Before and After: Blush & Bashful Powder Room

January 13, 2022

The "before" (totally fine, but zzzzzzzz).

First, please tell me you get the reference in the title. Thank you. Now, you may recall I have a thing for pink bathrooms - I painted the tiny bathroom in our San Jose house a deep rose shade (vastly improved from the prior olive-and-vomit-themed aesthetic). In my new place, the main bath is very much not-tiny: There's an entirely separate vanity area (pictured above) with its own sink and walk-in closet in addition to the toilet-and-bathtub bathroom itself. Which means my "personal suite" in our apartment constitutes about 1/3 of the total square footage.

Which is A-OK by me.

Fashion Tips & Reader Questions

The Mom Uniform: Autumn Edition

October 1, 2020

Let's throw it back to 2019, when I wrote a post that is 2020 in a nutshell if I've ever seen one. (Updated with brand-new outfit suggestions.)

Today's post is a twofer, inspired by a couple of reader questions I received via Insta.

Does comfort and style exist? Can you wear yoga pants but still be stylish? and
I need a Mom Uniform for fall; help me.

The answer to the first question is a resounding "yes," and am certain that it is so, because otherwise I would be naked. There is just no power on earth (except for, perhaps, the possibility of a date with Jason Momoa) that could get me out of the house attired in clothing that makes me feel restricted in any way.

Lifestyle

Adventures In DIY Highlights (Alt Title: Oh My God, I Ruined Erin’s Hair)

September 3, 2020

A couple of weeks into lockdown, I did a bad thing.

I highlighted my own hair.

Even as I opened the box I could hear my colorist yelling at me from all the way across the city, but I couldn't help it: I'd already been badly in need of a touch-up when the world shut down, and whatever, I was bored, and still in the moment of quarantine when it felt like an opportunity to try new things (puzzles! bread! ...remember when we still had energy?!). And highlighting my own hair sounded kind of fun, or at the very least perhaps an opportunity to generate Content (tips and tricks! fashion roundups! ...remember when we still had an iota of bandwidth left?!).

Decor

The Most Calming Living Room I Ever Did See

July 13, 2020

Our Home Editor, Audrey, takes us on a tour of her gorgeous living room, decorated in calming neutral tones and textures.

Welcome to our living room! While it’s the least-utilized space in our house, it's certainly my favorite from a design perspective. The living room was a huge selling point when we first saw the house back in February of 2019 – I knew there was potential the second I saw the large windows and vaulted ceiling. I also quickly realized that the layout of the room would be tricky.

The living room is long and narrow, with a fireplace in the middle of one wall, a large, arched window in the middle of another, and the entrance to the dining room dominating a third. There was only one wall that could possibly be used for a television, and it took us months to figure out a seating configuration that made sense based on the location of the TV. To make things easier, we chose a television that doubles as art when you aren’t using it.

During renovations, we did several things to the living room that made it feel more updated and workable: we painted everything white (including the vaulted ceiling beams!), removed all of the track lighting, added 4 wall sconces, laid new hard wood floors, and updated the tile in front of the fireplace. This gave us a fresh start as we started to bring in furniture and décor.

Beauty Tutorials

How To Air-Dry Your Hair…The Right Way

July 3, 2020

I am 39 years old, and I literally JUST discovered that a) I have really quite curly hair, and b) it's pretty. Turns out that I've spent nearly four decades Doing It Wrong.