Our Move Back to the Meadow: A Journey Home
I cannot believe I’m finally typing these words but we have MOVED BACK TO THE MEADOW. We left our house at the meadow three and half years ago and finally moved back home last week after years of construction- which included some years of red tape, engineering & permitting hold-ups. 😉 – and waiting. It took much longer than we thought (and our “temporary” house became not so temporary) but I’m so thankful it worked out in this roundabout sort of way, giving me more time to soak it all in and to be able to make changes as our kids grew. We’re truly grateful for the respite that was our “temporary” house and absolutely loved life there. It was simple and maintenance-free and probably the easiest house we’ve ever lived in. It’s going to a wonderful new owner who purchased some of our major pieces of furniture in the house so you might finally notice some new pieces at our new place!
Dave and I are at a full-blown silly level of exhaustion and are moving furniture pieces all around our town- to this house, to storage units, to people who have purchased things- but it feels so good to get organized and consolidate. We’ll be working on our barn renovation next so that we can combine our design studios in town and I can work from home more easily.
The kids are loving the house and are getting settled back into their bedrooms. Christian (17) is the only one who stayed in his room… Justin & Louie have moved to a bigger shared bedroom over the garage and the girls bedroom is now in what used to be the attic. I’ve designed beds for the boys’ room that’ll arrive sometime this winter.
life right now
My days currently consist of working at the kitchen island on the computer and with the CarrMichael construction team here on site. (aka at home) I’m typing right now to the sound of a saw and I love it because that means progress!!! To say I’m blown away by the CMC team is an understatement. I know how that many of my designs in this house aren’t easy to implement and the work is at a high level of skill and difficulty.. And they. are . nailing. it!!!
We’re cooking some at home and I can already tell that this will be our most functional kitchen yet. It’s a combination of all of my favorite kitchens we’ve had- both aesthetically and functionally- and I’m loving it!! We’ve been trying to get most of our food from our local farmer’s market and I haven’t yet planted our vegetable garden. I’m not sure if we’ll get to that before winter but I’m trying!! There’s stone cutting and construction going on where the garden will go but I’ll be digging in that ground the moment it’s free!!
We got a garbage disposal up and running yesterday and each little progress move made makes me appreciate the house all over again. We have perimeter kitchen countertops and are waiting on interior roll-outs for the cabinets but I’ve still shoved things behind the doors to get us functioning. Today we started working on the range hood mantle fabrication. I found a cool bleached white timber on the property yesterday down by the barn that I’ve worked into the design and if we’d moved in years earlier as planned, I never would have found that beauty.
The leaves are in full fall color and we’re back to waking up to the views we loved so much. It feels surreal to have been imagining this for so many years and to finally be here. I’ve been wondering what I’ll be doing with my free dreaming thoughts now that we’re finally here… which makes me excited. It feels like a chapter is ending, and that means a new, unknown one is just beginning. I’m incredibly grateful to be on the other side of this move as we’ve been wrapped up in it for so long and it took so many tetris-esque moves -mentally, emotionally, and financially- to get here.
Our house is the most architecturally challenging and extensive project we’ve ever worked on. I wanted to make it different- both for our own life and with the hope that clients who want something a bit out of the ordinary, a bit magical, will hire us to work on their homes. We’ve always used our own homes to attract clients and this one is no exception. I love pushing myself creatively and this experience has been a welcome stretch of the mind and imagination!! (ps- If you’re reading this and are one of these clients, definitely reach out here!! )
new meadow episodes
I’m still plugging away on the Vlogs we’ve been making for our YouTube channel sharing the whole process in 15-3o minute episodes. We released a new one today if you want to check it out. I really loved making this one (found some great new songs!) and I hope you enjoy it!!
exciting news
And finally, this is also a really exciting week over here because my newest rug collection with Rugs USA is dropping on Friday!!! (pics above of our the current collection.) This one is really special and filled with natural materials so I can’t wait to share!! We also shot a lot of the content for the collection release at the Meadow so I’ll finally be able to share some styled snippets of the house with you!!
Sending love your way!!
xo
