The Day's Journal

Finding beauty in the everyday pieces of life

life adventures

5 Months in a New Town

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I think I was a bit delusional during the moving process last spring.  I had it in my mind that I would have plenty of time to unpack, organize our lives and even decorate prior to the pending wedding season.  I even had visions of having my studio being set and ready to go.  Life is always more work than anticipated, then throw in two little girls and its game over.

#thebigmovetoBigRapids has disappeared from my feed.  Life is messy right now.  But in the name of progress, here’s where we stand since our relocation.

The House

A 1950s ranch located on 6 acres of woods, fields and within walking distance to a small lake.  It’s quiet, dirt road living.  I love the location and the serenity.

The house was completely gutted and remodeled by the previous owners.  They bought it as a foreclosure and spent the next year of their lives redoing everything.  They pride themselves in nothing original being left of the 1950s shack.  I, however, find this really sad.  From past pictures, I understand that much needed to be improved upon but I would have liked to retain a bit more history and preserved some of the home’s original integrity.

I’ve also found very few people in this area share my passion for white cabinets, light walls and cottage chic décor.  There’s a lot of brown in this town.  I’m on a mission to infuse a bit more of my style into this home without making it clash with the brand new pieces that have been so carefully selected, such as the deep espresso cabinets, the chocolate bathroom vanity and rusty gold tones of the travertine fireplace surround.  The one project I have been able to tackle so far is painting all the walls in my living room and kitchen white (naturally, I tackled that project the night befor Willa June’s first birthday). It’s a step in the right direction, even if I’m not completely sold on the chosen paint color.

The Studio

Our house has a fully finished, walk out basement.  It’s very homey and not at all your typical dingy, damp basement space.  This is be a space where I can work, design and meet with clients.  Half will be designated as a “work zone”, with shelving, counter height tables and – fingers crossed – a sink.  The other half will be more of a cozy, meet and greet space.  I have an antique sofa that’s just waiting to be reupholstered and I’m looking for a few other cute pieces in my travels.  I love any excuse to purchase new furniture.  I’m even hoping to include a small play area.  And the best part is there will be a door between the two halves, so when the studio side gets a little messy, we can close it off to the living area and hopefully keep the floral disaster contained.

As far as progress goes on this space, we’ve ripped out half of the carpeting since I can’t really work with flowers on carpet.  But other than that, there’s been a lot of dreaming about potential.  I’m hoping to select a paint color before we lay new floors but I’m stuck on what color.  It’s all dependent upon what color I want as a backdrop for my flowers to be Instagrammed against.  So sad, but so true.

The Gardens

This is another big dream area.  We simply didn’t have time to plant anything this year and I really wanted a summer to see what grew naturally on our property.  So far we’ve found wild raspberries, mock orange (or something that looks a lot like it), apple trees, irises, lots of autumn olive, sweet peas, more ferns than you could possibly imagine, chokeberries, grapes, daffodils and oodles of things I cannot possibly name.

I very much want to plant and grow some things to add to my floral designs and am looking forward to that sense of accomplishment.  However, I’m a little scared.  I don’t exactly have a green thumb and I think this might be a huge, frustrating challenge ahead of me.

There you have it, the last five months, in a nutshell.  Living here feels so natural, I can hardly believe it’s only been four and a half months.  I’m excited for the autumn and dreading the winter a touch, but I definitely have enough things in mind to keep me busy all year through.

Cat in Highchair | Vintage Aqua Highchair | The Day's Deisgn

Photography: Justine Simmonds  

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The 5 Most FAQs for the Month of March

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I’m full on having an ADD month.  I start one project, leap to another, tackle the unpacking of one box, grab a paintbrush and splash some color on half a wall, check my email, forget to respond to the message I just read and end the day feeling exhausting and unaccomplished.

Moving.  That’s what’s on my mind. And of course the impending wedding season which is full of flowers.  Ah, flowers.

Through the shuffle and the driving, I’ve had some amazing blog posts run through my head.  But when I actually stop to sit down at a computer.  Poof.  My mind immediately goes numb.  I forget how to form a sentence, proper grammar and all forms of punctuation go out the window.  The three parts of a story – gone.

So today’s post will be in list form, between to-do lists, project lists, packing lists – this just seems fitting to have a blog list. The answers to my 5 most frequently received questions over the last month.  Here’s everything you need to know, even if you really don’t care to know it.

How’s the move?

Such a loaded question.  Moving is hard.  It’s emotional, time consuming and strenuous.  I’m so sick of looking at boxes, wondering where things are and feeling unorganized.  But if I can put all of that aside, it’s really good.  The house is great so far, we’ve had our challenges of being in a rural setting, but overall I think we’re going to be really happy here – if it ever stops snowing.

How’s the new house? Are you getting settled?

See above.  The house is great so far.  A sweet friend texted me today reminding me that even small steps are progress.  But it’s hard.  I really want things done NOW.  Patience is not a strength of mine.

How are the girls adjusting?  Does Gretta like her new room?

Packing and moving an entire house up is hard.  Packing and moving an entire home AND business is harder.  And packing and moving both of those things with two small children is crazy.  What were we thinking??

Gretta is adjusting great.  She loves it.  The first change we made to the house was painting her room pink (actually a subtle blushy white, but it’s pink to her – she is 100% girly girl).  And everyone who comes over gets to see her pink room as the first stop via the Gretta home tour.  Willa June, on the other hand, has been very out of sorts.  I didn’t expect it to be such a struggle for her, I figured she was young enough that the environment change wouldn’t have much of an effect.  I was definitely wrong.  She’s been a little extra clingy and doesn’t seem quite herself.  I think we’re finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with that as the last couple days have been much improved.

What’s the house like?  I can’t wait to see what you do with it!

I don’t think I’ve shared much about the house we bought here so I’ll give you a little history on the home.  (You may remember me contemplating a couple of choices back when I posted this here).  We ended up buying another 1950’s ranch.  It was foreclosed on a couple years back and last January a couple bought it to flip.  They did a ton of work, it’s completely remodeled and brand spanking new – which really isn’t like me at all.  It feel strange not changing things out of pure necessity.  But it’s pretty nice not having all the projects lingering over my head.

I will, however, be adding my own touches to the space.  While the finishes are really high end and the couple who fixed it up did a great job, not everything is completely my style or how I would have done them. My sister summed it up perfectly “it looks really nice, but it doesn’t look like Shelby.”

I’ve had so many people share how eager they are to see what I do to the new house, how I decorate, etc which I think is really funny.  While I love home décor, I’m not an interior designer and have never pretended to be.  I’m just a girl who likes to keep up on style and binge watches Rehab Addict whenever possible.  However, you can follow along with my tweaks and updates #thedaysinteriordesign, just be nice.

One of my favorite parts though is the location.  We have six acres of wooded lands, wild grasses and rickety old fences.  There are birch trees, an apple tree and lots of potential for foraging.  I found a pussy willow a couple days ago.  Chickens live across the road and we’re within walking distance to a little lake.  And the crickets and bullfrogs sang us to sleep on the couple of warm nights we experienced.  I am aching to have the windows open and smell sweet scent of fresh country air.

When does wedding season start?  How is the move affecting business?

These are big questions.  Part A – wedding season starts at the end of this month.  I have a huge wedding April 30th in Grand Rapids and I’m so excited for it.  It’s going to be a beautiful explosion of spring flowers and vibrant colors.

Part B – what many people don’t realize is that even though I previously lived in Grand Rapids, I really didn’t do that many weddings in the city itself.  I think only about 25% or so of my weddings were local.  With that said, I wasn’t really afraid of the move.  I’m closer to my Traverse City/Leelanau brides and it’s not too much further from those Southwest Michigan and lakeshore brides.  And I’m working on having a proper floral studio within my home, which is going to be amazing and help with my workflow and productivity so much.

Willa June | The Day's Design | Moving to Big RapidsPhotography: Justine Simmonds

Last week I stayed up for a couple of late nights painting our living room.  And on Saturday we hosted our first of many family gatherings, this one in celebration of Willa June’s first birthday.  We still have a huge horse trailer full of belongings sitting in our driveway and I’m just trying to take one day at a time.  I think we have finally found reliable internet service, so we feel connected to the world again.  Week three of country living and all is well for the night.

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Note: Just to clarify, I don’t really have ADD – just days I mindlessly hop from one task to another and cannot sit still as I’m overthinking every little piece and project in my life.  Focus Shelby, just focus.