I am so excited to participate in the Tour Through Blogland today and share with you a little more of my home life and my blogging life. I was invited by both Amanda at Dwelling in Happiness and Tara at Anything & Everything.
Amanda is super talented and even though she just started her blog in July, she is doing awesome! You can check out her tour here. I especially love her backyard makeover and water feature she created. So beautiful!
Tara over at Anything & Everything also invited me to participate last week. Tara lives in her husbands childhood home, which I think is so fun!! I wish we could have bought my childhood home when my parents put it on the market a few years ago except it was in the wrong part of town for us. During Tara’s tour, she shared her work in progress living room. For a work in progress, this looks fantastic! I love her recent gallery wall and especially her new crate table. So fun!
Now onto my tour! I have shared a lot of my home throughout the last year being new homeowner’s but just a few months ago we ended up switching four rooms around so we have a lot of “work in progress rooms” now.
Starting from when you drive up to our home, you’ll see our newly finished diy retaining wall. This wall drastically changed the way our home looks and I just love it! In one weekend it was done.
Last winter, we built our own floating shelves in our living room and with that meant a whole new look to the front of our house. These shelves really helped bring a more sophisticated, rustic feel to our living space while also giving us a lot more functional storage space for one day when we need more room with kiddos running around.
1) What am I working on?
If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you probably remember that we just did a mini makeover in our kitchen involving cutting down a wall half way and making a kitchen bar. I haven’t taken final after photos, but let me just say it looks awesome!! I am so excited with how it looks now and how it just opened up our whole downstairs.
Now that the kitchen project is over, my sole focus is making over our nursery. This week we are painting and then the real fun projects get to start! So we just have one little corner done since our glider came a few weeks ago so far but here’s a little sneak peek.
I’m also currently working on my hobby room. When we rearranged four rooms/areas in our home a few months ago, one of the spaces was switching my hobby room and our guest room. The guest room is almost done but now I have the fun project of putting my room together. It is the smallest room in our house and much more manageable while also forcing me to stay super organized. You can read all about my hobby room inspiration here. I am excited to show you some progress shots in the coming weeks of my new space. 
Another ongoing project that I don’t think I’ve ever shared on the blog is Mr G’s office.
Since he works full-time from home we figured this is one space that is all his. He wanted an industrial, rustic feel. Which means we had our friends over at Three Arrow Design and Build make him a custom desk and then everything else for his office just starting falling into place. We made a custom curtain rod using piping from Home Depot, bought a black leather couch (his dream!!) from a local store that was closing down, and I made the art for behind his desk using the cheap engineering printing from Staples. We still plan to build industrial shelves above the couch and add some more color to the room but for now I think it’s looking fantastic, and more importantly he does too!
As you can tell our diy home is definitely a constant work in progress but I love it that way. I never get bored and always have some project to fill my night if I want.
2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?
The DIY, craft, home decor genre is so filled with people but I think my work differs just because no person is the same. I know it’s so cliche, but everyone puts there own little spin on things and I’m no different. I am super cheap as my friends and family like to say, yet I’ve been told my home looks like it’s straight out of HGTV (biggest compliment ever!). Somehow I found a way to make it work and I love when I find an awesome deal!!
Also, I’m not afraid to go to Goodwill or thrift stores. Many Monday mornings you’ll find me waiting in line at my local Goodwill Outlet where they have the giant bins of stuff and you seriously need gloves to sort through the goodies but it’s so worth it! I found our nursery dresser there that’s practically brand new from IKEA for $250 less than I would have got it new.
I am willing to wait for the bargain and put a little grunt labor in to make sure it’s worth it. I think I am still, and always be, finding my style and making my style more me, rather than just following the current trends or styles.
3) Why do I write/create what I do?
Burlap and Babies is my creative outlet! I’ve considered myself an on-again, off-again blogger for the past 5ish years but not until I graduated college did it really become my thing! My Type A personality was longing for something to stay busy with in the evenings and with my love for creating, more serious blogging became an obvious choice. I admire so many mommy bloggers and strive to not just settle in my home but always be working towards making something fun that I can be proud of.
I think this ends up coming out in my work. Creating and writing is how I unwind from the pressures of daily life and just how I am able to share my passion for thriftiness and creating on the cheap. I know, in just a few short months, this will also be a place for me to document our little babes life with family, friends, and the blogosphere. I love reading about other mommy journey’s and I hope to share mine as well.
4) How does your writing/creating process work?
Depending on what kind of post I am writing or creating depends on how it happens. Usually I’ll have an idea and jot down some basic ideas either, in a note on my phone or in a new post entry. Then from there, if it’s a tutorial or diy project I’ll do the project, take photos, edit photos, and then start writing…what I call my brain dump. After I brain dump and have all my photos then I put it in logical sense and have Mr G read it to make sure I don’t sound crazy! Writing and photography are my two major areas of improvement I am working on and is my goal for the next few months to learn and grow on before baby comes. (If anyone knows of great tutorials or posts on either of those topics that have helped you, I’d love to hear about them!)
I hope you enjoyed getting a little deeper with me and hearing my heart for why I do this weird thing called blogging. It’s been so fun getting to read more about others lives and blogging style and thanks to Amanda and Tara for inviting me to participate!
And now it’s my turn to nominate some talented ladies: Amy at HomeRemediesRX and Kristina at My Own Home.
Amy is a wife and mom who loves family, decorating, home improvement, DIY, cooking, & anything crafty. Follow her adventures at HomeRemediesRx.com.
Kristina- DIY diva, frugal Franny, and thrift store queen. Welcome to my blog where you can find lots of DIY, decor, and creativeness! You can read more about her here!
Thanks for participating on my Tour Through Blogland! Can’t wait to read all about your tours next week ladies!
Awesome tour, Amanda!! I really like your hubby’s office, it sounds super cool. My hubby totally needs his own little space like that! I can’t wait to see the nursery either, that purple is gorgeous!! Thanks for sharing! :)
Thanks Amanda! Ya I love his office too. Definitely a different feel then the rest of the home but great. Thanks for inviting me! :)
I totally agree. The office is definitely the coolest part of the house. :)
Thanks! It is pretty great!
Loved you tour, Amanda! Thanks for participating. Wow, you are a busy busy lady! Can’t wait to see your kitchen and nursery!
Thanks Tara! Thanks for inviting me. :)
What a lovely home, Amanda! I’m definitely going to use your floating shelf tutorial for a project in my son’s room! I’m looking forward to seeing how your baby’s nursery turns out, too.
Thanks Amy! Can’t wait to see your son’s room.