Love the One You're In

This morning as I was scrolling Instagram, I came across a post that was asking followers to post a place in their home that made them delighted every day. I found it to be an interesting request, but I really loved it. That place for me was here. I have just recently come to a place where I take great delight in our home. I really cherish being in it and have such fond memories of creating this space for us.

Truth is, though, I love many places in our home. Sure, I go through phases of being discontent with certain structural and/or visual elements, but overall, I really love our home. My least favorite part about it is the outside of it as it's not my style really, at all. I am excited for the day when we purchase another home that is more aesthetically pleasing to the eye just as much on the outside as it is on the inside. But, this post is not to wish for another home, but rather to share parts of my home that I just adore. We will have lived here f i v e years come April. That is unreal to me. But, I've put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears (all very literal) into making this house our home. It sounds cliche, but it's very much true. I am by no means an interior designer, but I do have a passion for it and I love creating spaces that reflect me {us} and the needs of our family. It has been a long process and were we to be staying here forever, it would be far from done, but we won't be here too much longer, so for now, I would say I'm very blessed and pleased with my ability to create an environment that I actually LOVE to be in. I am such a homebody {in fact, another goal of mine this year is to say "yes" to being more adventurous outside of the home} that being in a space that looks and feels beautiful to me is important. It brings me great joy. Don't misread that to say that THINGS bring me joy. Of course, they do, yes, but it's seeing the beauty and feeling the cozy around me that brings me the most joy. Knowing that I've created this space over the years brings a lot of contentment and with that, I hope to share some of my favorites with you. Who knows, maybe it will give you some encouragement to create a beautiful space around you for your family {and y o u} to enjoy on a daily basis.

I cannot lie. Most of our home has been created on a DIY and budget-friendly agenda. It didn't happen overnight and many things are still a work in progress, but that's okay. I'm slowly learning that RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW isn't always the best approach. I'm just really impatient when I have an idea and I can't implement it immediately. It's one of my three flaws. HA HA HA, that's totally a joke. It's one of my kajillion flaws. Anyway, part of the fun of making this into a home has been doing it myself and doing it when my creative juices are flowing like wine. Wait, just kidding, they flow WITH wine. ;) Again, I'm kidding...sort of. Below are pictures of many of my favorite spaces in our home. I told you that I have quite a few. All the way at the end of the post are some details of where and how they were created, if you should choose to continue reading. XO!

 

             

             



                 
The bathroom is a weird place to call a favorite, right? Yeah, it is. But I LOVE it. I recently painted it and I just love the back of the toilet decor: Trader Joes Eucalyptus in a glass vase, a candle, and a frame saying "In the morning when I wake, give me Jesus." This is going to sound hilariously weird, but I pee every morning when I wake up {habit, I guess}, and this is always a solid reminder to begin my day. I'm actually laughing typing this, but I'm being serious.

The beside table is on MY side of the bed. The table was given to me by my grandmother and late grandfather, so it's cherished. It's definitely worn, but it has good shelving and I like the natural distressing from years and years and years of use.

The kitchen shelves are identical on each side of our sink. Our house was built in the 50's, so it's got some definite features from that era. I used to loathe these shelves because I could never figure out what to put on them, but now I have some glasses + tea cups {thrifted}, along with a framed set of kitchen measurements {free printable} and a candle {Target dollar spot}.

The front entryway has a "console table" that is actually one of our old kitchen cabinets that was in the garage when we moved in. I painted it and removed one of the doors to expose some of the shelving. We use it to store books, photo bins, but mostly, shoes. :) The chalkboard was a friends that I scored when they moved, and the basket is from Target and holds all of my husbands endless miscellaneous items. If I'm being honest, they all end up ON the actual table and not in the basket. I go behind him and throw them all in the basket. Ha, men! God love 'em.

The front porch leaves little to be desired, but I did snag this old wooden rocker from the curb when the neighbors were moving and added some pillows {thrifted}, a houndstooth blanket {thrifted}, and a little artificial Christmas tree in a basket {thrifted}. I switch out the pillows with the seasons {most are thrifted or recovered by me}.

The chair in the living room was a Craigslist {ikea} find and the wooden arrow was made by my awesome dad. The boxwood wreath is a yearly purchase from Trader Joes {$10}. Those babies last me all year inside. The one hanging on my pantry door in the very first picture in this post has been hanging on since 2 Christmases ago!! I just love this little corner, including Emerson's toy basket. It's a good reminder to me that everything doesn't have to be perfectly tidy to be beautiful.

The table in the living room is home to a TJ Maxx lamp, some random thrifted finds, including books, fake lavender (Sh!) a candle, and an antique fan that I scored on Craigslist for $10 years ago. It is also home to now one of my favorite items in the living room, the framed calligraphy of our names. This was an envelope that housed a friend's Christmas card this year. It was so beautiful, I had to frame it. Plus, she wrote it herself, so it's sentimental. :) Thanks, Michelle!!

The playroom is nothing special, but I love that it houses the majority of Emerson's toys and about half of her books. It does my heart good to know that I have one room to keep most of her stuff, so that it's not strewn about all over the house. We lived here before her, so her stuff doesn't need to take over! We spend so much time back here with her and she loves being in here, so that makes me happy. I also love the big windows which filter in SO much sunlight throughout the day.

The hallway wall of frames is quite possibly the most talked about area in our home. Everyone loves it for some reason, including us! All of the frames are either thrifted {and/or spray painted}, or from Dollar Tree.  The wall includes pictures of our families, our wedding day, Emerson's ultrasound pictures, the journal entry I wrote the night Trey proposed, random quotes/pictures {like Trey's home state of SC}, and of course, Emerson's first ever piece of artwork. Eventually, I plan to have a whole little area for her artwork, but she's a Picasso in training right now. ;)

The other hallway picture shows two of my all time favorite pictures, both from Emerson's first birthday shoot. Remember how I told you about the engineer prints from Office Max in last night's post? Well, these are other examples of those, just a smaller version. I found these poster frames at Goodwill for like $2 {honestly, I would love to eventually get nice frames} and the two prints costed approximately $5. You see these prints as soon as you walk in the front door, from a distance. I LOVE that- the most important people in my life right off the bat!

Finally, is our kitchen nook. My dad built that custom bench seat and table for us about a year or two after we moved in. We sit there to eat breakfast every morning and dinner every night. I'm contemplating getting rid of the table and making it a little seating area. The jury's still out on that though. This space is another one of those that's special to me because my dad played such a huge part in it. His handiwork is evident ALL over our home and that makes it all the more special, and all the more sad to think about ever saying goodbye to this house!

Thanks for hanging in there through this novel of a blog post. I'll be back sometime soon with updates on the dining room table + chairs, plus I have something a little more serious in mind too. For another time though. Until then,