We've been doing this renovation thing for several months now - just beginning phase three (of four). And it's been messy. We have camped in the dining room and eaten take-out for weeks on end. We removed cabinets and floors... and walls. We filled up two dumpsters. Two. Big ones. Not to mention countless bins of recycling for the smaller bits. We gave away a trailer and a pickup truck full of salvaged materials and delivered a U-Haul-It full of treasures to be handed down to our Georgia girls. We donated some appliances to Habitat for Humanity and two SUV loads of household goods to the Rescue Mission - to date - more to come. It's been a Herculean effort - mainly borne of the shoulders of my amazing Hubby. I cannot say enough about his work ethic and dedication. He's had some help - some family, some friends and a few professionals along the way - but by and large he has hoisted this project up with swollen hands and carried it with an aching back. For months. I thought the hardest part was over and then today he rented a jackhammer and busted up a set of brick steps. It's gonna be a three-Advil-night.
While he's doing the hard labor, I've been making most of the design choices. You know, the fun parts! I've always loved decorating but this is next level. I used to keep a file folder filled with pictures I'd cut out of magazines - colors I loved, decor I wished I had... so when it came time to paint a room or get new curtains, I had some inspiration. Enter the miracle that is Pinterest. I might be a little obsessed. OK. A lot. The Wayfair bunch (Birch Lane, Joss and Main, All Modern) were my nightly reading there for a while. Add in almost daily visits to the Home Depot - if they charged for those little paint chip thingys our budget would be blown. A few trips to the Discount House - cannot say enough great things about the cabinets and vanity we got there. A healthy dose of Chip and Jo and Ben and Erin and the cute little girl at the local-family-owned furniture store, along with frequent texts to friends and family (do y'all like this???), round out my design team! In consultation with my construction manager, of course. I must pause to give him credit for the awesome farmhouse table and chairs he located online - from a business/restaurant supplier - at an amazing price. Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn and West Elm just weren't in the budget but this find is darn close! We now have seating for 12. I think we might need more friends.... anybody? We've re-purposed some old pieces and spruced some up with a coat of paint along the way. There are a couple more things to fit into place but I'm absolutely over the moon about how it's all worked out. I'm a far cry from professional - in fact, I'm probably a real pro's worst nightmare, but I do have a sense of what I like and what I don't. Just ask the guy at the Home Depot who suggested we spray this glass-frosting-in-a-can on the back door. He shook his head and gave Hubby the, "sorry for you, Buddy" face as he put the can back on the shelf and hurried away.
The only trouble I'm having is what to call my particular style. My friend who's finishing a renovation in her similar home (30-something-year-old-brick-ranch) is doing a lovely Coastal-Modern-Farmhouse. My family members have homes that range from Mid-Century-Modern to Old-South-Traditional. We live in a beach town so there are lots of gorgeous airy seashell/wicker/rope adorned cottages that are fabulous. I'm just not exactly any of those. I read Joanna's Homebody and tried to find myself in her checklist. I bought a book called Cozy Minimalist Home because that sounded cool. I even took some online tests to see what my style is... you know, you pick out the pictures you like and they run some algorithm to spit out your label. After all that, I decided to just make something up... loosely based on all my research. I lean more traditional than modern, more classic than trendy and more comfortable than formal. I'm tired of having lots of stuff everywhere but I still like having some of my stuff around. I have some new pieces but love my MawMaw's treadle sewing machine and the china cabinet I got at an antique shop to hold Mama's glassware. The sewing machine is now a tea-table and Mama's glassware is still in that same cabinet but it's now blue instead of brown. The cabinet. My kitchen is simple and clean in white and gray. All the walls are a pale gray called Etched Glass, the trim is white and there are lots of blue accents. So, drumroll please, I have decided to call my style: Classic Curated Comfort - Classic (clean/simple/timeless) Curated (collected/organized /presented) Comfort (calm/peaceful/welcoming). It looks a little extra written down and all but I'm gonna stick with it. Who knows, maybe it'll be a thing? Might get a Netflix show or something... just remember you heard it here first!
Taking all the above into account, you might imagine that we were fairly shocked to learn the theme of our Lenten season at church is "Renovate." We just about fell off our chairs when Pastor Tim made that announcement. I thought it would be a great idea to host a small group over here and ask people to bring paint brushes and hammers. Kind of a hands-on Lenten experience. Hubby wasn't on board with it, though. I deferred to him in the matter. It is a little disconcerting to go to church and see ladders and doors and windows up on the stage - I can get that kind of decoration at the house. The Scripture it's based on is the book of Nehemiah and how he led the Israelites in a little renovation project - called Jerusalem. All y'all who started singing, " O, O, O Me, O My, O Nehemiah, what are you gonna do?" get extra points. If I lost you, that's a song from a children's musical we did at church a hundred years ago. I can't tell you what I had for breakfast but I can still sing most of the songs. So... living through a renovation and studying about spiritual renovation - I'm wondering if somebody is trying to tell me something. Like a capital "S" Somebody, maybe. There are definitely a lot of parallels. It's a messy process and it doesn't happen overnight. But mainly, I've learned that when it comes to the real interior design, I best leave that to The Professional. As Pastor Tim said, renovation of the heart is not a DYI project (yeah, he figure out it was DIY). There's a Designer who will oversee the project from beginning to end. And He has an impeccable sense of style. Just look around. I call it Perfect Perfect Perfect. Selah.
P.S. The picture above is my real kitchen. #cannotbeliveigettolivehere
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