Recent Home Purchases

Recently (well in the past 6 months or so), I've found some fun things for our house. For me, it takes a good while to get settled in a house and I don't like to rush it. I like to live in a house for a while and see how we are using the space and then let the house mold to our family's needs. When we first moved in, we made some big renovation decisions but then I've spent the past 3 years refining different spaces and working on the layout. I had in my mind special pieces I wanted for certain spots and didn't rush the process of finding them. What does this have to do with you? Don't put pressure on yourself to completely finish a space right away! Sometimes the right space takes years to come together. So lets keep the fun and put away the pressure.  

We recently got a new rug and I love it! When we moved in, I made a decision pretty fast on a rug for the living room. We had a local magazine shoot coming up and I had to make a decision. I loved the one we had, it worked great for the time we needed it but I don't know if I would have made that decision if I would have had more time. Another example of the challenges of making decisions fast! 

Earlier this year I layered a kilim rug over our old rug and it got wet and stained the white rug so it was the perfect excuse to look for a new one. I wanted a rug that would hide everything (needed with two toddler and a golden retriever), and be super soft since Wren is just starting scooting around and the twins routinely get their sleeping bags out and watch movies. I looked and looked and finally saw Jenny Komenda (Little Green Notebook) post about this rug she used in a dentist office. She said she loved it and had already ordered it 3 more times, including for herself. I was sold. 

We have had it about a month and LOVE it. Its the softest rug and truly hides everything. It is also so affordable, I think I paid about $180 for a 9x12. Its the slate color, and in person it has lots of blues, greys and tans.  

Talking about waiting for the right piece, I knew I wanted a large mirror in the dining room for 2 years! I finally found the perfect one at the perfect price at Route 276, one of my favorite local places in Greenville. If you live around here, its a must visit! I found this giant vintage mirror for $125 and I still can't believe my luck. Christie (the awesome owner) told me they pulled it out of an old house downtown Greenville.  

This isn't a new piece to my house but it recently got a makeover! This piece was my great grandmothers and it got passed to me. I first painted it a fun chartreuse yellow but after getting the mustard yellow sofa it needed a change. I actually used my favorite spray paint (moss green Rustoleum) on the piece and love it. 

My father in law whipped us up this counter stool for the twins and its been used a ton! The twins can pull it over and hang out while we cook or clean and its heavy enough to wear I don't worry about them flipping it over. I'm actually thinking about making some of these to sell locally, what do you think? 

Another fun find from Route 276 are these fun vintage copper pots that I hung over the stove. They make me smile every time they catch my eye, especially since they were super affordable. 

Working on these spaces bit by bit makes it so fun when they start to come together in real life like they do in my head! What about you, do you like doing your decorating a little bit at a time or all at once? 

Life as a family of 5

Photo by Sophie Brendle Photography

Well its been a while hasn't it? But we have been in a really sweet (busy!) season adjusting to a family of 5. Wren was born last September and has added to our family in the most beautiful way. She has been laid back since birth and just smiles all day. She loves watching her big sisters and saves her biggest smiles for them. She rolls all over the place now and loves real food- time slow down! 

I thought I would talk about some of the highlights from our lives the past few months. Keep in mind these are just the highlights, there have been lots of hard things and I don't want anyone to think that we don't live real life over here. We have had scary hospital stays for RSV for Wren, lots of sickness for everyone in the family, recovering from a csection for me and more loads of laundry than I can count. 

Photo by Sophie Brendle Photography

The twins will be 4 this summer and are just in the most fun stage ever. Everything they say is hilarious and Luke and I have to try to keep a straight face when they try to talk us out of cleaning their toys. "I don't need to clean my toys momma, they are taking a little break." Also when kids get to a point when they can go potty by themselves and put on their own shoes its a whole new world. 

Photo by Sophie Brendle Photography

We took a break from most house projects this past fall with the new addition of Wren but we are gearing up to work on some exterior projects this spring, including new modern porch skirting, painting most of the trim on the exterior and new DIY shutters. I'm working on a post with more info on that. 

Photo by Sophie Brendle Photography

In lieu of maternity or newborn pictures, we had Sophie come over when Wren was about 6 weeks to take some family shots. I treasure the photos she took and finally printed some out to update our gallery wall with so Wren would be in some. (Third child problems.)

Photo by Sophie Brendle Photography

Being more home-bound with an infant who takes lots of naps, we have been using this time to clean out and purge and it feels SO GOOD. Since we moved in this house 3 years ago the closets have always seemed overwhelming and just piled with stuff. Not anymore. We have been taking it closet by closet a week at a time mixed in with more concentrated time a few rainy Saturdays and that more laid back approach has really worked for us. 

A bucket list item happened for me this year, one of my photos was featured in Better Homes and Gardens! They featured a picture of Wren's nursery for their #BHGCelebrate feed. A pinch me moment for sure!

Luke and I also took Wren to France a few weeks ago! Luke had a work trip in the South of France so Wren and I tagged along. We went to his conference and spent a few days in Paris as well. I have a post coming of where we stayed and what we did and how we survived a 9 hour flight with a non-sleeping 6 month old. Spoiler alert, not gracefully. 

After taking a year off building swings with me being pregnant, we are finally building them again locally in Greenville SC! They fit a twin sized mattress and are so comfy! We live on ours most of the spring/summer/fall taking a break for pollen and 100 degree weather. There is a link on the right of the blog to more information, or click here. 

Photo by Sophie Brendle Photography

I'll be back posting soon about our summer renovation plans, our France trip and some other fun things we have in the works. I am a lot more active on Instagram so check out my link on the right of the blog or (@acreativedayblog).
xoxo

Introducing Wren and her nursery

Our newest girl arrived mid September and we are all in major love with her. The twins are obsessed with "my baby" as they call her and are constantly checking where she is and if she is happy and if she is crying they say "you ok baby Wren you ok! I'm here! Your mommy is here". Its pretty much the cutest ever. And her birth and the past month couldn't have looked different then the experience with the twins. No two month NICU stay, she latched like a champ and CAME HOME with me from the hospital. Its been so healing for our whole family to have this experience and we are so grateful for God's goodness to us. The NICU was so hard but I know I wouldn't appreciate Wren's birth the way I do if we hadn't gone through what we did. I am grateful for that perspective and even more aware of the miracle that our twins are. God is so good. 

Designing her nursery was also a healing experience for me. With the twins being born so early (31 weeks) I didn't get to finish (or really start) their nursery before they were born and then it had to come together very quickly amid reno dust and decisions that were made in the haze of the NICU. With Wren's nursery, I got to really think through and plan and finish it before she was born. The twins and I would just hang out in her room this summer and enjoy it.

Wren's nursery is the twins old nursery and I wanted to keep the paint colors and also make it special for her. So we did paint the baseboard and add a few trim details but the rest of the paint stayed the same and the rug stayed too.The rocker is Sam Moore and I bought it when I was pregnant with the twins. (See how it looked for the twins nursery here).  Even with leaving all the main elements the same I really think the room feels completely different! 

We painted one of the twins cribs a happy yellow and added this PERFECT rug from RugsUSA. It was so affordable too, only around $140 for a 5x8 during one of their sales. The mobile is from Pottery Barn teen and is such a fun statement. 

Other then that it was just adding accessories like the pink pouf I got at Nordstrom Rack for around $50 and the brass floor lamp from Target. We switched out the ginormous fan for a rattan fixture from Ikea and I added some new art like the moon from Hobby Lobby with the saying "love you to the moon and back" which we have always told our girls. 

Luke added some trim to the built-in doors and it just makes them feel more finished. The built ins hold the twins toys so they can play while I nurse. 

We reused the twins campaign dresser as a changing table and the mirror is my grandmothers that she gave to my mom and I stole from my mom. My grandparents got it in Indonesia when they lived there. I painted it a fun pink and its such a statement. 

I love the way it turned out and Luke loved that he didn't have to repaint. Its been a wild ride figuring out this family of 5 (!!!) thing and one day we will get to the store and actually remember the diaper bag for Wren and the waters and snacks for the twins. Baby steps. 

The twins big girl room REVEAL / before and after

Well its finally here, the twins big girl room reveal! Only about 4 months after it was finished but still. We started planning and redoing this room late last fall knowing that we would probably be adding a baby this year and now here we are, 5 months pregnant with baby number 3 and so grateful we tackled this project before I was pregnant! 

BEFORE:

This room started off as our junk/ guest room. You know, the throw everything in and close the door room. But we knew that long term it would be the twins room because it is right off their playroom/bathroom. (See that before and after here!) The room has some fun character like built-ins and a few nooks and I was excited to tackle it. 

We had a few things to do structural wise before we could get to the fun stuff like moving an air vent (you can see it above) so it wouldn't be under one of the beds and ripping out some built-ins that needed to be a closet. You can see the built-ins in the first before photo and Luke's favorite part demo happening below. 

Since the girls will be sharing this room I really wanted them to eventually have their own closets so the side by side closets we added worked perfectly. 

Luke and his dad built some custom doors for the closets and I LOVE the finished result! I found the leather pulls at Hobby Lobby and the sconce is Urban Outfitters. 

There was also this little weird kinda bookshelf but too narrow for almost all books shelf in one corner so we changed it into a book rack and its one of my favorite details in this space!

After:

Ahh the wallpaper, another favorite detail! I knew I wanted the space to be a special space for little girls to grow up in and this spoonflower wallpaper was perfect- the little faces on the flowers are so sweet. It also plays perfectly with the peach and green theme. I was struggling to find a perfect peach for the walls and my friend Lindsay  suggested maybe using the same peach that I had painted as an accent stripe in the adjoining playroom and I loved that idea! I ended up cutting the strength by 50% since peach can be overwhelming and the final color is perfect. Its 50% peach nectar by Benjamin Moore and the green is Great Barrington Green by Benjamin Moore. 

 

You like the christmas presents on the shelves? I took the before photos mid December ha. 

My grandmother gifted me some jenny lind beds that I slept on as a little girl in her house and its so special my girls get to use them now! She also had the sweet white bedding and I added a throw from TJ Maxx, pillowfort sheets from Target, and the buffalo check duvet and pillow are Ikea. The yellow velvet pillow and down insert are from Amazon and the quality is amazing for the price! The sconces are Urban Outfitters and the tables are CB2. I got the floral garland from the dollar section at Target and the silhouettes were my Christmas present from Dapper and Darling and I highly recommend them! 

The flush mount fixtures are such a fun pop of yellow, they are these really affordable Pottery Barn Kids ones that I spray painted! 

We did simple roll shades on the windows for now. We were going to put in plantation shutters and eventually we still will but the twins like to hang on the plantation shutters downstairs and I didn't want them to rip them off the windows, so we decided to wait until they are a little older before we invest in them. Same goes for hardwood floors, they are on the long term plan but the carpet is great for now. 

All the items on the built-ins where chosen for their non break-ability since we have active little climbers! 

So that's it! I'm so grateful to have this room finished and the twins love it. Now we start on baby girl number 3's nursery- which hopefully I will have finished and blogged before she is a year old. Goals. Let me know any questions you have in the comments and I'll try my best to answer! 

Life update

1- So at the beginning of the year I had all the grand plans to get back to a more consistent blogging schedule but then something happened that made even looking at my computer screen difficult. We are having another baby! We are so excited and found out the middle of January and almost immediately I was hit with severe all day morning sickness- even worse then what I had when I was pregnant with the twins. Even looking at my phone or my computer screen made me sick and we ended up going to stay with my parents for a couple of weeks because I couldn't even get out of bed. It was rough. I'm now 18 weeks and still having some morning sickness but its mainly over PTL because there is nothing fun about parenting toddlers and being sick. Now that the sickness is mainly behind me I'm getting so excited about baby. Its so fun to experience a singleton pregnancy after having a twin pregnancy, it all feels so new. 

2- Another exciting thing that happened this spring is I became a contributor for the local website Greenville 360. I really love my city and its been fun to be part of a movement that is concentrated on exploring all this city has to offer. My first post was last month and I broke down the how-to on our DIY window pipe hardware - so check that out here and follow along on their instagram for more (greenville360)

3- At the beginning of the year we tackled the twins new room. There is a bedroom right off of their playroom and we knew that once the new baby came the twins would need to move to that bedroom and a redo was necessary. The room had good bones but a couple of the closets needed to be re-figured so the layout would work better for the twins and the finishes were dated. The room also had some fun built-ins so we painted and wallpapered the back for a fun detail. Its such a sweet room now and its on my list to get a before and after post together. 

4- We've been working hard on the exterior of the house this spring too. The twins 'helped' pressure wash the house and we have been doing lots of cleaning out flower beds and planting (including that bed you can see above). We started our garden for the year and fingers crossed we can keep the twins from pulling up the cucumber plants. 

5- Now that the morning sickness has gone away and we have a few new projects up our sleeve (including a new nursery!) I'll be back posting more often. I do update instagram more than the blog so make sure you are following along there (@acreativedayblog- link is on the right of the blog). First up- before and after of the twins new room and I also have another Greenville 360 post coming up as well that I'll be sure to share. Happy Spring everyone!