• The One About the Tree HousE: Lights! (Camera! Action!)

    Decisions, decisions, decisions!

    Doesn’t it sound exciting to make decisions regarding every detail of your home? I will admit, I bought into this idea when we decided to build (vs remodel). The thought of picking out all the light fixtures, all the flooring, all the cabinets, all the wall colors, all the everything, sounded super fun and like a dream come true! And don’t get me wrong, there have been (fleeting) moments of fun throughout this “picking process,” but it also has been one of the most overwhelming tasks that both Luke and I have ever taken on.

    This week, we spent nearly 3 hours with our architect walking through the house and identifying where light switches, outlets and light fixtures should go. This is important because the electricians are coming this week, and they will need to know the plan. It is amazing how you can think and rethink where a switch should be placed, and what lights should be tied to that switch. Do we want it on the right side of the wall or the left? Do we want to control this light or that light? Where will we need outlets? Should we have recessed lighting here or flush-mount lighting there? When you purchase a home that is already built, you kind of just get used to where switches are or you change your furniture layout to correspond with the outlets. With this opportunity, we can say exactly where we want things to go, which is awesome, but who are we going to blame when we hate the layout once we move in? Ourselves. We blame ourselves.
    So, the pressure to get it right, and on the first try, is pretty heavy. We don’t want to screw it up. We don’t want to have to rip something out and start over, even though that happens frequently in projects like this. My motto has become, “Everything is figure-outable. Everything is fixable.” I tell myself this when I feel overwhelmed by all the choices to be made. Or, as I texted Luke today, “No one is dying. It’s going to be OK.” It is imperative that you keep things in perspective. While it might feel like the end of the world if we buy the wrong toilet, it truly is not the end of the world if we buy the wrong toilet.

    All that to say that yes, we are still moving right along. The HVAC and plumbing people have been working (and the basement looks like a tornado swept through it with all of the broken up concrete from placing pipes and vents and all kinds of other things). They should be finished soon. The electricians are coming this week. After that, we will be ready for insulation and dry wall.

    We made some lighting decisions this week at our new “favorite” store, Menards. I know it’s not a glamorous, prestigious design hub, but we have found a few gems in that store and have taken advantage of their 11% rebates when possible. By purchasing the bulk of our building materials (from the framing to the siding to the decking to the, yes, toilets) during rebate weeks, we have been able to earn 11% of our purchase price back in the form of store credit. We have then used that store credit to purchase more materials. We are hopeful that we have saved some money this way.

    A couple of my favorite purchases from this week include:

    These wall lights.

    These master bathroom vanity lights (2 sets).

    This is the light I would like for my office. Luke didn’t want to buy it yet (because I think he thinks it is ugly), but it will be mine. It will. We aren’t calling it the “Mom Room” for nothing.

    We are also repurposing a couple of industrial work lights from one of my dad’s work warehouses. These are heavy-duty, porcelain coated lights that we will have rewired to be used in this bar/pass-thru area from the kitchen to the great room. We are going to use two of them in this space. We love the idea of taking something old and giving it new life…not to mention, this was another money-saving move for us. These lights were free!

    Other exciting updates include our front door being installed (color yet to be determined), the concrete porch and steps for the front entry being poured (LOVE the way it turned out), and the back deck is being built. We are going with a natural-colored composite decking material that will hopefully hold up well over time without the need to replace buckled or warped deck boards. This deck will serve a nice place to enjoy morning coffee, evening wine, or just a great back entry to the great room. There will be a metal railing, and the steps will lead down to the existing concrete patio that we were able to keep from the original house.

    Front door and porch steps

    Back deck in progress

    Luke and his dad have been working hard on the design for the front porch roof. We have gone back and forth on the size, style, and shape of this space, but I think this design is definitely a winner. It’s so awesome having Luke’s dad lend his architect hands to us for this project. We will definitely keep his designs along with many other artifacts from this project so we can remember all the phases and progress.

    We are officially just about 6 months into this whole process. Considering 6 months ago, there was an existing 75 year old house on the property that has since been torn down and this has taken its place, I think we have come a long way in a relatively short amount of time. In another 6 months, I pray we are all moved in and enjoying this house that we have poured our hearts and souls into from the very beginning.

  • the one about how I take it back

    “Hurry up!”

    “Please hurry!”

    “Let’s hurry!”

    How many times have these phrases been whispered, blurted, yelled, or sometimes screamed in some guttural war cry in the direction of my children? Hundreds…if not thousands of times. Whether we had an errand to run, an appointment to attend, an event to go to… I have hurried my little ones probably everyday of their lives in one way or another.

    There have even been plenty of times where I have expressed similar sentiments to my husband, my friends, my parents, or even myself in the privacy of my own mind.

    “I just wish she had a little more independence.”

    “It will be easier when they are older and don’t need me as much.”

    “I can’t wait until they can do ________.”

    “When will this pregnancy be over?”

    All of these thoughts point back to the same root meaning — hurry up.

    It’s so easy to play these thoughts on repeat when I am sleep-deprived. My brain is consistently foggy. My emotions are on high alert. It is incredibly tempting to look forward to next year, or the next ten years, and think life will be infinitely easier when my children are in different phases of life.

    But it never fails. As soon as I get my wish. As soon as my children start growing up and needing me less, I am full of regret.

    I take it back.

    I didn’t mean it.

    Let’s try it all again.

    Don’t get me wrong. I cannot possibly put on a pedestal the nights where I was up every hour on the hour with a fussy baby. I can’t forget the time I tried to potty train Noelle using the three-day method and quit after day one. I won’t glamorize the incessant time outs or the handful of times we have walked out of a restaurant with our food in to-go bags because our child(ren) threw an epic fit. These are not parenting moments that I wish to relive, but rushing through them wasn’t the answer, either.

    While each new phase brings along excitement and new adventures, it also leaves behind a tightening in my chest…a longing in my heart… for the days that we will never have again.

    I take it back.

    Don’t hurry.

    Please.

    The minutes, hours, and days are going to pass in the same speed, whether we wish them away or not. And before we know it, our babies…the ones we held and rocked and stared at for hours on end in their first months of life…will be walking through the doors of their elementary schools, and we will be so lucky to even get a look-back or a wave.

    At least that’s what my oldest baby is doing today.

    Today, she starts 2nd grade. But wasn’t she just in Kindergarten? How did this happen so quickly? And how do I get things to slow down?

    Many times throughout this past summer, when my patience had worn thin, my energy level was on empty, and my creative juices were dry…and my children had watched their fill of the Disney Channel and even the weirdest Youtube videos of adults opening Easter eggs full of cheap toys couldn’t entertain them…I thought to myself, “I can’t wait until they are back in school. Things will calm down and return to normal.”

    But damn. I take it back.

    I miss her already.

    And next week, Charlotte will be headed out the door for all-day preschool, three days a week, and I will miss her, too. All the times I have been frustrated with her…the times I have wished she wouldn’t want one more tickle on her back when I just want to go to bed…the times I have groaned in disbelief when she asks for a snack 20 minutes after eating breakfast…I will take those back, too.

    They are only small for such a small amount of time. Too soon, you are called to send them out into the world, which is probably the most painful thing ever because it is literally a living, breathing, piece of your body, heart, and soul walking around in that great big space without you. You love them so much it hurts — a widely-used cliche, but the only fitting way to describe it.

    Too soon, you are worrying about friends (and enemies). You are worrying about parties (and not getting invited to parties). You are worrying about love interests (and broken hearts). You are worrying about getting into college (and then them actually going to college).

    The future, though colorful and bright, can take its time. At least for me, for right now, I am in no hurry. I can’t be in a hurry. It’s all going too quickly on its own.

    We don’t have time to go back and get your blanket.


    I take it back.

    We don’t have time to see one last animal at the zoo.

    I take it back.


    We don’t have time to read one more story.



    I take it back.


    I can’t wait until…

    I take it back.