A Few More Peeks Around Our Home & The Realities of Moving

Despite having moved in about two months ago, our house has still been in construction and touch-up phase the whole time. The water leak in the carriage house certainly didn’t help. But last week alone, we had five contractors here in one day (only one of which we were given advance notice of more than 15 minutes). It’s frustrating to say the least, but we’re glad things are finally starting to be wrapped up! But the disruption in daily routine certainly isn’t for the faint of heart. We still have a few items on our punch list, but it’s getting there. And I finally feel like I have a little room to breathe and get things decorated!

All too often in the online world, people move and their homes look perfect right away. That’s not our reality over here or for most people. We’re the first to admit that moving really sucks! We couldn’t be more grateful or happier with our new home and the end game is worth it, but the actual process of moving and getting settled is the worst. We even sold our last home fully furnished, and it was still such a process (maybe even more so since we’re still waiting on furniture, like our bed)! We’re grateful to be staying in this home for the forseeable future, and to take our time making it how we ultimately want it to look.

When it comes to sharing our new home on the blog, I know there has been a lot of anticipation to see all the spaces! But for the past two months there hasn’t really been much to share as we awaited the arrival of furniture, wrapped up unpacking and just took a minute to slow down after a whirlwind few months. But it’s getting there!

I feel like the last two moves we’ve made have been in the “wrong” season. We finally get settled as most people have moved on to fall decor (heck, some are already even sharing Christmas decor)! But being in northwest Florida, we’re still very much in summer mode – even if we are seeing subtle changes as fall approaches. My seasonal decor soulmate will always be summer (followed closely by Christmas) so it’s hard for me to share a new home with anything that feels like “seasonal” decor. The reality is, I likely won’t be sharing fall decor this year. I’ll decorate my porch (and actually have ordered this wreath and this wreath that I think will be good options for early fall/holidays and later fall/Halloween).

I’m also overthinking sharing the spaces in our new home. I just need to accept that nothing is 100% ready (or even 75% ready for that matter) and just share the progress of where we’re at. I have all these ideas in my head of how I want things to look, but the reality is if I wait until the spaces look like that, it might be years before I share anything 😉

Okay, enough talk and excuses about my lack of progress! Here are a few peeks from around the house lately.

I seemed to have forgotten the simple joy of clipping greens around me. They’re free and instantly elevate a space and give a major mood boost! I need to do this more often.

KITCHEN SOURCES: Cabinet Hardware | Vase | Picture Sconce | Open Kitchen Dishes | Cabinet & Wall Color: Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace

On my last “foraging” trip, I clipped enough saw palms for both the kitchen and dining room and, despite that being a few weeks ago, they’re still going strong with some fresh water once or twice a week!

DINING ROOM SOURCES: Coral Mirror | Lamps | Wood & Marble Buffet Table | Vase | Dining Table | Dining Chairs

My parents will likely be our first visitors to stay in the carriage house. They’re planning to visit late next month so my mom can help me decorate for Christmas again! Now that the repairwork from the water leak has wrapped up, we’ve been putting the space back together. This picture is from Friday, but we’ve already made a lot more progress that I can’t wait to share later this week. I basically want to live full-time in the carriage house 😉

SOURCES: Bead Chandelier | Woven Seagrass Bed | Nightstands (Smooth White) | Striped Rug | Box Springs | Hanging Lamps | Woven Shades (Bonaire Flaxen)

Target quietly launched a collaboration with @ThisOakHouse (who also happens to be Nancy Meyers’ daughter). My friend tipped me off to the launch, and at first glance, I wasn’t interested in much more than the glass hurricanes that immediately sold out. But then I watched Annie’s Stories featuring some of the items and knew I had to get several. So I placed a Target delivery order last night and am so happy with this faux arrangement. It arrived super clumped together, much like the stock photo, but the stems are bendable, so after seeing Annie’s Stories, I knew it had so much potential! This is also your first sneak peek of our laundry room!

LAUNDRY ROOM SOURCES: Star Double Sconces | Faux Greenery Arrangement | Cafe Curtains | Cafe Curtain Rods | Cafe Curtain Rings | Cabinet Hardware | Wall, Trim & Cabinet Color: Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace | Floor Tiles: Purchased locally at 850 Tile – the darker is Bardiglio Grey marble and I *think* the other is Carrara – they’re both a tumbled (meaning softer edges), honed marble.

Here are a few more items I added to the order (some of which are not part of the collection, but equally as cute):

Two months in and we’re finally starting to feel a lot more settled. It takes time! The weekend was still full of little projects here and there as we work to finish (for now) various spaces. I randomly noticed a vine taking over our fence out back by the wall full of hydrangeas. It had literally wrapped itself around every single inch of the grid on the fence and was starting to wrap around the nearest hydrangea and holly tree. We spent some time chopping it down, and then I noticed this pretty view! I had to put it on wide-angle (so it distorts everything a bit and makes it look larger than it is), but as the sun was starting to set, it all felt so peaceful! We keep getting little tiny snails in seashells crawling on our turf, so if you look hard, you may be able to see the one I accidentally captured. You can also see my new planters I bought locally at Maison 30A that were delivered over the weekend.

BACKYARD SOURCES: Chaise Lounge Chairs | Umbrellas | Umbrella Bases | Turf | Planters: Maison 30A

I’m trying not to clip my hydrangeas for the first year, but it’s taking a lot of restraint! Have you seen all the gorgeous DIY hydrangea wreaths circling around Instagram? This one was a favorite if you haven’t seen them. But I can assure you, I’ll probably make one every year going forward with these beauties!

I’ve been chatting quite a bit about this on Instagram and giving live updates, but I can’t remember if I’ve talked about it much here. I’m having a trellis installed on the side of our standalone garage (Kurtis’ gym). My office and our living room face this wall, so it wasn’t super exciting looking out and seeing the siding shingles. So, I’m having this trellis wall installed to grow jasmine. The jasmine was actually planted a few months back with our other plants and was starting to grow a bit crazy without having anywhere to climb. The trellis isn’t 100% finished, but you can see this half that is nearly done (it’s just missing a vertical piece). He’s just using simple eye hooks and metal cables. I’m pretty confident that, at the rate the jasmine is growing, it won’t be long until we look out and see a lush wall of jasmine. I can’t wait for the springtime scent of the flowers too!

At the end of the day, moving still really is the worst but ultimately worth it when you’re where you’re meant to be! We absolutely love our new home and I think we both feel so much excitement about the home and memories we’ll make here. I have so many projects in mind (yes – even with a new build) and can’t wait to share more along the way! But, I’ll also try to be better about sharing spaces even though they’re not “complete” so you can follow along on the journey.