There are ups and downs to every job, but I’ve always said one of the biggest downsides to this job–sharing our home online every day–is that the Internet never sleeps. It doesn’t sleep when the baby sleeps or through illnesses or pandemics or summer. It’s always there. So occasionally, we have to force ourselves to unplug and take a break even when we know everyone is still sharing and talking and commenting without us. We’ve spent the last week unplugged, but still at home. Trying to give the girls a little bit of a summer staycation with us being more present. We ordered an above ground pool online for too much money–that Covid price gauge!–and swam and gardened and stayed up late and still managed a lot of contractors day in and day out.
Life and our renovation has been high stress lately and my mental and physical health has suffered because of it, but it’s amazing how connecting with my family and myself offline in the last week has helped. I was able to reflect on when I felt the most joy doing this and I was flooded with good memories. There are a lot of serious things in the world, but decorating is supposed to be fun! It should be a creative outlet. It should make us love where we live. All good things! Somewhere along the way, I feel like I’ve gotten too serious and a little too calculated and too stressed about what I share. I would love to go back to sharing our home renovation more candidly. I’m a pretty silly person and it hasn’t felt like a light-hearted year, of course, but at the same time–maybe that’s what we all need. I know I do.
Speaking of the renovation, we have so many updates! I’ll share more progress videos on Instagram that I took last week over the next couple days but high level–they’ve been removing old shingles for the past week and this week, they’ll start installing the new roof! Bring on the headphones! Several parts had to be restructured, some were moldy and needed replaced and a few areas changed completely.
Hi, Chris! (Do you see him waving up there?! haha)
Here’s how it looked before:
The large gable was not structural at all, and has been successfully removed and the smaller gable, which now looks suddenly more substantial!, and the more rounded turret gable are now connected by a simple flat front.
Eventually it will look like this but we did make one change with the roof line, exposing the turret area a little more and mirroring the roofline above the porch on the right side, on the left as well. That’s Faye’s room and what used to be a large arched window (which is actually such a pain for window treatments on the inside because it extended into her ceiling!) and will now just be a large 50×72″ window.
She’s currently bunking in Greta’s room for the foreseeable future until her new window is installed! (They’re loving it and I’m secretly scheming a bedroom plan for her room.)
We’ll definitely share more on the home progress front this week. I am feeling re-energized and happy to be sharing again! As always, thanks for being here!
Curious if you could have a “do over” in purchasing this home, is there some sort of inspector you could have used that would have found all that mold etc prior to purchasing the home?
We love all of your posts! You’ve inspired me to get back to being silly. Life is so serious right now. The pool looks like a lot of fun! Great job!
Wondering if a comment I left two days ago got simply lost or filtered because it wasn’t entirely positive and contained some critical but well-intentioned observations. I put time, thought, and effort into my comment and meant it as an opportunity for reflection. ????????♀️
Hey Julia, would love to know what you have planned for the front walkway. IMHO adding stairs between the posts and/or along the path, plus a second retaining wall on the right side, would create a grand entrance to the new front door. I can even envision a small foot bridge (in lieu of stairs), which would impart more of that “cottagey” feel you’re going for. Can’t wait to see all of the windows installed!
After letting the info in this post sink in for a few days, I think it’s great that you are realizing that the “tone” of the blog-turned-brand has been off lately. I think a lot of it stems from your success, which is well-earned. How do you go from largely a DIY blog to a huge home with a renovation that probably costs as much as (or more!) than many of your readers’ mortgages without the tone shifting a little bit? Turning the blog into a brand and a business that not only supports your immediate family, but also many of your extended family members among other employees, means that all of the day-to-day is more consequential and that probably forced it all to feel more businesslike. This is just my opinion, but I am not enjoying the designs you’ve been putting out lately (music room, closet paint and finishes, aspects of the dining room) and I pretty much LOVED everything in your previous house. I’m not sure if it’s having more space and more money, or a desire to make every space distinctive and bold and “moody” that may have led you from stray from otherwise good design choices. Your design style never seemed “cottage-y” to me, so maybe try getting away from making this home fit into a cottage style and just embrace the design and decor style/s that you like, regardless of whether it fits into the “modern cottage” mold. Whether you agree or disagree with some of my assessments here, I hope you are able to get back to finding more fun and joy, and less stress, in what you’re doing – I think once you feel that internally, it will come across externally!