Tilly recently partnered with Kaylee, the popular lifestyle influencer behind Champagne & Chalk to design her yard in Washington. She is the mom of four adorable young boys so our design team made sure to leave plenty of lawn for them to run and play. They left room for a playhouse and added some extra goodies like a fire pit and hammock to hopefully help the adults find some time to relax!
If you follow Kaylee, you know she has a great eye for home decor. As winter turns to spring, we thought our readers might enjoy some fun tips on how to spruce up your home so you can enjoy your indoors as much as the outdoors while we are all staying at home. Make sure to check out Kaylee’s instagram feed for style inspiration and a refreshingly honest look at parenting!
Tilly: You put a lot of time and effort into making your home so beautiful, why is that important to you?
Kaylee: I think there are a few reasons to put time and effort into your home. The first reason is completely for me. I like to surround myself with hand-picked vintage items. These treasures are not only aesthetically pleasing, but come with memories of attending junk hunts with friends and family or are family heirlooms. I can look at most of the pieces in my home and tell you a story about how it came to be in my home. There is great pride in each piece and also a lot of nostalgia.
The second reason I care so much about my home is for my family. I want my husband and kids to come home and feel comfortable, to be able to find what they need. If a house is in chaos, typically our moods follow along those same lines.
Finally, I feel we are called to open our homes to others. Do I care what others think of my home? Yes! I care if they walk into my home and see that I took the time to create a space of conversation and warmth. I care that they feel at ease in my home. I want people to walk away from a visit at my house feeling loved!
Tilly: We love the vignettes you create around your home and feature on your Instagram @champagn_and_chalk. They help make a house a home! Do you have tips for our readers to recreate these moments?
Kaylee: Absolutely! When creating a vignette, I first pick a theme. It could be a holiday theme or a specific color palette. Next I gather up the items I have in my house; always shop your home first! If I feel I’m missing something I will try to find it on Amazon (who wants to drive anywhere)?!?! Once I have all my items I start to arrange. The trick is to have a variety of heights. I will often use books or small wood boxes to give an object some height and dimension. I also like to display objects in odd numbers (I like 3s and 5s). Finally, I always try to add in some sort of greenery, either faux or real. It typically is not perfect the first time I create a vignette. I often have to take a photo or step away from the space to see what needs to be changed. That’s the fun of it too. I constantly feel like I’m moving decor around, which makes the space look new.
Tilly: What is one of your favorite budget friendly styling ideas for spring?
After winter, I think we all are longing for a little bit of color. My favorite budget friendly styling idea is to decorate with fresh cut flowers. In years past, I have shopped at farmer's markets for fresh cut bouquets. I could get very large bouquets for $10 and they would last for several weeks. I am extremely excited to be working with Tilly to create my own flower garden to cut and bring inside. Another idea is to simplify. Winter decor is beautiful, but also tends to be a lot. Twinkle lights, trees, ornaments, you name it. It’s like decor overload. I like to scale down in the spring and have more of a clean, crisp look.
Tilly: You always have touches of nature and greenery throughout your home - what about nature inspires you?
Kaylee: Growing up, my mom and dad always took such great care of their yards. I have so many memories running around chasing my siblings with water balloons or being pulled on a blanket by my dad. Being outside tends to bring out the best in me. Living an hour outside of Seattle you can imagine we don’t get a lot of sunny days to enjoy outside, so I like to bring the outside in. Indoor plants and fresh cut flowers really help bring that life, those memories into my home.
Tilly: How often do you change up your home styling?
Kaylee: That’s actually kind of a joke in my family. They are constantly teasing me for moving things around in my house or painting some piece of furniture. I honestly cannot stop my mind from trying to create beauty within my home. I really try to stay within a budget, so my mind is constantly trying to figure out ways to use what I have, but in different ways. If I had to put a timeline to it, I’d say I do big changes seasonally, but I’m constantly tinkering with decor placement.
Tilly: It’s starting to get warmer across the country - do you have any styling tips to make outdoor entertaining areas more cozy and intimate?
Kaylee: I love clean spaces. Pressure wash! You wouldn’t believe the life you can give back to a space by doing this. I also really enjoy lighting. I’m super excited to implement the lighting plan Tilly made for my yard. Outdoor lighting invites us to stay outside longer! I also truly love some sort of space for people to gather. It could be a picnic table or a fire pit with chairs around it. Just having a spot that family and friends can sit around and enjoy good food and drinks is important.
Tilly: What are your favorite places to shop for home decor?
Kaylee: Ok in all honesty, Amazon! I cannot find my vintage decor there, but a lot of my newer accent pieces are from there. I also really love Target...I mean who doesn’t?!?! For vintage items, I shop Goodwill and eBay.
Tilly: This is such a strange time and millions of families are home with their children. What has been one of your favorite activities with your kids during this time?
Kaylee: We have been keeping to a pretty strict schedule. Without it, I think we’d all go crazy. I make sure we start “school” at the same time every day and try to keep with their school schedule as much as possible. One thing I am making sure we do every day is art. I have noticed my boys calm down and focus so much more when I turn on some relaxing tunes and break out the watercolors. We have found Deep Space Sparkle to be a great resource. Another thing we have been doing is kicking the soccer ball around. We cannot go on the playground equipment right now, so we are trying to find other ways to get some exercise and have fun.
Tilly: We loved working with you to design your outdoors, what was your favorite part of working with Tilly?
Kaylee: I truly loved this process. Tilly really took the time to find out what I wanted and completely nailed the plan for my yard! They also relieved any form of stress by breaking up the yard plan into manageable phases and providing exact plants that I need to get. Honestly I could just walk into a nursery and say could you get me all of these...so simple. I also really like that their goal is to make a yard inviting. They add things like hammock and kid areas to meet the needs of everyone that comes to that space.
Tilly: We know you started off with stylized chalkboard writing - so cool! If you could share an inspirational chalk message with the country what would you write?
Kaylee: Oh that’s a good question!
Philippians 4:6-7
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
All Images courtesy of Champagne & Chalk’s Instagram. For more home inspiration, visit: https://www.instagram.com/champagne_and_chalk/?hl=en
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