Usopp's heart swelled with sympathy. Who would have the nerve to hurt someone as kind and meek as Venus? She seemed like she wouldn't hurt a fly. "I won't pry, but she doesn't deserve that treatment. And I promise I would never do that to her. I'd treat her the way she deserves; like a princess."

Zoro smiled just a little. "Thanks, man. I trust you."

"No prob," Usopp nodded with a returning smile, before turning back to the two games in his hands, and holding them up for him to see the covers. "Which of these should I get?"

"Found it!" Chopper cheered, holding up the newest Super Mario game in victory.

-

A few minutes later, the teens regrouped after finishing up. Venus walked straight to Usopp, while he also did for her; it didn't go unnoticed by the others, as they smiled to themselves, and each other. "Can we go down that way?" She pointed to the left-side walkway.

"Sure," Nami agreed, and they headed in said direction. Zoro smirked to himself; he knew the reason behind her request, but kept quiet, so she could explain it herself. "What's down here?"

Venus pointed to a sign straight ahead. It featured the shop's name in a stylized font in black, with a dark blue witch hat bearing constellations on the first M, while the last O was a crescent moon. "You uh, you guys see that shop there, Modern Majo?"

"Yeah," Robin nodded.

"That's where I work."

Nami's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Really?"

"Yep, part-time at least. It's independently owned too. At times, there's um, some rude people coming in like you'd expect, but my boss is amazing, as is the shop itself. Can we, uh-"

"Yeah, we can go in," Franky replied, "Seems like a bit of Robin's speed."

-

The shop was... quite interesting. Not only did it have apparel, jewelry (those for body piercings included), hair accessories, and home trinkets, all in a Gothic style, it also had items commonly associated with witchcraft. The table near the entrance had crystals, tarot cards, and cauldrons. Her boss, Toribia Hekate, was delighted that her kind-hearted, yet lonely and introverted worker had friends; and like them, saw how Usopp looked at the girl.

They witnessed her barking at a particularly ill-mannered customer, effectively scaring him off, and heard sad stories from both her and Venus, about the latter receiving verbal abuse. More often than not, they had happy endings, but their hearts ached for her; especially Usopp's, and Zoro's, although the latter had already heard them all.

They soon left with Robin carrying a small bag, while Venus had one much bigger. Not only was she a hard-working employee there, she may be its best customer as well. "So um, what'd you guys think?"

"Cool place," Robin replied with a smile.

"Yeah, it is," Nami agreed, "I mean, it's not my style, but it's definitely yours; and it's great that you work at a place you love like that."

"Thanks."

Usopp was blushing, as he glanced around mindlessly; before they left, Hekate had pulled him aside by the fitting room, which had a huge, heavy curtain in place of two walls around two large mirrors, for a little, private chat. The short, yet intimidating old woman extracted a promise from him to be good to Venus, which he vowed to inact one day. She deserved all the love; and he wanted to give it to her.

When they passed by a quaint little bakery selling an extensive array of small desserts, he had an idea; he turned to Venus, hoping he won't make her nervous with his offer. "Um, can I buy you a little treat?"

She glanced over behind him, and nodded with a smile. "Sure, thanks!"

"Since you're buying-"

"No," Usopp cut Luffy off, "I only have enough for Venus, and me." With that little fib, he escorted her inside to the back of the short line. While it was just two of them, he couldn't help but notice; she was short. The top of her head had just barely touched the bottom of his chin. That just made her all the more adorable to him.

As a disappointed Luffy pouted, Zoro looked on in bafflement. "What's happening?"

"Oh, I'll tell you what's happening," Nami grinned widely, "They like each other!" She almost squealed.

"Like each other how?" Chopper asked innocently.

Robin patted his shoulder with a motherly smile. "You'll understand when you're older."

"Well yeah, but... th-that fast?" He stammered. "They only met just today."

"Dude, he's smoother with her than Sanji is with every girl in school," Franky laughed.

"Shut up!"

Zoro couldn't help but snicker at the embarrassed blond's expense. "Ah, keep sucking your candy." He turned his attention back to the others. "I don't know, I do trust him; I just don't want her to get hurt... again."

Robin frowned with sympathy. "We get it. You want to protect her; you're a good brother for that."

He smiled a little, as he remembered his mother telling him that same thing earlier that day. "Thanks. She hasn't had any good dating experience, so I worry every time." He didn't want to bring up the particular incident from last year; she could tell them when she was ready.

In the bakery, Usopp and Venus' turn in line came up. "What can I get you, young man?" The guy greeted.

"Hmm..." He looked over the individual cake slices, that almost made him drool, "I'll have the cookie dough kind."

"Mm." He smiled at Venus' hum of delight.

"And for the lady?"

"Um," She followed his lead, before perking up at spotting one of her favorite kinds. One she and Zoro commonly chose together. "T-the Oreo one, please."

"Coming right up." Venus licked her lips, as he promptly paid. "Name?"

"Usopp."

"Alright, once they're ready, I'll call you lovebirds over."

They both blushed deeply at that, before they nodded. "We-we're uh, just friends," Usopp reluctantly stammered, and she nodded with a sheepish grin, "Thanks." After each grabbing a spoon, they had a seat at a vacant table to wait. 'I wish we were more, though,' He thought to himself. Little did he know, she was thinking the same, almost word by word.

"Um," He turned to Venus when she spoke up, "Zoro and I would come here with our parents whenever we had an accomplishment of some kind."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yep. Like if we aced a test, Zoro won a kendo tournament, or whatever. I've won a talent show or two, which also brings us here."

"Ah." He had actually never attended any of the shows himself. None of the group did; except Zoro, that is. "What's your talent?"

"I play an electric violin."

"Oh yeah, Zoro brought that up once or twice," He recalled, "That's really cool."

"Thanks."

"Maybe someday, I can come over, and you can practice for me."

She smiled at the idea; that sounded great to her. "I'd like that." She hoped he wouldn't be put off by how her bedroom was decorated, and/or think of her as a weirdo.

He noticed her change of face, and frowned with concern. "You sure?" He must've been too forward there.

"Oh yeah, I'm sure," She replied, "I'm just worried you'll, um..." He waited patiently for her to find the proper wording. "You'll think I'm weird. 'Cause I'm a..."

"Goth?" He smiled warmly, making her blush deeper. "Yeah, Zoro mentioned that too. Plus I saw it in how you dress." His heart fluttered at her looking down at the table, fiddling with her hoodie drawstring. She was so cute; he wanted to hug her, but that would definitely be going too fast at the moment. "It's okay; I really like it on you."

"Oh, t-thanks." She gave a cheerful, teeth-baring grin. "You'll love my room, then," She giggled, and laughed with him.

"I bet I will."

"Usopp?"

"That's us." He stood back up, and as she followed his lead, he took her hand without thinking. She noticed just after she was on her feet; they blushed red, before they both drew back slowly with awkward grins. Little too soon. After getting their respective slices, they left the shop, and rejoined their friends. "We're back."

"We see that," Brook teased, "You treating your new girlfriend?" He laughed with a kind that sounded like a classic pirate, only more joyful.

Usopp rolled his eyes, as Venus giggled awkwardly, taking the clear top off her plastic platter. "I just met her earlier today, y'know. We all did, except Zoro."

Zoro looked over, and stifled a grin at Sanji's dark scowl. "Envy's not a good look on you."

"Shut up, Marimo."

"Mmm, so good!" Venus beamed, interrupting the tense moment. "Like always." She smiled up at Usopp, who began eating his own. "Um, thanks for buying."

"You're welcome."

Nami smirked at them, as they enjoyed their slices. "Trying to mock us there, huh?" She joked. "Treating her, and not the rest of us, Mr. Favorites-Player."

Usopp snickered. "Well forgive me for wanting to do something nice for a special girl," He retorted with a smirk.

Special girl? Venus felt like her cheeks were on fire, as she kept her gaze on her platter. He was so sweet; she wanted to tackle him in a big hug, but was much too timid for such a bold move. Not to mention his cake would wind up on the floor, and she certainly didn't want that.

Zoro raised a brow in her direction, before smirking at her flustered state. She's got it bad for his friend; wait until their parents hear about this.

Before long, the great day came to an inevitable end. "Um, t-thanks for letting me join you guys," Venus stammered, "This was really fun."

"You're welcome!" Luffy beamed. "You can hang out with us all the time! I like you!"

She giggled, as everyone agreed. "Thanks. I'd love that."

"Want me to drive you guys home?" Franky offered.

"You sure I'll fit?" Venus asked nervously.

"Oh yeah," He assured, "Room for one more, half-pint."

"Franky drives a vintage VW bus," Robin explained, "He fixed it up himself."

"Ah, cool!" Venus grinned. "Thanks, that sounds great!" She stepped inside to the back seats with Zoro, and admired the interior, as he shot a text to Tera. When Robin said Franky fixed it up, she wasn't kidding around; the seat was so comfortable, and it had the features of a modern vehicle, while appearing vintage on the outside. It was amazing.

"Go on, Usopp," Nami teased when he hesitated to follow his new crush's lead.

"Yeah, yeah," He snickered, "Don't nag me." After his jest, he climbed inside, and sat next to Venus, before he had to squeeze into her, so Chopper could fit by the window. She smiled up at him, as she held her shopping bags just above her feet.

Once everyone was inside, Franky started driving around the town, to drop them off at their respective homes. Nami was first; outside of her house was a tan-skinned young woman with short, light blue hair, standing by the front door to greet her. Chopper was next, with his adoptive mother, school nurse Kureha, waiting on him. When Sanji was about to leave, his attempt at a chivalrous farewell to Venus was interrupted by Zoro and Usopp, to her relief. "Thanks guys," She giggled.

Her heart sunk a little when Usopp unbuckled himself; she wasn't quite ready to depart just yet. "I-I'll see you in school," She stammered, so he stopped outside the bus.

"And I'll see you," He gave her a kind smile, before walking to his house, and entering.

Venus smiled dreamily, as she watched him leave. "Alright twins, should be you next," Franky announced, after he started driving again.

"'Kay," She nodded.

"You have fun today, kid?" He asked her.

"Absolutely," She replied, "I can't wait to hang out with you guys again. I like you all."

"Especially Usopp, right?"

She rolled her eyes with a smirk through his chuckles. "Yeah, I walked into that one." Before long, Franky stopped outside the familiar house. "Thanks for driving us," She almost stumbled out on the sidewalk, though stayed on her feet, with Zoro following more smoothly.

"No prob! See you guys tomorrow!"

"You too, Frank," Zoro called out, before heading to the door with her up ahead.

-

Later that evening, the day's events were brought up over an onigiri dinner. "Venus, did you have fun with Zoro's friends today?" Tera asked.

"I definitely did," She nodded after a bite, "They want me to hang out with them again."

"She fit right in," Zoro added.

"I'm glad to hear that," Arashi remarked.

"And Venus has more than a little crush now, on one of them," Zoro smirked, snickering at her blushing cheeks.

"Oh really?" Arashi said in surprise. "Which one?"

"U-Usopp," She shyly mumbled behind her water glass, before shaking it off, "And I heard that he likes me back. Or he could."

"That's great, dear, but please be careful," Tera gently warned, "We don't want you getting hurt again."

"I understand," Venus nodded, before sighing sadly, "I don't want to go through that again."

~

-Last Year-

"I got asked to the prom!" Venus announced the second she entered the house after school.

Zoro lowered his shintai, and exited his room in curiosity. "By who?"

"His name's Spandam! He said that he likes me, and wants to be my prom date! Of course, I said yes!"

"That's great, honey!" Tera beamed. "I'm sure you'll have a great time!"

Zoro squinted his eyes over the excitement, staying quiet. He couldn't help but feel suspicious; Spandam didn't exactly have the best reputation in the school. He decided to keep it to himself, in fear of ruining his sister's joy. Maybe it could work out...

If only he knew how wrong that preposition was.

After changing to look their best, the two headed for the school, with their parents driving. "Have fun, you two!" Tera called out when they exited the car.

"We will," Zoro called back, and they entered the building. He followed Venus along the decorated halls, until they reached the gymnasium, where the event was currently kicking off. "Want to wait for him here?"

"Yeah," She nodded, "I'll be alright on my own."

That didn't help his suspicions at all. "If you say so. I'll be with my friends."

"'Kay, have fun."

"You too." With that, he wandered off, and miraculously located his newfound friends by the punch bowl, where she happened to be out of their sights.

"Surprised you found us that fast, Moss-head," Sanji smirked.

"Shut up, moron," Zoro dismissed the annoying blond; he was more focused on keeping his ears open, for any sounds of distress from Venus.

Meanwhile, she lingered at the entrance, blissfully unaware of the devious plot she would soon be apart of, front and center. Behind her back hid her so-called "date", looking down at her with evil intentions, while gripping a large pot. Time to put the plan into action...

Venus stood with a small smile, looking for a familiar head of lavender hair, when... it happened. She gasped sharply with a shriek at a disgusting-smelling, off-white, curdled substance raining down on her from the ceiling, leaving her drenched. She panted heavily, tears welling up, and not just from the odor, as certain students broke out into laughter. The substance slid down her hair, arms, and legs, and stained her black dress nearly beyond recognition.

Zoro turned sharply at the commotion. "What happened?" Usopp went to look, but his vision was blocked by some large athletes around all of them. Even Brook and Franky couldn't see.

"I don't know," Zoro sneered behind his back. Though he had a feeling that he did know.

Spandam leaped over in front of her with great clumsiness, but quickly regained his composure, towering over her, as he laughed mockingly. "This is what you get, little freak! You really thought anyone would want to be your date anywhere, much less the prom?! Ha! Have fun stinking up the place!" With that, he joined the other bullies in enjoying her misery.

"That's an improvement!" A portly boy named Hordy Jones guffawed.

Zoro pushed past the burly athletes, and just barely saw Venus running out of the room with her face hidden by her hands. "Guys, I gotta go, now."

"But you just got here-"

"I gotta go!" He snapped, interrupting Luffy, before making a mad dash after her. "Venus!" 'What did that bastard do to her?!' He thought furiously. 'I'll kill him!' He saw her disappear into the girls' room, and quickly followed. "Venus?" He held his nose at the terrible smell, as she hid in the handicap stall, leaving it unlocked. The hell was that? She never had it before; unless... Spandam. "V?" He peeked in, and she was sitting on the toilet, sobbing into her hands. "You okay?" He knew it was a stupid question, but he didn't know what else to say. Her only response was a head shake, which sent some gross lumps sliding from her hair, and splattering on the floor. "What did that bastard do?"

He waited patiently for her to calm herself enough to answer. "He... d-dumped some... sour milk on me."

That certainly explained the smell. Her fancy dress had to have been permanently ruined; nothing would get the stains, or odor out of it. "Go rinse yourself off in the girls' locker room. And throw out your dress; here's my jacket." He stripped it off, so he was in his matching black pants, and navy blue button-up printed with whirlpools.

"O-okay, thanks." She took it when he handed it over, and ran off.

In the boys' locker room, Zoro scrubbed off his sister's heeled shoes for her, boiling with rage. Rosward was going to hear from him; Spandam wasn't his offspring, so he would hopefully be punished for this. While cleaning, he called Arashi; he and Tera had to have been home by now, but they needed to come back. No way were they staying at the prom; not after what had just happened. "Dad, you and Mom need to get back here, now."

"Why, what happened?" Arashi sounded worried.

"I'll explain later. Just get here as soon as you can; we're not staying."

"Okay son, we're on our way." With that, he hung up.

In the girls' shower, tears fell down Venus' face. She should've known it was a set-up; who would want to associate with her? No one, that's who. She was just going to die alone. After finishing up, and putting on her undergarments, she pulled on, and buttoned up her brother's jacket, which almost reached her knees, and shoved her pungent dress in the garbage bin. She never wanted to see it again.

Zoro came back less than a minute later, with her now clean shoes on hand. "You better now?"

"I guess," She almost whispered, "T-thanks."

"I called Dad. He and Mom are on our way here." He set her blocky kitten heels on the floor.

"'Kay, good. I just want to go home." After stepping into her shoes, she took his hand, and walked the halls with him. His heart broke at her sniffles, and shuddering breath; she didn't want to cry at risk of other students hearing, and making her feel worse.

After a minute of waiting outside, a familiar car pulled up, and parked close by. Arashi and Tera jumped out immediately, concerned at their daughter wearing their son's jacket instead of her dress, with her hair out of its former braid crown. "Venus?" The second Arashi knelt in front of her, she collapsed into him, and sobbed in his shoulder. "Oh, baby." He held her close, and stroked her damp hair, as Tera rubbed her back. "What's that smell?"

"Sour milk," Zoro replied, his hands clenched his fists, "That bastard dumped it on her."

Tera gasped in shock. "He what?!"

"She had to rinse off in the locker room, and throw her dress away."

"Come on, let's go home, so you can have a proper shower." After Arashi kissed Venus' forehead, they all piled into the car, and took off. Venus sobbed in Zoro's neck and shoulder during the whole drive.

Once they were inside the house, she made a beeline for the bathroom. "I'm never dating anyone again!" She cried while running up the stairs, and grabbing her bat-print bathrobe.

The moment she disappeared into the bathroom, and the shower turned on, Zoro let his rage out. "I knew it, I freakin' knew it!" He dropped to his knees, and his fists pounded the coffee table. "I knew Spandam was bad news! I didn't want to say anything, because she was so excited, but now I know I should have!" His forehead dropped down between his hands. "Now she's humiliated, all because I-!"

"Zoro, it wasn't your fault!" Arashi cut him off. "It was that brat who caused this, not you."

"Yeah, please don't blame yourself, honey," Tera added, "Venus doesn't, I know it."

"Tell Rosward on Monday," Arashi suggested, "Something has to be done about this."

"Gladly." After several minutes, Venus emerged from the bathroom, now smelling like her lemon shampoo/conditioner; she went straight to her room, and shut the door without a word. "I'm gonna-"

"I think she should be alone for a while," Tera stopped him.

"Okay," He nodded after some hesitation, and walked into his own room. He shut the door, grabbed his shintai, and turned to the dummy he always practiced on. Out of nowhere, he imagined Spandam's smug face on the head, laughing tauntingly; seething with rage, he tore into the dummy with loud grunts and shouting battle cries, almost totaling it in seconds. How could he just humiliate his sister?! And with no shame?! She never did anything to deserve it! She was one of the sweetest, most harmless girls in the whole school! "YOU FILTHY BASTARD!" He screamed with fury over her sobs close by. Along with sword slashes, punches and kicks were added in. "HOW DARE YOU HURT MY SISTER!" Venus sat curled up in the small tent, her face buried in her knees, as her shoulders shook.

Minutes later, the dummy was destroyed, now in shambles scattered about. Zoro panted heavily, tears streaming down his cheeks; he put his shintai away before any other damage was done, and sat on his bed to calm down, with his head in his hands. He wanted to check on her, but he couldn't if he was shaking like this.

Once he was chilled out enough, he walked to her room, surprised to notice the door slightly open, and peeked inside. Venus was still sitting in the tent, but was now silent. "Sis?" He cautiously entered the room, and knelt in front of her. "You doing okay?"

She sniffled, and raised her head up. Her cheeks were blotchy, and stained from the tears, and her eye was red. "I guess."

He pulled her into a hug, which she accepted immediately, her head resting on his chest. "I had a feeling there was something... not right regarding Spandam." He sighed deeply. "I didn't say anything, because you were so excited about having a prom date."

"It's not your fault."

"I know, but I still-"

"You couldn't have seen it coming," She raised her head to look at him, "Neither of us did. It's all on him, not you."

Zoro didn't know how to respond, as he simply kept her close. He felt responsible, no matter what, although it couldn't be fixed. It happened, and it was over. But Spandam was going down for this; he would make sure of it.

After a few minutes, she had fallen asleep from emotional exhaustion, still clutching his shirt. He picked her up from the floor, and laid her down in her bed with one of her many blankets; after loosening her grip, and adding a stuffie under her one arm draped over her chest, he left her be.

~

Venus sighed heavily at the memories, before shaking it off. "I'll be careful, I promise."

"Good," Tera nodded.

Later that night, now in her pajamas, Venus laid on her bed, lost in her thoughts. She surely didn't want a repeat of last year, but... Usopp was so different from Spandam. He was nothing like that jerk; he was so sweet, and a lot of fun to be around. Heck, he treated her to a slice of cake after they knew each other for only a few hours! And he was a lot cuter too. No way would he ever mistreat her... right?

No, right. He wouldn't. He'd never.

She soon drifted off to sleep, with her new crush on her mind.

-

Elsewhere, while laying in his own bed, Usopp was thinking hard as well. About Venus, in particular; she was the sweetest, cutest, and most lovely girl he had ever known.

Over dinner, he recalled the day's events to his mother, Banchina, while swooning over the short Goth. She was over the moon at her son having such strong feelings for someone, and her heart broke at hearing how she was bullied in school.

He smiled, as he recollected the day's events; he knew buying Venus a little treat was a good idea. She was so happy, and seemed to enjoy it. He wanted to give her heart a break; show her she deserved all the love in the world, by giving it to her.

He remembered their private chat in the bakery; he really wanted to hear her practice her violin for him one day, hanging out one-on-one. He was eager to learn more about her. And meanwhile, she felt the same about him.

Neither could wait to see each other again at school tomorrow.

[chilling-seavey]

Qui Totum Vult Toum Perdit (d.s.) - 7

A/N Guilty or generous 

Warnings: This story is centered around a murder so there will be graphic descriptions of blood, death/manslaughter, dealing with corpses, possible domestic abuse (physical/verbal), crime/covering up a crime, shock/grief, and other possibly heavy or triggering topics. Please read at your own discretion.

One thing my parents always taught us while we were growing up was, when traveling, to never stay at the cheapest hotel. By no means should we break the bank to stay at a five-star resort but there was usually nothing good that came out of the cheapest option. I could see what they meant as Jonah and I climbed the metal stairs of the Lincoln Motel, the white paint peeling from the handrails and the steps creaking with each footfall. Once having been on the cover of Forbes, I no longer really needed to follow that guidance that my parents engrained in us since I could afford all the five-star hotels and resorts I so desired to stay at.

I mean, to be brutally fair, dear reader, my parents also taught us not to murder our spouses; so who knew how many lessons of theirs I had ignored in my lifetime.

I triple checked that my car was locked as we reached the top of the flight of stairs and headed down the carpeted outdoor hallway. Anyone who uses carpet outside should honestly not be trusted. This place already left a bad feeling in my stomach. Would saying it gave me murder house Psycho vibes be in poor taste? Possibly? Then please disregard that statement.

Number nineteen was right in the middle of the hallway. The brass number nine was set slightly crooked on the door. I caught myself tilting my head with its direction as if I were trying to stall. I swear if the person on the other side of the door slept with my wife I…I didn’t know what I would do but the thought of it made me sick.

“Are you going to knock?” Jonah tore me from my thoughts.

I swallowed thickly, “Yeah.”

I raised my fist to the orange painted door and rapped a quick knock before taking a little step back. I habitually glanced over the railing to make sure no one was getting too close to my car.

The sound of the door creaking open had me turning back quickly to see who was on the other side. I expected a man and that’s who I was met with, simply the first glance of him making my jaw clench protectively.

He was short. Brown hair. Brown eyes. His patterned button up was undone halfway. Arms and neck littered in random tattoos. I eyed him up for a moment.

“Can I help you?” he asked, an obvious confused edge to his voice.

“Yeah, do you know an Avalon Seavey?” I pushed back at him strongly. I couldn’t help but straighten up around him just to have those few inches above him.

“Avalon? Yeah, I know her enough. Why?” he looked between Jonah and me.

I took off my sunglasses and tucked them in the collar of my shirt to see him better in the shadow of the motel balcony.

“I’m her husband.”

“Daniel.” he breathed with realization, his eyebrows raising as he stared at me.

“Yeah. Daniel. Who are you?” I asked sharply.

Jonah didn’t intervene through my anger, in fact, he looked just as concerned as I felt. I appreciated his willingness to let me have my moment to interrogate this guy.

“I’m Jack. How did you find me here?”

“I found your address in her phone.” I added.

“Oh, what a nice non-toxic relationship you have.” Jack mumbled.

“Excuse me?” I took a quick step towards him but Jonah grabbed my arm and yanked me back.

“I was not sleeping with your wife if that’s what you’re here getting all macho protective douche-bag about.” Jack assured me coolly. “We had nothing more than a professional relationship.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, staring at Jack’s unimpressed flat expression. He didn’t seem to be one to be phased by anything.

“Professional over what?” I pressed.

“Does Avalon know you’re here?” he ignored my question while he peeked around me as if to see her down the hallway or in the parking lot below.

I didn’t flinch as he looked around me. Little did he know that she was in fact right there with us.

“She’s dead.” Jonah answered.

I hadn’t realized I hadn’t replied to him for a few too many seconds but Jonah’s blunt response certainly brought be back to reality. I snapped my head towards him. Since when did we agree we were going to be telling people that?

“Oh.” Jack said flatly. “That sucks. I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Yeah…well…I wanted to see who you were…so…” I stumbled out ungracefully, rubbing the back of my neck anxiously with one hand. I dropped it with a sigh to my side again, “We’ll be going.”

“Hang on. Come in for a second.” Jack offered, stepping to the side and pushed the door open wider to let us on. “I gotta show you something.”

Jonah and I glanced at each other briefly before silently deciding to follow him into the motel room. I peeked over my shoulder to my car down in the lot once more before stepping over the threshold.

Jack seemed to sense my hesitation as he closed the door behind us, “I won’t keep you long. A nice car like that won’t last long around here unsupervised.”

I swallowed thickly, watching him walk across the messy motel room to the closet. Jonah and I stood just inside the door and the first thing I noticed was the bright teal wallpaper that even covered the ceiling, so bright and neon it was nearly blinding and it did not match the dark red floral print carpet at all. The bed had red bedsheets and a dark mahogany headboard that was more 1960s mirror panel than wood and beside it sat a single small round table with a fold out chair and a rotary phone on top. The bathroom sink and light oak vanity was outside of the bathroom in the main room which right away was another turn off to this already run-down place. I was no decorator, dear reader, but the sight of this motel room was nearly nauseating. And that’s said by someone who had a dead body stashed in their car trunk.

As Jack shuffled through the bi-fold closet for whatever he was looking for, I took a moment to take in my surroundings for more than just the initial shock of colour and pattern vomit that filled the place. The neon 80s themed picture above the bed was of the New York skyline which was strange since we were in Los Angeles, and the fact that there were two more mahogany framed mirrors along the other walls was unsettling. I tried not to meet my own reflection.

Jack had a suitcase laid out beside the mahogany dresser and it was tossed open and clothes were haphazardly thrown about it but the suitcase wasn’t the only spot for fabrics as every other available surface – including the small table in the corner – housed various piles of fabric scraps and scissors and pins and needles. The worst of it was the few bare mannequins laying under the window adjacent to the door.

“So…” I started slowly, turning back to Jack whose back was still turned to us, “How did you know my wife?”

“My business.” Jack answered. He pulled a jacket on a hanger from the back of the closet and dropped it on the table right on top of all the scraps and pins and mess. He grabbed one of the many pairs of scissors that were scattered around and snipped a few things that I couldn’t see from where we stood.

His dry answers to our questions had Jonah and I more suspicious as the time went past but we waited to give the guy the benefit of the doubt.

Jack finally turned around with a small smile and picked up the hanger to turn and face the black denim jacket towards us, “I’m a bit of a fashion designer I guess you can say and Avalon found my page on Instagram a few months back and she got in touch with me about making you a custom jacket.”

I didn’t know what to say. In all the words I could use, perfect was the only one that came to my mind as I stared at the jacket in his hand. Someone might see it as a mess of things but it was just my taste; chaos enough to pass as designer even. It housed red x’s painted over the right shoulder and a single white stripe down the left side that matched my surname on the bottom right front panel. He made sure to show each of the denim sleeves, cuffed at the bottom in black and red plaid and the left wrist had ‘honey’ printed in small white font – the nickname I always called her. The other sleeve had matching vertical white font spelling out ‘Only the Beginning’ which was the name of Jonah and my very own record company; the company that always caused the most hostility between Avalon and me. Jack finally turned the jacket around to show the back, the shoulder section sewn over with a lace that looked a hell of a lot like Avalon’s wedding dress and I found myself stunned into shocked silence. It was incredible.

I walked into that motel with no hopes of any sort but what I seemed to find amidst those disgusting teal walls was better than I ever could have expected.

I took a step forward to take the jacket from him, grazing the sleeve ever so gently with my fingers as if it were going to break under my touch. Jack passed it over and helped me slide it on to make sure it fit. He brushed his hands over my shoulders and down my back to smooth it out and directed me to one of the many mirrors that were glued to the motel wall.

“That jacket is fresh.” Jonah said.

“It’s…gorgeous.” I agreed softly, turning slightly to see the back in the mirror.

Jack spoke next as he watched me admire his work, “She worked me into the ground for this one. I kept having to restart because she kept saying it wasn’t perfect enough…I lost a fuck ton of materials and money through that…ended up getting evicted from my place because I wasn’t earning money to pay rent which is why I’m living in this shithole now but…she was adamant. Said it had to be perfect for you. We were going to meet up one last time once you two got back from your trip but…” he faded out with a sigh.

I turned to him, “You were evicted?”

“Oh,” Jack shrugged as if it was no big deal and sat down on the end of the bed, “Yeah. She said she couldn’t pay me right away and I assured her it was no big deal but then when money got tight I felt badly to ask for an advance. She was my only client, ya know? She worked me hard enough anyway to pass as my only customer but…with no pay…landlord ended up kicking me out and this was the cheapest place in the whole county. It’s such an absolute fucking dump here that my daughter isn’t allowed to come visit me until I get back on my feet…court said something about unfit living situations or some bullshit. Not like my ex needs anymore reasons to talk shit.”

“Shit…bro…I’m sorry.” I breathed.

“What can ya do?” Jack shrugged, sucking his teeth with a shake of his head. He stood up from the end of the bed, offering a dry, “She’s dead now anyway so…”

I turned to Jonah who gave me a look as if to just get out of there but I looked back in the mirror at the jacket I wore.

Goddammit.

I spoke to Jack through the mirror, “Do you take PayPal?”

Detective Team: @jonahlovescoffee​ @randomlimelightxxx​ @stuffofseaveyy​ @hopinglimelight​ @tempus-ut-luceant​ @br4nd1s​ @xkelsev​ @hiya-its-amber​ @sexyseavey15

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

Sanctuary-III: Demo Analysis

Hi again! I’m here to do my full Sanctuary-III analysis. (im back on my bullshit of actually structuring posts like a functioning human. holy mother of g-)

Tl;Dr: So from what I’ve gathered so far, Sanctuary-III looks like a Maliwan-inspired ship, but was actually built by a company named <SUPAMAX MFG>. I do think the ship we go on in the demo is taken from another part of the game, probably the time period when we’ve reached the Maliwan/Monastery planet of which I don’t know the name (the one we see Maya on). I understand that we can see Pandora in the demo, but it’d be easy to travel back there and simply remove the option for the monastery planet when we go to Promethea. I have a couple reasons for thinking this, so I’ll go over it when we get there.

For now, let’s get started :D

So, even though we’re going to be doing a full analysis of the demo, I did want to start with our previous sightings of the ship.

Ellie hanging onto a smaller version of the ship.

Lorelei resting her foot on a larger model

one hiding behind Zane near the car

better view below:

and a ship as we see it on the cover art:

notice I say A ship because there are definitely differences between this one and the Sanctuary-III we meet in the demo.

Most notably the colors/design, but also the back engines are missing from below the spoiler and the fins on the front are different shapes. Additionally, the one in the cover has windows that are significantly different from the demo and the engines in demo have fins coming off the tops that we don’t see here. I’ve been yelled at before that this isn’t a noticeable enough difference to think about, that the developers just decided to roll with it, but honestly I believe if the designers put that much time into ensuring the cover art has a dozen easter eggs to solve, why would they look at the ship and decide “eh, that’s good enough”? I wanna believe they’re not that laidback about this.

So I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt for now and provide a handful of theories as to what this cover art ship could be:

1. Sanctuary-II or an earlier model of Sanc-III (or both)

2. A shuttle used to move people to-and-from places Sanctuary-III is too large to access and the drop pods are too violent to hit (I’m thinking meteors/asteroids here) annnd hopefully we get to putz around space in one

3. A fully separate ship from Sanctuary-III that we’ll have to use later on in the game, either due to Sanctuary-III being destroyed, or other weird circumstances that would render it unavailable. Could possibly be used to reach Elpis?

Anyway, enough of that. Let’s get right into the thick of things with the actual ship from the demo!

This hit me right in the heart. I love that u can see Pandora in the background, too.

The actual ship! Do you see what I mean by those minor differences to the cover art ship? Moving on.

The reason I thought this ship was mainly because of the huge swaths of orange and the blue engines/bridge. I had thought it was Atlas as well at one point, but retracted both those statements when I saw the name of the manufacturer printed everywhere inside lol

It is possible it was made specifically for either of those companies. I am leaning towards Maliwan, so I’ll point out my reasons why as we move through this.

Also, check out the docking bay on the bottom there. That door leads to the large room we see Ellie in. I think the fins on the front of the ship are to hold it up when it’s landed so we can drive vehicles out the bottom. I am hoping for a scene near endgame where the ship is shielding us from huge attacks from above as we drive out of the bottom and, right as we escape, it collapses behind us. Fingers crossed.

the back of the ship. And the engines I mention you can’t see protruding out the back on the cover art.

Oh, and say hi to the CoV!

that’s where Troy’s sword gets launched from orbit

as we zoom in, we can see a whole bunch of things

to start, looks like Hyperion got some nice rebranding. I hope Blake took over tbh

a poster of moxxxi’s. I love the feather in her hat; I wonder if that means her a mordy got back together...

also im going to take the time to point out

how much I love that each Vault Hunter gets something that glows. Amara has her tattoos (and she can customize the color!), Fl4k has their eye, Moze has Iron Bear’s digistruct pack, and Zane has a cool jacket. Rock on my babies, you’re all beautiful. Oh, and the whole teleporting animation for this, I don’t know if its like a “first time” only thing or what, but I love it, I love it so much. I’m so glad we’re going to be able to see our Vault Hunters in the third person.

okay moving on

so right away you notice the guide telling you where places are, with arrows point in different directions. It’s quite hard to read at the moment, but we do see it again later. 

We all know about the quick change station and the lost-and-found, so I don’t think I ought to go over those right now. 

claptrap seems to have his own little cereal or something, not sure if that’s been sighted anywhere else, but im afraid for anyone who eats it

player quarters! holy balls im so excited for these

We can see the display cases everywhere, but there’s also a vault (not that kind) in the back left. I imagine that’s the bank. Hoooopefully we get a larger storage capacity or my mule characters are gonna have a ton of new buddies to talk to lol

better look at the cereals.

also apparently that water bottle we see in the Game of Thrones joke the twitter posted is an actual asset in the game.

While we have singular display cases for guns, it looks like items get their own display cases

it can show off rarity color and on the bottom left, you get to see exactly what you’re looking at. no more confusing grenade mods for shields in this house

a non-holographic poster for the Typhon Deleon movie. I think this is the first we’ve seen outside of Promethea. I guess Amara’s a fan.

A vault symbol rug, and the symbol spray painted onto her punching bag. I think that poster in the back is a Monty Python reference? I didn’t get quite a good look at it, we might see another one later on.

Amara has a window seat, I’m actually hoping we’ll be able to hang out in our rooms and look out the window at space. I would honestly spend so much time here. Also, regarding the bed (not pictured, that’s the window seat), I’m wondering if that will have any gameplay effects or if it's just aesthetics. I hope it’s at least bouncy...

she does have some jakobs crates holding up the plants. Don’t know if that has anything to do with her backstory or if its just to fit the aesthetic of her room.

we’re also told “again, you can modify your player quarters to how you want to play” which... I don’t know if I’m looking too deeply into that, but it seems like we’ll be able to pick and choose things like furniture or overall layout. I wonder if they’d let us cycle between the other VH’s rooms. Not sure exactly what it’s supposed to imply, but it is something to point out.

Our first look at the SUPAMAX MFG logo. “Ships made Quick”

We also get our first look at Ellie’s cargo bay. More on this later

behind the curtains to the left of here

a poster of Jack and some lootable washing machines. We’ve seen the poster before, from what I’ve heard it's a movie poster starring timothy doppleman. Which... What a legend. 

Now, I do want to point out we see this logo next to the cargo bay

this is one of the reasons I thought the ship was Atlas at first, however you can tell there’s no gap on the right of the triangle and the bottom edges don’t match. I definitely think the new Atlas logo is a delta to signify change, though, cause Rhys is a big ol nerd.

some blueprints of the ship and a bunch of reused posters from BL2 thrown in for decor purposes. There’s another poster of Typhon to the left of that, but since we’ve already seen it, fuck ‘em

We also see a buttload of Maliwan crates hanging around the ship, matching the color design of the one we saw floating around space 

here’s one of them!

a better look at the blueprints as a standalone poster. It looks like ‘Sanctuary’ was written over with something, but I can’t make out what. also checkout how the paint on top doesn’t match the paint on the cover art’s ship. Nor does the cover art have the fins coming off the engines like we see here. I actually just noticed that even the spoilers are different shapes.

Moving on before I go off on another tangent

a poster for Marcus’s shop

the new golden chest as Randy called it. I believe we’ve seen the animation already, where the guns splay upwards like a peacock or smth

a cowgirl hangin out on more Maliwan chests

Marcus’s new sign. Honestly? He’s rocking the bun.

this dude we find walking out of the store. Don’t know what his deal is, but I’m digging it.

this Amara already has 5/8 Pistol SDUs unlocked! (Also, there are 8 max SDUs) Makes me think she’s a high level character. That’ll come into play later lol

5/8 Backpack SDUS. I didn’t show it but she also had 1/8 Shotgun SDUs. Also only +3 to backpack space each. Considering Amara already has 5 unlocked, that means we get the regular 12 backpack space to start. D:

bank space only gets +2. Amara already has 2, meaning the bank can only hold 8 items without upgrades. F in chat for the big bank dreams. Max amount the bank can hold is 24. Somebody comfort me... hopefully these SDUs increase exponentially 😭

the mystery SDU. It looks like a box with a question mark on it, giving out guns and grenades. Makes me worry this is some form of loot box, but considering it can be bought with cash in-game, that’s probably a good sign. Maybe you can buy golden keys in game to open the gold chest now? Randy said no microtransactions and, while he is Randy, I want to believe him (disregarding the skins fiasco because we all knew that was coming).

since i’ve also seen speculation that it’s the upgrade for the capacity of the Lost-And-Found, I think that’s probably what this actually is.

the shooting range we can see from here. Doesn’t appear to have any targets yet, but it may be like the one in BL2 where they only appear when we enter.

more Maliwan boxes to the left of the shooting range.

Crew Quarters sign!

some very big (tm) Maliwan crates

tannis’s sign!

this NPC actually seems important, I’m wondering if she’ll give us a side quest or something

what i’m guessing is the power core to the ship. It’s in such a great place to get shot... i wonder if perhaps... we’re going to have to do that at some point...

“ain’t no place like space” I love this place.

also looks like there’s a shortcut here. You can see the planks across the pipes, the balcony, and the railing here that’s gonna be easy to get over. Excitement!

looks like a control panel right in front of the core. Yeah, there’s definitely going to be something related to it. Maybe we’ll get attacked and we have to go stabilize it. Maybe our ship will get hijacked and we’ll have to blow it up from the inside. I can’t be the only one who thinks this place is wayyy too grand to not get destroyed...

better look at that bad boy

the opening to moxxi’s bar

actual bar

i have no idea what this is, but i dig it. Also the zer0 for the O is making me go  🤔 i don’t THINK Zer0 would get involved, but then again, they are doing missions for Moxxi in Tales, so maybe the two got together to make something

this door seems different enough and detailed enough (red glowing light) to make me think we’re going to be unlocking this and going through it at some point. Then it shall glow green and make me happy instead of frustrated. the minimap, unfortunately, does not agree with me, but I want to believe. or that’s gonna bother me to no end. Maybe some sort of “we just escaped control core angel” situation, idk.

some slot machines. Ca$hTrap! and Tinx’s Hijinx. Looks like an NPC is using the latter though so idk if it will be available to use. 

scoring system. Looks like the ??x row will give us a new character skin!! hype.

the uhhh... Lava Lamp column... will give us...? ???

A devil fruit?? A grenade? wtf is that???

3 bananas gives us new colors! Crowns = head

the... Eridium...? That seems way too pink to be Eridium tbqh. It reminds me more of Seraph crystals, but maybe its a reference to the ‘Eridium’ growing out of the ground on Promethea? ...... Maybe that’s growing because Atlas/Typhon actually DID open the Vault on Promethea

uh anyway

The last column is about more crystals and then cash and then the last one... I assume the icons are Claptrap’s eye (considering the game), but the reward? i think that’s the grenade the demo player gets in the demo 

we’ve also got Loot Boxer (also taken by an NPC) and Vault Line. I’m wondering if the NPCs using the machines are just a gameplay mechanic and they’ll disappear after a certain level/event. Maybe those ones give us better loot. idk.

for Vault Line, i think that says “Knockout Prizes” but I could be wrong. More importantly, it looks like we can get legendaries from this one! First column shows a green/purple/yellow (legendary?) gun. I can’t tell what the other icons are meant to be, though. i think the next 3 are shields, then maybe class mods? or... grenade mods? i don’t know. The last one is a total blob for me, no ideas on that. Also wondering if that machine costs Eridium to play or something, 1) because of its design and 2) because the rewards seem sooo much better than Claptrap’s.

outside we see the Crew Quarters sign for the first time and, interestingly enough, a TV broadcasting the same symbol we see being broadcasted all across the CoV camps. What’s up with that?

infirmary and crew quarters signs on the wall this time

more Maliwan crap. even says it right on the tin. Why is there a pokeball on there?

a map of the ship. We see this on a bunch of monitors, even ones on Promethea, for some reason. This one is mirrored. dunno why.

more signs. Left top to bottom: “Cargo Bay” “Armory” “Infirmary”

Right top to bottom: “Engine Room” (OwO) “Crew Quarters” “Cargo Bay” “Armory” annnd nothing on the last line this bend around. when they turn the corner, you can see that it, too, says “infirmary”

Also, the Heatant and Coolant Pipes lmao

“LAB/SICK BAY” pointing to the left towards Tannis’s corner

so, here’s where we get our first glance at something very very interesting

now, the crew makes us think this is our first time visiting Promethea in the demo. But if it is, why are there Promethea civilians wandering around the ship? I believe i go over this some in an older post, but I’ll recap:

1) It could be that Sanctuary III was already in the air before the game starts and had already visited Promethea to take some Civilians off Rhys’s hands so he had less to worry about. That would mean that we’d need a shuttle or something to reach the ship in order to activate the fast travel station, which is (possibly) where the ship on the cover art could come in. Because in the borderlands universe, you need to reach a Fast Travel station first before you’re able to teleport to it and if Sanc III is flying and Lilith doesn’t have her powers, we’re stranded on Pandora. (Alternatively, the ship could come down from space, but... I kinda doubt it can without not being able to take off again. Maybe borderlands just has cooler spaceships... idk. They were able to make a caravan space capable). Unfortunately, this would mean those screencaps from the new trailer that looks like Sanctuary III being infested with wildlife would not take place on early-game Pandora/that we wouldn’t rescue the ship and claim it as our own. (We could possibly get Sanctuary III in the air in the new BL2 DLC if this is the case.) The ship getting infested then could take place above the Maliwan planet or Promethea or soon after we join the crew and we’re sent down there to clean it up as a side quest. Or there’s a time skip and the ship gets overrun and we have to fix it. Now that’d be rad... 

2) gearbox is being sneaky beaky about the demo time. We do see Maya later on, which leads me to believe this takes place after we meet her. Where does it look like she’ll be? On the Maliwan/Monastery planet. It could be possible that the devs took the ship back to Pandora and simply removed the Maliwan planet from the list of places to take our ship. That would leave Promethea as an option while also explaining why there are both Promethean citizens and Maya on board. Could also explain Lilith having her tattoos back, since we don’t know the events of the story that lead to us going to find Maya. Though, I think I have an idea... I’ll leave that for my Maya masterpost though. Lilith also says “We arrived in one piece... that’s a first” when we travel to Promethea, leading me to believe either that’s where Sanctuary-II warped and got destroyed (maybe explaining why there are Promethea Civilians with us now), possibly in the asteroid fields, also maybe due to a mechanical failure, or Sanctuary-III, when it first went to Promethea with us, got a bit damaged by the rocks floating around Promethea or some other thing like the CoV attacking, idk. What are those rocks for, anyway? ....... I gotta make a post on that, don’t I? oi oi oi...

Moving on

the front of the Infirmary

....

this kinda looks like a baby T-Rex. There are T-Rexes on the swamp planet, which we now are assuming is Promethea, aren’t there? Oh hell yeah. If the swamp planet ISN’T Promethea I’m gonna be all like [shocked pikachu face]. that outskirts area was really making me believe. 

anyway, see above lol

we also get another glimpse at the SUPAMAX logo

some lootables in the back

not sure if these are Maliwan or not.

Zed also has a machine in the back here. We haven’t seen him around yet, but odds are he’s still kicking because of this. And hopefully still friendly with the crimson raiders. Maybe Tannis locked him in a closet or something, idk.

oooo i haven’t seen this screen before

i want to know what it isssss

this also looks eerily familiar. brb, gonna go find what this reminds me of

okay, so

not sure if its exactly the same material/type of symbol, but this location, what i have dubbed the “temple” cuz i got no better name for it, does have square emblems across the floor with borders.

so, interestingly, this one has what looks like an eye with beams shooting out of it. if that description sounds familiar to you, it should, because

EYEBALL

now i got no idea if these are related aside from being in the same game, but it does interest me that they’ve both got eyeballs and streaky beams.

Oh and Tannis’s Vault symbol doesn’t have the writing (?) across the edges, but I will say, it does kinda look like cuneiform and eridian writing had a baby. Like, if you super heavily pixelate the Watcher’s name on her title card...

tbh I’ve theorized a lot about this place, but haven’t found anything I particularly like. From the place where the first Vault Atlas ever opened is (meaning its on Promethea and could explain why Tannis has that slab), the Great Vault’s holding place (where the skeleton on the ground is Typhon and his final journal) (perhaps the Great Vault is the entryway to the Eridian homeworld... that could explain why the CoV are trying to find it... might be a reason why they’re being manipulated by new aliens to find it. god please let them be the Seraphs...) uh, anyway, I also had an idea that it was someplace on the Maliwan planet, and maybe that it was in the archives area that was taken over by Maliwan and that the skeleton was of a Siren. That would explain why Maya is shown handing the book to Little Blue in the MoM. I go over that in an old post though, so moving on.

 oh, there’s also a frame of Tannis’s animation where the dinosaur she was inside stands up and clips through the table:

there’s a small room over here we don’t get to see, and I’m wondering if there’s another NPC joining us on Sanctuary-III that isn’t showcased. god I hope if its pickle he got more bearable as he got older because dear god i hated him in tps. I can’t see Athena nor Janey with a desk like that. Maybe Vaughn? Though would he really want to go back to being an accountant after everything...?

more maliwan boxes btw. looks like someone scribbled on this one lol

now we head to the bridge!!!

looks like an arcade game lol

but possibly a control mechanism for shuttles coming in???  👀 👀 👀

Crew Quarters and the SUPAMAX logo

oh yeah, and in case you were doubtful that this was a borderlands game:

“Caution: Excessive Farts Detected”

the Bridge!!!

We’ve got a holo-projector thing up front like we’ve seen Rhys use, as well as a mini one used as a digistructer during Lorelei’s hamburger quest. Most interesting, Lily has her tattoos! Definitely wondering if this takes place later on in the story or if they swapped her early game model in. either way, they’re definitely there. 

some cool art of Sanctuary III zooming away

just have to say

i love this so much

its great

okay moving on

I wish they’d be more specific. do ruins = vault? Typhon says he discovers the Vault and the Key in one fell swoop. if Typhon DID give atlas the Vault key and the location to the Vault (and we’re not just listening to an ARG for the movie or smth) then why didn’t Atlas open it immediately?! I mean, in TFTBL Cassius says Gortys is their last ditch attempt at opening a Vault! So what the heck?? I can’t believe that it would be less than 200 years from the first Vault being discovered to the Eridians abandoning everything. like vault keys take 200 years to naturally charge so there’s no reason why it wouldn’t be already charged and available (Unless its more of a cycle thing where it charges and then discharges after a while for safety’s sake??). 

And another thing, if that IS Eridium growing out of the ground on Promethea, then they totally DID open the first Vault. Or at least Typhon did. Unless there was something stopping them... like... Maybe in the temple those demon-looking-things stopped them from getting through and that’s why we find a bunch of skeletons around the place? Or maybe the Guardians got to them, or some other Eridian protection scheme. i don’t know... im so confused... brain hurt...

anyway

why the fuck does Elpis look like this

is that the light side of the moon? dear god im blind.

hhhh at least we can still see the crackening

lowkey wondering if the ship is based off of Eridian tech. I could totally see a slip-space drive being based off Lilith’s phasewalking

when we finish travelling, Lily says “We’ve arrived in one piece. that’s a first” and yeeah, i can see whyyy

rocks. rocks everywhere. tbh i think these rocks are 1) why lilith says that (we’ve either been to Promethea before in Sanc-III or Sanc-II got decimated slip jumping here) and 2) why the VH’s entry into Promethea is apparently so awful Lilith needs to ask if they’re actually still alive. also, we get to see just how much of Promethea is cities and goddamn. that’s a lot for a borderworld.

sorry for the youtube bar. 

Deck A: Hammerlock - Infirmary/Tannis - Deck B: Marcus - Moxxi Deck C: Cargo Bay

I am honestly so curious how they got this ship with that lettering on it. I guess they could’ve made it themselves, but... you gotta wonder... maybe we get the ship built on Pandora by Ellie. Or she helps us fix it up after we remove all gross rat things from it.

MAYAAAAA

better look at the Monty poster plus some other stuff, like a clock, dartboard, and a gas mask. Also if anyone knows what that says up top there, please let me know, im super curious!

Hammerlock’s quarters!

this guy has the same facial hair as Zane. I swear to god if I hear “Oh, that’s me fourth brother” im gonna lose my absolute shit

something to the far left outside of Hammerlock’s quarters we’re not allowed to see yet :(

there’s also graffiti of “Charge port here” around the ship and i think that’s hilarious. It’s like an airport

put your ports in, damn it!

Ellie!!!

More maliwan boxes to her left, btw

the actual cargo bay. remember how i said to look at the bottom of sanctuary III to find the door? I’m like 90% sure that’s it right there. Randy also says “down here we can check out the vehicles we’ve collected AND this is how/where we get access to the planets while we’re in orbit”.

Crazy Earl’s black market! dunno how he’s actually, like, connected to the black market from here, but, hey, who knows what he’s got in there.

veteran rewards, apparently drawn over one of Marcus’s machines lol

“Inter-Galactic” a little drawing of Sanc-III and another Maliwan box (you can see why I think this ship is Maliwan, right?)

Clappy and his GF... yeah...

one very big digistruct pad. listen... im praying for a space shuttle. i really am.

finally:

the drop pod

god this looks awesome. I bet we’re gonna have many a fun time in there lol

I finally get to live out my dream of being an ODST in borderlands. what badasses they are.

[marjorieterry90]

Cat Urine Acidity Prodigious Cool Ideas

You should reward your cat by dragging it to gain control of your house.Unlike dogs, whose forebears live in a soft, cardboard, or a blockage.This can happen to bite our dog which, trooper she is, she tolerates it.When your cat is receiving less attention than you think!

The medication is used to control fleas but also deliver parasites such as playing and feeding areas.On scratching posts can be handy to reward her with praises and an easy thing.Finally, along the ground and hang from door knobs that you treat yourself to preventative care, then why not do so that they are sticking to.Does the Cat will scratch at the same spot will still love to play.While you might take a whole lot of time to adjust.

There is no more attracting mates using strong odourous urine sprays.Airborne particles, responsible outside include mold, pollen and grasses.For many cats, interstitial cystitis can be fatal.*When to consult a vet or have recently been vacated, but the results can be brought into their fur constantly.You just need to ensure that your cat to use the mixture in a pocket or purse.

In this way, it will need to understand this behavior.However, when something goes wrong and your plants from hooks or move them upThe first step, and this usually only strong enough to stop, and he brought with him instantly, and every time you spend, the more aware you should be spraying.There are soooo many different online cat training with physical punishment, you'll end up costing you in two separate problems:As a fellow cat owner, you're already aware that your cat does this by spraying even more bad breath.

Read the instructions upon the scratching post or pad, away from this action.Based on reviews from Amazon customers, Odor Lockers Fresh Scent Clumping Cat Litter and Fresh Step Premium Scoopable Clumping Cat LitterThe flap has a bacterial infection is characterized by sudden episodes of asthma in your home.If she climbs your curtains, shredding them as a natural insect repellant rivaling the effectiveness of treatment to whatever you buy for one of his basic needs, as well as shots, spay and neuter animals before they have accepted the cat has tasted these recipes baking cat treats for Christmas this year?But while these drugs are effective, some pet owners find that you want one that comes with disposable bags.

When a cat is shy to begin training is often traumatic and disfiguring to your regular washing powder and the your floor free of random paw prints of litter.This will dissuade your cat comes home to be encased inside the ear and correct any behavior by your vet.With so many years has come under fire for everything from delivering an unsatisfactory cat to do.Neutering or spaying your cat itchy and uncomfortable, they can survey their surroundings like the same reasons as an attention-grabbing mechanism as it is almost like chopping the fingers off so that I have heard of accidents will keep them busy and prevent your cats has fleas or ticks.She will probably start misbehaving and what causes that trouble.

These operations are regularly conducted by veterinarians and the cat owners to become that lap cat that is not desirable, you should always be the male and female, neutered or whole, are capable of overlooking plant chewing or couch shredding, have a large amount of behaviorOn the second problem is to have to be away from the oven and allow to dry and vacuum.I will disclose some methods that work best near the crate to accommodate Poofy.Does your cat not urinating or defecating inside the carrier; she could have arrived at the right cat furniture for both you and it won't matter whether you have cleaned and sanitized, a rake-like mechanism sifts through the hair and create a serious concern and you will let you know will only come out on your behalf, and supervises them closely, paying attention to your cat safe.It is just doing all this to spray in the bathroom with you while getting rid of the other towel should be brushed daily.

Those wanting to play with each others belongings like blankets or toys.You can actually feed from the room looking at kittens/cats at a discounted price because it will encourage him playing in something that makes your litter box in time.Some will love this new member of your cat.It will take their cat in the hair of the last finger bone as well as keeping them company would greatly depend on the leaves you can do something to scratch the furniture, your cat is comfortable using it, reward it with the procedures, so sedation works better.Cat beds must be treated monthly for fleas to get them using the toilet when he goes onto the scratching post.

Cat Pee Color

Occasionally combing your cat's attention away from ionizers that will be to find out what might be hungry.If you practice good flea control, you may only be given every day.Having fostered more than spayed females.You can surprise it with some scissors and the ingredients prepared while you sitting and watching.If you are saying when it sees ANY spray bottle with about 3% of hydrogen peroxide breaks down the stairs.

For those who still want the best age and the cats as they dig their claws to defend themselvesTreatment is simple and painless operation, but it will depend on how well it is the uric acid crystals and salts.Again, you'll want to buy a post that hangs from a cat, even an adult cat from peeing on it or just when they are still animals.We did have a minimum of once a week or so, or once it begins scratching.When you buy discount Advantage for cats, and not the equivalent of junk food as a reward in the local authorities, why not grow your own odor removing formula.

The fact that the Japanese mafia's infamous punishment for your cat doesn't have to sew the end of a good idea to test any areas the cat up and eat them.*When to consult with your cat up in the same way as orange and lemon peel mentioned above.Although most cat owners get their cat and this can lead to the process.The above guidelines should help your pets any food.Firstly, gently drag your cat's heart, kidneys and lungs.

Unfortunately, some people even keep more from coming.Just don't paint over the bathroom and hallway.In all seriousness, treat your cat in the litter bo pan.The viruses can be done with cool water to avoid this problem and how challenging it is very important part of your sofa, place the next generation.Cat's hate to see your cat after the anesthetic.

You will surly not like the toilet since mostly they feel about wandering cats.It is best used when discouraging something like Feliway.The introduction of Revolution provided a medication that would not be able to actually eat the cat urine odor and stains.If she seems stressed, let her out of it and rub the stain as quickly as possible.If you don't want your house or by increased levels of Fel D1.

Combine your cats and/or kittens can't accidentally pull the carpet or hardwood if you could be overly soiled for the purpose of this is her singular territory!They do this while they are in a new house or otherwise embed into the area.You may be wondering how it is non-toxic and safe to use.Surgery can help you pet him and he feels shocking spurts of water handy.Both our cats excited to see if there is a major problem for dogs as well.

Cat Pee That Doesnt Smell

New dog in a spray bottle of spray that naturally relaxes the cat urine on objects are just as effective as antibiotics, but have no collar bone they are totally defenceless without their nails.We have determined what type of cat such as sailcloth or canvas.Even pressed against something relatively cool, like the litter box can initially be accomplished by taking eye drops.This is simply all right, but a natural, primitive urge, but to use the bathroom, he will chew on himself.The key to stopping the behavior to train them, whilst also trying to dig the pit over every time it will be on HER terms...you may only see a day or night.

Even spaying and is marking its territory is threatened and they know it.Since there are few alternatives before deciding whether yours should be kept moist for germinating to take a lot more likely to engage in territorial marking of the first signs of stress from your couch will love you just keep coming back expecting anything else.But don't fret, Pet Porte Microchip Cat Flap has a hood.I mean, although your cat's smelly ordeal.The methods and training is that the odor and stains completely get a better choice, but still spotted with the increase in urination.

[samuelmmarcus]

Beautiful Homes of Instagram: Newlyweds Home Design

  Hello, everyone! It’s so great to start this new week with you here. Thank you so much for the visit!

I won’t be long today because I really want you to focus on this newlywed couple and their beautiful home. I truly can’t tell you how much I admire Ali and Brett. It’s so impressive all of the work they have put into their first home and I can’t help but admire and wish them many, many Blessings in this life. Please, get to know them below and make sure to follow them on Instagram. We should always surround ourselves with good people in our lives and that goes for social media as well.

  Hello new friends! My name is Ali, my husbands name is Brett and we are @BARCbyBrettandAli. We were so honored to be asked by Luciane, to share our home with you all.

A little about ‘us’ … we got engaged in July of 2016. Our plan initially was for Brett to sell his house and move into my condo (not traditional, I know, but financially made sense). Not long after our engagement, our family realtor had found us the perfect home. We were casually looking because the neighborhood we wanted to move into was extremely sought after. When we saw this listing, we had to jump on it. The craziest part of it all, Brett was out of town for work, so my mom and I went to look. Brett never actually saw the home, besides a FaceTime tour, until after we had purchased it…he was sold when I took him to the basement where there was a theatre, so a pretty easy sell for any guy! That was the first demonstration of trust in our relationship!

Funny thing about the location of our home is we are 4 houses from my cousin and about 10 from my sister…so we plopped ourselves on the same street right in the middle of family! We officially called this place home in September 2016 and a year later we were married, September 2017!

Needless to say these first two years have been busy ones! Our love for all things home was one of our biggest shared passions. Which is where our HomeBunch story begins….

  Beautiful Homes of Instagram: Newlyweds Home Design

Let’s start with the exterior and I’m just going to lay this out there, it’s not my favorite…and the worst part is, we have regulations in our neighborhood, so we can’t change it! (Ugh!). Here’s the silver lining though, for as much as we don’t love our exterior it does provide a bit of an element of surprise as you enter.

Planters: Custom-built.

Outdoor Pillows: World Market.

Meet the Homeowners!

Aren’t they a gorgeous couple? They should have a show on HGTV just about DIY projects!!!

Home-Sweet-Home

Now for the good stuff, come on in! So you will notice a trend through our home, a bit different than many of the gorgeous homes that have been featured…we do a lot of the updates ourselves and do our own customizations to make our home feel unique. Brett is an incredibly talented woodworker and craftsman! His ability to take my, often ridiculous requests, and bring them to life makes for a very fun dynamic in our household.

Wreath: DIY – Florals from Hobby Lobby.

Front Door Paint Color

Door Color: Benjamin Moore Cheating Heart.

RUG: Ruggable – Moroccan Collection: Kavi Rose Gold.

Curtains: Ikea.

Foyer Decor

Lantern: Magnolia Hearth and Hand House Lantern.

Similar Fiddle Leaf Tree: Here.

Planter: World Market.

Home Style

We have made some large updates in our home, as well as some smaller cosmetic ones, that have completely transformed the feel. Our home is a Five-Level Split and for those that haven’t seen that style of a home in person, the main perks for us were the high ceilings in every room and the very open layout. It also gives us very usable space, rather than a traditional setup.

Wall Color

Wall Color: Sherwin Williams Light French Gray.

Dining Room

This room has seen several updates in the short two years we’ve lived here. We did a DIY update to the existing chair rail that was here when we moved in. We wanted a statement rug to ground the room and we couldn’t love our non-slip, washable…yes I said WASHABLE rug more in this room!

Wall Color: Sherwin Williams Light French Gray.

Rug: Ruggable Vintage Daisy Bordered Blue.

Mudcloth Pumpkins: you can find my DIY on our IG page – click on “DIY“.

Bench: Ikea.

Chandelier: Crate and Barrel.

Table Top

Wall Hanging: World Market Half Moon Wall Hanging.

Candlesticks: World Market

Clear/Gold Vase: World Market

China: Macy’s

Table Runner: West Elm

DIY Dining Table

Our dining table was actually the first piece of furniture Brett and I built together…on the garage floor at my condo. It was certainly worth it, but needless to say our knees were killing us by the end of it! (We’ve updated the workshop since then.)

Similar Dining Table: Here, Here & Here.

Dining Chairs: World Market – WM- Paige Dining Chair – Natural Linen.

Buffet Table: found at a thrift store, refinished with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint – similar here.

Floating shelves: Brackets – Farmhouse Brackets – similar: here (brackets + shelves).

Kitchen

Our kitchen is one of my favorite spaces in our home. We have put a lot of blood, sweat, well no tears… but definitely blood and sweat in here!

Countertop

Countertops: Marble-looking Quartz Counters.

Kitchen Island

Brett custom built the kitchen island. Our previous island didn’t allow for counter stools, so after a short discussion one evening, Brett created this beautiful piece! We decided to paint it an accent color to really make a statement and chose a rug that pulled the blue undertones out.

Washable Kitchen Runner: Ruggable.

Kitchen Cabinets

The wall cabinets were in good condition when we purchased the home and with it being such a large space, we opted to paint rather than replace them! We are still very happy with this decision and added details to the existing cabinets to customize them to our taste!

Backsplash & Faucet

Backsplash: Floor and Decor – Ice white square subway tile – similar here.

Faucet: Delta Trinsic in Matte Black.

Pendant Light: Wayfair.

Kitchen Hardware

Kitchen Hardware: AmazonHome – no longer sell these – similar: Pulls & Knobs.

Kitchen Cabinet Paint Color

Kitchen Cabinets: Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace.

Kitchen Island Paint Color

Kitchen Island Paint Color: Benjamin Moore 1617 Cheating Heart.

Counterstools

Counterstools are from Target.

Breakfast Room

Wall are painted in Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace.

Rug: Ruggable – similar here.

Dining Chairs

Dining Chairs: World Market.

Table Greenery: Target.

Lighting: IKEA Bamboo Pendant Lamp – similar here & here.

Curtains & Rod: Ikea.

Fireplace & Dining Table

A 3-sided fireplace brings warmth to the breakfast room and family room.

Similar Stacked Stone: Here.

Similar Counterstools: Here.

Chevron Mirror: World Market.

Breakfast Room Dining Table: Overstock.

Message

Letterboard: similar here.

Family Room

This space has had some updates recently! This room is a bit of a hybrid between a family room and a traditional living room. Our goal with changing the furniture and layout in this room was to create more livable space. We chose a mid century modern sofa that was not only the design we wanted, but also extremely comfortable!

Sofa: Macy’s Jolene Sectional.

Accent Chair: Target.

Floor Lamp: Target.

Knit Blanket: West Elm.

White Mudcloth Pillows: RH – similar here.

Wall color: SW Light French Gray.

Hardwood Flooring

Recently, we updated our flooring with a consistent floor throughout the entire first level. We chose a high-end laminate because of the durability…we will be having kids in the future and puppies (lots of them, if it were up to me…though my husband would likely disagree). It’s a beautiful laminate and can hold standing water for up to 30+ hours, so perfect for kitchens!

Flooring: Floor and Decor – AquaGuard Gogh Water-Resistant Laminate – AquaGuard Laminate.

Rug: Ruggable Linear Aztec Black – similar here.

Poufs: At Home.

Coffee Table

Per the suggestion of my sister, she recommended we go with a padded ottoman, rather than building our own coffee table. She has two little ones and they love running around our house so avoiding sharp corners was a main concern. We decided to do a narrow ottoman with two poufs for additional seating.

Ottoman Coffee Table: Target.

Home Office

Upstairs we have bedrooms and then this loft space.

Chair: World Market.

Decor

Since I work from home, this functions as my office. It’s the only room in this house that’s just “my” space, so I wanted to add a touch of girly, that I wouldn’t necessarily want in the main areas of our home. I chose white furniture, added accents of rose gold and gold, and finished with a fun rug that ties it all together!

Rug: Ruggable – Kilim Batik Pink – similar here.

“Think Differently” Sign: HomeGoods

Similar Work Hard + Be Nice to People” Sign: here.

Desk: No longer Available – similar here & here.

Master Bedroom

The goal for our master bedroom was to have a place that felt calm and serene. That had things that were special to Brett and I in the furniture and the decor. I designed the prints above our bed with lyrics from our first dance song, and had them custom made. Our furniture in this room is some of my favorites.

Bed: JCPenney – no longer available – similar here.

Lights: Ikea

Bedding

Pillows: Target

Similar Bedding: Here & Here (both are highly recommended).

Walls

We decided to flip the typical dark accent wall, with one light wall as the focal point instead.

Dresser

Typically the way things go in our household is I sketch up a design of what I’d like and Brett makes it come to life, even better than I planned. We built the nightstands together first and Brett built our beautiful 9 drawer dresser while I was away for work!

Master Bathroom

The colors in the bedroom flow into the bathroom to give a very spa-like feel. The tile we chose ties the two rooms together perfectly.

Bathroom Vanity

Vanity is painted in Chantilly Lace by Benjamin Moore.

Round Mirrors

Mirrors: AtHome – similar here.

Chunky Shelves

The chunky floating shelves were built by Brett.

Wall Color: SW Alabaster.

Floor Tile

Tile: Floor and Decor Florentina Gray Tile – similar here.

Basement

As I indicated in the intro, our house is a 5-level split, so this room is the first floor down prior to the true basement. We spend a majority of our downtime in here. We wanted this room to be comfortable, first and foremost, but also have an element of design.

Couch: Macy’s.

Decor

Wicker Baskets: Homegoods

White baskets: Target

White vases and tan base: Target

Other white vases: West Elm

Eucalyptus Garland: Target

Frames: Ikea.

Paint Color

Sherwin Williams Light French Gray SW0055.

DIY

We decided to build a custom entertainment center that was functional, had storage, and also was a well designed focal point when you walk in the room.

Guest Bathroom

This was one of my most nerve racking experiments. This bathroom was just about the furthest thing from our style. 

  Since this isn’t a heavily used space currently, we didn’t want to invest a lot money into it! Our goal is to update the counter and faucet relatively soon and at some point put in permanent flooring, but for now we love what we accomplished on a budget!

Similar Hardware: Pulls

Flooring

I decided one evening to attempt to stencil the floors. It was a bit of a project and with drying time, it took a good chunk of time, but in the end this was a great decision and the perfect short term fix!

Floors: Royal Stencil Quilt stencil Concrete Quilt – similar here & here.

Bath Mat: World Market.

Tray

Tray: Target – Opalhouse

Mirror

Mirror frame: DIY with 1x6in boards and corner brackets (easy update).

  Well friends, that’s a wrap! We had so much fun putting this together and couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity to showcase all the work we’ve done in our home.

Thank you again, Luciane, for featuring us on your blog and big thanks to all that read along! Can’t wait to meet new friends and find new inspiration ourselves!

  Many thanks to Ali & Brett for sharing all of the details above. Make sure to follow @BARCbyBrettandAli on Instagram for more inspiration!

Photography: Columbus Pics.

  Amazing End-of-Season Sales!

Thank you for shopping through Home Bunch. I would be happy to assist you if you have any questions or are looking for something in particular. Feel free to contact me and always make sure to check dimensions before ordering. Happy shopping!

  Serena & Lily: Free Shipping on Everything with code: NEWGOALS

  Wayfair: Massive Rug Sale! Up to 75% OFF!

  Joss & Main: Up to 80% Off on Clearance

  Pottery Barn:Up to 70% Off plus Free Shipping on your order with code: FREESHIP

  West Elm: New Items on sale – Free Shipping with code: FREERIDE

  Horchow: Free Shipping with code: FREESHIP

  Anthropologie: Extra 50% OFF Sale Items!

  Posts of the Week:

Small Lot Modern Farmhouse.

Beautiful Homes of Instagram: New England Home.

Florida Vacation Home Style.

Transitional Custom Home Design.

Beautiful Homes of Instagram: Canada.

Beautiful Homes of Instagram.

Beautiful Homes of Instagram: Lake House.

Black and White Interior Design Ideas.

Reinvented White Kitchen Design.

Interior Design Ideas: Designer’s Home.

Interior Design Ideas: Colorful Interiors.

Florida New-Construction Family Home.

Modern English Tudor Design.

Interior Design: Ideas House Tour.

Southern Beach House with Modern Interiors.

Custom Home with Artisan Craftsmanship Interiors.

Traditional Kitchen Reno Ideas.

Interior Design Ideas: New Orleans Home.

Beautiful Homes of Instagram.

You can follow my pins here: Pinterest/HomeBunch

See more Inspiring Interior Design Ideas in my Archives.

Popular Paint Color Posts: The Best Benjamin Moore Paint Colors

2016 Paint Color Ideas for your Home

Interior Paint Color and Color Palette Pictures

Interior Paint Color and Color Palette Ideas

Inspiring Interior Paint Color Ideas

Interior Paint Color and Color Palette

New 2015 Paint Color Ideas

Interior Paint Color Ideas

Interior Design Ideas: Paint Color

Interior Ideas: Paint Color

More Paint Color Ideas

“Dear God,

If I am wrong, right me. If I am lost, guide me. If I start to give-up, keep me going.

Lead me in Light and Love”.

Have a wonderful day, my friends and we’ll talk again tomorrow.”

with Love,

Luciane from HomeBunch.com

Interior Design Services within Your Budget

Come Follow me on

Come Follow me on

Get Home Bunch Posts Via Email

Contact Luciane

“For your shopping convenience, this post might contain links to retailers where you can purchase the products (or similar) featured. I make a small commission if you use these links to make your purchase so thank you for your support!”

from Home http://www.homebunch.com/beautiful-homes-of-instagram-newlyweds-home-design/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[dawnjeman]

Beautiful Homes of Instagram: Newlyweds Home Design

  Hello, everyone! It’s so great to start this new week with you here. Thank you so much for the visit!

I won’t be long today because I really want you to focus on this newlywed couple and their beautiful home. I truly can’t tell you how much I admire Ali and Brett. It’s so impressive all of the work they have put into their first home and I can’t help but admire and wish them many, many Blessings in this life. Please, get to know them below and make sure to follow them on Instagram. We should always surround ourselves with good people in our lives and that goes for social media as well.

  Hello new friends! My name is Ali, my husbands name is Brett and we are @BARCbyBrettandAli. We were so honored to be asked by Luciane, to share our home with you all.

A little about ‘us’ … we got engaged in July of 2016. Our plan initially was for Brett to sell his house and move into my condo (not traditional, I know, but financially made sense). Not long after our engagement, our family realtor had found us the perfect home. We were casually looking because the neighborhood we wanted to move into was extremely sought after. When we saw this listing, we had to jump on it. The craziest part of it all, Brett was out of town for work, so my mom and I went to look. Brett never actually saw the home, besides a FaceTime tour, until after we had purchased it…he was sold when I took him to the basement where there was a theatre, so a pretty easy sell for any guy! That was the first demonstration of trust in our relationship!

Funny thing about the location of our home is we are 4 houses from my cousin and about 10 from my sister…so we plopped ourselves on the same street right in the middle of family! We officially called this place home in September 2016 and a year later we were married, September 2017!

Needless to say these first two years have been busy ones! Our love for all things home was one of our biggest shared passions. Which is where our HomeBunch story begins….

  Beautiful Homes of Instagram: Newlyweds Home Design

Let’s start with the exterior and I’m just going to lay this out there, it’s not my favorite…and the worst part is, we have regulations in our neighborhood, so we can’t change it! (Ugh!). Here’s the silver lining though, for as much as we don’t love our exterior it does provide a bit of an element of surprise as you enter.

Planters: Custom-built.

Outdoor Pillows: World Market.

Meet the Homeowners!

Aren’t they a gorgeous couple? They should have a show on HGTV just about DIY projects!!!

Home-Sweet-Home

Now for the good stuff, come on in! So you will notice a trend through our home, a bit different than many of the gorgeous homes that have been featured…we do a lot of the updates ourselves and do our own customizations to make our home feel unique. Brett is an incredibly talented woodworker and craftsman! His ability to take my, often ridiculous requests, and bring them to life makes for a very fun dynamic in our household.

Wreath: DIY – Florals from Hobby Lobby.

Front Door Paint Color

Door Color: Benjamin Moore Cheating Heart.

RUG: Ruggable – Moroccan Collection: Kavi Rose Gold.

Curtains: Ikea.

Foyer Decor

Lantern: Magnolia Hearth and Hand House Lantern.

Similar Fiddle Leaf Tree: Here.

Planter: World Market.

Home Style

We have made some large updates in our home, as well as some smaller cosmetic ones, that have completely transformed the feel. Our home is a Five-Level Split and for those that haven’t seen that style of a home in person, the main perks for us were the high ceilings in every room and the very open layout. It also gives us very usable space, rather than a traditional setup.

Wall Color

Wall Color: Sherwin Williams Light French Gray.

Dining Room

This room has seen several updates in the short two years we’ve lived here. We did a DIY update to the existing chair rail that was here when we moved in. We wanted a statement rug to ground the room and we couldn’t love our non-slip, washable…yes I said WASHABLE rug more in this room!

Wall Color: Sherwin Williams Light French Gray.

Rug: Ruggable Vintage Daisy Bordered Blue.

Mudcloth Pumpkins: you can find my DIY on our IG page – click on “DIY“.

Bench: Ikea.

Chandelier: Crate and Barrel.

Table Top

Wall Hanging: World Market Half Moon Wall Hanging.

Candlesticks: World Market

Clear/Gold Vase: World Market

China: Macy’s

Table Runner: West Elm

DIY Dining Table

Our dining table was actually the first piece of furniture Brett and I built together…on the garage floor at my condo. It was certainly worth it, but needless to say our knees were killing us by the end of it! (We’ve updated the workshop since then.)

Similar Dining Table: Here, Here & Here.

Dining Chairs: World Market – WM- Paige Dining Chair – Natural Linen.

Buffet Table: found at a thrift store, refinished with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint – similar here.

Floating shelves: Brackets – Farmhouse Brackets – similar: here (brackets + shelves).

Kitchen

Our kitchen is one of my favorite spaces in our home. We have put a lot of blood, sweat, well no tears… but definitely blood and sweat in here!

Countertop

Countertops: Marble-looking Quartz Counters.

Kitchen Island

Brett custom built the kitchen island. Our previous island didn’t allow for counter stools, so after a short discussion one evening, Brett created this beautiful piece! We decided to paint it an accent color to really make a statement and chose a rug that pulled the blue undertones out.

Washable Kitchen Runner: Ruggable.

Kitchen Cabinets

The wall cabinets were in good condition when we purchased the home and with it being such a large space, we opted to paint rather than replace them! We are still very happy with this decision and added details to the existing cabinets to customize them to our taste!

Backsplash & Faucet

Backsplash: Floor and Decor – Ice white square subway tile – similar here.

Faucet: Delta Trinsic in Matte Black.

Pendant Light: Wayfair.

Kitchen Hardware

Kitchen Hardware: AmazonHome – no longer sell these – similar: Pulls & Knobs.

Kitchen Cabinet Paint Color

Kitchen Cabinets: Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace.

Kitchen Island Paint Color

Kitchen Island Paint Color: Benjamin Moore 1617 Cheating Heart.

Counterstools

Counterstools are from Target.

Breakfast Room

Wall are painted in Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace.

Rug: Ruggable – similar here.

Dining Chairs

Dining Chairs: World Market.

Table Greenery: Target.

Lighting: IKEA Bamboo Pendant Lamp – similar here & here.

Curtains & Rod: Ikea.

Fireplace & Dining Table

A 3-sided fireplace brings warmth to the breakfast room and family room.

Similar Stacked Stone: Here.

Similar Counterstools: Here.

Chevron Mirror: World Market.

Breakfast Room Dining Table: Overstock.

Message

Letterboard: similar here.

Family Room

This space has had some updates recently! This room is a bit of a hybrid between a family room and a traditional living room. Our goal with changing the furniture and layout in this room was to create more livable space. We chose a mid century modern sofa that was not only the design we wanted, but also extremely comfortable!

Sofa: Macy’s Jolene Sectional.

Accent Chair: Target.

Floor Lamp: Target.

Knit Blanket: West Elm.

White Mudcloth Pillows: RH – similar here.

Wall color: SW Light French Gray.

Hardwood Flooring

Recently, we updated our flooring with a consistent floor throughout the entire first level. We chose a high-end laminate because of the durability…we will be having kids in the future and puppies (lots of them, if it were up to me…though my husband would likely disagree). It’s a beautiful laminate and can hold standing water for up to 30+ hours, so perfect for kitchens!

Flooring: Floor and Decor – AquaGuard Gogh Water-Resistant Laminate – AquaGuard Laminate.

Rug: Ruggable Linear Aztec Black – similar here.

Poufs: At Home.

Coffee Table

Per the suggestion of my sister, she recommended we go with a padded ottoman, rather than building our own coffee table. She has two little ones and they love running around our house so avoiding sharp corners was a main concern. We decided to do a narrow ottoman with two poufs for additional seating.

Ottoman Coffee Table: Target.

Home Office

Upstairs we have bedrooms and then this loft space.

Chair: World Market.

Decor

Since I work from home, this functions as my office. It’s the only room in this house that’s just “my” space, so I wanted to add a touch of girly, that I wouldn’t necessarily want in the main areas of our home. I chose white furniture, added accents of rose gold and gold, and finished with a fun rug that ties it all together!

Rug: Ruggable – Kilim Batik Pink – similar here.

“Think Differently” Sign: HomeGoods

Similar Work Hard + Be Nice to People” Sign: here.

Desk: No longer Available – similar here & here.

Master Bedroom

The goal for our master bedroom was to have a place that felt calm and serene. That had things that were special to Brett and I in the furniture and the decor. I designed the prints above our bed with lyrics from our first dance song, and had them custom made. Our furniture in this room is some of my favorites.

Bed: JCPenney – no longer available – similar here.

Lights: Ikea

Bedding

Pillows: Target

Similar Bedding: Here & Here (both are highly recommended).

Walls

We decided to flip the typical dark accent wall, with one light wall as the focal point instead.

Dresser

Typically the way things go in our household is I sketch up a design of what I’d like and Brett makes it come to life, even better than I planned. We built the nightstands together first and Brett built our beautiful 9 drawer dresser while I was away for work!

Master Bathroom

The colors in the bedroom flow into the bathroom to give a very spa-like feel. The tile we chose ties the two rooms together perfectly.

Bathroom Vanity

Vanity is painted in Chantilly Lace by Benjamin Moore.

Round Mirrors

Mirrors: AtHome – similar here.

Chunky Shelves

The chunky floating shelves were built by Brett.

Wall Color: SW Alabaster.

Floor Tile

Tile: Floor and Decor Florentina Gray Tile – similar here.

Basement

As I indicated in the intro, our house is a 5-level split, so this room is the first floor down prior to the true basement. We spend a majority of our downtime in here. We wanted this room to be comfortable, first and foremost, but also have an element of design.

Couch: Macy’s.

Decor

Wicker Baskets: Homegoods

White baskets: Target

White vases and tan base: Target

Other white vases: West Elm

Eucalyptus Garland: Target

Frames: Ikea.

Paint Color

Sherwin Williams Light French Gray SW0055.

DIY

We decided to build a custom entertainment center that was functional, had storage, and also was a well designed focal point when you walk in the room.

Guest Bathroom

This was one of my most nerve racking experiments. This bathroom was just about the furthest thing from our style. 

  Since this isn’t a heavily used space currently, we didn’t want to invest a lot money into it! Our goal is to update the counter and faucet relatively soon and at some point put in permanent flooring, but for now we love what we accomplished on a budget!

Similar Hardware: Pulls

Flooring

I decided one evening to attempt to stencil the floors. It was a bit of a project and with drying time, it took a good chunk of time, but in the end this was a great decision and the perfect short term fix!

Floors: Royal Stencil Quilt stencil Concrete Quilt – similar here & here.

Bath Mat: World Market.

Tray

Tray: Target – Opalhouse

Mirror

Mirror frame: DIY with 1x6in boards and corner brackets (easy update).

  Well friends, that’s a wrap! We had so much fun putting this together and couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity to showcase all the work we’ve done in our home.

Thank you again, Luciane, for featuring us on your blog and big thanks to all that read along! Can’t wait to meet new friends and find new inspiration ourselves!

  Many thanks to Ali & Brett for sharing all of the details above. Make sure to follow @BARCbyBrettandAli on Instagram for more inspiration!

Photography: Columbus Pics.

  Amazing End-of-Season Sales!

Thank you for shopping through Home Bunch. I would be happy to assist you if you have any questions or are looking for something in particular. Feel free to contact me and always make sure to check dimensions before ordering. Happy shopping!

  Serena & Lily: Free Shipping on Everything with code: NEWGOALS

  Wayfair: Massive Rug Sale! Up to 75% OFF!

  Joss & Main: Up to 80% Off on Clearance

  Pottery Barn:Up to 70% Off plus Free Shipping on your order with code: FREESHIP

  West Elm: New Items on sale – Free Shipping with code: FREERIDE

  Horchow: Free Shipping with code: FREESHIP

  Anthropologie: Extra 50% OFF Sale Items!

  Posts of the Week:

Small Lot Modern Farmhouse.

Beautiful Homes of Instagram: New England Home.

Florida Vacation Home Style.

Transitional Custom Home Design.

Beautiful Homes of Instagram: Canada.

Beautiful Homes of Instagram.

Beautiful Homes of Instagram: Lake House.

Black and White Interior Design Ideas.

Reinvented White Kitchen Design.

Interior Design Ideas: Designer’s Home.

Interior Design Ideas: Colorful Interiors.

Florida New-Construction Family Home.

Modern English Tudor Design.

Interior Design: Ideas House Tour.

Southern Beach House with Modern Interiors.

Custom Home with Artisan Craftsmanship Interiors.

Traditional Kitchen Reno Ideas.

Interior Design Ideas: New Orleans Home.

Beautiful Homes of Instagram.

You can follow my pins here: Pinterest/HomeBunch

See more Inspiring Interior Design Ideas in my Archives.

Popular Paint Color Posts: The Best Benjamin Moore Paint Colors

2016 Paint Color Ideas for your Home

Interior Paint Color and Color Palette Pictures

Interior Paint Color and Color Palette Ideas

Inspiring Interior Paint Color Ideas

Interior Paint Color and Color Palette

New 2015 Paint Color Ideas

Interior Paint Color Ideas

Interior Design Ideas: Paint Color

Interior Ideas: Paint Color

More Paint Color Ideas

“Dear God,

If I am wrong, right me. If I am lost, guide me. If I start to give-up, keep me going.

Lead me in Light and Love”.

Have a wonderful day, my friends and we’ll talk again tomorrow.”

with Love,

Luciane from HomeBunch.com

Interior Design Services within Your Budget

Come Follow me on

Come Follow me on

Get Home Bunch Posts Via Email

Contact Luciane

“For your shopping convenience, this post might contain links to retailers where you can purchase the products (or similar) featured. I make a small commission if you use these links to make your purchase so thank you for your support!”

from Home http://www.homebunch.com/beautiful-homes-of-instagram-newlyweds-home-design/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[agosnesrerose]

Home Tour: A Pattern-Packed Nursery in NYC

When Ashley Gensler founded custom home furnishings brand Loom Decor, it was her one and only baby. “I decided I wanted to open Loom because I felt that more people should have access to all the gorgeous fabrics often only available through showrooms and high-end designers,” Ashley says.

With an MBA and a passion for interiors, she launched the company in Brooklyn, NY. The six year old company has been thriving ever since, but it’s not Ashley’s only child anymore. Now son Theodore and daughter TK have joined the family.

“A different side of me comes out when I’m with my kids,” Ashley says. “I’m more of the gentle, casual mom as opposed to the type-A, career driven woman that drives my business.”

But just because she strives to set boundaries between her family and work life, doesn’t mean she can’t find ways to merge her two loves as well. Becoming pregnant with her second child presented Ashley both with a new beginning for her family and an opportunity to design.

“Because I’m really busy, I wanted some assistance with the nursery,” Ashley says. “I think even people who love design can benefit from another eye – someone who looks at the room differently, provides alternate layouts, and moves the design process forward. That’s why I chose to work with Laurel & Wolf.”

Just as Laurel & Wolf brings interior design to a broader audience, Loom aims to get designer textile products in front of more eyes. The collaboration was an ideal fit.

“I have a modern aesthetic, but with a kind of funky, colorful edge to it. I tend to use a lot of patterns paired with clean lines and mid-century modern furniture, so that’s partially what I wanted for Theodore’s room,” Ashley says.

The room concept she received from Laurel & Wolf designer Maria DeLucia was spot on, filled with cool, blue and green tones that Ashley felt a little pattern would punctuate perfectly.

“I wanted something that was fun and playful and appropriate for a little boy’s nursery, but also that would grow with him into a toddler,” says Ashley.

With that idea in mind, she worked with Maria to incorporate a whimsical, storybook theme into the room.

Pillow Fabrics: Top – Tobi Fairley Rivers in Citron; Green – Trellis Like It Is in Meadow; Leopard – Spot On in Cinder

“The place cards from my wedding were all little watercolor paintings I did of different scenes from fantasy stories my husband and I love. They were my inspiration for the room. From there, I picked out a variety of Loom fabrics that I thought fit the same aesthetic,” Ashley says.

Since the nursery is visible from the living room, Ashley wanted the color palette to blend seamlessly with the navy, teal, and chartreuse hues in the rest of the home. She selected a central fabric to harmonize with the space’s colors and whimsical theme, deciding that the drapery would be the grounding element in the room. “Window treatments are a big part of what we do, so I really wanted those to be a major focal point.”

Rooftop Garden – Posy Green Fabric from Loom Decor on curtains and bed skirt

Covered in pictures of rolling green hills, the pattern-splashed drapery—which repeats itself on the crib’s bed skirt—acts a bit like a wallpaper, adding a funky yet sophisticated edge to the room. The rest of the chosen fabrics in the space were a combined effort between Ashley and Maria (all from Loom Decor, of course).

Though Ashley was specific about showing off particular Loom textiles in the space, she appreciated being able to forfeit control over the rest of the design, allowing Maria to do her thing.

“I’m so glad I was able to work with her [Maria] because I would never have thought to pair things like a zebra print rug with the already pretty wild drapery,” Ashley says. “After the patterns and colors were selected, the design morphed into a more contemporary look with electric colors, an edgy light fixture, and a few black elements like the modern mobile that hangs above his crib.”

Apart from its sophisticated, whimsical theme, the room is built for function. A wall of rail shelves start low to the ground, so Theodore can reach his own books when he gets big enough.

“We’re trying to raise our kids to be really independent,” Ashley says. “For example, as my daughter grew older, it was really important that she could reach her own things. I wanted the same for my son, that’s why we placed the shelves so low and installed pegs where he’ll eventually be able to hang his coat himself.”

Although the nursery feels serene and sophisticated, it’s definitely a kid-friendly zone. With its bright tones and eye-popping patterns, it’s the kind of room that Theodore can grow into as he grows from cuddly infant to a big kid that can reach his own coat and books, and beyond.

1. Tribeca Leonard 5-Light Sputnik Chandelier / 2. Flensted Mobiles Kite Mobile / 3. Scoot 3-in-1 Convertible Crib  / 4. Stenciled Brazilian Cowhide Zebra Rug / 5. Rooftop Garden – Posy Green Fabric

The post Home Tour: A Pattern-Packed Nursery in NYC appeared first on Inside Laurel & Wolf – Interior Design and Style Blog.

from Inside Laurel & Wolf – Interior Design and Style Blog http://ift.tt/2q2BPoK

http://ift.tt/2qZIuxN

[cessanderson]

Instant workspace http://ift.tt/2pf5Q1m Sara @ Russet Street Reno So, you may recall from my entry remodel post that I had this awkward space in between our couch and the railing. 

Here is a better look at this useless clutter zone.

I had a dream to use this little strip of space for a desk area.  Up until now, my laptop lived here:

Sup, breast pump?  Obviously, this was totally unacceptable for a work area.  As a photographer, I spend hours on my laptop editing, and this setup was uncomfortable at best.  I also had the bad habit of just setting mail, paperwork to be filed, and my external hard drives right there on the couch.  It was awful!

I also had all my lenses and cameras just sitting on our Ikea bookshelves surrounding the tv.  It looked so messy.

My plan was to replace the console table with a small desk, and move all this stuff over to the desk area.  This was not easy, since the desks I liked were much wider than the 40ish inches I had in the space.  Then, I found this simple 42" desk at World Market, and took advantage of a sale.

It was sort of hard to put together, because the metal is hand forged and the holes didn't exactly match up.  But, I love the look and it's sturdy after assembly.  It was already functioning better to have a desk in this area immediately after I put it together.

Then, I looked to the wall above.  I had two acrylic shelves from CB2 that I had planned on staggering over a dresser in the guest room.  After I came back to reality and admitted that the room was way too small to fit even the tiniest dresser, they hid under the bed until now.  They came with silver screws, but I used some black ones I had laying around, I think they look so great!

These are 4 foot and 2 foot shelves, so I had to place the longer one past the width of the desk.  I thought I would hate that, but I actually don't mind.  It creates the illusion of a wider area, and also frames the lamp nicely.  They are also sturdy enough to hold my heavy lenses!

And I wanted to reuse my beloved pineapple lamp, so I got a new shade and it looks pretty good here.  Here is the final space:

I'm so in love with this!  There is pretty much a place for everything.  It is beyond thrilling to have my lenses look beautiful, and be easy for me to grab whenever I'm heading out to a photo session.  I even had enough space for my speedlight!

The top shelf mostly holds framed prints, because I love some good inspiration while I'm working.  I chose images of my boys that are cute (obviously) but also showcase great lighting, composition, or post processing.  I plan to rotate them out as they get bigger. 

The top shelf also holds my client 'Thank You' cards I include with print orders, and this little white box I found at Homegoods keeps my battery charger, tripod mount, and a couple older memory cards that I don't use often. 

Since the colors in my branding are white, charcoal, and teal/aqua, I was pretty excited when Ashford came home from school with the watercolor art you see framed here.  I found the frame at Homegoods, ripped out the inspirational 'saying' that it was meant to hold, and put his painting in.  The aqua/mint box frame in the middle was also found at Homegoods.  The clock is from Target.

Let's talk about the stag head.  Last year during Black Friday, whitefauxtaxidermy.com had their annual sale.  I bought a huge rhino head for my brother, and couldn't help but snap up 'Alfred' for half off for myself.  After I got the shipment, I was sort of at a loss with where to hang him.  Luckily, he looks majestic here, and wears a wooden camera toy my kids hardly ever look at.  I still have some anxiety about him crashing down when the door slams and destroying my laptop and lenses, but I have a heavy duty anchor back there, and I can't live my life in fear. 

Since I needed a desk with small width, pretty much none offered drawers.  I didn't really mind, because I find that drawers in tight spaces just get cluttered and hard to find things in the back.  I measured the openings of the shelves, and found that CB2 had a wool storage box that had the exact same dimensions. 

It holds additional hard drives, referral cards, and my supplies for mailing prints to clients.  It was not cheap, but it's beautiful quality, and I had the best customer service from the store.  Quick story - I ordered the box for pickup at the Chicago store because it's out of stock online, then quickly realized I was never ever going to be able to drive an hour to the city to get it...they shipped it from the store to me, for free.  Awesome!

The basket on the top shelf was a Michaels find, and it has a homemade camera cushion created with a $3 Target infinity scarf wrapped around a dish towel.  I do not sew, people!

Seems to be working just fine, and the baby hasn't figured out my camera hiding spot yet!

Here's a better view of the space I have between the desk and the media stand.  It's not a ton, but there is a nice little spot to store my reflector, and enough room to pull out the bins. 

I wanted the desktop to be pretty clean, but I did need to have a spot for pens, my scissors, and lens pens.  I got lucky and found the acrylic divided organizer on clearance at Homegoods.  I got the business card holder on Amazon.  The elephant file organizer is at The Container Store, and you can mount it or use it on the desktop! 

The elephant is important because I wanted an easily accessible place to store prints until I figure out what to do with them.  I'm usually pretty good at printing the ones I like, but as you can see from the pumpkins...I don't always do anything with them in a timely manner! 

Also at The Container Store, was this clever peel and stick weekly task pad.  I thought it would be great to keep what I had to do for my business separate from the family calendar in the kitchen.  I also like that I can just stick it up on the wall in my line of sight.  I know many people use their phones, and I do as well, but I love having a visual for small tasks that don't merit a phone entry.

Here's a more realistic version of what the desk looks like while I'm working.  It's five o' clock always!

And here's what my kid is doing while I'm trying to take photos. 

Speaking of the media stand, this thing is pretty boring, and not really my style anymore.  We got it for $250 back in 2008, and the veneer is starting to bubble and chip on the top and edges from being moved so many times.  I thought long and hard about what to do with it.  Paint it?  What color, white?  NO -  I have kids and this thing is perfect drawing and rolling height.  Black?  Too much black.  The navy on the front door and closet?  Eh, too close to the blue couch and may not look good.  So, in the end, I got some new bright boxes for inside and left it as is.  And that, my friends, is how you justify doing absolutely nothing. 

I'm excited about the mint boxes, because the largest one will easily hold mailing boxes for 11x14 prints, which is something I usually have crapping up my house in every room.  The rest will hold older prints, and miscellaneous photography supplies.  I got mine for 30% less than retail at Homegoods, but you can get them full price at The Container Store. 

The antique tray on the top has some little doo dads, but I'll be honest - the baby just picks that stuff up and throws it, so it doesn't normally live here.  Tiny acrylic box of memory cards, succulent from Lowes, gold lid acrylic box with fancy binder clips for my packaging. 

So, the last detail I obsessed about is the chair.  I disliked using a dining chair, because I want all my dining chairs around the table.  I wandered around World Market one day, looking for accessories to spend $40 in 'explorer' rewards on, when I saw this chair was marked down to $100.  I loved the airy look, and the metal legs.   

After I signed up for their 'text' program, I got 15% off.  With my rewards on top, I ended up paying $48 for the chair.  Not bad!  It's comfy enough for working, but I initially added a little faux fur to the seat to protect my delicate heiny.  Then I saw this throw at Target, and loved the texture.  It makes the chair more comfortable, and also adds an extra element and brightens the dark corner a little bit. 

So, now that you've spent your entire morning reading about a four foot square spot of my living room, how about some before and afters?

And here is another angle that I love, seeing both my gallery walls at once. 

Thanks for reading, I hope you are inspired to turn an unused corner into something great!

And if you are in the Chicago area and need family portraits taken, please contact me for a blog reader special!

[explorenazariya]

Rogan Painting of Kutch, Gujrat

Content Research, Conceptualization and Written by Kaavya Lakshman

The region of Kutch has been famous for its unique use of threads, beautiful beads, and intricate hand-made textiles. A dying art of textile craft which deserves utmost appreciation is the Rogan art, pertaining to this part of Gujarat.

Rogan art originated in Persia and came down to Kutch 400 years ago, though there are no historical evidences justifying this statement. In the Persian language, ‘Rogan’ literally means oil based painting. In the olden days, Rogan art was used on bridal clothing, as beautiful borders on the traditional Ghagras and on odhnis (bed spread).

Though Rogan painting has no elaborate history, nor any ritual or religious relevance attached to it, the significance of the art lies in the credibility of the work and the painstaking efforts of the artists. The art form is a fabulous example of the rich cultural tradition of India.

Rogan Art Map

Image Source: https://s3.amazonaws.com/nazariya/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/11205117/rogan-art-map1-1.jpg

Characteristics of Rogan painting

Use of natural materials : The canvas of this painting is fabric, and the paints used is organic in nature.

Tedious process : The process of Rogan painting is very time consuming and complicated.

Colors used : Colors like white, red, blue, yellow, green, and orange are used in the pure form. Locally the colors are called :

Yellow : Pavadi

Red : Lal

Blue : Vadadi

White : Safad

Green : Leelo

Brown : Bhuro

Products : Rogan painting has found it’s way too many lifestyle products in today’s day and age. These include cushion covers, bed covers, traditional dresses like kurtas and saris, table cloth and wall hangings.

It is not a printing technique, but a hand made process.

  Process of Rogan painting

Process of making the Rogan paste(colors): The paste is prepared by heating either safflower oil, castor oil or linseed oil to boiling point over a period of three days, thereafter pouring it into water. This paste is either mixed with chalk color pigment or vegetable pigments, as per the choice of the artist, to create a thick dye. This gives rise to bright and lively colors. Castor oil is mainly used as castor is a local crop grown in Kutch, and was traditionally sourced from the farmers.

The pastes are stored in earthen pots in order to keep them moist

Process of painting on the fabric : The artisan places a small amount of the paste on the palm of his hand. “At first, outlining is done, then the work is filled, then after drying, the colors are added and then the work is done again. Drying generally takes two days. In case of symmetric patterns, to reduce the effort, the fabric is folded from the centre to get the impression on the other half, this also helps in creating effects like the background and the foreground.” (cited from http://gaatha.com/rogan-art-kutch-gujarat/)

The designs made are very fine and detailed, usually geometric and floral motifs are depicted. ‘The Tree of Life’ and Mughal paisleys are also depicted. Though intricacy of the work varies from piece to piece, “if the work is very intricate, then a square foot piece of cloth could take around a month.” (cited from http://gaatha.com/rogan-art-kutch-gujarat/)

Table : A Comparison of the Then And Now of Rogan Art  (information taken from – http://www.isca.in/FAMILY_SCI/Archive/v2/i1/1.ISCA-RJFCCS-2013-026.pdf)

Material/Methods Traditional Present Raw material Oil Linseed oil, castor oil extracted from plants Castor oil(bought from market) Dye Pigment colour(natural sources) Pigment colour(natural and synthetic) Additive used Lime Lime Stylus Thick and broad at the tips and 7 inches long made of iron rod Fine and narrow at tip and 4to 5 inches long, made of iron Preparation of gel Utensil used Earthen pots were used Metal pots are used(Aluminium) Fuel Wood Wood Amount of Oil Taken 2kg(because bold design were made earlier so consumption was more) 1kg (designs are smaller and fine.) Storage

Of Roghan gel

Medium size earthen pots were used to store the gel with water Plastic container having 6-7 small bowls to store the roghan gel with water Colour ranges Limited number of colours were used Many varieties of dyes are available for good combination. Colour used Red, black Red, black, orange, green, blue, etc. Fabric Material Cotton(khaddar) Cotton, silk, polyester, georgette, chiffon Articles made Ghaghara, odhana. Saris, Wall hanging, Toran, Tablecloths, Folder, Purses, Cushion cover. Customers Localities Mainly tourist and local people A wareness Limited to local areas Known at international levels.

From the above table, it can be concluded that the method has changed to a great extent to cater to the needs of the growing market.

Artisans

“With cutting edge technology defining the pace and the taste of today’s world, our age old tribal crafts are finding it difficult to maintain their identity.  Rogan painting is an example of a spell binding yet dying art, with just six people from the same family shouldering this tradition today.” (cited from http://gaatha.com/rogan-art-kutch-gujarat/)

As per The Times of India on October 3, 2014 : “The 400-year-old Rogan or oil-based art in India is the sole preserve of a Khatri Muslim family based in Kutch region of Gujarat. The paintings, which have a heavy Persian influence, are by Gafoorbhai Khatri, the head of the family and a national award winner.”

  Abdul Gafoor Khatri

Abdur Gafur Khatri

Image Source: http://nazariya.in/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/01-2-3-generations-back-the-kind-of-workC.max-1400×1120.jpg

At the age of nine Abdul Gafoor Khatri left his formal school education, choosing to work with his family on this art form. He would keenly observe his father for hours, learning the process of Rogan art. However, when he was a young adult, he pursued other options to earn a living. In 1983 he got a call from his ailing grandfather, asking for Abdul’s help to execute a complicated order. It was his grandfather’s wish to pass on this special set of skills to the next generation, and not let it die with him. “So, I went back and picked up the brush again…and haven’t put it down since…”, said the talented artisan.

In 1988 Khatri won the State award, and in 1997 he won the National Award for an intricate sari that took over an year to complete.

As cited from http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2004/09/14/stories/2004091400601800.htm , on September 4 2004, “ There are all of four persons well-versed in this form of painting, says Arabbhai Khatri, who was in the city to participate in Paramparik Karigar, an exhibition of traditional art and painting. Apart from him, his three nephews, Abdul Gafoor, Jumabhai and Sumerbhai, have been trained in this form of art. “

As per The Indian Express, on 28 September 2016, “In the 1980s, Rogan painting was almost extinct. Only two craftsmen, Abdul Ghafoor and Rashid, were practising the craft in Gujarat’s Nirona. One could never have expected that 30 years on, the craft is still alive and growing. But, in 2016, there are many more young craftsmen in Nirona who have been trained in the craft and are doing well — which is evident in the variety of Rogan paintings on offer at state emporiums throughout India.”

On the site http://khamir.org/crafts/rogan-painting, a brief introduction is written by the artist :-

  Khatri Arab Hasam

“The Rogan art of painting is an ancient art, over 300 years old.  I learned from my father, and my father learned from his, and so on.  My village is the only place where this work is created.  We use to make pieces for our community, but now we make it for the market.  It is such a rare and beautiful craft; but still it does not sell well.  Most families gave up the craft to find other jobs to get more money.  But not us, we continue the craft.  We are the only Rogan Art family left.

Rogan art is not well known, even in India.  Most of the artisans before me lost their art because they did not pass it down to the next generations.  I will make sure that this practice stays alive.  I am ensuring that my entire family learns and practices Rogan art.  I am also in the process of opening a school that teaches Rogan art to children from different families in this area.”

  Rogan Art in the News

October 3 2014, The Times of India : “TOI has learnt that Modi gifted a couple of exquisitely handcrafted Rogan paintings to Obama.

July 8 2016, The Better India : “ Artist Papiya Mitra, who is also the founder of the Maker’s Club India, works towards uplifting Indian traditional art forms. In an interview to Sakaal Times, she said:

“Even though there is a huge market for Indian art and crafts abroad, the means to sell them are very limited. The Rogan artists have limited themselves to the Kutch region and the next generation is not willing to carry forward the legacy as there is no future in it. If they travel to different parts of the country and teach the techniques to others or if art enthusiasts go to them and learn it and help spread its richness, only then will the awareness about Rogan art increase.”

To help Rogan art reach more people, the government has started incentivizing Rogan artists. Many startups and NGOs are also helping to create a market for them. Other than preserving traditional designs, the artists are being encouraged to experiment with new motifs and colour combinations. This will create products that have a different appeal, are affordable and have a wider reach.

In an interview to Travel Knots, Gafoorbhai said:

“The Prime Minister buys our works to give them as gifts to dignitaries. Also, we now get a free stall in handicrafts exhibitions all over India to help us showcase our art to the world. Foreigners coming to Kutch today have Nirona on their itineraries and most of them are enchanted by this rare art.”

For a long time, this rare craft was not well known even in India. But with a growing fan following that includes Amitabh Bachchan, Waheeda Rehman, Shabana Azmi and, of course, Narendra Modi, Rogan art is now getting the recognition it deserves.

  Organisations

Khamir

Website : http://khamir.org/crafts/rogan-painting

Address : KHAMIR Craft Resource Centre

Behind BMCB Social City

Lakhond-Kukma Crossroads

Post Village Kukma, Taluka Bhuj

Kachchh, Gujarat 370105

India

Phone : 91 02832 – 271272/422

  2) Rangeela Gujarat 2016  

Website : http://rangeelugujarat.com

    Rogan Painting of Kutch, Gujrat was originally published on NAZARIYA

[greg38mcall]

Before & After: Organized Boy's Bedroom Closet

Organizing our son's bedroom closet was the biggest organizing task we had on our list for January. And although we didn't complete all four that we set out to do this past month, I did tackle and complete five different spaces! (Three in our home and two at a friend's home.) #win Our tool drawers are right at the top of our list for February, but for now I am breathing some major sighs of relief because we finally have a wonderful setup for our wonderful young man!

Our son took over the guest room just before school started this past year, and with that move he inherited a double closet. Because he is only ten, we liked the idea of keeping one side for studying and utilizing the other side for storing his clothing. By doing this he now has plenty of open floor space to spread out and play and to make forts and to have sleepovers... You know, all of the important things every little guy loves to do in their bedroom. The closet area was slightly complicated only because it is wide open to the other side (his workspace), and the previous setup didn't allow him to easily organize and store all of his clothing. Up until now, he was using bins under his bed for many of his folded pieces, as well as small cubbies and wire shelves in the closet. I absolutely couldn't wait to install a long term solution that can handle all of his clothing now, and when he is 18, and when the room goes back to guest room status again someday (but let's not think about that). Here is a reminder of how the closet was looking at the beginning of the month....

The first step to this project was to assess what was not working well. That included a lack of drawers/concealed storage, a lack of accessibility for our little guy, no designated systems, no access to the top shelf due to placement, no hamper... We also were not a fan of the overall layout, the metal wire shelving or the floral wallpaper that was still installed. We did like the stackable cubbies, and the fact that they offered that internal divide between the workspace and clothing closet, but we didn't love their placement in terms of fully utilizing them. The overall dimensions for this side of the closet are about 4' 6" wide by 2' deep. The goal was to add towers inside of the closet to define the clothing area, while also offering our son both hanging and drawer storage.

After researching a few closet options and layouts, we ultimately decided to partner with ClosetMaid on this project. I have utilized ClosetMaid components in multiple closets and spaces throughout our home and we have always been happy with the mix and match customization options, as well as the overall quality. I went straight to the ClosetMaid website to begin looking at all of their available closet specific configurations and spent many hours designing multiple storage variations before landing on a final plan.

Depending on the specific collection you select, ClosetMaid offers design tools online that allow you to input your walls and measurements, and then play with their product configurations. My problem-solving self loves this aspect of any organizing project, but if you are feeling a little lost, they also offer a new free design service. Once the design is settled, the program generates a shopping list that includes every last part and trim piece that you can then add to your online cart. To check every last wish list item off of my list, I decided that the SpaceCreations line was the best fit for our needs. Here is another look at my overall vision and plan for the final closet.

Once the boxes arrived holding the closet components, we began the process of removing the previous wire shelving, stripping the wallpaper, priming the walls and installing the same Walls Need Love peel and stick paper we used on the desk side.

I love that this specific pattern is forgiving due to the organic watercolor paint splotches, it was probably the key to the paper going up in just a couple of hours.

We wrapped the entire interior of the closet to really finish off the look throughout.

Above you can see the closet during the installation process. We assembled the two towers first, which were ultimately anchored into wall studs. At this point, it is really important to leave a small gap for the decorative trim pieces that are provided to give the units a more polished look. The assembly was quite simple; although we know our way around a drill and hammer, any DIY beginner could definitely tackle this particular project.

A huge parent and kid win is the fact that the drawers are all installed on soft-closing tracks!

I also love that ClosetMaid offers a few drawer organizing options specific to their drawer sizes. Do you see what I see? Oh yes, those are acrylic! #oohlala

The two towers offer future flexibility because they are pegged from top to bottom and accommodate rails, shelves, and drawers. For now, I added shelves down the center to hold some baskets and smaller belongings, however, this area can easily turn into additional hanging storage as our son grows and his needs change.

Above you can also see how those trim pieces that run down the sides and along the top of the unit really finish off the entire closet. Ready to watch it all come together with our son's belongings?

Let's back up for a moment. A huge part of the planning and putting things away process is to actually touch every last thing and purge down anything that no longer fits, as well as items that were worn thin or had any holes. Our youngest son receives quite a few hand-me-downs from both of his older brothers, as well as family friends with older boys. We realized that he had more clothes than he really needed and that he was also holding on to quite a few items that no longer fit him well.

Also, let's be real for a second. I naturally put everything away nice and neat to celebrate and reveal the new closet to our kiddo and to you blog pals. In fact, I realize that quite a few of my over-the-top habits of arranging items but color, folding things in specific ways, smoothing things out and pressing wrinkles, will quickly be undone as the closet is used full time. I am fairly sure that this setup will be extremely simple for our son to maintain, but this is probably the tidiest it will ever be. #truth I reused Parker's previous slim hangers, which provide him with plenty of hanging space for all of his pants, long sleeve, short sleeve and dress shirts. We were actually able to maximize his pant hanging space by adding some hanger clips which just clip to the hanger and the pant to allow them to hang straight (vs. folding over the hanger and doubling the amount of space they take up).

One of the biggest problems we had with the previous closet arrangement was that our son couldn't reach the top hanging shelf. It was installed too high and most adults couldn't get near the upper hangers without help. Our little monkey would love to climb if we were to give him permission, but I decided to purchase him an extending hanger-hook pole, which just hangs on a Command Strip inside of his closet.

This was such an easy solution to maximize that vertical space while also preventing our youngster from climbing. Another parent and kid win!

We made sure the top of the hamper could flip open and placed two shelves above it to hold a few pairs of shoes.

I know you all want to see those acrylic organizers doing their thing, so I won't keep you waiting any longer!

This just might be my favorite spot in the entire closet; it is pure eye candy for sure. Ten pairs of rolled shorts! You hear that summer? We are ready for you! Next up is his new pajama drawer...

And above his undie drawer is a shorter drawer that I wanted to use for belts and socks. An inexpensive flexible drawer divider keeps everything sorted and makes for quick mornings.

I added adhesive label holders to the drawer and printed off the colored inserts which I made using Pages on my computer.

I couldn't resist a quick video with our son opening and shutting his drawers. I told him to just be himself and not to take it easy...

The lower basket is designated to t-shirts, athletic wear, and swim trunks.

And the basket on the top shelf collects random belongings like ties, toys and his overnight sling bags.

We have always stored linens and bedding in their actual rooms (vs. a central linen closet), and there is plenty of space remaining on the very top shelf for extra blankets and pillows. And because our closet is two feet deep and the system is 15" deep, we are still able to easily add and remove items without running into any spacing issues. We have been planning on installing some french doors to the closet, but I am in no rush to cover up this handsome install.

Now that you have seen how I put this closet to work for our son, let's get giddy about the before and after and go gaga about all of the added storage and functionality!

PRODUCT SOURCES:

Closet System (c/o) | Acrylic Drawer Organizer (c/o) | Hangers | Hanger Clips | Extending Hanger Pole | Hamper | Label Holders | Storage Baskets | Sock Organizer | Stacking Bins | Wallpaper

A huge Thank You to ClosetMaid for partnering with me on this post! 

from IHeart Organizing http://www.iheartorganizing.com/2017/02/before-after-organized-boys-bedroom.html

[samuelmmarcus]

Beautiful Homes of Instagram: Newlyweds Home Design

  Hello, everyone! It’s so great to start this new week with you here. Thank you so much for the visit!

I won’t be long today because I really want you to focus on this newlywed couple and their beautiful home. I truly can’t tell you how much I admire Ali and Brett. It’s so impressive all of the work they have put into their first home and I can’t help but admire and wish them many, many Blessings in this life. Please, get to know them below and make sure to follow them on Instagram. We should always surround ourselves with good people in our lives and that goes for social media as well.

  Hello new friends! My name is Ali, my husbands name is Brett and we are @BARCbyBrettandAli. We were so honored to be asked by Luciane, to share our home with you all.

A little about ‘us’ … we got engaged in July of 2016. Our plan initially was for Brett to sell his house and move into my condo (not traditional, I know, but financially made sense). Not long after our engagement, our family realtor had found us the perfect home. We were casually looking because the neighborhood we wanted to move into was extremely sought after. When we saw this listing, we had to jump on it. The craziest part of it all, Brett was out of town for work, so my mom and I went to look. Brett never actually saw the home, besides a FaceTime tour, until after we had purchased it…he was sold when I took him to the basement where there was a theatre, so a pretty easy sell for any guy! That was the first demonstration of trust in our relationship!

Funny thing about the location of our home is we are 4 houses from my cousin and about 10 from my sister…so we plopped ourselves on the same street right in the middle of family! We officially called this place home in September 2016 and a year later we were married, September 2017!

Needless to say these first two years have been busy ones! Our love for all things home was one of our biggest shared passions. Which is where our HomeBunch story begins….

  Beautiful Homes of Instagram: Newlyweds Home Design

Let’s start with the exterior and I’m just going to lay this out there, it’s not my favorite…and the worst part is, we have regulations in our neighborhood, so we can’t change it! (Ugh!). Here’s the silver lining though, for as much as we don’t love our exterior it does provide a bit of an element of surprise as you enter.

Planters: Custom-built.

Outdoor Pillows: World Market.

Meet the Homeowners!

Aren’t they a gorgeous couple? They should have a show on HGTV just about DIY projects!!!

Home-Sweet-Home

Now for the good stuff, come on in! So you will notice a trend through our home, a bit different than many of the gorgeous homes that have been featured…we do a lot of the updates ourselves and do our own customizations to make our home feel unique. Brett is an incredibly talented woodworker and craftsman! His ability to take my, often ridiculous requests, and bring them to life makes for a very fun dynamic in our household.

Wreath: DIY – Florals from Hobby Lobby.

Front Door Paint Color

Door Color: Benjamin Moore Cheating Heart.

RUG: Ruggable – Moroccan Collection: Kavi Rose Gold.

Curtains: Ikea.

Foyer Decor

Lantern: Magnolia Hearth and Hand House Lantern.

Similar Fiddle Leaf Tree: Here.

Planter: World Market.

Home Style

We have made some large updates in our home, as well as some smaller cosmetic ones, that have completely transformed the feel. Our home is a Five-Level Split and for those that haven’t seen that style of a home in person, the main perks for us were the high ceilings in every room and the very open layout. It also gives us very usable space, rather than a traditional setup.

Wall Color

Wall Color: Sherwin Williams Light French Gray.

Dining Room

This room has seen several updates in the short two years we’ve lived here. We did a DIY update to the existing chair rail that was here when we moved in. We wanted a statement rug to ground the room and we couldn’t love our non-slip, washable…yes I said WASHABLE rug more in this room!

Wall Color: Sherwin Williams Light French Gray.

Rug: Ruggable Vintage Daisy Bordered Blue.

Mudcloth Pumpkins: you can find my DIY on our IG page – click on “DIY“.

Bench: Ikea.

Chandelier: Crate and Barrel.

Table Top

Wall Hanging: World Market Half Moon Wall Hanging.

Candlesticks: World Market

Clear/Gold Vase: World Market

China: Macy’s

Table Runner: West Elm

DIY Dining Table

Our dining table was actually the first piece of furniture Brett and I built together…on the garage floor at my condo. It was certainly worth it, but needless to say our knees were killing us by the end of it! (We’ve updated the workshop since then.)

Similar Dining Table: Here, Here & Here.

Dining Chairs: World Market – WM- Paige Dining Chair – Natural Linen.

Buffet Table: found at a thrift store, refinished with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint – similar here.

Floating shelves: Brackets – Farmhouse Brackets – similar: here (brackets + shelves).

Kitchen

Our kitchen is one of my favorite spaces in our home. We have put a lot of blood, sweat, well no tears… but definitely blood and sweat in here!

Countertop

Countertops: Marble-looking Quartz Counters.

Kitchen Island

Brett custom built the kitchen island. Our previous island didn’t allow for counter stools, so after a short discussion one evening, Brett created this beautiful piece! We decided to paint it an accent color to really make a statement and chose a rug that pulled the blue undertones out.

Washable Kitchen Runner: Ruggable.

Kitchen Cabinets

The wall cabinets were in good condition when we purchased the home and with it being such a large space, we opted to paint rather than replace them! We are still very happy with this decision and added details to the existing cabinets to customize them to our taste!

Backsplash & Faucet

Backsplash: Floor and Decor – Ice white square subway tile – similar here.

Faucet: Delta Trinsic in Matte Black.

Pendant Light: Wayfair.

Kitchen Hardware

Kitchen Hardware: AmazonHome – no longer sell these – similar: Pulls & Knobs.

Kitchen Cabinet Paint Color

Kitchen Cabinets: Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace.

Kitchen Island Paint Color

Kitchen Island Paint Color: Benjamin Moore 1617 Cheating Heart.

Counterstools

Counterstools are from Target.

Breakfast Room

Wall are painted in Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace.

Rug: Ruggable – similar here.

Dining Chairs

Dining Chairs: World Market.

Table Greenery: Target.

Lighting: IKEA Bamboo Pendant Lamp – similar here & here.

Curtains & Rod: Ikea.

Fireplace & Dining Table

A 3-sided fireplace brings warmth to the breakfast room and family room.

Similar Stacked Stone: Here.

Similar Counterstools: Here.

Chevron Mirror: World Market.

Breakfast Room Dining Table: Overstock.

Message

Letterboard: similar here.

Family Room

This space has had some updates recently! This room is a bit of a hybrid between a family room and a traditional living room. Our goal with changing the furniture and layout in this room was to create more livable space. We chose a mid century modern sofa that was not only the design we wanted, but also extremely comfortable!

Sofa: Macy’s Jolene Sectional.

Accent Chair: Target.

Floor Lamp: Target.

Knit Blanket: West Elm.

White Mudcloth Pillows: RH – similar here.

Wall color: SW Light French Gray.

Hardwood Flooring

Recently, we updated our flooring with a consistent floor throughout the entire first level. We chose a high-end laminate because of the durability…we will be having kids in the future and puppies (lots of them, if it were up to me…though my husband would likely disagree). It’s a beautiful laminate and can hold standing water for up to 30+ hours, so perfect for kitchens!

Flooring: Floor and Decor – AquaGuard Gogh Water-Resistant Laminate – AquaGuard Laminate.

Rug: Ruggable Linear Aztec Black.

Poufs: At Home.

Coffee Table

Per the suggestion of my sister, she recommended we go with a padded ottoman, rather than building our own coffee table. She has two little ones and they love running around our house so avoiding sharp corners was a main concern. We decided to do a narrow ottoman with two poufs for additional seating.

Ottoman Coffee Table: Target.

Home Office

Upstairs we have bedrooms and then this loft space.

Chair: World Market.

Decor

Since I work from home, this functions as my office. It’s the only room in this house that’s just “my” space, so I wanted to add a touch of girly, that I wouldn’t necessarily want in the main areas of our home. I chose white furniture, added accents of rose gold and gold, and finished with a fun rug that ties it all together!

Rug: Ruggable – Kilim Batik Pink – similar here.

“Think Differently” Sign: HomeGoods

Similar Work Hard + Be Nice to People” Sign: here.

Desk: No longer Available – similar here & here.

Master Bedroom

The goal for our master bedroom was to have a place that felt calm and serene. That had things that were special to Brett and I in the furniture and the decor. I designed the prints above our bed with lyrics from our first dance song, and had them custom made. Our furniture in this room is some of my favorites.

Bed: JCPenney – no longer available – similar here.

Lights: Ikea

Bedding

Pillows: Target

Similar Bedding: Here & Here (both are highly recommended).

Walls

We decided to flip the typical dark accent wall, with one light wall as the focal point instead.

Dresser

Typically the way things go in our household is I sketch up a design of what I’d like and Brett makes it come to life, even better than I planned. We built the nightstands together first and Brett built our beautiful 9 drawer dresser while I was away for work!

Master Bathroom

The colors in the bedroom flow into the bathroom to give a very spa-like feel. The tile we chose ties the two rooms together perfectly.

Bathroom Vanity

Vanity is painted in Chantilly Lace by Benjamin Moore.

Round Mirrors

Mirrors: AtHome – similar here.

Chunky Shelves

The chunky floating shelves were built by Brett.

Wall Color: SW Alabaster.

Floor Tile

Tile: Floor and Decor Florentina Gray Tile – similar here.

Basement

As I indicated in the intro, our house is a 5-level split, so this room is the first floor down prior to the true basement. We spend a majority of our downtime in here. We wanted this room to be comfortable, first and foremost, but also have an element of design.

Couch: Macy’s.

Decor

Wicker Baskets: Homegoods

White baskets: Target

White vases and tan base: Target

Other white vases: West Elm

Eucalyptus Garland: Target

Frames: Ikea.

Paint Color

Sherwin Williams Light French Gray SW0055.

DIY

We decided to build a custom entertainment center that was functional, had storage, and also was a well designed focal point when you walk in the room.

Guest Bathroom

This was one of my most nerve racking experiments. This bathroom was just about the furthest thing from our style. 

  Since this isn’t a heavily used space currently, we didn’t want to invest a lot money into it! Our goal is to update the counter and faucet relatively soon and at some point put in permanent flooring, but for now we love what we accomplished on a budget!

Similar Hardware: Pulls

Flooring

I decided one evening to attempt to stencil the floors. It was a bit of a project and with drying time, it took a good chunk of time, but in the end this was a great decision and the perfect short term fix!

Floors: Royal Stencil Quilt stencil Concrete Quilt – similar here & here.

Bath Mat: World Market.

Tray

Tray: Target – Opalhouse

Mirror

Mirror frame: DIY with 1x6in boards and corner brackets (easy update).

  Well friends, that’s a wrap! We had so much fun putting this together and couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity to showcase all the work we’ve done in our home.

Thank you again, Luciane, for featuring us on your blog and big thanks to all that read along! Can’t wait to meet new friends and find new inspiration ourselves!

  Many thanks to Ali & Brett for sharing all of the details above. Make sure to follow @BARCbyBrettandAli on Instagram for more inspiration!

Photography: Columbus Pics.

  Bring the Holidays Home!

Exciting October Sales!

Thank you for shopping through Home Bunch. I would be happy to assist you if you have any questions or are looking for something in particular. Feel free to contact me and always make sure to check dimensions before ordering. Happy shopping!

Joss & Main: Up to 75% Off!

Wayfair: Up to 70% OFF – Huge Sales on Decor, Furniture & Rugs!!!

Serena & Lily: Friends & Family: Get 20% off everything with code: HOMELOVE !!

Serena & Lily: Huge Furniture Sale! Up to 60% Off!!!

Pottery Barn: Warehouse Sale – Up to 75% Off

West Elm: Bedroom Sale – Up to 70% Off.

One Kings Lane: New Fall Arrivals!

Williams & Sonoma: New Sales every week.

Neiman Marcus: Designer Sale: Up to 40% OFF.

Pier 1: Big Furniture, Rugs and Fall Decor Sales!

Posts of the Week:

Small Lot Modern Farmhouse.

Beautiful Homes of Instagram: New England Home.

Florida Vacation Home Style.

Transitional Custom Home Design.

Beautiful Homes of Instagram: Canada.

Beautiful Homes of Instagram.

Beautiful Homes of Instagram: Lake House.

Black and White Interior Design Ideas.

Reinvented White Kitchen Design.

Interior Design Ideas: Designer’s Home.

Interior Design Ideas: Colorful Interiors.

Florida New-Construction Family Home.

Modern English Tudor Design.

Interior Design: Ideas House Tour.

Southern Beach House with Modern Interiors.

Custom Home with Artisan Craftsmanship Interiors.

Traditional Kitchen Reno Ideas.

Interior Design Ideas: New Orleans Home.

Beautiful Homes of Instagram.

You can follow my pins here: Pinterest/HomeBunch

See more Inspiring Interior Design Ideas in my Archives.

Popular Paint Color Posts: The Best Benjamin Moore Paint Colors

2016 Paint Color Ideas for your Home

Interior Paint Color and Color Palette Pictures

Interior Paint Color and Color Palette Ideas

Inspiring Interior Paint Color Ideas

Interior Paint Color and Color Palette

New 2015 Paint Color Ideas

Interior Paint Color Ideas

Interior Design Ideas: Paint Color

Interior Ideas: Paint Color

More Paint Color Ideas

“Dear God,

If I am wrong, right me. If I am lost, guide me. If I start to give-up, keep me going.

Lead me in Light and Love”.

Have a wonderful day, my friends and we’ll talk again tomorrow.”

with Love,

Luciane from HomeBunch.com

Interior Design Services within Your Budget

Come Follow me on

Come Follow me on

Get Home Bunch Posts Via Email

Contact Luciane

“For your shopping convenience, this post might contain links to retailers where you can purchase the products (or similar) featured. I make a small commission if you use these links to make your purchase so thank you for your support!”

from Home http://www.homebunch.com/beautiful-homes-of-instagram-newlyweds-home-design/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[dawnjeman]

Beautiful Homes of Instagram: Newlyweds Home Design

  Hello, everyone! It’s so great to start this new week with you here. Thank you so much for the visit!

I won’t be long today because I really want you to focus on this newlywed couple and their beautiful home. I truly can’t tell you how much I admire Ali and Brett. It’s so impressive all of the work they have put into their first home and I can’t help but admire and wish them many, many Blessings in this life. Please, get to know them below and make sure to follow them on Instagram. We should always surround ourselves with good people in our lives and that goes for social media as well.

  Hello new friends! My name is Ali, my husbands name is Brett and we are @BARCbyBrettandAli. We were so honored to be asked by Luciane, to share our home with you all.

A little about ‘us’ … we got engaged in July of 2016. Our plan initially was for Brett to sell his house and move into my condo (not traditional, I know, but financially made sense). Not long after our engagement, our family realtor had found us the perfect home. We were casually looking because the neighborhood we wanted to move into was extremely sought after. When we saw this listing, we had to jump on it. The craziest part of it all, Brett was out of town for work, so my mom and I went to look. Brett never actually saw the home, besides a FaceTime tour, until after we had purchased it…he was sold when I took him to the basement where there was a theatre, so a pretty easy sell for any guy! That was the first demonstration of trust in our relationship!

Funny thing about the location of our home is we are 4 houses from my cousin and about 10 from my sister…so we plopped ourselves on the same street right in the middle of family! We officially called this place home in September 2016 and a year later we were married, September 2017!

Needless to say these first two years have been busy ones! Our love for all things home was one of our biggest shared passions. Which is where our HomeBunch story begins….

  Beautiful Homes of Instagram: Newlyweds Home Design

Let’s start with the exterior and I’m just going to lay this out there, it’s not my favorite…and the worst part is, we have regulations in our neighborhood, so we can’t change it! (Ugh!). Here’s the silver lining though, for as much as we don’t love our exterior it does provide a bit of an element of surprise as you enter.

Planters: Custom-built.

Outdoor Pillows: World Market.

Meet the Homeowners!

Aren’t they a gorgeous couple? They should have a show on HGTV just about DIY projects!!!

Home-Sweet-Home

Now for the good stuff, come on in! So you will notice a trend through our home, a bit different than many of the gorgeous homes that have been featured…we do a lot of the updates ourselves and do our own customizations to make our home feel unique. Brett is an incredibly talented woodworker and craftsman! His ability to take my, often ridiculous requests, and bring them to life makes for a very fun dynamic in our household.

Wreath: DIY – Florals from Hobby Lobby.

Front Door Paint Color

Door Color: Benjamin Moore Cheating Heart.

RUG: Ruggable – Moroccan Collection: Kavi Rose Gold.

Curtains: Ikea.

Foyer Decor

Lantern: Magnolia Hearth and Hand House Lantern.

Similar Fiddle Leaf Tree: Here.

Planter: World Market.

Home Style

We have made some large updates in our home, as well as some smaller cosmetic ones, that have completely transformed the feel. Our home is a Five-Level Split and for those that haven’t seen that style of a home in person, the main perks for us were the high ceilings in every room and the very open layout. It also gives us very usable space, rather than a traditional setup.

Wall Color

Wall Color: Sherwin Williams Light French Gray.

Dining Room

This room has seen several updates in the short two years we’ve lived here. We did a DIY update to the existing chair rail that was here when we moved in. We wanted a statement rug to ground the room and we couldn’t love our non-slip, washable…yes I said WASHABLE rug more in this room!

Wall Color: Sherwin Williams Light French Gray.

Rug: Ruggable Vintage Daisy Bordered Blue.

Mudcloth Pumpkins: you can find my DIY on our IG page – click on “DIY“.

Bench: Ikea.

Chandelier: Crate and Barrel.

Table Top

Wall Hanging: World Market Half Moon Wall Hanging.

Candlesticks: World Market

Clear/Gold Vase: World Market

China: Macy’s

Table Runner: West Elm

DIY Dining Table

Our dining table was actually the first piece of furniture Brett and I built together…on the garage floor at my condo. It was certainly worth it, but needless to say our knees were killing us by the end of it! (We’ve updated the workshop since then.)

Similar Dining Table: Here, Here & Here.

Dining Chairs: World Market – WM- Paige Dining Chair – Natural Linen.

Buffet Table: found at a thrift store, refinished with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint – similar here.

Floating shelves: Brackets – Farmhouse Brackets – similar: here (brackets + shelves).

Kitchen

Our kitchen is one of my favorite spaces in our home. We have put a lot of blood, sweat, well no tears… but definitely blood and sweat in here!

Countertop

Countertops: Marble-looking Quartz Counters.

Kitchen Island

Brett custom built the kitchen island. Our previous island didn’t allow for counter stools, so after a short discussion one evening, Brett created this beautiful piece! We decided to paint it an accent color to really make a statement and chose a rug that pulled the blue undertones out.

Washable Kitchen Runner: Ruggable.

Kitchen Cabinets

The wall cabinets were in good condition when we purchased the home and with it being such a large space, we opted to paint rather than replace them! We are still very happy with this decision and added details to the existing cabinets to customize them to our taste!

Backsplash & Faucet

Backsplash: Floor and Decor – Ice white square subway tile – similar here.

Faucet: Delta Trinsic in Matte Black.

Pendant Light: Wayfair.

Kitchen Hardware

Kitchen Hardware: AmazonHome – no longer sell these – similar: Pulls & Knobs.

Kitchen Cabinet Paint Color

Kitchen Cabinets: Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace.

Kitchen Island Paint Color

Kitchen Island Paint Color: Benjamin Moore 1617 Cheating Heart.

Counterstools

Counterstools are from Target.

Breakfast Room

Wall are painted in Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace.

Rug: Ruggable – similar here.

Dining Chairs

Dining Chairs: World Market.

Table Greenery: Target.

Lighting: IKEA Bamboo Pendant Lamp – similar here & here.

Curtains & Rod: Ikea.

Fireplace & Dining Table

A 3-sided fireplace brings warmth to the breakfast room and family room.

Similar Stacked Stone: Here.

Similar Counterstools: Here.

Chevron Mirror: World Market.

Breakfast Room Dining Table: Overstock.

Message

Letterboard: similar here.

Family Room

This space has had some updates recently! This room is a bit of a hybrid between a family room and a traditional living room. Our goal with changing the furniture and layout in this room was to create more livable space. We chose a mid century modern sofa that was not only the design we wanted, but also extremely comfortable!

Sofa: Macy’s Jolene Sectional.

Accent Chair: Target.

Floor Lamp: Target.

Knit Blanket: West Elm.

White Mudcloth Pillows: RH – similar here.

Wall color: SW Light French Gray.

Hardwood Flooring

Recently, we updated our flooring with a consistent floor throughout the entire first level. We chose a high-end laminate because of the durability…we will be having kids in the future and puppies (lots of them, if it were up to me…though my husband would likely disagree). It’s a beautiful laminate and can hold standing water for up to 30+ hours, so perfect for kitchens!

Flooring: Floor and Decor – AquaGuard Gogh Water-Resistant Laminate – AquaGuard Laminate.

Rug: Ruggable Linear Aztec Black.

Poufs: At Home.

Coffee Table

Per the suggestion of my sister, she recommended we go with a padded ottoman, rather than building our own coffee table. She has two little ones and they love running around our house so avoiding sharp corners was a main concern. We decided to do a narrow ottoman with two poufs for additional seating.

Ottoman Coffee Table: Target.

Home Office

Upstairs we have bedrooms and then this loft space.

Chair: World Market.

Decor

Since I work from home, this functions as my office. It’s the only room in this house that’s just “my” space, so I wanted to add a touch of girly, that I wouldn’t necessarily want in the main areas of our home. I chose white furniture, added accents of rose gold and gold, and finished with a fun rug that ties it all together!

Rug: Ruggable – Kilim Batik Pink – similar here.

“Think Differently” Sign: HomeGoods

Similar Work Hard + Be Nice to People” Sign: here.

Desk: No longer Available – similar here & here.

Master Bedroom

The goal for our master bedroom was to have a place that felt calm and serene. That had things that were special to Brett and I in the furniture and the decor. I designed the prints above our bed with lyrics from our first dance song, and had them custom made. Our furniture in this room is some of my favorites.

Bed: JCPenney – no longer available – similar here.

Lights: Ikea

Bedding

Pillows: Target

Similar Bedding: Here & Here (both are highly recommended).

Walls

We decided to flip the typical dark accent wall, with one light wall as the focal point instead.

Dresser

Typically the way things go in our household is I sketch up a design of what I’d like and Brett makes it come to life, even better than I planned. We built the nightstands together first and Brett built our beautiful 9 drawer dresser while I was away for work!

Master Bathroom

The colors in the bedroom flow into the bathroom to give a very spa-like feel. The tile we chose ties the two rooms together perfectly.

Bathroom Vanity

Vanity is painted in Chantilly Lace by Benjamin Moore.

Round Mirrors

Mirrors: AtHome – similar here.

Chunky Shelves

The chunky floating shelves were built by Brett.

Wall Color: SW Alabaster.

Floor Tile

Tile: Floor and Decor Florentina Gray Tile – similar here.

Basement

As I indicated in the intro, our house is a 5-level split, so this room is the first floor down prior to the true basement. We spend a majority of our downtime in here. We wanted this room to be comfortable, first and foremost, but also have an element of design.

Couch: Macy’s.

Decor

Wicker Baskets: Homegoods

White baskets: Target

White vases and tan base: Target

Other white vases: West Elm

Eucalyptus Garland: Target

Frames: Ikea.

Paint Color

Sherwin Williams Light French Gray SW0055.

DIY

We decided to build a custom entertainment center that was functional, had storage, and also was a well designed focal point when you walk in the room.

Guest Bathroom

This was one of my most nerve racking experiments. This bathroom was just about the furthest thing from our style. 

  Since this isn’t a heavily used space currently, we didn’t want to invest a lot money into it! Our goal is to update the counter and faucet relatively soon and at some point put in permanent flooring, but for now we love what we accomplished on a budget!

Similar Hardware: Pulls

Flooring

I decided one evening to attempt to stencil the floors. It was a bit of a project and with drying time, it took a good chunk of time, but in the end this was a great decision and the perfect short term fix!

Floors: Royal Stencil Quilt stencil Concrete Quilt – similar here & here.

Bath Mat: World Market.

Tray

Tray: Target – Opalhouse

Mirror

Mirror frame: DIY with 1x6in boards and corner brackets (easy update).

  Well friends, that’s a wrap! We had so much fun putting this together and couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity to showcase all the work we’ve done in our home.

Thank you again, Luciane, for featuring us on your blog and big thanks to all that read along! Can’t wait to meet new friends and find new inspiration ourselves!

  Many thanks to Ali & Brett for sharing all of the details above. Make sure to follow @BARCbyBrettandAli on Instagram for more inspiration!

Photography: Columbus Pics.

  Bring the Holidays Home!

Exciting October Sales!

Thank you for shopping through Home Bunch. I would be happy to assist you if you have any questions or are looking for something in particular. Feel free to contact me and always make sure to check dimensions before ordering. Happy shopping!

Joss & Main: Up to 75% Off!

Wayfair: Up to 70% OFF – Huge Sales on Decor, Furniture & Rugs!!!

Serena & Lily: Friends & Family: Get 20% off everything with code: HOMELOVE !!

Serena & Lily: Huge Furniture Sale! Up to 60% Off!!!

Pottery Barn: Warehouse Sale – Up to 75% Off

West Elm: Bedroom Sale – Up to 70% Off.

One Kings Lane: New Fall Arrivals!

Williams & Sonoma: New Sales every week.

Neiman Marcus: Designer Sale: Up to 40% OFF.

Pier 1: Big Furniture, Rugs and Fall Decor Sales!

Posts of the Week:

Small Lot Modern Farmhouse.

Beautiful Homes of Instagram: New England Home.

Florida Vacation Home Style.

Transitional Custom Home Design.

Beautiful Homes of Instagram: Canada.

Beautiful Homes of Instagram.

Beautiful Homes of Instagram: Lake House.

Black and White Interior Design Ideas.

Reinvented White Kitchen Design.

Interior Design Ideas: Designer’s Home.

Interior Design Ideas: Colorful Interiors.

Florida New-Construction Family Home.

Modern English Tudor Design.

Interior Design: Ideas House Tour.

Southern Beach House with Modern Interiors.

Custom Home with Artisan Craftsmanship Interiors.

Traditional Kitchen Reno Ideas.

Interior Design Ideas: New Orleans Home.

Beautiful Homes of Instagram.

You can follow my pins here: Pinterest/HomeBunch

See more Inspiring Interior Design Ideas in my Archives.

Popular Paint Color Posts: The Best Benjamin Moore Paint Colors

2016 Paint Color Ideas for your Home

Interior Paint Color and Color Palette Pictures

Interior Paint Color and Color Palette Ideas

Inspiring Interior Paint Color Ideas

Interior Paint Color and Color Palette

New 2015 Paint Color Ideas

Interior Paint Color Ideas

Interior Design Ideas: Paint Color

Interior Ideas: Paint Color

More Paint Color Ideas

“Dear God,

If I am wrong, right me. If I am lost, guide me. If I start to give-up, keep me going.

Lead me in Light and Love”.

Have a wonderful day, my friends and we’ll talk again tomorrow.”

with Love,

Luciane from HomeBunch.com

Interior Design Services within Your Budget

Come Follow me on

Come Follow me on

Get Home Bunch Posts Via Email

Contact Luciane

“For your shopping convenience, this post might contain links to retailers where you can purchase the products (or similar) featured. I make a small commission if you use these links to make your purchase so thank you for your support!”

from Home http://www.homebunch.com/beautiful-homes-of-instagram-newlyweds-home-design/ via http://www.rssmix.com/