{Decorating our living room with World Market.}

A couple of weeks ago I showed you my favorite World Market finds. World Market invited me to be a part of a blogger collaboration which gave me the opportunity to shop their store and pick out some items that I’d want to have in our home — and to be honest, it so was fun! World Market is filled with gorgeous, delicate, manly, colorful finds, there were a half dozen ways we could have decorated our home — probably even more, but I had to narrow it down to just one ;)

We decided to pick out two end tables and then spend the rest on accessories. And that owl candle I blogged about in my first post? That’s him up there, on our bookshelf. He’s so cute! I love the mustard color paired with the etching details on his eyes + belly.

Here, let me show you what else we brought home…

I have googly eyes over fun rings, and right now I’m loving mustard, so when I saw this pig bowl {in the kitchen section, of course}, I knew it would be perfect for holding my collection. And just like my friend Nester, I thought it would be fun to keep my jewelry in a bowl in the living room. I hope Zack doesn’t mind… snort.

We bought a brand new only-used-for-30-days-by-the-first-owner gray linen couch and when I saw this dark gray burlap pillow my eyes said “gimme, gimme” and then I tossed it in the cart. Ha, that was easy!

See this book page wall? I’ll be sharing all the super easy details of how we made it soon, but first I want to show you the two accessories from World Market sitting on our beautiful mahogany end table…

Candles are one of my favorite things to have in our home. Just like I wrote in my post a couple of weeks ago, it really is important for me to watch what I bring inside our home. We sold and/or gave away practically everything we owned to move to Los Angeles the beginning of September. Having lit candles in our home is magical. Candles make everything cozy, and when you plop down on our couch it’s like giving our guests a secret gift. They don’t even realize it but it’s the candle doing all the work. It’s not our couch. World Market has this amazing Mexican Pumpkin candle and I can’t stop lighting it. We paired it with this mercury glass vase, and together they make a pretty pair.

Don’t let me forget to tell you about the carved wooden coasters Zack picked out. They’re lightweight and distressed and look like they’ve help many cold drinks in a past life. I love them because in a store mostly tailored to women they caught my hubby’s eye. It’s important to me that Zack feels like our home reflects his personality, too.

And speaking of Zack, I found this metal cart {which I can not find on the website, so sad!} and immediately knew he’d want it. So I put it in our cart alongside that burlap pillow and kept on shoppin’. Happy Gus!

Decorating our living room has been a long, slow process. Half of me wants to enjoy it — let everything fall into place when it’s just the right time, but the other half of me wants to have everything done. I want to enjoy our home, seriously full on enjoy it, but there’s something about boxes of Gussy materials still unpacked and art leaning against the wall and a dresser that needs to be bought for our bedroom that makes me get all itchy. I know, I need to be more patient.

When I look at this shelf {above} I see a mix of old + new. Things we brought from Minneapolis, things we brought home from World Market, things we’ve made since arriving in Los Angeles. The more I stare at this specific shelf the more I see our home becoming a reflection of the world’s market.

At age 27, when it comes to decorating our home I have two choices: I can be thankful for the cities all over the country that have helped shape what we bring into our home {Lansing + Detroit, MI; Minneapolis, MN and now Los Angeles, CA}, or I can feel like I’m waiting to enjoy this adventurous life we’ve been given.

I think I need to choose thanks.

An antique brass owl hook hangs on the side of our bookshelf, just to make me giggle as I walk to the kitchen to grab a cup of morning coffee.

More coasters. More metal shelves. More green leaves oh-so tiny but a reminder of the life we’ve been given…

Dear World Market, thank you again for helping me be more intentional with what we bring into our home {and for your magical Mexican Pumpkin candles}. Home really is the best place to be. XO, Gus

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If you haven’t already, be sure to enter The HGTV Passport to Style Sweepstakes:

• Grand Prize package includes: A $10,000 World Market shopping spree and design consultation with an HGTV Designer
• There will also be 3 runner-up prize winners that will each receive a $1,000 World Market gift card!
• The HGTV Sweepstakes runs from September 22, 2012 until October 26, 2012 <— which is SOON!
• If you share the sweepstakes with 5 of your friends (via FB share or email) you can receive 5 additional bonus entries. This is part of the registration process when entering. Users can also enter daily for more chances to win
• Enter online at WORLDMARKETSWEEPSTAKES.COM or FACEBOOK.COM/WORLDMARKET

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This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™, but all my opinions + wordage are just that, MINE. Yeow!