Lights, curtains, & trees... oh my!

Quick post to update some fun new editions to the Russell Casa!

First one that I'm most excited about.. 

We have curtains!!!

When Micah and I built our house, we never planned on getting blinds on our family room windows. The land behind our house is protected by some wildlife pathway conservation so no houses will ever be built obstructing our view. Yahtzee! So we always want to be able to enjoy the view. However, it gets pretty hot during the day. And I get super cranky when I'm hot. Soooo.. Curtains are the best option to give us an open view and also provide shade when we want it. Love. I found these gems at IKEA for only $39 for two curtains. They're a bit thicker (which I wanted) but IKEA has some for only $19 too. 

And true to Russell tradition, we literally drilled them to the wall mere hours before my Festive Favorite Things Party!

But they went really fast thank goodness and didn't require too much effort. Well, no effort for me, poor Micah.  ;P  

Olive wanted to help 

The only annoying effort was having to move our couch so Micah could fit the ladder by the window. 

The curtains were hung within 30 minutes of Micah and I starting on them (not including me washing & drying them the night before.. They were really creased and I hate ironing) and I totally love how they turned out with our style home. 

Second most exciting part:

We finally got our Christmas lights up!!! Last year, Micah and I couldn't agree on what color or style to do (I wanted multicolor, but like old school incandescent and he wanted white). We settled on incandescent white hahaha and I love how they turned out! The Holiday Depot or The Christmas Ligt Professionals had the best offer for us -- $100 for a custom fitting to our house. Buying them in boxes and having random strings ending in weird places would've been about $120 from Walmart so we totally scored. And they are spaced out how I love them (12 inches apart) so you can actually see each bulb individually, not just jumbles of lights. 

We also finished decorating our tree and I totally love the end result. I need this kinda tree from now on. 

The bulbs are from Hobby Lobby, tree skirt from Walmart & the red pearls are from Target. 

xoxo

Mandi