Hello from the sunshine state! We’ve been busy working to get our beach home put together since our move in date in January! We have most of the major pieces and are just awaiting some accessories. Soon, we will be able to schedule a photo shoot and will have all kinds of content to share here! Today, we’re sharing our *almost* completed bedroom! I’m waiting on the perfect piece of art for above our bed and a glider for the corner (for those middle of the night newborn feedings!). Other than that, this room is done! We just unrolled the most perfect rug, which gave this room the character and coziness that it was lacking.

I am in major nesting mode over here! When Ty flew down to FL to check on the new build a few weeks ago, I felt a strong desire to redecorate. He came home to new artwork in many rooms of our home, a new living room rug, and some other miscellaneous changes throughout the house. All of the work that I have put into designing the Florida build has made me feel as though our "personal style" is a bit lighter and more minimal than what we had going on in our house. I loved the darker color scheme and cozy elements in our home, but it just wasn't feeling quite right and I felt drawn to both lighten and minimize our space.

With the Florida build finally rounding a corner, I thought it might be time to share a formal update! Over the last few weeks, we have seen immense progress! Aside from a few hiccups, things are rolling smoothly. I find such relief with each new photo that we receive! My micromanaging self is having a hard time building this home from across the country! If I had it my way, I would be flying down every weekend! Unfortunately, all of the important detail work (tile, millwork, etc.) just so happened to fall during the last month of pregnancy which is leaving me to check on the house virtually instead of hopping on a flight.

We closed on the sale of this cute little charmer on San Jose Drive a couple of months ago. We poured a lot of love into this flip and had so much fun staging the home just before putting it on the market. She sold right away and we are so excited for the new family that is going to make this sweet home theirs!

As I mentioned in our newsletter, things are happening down in FL! Hardwood, tile, cabinets…all the fun stuff is going in! Shockingly, I changed my mind on many of the tile selections last minute! I felt myself gravitating to an even lighter, more coastal and organic aesthetic than my original design plan. That’s the good thing about the build timeline taking so long…I’ve had plenty of time to lean into my personal style and have found that “the beach” is more inspirational than I had even thought, leaving me wanting a more soothing and light color palette (a change from the deeper, richer palette of the recent MI build!)

Ah, the kitchen design! I have redesigned this space time and time again, continually tweaking to find the most functional layout. In this kitchen, our objective is to maximize storage while maintaining an open, airy feel. We want this house to feel serene, evoking feelings of a simple beach life. One thing I am doing in this kitchen that I have not done in YEARS (not since our very first home, 7 moves ago!) is upper cabinets! I toyed with many different layouts and kept coming back to uppers near the range. Open shelving felt too cluttered. Towers felt too heavy for the scale of the kitchen. A range alcove would have eliminated too much counter space. Ultimately, upper cabinets fit the bill! Gasp!

You all have been guessing about the exterior color of our Florida house! As I mentioned in this post, I had been day-dreaming of a 30a beach house for years. You better believe that I spent a lot of time in those day dreams designing said hypothetical house. I always envisioned a classic white beach house. Alas, our house with not be white! Like the Michigan build, we picked something unexpected. I think the answer may even made you chuckle, considering the Michigan build saga! That's a big hint!

Our first blog post about the Florida house design....yay! I have been bottling up all of these design concepts for months too long! I am eager to share! It has been 4 years since we went under contract on the first build which fell through and 3 years since we bought this lot! Considering, the design theme, along with my own personal design, has slowly evolved!

Are you ready to see the actual house?! I still can't believe this is real! Ok, little back story on the house plan...the neighborhood is filled with custom homes, all different from one another. There are certainly themes amongst the neighborhood and HOA requirements, but in general, there is a lot of variety within the community, which is something we love about the neighborhood! I could walk the streets all day admiring the beautiful homes, each so unique!

If you have signed up for our monthly email newsletter (sign up here!), you already learned that we are finishing our basement! We have been suffering from a severe case of cabin fever this winter. The long winter with a toddler is another level of stir crazy! We have been eager for a change of scenery; more places to crawl and play. When we built this house, we intentionally did not finish the basement and had plans to finish it in a couple of years.

The San Jose flip (also known as the EGR flip) is coming along! We just got the cabinets installed. Soon, the quartz counters will be installed followed by the kitchen backsplash! We also have an exterior door and a couple of sconces to replace and some paint touch up to tackle. And finally, after staging and styling, our darling home on San Jose will be on the market!

This being our 7th house, we put a lot of thought into every detail of the build! We have learned a lot about practical design after living with 7 different kitchens, laundry rooms, etc. We absolutely love our new home and how it turned out, but even house #7 isn't perfect! Here are some things I wish I would have done differently after living here for a few months!

Ah, the kitchen, the heart of the home. By far, this is my favorite kitchen yet! It's cozy, inviting, and functional. I'm thrilled with how this space came together after months of planning and coordinating! I really wanted this kitchen to have some soul and character. While I have loved our previous kitchens, most of which were white-on-white, I was ready for something with more depth. I do think white kitchens are timeless and fresh, but I was eager to design a kitchen with more color and variation to bring some uniqueness to new construction (which can lack character!)

Ah, our doors. The amount of time and thought I put into selecting our interior doors is slightly embarrassing. Originally, I planned to do all wood trim work in the house...doors, baseboard, window casing, etc., which is very uncommon in new construction and most commonly seen in older homes. I wanted to do some unusual things in this house to make it feels aged and to bring in some character. After significant thought, I decided against wood trim and went with white because I did not want the large kitchen window to be trimmed in a dark color due to the warm wood island and flooring. Ultimately, I decided to keep only the doors a stained wood!

Since before we began construction, I knew I wanted the house to be dark. Originally, I had my heart set on black. You can read about that here and here. Long story short, we changed our minds last minute and decided to go with a deep dark GREEN! Ah, the single best design decision of the whole project, if you ask me! I appreciate our dark green siding every single time I drive up to our house.

This is definitely my favorite type of conversation to have when I find out someone is building...where to save and where to splurge! With building, there are endless possibilities. So many options, products, new technologies. Coming up with a budget certainly helped keep me in check and forced me to prioritize what was important to us vs. what we could live without. While kitchen splurges are most common, it's always fascinating to learn what people prioritize in their homes!

Our first full room reveal is here! Meaning, one room at the new home is officially done! We "completed" our new home about a month ago and moved in. While the home was complete according to the occupancy permit, there was still a punch list of "to do's". We built this home ourselves and are still finishing a myriad of final details...fireplace installation, washing machine hookup, linen closet shelves, etc. We've been slowly tackling the decor since our move in date as well, but travel to the cabin, the holidays, and a wave of sickness have delayed those efforts as well. That said, we are thrilled to have the primary bathroom fully decorated!

Due to an inordinate amount of messages about our kitchen backsplash, I thought I would whip together a blog post with all of the details! I have to say, our Moroccan zellige backsplash may be one my favorite things in the home. As I have mentioned before, one of the greatest challenges with designing new construction was finding ways to bring character and personality to each space. Brand new homes simply don't have the character that you find in an old home! We tried to counteract this by installing products that have age, character, and celebrate imperfections.

The kids' bath shower tile installation is occurring in less than two weeks! EEEEK! The excitement is ramping up. We can't wait to move on in this fall! You better believe we talk about it every single day.

Alas! The kitchen design! I have put many, many hours into thinking of every single detail...from materials, to layout, to storage (but as always, there are so many specifics yet to iron out!). I want this kitchen to stand the test of time! As our lives grow busier, we are also prioritizing practicality and putting concerted thought behind how the space will function. I literally cannot wait to organize each cabinet. Our current kitchen is a little tight; we have bottles and sippy cups bursting out of each drawer. You better believe we are looking forward to having a designated space for each and every item!