Making It Mello

I really do love our home—what it’s becoming, what it’s holding. There’s something sacred in the slow, quiet art of making home… watching these four walls shift and stretch to meet us where we are.

They hold our rest. They make room for others to exhale.

And when we fill this space with friends, with kindred creative souls—it softens everything. It makes the air warmer somehow.

These small moments, these gentle vignettes… I find myself needing to pause, to honor them. Especially in the thick of renovation, they remind me of why we’re doing it in the first place.

Spring has been slow to arrive this year.
But rest is good.
And blooming—real blooming—takes strength.

This July will mark five years.
And finally, the exhales in this space feel like home, not just another project.

There were moments we truly wondered if we were out of our minds to begin this journey.
But here we are—grateful beyond words to have made it this far.
This has been, by far, the biggest renovation we’ve ever taken on.
We’ve learned so much.

I hope our kids remember this.
I hope they carry with them the quiet lesson—that so much is possible with sweat, perseverance, and a few well-earned expletives.
And maybe even more than that, I hope they remember the process.

It feels good to settle.
This will be the longest stretch we’ve lived in one place since we got married.
A steady home for our babies to bloom.
A home built with strength, grit, and an ocean of patience.

A space that finally feels like ours.
A space that feels like Spring is near.

Five years in and this room finally feels like home. A breath of fresh air. An exhale.

I am clearly the worst and documenting the process and sharing the journey, but I love that I can look back in this tiny space and see our progress.

We’ve done 98% of the work completely ourselves (big love to the friends and family who have also contributed) and this year are finally stepping into some much larger scale projects. Trepidations activated.

What I’ve learned is that creating and curating and revisiting details is simply part of my refinement and creation process. I always knew how I wanted this room to feel - but never quite fully locked the vision for what it would look like.

I gave myself time, and space, and freedom to dream. To respond to what not only brought us that comfortable feeling of home and haven, but encouraged us and others to connect for longer and more deeply.

I’ve sat in one of those chairs by the fireplace every morning since we’ve placed them and just giggle in delight that I get to live here. That His goodness has opened doors for us to make this renovation possible regardless of the timeline.

I’ve learned to sit with my decisions, to consider them in the fullness of how they will be experienced and it is both refreshing and rewarding to step into a level of creative maturity I’ve never experienced before.

So much has changed in two years! We’re in the home stretch of wrapping up this room. From where it was our first Christmas here, to now - doesn’t seem like much at times, but looking back to what we started with, and where we are now - we have put in the work.

✔️ Recessed lights
✔️ Projector
✔️ Wood floors
✔️ Mantle
✔️ Fireplace resurfaced
✔️ New Chairs

Up next:
🔨 Sand and paint floors black
🔨 Built in cabinets and shelving
🔨 Build coffee table
🔨 Decorative wood trim on fireplace wall 🤌🏽

It’s been a real labor of love but we are so grateful for the space this place holds for our community, for us, and for those that we’ve yet to meet.