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Love and Specs

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  • Home
    • Home Decor
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    • Tour Our Cottage Style Home
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DIY, Home, Room Makeovers, Tour Our Cottage Style Home

DIY Laundry Room Makeover With Design Ideas, Decor & Painted Cabinets

We’re sharing our little laundry room makeover with before and after photos, all of our laundry room ideas and fixes, the decor we chose including our fun new light fixture, our DIY painted laundry room cabinets and more!

DIY, Furniture Makeovers, Home, Room Makeovers, Tour Our Cottage Style Home

Quarantine Decor: An Easy, Cottage-Perfect DIY IKEA Hemnes Coffee Table & Media Console Hack

We haven’t done an IKEA hack in a while, and definitely didn’t intend to do another one any time soon, but thanks to a inspecting every inch of our house for weeks on end now, no piece of furniture in our home right is safe from my paint brush! So today we’re sharing a super easy IKEA coffee table and media console hack with a DIY furniture makeover tutorial that can be applied to upgrading any old, beat up piece of furniture around your house.

DIY, DIY Favorites, Home, Room Makeovers

Stuck At Home? Easy Home Improvement Projects: Cleaning & Organizing Checklist That Will Make Your Home Shine Like New!

Today we’re not only sharing the ultimate, ultra satisfying home improvement and deep cleaning task checklist to help make your house sparkle like new without having to spend a bunch of cash, but we’re also talking you through the easiest, most effective methods and totally accessible supplies you’ll need for tackling each task like a pro.

DIY, Home, Home Decor, Room Makeovers, Tour Our Cottage Style Home

Small Master Bathroom Remodel 101: Ideas, Decor Sources, Storage Solutions & More!

Our first post of 2020 is here and it feels appropriate to really kick this year off here on the blog with a bang! You guys have been asking what’s up with our small master bathroom water debacle and remodel, and today we’re delighted to report that the work is finally done, which means we’re sharing before and after photos of the space, tips for maximizing space and storage in a small bathroom and all of our design ideas and decor sources. Come celebrate with us!

DIY, Home, Home Decor, Room Makeovers

Office Flooring Project with the New Floor and Decor Tolleson

We’re SO excited to officially kick off our office makeover project today and specifically, the hunt for the perfect flooring to set the tone with the help of one of our tried and trusted home improvement secret weapons that we think has completely changed the flooring and hard surface game for the better – Floor & Decor! Come see photos of our super cool detached backyard office before we got to work on giving it a facelift and all of the awesome flooring options we found when we toured the gorgeous new Floor & Decor Tolleson store!

DIY, Home, Room Makeovers, Tour Our Cottage Style Home

Our Entryway & Guest Bedroom Decor Refresh Ideas Made Easy

Today we’re sharing our super simple, cottage-inspired entryway and guest bedroom makeovers full of easy decor ideas. Even better, we’re sharing the recent home improvement revelation that has been a total game-changer for us and allowed us to kick the “hangxiety” and hang anything and everything with ease – High & Mighty! Seriously, friends, if you’ve ever hung anything or plan on hanging anything on your drywall in the future, you need this in your life!

DIY, DIY Home Decor, Home, Room Makeovers, Tour Our Cottage Style Home

Easy DIY Wood Kitchen Cabinet Hardware Makeover

Today we’re talking all about our journey into wood kitchen cabinet hardware, including all of the trials and triumphs that happened along the way when swapping out our old black kitchen cabinet hardware for wood knobs and drawer pulls. This is such a fun, easy way to give your kitchen a cool, cottage-cozy DIY makeover, and we’re giving you all of the inside info, tips and tricks for how to get it done!

DIY, Home, Room Makeovers, Tour Our Cottage Style Home

Our Backyard Patio Pergola Project: The Full Reveal!

The moment is finally here and we couldn’t be more excited to show you our backyard patio makeover and the reveal of our beautiful new pergola space with Leisure Time Products and Home Depot! With tons of cozy, inviting cottage design details and decor, our slightly boring backyard was transformed in just one day to become a magical little backyard oasis we’re completely in love with. Come see the incredible before and after pictures!

DIY, Home, Room Makeovers

Our Exciting Patio Pergola Project: Details, Design Ideas & More!

We have been absolutely dying to share this backyard project with you guys and now the moment is finally here! Including a pretty pergola on our backyard patio has always been a dream of ours, and now thanks to Leisure Time Products and The Home Depot that dream is finally becoming a reality! Come hear all about our plans, the project and pergola details and see our design and decor inspiration!

DIY, Home, Room Makeovers, Tour Our Cottage Style Home

Cozy Cottage-Farmhouse Front Porch Ideas

Our cozy cottage-farmhouse front porch got a little refresh for spring, with a few new furniture pieces and some pretty new plants, and we’re asking you for inspiration as we dream up an even bigger (and more permanent) makeover for this tranquil outdoor space! 

Cozy Cottage Farmhouse Breakfast Nook featured by top Phoenix lifestyle blog, Love and Specs

DIY, Home, Room Makeovers, Tour Our Cottage Style Home

Our Cozy Cottage-Farmhouse Breakfast Nook

We’re firm believers that everyone needs a cozy breakfast nook no matter what the size of your abode, so come get some breakfast nook ideas and inspiration by way of our own little breakfast nook that’s freshly updated for spring morning sippin’ and sitin’!

DIY, Home, Room Makeovers, Tour Our Cottage Style Home

A Backyard Fire Pit Refresh for Spring

Though it may seem premature, we’re continuing our plight to inject a little bit of sunshine into your winter-covered lives today by sharing our spring-ready backyard fire pit refresh that’s all set for some warm-weather entertaining!

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Maryal Miller Carter

loveandspecs

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Instagram post 17857398488397697 Everything is starting to bloom here again in Phoenix & thanks to some much needed rain the last few days, I see a pretty pretty spring on the horizon! Obviously, another spring Arcadia tour is in order 🥰 This snap is from last spring & I was just positively smitten with this rose-covered fence with that bloom-lined walkway in the background. Swoon!
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Instagram post 18144143809141458 Ok ok ok since everyone clearly loves @bridgertonnetflix & it seems to be a nice little introduction to the world of romance novels for a good chunk of you like @virginriverseries was for me last year, would you guys be interested in a roundup of my very favorite romance novels/series to read if you loved it & want more of it?! I’m gonna be honest - I read 140 books in 2020 & watched very, very little TV because I was positively enthralled with the wonderful world of romance novels! Seriously... it saved my sanity in 2020 with its endless happy endings, loved-up storylines & spicy characters. It was honestly the best escape from reality in my downtime. I had surgery in September & I was 0% nervous or anxious while I was waiting to go in because I was so engrossed in my book & barely even noticed when they wheeled me into surgery 🤣 My doctor came in to chat with me & go over the procedure before we went in & I was like “yeah yeah cool cool but can you leave so I can get back to Ryder & Sammy because they’re at a pivotal moment right now.” 😂 So let me know if that would be of interest & I’ll get a blog post up ASAP! 💗
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Instagram post 18027559984291140 Oh snap! New shutters (the DIY tutorial for these is on the blog)! Also you can catch a glimpse of the new light we installed a while back here. It’s a sage barn light with a black metal arm & base by @progressltg progressltg & we’re obsessed! It was such a good swap & I’m so glad we just dove in & figured out how to make it work. Totally worth it. Also can we just talk about how awesome a stained wood Dutch door would be here?! It’s happening... someday. It has to! 😂
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Instagram post 17915557696547572 What. A. Day! Today has been pretty thrilling to say the least, so I thought I’d keep the good vibes rolling & share a super fun DIY project over on the blog that we finished last year. Im so happy that we’re finally getting around to sharing one of the many DIY home improvement projects we’ve tackled during our time at home this last year & I think there’s no better way to kick it off than by sharing one of my very favorites - our DIY shutters! Well decorative shutters, that is. This project is SO easy to execute & will save you a bundle compared to buying prefabricated shutters or having a carpenter make them for you. We have a few more things we’ll be changing & adding to our front porch over time, but it’s coming along! Hop to the link in my bio to get the full tutorial on how to make your own shutters at home & before & after pics of the project! Exterior Paint Color: @sherwinwilliams Alabaster & Shutter Color: @sherwinwilliams Agreeable Gray
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Instagram post 18092369944221655 Just when I think my love of pink is of the casual variety, I start looking through old photos & realize that I spent most of summer 2020 finding & snapping pretty pink houses in Northern Michigan 🤣 No wonder I love this time of year so much - it’s a pinksplosion! If you missed all 3 of the Northern Michigan Cottage tours on the blog last summer/fall, you can see all of the pink prettiness & a ton of other amazing color combos at the link in my bio if you just go to the category “Home” & then “Michigan Cottage Tours” in the drop down menu. So many inspiring, charming homes to get lost in! The first image here in the carousel is of one of my very favorite historic Victorian homes in Petoskey, MI - you can admire it right from the main drag that drives through & out of Petoskey & the details always leave me drooling!
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Instagram post 18116494060171676 Citrus season & the lead up to Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite times of year to be a Phoenician. 🍊 It’s starting to get pretty dreamy around here right now & I feel like I reeeally needed this. I was startin’ to lose it a little bit I think being so cooped up inside. 😬 You guys know I’m a serious sucker for all things V-Day & especially love all of the pretty pastel, romantic, happy home decor that hits shelves right now, so if that speaks straight to your design feels head on over to the link in my bio because I shared my annual roundup of ALL the V-Day inspired decor I’m loving this year that would be awesome additions to your abode all year round. And bonus, they’re perfect for gifting, too! 💗

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