Home Decor for Him and Her

Since moving to Kansas City, I’ve been exploring the little boutiques and scoping out the best places for sales! Coming from a small town without any real “boutiques” to visit, this place is heaven. I’ve noticed that many locally owned stores and even restaurants have been adopting a neutral color scheme that attracts both men and women. Since so many of my friends have gotten married recently or moved in with a significant other, I thought it might be fitting to blog about “gender neutral” decor and color schemes for the home.

The colors I love right now that suit everyone is using soothing creams, navy, gray, and gold in main living areas. Men don’t want tons of pink in their chill out space and women don’t want anything that resembles a Star Wars color scheme either. Blending these neutral colors together is a great way to make a space both feminine and masculine.

Gender Neutral Home Decor

Let’s start with a great area rug. Some of my favorites have come from places like TJ Maxx. The Ikat pattern (featured above) is a really nice way to add interest to a space while keeping it gender neutral. Choosing colors in the rug should be a reflection of how you want the rest of the room to look. The navy and cream in this rug will allow you to branch out with other colors in the rest of your design.

Moving on to the all important coffee table, I’m in love with lighter woods like bamboo, salt oak, and drift wood. They’re not hard on the eyes and they make everyone happy. If your man is a little more relaxed about the home decor situation, a clear glass table with gold legs or embellishments would be really nice too!

Finally, let’s talk about decorative pieces. Marble is a go-to material for me. I just can’t get enough of it (even if it’s fake!) Apothecary jars are also something I look for to use in the kitchen as a pretty way of storing sugar, coffee, and flour. For the living room, I want my couch to look inviting! Throw pillows and fluffy blankets is an easy way to accomplish this. I found that cat pillow on Etsy and I think it’s a really cute way to add personality to your cozy space without making the man in your life cringe.

What’s your favorite way to make a space “home-y” for you and your man? Leave me a comment!

Christmas Gift Ideas for Men

Happy Monday friends! Today, David from Haute Ecriture is going to share with you some of the best gifts you can get men for Christmas. Over on his blog, I’m sharing great Christmas gifts you can get women! Read on for David’s Christmas gift list! 

It’s barely November and Thanksgiving hasn’t even come yet but this is when you should be buying Christmas gifts because it can be difficult to find the perfect gift if you don’t get it early. Stores will be crowded and items will be sold out and you’ll be left getting a boring gift. This is especially true if you’re buying for a guy.

People usually think that buying gifts for women is more complicated because they think that women are picky but buying for men is much more difficult because there are less options. Whether your buying for a friend, your husband, or any other guy in your life, it can have you spending hours in the store wondering what to get.

As someone who loves gift giving and usually plans his gifts months ahead of time (I bought my husband diamond earrings for our first anniversary 6 months prior to the date), I’m going to help the readers of Witty ‘N’ Pretty with this guide to buying gifts for men. Let’s get started with the most common gift on the list.

1. Cologne

I know this sounds cliché (because it is), but this can go a long way. If you get a perfume by a luxury brand like Chanel, Dior, or Dolce & Gabanna, it will stand out. The guy you’re buying for will appreciate that you got it from a brand like that instead of heading into your local Walgreens because you didn’t know what he likes. He will appreciate it even more if you get him an Eau de Parfum instead of an Eau de Toilette and explain to him what the difference is because it shows that you put some thought into it.

Speaking of not knowing what he likes, that isn’t much of a problem either. If you go here, you can see my guide to buying fragrances and that should help you out.

2. A hat

I know what you’re thinking. “A hat? How on earth is a hat a good Christmas gift? That’s so boring.” It’s a good Christmas gift if you know what kind of hat to get.

This one can be tricky because it depends on your recipient’s style but most guys these days wear fitted caps and SnapBacks. A SnapBack is a baseball cap that has the adjustable snaps on the back while a fitted cap is just that. A baseball cap that is fitted to the wearer’s head and comes in a specific size. When you buy these hats, you need to make sure that the visor is flat. It can’t be the classic baseball cap with a rounded visor. Places to get these hats include Hat Club and Lids. Lids also let’s you customize your hats so you can put his name on it. Again, that seems cliché but most guys will like it. Also, if you can’t find out his size in fitted caps, get a SnapBack.

3. Shoes

Men love shoes just as much as women do, so getting your guy a pair of shoes from his favorite brand will make a great gift. It shouldn’t be too difficult to figure out what style he likes but you need to know exactly what shoe size he wears. Just pay attention to the style of his shoes before the holidays you should be able to get a good idea of what kind of shoes to get.

Oh, and don’t forget to get a cleaning kit with those shoes. Men love to take care of their shoes.

So, what do you think of those gift ideas? Are you going to get any of these items or do you think I should’ve listed something else? Let me know in the comments below. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to my blog at www.hauteecriture.com for posts like this and more.

Personalized DIY

Happy Friday loves! I honestly didn’t think this week would come to a close but I’m so glad it finally is. My job has me busy (no I’m not a full-time, paid blogger) and I’ve been putting a ton of effort into it. I hit the gym a few times this week and find it really difficult to walk up and down stairs at the moment. First world problems, right?

Besides my typical activities, I took on a little DIY project earlier in the week and wanted to share it with you! I went to Michael’s Craft Store for some inspiration and found that individual wooden alphabet letters were on sale for $3. I bought an ‘E’ for ‘Elizabeth’ (I haven’t always gone by ‘Liz’), a hot glue gun, white paint, and loose pearls and clear gemstones.

I got home and painted the letter with the help of my little kitty cat, Muffin. Actually, she just sat there and watched me. I had to put on a few coats of paint because the wood was rather porous.

After the paint dried, I plugged in the hot glue gun and started glueing on pearls and gems. If I ever did this again, I would nix the gems and stick with pearls. Because the gems are clear, from a distance it looks like they’re just gaps where pearls should be.

 

Voila! It’s done and is a really pretty little desk accessory! There’s so much on my desk right now that it should come as no surprise to anyone that I rarely use the actual desk. I’d hang the letter somewhere in my room but I’m so tired of putting holes in my walls.

My little sister inspired this DIY when she and my mom were renovating the back porch. She used an ‘M’ for our last name and glued little shells on it. The project turned out so pretty and is a great accessory to have on the porch. Let me know what DIY projects you’ve taken on lately! I just might try one of them!

 

Kate Spade 25% Off Sale!

I love summer for many reasons but probably the biggest reason has to do with the amazing sales that seem to come with the season! Seriously, semi-annual sales, Father’s Day sales, Fourth of July sales, back-to-school sales, and so many others. Right now, I’m loving the Kate Spade sale going on! An additional 25% off all items already on (you guess it) sale. Here are a few of my picks! Visit the link to find your favorites and share them with me in a comment below!

Kate Spade New Arrivals!

Do you notice anything different about the blog today? Perhaps that it has a new name? That’s right! I’ve renamed this little blog of mine to “Witty N Pretty” and I couldn’t be happier. I mentioned in a previous post that I was going to start changing some things and I woke up today and decided I needed to make things happen. I was kind of nervous to do this but once I committed to the name and bought the domain name, I knew I had done the right thing. You’ll now find all of my posts on wittynpretty.com and my instagram account is @wittynpretty21!

On to the main event here, I was browsing Kate Spade’s website earlier and am thrilled by all the new arrivals! I thought I’d share a few of my favorites with you. Before I do, I’m wondering if any of you have noticed her new collection called ‘Madison Chaplin’ costs significantly more than her other collections? The tote bag I was looking at cost $1,198! Truthfully, I’m not sure what makes this collection better than the others but if you know, enlighten me!

Ok, how adorable is that ‘Mrs’ tote bag? I just love it! I’m totally jealous that I’m not at least engaged so I can buy that thing! Then again, if I were engaged at this point in my life, I would be too poor to buy it. The same goes for the ‘Cedar Street’ bag next to it, which looks an awful lot like a Celine purse. Coincidence? I think not.

My love of bows knows no boundaries. I really like this silk blouse for the office! The colorful stud earrings would brighten it up nicely. I think the best outfits have a neutral base but colorful accessories!

The last few things on my lust list for Kate Spade new arrivals are self-explanatory. Passport holder, need I say more? These sunglasses though, are perfect for my very round face. I hate “bug eye” sunnies and typically opt for glasses with some angles to them.

What are your favorite new arrivals?