a little home dreaming

my dream home is something i've fantasized about time and time again since i was probably 14 or 15. i've always loved going through home decorating magazines with my mom, swooning over dark hardwoods, intricate ironwork and spiraling staircases! i still think about my dream home aaall the time. i think most girls do, right? or most people, probably! steven and i have always talked about our dreams of someday-things like that... and i think we probably think about it more and more these days as our current little house starts feeling smaller and smaller!

i got my first tiny taste of home design at age 16 when my parents let me have a good hand in doing my bedroom, bathroom and closet from scratch at the farm... and that's when i first learned that i would make a really, really terrible designer/decorator for other people! it's true. pulling together my own visions is hard enough for me. i'd be total a mess trying to do it for someone else! so, pretty much ruled that one out well before college! but my room at the farm is still my absolute very favorite room anywhere, ever... aside from our bedroom at our house. i feel like it's super important to love your bedroom, you know? i want my eyes to open each day to serene, cozy, happiness!

so, my dream home! oh, it lives happily in my mind. although, it's changed a little bit here and there over the years. for so long my southern girl heart just longed for an older antebellum home with huge white columns in the front and at least one toil-decorated bedroom inside. and then there's my princessiest side, which would be purely delighted with some ridiculous, gold-gilded rococo situation... while naturally, my haunted-housiest side wants an old gothic-style home with fancy dark iron details, creaky floors and a secret room behind the bookcase. all of my sides pretty much want to spend all my time outdoors in the golden sunshine, anyway.
and you know what i always go back to? the notebook. gosh darnit if i don't always go back to the notebook!
i want a white house with blue shutters and a room overlookin' the river so i can paint...
anything else?
yes. i want a big ole porch that wraps around the entire house! we can drink tea... and watch the sun go down.
oh, that allie. she knows her stuff. and ahh, i melt just picturing

that scene. sigh sigh sigh.

(don't worry, i did not eeeven have to bother looking up that quote. came right from the obsession-filled heart.)

i don't know about the blue shutters, per se, but oh, do i dream of a little home studio where i can throw open the windows and paint! with a perfectly organized closet for all my happy little art supplies and a record player for playing some ella the way she was meant to be played.
i want a house with screen doors to keep out the flies. (because we can't resist throwing our doors open in nice weather, but oooooh the flies! they are the worst!)

i want lots of big windows and so much pretty light seeping in when i wake up in the morning.
i want a piano in my house one day. and i want to learn to play it!

i've always wanted a big, solid wooden farmhouse table where our kids can do homework and we can eat our family meals... and now thanks to my sweet and handy husband, we have one! gosh, that table makes my heart so happy, and oh, it will live in my dream home forevermore.
i want a willow tree. and a magnolia. and maybe a big ole somethin' else with a tire swing. and lots of other trees. i love trees! oh, and roses. lots of roses.

and a barn. and dirty boots. and sunsets.

and really, my heart belongs on a porch. in fact, whenever i try to picture steven and i as old folks, the only way i can manage to draw up such an image is by putting us side by side on a front porch. isn't that funny? that's always the picture in my head. i live for porches. porches and long chats accompanied by a warm mug of tea or a glass of wine. misty mornings and fireflies at night. yes, i think i'd take a good porch over all the rest.

also, hey, call me ca-raaazy, but i don't want a huge house, like, ever. too much space just seems almost as silly as not enough, if you ask me... but watch us have like 6 kids and then i'll be singin' a different tune, i'm sure!

anyway. i may be 50 or 80 or dead before i actually find myself living in my dream home, and you know? that's okay! because that's the whole point, right? it's a dream. :) so, until then... thank you, pinterest!

(photos: my favorite part of our little housey. i wish all our ceilings were like this! // my farmhome bedroom // an iron horsehead leg on my favorite entry table // a gift from one of my best girls that makes me happy every day)