AROUND MY HOME /// KELLY + ZEYK (PT 1)

these make me happy


Full view of my couch  here



See Zeyk's favorite spot here

Welcome to my home! I'm so excited to finally share where I'm at with my little country home. My progress has been slow, but steady and while I am only about 60% through my house plans, I just had to share where I'm at. 

I live about an hour and half west of Houston, Texas in Austin County with my pup, Zeyk. My house was built in the early 1900's, runs on gas in the winter, wind in the fall and spring, and window units during the summer. There are two bedrooms, a bathroom (added on in the 50s), living room, dining room (in the process of making that a functional office/studio), mudroom, attic, kitchen and a killer front porch that needs mucho mucho attention. 

When I first sat down to come up with a house plan, I was shooting for Tex-Mex (of course) with a color scheme of mostly white, black, with splashes of red. HA! That can never happen. I love color too much. I was only able to carry my original scheme out in my kitchen. The rest of my house ended up being kissed by green and blue. Never would have seen that coming. I also wanted to stick with light colored wood. Again, didn't happen. All the pieces I ended up with are dark. I was not a fan until after all my walls were white. It really helped pull everything together.

As for the mood of the house, my goal was to make it my oasis and escape from reality. I needed to feel calm as well as inspired. Life is damn difficult at times, so I really wanted to be rewarded when walking through my front door. Mission Accomplished. My home has really become a bigger blessing than I would have ever thought. Most of the items in my house were results of treasure hunting at antique fairs, thrift stores, were handmade or were given to me by family members and friends. Every piece is so special to me. Most of the handiwork has been done by myself, or with the help of my family. I have an incredible amount of memories in this house already and I smile like a cheese ball when I look around and replay all the days my family came over to help me paint, install shelves, do a ridiculous amount of yard work, rearrange furniture, etc... 

I'm looking forward to completing the studio, guest room and mudroom in the (hopefully) near future.  

(Because I've had a lot of questions about my headboard, I will explain. My headboard was actually a piece of a large gate my friend, Justin, and Brandi found out in Warrenton, Texas at the biannual antique fair. I searched all day for a headboard and found nothing. Then at end of the day as we are walking out, came across this beauty. I was in love. The fella we bought it from sells buffalo poop for a living! (side note, you must go to the Texas Antique Fair. The stuff, the vendors, and don't even get me started on the pie! Everything has a story out there) This was the first item bought (by Brandi. Thanks Seester!) for my new home and it's still my favorite.)

What's your home inspiration? Do you plan out your home or do you let it happen organically free of boundaries?

Previous home post here and sneek peek here.



// Shop My Home //

COUNTRY LIVING

Boots to protect my ankles from snakes, jeans to keep mosquitoes off my legs, a bandana to keep the sweat out of my eyes and a beer to wet my whistle. All ridiculous and necessary

20 bags of pine needles and leaves just off the side of the house

Since moving out to the boonies, the first question I get (with big dreamy eyeballs full of hope) when I visit Houston is "How's it living in the country?" I smile, bite my tongue, and say "it's great". I mean, that's a loaded question with at least a 20 minute response. Yes, I love it or did. Yes, it's been an adventure and a completely new experience. Yes, I would do it again. No, not anytime soon. And not a chance on God's green earth that I'd ever move out to the middle of nowhere by myself ever again. There's a reason "It takes two to tango", this shit is difficult.

You know when you get your mind set on an idea and can't really get off it? You just have to do it. That's basically what happened when I decided to move out to the boonies at the start of the year. It's been 90% awesome and 100% 'kick my butt' hard work. Here's how it's truly gone down...

/House built in early 1900s on a fair sized lot. Awesome right?
/Original unsealed floors. Have you seen Texas sized spiders? Do you know how hot it's been?
/No garbage disposal or dishwasher. Not too terrible for one person, but that changes when you have more than one guest over.
/No restaurants or stores near, so I've become brave in the kitchen. I've even baked a few things.
/Four window units for the whole house, half of which don't really work too well. If you've experienced a summer in Texas, you're feeling my pain.
/Two giant trees that provide the worlds greatest soundtrack when the wind blows.
/Best front porch that Zeyk and I love
/No TV, so I've been reading and practicing the uke again.
/Satellite internet was my only option out here, so if there's clouds, wind or rain, I kiss the internet goodbye. Again, I've been reading and playing the ukelele a lot. haha.
/There's a rad attic that's floored and has beautiful light that pours in from three windows. I can't wait to get up there this fall and make something of that space.
/Living alone allows me to decorate however I want. Never had that before.
/Zeyk has all the room the run out here.
/The sky. Any weather. Any time of day. Breathtaking.
/The first few months I was finding piles of dog food in my clothes, jacket pockets, between mattresses, tool box, and drawers. Of course my twisted mind jumped right to the the spirits. Then after a little research, this is common in country homes + (eek) mice. Have yet to hear one or see one, but I had pest control out here asap and have stayed on top of every crumb, drink and piece of Zeyk's food ever since. Haven't found any piles or droppings lately, but the daily battle is getting old.
/I've had to chase more roaches with a can of raid in the middle of the night more times than I care to get into. (bonus. Zeyk only cares to kill bees. The roaches don't phase him)
/On the upside of the two previous details, I'm probably the cleanest human with the cleanest home due to my ongoing war with pests.
/The stars at night are big and bright (deep in the heart of Texas). When I have friends staying the night out here, one of my favorite things to do is walk around and stargaze. It's unreal.
/Wood floors, no next door neighbors and a record player provide the perfect setting for Risky Business style solo dance party. 
 /I'm finally not scared of the dark.
/I have a collection of videos and photos on my phone and camera of light/shadows in my house. Being surrounded by trees and not having window coverings has offered up one of my favorite things about this space.

A few things I've learned about myself by living in the country
/I enjoy cooking and baking
/I love a clean, dust free home.
/I dream of sleeping in a room of 70 degrees.
/I'm more confident in general after living alone
/I love living alone
/leftovers past day two are no fun


Now back to that 'fair sized' lot I mentioned earlier. Did I also mention that I can't find a lawn service or a teen with a riding lawnmower to come my way? I mean, where's my Patrick Dempsey at? haha. Since I'm only renting a few more months, there's no way I'm buying a riding lawnmower, so that leaves me and a regular push mower. Jacob came out and did it once and my Pops came by this past weekend to help me tackle the yard and few other issues. We spent two full days out there (sun up to sun down) getting after snakes, leaves, hedges, and gardens. We ate cold sandwiches and drank beer. My body is just now starting to recover from pulling out really ugly shrubbery from the from "garden". We didn't finish everything, so Pops (thank God for Pops) is coming back out this weekend.

We never found the five snakes my brother saw while I was in Nashville, but we did find a good sized snake skin after it moulted in my watershed. (Note: When hunting snakes in a watershed, it's best to use a machete over a gun. You'd think this is common sense. wrong.) It's now a decorative piece in my mudroom and my neck is two shades redder.

Every evening, I sit down on my lovely green sofa and look around at my space and my home that I've created. I both love it and hate it. Every Saturday morning that I sit on the porch with Zeyk and my cup of joe, I fall back in love with it. One day, I would like to move back out to the country, but do it right and with a companion. Buy a house and tackle it together. I have learned that this is one dance, I don't want to go at alone.

Thank you to my wonderful family for helping me survive out there :)

AROUND MY HOME/// Kelly's Home Update

Any moment that I'm not at work, working on side gigs or filling Bueno orders, I'm working on my cute little home. I'm only renting, so the moves I can make are limited to what my landlord approves of. Luckily, she's been pretty relaxed about the changes I've wanted to make so far.

Not having a lot of time at once to work on the house has turned out to be a good thing. I have more slack to save up money for different projects, like my current painting project, and really put some thought into my next move. I must say, in the last couple of months I've done a good job of minimizing the amount of 'stuff' I haven't strayed from my original color pallet while introducing new pieces to my home.

My biggest challenge so far... the lawn. I have to mow my own lawn out here. I actually haven't done it yet. Jacob did it once and then theres been a drought, but I think I'll need to do it in the next two weeks and I'm not into that yet. haha. Thanks to my Pops, I do own one. Just need to use to it. Other than mowing, I've really enjoyed the other aspects of having a garden to keep up with. I'm looking forward to doing more in the fall when it's not so hot out.

My top priorities for the house are finishing the paint job and get a few shelves up. I'd like to have the living room almost finished by the end of this week, but we'll see. Everything seems to take me a lot longer to do than I think it will.

Last thing on my list, if I end up staying longer than a year, will be to paint to floors. A long time ago someone painted them brown of all colors. It kills me. I would love to paint them a charcoal grey or something close to black, but I don't have time or money for that at the moment, so it got bumped to the end of the list. I'm hoping once I'm done with my list, the floors will fade away and not bother me so much. We'll see. I did get some killer rugs and hides to lay out.

What do you think?  Any advice or wisdom?

XO,
K