Free!!

Writing this blog and working through design decisions in posts has always been helpful for me.  When we redid our last house, I shared every little thing that we did.  (Even my junk drawer!!)  When I was excited about something, I wrote about it.  I didn’t worry about what I was sharing, and writing my blog was so much fun.   Ever since I was a kid, it was always, “Look at what I made!!”  (I pity the adults around me 😉

But when we bought our new house and moved (about a year and a half ago) with hopes of having our home published in a shelter magazine, I gave up sharing our home on the blog.  The magazines I was hoping for our home to be published in wanted only brand-new material that hadn’t been see online anywhere.  I COMPLETELY understand why they need it to be this way and I was very willing to keep my house private for the well-worth-it opportunity, but as someone who was used to sharing every little detail with you, it wasn’t easy for me to keep my mouth shut .  😉

{When I found this great light fixture for the dining room way back when, I wanted to share this pic of what it looked like in the candlelight and how happy the pretty glow made me…  I know it sounds ridiculous for the glow of a light fixture to bring me joy… but it does.  It’s those types of little atmospheric things that make such a difference in a home and in your mood.}

{Every little step of working on the house made literally made me squeal I was so  happy.   The contractors did get used to it…  eventually.  They must have moved the paintings above the kitchen sink at LEAST 10 times during the construction process… to sand, to paint, to install counters, faucets, lighting, etc…  I’m pretty sure they thought I was certifiable, but those painting gave me a little bit of sanity in the midst of our major renovation.}

I felt a bit creatively stifled writing-wise because I would sit down to write a blog post and think that all I wanted to talk about was what I was working on at home,  but couldn’t.  I was used to not sharing many of my clients’ projects for the very same reason, but it was so much harder with my own home!!  Sometimes I’d sit down to write and would just close the window, feeling frustrated with myself for having nothing to say, which is why I haven’t posted as much this past year and a half.  Every post I write comes from a place of excitement and needing to share…  if I don’t feel that, I’m not going to feign interest in something else and bore you with it.

So… with our house now out in Domino Magazine, I am feeling so free blog-wise!!  Free to share photos of things we’re doing at home like I used to, free to share before & afters, how to’s, recipes in my kitchen, and every little thing in between.  Free to over share hahaha which might not be a good thing 😉 😉

{Our living room in Domino, photo by Brittany Ambridge in the Winter}

Domino did such a beautiful job of capturing our home, but of course there’s a limited number of pages in a magazine and there were areas of our home they weren’t able to feature.  (Like our bedroom garden & outdoor shower!)  The day Domino shot out house, there was a major snowstorm!!  I absolutely LOVE how the photos turned out but they are so different from how the photos Helen Norman took of our home- in late Summer- turned out.  The lighting was SO different, that my house looks really different in both sets of images.  Our house looks very white in the Domino feature, (photo above, which is a little grainier because it’s scanned image from my friend Michele of My Notting Hill– thank you Michele!!) because when it snows outside- and we have so many windows- the light gets much cooler and everything looks whiter with the snow’s reflection on it, even though our walls are actually a warm ivory- Benjamin Moore’s ‘Ancient Ivory’ FYI.)  (In the Springtime, our house literally has a green glow to it.) 

{The huge difference the seasons have on our home- photo by Helen Norman, in the Summer…  Also, I’m always changing my mantle, so now it has the vintage painting on it whereas during the summer, it was empty.}

SO anyway, now that I’m free to blog about home, you might be hearing from me more than you’d like to 😉  😉  …Because I’ve got waaaaay too much to share with you.  Thanks so much for all of the sweet words and support you’ve been sending my way.  I really appreciate it.