by christina britt lewis | photography by angela statzer you know how at the end of decorating shows they show the designerly people perfectly placing a painting over the bed or a pillow on a chair and then "ta da...." yeah, that's fake. you need to know that's not real life. in real life we try 8 different ideas over the bed and 4 different pillows on the chair. we stand back and look at the whole room over and over again. we eat a granola bar, sip iced coffee and just look at things for a while. we ask each other, "will they LOVE it?" then we move all the pieces around and start over. sometimes we end up back where we started. sometimes we end up someplace we never saw coming while standing in the art and pillow sections of homegoods. but us sipping coffee... staring at a pillow... thinking... would be... *yawn* boring tv the art and pillows and whathaveyou are the puzzle pieces. your room is the puzzle. some are simple and come together quickly. most are hard and take time and lots and lots of tries. so when your room doesn't come together in 30 minutes and make you feel all "ta da..." know that you are not alone in this. be easy on yourself. you got this. it's just a puzzle. there is no race. give yourself time, iced coffee, and lots and lots of tries... see that blue vase above and below? we found it in the home, happy danced 'cause we thought it was perfect in the room, tried it everywhere, looked, sipped, thought...a lot. and in the end, it didn't make the cut. below are more things that didn't make the cut. because here's the thing... we all second guess ourselves. there are no rules, easy answers, right ways, or secret formulas. you just have to figure out what you love. so how do you figure out what you love? 1. walk away from screens 2. put down catalogs 3. close your eyes and think about where you feel happy and peaceful and most like YOU! these beautiful people love outside, the ocean, motorcycles, fashion, and each other. so we knew they would love watery blues, starfish, leather, stripes, and a chalkboard for love notes ...or whatever when you know what you love making choices is easier. not easy, but easier. angela and i were walking on a busy street in chelsea when they got home. so we couldn't hear every word of their happy phone call, but the words don't matter. what matters is you love coming home. this song played a few times while we were in connecticut. making your home your happy place is easier if you imagine your home is singing to you... i totally swear. tomorrow, THE OFFICE!
which is super fabulous, i have to say. xo... christina for all by christina britt lewis | photography by angela statzer you guys, i don't know how to be cool about this... we got to redesign a home in CONNECTICUT! for the most fun family. i can't believe we get to do this. dreams totally come true. thank YOU for sharing, reposting, liking, telling, messaging... when YOU do that, YOU make the world a more beautiful place. you world changers, you. first dallas, then connecticut, next AUSTIN! so connecticut... she is a well-dressed, sassy, soccer playing, success story. he is a jeep driving, style savvy, motorcycle collecting, lover of life. they are fabulous and their kids and his mom are a hoot. so off we went... angela always dreamed of seeing NYC. so we flew in and out of LGA because, NYC! she took 20 of this photo... before she got THIS photo... but NYC would have to wait. we had her office and their master bedroom to redesign first. i was as scared the week before as i was about dallas, but my mom always says "do hard things" so... our fabulous client runs a few businesses from home 'cause she's a rock star. so she needed a rock star office on a budget. she's smart like that. ikea in new haven was our first stop. which just so happens to be right next to lennie and joe's, home of one of the best lobster rolls in the whole wide world... her office before... their bedroom before... to be continued...
but in the mean time, tell somebody your dream. talk about what you hope to do and who you wish to be. there is something about speaking your dreams that helps them come true. add a ridiculous amount of hard work to the speaking part and you are close. add a love so big for what you do that you would do it for free and you are almost there. say what you love. work hard for what you love. because my brothers and sisters, love wins. xo... christina for all by christina britt lewis | photography by angela statzer charlotte is a small world. we love that our boys now sit in precalculus classes next to friends from preschool. growing up here is as close to communal as life in suburbia gets. that's part of why we picked here 10 years ago. we think it's really good to live life in community. boston will always be home and people we love live there, but it's funny how we had to leave boston to find a place where everybody knows our name. hehehe... we have been sitting on the soccer sidelines with this family for most of those 10 years. tim coached our boys when they were practically babies and now they both play for bailey middle school while we grown ups sit and talk about how the chicken we were gonna make for dinner will really be better if it marinates for another day anyway. so we should just go out for dinner together after the game... i mean, while we sit and cheer. we cheer. that's what we do. GO BRONCOS! she was camden's science teacher this year. told you charlotte is a small world. camden loves school and we are ridiculously grateful for the brilliant teachers who give their gifts back to the world to help make our boys people we respect and admire. if you know anything about teacher's salaries in north carolina, you know what a sacrificial gift that is. this must change. but i will skip that rant and go right to the point. according to camden... she is the best teacher i ever had. she talks to us like we are real people. the voice she uses to speak to me is the same voice she uses to speak to you. most adults don't do that. most talk down to us. she respects us. so we respect her. she's tough and she's really funny. i hated school. like still recovering and had to marry a therapist hated it. my gratitude for great teachers who speak truth and love to my babies is the overwhelming kind that shows itself in wordlessness and happy tears. so you guys, please help me understand why when she asked me if i would redesign her home, i said no. this beautiful woman spends her life giving her gifts not just back to the world, but back to MY SON and when she asks me to share my gift with her, i say no?? what is wrong with me? i do not understand why working for friends is terrifying for me, but it is. fortunately, she is tough and she is funny and she talked me into it. i get why she is a great teacher. she does not take a weak, pathetic no for an answer. all who cross her path are better people for it. her man is awesome too. he and tim went to see weezer together not too long ago. they are seriously some of the coolest people we know. they are fit and beautiful and fun and funny. they rock redesign your world love coming home magnets on their cars. we totally LOVE them. all they wanted was for their home to feel brighter and happier. more like them. thought they needed all new furniture to make that happen. when she finally talked some sense into me, i begged to differ. 'cause when i'm not being a total weenie, i'm pretty tough too... new paint, the same furniture, just a few new things, and redesigning with what they already had changed everything... antique glassware found in a kitchen cabinet. hydrangeas found in the backyard. new pillows breathe new life into an old sofa... one of our fancy redesignerly secrets is the connector piece. we look for things to connect the old with the new. art, accessories, toss pillows... this is the perfect pillow to connect old golds with new blues... this gallery wall is all their things, just redesigned.... her sweet words... You are so amazing!!! I just LOVE everything you did. I can't believe how my family room looks like a completely different room and I still have the same furniture. You have such a gift and I'm so fortunate to have you share it with me. kelly has a tiny heart painted on her big toe angela sees a tiny heart in a big driveway. love coming home... i have a feeling giving our hearts and our gifts to each other is a secret of life sort of thing.
our purpose. why we are here. what this is all for. it's more than doing what you love for a living. and it can be completely terrifying. but... i have a feeling this is more than just a nice way to live. i have a feeling this is the way we were meant to live. maybe i am wrong, but i used to be miserable most of the time and now i am happy most of the time. vocation is the place where our deep gladness meets the world's deep need. frederick buechner xo... christina for all by christina britt lewis my three men are off playing soccer now. a father/son sunday night tradition. after years of being coached by tim, cole and camden play on the same team with him now. every sunday night they come home psyched or pissed depending on the game. whatever they are feeling, they are unified in it. on the same team. we spent today with family. my dad, uncle bill, and my brother-in-law were there. a backyard full of some of the best men i know drinking cold beer and grilling kielbasa. i grew up knowing that if anything ever happened to my mom and dad, aunt leena and uncle bill would take care of us. i grew up feeling safe and secure and strong. came home and scrolled through my facebook feed. i don't do that much anymore, but today i was captivated by post after post about great husbands and fathers. happy photos of happy families. i love love. i even posted some love of my own. some sweet words to my man and this photo of me and dad today... but then i took george for a walk and he rolled in something stinky at the park. came home and gave him a bath which got me thinking... i live in a bubble. if facebook was a thing back when my life was shit...today would hurt. every happy post would make me feel like i failed at marriage, motherhood, and life. i would have cried myself to sleep tonight. so for the ones who hurt today...
please know that happy photos of happy families are not the whole story. my father hates my political choices and worries that i'm going to hell. my boys argued about who was going to carry the water bottles on the way to soccer tonight, and my husband...well...i can't think of anything shitty about my husband anymore...but it took 15 years of hell for us to get here. the thing is...
today and always
xo... christina by christina britt lewis | photography by angela statzer they were one of our first clients 10 years ago. they are believe in others before they believe in themselves sort of people. we helped them build the home they have now before we became bloggers. so we were psyched when they were ready for some fresh paint and a little redesign. her photos of the family farm in reclaimed wood frames still look good many years later... i spy angela... the reclaimed wood frames that look like they were handmade from the fences and barns on the farm... are from... um... garden ridge. because it doesn't have to cost a lot to be beautiful.
all their things redesigned we designed this kitchen long before anybody knew subway tile was going to be such a BIG THING! why i love this kitchen so many years later...
happy to see the dining room, powder room, and office still looking good too... angela sees beauty in everything. she found this tiny silver heart in the home placed it on a stack of trays on the kitchen table and took a photo that says love coming home better than any words i could ever think up... xo...
christina for all |