Sharing two home projects 🏡

Still a work in progress!

I hope you are having a great week and are enjoying the warm weather (if you’re in the northern hemisphere, of course!).

I get so many questions about our home, so thought I’d share some of the projects we have underway. It’s nice to be able to share them with my fellow home-obsessed peeps!

We finally are finished with our home renovation that we took on over a year ago. But of course, the work is never done! Now, we are diving into some landscaping to really put on all the finishing touches. This means many trips to the garden nurseries and picking plantings - shrubs, trees and flowers - to plant around our house. Honestly, I love this part (no surprise there!).

We have hired a landscaping team to help us this time around, and it’s been a huge help. One aspect of our exterior home that we wanted to fix with some landscaping was our driveway, which was a funny shape. Although it’s a circle, people would always stop 1/4 of the way in, which would block the flow to get to the front door. So we decided to change the shape of our driveway, to make it more narrow and curved in the beginning so it forces people to drive all the way up to the house. Honestly, it’s already working!

We ordered delivery the other day and were so curious to see if the delivery guy would stop where everyone use to stop, or if he’d drive all the way up to the house … We were delighted that he drove all the way up! (It’s the little things, y’all.)

The landscaping isn’t finished yet, but I'm just excited to have another garden bed to look at and enjoy.

Because of this new project we just HAD to extend my walkway garden, so I’m also getting a few more feet in there. :) No complaints here. Any favorite landscaping tips or plants you’re loving at the moment? Feel free to share!

The second project we have going is that we're putting built-ins in our living room. It is something I've wanted to do since we first bought the house, but it was never a priority.

Now, since we had to do some replacing of fireplaces and wood stoves, we had to tear apart part of the wall. So we thought this might be the perfect time to make that room exactly what we wanted.

We're putting built-ins on either side of the fireplace/woodstove insert, with desk space on either side. I imagine I'll use one of the desk sides with my laptop, and the other could always be for Skylar to do her homework or crafts one day (🥹).

How the space looked before.

We'll likely hang a big piece of art above the wood stove, and a reclaimed wood beam mantel. I'm loving the color Revere Pewter from Benjamin Moore, and am thinking of getting these brass knobs from Rejuvenation. The color is a popular color, and I sort of worry that it will be outdated soon, but honestly I like it, so we're going for it.

I did also consider doing a dark green or blue for the built-ins to give that dark library look (as you can tell from my inspiration board below!), but our foyer is a dark blue/green, and you'd be able to see both wall colors from multiple parts of the house so I needed to pick something a bit more contrast-y.

Inspiration for our shelves!

One thing I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around is figuring out what kind of rug to have in that room. It’s a very long, rectangular room, so do we have two separate rugs on either side? Or one long one that goes all the way across? I’d love some of your ideas if you have any!

We also need to do some shopping for styling items of the shelves - these are a few of the things I’ve been eyeing off.

• This beautifully detailed vase that could sit on the bottom shelf and could hold fresh branches or flowers from the garden.

• I think these bud vases would also be nice spread throughout the shelves.

• Brass baskets/containers that hold ad hoc items in a considered way.

• If I’m not doing green paint, I could bring in the same color with decor like these tapered candles, held in brass candleholders.

• I know bookshelves can often look quite “styled” which is nice, but I like to add a bit of our own personality, which can easily be achieved with family photos (or Skylar’s artwork in years to come) housed in pretty frames.

• Similarly, I think adding unexpected pieces can be fun - like this rock match striker, or a cat photo holder.

• A statement coffee table book (shelf book!?) is also a nice idea.

• Finally, in a family home, I think these hearts are really sweet.

Let me know what you think!

Live, Learn, Lovewell.

✌️Emma