As I type this, it's been over 60 days since we became homeowners and it has completely upended my world — more on that later though! — but one of the best unexpected surprises is shopping retailers that I'd only previously shopped for clients... one being Build with Ferguson.
The home improvement e-retailer is one that I have sourced for years for everything from lighting to flooring to plumbing for e-design clients, so the chance to browse their catalog for myself has always been a secret dream. I'll have to go through a whole bunch of other posts talking through what projects are happening (planned or in progress) but in the meantime, here's what's in my cart…
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Dear Diary -- some days, I honestly can't believe that we bought a house. And since this is my diary and a safe place, I feel okay with saying that there are even some days I wonder if we made a mistake.
Do I regret buying our house? Not even close!
But... baby... I most certainly underestimate how much I didn't know about being a first time homeowner. There really is so much that no one ever talks about, and not just the buying process.
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While ideating what Christmas in our new home would look like, I put together a round up of black, white, and gold Christmas decor. In our apartment, our white Christmas tree lived in the dining room, where I would also do light holiday tablescaping. Now having the options to have more than one tree + other trimmings, and tablescape — yay! — The Home Depot was an easy one stop shop for creating our Hygge Holiday Home.
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Up until this point, admittedly, I never really did any "reveals" anywhere I've lived. In our condo, I shared quite a few rooms and that was my first taste at opening up the virtual doors to our home. But this is different... it feels different.
This design was almost 5 months in the making but it was also in partnership with many of my favorite brands. I didn't just move in and start designing.
Now rather than having you see my design and dismiss it as impossible and/or get inspired only to get sticker shock, I wanted to bring you behind the design — numbers & all — so you can see what & how much is feasible for YOU.
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It's been a little over a month since we've fully moved into our new house & jumped right into some projects, including the media room.
Having already spent time ideating made getting started right out the gate super easy, but I was still — mostly — working off of a High Point Market specified design.
Did I love everything I chose for that design? DUH! But was all of it feasible? Nope.
Between cost, customizations, and availability, I quickly (mentally) processed all the substitutions I'd have to make to make this design come to life for us for real for real.
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From the very beginning, I'd said that my ORC was based on real spaces in a real home. That home is now my home — look at God! — and I am able to bring this design as close to real life as humanly (and financially) possible. That said, consider this my part 2 to the Fall ORC. As all the guests are wrapping up their reveals, I am going to take you on another 6 week journey (because why not) as we tackle our "must be nice" spaces.
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It's so funny because I seem to have a habit of moving RIGHT before the holidays — nearly every major move in my has been in the Fall — so I always find myself pressed for time to get myself together to decorate and celebrate. Of course 2020 wouldn't be any different. I'm geeked because, duh, new house; but nervous because decisions have to be made & I don't know that I have the time or bandwidth to make em.
Remember when I talked about saying no to project pressure over on Emily Henderson's blog? Yeah... this is one of those projects I'll likely have to say no to because the alternative would be rushing & doing a half-assed job at what I had in mind, or going balls to the wall & spending an exorbitant amount of money less than 90 days into our home ownership journey.
BUT... that has NOT stopped me from window shopping and oogling everything that I would get, in a perfect world.
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3 months ago, I started my living room refresh and I shared the plans with you guys. The refresh started out just fine — we patched up some holes, put furniture in storage to free up space, hung new lighting & drapery, and the project even spilled over into the dining room when I made the decision to convert it into a study. At that point all that was left was for me to receive my furniture — it was slated for around now actually. That delay ended up working out in our favor. While our home buying journey is another story for another time, I can tell you that in August — when I started the living room — it isn't something I thought would be a reality for at least another year.
L'homme propose. Dieu dispose.
Translation: man plans, God decides.
And He decided we were to be homeowners NOW!
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2020 has been the year of online shopping but if I'm being completely honest, online shopping has always been my jam — more choices, less people. Granted there's nothing that can fully replace the in person experience of shopping and engaging all of your senses as you make your decision, but sometimes online is all you have...like during a global a pandemic or when you're shopping an e-tailer like one of my favs, Apt2B.
But how do you shop for a sofa online — pandemic or not — when you can't see it in person, feel the upholstery, or sit on it to do a comfort test?
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Has it been 6 weeks already? I guess if the calendar says it, then it must be so!
Which means we’re at the end of the first ever virtual edition of the One Room Challenge, sponsored by High Point Market.
The scope of this year’s ORC was one that came with it’s own challenges but I am so thankful for what the gift it’s given me — the chance to preview (and manifest) a real life home I’ll love!
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I'm a shopper — like heavy! — but I'm reasonable in my shopping. There are a lot of things I've seen and/or coveted over the years that I never purchased because they didn't fit my life as a renter. I didn't need em so I didn't get em... plain and simple.
But now... it's a whole different type of situation.
I'm a homeowner... a whole homeowner!
Not to say I'm just out here buying all the things but now the way I shop has changed — the priorities have changed. Moving always brings on it's own shopping needs but moving into a home that we own has completely upended my shopping habits, bringing on new kinds of purchases.
So what have been my first, seemingly random — but necessary — purchases as a homeowner?
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Did October even really happen?! Every time I think one month was crazy fast, the next one still manages to outpace it. Sheesh!
We're in the final stretch of the ORC and if you're following me on IG — you should be, by the way — then you caught a pretty epic announcement I made yesterday! Yep... my husband & I are officially homeowners! I talk a lil bit about it here and here.
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Holy smokes...2 weeks to go. Even though I have not been physically executing this design, knowing that it isn't a design that I entirely pulled from the belly of my imagination has made it just as stressful to conceptualize. Adding on the stress of just life — 2020 being all 2020 and ish — I finally made the decision to fire myself.
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While so many of my counterparts have been physically hanging out at High Point Market, I've been taking advantage of all the resources available to me right here on these inter webs.
Being that this is a virtual project, I decided that instead of just tackling some of the rooms in this trip level home, why not try my hand at the entire "must be nice" level. In addition to the media room, shared study, and outdoor living area, I decided why not take on the other two other rooms down there — the laundry room and powder room.
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I think I’m going to officially dub my One Room Challenge the “Must Be Nice” design!
If you follow me on Instagram (which you should by the way) then you know a few days ago I shared some of my design inspirations from Pinterest for manifesting my first home. My "Home 2021" board is broken up into sections, with one section being “‘Must Be Nice’ Rooms” because having those rooms/spaces in my future home would be really really nice!
I didn’t grow up with these kinds of rooms so when I think of them, it’s really a fantasy of my future. But what does this have to do with the One Room Challenge? So glad yo asked. Even though this year’s challenge is virtual, I’ve chosen to base my entire challenge on a very real space — a listed home we’ve got our eye on that has must. be. nice. rooms!
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Admittedly I had a home on my vision board for the new year — our home buying conversations were becoming a thing and we found ourselves wondering about “what’s next” for our family…stay in Washington? …move back East? We weren’t sure but we knew renting in perpetuity was no longer an option. By the second quarter of 2020, personally, I was juggling being a “single mom” with my husband deployed, the beginnings of my second new job in a year, COVID-19 forcing us all into quarantine, and witnessing a modern day civil rights movement. One or two of these events may not have done much for changing my mind, but all of em together… well I quickly went from, “it’d be nice to own my home” — hence the vision board — — to “I want to own a home!”
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Alongside 19 other amazing creators and designers, ya girl is an ORC featured designer!
In true 2020 fashion, this event will be virtual so we’ll be bringing you along as we work with and source vendors as we would in any design project — from the ideating and planning all the way through the final virtual reveal…which you know is my jam!
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I'm a creature of habit, especially when it comes to shopping, which is precisely why a at the top of the year I decided to create a capsule wardrobe for myself - I was no longer going to be working from home as an entrepreneur and was truly tired of staring at a full closet yet saying, "I have nothing to wear". Why was this happening? Because I had a BUNCH of pieces that didn't play well together. I was purchasing in a vacuum, instead of thinking of my wardrobe holistically, so getting dressed each day became this daunting, arduous task for no. damn. reason!
The way I shop for my closet now is, for quite some time, how I've shopped for my home - capsule shopping. Yes, I've created a decorating capsule.
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