South Florida Living – This is my hobby.

Trader Joe’s is Now a Core Part of My Personality

A Trader Joe’s opened up by my house and…I’m in danger.

It has actually been both a bad and good thing (but mostly good).

We’ve now reduced our Costco trips. For us, Costco shopping can often lead to overspending and food waste.

Now, instead of one massive haul every couple of weeks, we are popping into Trader Joe’s several times a week.

I would normally hate going to a grocery store that often, but it is genuinely a joy to shop there.

Elaine is obsessed with the little kid carts and the staff treat us with loving kindness — the opposite of most South Florida shopping experiences (or experiences in general), tbh.

There are also so many delightful treats.

This week, I discovered the vanilla bean mini sheet cake and, once again…I’m in danger.

I’m venturing into the body products too, and I fear I might be a Goodwill + Trader Joe’s girlie head to toe these days.

My favorite thing about having TJ’s next door though is that it greatly enhances my hosting offerings.

I had friends over last weekend and supplied quite a spread of TJ goodies in various thrifted serving plates scattered amid thrifted table decor.

We tried a couple of their flatbreads from the frozen section and, naturally, I had to throw in a few sweet treats. The cookies aren’t as good as oreos but they were still pretty delish!

I’ve been waiting to use these adorable napkins I found at Bealls. The woven mats are from Goodwill, along with most of the serving dishes.

Cabbage serving tray also from Goodwill. We tried the curry chicken salad and bacon ranch chicken dip — both delish.

I love that I can throw together a spread without making a huge production of it with TJ’s help.

So, yes, I might be spending too much money there, but I’m spending it on friends and vanilla bean sheet cake.

The math works for me.

Styled in South Florida Season 2 launches on Sunday, August 16th!

I can’t wait to introduce you to this season’s tour hosts and their gorgeous homes.

Keep your eyes peeled for five more home tour episodes!

Last week’s thrifted ‘fits:

T-shirt, sunnies, and bag from Goodwill West Palm Beach

That New Build Charm

Our cookie cutter 2020 home has all the amenities of modern living — a garage, a laundry room, and ample closet space.

All things we didn’t have in our first home, which was full of historic charm but had little convenience.

When we chose to leave our first family home, I was initially devastated to sacrifice the charm, but quickly grew accustomed to not having roof leaks, rats in the attic (a horrific chapter of my life), roots growing through old pipes, etc. etc. etc.

New build homes have their own version of charm — the charm of a lifestyle devoid of constant home repair.

At least, not major ones. *raps knuckles against forhead*

As new build home owners, we quickly learned of the term “builder grade” and its true meaning when the appliances that came with the house started falling apart, along with the cabinets.

So, we’ve found ourselves in a state of constant cabinet repair. Which is not as big of a deal as rats in the attic, so it’s okay.

This last repair round, we decided to finally add knobs to our cabinets!

I have no explanation for why we didn’t have knobs for six years. This is a safe space, I know you’d never dream of judging me.

For someone who cares deeply about design and aesthetics, I was oddly pretty hands off with the knob choosing. Vince wanted knobs that could be delivered next-day, which limited our options, so I picked out of a set of Amazon links he provided and I think they look great!

While we were at it, we installed a fan on the lanai (fancy word for porch) and added shelves to the boys’ room due to our increasing number of house plants that need surfaces to live on.

I shall not provide photos of the boys’ room — you’re welcome.

The knobs might be six years late, but they’re an example of how incremental tweaks over time make a house a home.

While I still miss the charm and character of our first home, I certainly do not miss squeaks that echo in the night or the scrabble of taloned paws overhead.

For now, I’ll happily take my builder grade cabinets, Amazon knobs, and structurally sound roof, and I’ll layer the charm on with my thrifted wares.

Speaking of thrifted wares, I finally styled some of my finds around the house last weekend:

I found the small pressed flower art on top at Goodwill recently; I’ve had the butterfly pressed flower art for several years and found it at American Thrift in West Palm Beach

I purchased this crocheted garland from The Cozy Cottage in Lake Worth Beach and layered it over a garland purchased at World Market in our loft.

I hung this sconce from The Cozy Cottage in Lake Worth Beach in our entryway and placed beach treasures on it.

Everything in my entryway is thrifted – the antique chair, pillow, table, and lamp

These shells and sea fan remind me of beach days in the Bahamas.

Another sconce from The Cozy Cottage in Lake Worth Beach, now holding more beach treasures and resting underneath a gorgeous needlepoint piece I found at a garage sale in West Palm Beach

Last Week’s Thrifted ‘Fits

Dress secondhand from a friend, sunglasses from Goodwill West Palm Beach

Top from Goodwill Denver, Tote from Goodwill West Palm Beach

An Airbnb Refresh

Vince and I purchased our first home in 2017 — a tiny, historic Spanish Mission style house with a cottage behind it.

We had our two boys and lived on top of each other but absolutely loved that little house.

Vince used the Florida room as his office, we knocked out a closet to put in a stackable washer and dryer (a lot of old FL homes don’t have laundry hookups indoor or in the main house), and I filled each space with thrifted finds.

So many sweet memories in our first home as a family.

Had so much fun styling and sharing with my friends.

Love, love, love this piece and will never get rid of it.

The hardest thing about living in this house was that our headboard was right against the boys’ bathroom, so they were constantly waking us up!

I had a blast making style choices for the boys’ room.

Was obsessed with this bird chandelier we ordered on Etsy but had to eventually dismantle because of our cats.

We filled the cottage with thrifted finds.

We moved to our current home just as the pandemic started — it couldn’t have been better timing. I can’t imagine us weathering lock down and virtual learning on top of each other in that small space.

Our new house is much bigger, but it’s a cookie cutter new build, so we sacrificed the historic charm of our first house for modern comforts as our family grew.

It was fun and special to watch our new house being built.

We did keep our first place, though, and now rent out both the main house and cottage.

With my hectic schedule, I hardly drive by the house and haven’t been inside in over a year, maybe longer. With all the amazing thrift finds I’ve come across recently and left behind, Vince asked me to consider snagging some and saving them for an airbnb decor revamp.

The current styling of the airbnb is much more modern, neutral and less eclectic than my house — it needs to appeal to broader tastes — so my challenge is finding ways to update decor that fit within as specific palate.

I went out over the weekend and came away with some starting points:

At Goodwill, I found four matching pillows to brighten up the couch, a basket that can be used on the kitchen counter or maybe living room coffee table, some artwork for the kitchen, and a woven trunk.

I’m thinking the woven trunk would be good to double as a table and extra storage in the secondary bedroom of the main house.

We are in desperate need of a new couch (maybe leather this time around?), so I’ll be visiting the Nearly New Shop in West Palm Beach weekly to see if I can find the perfect piece.

What do you think? I’m open to all suggestions for sprucing up the place. I’ll share styling details here as I go!

Last week’s thrifted ‘fits: