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If you read our recent post on how to decorate small spaces, you know that I have been on a complete organizational roll lately! My small 700SF apartment, lacks much of the kitchen storage space that I was looking for (including a pantry!), so the kitchen has been under a complete organizational makeover! Today we are sharing 6 kitchen hacks that has completely transformed our kitchen in hopes it will inspire you as well! Enjoy!

1. Clear Containers – Clear containers are definitely an investment, but they are well worth it! You no longer have to sort through mountains of cereal boxes and bags of chips. Clear containers make the pantry feel more uniform and clean. These are perfect for storing cereal, sugar, pastas, flour, etc.

The Everyday Hostess Interior Design 14

2. Bins and Baskets – Invest in bins or baskets to help store more bulk items. I like to keep all my canned goods, baking items, and chip products in separate orderly bins. You can stack products on top of each other in the baskets, but they still appear more organized and systematic.

The Everyday Hostess Interior Design 16

3. Shelving Units – If your pantry doesn’t have many shelves, or if you don’t have a designated pantry space, consider adding a freestanding shelving unit to a hall closet to give yourself more storage space. This way you won’t have to waste valuable kitchen cabinet space with more canned food items rather than your favorite wine glasses! I have found Home Depot, Lowe’s, and the Container Store all sell great storage racks. I personally wanted to add a little extra color to my pantry, so I bought my turquoise one from the Container Store!

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4. Label Everything! – Labels bring a sense of order to your pantry as well as some personality! I absolutely LOVE these labels from Clementime Mercantile! She makes labels for any product you can imagine from sugar, and flour, to cleaning products or tools! Definitely check out her shop and if you don’t see the label you are looking for, she can customize one for you!

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5. Spice Jars – To keep your spice cabinet from getting too cluttered, invest in glass spice jars. This will also bring a sense of uniformity to your cabinet rather than having a million different brands and sizes of spice jars to your cabinet. I bought my spice jars from Bed Bath and Beyond and it has made a world of difference in my spice cabinet!

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6. Spice Jar Labels – When I say label everything, I mean everything! These gourmet spice labels from Itty Bitty Paper Co will completely transform your spice cabinet! They include 80 different herbs and spice labels plus two blank pages in case you have some unique spices.

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The Olympics are in full swing, which means it’s time for a party! This is the perfect opportunity to gather your friends and family over to enjoy some festive Olympic themed sips and treats while enjoying the games.

This year, I had the wonderful opportunity of celebrating the Opening Ceremony with my friends over at Swoozies! I shared some of my favorite Swoozies patriotic party decor as well as recipes for an Olympic themed menu.

The Everyday Hostess and Swoozies

Check out some photos from the event, as well as some inspiration for your own party!

The Everyday Hostess and Swoozies 1The Everyday Hostess and Swoozies 19These DIY popcorn torches only require an 8×11 piece of gold paper and scotch tape. The easiest party decor there is!

The Everyday Hostess and Swoozies 23The cutest Swoozies cupcake kit!

The Everyday Hostess and Swoozies 6These gold medal treats are just sugar cookies with frosting and yellow sprinkles! Add a red white and blue ribbon, and you have an edible gold medal!

The Everyday Hostess and Swoozies 4Star shaped watermelon! The perfect refreshing treat that only requires a star cookie cutter and some fresh watermelon!

The Everyday Hostess and Swoozies 16The most patriotic Koozies!

The Everyday Hostess and Swoozies 5The Everyday Hostess and Swoozies 8All American Red, White, and Blue Sangria!

And for all my friends here in Dallas, be sure to come visit us at our next tailgating themed party at Swoozies on August 27th!

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If you all read our recent post on how to decorate small spaces, you know that floor to ceiling drapes are the number one way to make a room appear larger and more spacious for your guests. Longer window treatments not only bring a sense of elegance and a finished look to a space, but they also draw your eye upward, which elongates the entire room. To me, these are crucial, especially if you like to entertain and want to add both functional and decorative elements to your home.

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Finding window panels at the store that fit your space and just graze the floor ever so perfectly can be incredibly tricky! When Landon and I were designing our home, we searched high and low for drapes that matched our style and were the exact length we needed. With little luck we decided to pursue custom made drapes, which are actually much more cost efficient and higher quality than store bought panels.

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We worked with Amanda at Avec Dieu Couture Home, who was an absolute delight and so incredibly helpful! She worked with us personally to find the exact pattern, size, and type of drapes that we needed. I sat down with her for a little Q&A to get a little bit better understanding of the importance of drapes as well as about her background and company. 

One of the first things future brides and grooms love to do after getting engaged is is officially asking their friends and family to be their bridesmaids and groomsmen!

Getting the bridal party set early makes it officially feel like it’s your wedding season! You can talk about the bridesmaid dresses and bachelor party, and for the future bride, you have your team ready to help make those tricky decorating decisions!

After you’ve decided who you want standing next to you as you marry the person of your dreams, I think it’s always fun to find a creative way to ask them. Being in your bridal party is a big honor, so let’s make it more special with a fun invitation!

I have compiled a few of my favorite ways to ask groomsmen (don’t worry ladies – bridesmaid gift ideas are coming soon!) to be in your wedding party, including how we asked ours!

Cheers and happy planning!

“Will you be my Groomsmen” cards from PurpleandPlatinum:

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Brooke, the owner of this shop, is an absolute delight to work with! She will customize these cards to match your wedding colors and the style of your wedding.

Custom pint glasses from Frederick Engraving:

The Everyday Hostess - Wedding Wednesday Groomsmen Gifts 3

These custom beer pint glasses are the perfect groomsmen gift for your guys! Arika can customize them to include each groomsmen’s name, your monogram, the wedding date, or even the location! These pair perfectly with the beer labels below.

Custom beer labels from StudioBLabels:

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What is more manly than these custom beer labels with your favorite local beer?! I am absolutely obsessed with these labels and think they are perfect for any groomsmen! Rachel also makes wine labels for your bridesmaids, so it’s the perfect one stop shop!

Wedding weekend sneak peek: 

For many of us in our mid 20’s, small space living is a fact of life. Apartments never seem to have enough storage or maybe certain rooms in your house are just a bit smaller than you prefer.

Learning how to decorate these small spaces and still keep them entertaining ready can be a challenge – one that I face regularly! My fiancé and I recently moved into the most beautiful little apartment in Dallas with gorgeous floor to ceiling views of downtown. Although we absolutely love it, I must stress the LITTLE part of it. Condensing two people’s furniture and lives into one 700 SF apartment has proven to be tricky, so we have been extremely focused on how to maximize every inch.

I know we are not alone in this, so I have compiled our 12 key tricks to decorating and maximizing your space while keeping it entertaining ready.

12 Tips and Tricks:

  1. Increase Kitchen Storage – It’s not uncommon, for apartments or older homes to have minimal pantry space or none at all. Get creative, and turn your hall closet into a pantry. Add some simple storage racks from Home Depot or the Container Store to serve as additional shelves for your pantry items.

The Everyday Hostess design and home decor - kitchen pantry

2. Lighting – Keep it light! To make your space appear larger, use pale colors such as whites, beige, blues and greys. Neutral colors help create a nice flow to the house that isn’t overwhelming to the eye. You can then add a few pops of color here or there to add some personality. We went for a beige and white color palette and added hints of aqua in the living room to give it a serene and calming environment. We also added little pops of color in our decor, specifically in our design books. We used the same white and beige palette in the master bedroom, but instead of aqua we used navy and gold as our accent colors to give the room a little extra pop!

Hey Dallas Friends! Come join us at Swoozies for an Olympic themed party! We will be sharing fun party styling ideas and recipes (yes, you get to drink some cocktails too!) to help you get in the Olympic spirit before the Opening Ceremony!

Plus! You get 15% off anything you buy in store with you tell them you are here for the event with The Everyday Hostess! I look forward to seeing you all on Saturday!

The Everyday Hostess at Swoozies Dallas

 

 

Happy Wedding Wednesday! It’s officially my new favorite day of the week! We are moving full speed ahead with the wedding planning and are just a little under a year away from the big day!

Even though I have been dreaming about this day for what feels like forever, I have found myself a bit overwhelmed with the entire process. So many exciting things to do and, of course, I want them done yesterday! 🙂  If you’re like me and are planning your own wedding, your daughter’s, or a friend’s, I am sure there seems to be an unending list of things on our wedding to-do list and the order and priority of everything is a little bit hazy. 

So! To help you out, I’ve put together this wedding planning timeline printable to serve as your guide as you enjoy this exciting time. Feel free to click on the link below to download your PDF and check off all the big ticket items as you go! And most importantly, enjoy every minute of this wonderful time in your life! 

The Everyday Hostess Wedding Planning Timeline

Download your free wedding timeline printable here!

If you read our post on The Etiquette of Thank You Notes, you know I am a huge advocate of handwritten thank you notes! If not, head over and check out some of our tips on when to write a thank you note (hint – pretty much always)!

So now that we are all writing thank you notes ;), what kind should you send?

I always like to have two sets of stationery on hand – One that is more traditional and classy for professional use (sending a thank you note to a potential employer for an interview or to my boss for tickets to a football game) and one that shows my personality for casual use (sending a thank you note to a friend for gift or to my  fiancé’s parents for having me over for dinner).

I’ve compiled a few of my favorite stationery sets in case you are in the market!

 The Everyday Hostess - Informal Stationery

  1. Boatmen and Geller | 2. Palm Beach Papery  | 3. Palm Beach Papery | 4. Boatman and Geller

The Everyday Hostess Formal StationeryCrane & Co. | 2. Crane & Co. | 3. Neiman Marcus

However, if this is your first set of stationery and you are looking for a one-card-fits all approach, pick a set that is classy but still shows your individual taste, such as the following:

The Everyday Hostess Stationery

  1. Palm Beach Papery | 2. Minted | 3. Crane & Co. |

PS – Don’t forget to keep a set of “Forever” stamps in your wallet so you are always ready to send a note in a pinch!

 

 

It’s all in the details. This is probably the most widely used phrase that comes out of my mouth when planning a party. No matter the size or formality of the event, it’s always the custom little touches that your guests leave talking about.

You can throw the simplest party that requires very little planning, but by including just a few personalized details, it looks like you have put way more effort and time into your event.

Two Funny girls and everyday hostess personalized stir sticks

Napkins and cups are always the two most popular items to customize, but my absolute new favorite item to include in events is personalized drink stir sticks! These adorable stirrers from Two Funny Girls add an extra sophisticated and stylish flare and can be customized for any type of event! I love monogramming them, but you can also add a single initial or even a design of your choosing! I recently had a Bachelorette watching party and Two Funny Girls was able to design an adorable red rose on them for me! You could even have your team’s mascot or logo added to them for your tailgating parties this fall!

Strawberry Mojito Summer Cocktail

No matter the formality of your next party, these stir sticks are perfect! They always make a big statement and your guests will be incredibly impressed! Definitely check them out, as well as Two Funny Girl’s wide inventory of adorable party supplies!

The Everyday Hostess Cocktail Recipe, Strawberry Mojito, Memorial Day Recipe
This post has been sponsored by Two Funny Girls. All opinions and comments are my own.

Today is the very start of a new fabulous series that I am SO excited about! WEDDING WEDNESDAY!!!

Yes, it certainly is wedding season, so it’s fitting, but the real reason I am starting it this year is because…

Landon and I just got engaged!!!!

The Everyday Hostess Engagement - Kate Jolliffe and Landon Haaf Proposal

We are over the moon happy and so excited to be starting this next chapter of our lives. Thank you to all of you who have sent us such sweet words with your love and support. We are so grateful.

To start off Wedding Wednesday, I thought it would be most fun to start with our proposal story! So here goes!

Landon surprised me with a birthday trip to Nashville (my favorite city ever!) and while I, of course, wondered if this could be THE weekend, I naturally talked myself out of it. So I went thinking this would be an incredible weekend filled with fun tourist activities, hiking, and naturally lots of country bars with good cocktails and dancing. Little did I know it would be the most amazing and incredible weekend of my life.

We spent the first day walking around and exploring the city and all the hot tourist spots. Landon had never been to Nashville before, so it was fun showing him around this lively city.

The second day, we decided to take the scenic route down to Franklin (if you haven’t been, go! It’s just the cutest little town with a picturesque Main Street and some incredible art festivals!) via the Natchez Trace Parkway. Of course we stopped at Loveless Cafe, because how do you go all the way down there and not stop for their world famous biscuits?! We continued down the parkway checking out the beautiful views and stopping at all the overlooks.

We finally came upon a map, which led us to Jackson Falls. We planned on making a sort of “nature walk” part of our outdoorsy day, so this was the perfect spot! We strolled down the paved walkway to an absolutely gorgeous waterfall where kids were playing, sliding down the natural rocks, and enjoying their picnic lunch with their parents. Landon was looking for a quieter and more remote location (little did I know it was so he could propose!) so we walked back out and hiked to the other overlook at the top of the trailhead. We arrived at Duck Creek overlook and realized we had already stopped there during our drive so we headed back to the waterfall in hopes of a more solitary environment!

The Everyday Hostess Engagement - Kate Jolliffe and Landon Haaf Proposal

As luck would have it, literally all the families were gone! There were just a few scattered couples but they were all off on their own having their own romantic moments so we felt like we had the serene setting all to ourselves. We sat on a bench overlooking the waterfall and just talked about our relationship and life and how much we loved each other. It was just perfect.

I must have been in my own little world because as we were talking he was setting up a GoPro on the other side of him to capture the next few life changing moments, and I did not even realize it! He then started playing one of our favorite romantic country songs and asked me to dance. Well duhhh! I love to two step, especially with my favorite dance partner. We sang and danced and the moment was just beautiful. The song started to fade and Landon started telling me how much he loved me and got down on one knee and proposed.

The Everyday Hostess Engagement - Kate Jolliffe and Landon Haaf ProposalThe Everyday Hostess Engagement - Kate Jolliffe and Landon Haaf Proposal

It was absolutely perfect and so is he. This was the best moment of my life and of course I cried, said yes profusely, and jumped into his arms. We called our family and friends to share the news from Franklin and spent the rest of the evening celebrating!

The Everyday Hostess Engagement - Kate Jolliffe and Landon Haaf ProposalThe Everyday Hostess Engagement - Kate Jolliffe and Landon Haaf Proposal

To cap off the most incredible weekend EVER, Landon threw a surprise engagement party at our new apartment when we got home the next day. Even my family flew in from Colorado and California to surprise me! It was the absolute best way to top off an amazing weekend and celebrate with our loved ones.The Everyday Hostess Engagement - Kate Jolliffe and Landon Haaf Proposal

Y’all, I am one heck of a lucky girl. We are so excited to be starting this chapter of our lives together and planning our wedding.

Over the next year, I will be sharing our favorite wedding tips and tricks as well as featuring my favorite vendors and companies that we are using for our Colorado destination wedding! I hope you enjoy following us on this adventure and get some good advice and tips for the next big wedding in your life whether it’s your own, your daughter’s, or your friend’s!

Xoxoxo

Kate
PS. Did I mention how lucky I am?! Landon made this amazing video to capture the whole weekend! 😍