The last year has been weird. When we moved into our home, I had huge expectations for how the following months and years would go, and honestly? Nothing has worked out quite like I expected. I’m a big fan of letting God lead us where we’re called, whether that is to big plans or small plans or no plans at all. I thought we would purchase our home within a few months of moving and that surely we would be fully renovated and settled in and starting a new chapter of life with our big kids. I never expected to still be sharing this home with my parents or to completely change our plans when it comes to renovating or to be expecting another baby, yet here we are. To be clear, I couldn’t be any happier than I am today. I’m just surprised out how everything has unfolded over the last eighteen months.
For awhile, it didn’t matter that we were living out of boxes or being super lazy on the weekends or splurging on takeout for dinner multiple times a week. It was nice to take time off from real life and indulge in family nights that felt like vacation, almost every single night. My mom and I binge watched Downton Abbey and drank so many cups of coffee together before the sun came up. Josh and I spent afternoons watching the sun set over the cotton field from our back porch. The girls learned how to live in a completely different environment and I got super nostalgic, every time I ran down the staircase and smelled my childhood. We took it slow and adapted to a different kind of life over the course of a year and it was such a sweet time for us all.
After we found out we were expecting, I tried not to think about all that we had on our plates. We’ve had some issues with the property lines and separating the acreage between us and my parents and it felt like ignoring all of those difficulties might make them go away. Instead of dealing with all of the other things I could have focused on, I just ignored everything else in my life in favor of rest and day dreaming. By summer, I was starting to panic and now that we’re less than five weeks from meeting baby, I realize how much is still left to do.
My parents are absolute saints and they are always willing to jump in and help us tackle projects when we’re feeling overwhelmed. After emptying our pod back in the spring, we had been walking around towers of boxes in the dining room for months. My mom told me last week that she could help me with anything I need to accomplish over the weekend and she did that and more. Nesting is the weirdest phenomenon. The things you find important (like vacuuming shelves in your closet and organizing your Christmas dishes) are so strange, so it was good to have her keep me on task. We opened every box that was left on Friday afternoon and when I walked out of my bedroom at 6:15 on Saturday morning, she was on her hands and knees in the sunroom — already working. I am so amazed my how much we managed to accomplish in three days — my house feels like a completely different place. We decided that if we could make the first floor feel like home — even without real living room furniture — that I could enjoy my maternity leave without feeling stressed about where to relax and I wouldn’t be embarrassed every time someone came to visit.
The sunroom has always been one of my favorite rooms of this house. As a young girl, it felt like being outside — it was filled with white wicker furniture and plants everywhere. As we got older, my mom’s vision for this space evolved, but it has always been one of my happiest places. We’ve talked about making this our dining room or Josh’s office or even a bedroom if we needed to separate the kids, but since I spend the most time in this space, we decided to make it an art space for me and the girls, with a few comfy chairs for reading and coffee drinking.
The table was in my sister’s dining room at some point and later migrated to my parents’ house. I co-opted it after Thanksgiving last year and it has been the best desk space. I added some industrial metal shelves (I brought these home during our office renovation and my mom painted them white over the weekend) to hold all of the art supplies we unearthed on Friday and we’re all a little excited about creating again, now that we can get to our favorite things.
The felt garland is something my mom bought me for Christmas a few years ago, but I needed some color above my desk, so pairing it with a few of my stars was the perfect touch!
There was so much that we threw away or stashed for a big yard sale this weekend, but there were just as many things that we cheered to find in our boxes. These plastic lambs were one of those things. The three that look alike, belonged to my great aunt Vera. She lived in a nursing home before she died and every time Ella visited, she played with these lambs. She eventually sent them home with us and every time Sophie played with our Little People barn, she would add her own lamb to the collection. Eventually, it just became a part of the group and now there is no separating these four.
We’ve already been painting and sewing and enjoying this space together and just this morning, my niece Vera played in the floor while I worked. It’s so surreal to think about having a baby of our own, but I can’t wait to spend time in this space together as they grow!
My parents sold most of their furniture before they moved into the barn, but we kept a few of the pieces that we love. These striped wing back chairs are one of those things and I’m looking forward to sitting in them for many years to come. I’m thinking about having black and white buffalo check slipcovers made for the winter months and then enjoying the lighter version during the spring and summer.
My mom had curtain rods and white sheers hung in front of the windows, but we managed to get them all down on Saturday morning (that’s actually what she was doing when I woke up). The corbels in the corners of the room will come down eventually, but my dad and I joked that it looked like we had birdhouses hanging in all of the corners!
I’ve been using a roll of white seamless to take my weekly belly photos, but the frame it hangs on is huge and was always in the way. I ran by Home Depot on my way home last night and bought just enough iron pipe to suspend it above the door. I had it all put together by the time Josh got out of bed today and he hung it for me before heading upstairs to work. It’s so much more functional and it looks pretty, too. I’m thinking about sharing a post in the next few weeks about how I photograph myself on this background and edit the images for the blog, so let me know if that’s something you would enjoy reading!
I’m not sure I’ve ever shared this view of the room, because our entire life was in boxes in the dining area for the last six months. We got the new rugs down this morning and moved the last few boxes out and now I can enjoy these spaces as they were intended. I’m eventually planning to replace the wicker chandelier in the dining room and the ceiling fan in the sunroom, with flush-mounted fixtures so that I can rearrange furniture without anyone hitting their heads!
One of my favorite parts of the room are the letters spelling ART on the log wall. I love the unfinished wood in this room — it’s the original finish of the logs from when my parents first built and the only wall in the house that hasn’t been stained. We won’t be painting this wall, even if we end up painting the remainder of the first floor, because we all love the color so much! The letters were a flea market find and since the “A” had a giant crack in the plastic, the vendor gave them to me for a great deal. I had planned to hang them on a living room wall, but now that this is an artistic space, this seemed only fitting.
There are still so many things I would love to do before baby’s arrival, but I’m learning that it’s good to sit still and wait sometimes. I’m not sure how fast or slow this house buying process will be, but there isn’t a single moment in the last eighteen months that I regret. I have learned so much about what it means to be a family and make a house your home, even when it doesn’t look perfect. I have learned that it is possible and so much fun to live communally with your parents, even as an adult with children of your own. I have learned that waiting means perfecting your plans and realizing that there are things you love about a home that you never thought you would.
P.S. I grabbed this top from PinkBlush back in early June and completely forgot to share it with you! When I was getting dressed to grab these photos after work, I decided to throw it on with jeans (that are no longer the least bit comfortable) and show you how adorable it is. Is it weird that I chose it not only because I love it, but because it matched this adorable room so well and I knew the photos would turn out great?! I told you that pregnancy was weird. I’m honestly to the place where I’d prefer to wear old concert tees and Josh’s boxer shorts, but since I still have about 25 days of work left, I better stick with cute maternity clothes instead. I’ve ordered several pieces from PinkBlush during this pregnancy and haven’t gotten a single piece that I didn’t love. If you’re looking to add to your own maternity wardrobe, I would highly recommend you visit their website. I love how this looks just as good with holey jeans as it does with dress pants, especially since it’s one of about four tops that even fit at this point?!
Jade Solid V-Neck Maternity Blouse c/o Pink Blush Maternity
