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Making it Lovely (Blog)

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Making it Lovely (Blog)

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Making it Lovely

I worked on and am quoted in an article for @theda

I worked on and am quoted in an article for @thedailyherald about the @lfshowhouse that ran on the front of Sunday’s Home & Garden section.

"One of the delights of a Showhouse is the level of equal attention paid to all spaces," said Nicole Balch, an interior designer and blogger from Oak Park. One may expect to be wowed by a living room or kitchen, she said, "but a show house may have you walking away still thinking about a particularly beautiful hallway."

Lots of gems like that from me to you. I’ll link to the article in my Stories. And go see the Showhouse! It’s beautiful.

Today is the Wright Plus Architectural Housewalk!

Today is the Wright Plus Architectural Housewalk! I fell in love with this Queen Anne Victorian ten years ago when I stopped into the open house after #wrightplus that year and now it’s on the tour for the first time. We have loved living here, renovating, decorating, and caring for it for the last decade. I hope today’s visitors love it too. Thank you for having us @flwtrust - we are so happy to share our home.

#loweryhouse #oakparkil #architecture #housetour #franklloydwright #thelovelyvictorian #thelovelygarden #makingitlovely

I keep thinking I should fix my lil bug friends an

I keep thinking I should fix my lil bug friends and hang them back up but then you know. I forget. Even though I see them every single day because they’re leaned against the far closet wall. A pair of foster cats we had at the time kept attacking them (leaping!) and I took them down before they were too far gone but it has literally been YEARS. And I do kind of like them hanging out back there when I’m checking my fit.

Planted this magnolia in memory of my gramma and I

Planted this magnolia in memory of my gramma and I’m so glad I did. It’s thriving. It’s the prettiest thing out here by far and the only thing blooming this early, and it makes me think of her.

The guitar I bought for myself when I was 18, a ba

The guitar I bought for myself when I was 18, a bass that’s even older and only sometimes works, a secondhand keyboard, a quite loud amp, and the newest addition, the guitar on the wall that I’m over the moon about. Really leaning into this whole “music room” thing here.

This antique carousel horse has been in Brandon’

This antique carousel horse has been in Brandon’s family since he was a baby, and now it lives on with us. It was always my favorite thing in my mother-in-law’s house and I’m thrilled to pieces that we get to have it here. 🤍
(See, almost a week after sharing to Stories and I still haven’t had time and daylight to take a better photo. Rumpled cushions and unstyled life through my phone’s camera it is, friends.)

I didn’t realize guitars (especially acoustics)

I didn’t realize guitars (especially acoustics) need to be kept at 40-50% humidity. So now I have these little humidifiers: one for the guitar and one for the ukulele. I picked these because I thought the gauge was cute ☺️ but I did get a tip from someone that you can just put a damp sponge in a plastic baggie with holes in it and save yourself $15.

I’ve decided to get good at guitar. That’s it.

I’ve decided to get good at guitar. That’s it. That’s how it works. Really, it comes down to me deciding to practice with some regularity because I’m tired of thinking and saying “oh it would be so nice if I could play well.” I can do something about that!

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