Maple Alps

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Creating Our Space Place - Basement Progress

BlogAmanda Walter | Maple AlpsComment

The year 2020 held some challenges for us, as I’m sure it did for you too. March came, and all of a sudden, things were shutting down, our offices were moved home, I started teaching online, and while a lot of things were placed on hold, a lot of things also became busier. As a result, you didn’t hear much from me last year - especially as school began in the fall. 

Of course, this didn’t mean that home projects weren’t happening. As you know, we bought our first home in 2019 and last year gave us the great opportunity to work on a bunch of house projects that we wouldn't have had the time to do otherwise. 

One of the bigger projects (besides the kitchen, which I cannot wait to start renovating) was the basement. We had planned on waiting to update it, but it just sort of happened that we were able to begin on adding some personalized touches. 

We are far from finished down there, but we have definitely made some progress.

J, as you likely do not know, has a slight obsession with space and space travel. We decided that giving our multi-purpose basement a space theme was a no-brainer. No, it’s not going to look like a cheesy nursery when we’re done, but I’m already loving how it is turning out. 

Before

Before

After!

After!


First, we painted the walls black. Yes, black. We toyed around with this for a long time and thought about doing just one wall, but ended up completing the whole main room. It looks great. Perfectly moody and classy at the same time. We love how it turned out. Paint is such an inexpensive way to update a room, and this was no exception. It took us about two days to finish and we love the result. Even though the basement is still virtually empty, I still go down just to enjoy the atmosphere at times. 

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Next we added some not-so-subtle pieces of art. For our main piece, Photowall came through for us yet again. If you remember, last year we ordered a wall mural from them for our master bedroom. This time, we went with a giant poster to go with our theme. It was pretty simple to assemble (took less than ten minutes!), and looks fantastic.

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Photowall sent us this gorgeous poster and is offering our readers 25% off this month only when you use the code maplealps25. If you’re looking for an easy but bold way to transform your space, some nice wallpaper, a mural, or even a canvas print might be for you!


We are still waiting on some furniture to arrive for our new “Space Place” thanks to shipping and demand. It will take a few months for it to arrive, so be sure to stay tuned in for more progress posts.

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Do you have a custom or themed area in your home? Tell me about it in the comments below!


16 Hours along the South Coast // Iceland

TravelAmanda Walter | Maple Alps6 Comments

If you follow along on Instagram, you definitely know that we hit up a few countries over the summer. We decided to take an extended and belated honeymoon and go to Europe. Seeing family and friends was amazing, but we also wanted to explore some new places on our bucket lists. Naturally, Iceland was on that list and though this particular day started out gloomy and cold, it did not disappoint. I decided to share some photos from the trip. We took hundreds, but don't worry, I'll only share a few ;-) 

We set out in our little rental car to explore the land:

South Coast in 16 Hours // Iceland | www.maplealps.com

We only had three days total in the beautiful country, and we used pretty much every hour to see only the surface of the amazing things it has to offer. We will definitely be revisiting Iceland in the future!

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South Coast in 16 Hours | Iceland | www.maplealps.com

The waterfalls were plentiful and beautiful. 

South Coast in 16 Hours | Iceland | www.maplealps.com

Unfortunately, pretty soon after taking this picture, I decided to walk into a very innocent-looking field. It turned out to be extremely wet, and both of my feet became soaked. It was a mushy walk back to the car, and trying to dry out my shoes and socks was quite entertaining. Luckily, I had a pair of flats in the car - not an ideal walking shoe, but they did the trick. Especially because we had a long walk ahead of us...

South Coast in 16 Hours | Iceland | www.maplealps.com
South Coast in 16 Hours | Iceland | www.maplealps.com
South Coast in 16 Hours | Iceland | www.maplealps.com
South Coast in 16 Hours | Iceland | www.maplealps.com
South Coast in 16 Hours // Iceland | www.maplealps.com

After seeing images of this plane crash for years, my husband insisted we go see it. It ended up being quite the journey to get there (almost an hour each way!!), but it was so cool to see.

South Coast in 16 Hours | Iceland | www.maplealps.com
South Coast in 16 Hours // Iceland | www.maplealps.com
South Coast in 16 Hours | Iceland | www.maplealps.com

These purple/blue flowers were all over the island! I loved them :) The churches and different buildings were also really interesting to see.

South Coast in 16 Hours // Iceland | www.maplealps.com
South Coast in 16 Hours // Iceland | www.maplealps.com

Just going through these pictures is making me want to go back! We definitely will be planning a second trip some time in the future.

16 Hours along the South Coast // Iceland | www.maplealps.com
16 Hours along the South Coast // Iceland | www.maplealps.com
South Coast in 16 Hours // Iceland | www.maplealps.com

The blue at the glaciers was unreal. By this point we were getting pretty hungry, so we sat and stayed a while and snacked on some....crackers (Did I mention that everything in Iceland is really expensive? We found a grocery store and stocked our car with snacks).

By the time we finished at the glaciers, we realized that we'd best be heading back if we were to be in bed by midnight. The sun is decieving! 

16 Hours along the South Coast // Iceland | www.maplealps.com

We HAD to hit another waterfall before completing our journey. Also, can I just mention now that my husband is a CHAMP who drove the ENTIRE time?! He's amazing.

16 Hours along the South Coast // Iceland | www.maplealps.com
16 Hours along the South Coast // Iceland | www.maplealps.com
16 Hours along the South Coast // Iceland | www.maplealps.com