To us, Happy Hour is a time to sit back, relax, and catch up with friends. It’s a time to chat about everything and anything, and that’s exactly what we bring to DIY Playbook’s monthly Happy Hour.

We want these monthly posts to be a chance to catch up with friends and bring just a little extra happy to your day. So grab your coffee (or champagne) and let’s catch up!

Love it

Casey

• Because it’s Frugal February (more about our quest to save money this month in this post), I really haven’t been buying much lately! Which has been great for the bank account. But I did purchase this leopard clutch because I had a gift card…and I’m obsessed. I wanted a clutch for dressy events (like weddings) that would go with everything and this one fit the bill. Plus it’s super roomy, yet still small enough to be tucked under your arm. Love it.
• I got this primer as a sample from Sephora, and I’ve loved it so much that I want to get a regular sized tube. I never really understood why primer was a good first step before putting on makeup, but I now understand the draw! It kinda reminds me of priming a wall before painting…a necessary step for a good outcome.
• I’m eyeing these sandals for upcoming trips to Phoenix & Houston. They look so comfortable and like they would go with just about any ensemble. Plus I love Sole Society.

Bridget

• I have this leather jacket in black but because I get so much use out of it (and love it so much), I decided to buy it in brown too! 
• I recently found out that Amazon sells Barn Door Hardware (thanks for the tip Katie!). Has anyone used this hardware?! I’d love to hear your thoughts before we buy anything and start working on our DIY Barn Door Project!
• I finally decided on a coffee table and recently purchased this one!! I loved a lot of the options I shared in this post but had a hard time finding one that was petite enough for our space. When this one went on sale for $150, I was sold! For a sneak peek at what it looks like in our space, check out this Instagram post.
• I‘ve been wanting a record player for a while and recently splurged on this one for the office! My sisters and I had a record player in our bedroom growing up (Footloose was our favorite record!) so every time I play it, I immediately smile and remember our old dance parties. Although I now have a record player, I’m pretty clueless when it comes to music so if anyone has any great record suggestions, I’m all ears! 

Link It

• LOVE this DIY Scandinavian Shiplap tutorial!
• How cool is this DIY Pantry Makeover?! What a brilliant idea to paint the inside of the doors for a fun and subtle pop of color?
• This office is absolute perfection. Cozy & functional all at the same time.
• Our friend Mandi from Vintage Revivals is now selling Letter Boards for HALF THE PRICE! If you’ve had your eye on this piece for awhile, this may be your chance!!
• This humble & kind message, the meaningful art, the blogger behind this thoughtful project… we love it all!
• We feel like we always link to a Studio McGee project, but can you blame us? Their projects are always #goals! Check out their latest family room reveal.
• A few weeks ago we spoke at the Old House, New House Home Show in St. Charles, IL and had such a great time! Speaking publicly is definitely new to us but having each other, especially in situations like that, makes us feel extra grateful to be on this blog journey together. Hopefully that presentation was the first of many more, which is pretty crazy to say since we were a little a lot hesitant to take this project on. Stepping outside of our comfort zone was one of our blog goals in 2017 and this definitely fit in that category and proved to us that trying things outside of our normal routine is really worth it sometimes!
• Although this is a short month, we somehow managed to squeeze another blog milestone in when we hit publish on our 1,000th post on the DIY Playbook!! Where has the time gone?!

Casey Updates

We celebrated my mom’s birthday in early February with dinner and an Escape Room! (Sorry for the grainy & dark iPhone pics)

Have you guys ever done one before? Basically you’re locked in a room for 60 minutes and you must work together to get out. There are all kinds of themes to choose from and we opted for a 1930’s theme as opposed to a creepy one like zombies!

We went in really confident that we would escape easily, but we didn’t end up making it out in the 60 minutes! I guess for this particular escape only a very small percentage of people make it out. We were bummed we didn’t officially succeed, but it was still a blast and we enjoyed a great dinner and drinks afterwards! I’d definitely recommend trying an escape room for a fun group activity.

Most of our weekends have been very low-key and I’ve loved every second of it. Because it’s Frugal February, we’re trying not to go out and spend money on the weekends. Instead it has been a lot of dinners in, along with drinks and movies on the couch. It’s pretty amazing! We’ve also started planning for our Europe trip this fall, so diving into that motivated us to keep up with our frugal practices.

On another (more random) note…I want to encourage everyone to get a full body scan by their dermatologist. I went for my annual check-up and ended up having a suspicious freckle on my back removed. Even if you think your skin looks totally normal, it’s important to get in there to see a professional at least 1x per year. Trust me!

Bridget Updates

Thanks to Casey’s experience, I made a much-needed check-up with my dermatologist this month. I always tell her how having her in my life keeps me so much healthier than I ever would be without her. She’s always encouraging me to take vitamins, exercise, drink more water, and sends me interesting health articles. I got pretty darn lucky in the Bestie category, where would I be without her?!

February around here has been busy with office updates! Some of the furniture recently came, which all required assembly. But because it’s DIY Playbook’s 4th birthday next week (yay!), my posts about the office are a little delayed. I figured I’d share a sneak peek here on Happy Hour until I check back in with far more details soon. Spoiler Alert: I’m loving how this space is shaping up! <—- and if you want more details, I’ve been sharing more real-time updates on our Instagram page (@diyplaybook).

Outside of setting that up I’ve been busy trying to plan our DIY Barn Door Project, which has taken a lot of research since this is our first attempt at a project like this. We started last weekend by hanging the track but still have to build the actual door… so it may be a while for the finished product to be done. Then I plan on adding some shiplap into this space so we still have a way to go! But I promise I will update you guys soon and share all of the details!
When I haven’t been knee-deep in office DIY, I’ve been trying to get out and enjoy Chicago’s unusually warm and gorgeous February weather! I don’t think we’re completely out of the woods, but the recent temps in the 50’s and even 60’s (!!) felt like it was practically summer! Okay, maybe that’s a bit dramatic but the sunshine and warm weather have me extra excited for the spring weather ahead.

Bridget&Casey