Jessica’s Home Made Lovely
Welcome to Home Made Lovely, a special home tour series.
Hello lovelies! My name is Jessica from Living the Swell Life and I am so honored to share a peek around our home! This place is usually covered in Legos and baby traps, so I felt blessed by Heather’s invitation to spiff up a bit and photograph it with new eyes! When house-hunting in 2010, my husband and I came across this little Cape Cod style cottage in South Minneapolis and instantly I knew I would never find a home I loved more! I am not going to lie, all of the charming built-ins had me at hello. Growing up, my family lived in an old Victorian home, which my parents spent the majority of my childhood restoring from its core. One thing that they impressed upon me (besides an appreciation for hardwood and wainscoting), is that we are stewards of our home and should not only enjoy living in it now, but also preserve its history and improve it for the future.
The dining room is where we start our day. (Our 4 year old little guy always announces “It’s seven-zer0-zero. Time for breakfast!” ) Like nearly all of the furniture in our home, this dining room table was a Craigslist bargain. Although the table and chairs are literally on their last legs, I love how well the they fit the character of our home. In addition to re-gluing the chairs, I’ve also recovered the seats to update them a bit. Below: I love having built-in cabinets to display some of my vintage linens, dishes, books, and crafts.
This sideboard buffet in the corner of our dining room is one of my absolute favorite pieces of furniture. It belonged to my great-grandma. After she passed away, it was sentenced to an attic, where it got pretty scuffed up and warped. The year before I got married, my dad help me sand, stain, and varnish it back to its original splendor.
A word about the white furniture: Whenever people would ask about my choice in fabric I used to flash a confident grin and say “It’s slipcovered! So easy to wash!”. But today friends, I am here to say that it is a losing battle. After hot pink nailpolish, four years worth of blood, boogers, and chocolate, I will go on the record and say Never Again!
My craft room is also on our main floor, which doubles as a guest room. I love having a place to stash all of my creative supplies & messes!
Time to head upstairs, but first, how cute is our front closet door?!
Our two kiddos share the second bedroom upstairs which is as fun as it is challenging. I think their room is my favorite one in the house, because I am not afraid to use color in here! I also strayed from my vintage ways and chose a modern giant paper flower light fixture from Ikea. Am so happy we finally figured out how to hang it, because it is the perfect punch of whimsy!
We named our baby girl Violet and promptly found the perfect Katie Daisy print to hang on her wall. So much fun! Below: the boy half of the room with bold striped curtains, a car map rug, and artwork by our talented little guy.
That’s about it, friends! Decorating our little home is a constant work in progress. As you can see, my style is vintage, whimsical, and pretty classic. I try to keep things fresh and minimal and would probably fill every room with pink frills if I weren’t sharing this home with two boys! My husband runs a photography business from our home office, so we do our best to live, play, and relax in the rest of these rooms. Although often all 4 of us will end up in the office just to hang out! (; Some days, my wish is to learn to play as hard as we work around here, and other days I only wish I could get something done! But no matter what we are juggling, we are really blessed to call this place our home. Heather, thank you so very much for this opportunity to share it! xo.
