Blanche's Room

I wouldn't consider myself a "blogger". I mean, you have the writer bloggers, that just have amazing stories or input on society. You also have the bloggers that have beautiful photography. Then you have the crafty bloggers, who have all these amazing talents. And you also have the thrifty/DIY/ all things homemade types of blogs. I'm sure the list goes on and on. And I don't know if I really fit any of them. All I know is that when I did a self reflection a few months back in this post, was that I wanted to write, take photographs, and sew more. I needed to refocus. So thats what this blog helps me do I guess, and whether people actually read it... I guess that's a bonus.

Even though I don't always feel like much of a "homemaker," I am at home all day. So, for me, what things I look at (or stare at while rocking Blanche to sleep) are very important. When Andrew and I first got married I knew that we were sort of entering a new stage of life, and for some reason I thought that meant I needed to have target bedding with matching pillows. I thought I had to have matching towels and tablecloths for each season. I don't know, I sort of went all crazy 50's housewife. Then one day after having Blanche (and yes, it may have been after looking at Bohemian homes on pinterest) I realized that getting married didn't mean changing who you are. So, having the awesome husband that I have, we went to Lowes and bought a whole bunch of plants. And I started doing things how I wanted to do them. All this to say I am starting a little mini tour of our small home to show some of the favorite details.

First and foremost, we start with the "nursery." Which only really stayed the perfect nursery I had created up until Blanche was born. Now, Blanche has sort of a "bohemian pad" of sorts. Well when Blanche was only a few months old we completely switched bedrooms. We did a lot of things. Like we decided we didn't need to keep a crib in a small town home when she didn't even sleep in one. Blanche still co sleeps at night, but now we have a bed for her to grow into or nap on whenever in her room. It also makes a great bed for all our single friends that pop in on occasion and stay the night.

One of my favorite things about Andrew and me is that almost everything we have in our home has either been giving to us, has been found thrifting, or is some memory. When Andrew's mom came up to Siloam for Blanche's party this month, she brought up a lot of old things. I love old things. Basically things that hung in her children's nursery twenty to thirty years ago now can hang in Blanche's room. I think I love old things because they always have a story. The blanket hanging above Blanche's bed Andrew's mom finished after her sister Joan had started it. I think its all cross stitched. I guess Aunt Joan had made it to the letter "R" and mom finished it from there. Which was extra sweet since she was pregnant with Rebecca at the time. See, you don't get that kind of history with a bed set from target. You just don't. The blanket on Blanche's bed Andrew's mom made. I am jealous of how crafty and efficient the older generations before me were. Blanche also has her father and mother's old toys and books scattered about the room.

The button mobile I made Blanche is hanging over her changing table alongside a huge frame that has polaroids of my own childhood inside. All of the polaroids are at least 25 years old, and I love that Blanche can look up and see all these beautiful people that love her right there. I think the thing I've realized is the most important about creating a child's room is that it needs to be fun. Its also needs to be practical. Like if your baby crawls, you may need to block the trash can. But it is so sweet to see Blanche crawl from our room to hers every morning and see her face light up when she sees all of her special things. It sometimes seems as if its Christmas morning or that she is seeing them all for the first time. For me its double the joy to see Andrew read Blanche a story before bed that he loved when he was little. And for me to rock Blanche in the rocking chair that my meme was rocked in, while being wrapped in the blanket that Andrew came home from the hospital in. Yes, like I have admitted before, I am sappy. I am sentimental. One day Blanche will come to visit her mom after she has left the house and is grown. She will open the door and probably find me buried in every toy she ever played with or piece of paper she has ever scribbled on... Nah, I think I'm a bit too much of a neat freak for that. But I'm sure I'll have a special memory box for each child.

I love having a home that I really do love. Not that we don't desire certain things at times (like a garage), but what's important to me is that my home is beautiful because I think it's beautiful. I once read  something like, "have nothing in your home that you don't find necessary or beautiful". I think it is so important to have beauty. I wish Americans especially could learn that having beauty and spending a lot of money are two completely different things. Materialism is so easy to fall into, and when you change your idea of what is beautiful or even needed, you find yourself saving money and being an individual. So that's the first part of our little home. More to come... : )