Behind the Scenes Updates – We’re Building Again!
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There are so many behind the scenes updates I want to share with you today. The biggest of them all… yes, we are building again!
What?! Where? Why? What’s going on? Are you moving? (This is what I imagine you’re thinking right now. Especially if you’ve been following
It’s a long story, and this is bound to be a very long post! But I promise I’ll fill ya in on all the details. Then it’ll all make sense. So let’s just dive into it and catch up together.
Back to the blog – Back to HOME!
I took a loooooooong hiatus y’all.
I never intended to step away for this long, but here we are. I’m not sure what to call it. A pause. A break. A hiatus. Maybe burnout? (With the way the world is these days, aren’t we all a little burnt out?)
I like to think that I always knew I’d come back to the blog. But when you press pause for so long, it’s hard to know how to begin again.
Do I just jump right in? Do I need to explain why I was MIA? And if you sit with that for too long, you start to really question yourself. Who even cares why I wasn’t posting? And if no one cares, do I even come back? What do I even have to say?
That questioning can easily turn into self doubt.
I mean, I’m not a “trained designer”. I don’t have the degree. So maybe I’m not the person who should be sharing home decor and design.
But I love it!
And the one thing I always come back to is my belief that home is a feeling.
When creating a home, there are so many choices and so many decisions to be made. And I’ve found that the best way to make those decisions is to listen to your gut.
What feels like home to you?
That’s not necessarily something you learn in school. That’s something you learn over time, by making choices and realizing you love what you chose, or maybe even that you hate it.
Home is not a trend. Home is not “what’s in” right now. It’s is not a color scheme or a “design style”. It’s a feeling.
HOME is a feeling.
That’s what I have to say. That’s what I have to share here on the blog.
Making our house a HOME is fun for me, and I love sharing what I’m working on here with you!
I see the blog and Instagram as an extension of my “home”. It’s my online home, and a virtual home that I get to welcome you into thanks to the internet.
It’s the place where I curate inspiration and ideas and sources, create helpful resources, and collect all the lessons and tips I’m learning along my own journey HOME.
So yes, I took a very long pause / break / hiatus.
But I’m back! Back to the blog and back to sharing all things HOME with you. I’m excited to be back and welcome you in again… refreshed and energized for this next chapter.
Life and Family Updates
Jake and I are doing great!
We actually just celebrated out 11th anniversary on September 28. In some ways it feels like just yesterday, and in other ways 11 years feels like a lifetime ago!
The kids are both doing great! Keeping us busy as ever with school, soccer, dance and all the things.
We recently moved them downstairs and into the guest bedroom. They currently share that space which they were so excited for.
I’ll explain why a little further down, but it’s related to us building again!
And at some point I’ll show you that better photos of their new shared room, and the new beds we found on Facebook Marketplace! But for now, here’s a quick peek of that space in progress…
Ford is doing great too!
He went through a period of back to back ear infections for a while.
I know cocker spaniels are prone to ear infections. But his ears would get infected despite keeping them dry and clean.
As soon as they would clear up, it didn’t take long for them to get reinfected. Our vet even considered putting him on a special prescription diet.
But I am happy to report that he’s been ear infection free for months, maybe close to a year now.
I honestly think it had something to do with the excess humidity in our home and the mold we found under the house.
Ford likes to lay on the air vents to cool off, and I think that at least played a role in his ear infections. Because ever since we had the mold situation addressed, he has been ear infection free!
House Updates
We added some built-in shelves by the stairs to hold board games and legos. (Also related to us building again. Lately we need all the extra storage space we can get!)
This was a project I’ve wanted to do since we moved in! I’m not sure why it took me so long to get to it because it wasn’t hard to do, and it was fairly inexpensive.
I snapped these photos as soon as the paint dried but before we filled the shelves with the kids games!
I love how the shelves turned out, and I love the added storage and functionality they added to this little space.
There may be a couple other small projects I need to update you on, but I’m wracking my brain to remember them at the moment. So we’ll get to those eventually too!
But I really need to share the biggest and most exciting update of them all with you now…
Our Biggest Update – We’re Building Again!
Yes, we are building again! And to answer the most obvious question, no we are not moving. This farmhouse is home and always will be.
My parents however are moving! The photo below is one of the last photos I took of their old house before it sold.
Together with my mom and dad, we are building a guest cottage!
My parents have since moved in with us. They will be temporarily living in the upstairs rooms at the farmhouse while we build the cottage, their new home.
(Hence why we moved the kids downstairs into a shared bedroom, and also why we needed the extra storage space.)
We actually lived with my parents when we re-built our farmhouse. So it’s really come full circle for them to now be living with us while we build their cottage!
Selling my parent’s house was step 1. Prepping our farmhouse for them to move in with us was step 2. Now that we’re all settled, we get to move onto step 3: construction!
Building Gigi’s Cottage
Part of me wishes I had documented more of the process when we re-built the old house. We finished construction in 2019 and I started blogging in 2020.
Speaking of the old house…
Have you taken the tour?
We re-built our family’s 1800’s farmhouse… and I put together a mini tour of the before photos!
This time around, I’m excited to take you along with us and show you the whole process of building “Gigi’s Cottage” from start to finish.
If you didn’t know it, my mom is a photographer. So she’s used to being behind the camera.
The photo below is the one photo she said I could share here, haha! To be fair, she didn’t realize I was taking her photo at the time.
More updates to come, but I’m excited to finally share what’s been going on behind the scenes these last couple months!
Coming Up on the Blog
Now that I’m back, let’s chat about what’s coming up on White and Woodgrain!
It feels like such an odd time to jump back into the home decor space because we’re right in the middle of fall all the seasonal decor that comes along with that.
As a blogger, I try to work a little ahead of the seasons. Because the DIY’s take time, the photos and the blog posts take time.
If I don’t work a little ahead, I’ll run out of time to share those ideas and those posts when it would be most helpful or inspiring to others.
That’s kind of where I’m at with my Fall content.
Fall Decor
This year the only “fall” things you’ll find at the farmhouse are my fall candles (well that and the 2 pumpkins the kids picked at our local pumpkin patch).
Can’t skip over all the Pumpkin scents!!
Brittany’s Favorite Scents
from Antique Candle Co
Momma’s Kitchen
Country Pear
Clean Cotton
Country Home
Raspberry Vanilla
save 20% with code:
woodgrain20
Christmas Decor
Starting now, I will be jumping right into all things Christmas now that I’m back!
I love decorating for Christmas! I typically start pulling out my bins November 1st.
Anyone else an early decorator?
I think it makes for a more relaxed December when you’re not rushing through the decorating, because that stuff takes time to set everything up.
I like to enjoy it for as long as I can, so the sooner we start, the longer we get to enjoy it.
Holiday Decor Shop
Speaking of Christmas… the White and Woodgrain Holiday Decor Shop is officially open!
I curated a collection of all my favorite holiday decor finds, from garlands, to stockings, to ornaments, to table-top pieces, and so much more.
All the holiday finds in the collection are hand-picked by me, and are pieces I loved from some of my favorite places to shop for decor.
If you love the White & Woodgrain style, I know you’ll love the items in this collection!
Holiday Decor Shop
Hand-picked finds, curated by Brittany, for your home this holiday season!
Sourcing all the decor finds for the Holiday Decor Shop has me so ready to decorate our farmhouse for Christmas!
I also have a few holiday DIY’s planned so stay tuned for those coming soon.
There’s a lot coming up between the holidays and the new cottage construction! So much to look forward to. So much to share.
I’ve truly missed being here, and I’m looking forward to sharing this next chapter with you!
In the meantime, if you’re not already on the list… what are you waiting for friend?
The newsletter is a great way to stay in touch and be sure you never miss a post! But you can also find me and follow along here too:
It may take me a minute to get things running smoothly again. So I just wanted to say I appreciate you sticking around… in the quiet seasons, in the “working out the kinks” seasons, in all the seasons!
And as always, thank you so much for stopping by the blog today! I can’t wait to chat with you again!! Until next time…
Welcome back! Very happy to know that all is well and that you will continue with your blog. Nothing wrong with taking a little hiatus as we all need breaks from time to time. Wishing you all the very best on this new journey of a sweet cottage! Looking forward to the next update or DIY or decor change…lol!
Thank you so much Pam! It was a much needed break but I’m excited to be back!! 🙂
So happy you’re blogging again and excited for all things Christmas!