Last month we started our kitchen renovation. While majority of it is finished, we have just a couple minor cosmetic details left. We spent so much time on it that those small things took a back seat so we could take a break and enjoy some family time. From the kitchen, I also moved on to the front of the house and painted the living room, entry way and hallway, and also changed the color of the front bathroom (that room didn’t get photographed because it has horrible lighting, and who cares, it’s just a bathroom). All those areas got a fresh coat of paint and some changes to decor. Going back and looking at pictures of our house from years past, I love to see how our taste and style has changed. I’ve learned to slow down and not rush to fill a space. Find pieces and projects that I really love and want to look at for a long time. And to worry a whole lot less about how it looks to other people. It’s easy to fall into trends and stray away from what pleases you and instead you become focused on what you think others will like. Homes that are Insta perfect and always current or trendy. Perhaps I’m becoming wiser with age, or realized that it’s expensive to constantly be changing things. A combo of both I imagine. As a stay at home mom, what I surround myself with should make me happy. Seeing pictures of our memories and drawings by my children is more important to me than fancy pieces of art. Feeling comfort and content in my living room out weighs the pleasure of uber modern furniture and pieces that inevitably will be broken by my children. All of the shelving we have has been built by Andy, making it all one of a kind and unique. I’ve come to find that I can take all the inspiration and use it in my home for our lifestyle and what fits our family. That right now means tiny hands all over everything and floors that are ALWAYS dirty with crumbs, clothes that don’t make it to the hamper and all of the tiny toys that I didn’t even know we owned. Our home isn’t the biggest. It’s not the fanciest one on the block. It might not always been roomiest or the cleanest. But it is ours, and we are incredibly thankful for what we have. Which makes it perfect and filled with so much love.

Enough of all the babble. Take a peek at the place we call home.

While finishing pictures for this blog post I made this  for brunch with a friend that day. Bomb diggity and one I bookmarked to make again. Hope you enjoyed the small home tour and up next I’ll FINALLY show you what we did with the yard this summer!