The Outside & In

Today I have the pleasure of bringing you a lovely home tour from my friend Jenny. We met several years ago when we were in the same bunco group. Alas, I am no longer playing bunco, but I am grateful for the friendships that came out of it. The last time I was at Jenny’s I think she and Ryan had recently just finished building their home. It was so fun to come back and see how the house had had changed and evolved since then!

One of the things you will see in the pictures is that they have really brought their own interests, personalities and travels into their space. Jenny is a wine-lover. Ryan is a coffee & beer aficionado. They both love cheering on their college football teams and traveling. Treasures, trinkets and works of art from the places they visit are all over their house. You can tell they really surround themselves with the things they love. Creating personal spaces that reflect what you most enjoy is what makes a home uniquely yours. For them, it even spills out into the outside of their home.

While most of the country starts covering up their outdoor stuff this time of the year, here in Florida we start pulling it out. The heat and humidity will soon give us a bit of a reprieve so we can actually enjoy a meal outside. In Jenny’s case, they are beyond ready. The outdoor space has recently been completely transformed into a complete oasis. It’s heavenly! Step inside and take a look…

Who lives in this home and how did you come to live here? Me (Jenny), my husband, Ryan, and our two dogs, Barley & Nole; I grew up in Ocala in the Woodfields area. When Ryan’s job brought us back here, we decided we wanted to build. We couldn’t find a lot to build on in the area of town where I grew up, so we started looking elsewhere and ended up loving Bellechase (where we built).

What was your vision for the house as you were preparing to build? Honestly, I didn’t really have a vision. We took one of the builder’s model home plans, and tweaked it a bit. We went into building this house thinking we would only be in it a few years. However, since then we’ve made some renovations and additions, and I think we’re here to stay a while!

How would you describe your aesthetic/style? Casual and a bit modern farmhouse

You have two adorable lively dogs. How do you decorate and furnish your home with them in mind? I really don’t…haha! So far they haven’t ruined anything!

Is there something you would change now that you have lived in it for several years? A bigger laundry room!

You and Ryan travel quite a bit. How have your travels influenced your home decor? I enjoy buying artwork and decorative type objects (i.e. wood bowls, pottery, etc) when we travel, so I like to display these in our home. When I buy these things, I don’t always know where they’ll end up in my decor, but I tend to stick with my same style, so I can always find a spot!

Do you work with a decorator? How has that helped you? Yes, Lorraine Owen has helped me tremendously!! Using a decorator has helped me learn so much about decorating and design…too much to list everything! It has definitely helped me learn how to pull a room together to look finished and uncluttered with furniture, wall art/decor, decorations, and architectural objects, etc. It has also taught me it’s okay to be eclectic with furniture and decorations—not everything has to match exactly!

What tips/advice would you give someone working with a decorator? Let a decorator lead you with all aspects of decor, but don’t be afraid to give your opinion. It’s your house, so even though someone is helping you decorate, you want it to reflect you and your taste.

Where do you find home inspiration and ideas? Catalogs & source books from stores, stores’ websites (especially where you can view by rooms), Houzz.com.

What are some of your favorite places to shop for your home? Restoration Hardware, Victoria’s Antique Warehouse in Leesburg, Shannon Roth Collection in Ocala, Anthropologie, Pottery Barn, and small stores & galleries I find when we travel.

What is one thing you think every house should have? An open area (inside or outside) suitable for entertaining

What do you splurge on in your home? Where have you saved? I splurge on furniture, but save by trying to use some of the replaced furniture in other rooms.

Where do you like to find art? Online and at galleries when we travel

Which room/area in your home do love the most? I love our screened porch and outside area the most, but we spend the most time in our gameroom.

Your outdoor entertaining area is out of this world. How has the outside changed the way you enjoy your home? We definitely enjoy using the outside more for entertaining than we did before we added that whole area.

I hope you enjoyed today’s home tour. Isn’t the back patio area incredible? I am inspired to spruce up our little fire pit area for fall now

Thank you Jenny for letting us “step inside” your warm and comfortable home! If you like this home tour and would like to more, click HERE.

Photography: Ale Cretul

Posted by Ale & filed under Home Tours. This post has 6 comments.

I recently finished reading “The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed” by Jessica Lahey. As soon as I finished the introduction, I knew this book and I were going to be a good fit. I had highlighted most of it 🙂

I’ve noticed one of the quickest ways to get people gabbing is to ask them about their childhood. More specifically, how they were raised and then compare it to how children are raised today. It’s fascinating to think about the difference one generation can make. Odds are, if you talk to someone older than 25, they will describe a much more independent childhood with more responsibilities and freedom. Things are very different these days and the results are evident in our kids.

In “Gift of Failure”, Jessica Lahey brings a very credible perspective not only as a mother, but also as a middle school teacher. Her message rings loud and true: the sooner we can let kids experience the gift of failure, the better!

Many of the messages in Lahey’s book reinforce the key points in two other books I’ve recently reviewed and loved, “How To Raise and Adult” and “Mindset”. In fact, Lahey cites Carol Dweck (author of “Mindset”) quite a bit in “The Gift of Failure.” The overlap in the messages does not feel redundant to me. It feels important. Personally, I know I need to hear this over and over again, because letting your kids struggle is hard.

How did we go astray?

It’s important to point out that Lahey is coming at this from a point of understanding and empathy. As a parent, she knows that everything we do for our kids comes from a place of wanting to do the best for them. As a teacher, she can also see the effect our loving efforts are having:

“Out of love and desire to protect our children’s self-esteem, we have bulldozed every uncomfortable bump and obstacle out of the way, clearing the manicured path we hoped would lead to success and happiness…The setbacks, mistakes, miscalculations, and failures we have shoved out of children’s ways are the very experiences that teach them how to be resourceful, persistent, innovative.”

“The Gift of Failure” outlines several reasons that we have gotten to this point. These are a few that stuck out:

Desire to be a “good parent”. Parenting is a “thing” now in a way that it has not been in the past. Parenting magazines, TV shows, blogs all dedicated to parenting. What used to be a noun has turned into a verb. And of course everyone wants a blue ribbon.
Enmeshment. Basically merging our identities with our children. We love them so much that solving their problems is like solving our own.

Taking our take-charge work skills into parenting. So many of us are working, or have worked, in careers where we make things happen. The instinct to do the same in other parts of our lives is only natural.

What can we do at home?

Fostering intrinsic motivation is what it’s all about at home. Rewards, bribes and threats often get us the immediate results we want, but the child doesn’t actually learn why they are doing what they are doing. Ugh…so true. Rewards, bribes and threats are my go-to’s when I want something done. Why do I use them? Because they work fast. Instant gratification, but at what cost?

Stopping to teach my kids why something should be done takes time and is uncomfortable. But I do have proof that it works. Last year, after reading “How to Raise and Adult” we established a morning checklist for the kids to get themselves ready for school and us to stop nagging. I even posted about it HERE. A year later, I can say that it was a good move. One of our two boys is now doing everything without a list and without being asked (and then some). After reading “The Gifts of Failure”, I am getting the motivation to find more opportunities for them to be self-reliant. It’s totally worth it.

Our relationship with teachers & school:

There’s nothing like school to make parents feel like they have to pull out all the big guns to see their kids “win”. No one wants to see their children struggle. I am in that boat too. My gut-reaction to anything that seems unfair or unjust is to go head first into fixing that problem. As parents, especially moms, we are wired to rescue our kids when they are in need. It’s difficult to know when to start drawing the line and letting things go.

Lahey has some clear guidance on what we can focus on during the school years:

“In order to help children make the most of their education, parents must begin to relinquish control and focus on three goals: 1) embracing opportunities to fail, 2) finding ways to learn from that failure, and 3) creating positive home-school relationships”.

In case you need examples, she has a chapter dedicated to each of these three goals and tactical examples of how you can accomplish them. I absolutely loved the simple ideas on how to create a positive relationship with your child’s teacher from the start of the year.

Final Thoughts on “The Gifts of Failure”

I’m going out on a limb and betting this will be one of my favorite reads of 2016. I absolutely loved Lahey’s voice. Her credibility as a teacher and mother made me want to listen to what she had to say. And what she had to say made sense. Without making me feel judged, I was clearly able to see how the little things I do in the name of helping my kids actually being a hinderance. I appreciate Lahey’s insights in “The Gift of Failure” and loved the practical examples on how we can pull back while still being there for our kids.

If we are all here to do what is best for this generation of children, we need to be on the same page with what is important. In my opinion, this book would be helpful for every parent today.

Posted by Ale & filed under Books. This post has no comments yet.

Image Source: Headspace.com

September Favorites

The end of September is upon us, and there are a bunch of random things I want to share with you. Not all of them are worthy of an entire post, so I thought maybe I could do this at the end of each month to recap some fun things I’ve been into lately.

I am loving the SkyFit audio fitness app! My friend recommended it to me (thank you Becca!) and I have been using it quite a bit when I go to the gym. You basically can choose the type of workout you want, how long you want it to be and then you get a personal trainer and music in your ear walking you through the workout. There are countless options so you can either have a new workout every time you use it, or go back to your favorites. If you are curious to see if it is for you, they have a 7-day free trial.

Another app I have subscribed to recently is Headspace. Have you heard of it? It’s a very popular guided meditation app. Headspace has a 10-day free trial, which I had done once before so I knew I liked it. I just never signed up for it. Until Ben, my 9-year old, mentioned that he was interested in trying meditation. We went through the 10-day trial together and have continued it since. I believe we are on day 18 or 19 of the Headspace journey. We really enjoy the 10 minutes of guided meditation every morning before he leaves for school. I hope we can keep up this good little habit we have started.

I really enjoyed reading this compilation of 15 career tips from smart women. Liz Gilbert and Brene Brown’s advice were my favorite. Which ones resonate with you?

It seems that Studio McGee is on fire. This full house reveal from their blog this week rocked my world. I think I pinned every photo.

Just finished reading this book. Will be posting a review soon, but the bottom line is…if you have kids or teach kids, get it! The book is filled with guidance on how to parent for autonomy so our kids can learn to become independent and confident young adults.

I had a little birthday money left over to get myself a little something. It was between a pair of new jeans and a new flush mount light for my office. I ended up pulling the trigger on this. Now you know where my priorities are 😉

And finally, a podcast episode recommendation: “Smarter Faster Better with Charles Duhigg” on the Unmistakeable Creative podcast. I was riveted to this episode for two reasons. First, I recently read and reviewed “Smarter Faster Better”. I thought Charles Duhigg wrote a super interesting and entertaining book about a topic that could potentially have been a total snoozefest. Listening to him talk about the book was almost like re-reading it. Highly enjoyable.

The second reason this episode caught my attention? I feel like there were a few awkward moments between the host, Srini Rao, and the guest, Charles Duhigg. I listen to a lot of podcasts and rarely catch anything being “off”. I don’t know if Duhigg was in a bad mood or maybe he was annoyed that Rao got the title of his book wrong at the beginning (and again at the end), but there was definitely a tension. Despite the weird vibe between the two sometimes, it is still worth listening to. If the episode peaks your interest, then you should definitely get the book. And get back to me if you picked up on the same thing I did.

And that’s a wrap for my September favorites. What’s been on your radar this month?

Posted by Ale & filed under Books, Family Time, Home Decor, Learning, Podcasts. This post has 2 comments.

It’s home tour day! I’m so happy to introduce you to Tricia, one of my wonderful neighbors. Tricia and her family live right behind us. They are super warm and extremely kind. I think I have mentioned before how much we love our neighborhood, and this family is one of the many reasons why.

I am in awe of what a fantastic job they did building this home from scratch. While tackling a remodel project comes with its own sets of challenges, building something from the ground up seems extra daunting. All of the choices and decisions to make!

As Tricia explains, they started with a vision for an Florida Cracker inspired home and executed it beautifully. I absolutely love what she says about taking their vision and then making it fit for the neighborhood. You can tell that every little space was thoughtfully placed. If I’ve ever seen an example of a wonderfully designed house from start to finish, it is this one.

The proof is in the pudding as the Redricks truly live and play in this home with friends and family. As much thought and planning that went into building their house, it still feels simple and welcoming. Not formal or fussy in the least. Which totally fits their personality. The porches invite you to slow down and stay for a while. So how about taking a moment to step inside?

Who lives in this home and how did you come to live here? My husband, Steven, myself (Tricia), our daughters, Mary Peyton (15) and Charley (12). Also, our two dogs, Gus & Hazel. We had been living in the same part of town since we moved to Ocala in 1999. We were in the market for a new home and we were struggling to find a home in the neighborhood that would meet our families needs without a complete overhaul. Fortunately, we were able to find a vacant lot right in the heart of the neighborhood.

What was your vision for the house as you were preparing to build? Steven grew up in Florida and was drawn to the Florida Cracker style home complete with metal roof. While researching home exteriors, I also fell in love with the simplicity of the style. We also wanted to build a home that “belonged” in our older neighborhood. While working on the plans we often considered the surrounding homes in our neighborhood. For example: the overall home size, colors, materials and landscaping (just to name a few :-)) The interior vision was derived for the purpose we saw for our home. We enjoy entertaining and knew that we wanted an open plan that included interior and exterior entertaining. Our “style” actually fell into place with the home itself. We wanted a casual yet warm home where our friends and family could spend time together.

You have a degree in interior design. How did that experience influence the experience of creating your home? I feel that having a design background was very beneficial! I had a pretty solid idea of what we were wanting to create. We worked with a very talented architect as well as a great builder that were always open to our ideas / input as well as us open to theirs. Unfortunately, many first time homebuilders have no idea of what they truly want and hope the architect / builder can decode it for them. I feel that this leaves them as well as the architect / builder frustrated and overwhelmed.

How would you describe your aesthetic/style? I would describe my style as casual, simple with a touch of traditional.

You have two adorable lively dogs. How do you decorate and furnish your home with them in mind? Slipcovers and easy clean fabrics.

Which room/area in your home do love the most? I have a craft room with natural light which I tend to gravitate to when I find quiet time. But I spend the most time with my family in our open kitchen/Dining/Living Room.

What traits draw you to others’ homes? I am drawn to homes that tell me something about the people who live in it. What better place to display the things you enjoy than your home? I think you should feel a little vulnerable in your home. That is how you know you have created the space for YOU and not others.

What are some of your favorite places to shop for your home? I love going to antique type places and looking for that hidden treasure. I also like to decorate with things you can’t buy.

Where do you find home inspiration and ideas? Magazines, Pinterest, and friends

Where do you like to find art? My kids, antique places, Etsy, Ebay, and friends

How do you hope your daughters will remember this home when they are older? I hope they remember the family get togethers at Christmas with 20+ people, and watching Gator football games in the garage with friends. I hope that they remember feeling safe and comfortable. And loved.

What is one thing you think every house should have? Covered, outdoor space. And practical storage.

What are some tips/advice that you would give to someone embarking on building their own home? I had a notebook that I had been putting together for years prior to building. Of course I had no idea of where or when we would build when I started compiling but I knew it was something I wanted to do. This book came in handy time and again. For example: I had a picture with from a magazine of windows..when I wanted to communicate what I envisioned to our builder, I pulled this picture out for reference. I pointed out the details I loved in the picture. (proportion, trim style, color) and he ran with it. The book also helped me to focus on the things I loved all along when getting overwhelmed with so many choices.

Other tips I would give would be to pay attention to “how” you use your home. Meaning what you do in your home everyday as well as the occasional uses. Consider storage (everyday and longterm), accessibility and how you will “move” with in the space.

Isn’t the home a testament to creating a personalized and thoughtful place to live the everyday? Thank you for letting us step inside your lovely livable home, Tricia!

If you would like to see more home tours like this one, click HERE.

Photography: Ale Cretul

Posted by Ale & filed under Home Decor, Home Tours. This post has 6 comments.

Do you remember a few months ago when I posted about my friend Bonnie’s windowless classroom? Previously the 7th & 8th grade history teacher, she is now the middle school counselor. For the past month and a half, we have been chipping away at her inherited guidance classroom, with still a few more projects left to go. We are taking a little pause for the next month, so I thought it would be fun to give you a progress report today.

If you recall from the original post, we are dealing with a large windowless room with unsightly ceiling tile and fluorescent lighting. Not exactly Better Homes & Gardens material 🙂 The perfectionist in me would like to spend quite a bit to make some major changes, but the realist in me realizes that we need to work with what we’ve got and do what we can.

Before I show you where we are now, let’s take a look at what the space looked like when I first saw it. From what I hear, it was a big improvement from what it looked like before.

A few days after seeing this, it got worse. Scary worse. The custodial staff kindly put all the old furniture and stuff from the previous counselor back into the room and it looked like this:

I wish we had some good scary sound effects to go with these pictures. I am sure you are sufficiently horrified though. I certainly was. Besides giving you an idea of the amount of stuff this room contained, it also shows you what the existing furniture we had to work with looked like. Not pretty. Lots of particleboard and metal cabinets.

Let’s take a look at where we are today:

Much better, right?? As you can see, the biggest impact has been made by taking things out. Editing is probably one of the most powerful tools in transforming a space and it does not cost a cent. Besides doing a deep declutter, the next inexpensive change came from painting several of the existing wooden pieces with Annie Sloan chalk paint in French Linen. Although it was time consuming to paint and wax all of the surfaces, it sure saved a lot of money. Plus, it brought a little much-needed cohesiveness to the room.

Classroom Progress Report:

Painted existing furniture with Annie Sloan chalk paint.
Added area rug.
Added two upholstered chairs.
Purged (a lot).
Added art & decor
Edited & styled bookcase.

Room for Improvement:

Address back wall with filing cabinets.
Address corner with accumulated stuff.
Style and create more function around the credenza.
Style the big table.
Bring in greenery.
Cozy up seating area.

Here are a few more photos with notes on what we did and mental notes on what is still left to do.

Furniture Additions

Adding furniture was not really an option, except for the upholstered chairs. Bonnie wanted to get some comfy chairs to bring in that would be welcoming for anyone going through a hard time that might want to talk. I scoured the web for two comfortable upholstered chairs that Bonnie could purchase for less than $150 each with no luck. The only ones I could find were armless. And we all know an armless chair is lacking in the cozy factor 🙂 Guess where we ended up finding the chairs? My house. As I mentioned in THIS post, we were looking to replace our two chairs with a leather couch. So we went ahead and sold our chairs to Bonnie.

New Decor Additions

You might have noticed that the area rug in the classroom is not at all like the ones in the initial inspiration boards. By the time she went to purchase the other rugs, they were both unavailable in the size we needed. What was initially a frustration, ended up being a blessing in disguise. As we started to search for alternatives, this area rug suddenly appeared at Target:

Bonnie ended up loving this rug even more than the previous options. I did too. It is obviously not a real vintage rug, but it sure does look like it. The colors were a fantastic jumping off point for the lamp and the artwork purchases.

So that’s where we are as of today. Bonnie has put the breaks on any spending for the next month (understandably). Even clearance items add up! And I am sure she doesn’t want to keep pouring money into her classroom. She is going to budget a little for November and December to see if we can finish up some of the items still left. After that point, I think we are going to call her classroom complete. I think this project is a good example of striving for progress over perfection. When I look back at where this space started, we really have come a long way!

Posted by Ale & filed under Home Decor. This post has 8 comments.

Step Inside: Jenny’s Well-Traveled & Welcoming Home

Recent Read: The Gift of Failure by Jessica Lahey

How did we go astray?

What can we do at home?

Our relationship with teachers & school:

Final Thoughts on “The Gifts of Failure”

September Favorites

September Favorites

Step Inside: Tricia’s Relaxed & Refined Florida Home

Bonnie’s Windowless Classroom Progress Report

Classroom Progress Report:

Room for Improvement:

Furniture Additions

New Decor Additions

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