Hello, friends! I hope you had wonderful Memorial Day weekends! Ours was great — we stayed local and filled our three days with some of our favorite things and people. We also visited two new-to-us spots that will definitely be making it onto my forthcoming Raleigh city guide, including our new favorite pizza!

I’ve got a fun little bedroom update for you today. You may recall from this post that I was on the hunt for a pair of small dressers to replace our bedside tables and house June’s clothes, which we keep in our bedroom for simplicity’s sake. After much internet searching and deliberation, we finally pulled the trigger, and I wanted to share! But first, the before:

I am not even going to show you John’s side, because it was a HOT MESS of books and electronic cords.

After considering many options, including this gray petite option (too short for our bed height), this weathered piece (wasn’t sure if the wood would look cheesy), this pretty modern piece (too expensive), this simple Ikea piece (maybe a little too modern), and this lovely navy piece (John wasn’t sold on the blue), we ended up going with a pair from Birch Lane.

Sadly, I can’t find them on the website right now, but they were about $500 for the pair and from a company called Longshore Tides.

That corner is looking much better, no?

Here’s John’s side — thankfully, the more solid dresser hides his cords!

Inside, I have a few personal items in my top drawer, but all three are filled with June’s current wardrobe (anything out of season or that she’s waiting to grow into is stored in her dresser upstairs).

John’s side will store baby boy’s clothing — his drawers are mostly empty for now!

So happy to have everything off the floor – only took us two years!!

Now, here’s where I need your help: I’m not in love with the drawer pulls, but am not sure what to replace them with…

Simple antique brass?
Simple white?
Beautiful milk glass or clear?
Floral? (Probably too girly…)
All white petals?

Any suggestions or favorites, my friends with excellent taste??

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I lucked out in the relations department in many ways, but one of my favorite lucky breaks is having my Aunt Nan in my family tree. Not only is she kind, hilarious, and thoughtful, but she is INSANELY talented. Longtime readers will remember that she contributed two of the most special pieces in June’s nursery — the crib skirt she sewed and horse mobile she knit (!) — but they represent just the tip of her creative iceberg.

Everyone who knows Nan has been saying for years that she should open an Etsy shop and share her talent with the world, and I’m so happy to say that she has!! Really, the only question was what product she might focus on, and I love what she’s chosen: the sweetest decorative pillows, with a classic New England spin.

These beauties would be right at home in any camp, cottage, or coastal-inspired interior — Northeastern zip code not required. The quality, of course, is impeccable, all of the colorways are completely customizable (at no extra charge since every pillow is made to order!), and the pricing is so reasonable.

I’m so proud of Aunt Nan and couldn’t wait to share with y’all! Isn’t it neat how the internet and platforms like Etsy make it so easy for people to share their gifts, and for the rest of us to support talented people? Truly marvelous, I think :)

P.S. Just for fun, I would love to hear about your most talented (quirky or otherwise) relation in the comments. For example, in addition to Aunt Nan, one of my cousins has memorized the birthdays of almost 50 family members!!

P.P.S. 12 things I miss about New England

Today I want to chat about a topic I don’t think I’ve ever seen covered on a blog: how to organize and simplify your own childhood memorabilia. There are plenty of resources out there for streamlining your kids’ stuff, but how about those of us still drowning in our own memories even while trying to organize memories for our kiddos? I’ve got some thoughts and a few things that have worked for me, and thought I’d share them today!

When I moved to North Carolina almost ten years ago (!), I had no idea how long I’d be here, or how long I’d be in my new apartment. I packed my UHaul with my clothes, furniture, some books, and some decor from my parents’ house, but left the vast majority of everything I didn’t use on a daily basis in my room at home. (Thank you, parents, for being okay with that!!)

Over the next few years, whenever I went home to visit, I would make a point to spend a little time sorting through what was left in my room: clothes, binders and notebooks from school, old toys, decor. Little by little, I got rid of what no longer had meaning to me and was better able to take inventory of what was left.

Likewise, every time my parents drove to North Carolina, they would bring a load of my stuff. With each new delivery, I’d sit down and sort through the pile, again keeping only what had meaning to me.

How did I decide what had meaning to me? I know a lot of people keep things because they think their kids might want to look at them someday, but that is not the driving force for me. Sure, there are some things I would love to share with my kiddos down the line if they express interest. For me, though, the reason I keep things is to remind myself of my story. “Finding a career” advice often encourages us to think back to our childhood passions, as they’re supposed to point us in the direction of our life’s purpose.

That is definitely true for me. One of the greatest passions of my life is writing, and I LOVE being reminded of how early this passion started for me and all the ways it grew throughout the years. Accordingly, one thing I’ll never give up is the picture book I wrote in second grade. The story was basically a rewrite of my favorite chapter book at the time (ha), but it was the first time I remember someone taking a special interest in this part of my identity: my teacher had the book laminated and bound, and she even sent it to the principal to read (who wrote a note in the back!).

As you all know, I am not very sentimental, but am HUGE on the power of stories. At their best, any mementos I keep remind me of who I am, what I’ve overcome, and where I’ve triumphed. They aren’t clutter; they bring me joy.

To summarize, here are my best tips if you’re staring down your own pile of stuff:

1. If possible, start early (before you have kids!). I’m so thankful I started early, because I had a LOT more free time on my hometown visits before June arrived, and a lot more time to sort through piles once back home!
2. If you aren’t sure, keep it. This might be controversial advice, and if you’re having a hard time letting go of anything at all, please disregard. But, if you’re making good progress and are just hung up on a few items, I would suggest you keep them. Purging can be a gradual process, and there’s usually no need to torture yourself to let something go if you’re not ready, even if you don’t think anyone would understand why you’re keeping the thing. You can always get rid of it in a few years if it’s no longer meaningful to you :)
3. Have a reason for what you keep. This is the necessary follow-up to tip number two! If you’re putting something in the “save” pile, try to articulate why you’re keeping it. It could be as simple as the thing brings you joy, but it shouldn’t be because you feel like you need to keep it or people would judge you if you let it go.
4. Don’t be afraid to purge gradually. For me, sorting through memorabilia isn’t a one-and-done thing. Whenever I have the itch to streamline or want to clear out a little more space, I go back through my things and cull a bit more. It usually ends up being every 2-4 years for a major look-through, with little trims off the edges here and there. For example, my Irish step dancing trophies hung on through several early rounds of purging. I kept all but the most significant trophies for a few more years, and then last year, I decided I was at peace about letting those go, too.
5. Take ownership. Out of sight, out of mind, right? If you’re lucky enough to have parents who have stored your stuff over the years, it’s so easy to just avoid the situation altogether. But that’s not fair to your parents, and it’s not fair to you, either! Get it into your own house so you’re forced to deal with it.

Once I slimmed down my entire collection to just the things I loved, I made a simple storage system. Currently, I have three big boxes and three little boxes in our guest room closet.

Big boxes:
— Middle school and younger: report cards, “books” I wrote, school pictures, newspaper clippings, dance memorabilia, a story journal my Dad and I used to pass back and forth, diaries…
— College: my acceptance letter, favorites papers I wrote, event programs, graduation cards, volumes of the literary journal I was published in…
— Random: this box could probably stand to be culled but includes a bunch of the mixed CDs John made me in our early years of dating, my four high school yearbooks, a scrapbook of our first year of dating, and the DVD of my final Irish dancing show, among other things

Little boxes:
— High school: commencement program, newspaper clippings, AP exam results (ha), my diploma, programs from events…
— Our wedding: one of each piece in our paper suite, my bouquet ribbon, particularly meaningful cards we were sent, our wedding film DVD, our wedding photo CD, our newspaper announcement…
— Our life together: LOTS of notes we’ve written each other over the years, notes from friends, souvenirs from our honeymoon, a small painting of our cats, a copy of each of our Christmas cards, my baby shower invitation…

You might want to keep more or less than I have – and that’s totally fine, as long as it aligns with what you value and you have the space for it! :)

Friends, I would love to hear: is this something you struggle with? Where are you in the process of getting your own childhood things in order? What system have you landed on?

Happy Tuesday, friends! I apologize that we don’t have a new How We Do It installment for y’all today – Nancy is majorly under the weather, and since this week’s topic is one we feel so passionately about, we figured it was better to postpone than push posts out that weren’t up to snuff! The whole series is shifting back one week, so keep an eye out for our thoughts on organizing our work next Tuesday.

In the meantime, I have something fun for you. I was reading through some of my own 2017 survey responses recently as I helped my friend Rhi put her blog survey together, and it was so helpful to remind myself of the types of content y’all said you loved most!

One of those topics was home design. It’s not something I get to talk about terribly often as, though we have grand plans, we generally move at a snail’s pace :) But, I’ve been thinking through some fairly major changes I’d like to make to our living room over the next year or so, and I thought it would be fun to share them here!

I can sum up the changes in this way: I’d love for our home to feel like the cozy, warm, refined, and calm home of your most stylish and Southern childhood friend’s Mom. Got that? :) More Southern Living than Domino, but so warm and approachable — somewhere you instantly feel relaxed, and where you just want to spend a few hours nestled in and curled up, chatting.

So what’s my plan? The first change is that I’d like to evolve our color scheme to be a bit softer and more neutral. I’ve felt recently like it’s challenging to decorate seasonally or for holidays (something I love to do!) because adding any extra colors or layers on top of our already vibrant “look” takes things to a visually chaotic and cluttered level.

To this end, I’d first like to remove the red, orange, and coral tones to shrink our color palette a bit. That leaves us with blues, blushes, and neutrals, plus touches of green, yellows, and maybe deeper pinks here and there. Though I’m thinking of this scheme as a bit more refined, I still want it to come across as happy – that’s one of my favorite things about our home!

Removing some of the hotter tones means the red chairs, the area rug, our throw pillows, and even our floral artwork will likely be phased out. A few of these pieces I plan to sell to recoup some of the money we’ll spend on new furnishings; others I’ll repurpose elsewhere in the house. (I already have a spot picked out in our upstairs hallway for the flowers!)

The rug I’d love to replace with one in a similar pattern but a narrower palette – I’ve included a few options in the boards here! Also, if it’s not obvious from the boards, one of the things I’m most hoping to add is a pair of comfy armchairs (at least one with an ottoman!). To me, these epitomize the change: nothing says cozy to me like the comfiest, oversized armchair! I can just picture them paired with a reading lamp and lots of blankets to wrap up in :)

The last big furniture change is that I’d love to switch out the small dresser our TV sits on for a longer piece with doors instead of drawers so it’s easier to store June’s toys and for her to put them away herself. With the additional surface area on top, I’d love to display more family photos in frames. Also considering switching out our chest coffee table for something softer and lighter.

Whew! That’s a lot! Like I said, we’ll make these changes over the next year (if we’re lucky!!), but I like to have a vision for the end goal before we begin. I feel like I’m getting closer to that.

Honestly, though, the thought of making SO many large purchases so close together (and ones that we’ll hope to have for a long time, like the armchairs), makes me really nervous. Because of that, I’m considering hiring a local or e-designer in some capacity to help with the sourcing and confirm that my overall vision makes sense. Of course, working with a designer is an additional expense, but I feel like it might be worth it to put my mind at ease and feel like we’re stretching our money as far as we can.

Have one of y’all ever done something similar? I would love to hear, if so!! There are a few larger companies I know of, like Havenly and Homepolish, and then a few independent designers that I’d be interested in getting pricing from to compare. We shall see!

Sources from first board: vignette from Ashley Whittaker Design, armchair from Interior Define, bedroom unknown, pillow, basket, rug, stairwell, bedroom, ottoman, fireplace unknown, ottoman, living room unknown, bedroom

Sources from second board: armchairs, gray armchairs, blankets, living room, rug, window seat unknown, hutch, rug

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