Letting stories unfold around the table
Before we actually moved ourselves and our children into “the pretty house” in June, we had a top priority: update the kitchen. The overall layout of the kitchen was beautiful. I liked that it was open to the rest of the living space but still somewhat closed off so my children couldn’t run through it screaming while I was trying to cook dinner (yeah, that happened most days at the old house).
But this gel stain? We weren’t so much a fan.
Well, hello! It’s been quite a while since I updated here (considering that my last post was Jackson’s birth story and he’s now a rambunctious, mobile 15 month old). It’s been a crazy few months but I thought it would be fun to share an update: We’ve moved!
Our old house is beautiful and has more than enough space for us to raise our family for many years, but the longer we lived there, we realized there were a few things about it that weren’t ideal long term. The street was the main thoroughfare of the neighborhood and cars came flying by our house full speed, something that became increasingly scary as Caleb started riding his bike and exploring the yard more. The wooded backyard that we loved to look at was actually really difficult to play in because it was so muddy, buggy, and shaded most of the time. We knew we’d probably move eventually but figured it might be in a few years before we left this brown house of ours.
Well, long story short, when a beautifully updated house in our current neighborhood came on the market this spring, we had a whirlwind few days of praying and talking before deciding to make an offer. God swung wide open more doors than we could count, and before we knew it, the house was ours! These are the pictures from the real estate listing of the previous owners and even though we’ve already made quite a few changes to make the place our own, you can see why we fell in love with the place while looking through these pictures.
Oh my goodness, y’all, there aren’t words for how much we love this house. There are so many things about it that are exactly what we’d always hoped for our in forever home. It’s on a much quieter street with a three car garage and a sunny, open backyard perfect for letting the kids run around. The floor plan is open like our last house with a living area full of big windows and natural light.
I love the overall layout of the kitchen with that big window, the pretty lights, the taller counter above the actual kitchen counters, and the big pantry. We didn’t love the gel stained cabinets and replacing them is actually one of the first things we did to the house before we moved in (post on that coming soon!). The updated cabinets are white and beautiful and I can’t wait to share them!
The entryway and dining room are big and open with mirrors and pretty wainscoting and molding. I’m excited to eventually get a new dining room table and chairs and pretty rug for in here.
I feel like I’m having to stop myself from just saying everything is beautiful and bright but….the master bath and bedroom are beautiful and bright. 🙂 The master bedroom has a huge window (not pictured, unfortunately) and the bathroom has skylights that fill the space with pretty natural light.
The boys’ rooms are a bit bigger and have a fun little jack and jill bathroom between them.
The last bedroom is the guest room and it’s technically a second master because it has its own bath as well (this is pretty much the grandma suite).
There’s a bunch more pictures I could share but I’ll finish with another one of our favorite parts of the house: the basement! We love having a big finished basement as a play space for hosting friends and kids, as a training space for Jordan, and just another living space. I’ve already hosted our neighborhood play-group several times since we moved in and I love having this space full of friends and kiddos.
When we started the process of selling our old house and moving, Caleb started referring to the new house as “the pretty house” and the name stuck. It’s been a whirlwind of a few months getting our old house sold and moving into this new one but we are so, so grateful for this new home and all the ways it’s already been a blessing. I can’t wait to keep making it into a space that feels like ours and then filling it with the friends, family, and neighbors that we love!
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more occasional updates about the new space!
When we first saw our house, the staircase was one of my favorite things about it. There are two big, beautiful windows that go almost from floor to ceiling and they let in the most beautiful light to both floors. It took us almost two years to finally paint this area and put up a staircase gallery wall, but that space looked so, so beautiful once we did.
I’ve said it before, but Christmas decorations are one of my favorite parts of the holiday season. Putting up our decorations marked the beginning of Christmas, and I loved sitting in front of the twinkling lights of the tree with a good book and a cozy blanket.
Now that we have a little one, I am excited to create those same traditions. I follow so many wonderful bloggers whose homes are stunning visions of neutral Christmas decor, and my creative heart love loves loves seeing all that. But if I’m being honest, it just didn’t really happen in our home this year. I put up a lot of our decorations we had last year and had fun shopping the house to find things I could transform to be more Christmassy, but this year our house just feels cozy.
When it comes to fall decor, I am all about keeping things simple and cozy. If you were here for our Christmas home tour, you might remember my goal is always to use things we already have around the house in new ways to give the house some holiday cheer without spending too much money (in fact, I wrote a post about just that!).
Fall is even more low-key around here since it’s such a busy season for us, but I have found the time to move things around and add a little bit of coziness to our space. I almost feel silly calling it a home tour since all I’ve really done is add a few little white pumpkins and small decorations here and there but I’ll give you a glimpse into our home anyway.
When we moved into our home two years ago, my husband and I both knew that hospitality would be important to us. Our marriage mission statement includes a section on inviting people into our hearts and our homes and we’ve loved doing that through hosting our church small group, having lots of people over for meals, and even being Airbnb hosts for a year.
But now that we have a little one, this whole hospitality business is a lot more complicated. Not only is our house a lot messier and full of colorful baby junk than it was before, constantly changing nap and bedtime schedules make planning specific times for meals or overnight guests especially challenging.
We are still learning what it looks like to have open, hospitable hearts and take care of the needs of our own family, but these are five little tricks I’ve discovered that make a big difference in keeping us accountable to our marriage mission statement and actually have people over for meals or to stay the night.
When we moved into our house almost two years ago, one of the first things we wanted to decorate was the living room. We spend so much time there and wanted it to feel cozy and homey as quickly as possible! Like most spaces in our house, everything about it was pretty much beige and orange-oak colored. These are two of the only pictures I have from the very first weekend before we moved in and I painted it all (that was before my blogging days when I pretty much never took pictures).
Letting all of Jordan’s family check out the house on our first weekend there!
Since we moved into our house last year, I have loved spending time decorating the space and making it our own. But if I’m honest, sometimes I feel a little silly about how excited I get for these projects and how much time and money (or at least how much money I WANT to spend) we invest into these projects. Aren’t there more important things to worry about than how our homes look?
YES, there are absolutely things more important than having a tidy or presentable home. If you don’t enjoy decorating in the slightest, there’s no shame in that and you can still invite people into your home and practice hospitality in beautiful ways. But for me, these five reasons below make investing time and energy into decorating our home absolutely worth it.
Whenever I “finish” a space, it brings me so much joy to walk by it. I find myself admiring the little shelf I just styled or wanting to sit down, put my feet up, and snuggle that cute Target throw pillow while we watch some Netflix. When our home feels more finished and tidy, I enjoy being in it and want to spend more time there. Once we’d finished our nursery, I spent hours sitting in this chair, taking in that space and dreaming of our little man. Having that space complete made us feel ready and excited to bring home our baby boy!
My husband and I have been married almost three years and have gone through our share of garage sale and thrift store furniture over those years. Since we bought a house last year, we’ve had a lot of fun slowly finding furniture pieces that we love that are both beautiful and functional. These five tips below are my best pieces of advice for finding quality furniture for cheap that you love, is in good shape, and will last you a long time.
Before I share those, I do have one important side-note and/or disclaimer: Do some research to find out what the price range is for things like couches, dining room sets, beds, etc so you have a good idea what is cheap, average, and expensive. A big, comfy sectional might run you several hundred dollars on Craigslist but still be a great deal. The goal is to get the furniture you want at a price that is reasonable (or super cheap!) for whatever that item is!
Anyway, without further ado…
I’m putting this tip first because it is my absolute favorite. SO many of the items around our home were purchased at a 40-60% discount because they had a slight scratch or chip. If the damage is something you can live with (and it usually is), then make sure to ask stores if they have any “as-is” items available. Ikea has a great as-is section where lots of folks have gotten great deals. This dining room table below is one of my favorite things we own and we got both the table and bench for almost 50% off because there’s a 2-3 inch scratch on the top. We buffed it out a bit, stained it, and it’s good to go!
When I envisioned our little one’s nursery, I imagined something calm, neutral, and airy with fun pops of color and whimsy. I love the look of DIY white mounted deer heads and wanted to incorporate them in a way that still fit with the bright feel of the whole room (you can check out the reveal of our son’s nursery in this post!). I threw these bad boys together using a few supplies from Hobby Lobby and an hour or so of work and I love how they turned out! They are so easy that I almost felt silly typing out the steps to make them (because it’s basically just spray paint and glue).
If you already have a can of spray paint and catch Hobby Lobby when they’re having a sale (or you’re smart and use that 40% off coupon on your phone!), you can make this project for super cheap and with very little work. And aren’t those kind of projects the best kinds?
