HOME SWEET HOME

Y'ALL we won! What did we win you ask? We won our home! A little background:

As many of you know, we have been looking at houses. We have seen many we like, but this house we LOVED the moment we saw it online. We loved it so much we placed a bid on it without seeing it in person. Some call that crazy, we call in passionate haha! Anyway, the home was on the market but was for auction so we placed our bid and our realtor said "you guys will get it." Those words were comforting but we had to wait 10 days for official confirmation. Those 10 days felt like a month. I am not trying to be dramatic or sarcastic. It was a trying and hard 10 days but my goodness did it teach us to rest in the presence of God and trust Him! We prayed everyday for this home. We drove by it and parked outside and prayed over it, thanking God for it and pleading the blood over it in preparation for when we move in. We went on quiet walks and rejoiced in knowing that it was going to be ours very soon! Any chance we thought about that home we prayed and thanked God for it!

Well today is day 11 and our realtor called us to let us know it is ALL OURS!

I cannot wait to show you guys photos of it.  It is a blank slate which is what we were looking for. We wanted something that needed a little love so we could put our own spin on it and put some equity into it. All the carpet was already ripped out (thank God) cause #1 I am so not a carpet fan even though I agreed with my husband to put some in the 2 spare bed rooms but #2 we get to pick out the floors WE WANT. It has cathedral ceilings in the main living area, tres ceilings in the master, an arched doorway leading into the kitchen, a huge garage, sits on half an acre....all these things; some big and some small that we desired in a home and it was like God plopped the house down in the most perfect time and was like, "Here you go my loves, this is for you!"

Y'all God is so good! My mom told me as we started the house hunting process, 

"get detailed when you pray about your home. Tell God what you want. The more detailed you are the more you will know it was God when it comes along your path!" 

I mean come on an arched doorway, that is such a small detail but the moment I saw it when we walked through I was like "yup this is our home!"

We get our inspection done this week/week end and move forward with closing then the REAL FUN begins: RENOVATIONS! YASSSS LAWD! This is the part I have been dreaming about. I cannot wait to see this home transform and I am so excited to document it all so I can share with you, whoever you may be reading my blog! Thank you to all of our family and friends who have been calling and texting asking us about it and praying with us for it! We are so blessed to have so many amazing people in our lives desiring the best for us! WE LOVE YOU!

BLACK AND BOLD KITCHEN

We have some exciting news about our house search and within the next week I cannot wait to share it with you all!

In the meantime the hubby and I have been putting together our design scheme for our future kitchen. We want a bit of a fixer upper that we can put our own touch on, so we have been getting some inspiration from good ole HGTV and of course PINTEREST!

For a while I thought I wanted an all white kitchen, which I still find STUNNING but the more I have discovered about my design style the more I realize I like BOLD kitchens. Preferably black kitchens with gold hardware/accents! 

Source: click here

I see people wanting to change out brass fixtures and my thought is "WHY?!" I understand if it is maybe an older/traditional brass fixture BUT look how sleek and contemporary this faucet looks! If the gold is "too" gold for your liking, they make a more muted gold that is not so flashy. 

Source: Brittany Makes

I think that the gold and the black look so sexy together. It just looks so sleek and polished and brings  a sparkle factor to what could be a gothic looking kitchen. 

Source: Blair Harris

This beauty of a kitchen gets all the heart eyes in the world!

Source: VIRGINIA MACDONALD

Not comfortable with having a bunch of black cabinets? Here is a beautiful white kitchen with a pop of black found in the island! The perfect touch of spunk that I believe brings this kitchen to LIFE!

SO, with all this inspiration we came up with this idea for our kitchen:

We are pretty certain that we want these floors throughout. They are from HOME DECORATORS COLLECTION and the name is "Brilliant Maple". Brilliant aren't they?!

The color cabinets will be black...which is exactly the name of this swatch haha nothing fancy!

We found these awesome beveled subway tiles. I like the beveled style because I feel it gives a little extra modern touch.

For the walls, we want Behr's Maui Mist. My husband  laughs at me because I came home with different white swatches and he said "you are crazy, there is no difference" but yes, yes there is! The wall color  and the ceiling color will be different. The walls will be a muted white and the ceilings will be a crisp white that has ever so slight cool tones in it almost making it look like it glows (not really glows, but is BRIGHT) to make the rooms look bigger!

And the counters! OOOH the counters my favorite part about this dream kitchen. We still don't know if we want quartz, granite, or laminate! We love the idea of quartz because it doesn't have to be sealed like granite does 1-2 times a year, but also have to think about the comps of the neighborhood and if laminate will be a wiser option when it comes to reselling. I have a feeling we will go with quartz though! I love the look at this CALCUTTA MARBLE. The large scale grey and taupe veins that run throughout are just so beautiful, they make me drool! So we will see what we find when we go to pick out the final piece.

Hardware wise, this is the idea we are going with! These particular pulls are from HICKORY HARDWARE and are every bit of fabulous! I saw ones at our local hardware store but they were silver and I thought, "oooh the price is great, I could save money and paint them gold" but this is for our dream kitchen...I refuse to settle! I will continue searching around for the best price cause Lord knows I love a bargain ;)

What are your kitchen dreams? Do you have a color scheme in mind? Do you have a particular design you desire? Look around! Get different ideas! Branch out past your comfort zone, you may find out you like certain things you never thought you would! 

happy decorating

THE CURTAINS

I was cleaning our apartment today and I walked past a pile of things that we tossed into our spare room to make space. In that pile were some pillows, blankets, and THE curtains. These curtains mean a lot to me. They are the curtains I have envisioned in our future babies nursery. They were given to me by my friend. They are fun, and funky, with a little bit of a retro flair to them and I just knew the moment she sent a picture of them I wanted them for our little ones nursery.

Those curtains are wonderful but they have also caused a lot of pain, to the point where I have been tempted to get rid of them. Why? Because they have reminded me of the journey that is: GETTING PREGNANT.

I have ALWAYS wanted to be a mommy. Ever since I was little I have had a desire to have children of my own that I could care for and nurture and just pour the love of God on them. 

"Children are a gift from the Lord; 

they are a reward from Him" (Psalm 127:3)

When my husband and I got married we decided that we were going to wait a year before we started a family. I was skeptical about going on birth control for certain reasons but did it and that only lasted 5 months and my body went CRAZY! So that didn't last long. I stopped taking it and for months I let my body get back to normal. Can you believe that it took from September 2014 to August 2015 for my body to get regulated again? THIS is one of the many reasons that I will never go back on birth control, it just did not do my body good. ANY WAY, after a year of marriage and growing my husband said, "I want to be a dad!" I'm sure you could imagine my excitement when I heard these words! I did the happy dance over and over again.

Great we are going to have a baby 9 months from now (is what I thought)! I mean the Bible says that God created man and woman and they became one and they were fruitful and multiplied, easy right? NO! I never learned the details that go into making a baby. I mean we certainly understood the baby making dance ;) but I didn't know how small the chance was of conceiving a baby every month. It wasn't like they said in family life, "if you have unprotected sex you will either get a disease OR get pregnant right away" neither of which are necessarily true.

A month went by since we started trying and I got my period. Then 2 months then 3 and I was crushed. It is such a horrible feeling when you think you're pregnant and Aunt flow decides to come the next day. That feeling became all too familiar to me month after month after month with piles of negative pregnancy tests. I allowed the desire to get pregnant to become an idol in my life. I thought about it EVERYDAY. I checked my fertility tracker eagerly, looking to see if I was getting close to my fertile days. If I saw the slightest sign of ovulation I would hop on the chance and get to doing the baby making dance in hopes of creating a baby.

4 months passed then 5 then 6 then 7 and 8 and still no baby in my womb. Broken and hurt I just balled my eyes out. I could not control the hurt and pain and disappointment I was feeling inside. I had friends getting pregnant and I was SO EXCITED for them but then I also ached on the inside because I so badly wanted to be that girl who got to find out they would be welcoming a precious one into the world.

 I remember one morning getting news that a friend of mine was expecting and I just broke down. My heart was overwhelmed with joy for her but it was overwhelmed with pain because it was just a reminder that I was not there yet. My husband and I sat at breakfast that morning and I lost all control. Tears came pouring out of my eyes all over my pancakes. Brent being the loving man he is grabbed me and sat me on his lap and just hugged me. He didn't say much, he just held me in his arms and assured me that in Gods time we will have a beautiful baby. He left for work and I just sat on our couch crying, hyperventilating, and having what felt like a mental break down. 

I felt like a failure. I felt like something was wrong with me. Why am I not pregnant yet?

"My husband wants a baby and I haven't given one to him yet!" I called my mom and just cried to her. She assured me that how I feel is normal and she too has been there and has felt those exact emotions as well. She assured me that I was being too hard on myself and that all Brent and I could do was sow a seed and ONLY God could bring the harvest in His PERFECT time! Her words brought me such comfort because everything she said was rooted in Gods promises! In the meantime she said to be thanking God and praying for our future CHILDREN, which I have for years even before I got married!

The next morning when we went to Church, WOW! That is all I can say! It was amazing and almost like Pastor knew exactly what we were going through. He talked about Moses as a baby and how his mom did all this work in order to protect her baby. He went into detail about how much hard work it takes to make the basket she made to put Moses in. She gave her ALL  and when it was time to put Moses in the basket she did not know if what she did was enough. Will Moses live? Will he be ok in the river? She wasn't certain what she did was good enough but she trusted that the Lord would take care of it and she gave all her worries and concerns and desires over to the Lord! GET THIS, not only did God protect Moses but God brought Moses back to his mother AND she got paid by Pharaoh's  daughter to raise HER OWN SON! Pastor said, our prayers are so small compared to the BIG things God ALREADY has in store for us. He urged us to send our concerns and worries and desires down the river and trust God! So that I did! I said,

"Lord you know the desires of our hearts and I am trusting you that our baby will be brought to us in YOUR perfect time! Your plan and timing is perfect so why would I ever want to rush it?

I truly believe that when we are WALKING IN THE LORD'S WILL for our lives there is nothing that we can do to speed up or slow down His promises for us. So we need to accept that waiting means exercising faith. Faith in His timing, faith in His goodness and love for us!

Later that week I met with my friend Emily. Can I just brag on her for a moment? She is a literal answer to prayer! She is humble, loving, comforting, joyful, encouraging...the list could go on forever but I'm sure if I gush about her too much she would blush! She said something to me that to this day still makes me cry tears of joy. She said, "like we are sitting here together. One day you and your daughter or son will be sitting together and you will be able to look into their eyes and say, I waited for you for so long! I prayed for you everyday and here you are!"

And you know what yet another month has gone by and I got my period. Was I a bit upset, of course! Naturally speaking I believe it is ok to experience disappointment but it is about taking that disappointment and turning to God and being real, being authentic and saying, "God I am upset right now, but I know that You are good and Your plans are great and I trust in Your Will for me! I won't allow myself to grovel in disappointment. I won't accept defeat!"

I could easily look at my friends and feel sorry for myself, but why? The plan that God has for me is not the same as my friends. Do I really believe that my extraordinary God I serve is that boring that He would make my plan in life the same as someone else? 

I don't know when I will get pregnant but I know that I will!  God promises it in His Word.  

"There will be no miscarriages or infertility in your land, and I will give you long, full lives" (Exodus 23:26)

I believe that with my whole heart!

For once in a long time during this baby making process, I feel peace. I feel comfort. I feel like I can rest. I know the pain of waiting. I know the pain of seeing negative pregnancy tests over and over again. BUT I stand here today knowing the JOY that is found in waiting because in waiting my faith has grown unbelievably! In waiting I have learned to trust The Perfect One and His oh so perfect plan for my husband and I. Today I can sit here and rejoice because I know God is a loving and faithful Father who DELIGHTS in blessing us with our hearts desires. I mean, He did in fact put those desires there so who is He not to bring them to pass?  I cannot wait for that day when He blesses us with our biggest hearts desire!

Baby Vinson, we cannot wait to meet you! We cannot wait to hold you and love you and kiss you all over! We prayed for you, we cried for you, we thanked God for you and we are eagerly awaiting the day when we find out you will be blessing not only us, but this world with your beautiful presence!

If you are in the waiting season, sweet friends please know that it is such a beautiful season to be in! You can either poke out your lip and cry "woah is me" or you can see it as an amazing opportunity that God has chosen to give you to grow your faith and your relationship with Him. It is such a blessing to know that God wants me to draw closer to Him, to know that He loves me so much and desires me to know Him even deeper that He would use a desire I hold so dear to my heart in order to love on me EVEN MORE! I don't believe He is withholding something from me, I believe that He is perfecting something FOR me!

"The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands" (Psalm 138:8).

WHAT IS YOUR DECOR STYLE?

What is your decor style? 

Can you confidently answer that question?

For the longest time I could not confidently answer that question. I THOUGHT I knew what my decor style was for the longest time. I mean duh, it was CHIC FARMHOUSE of course, cause I mean come on everyone else was doing it so why not join in on the trend?! I thought it was simple to accomplish: throw some white paint on pieces and distress the crap out of it, use natural wood throughout, have a sign or two hanging with the words "FARM" or "ORCHARD" on them and maybe a little burlap and I was ready to go. (I know there is more to go into it, but lets be honest that is the foundation of the farmhouse style).

So that is exactly what I did! I bought things and distressed them. I made weekly trips to Hobby Lobby and picked up anything that screamed farmhouse. I changed things CONSTANTLY!

This was our previous apartment. I cannot tell you how many times I changed out wall decor above that couch :/

But ya know what? I never felt content. I always felt like I needed to get more! And to me that raised a RED FLAG. Why am I always feeling like I have to get more and more? Why am I so heavily influenced by the farmhouse style homes I see online? If this was MY decor style, then how come I am not confident in my decor choices?

Also our old apartment. I must say that I do love this bedding because it reminds me on the bedding I had as a little girl, but it was so not who we are NOW. Again, changed our bedding 3 times because I was not content.

All of these questions made me realize that I needed to take a step back and reevaluate if our home's decor exemplified who we were as a couple. And the answer was NO. We are both loud and fun (my husband is def. hysterical!) quirky and dramatic (ok maybe I am a little more dramatic then Brent hehe) but we are also very relaxed and can most of the time be found on our couch watching movies! So you see, farmhouse decor did not exemplify that at all. So I did something about that. I sold things and tossed things and started from square one. I slowly started to add pieces that I was naturally drawn too, pieces that spoke to me NOT just pieces that I thought fit a trend. And I love our apartment now. I haven't felt the urge to change things. I can't even remember the last time I bought something. Actually yes I can, I recently got this awesome thrifted pillow cases but I mean come on they were only $1.50 for the both of them!

Our current living room compared to our old living room is night and day!! I really don't think they could be any more opposite, but I look at this photo and it feels like home to me!

I cannot tell you how much peace I have felt ever since I began to understand our decor style and buy things that make us happy and describe who we are as a family, not just buy things to fit a trend and be in style with what is currently all over Pinterest or Instagram. 

There is nothing wrong with changing pieces in your home, but it is SO IMPORTANT to understand what you decor style and buy things that are rooted in that so when you look to buy new pieces you aren't wasteful with your money (and time).

Are you looking to get a better understanding of your decor style? Head on over to MY DOMAINE and take their quiz. It is actually pretty darn accurate I think. I answered a few questions and I believe it was spot on with what we love! After you take the quiz, RESEARCH! See how others decorated their home with the style you got. Get inspiration! Try new things! But more importantly be genuine when you decorate, add pieces to your home that make you happy, that tell a story, that show others who enter your home who YOU ARE! 

happy decorating