2017!

What a year this has been!  Excitement!  Fear!  Accomplishment!  and failure.  It has all been wrapped into one year.  It has been a great 2017!

When I started this business and this blog, I decided early on that I would give myself permission to be vulnerable.  I gave myself permission to tell my story and to be genuine in my upcoming business.  It's been so touching to me how you all have responded with love and support.

As I quoted in an earlier blog, "Sometimes to be victorious, you gotta be willing to do things that look ridiculous."*  This decision, to so many, looked ridiculous.  And, I realized as I got going that I didn't have to keep explaining myself.  They could see the changes in me that were being made by deciding to let God show me each step each day.  I think that spoke for itself and there were no longer decisions to explain.  I stepped out scared and vulnerable and passionate and I discovered that, with His help, I could do this!  Now, tackling my fear of the unknown through faith is so much easier than tackling my fear of the uncontrolled through my own works.

Some of the greatest support that I have received has been from clients reaching out to me and asking me to help them with a design project in their home.  So, here are a few from the past 6 months:

The first project I worked on (and am continuing to do so) is Greyhound Estates in Spring Lake.  Yes, we named it that.  There were two greyhounds statues at the front of the house and the name stuck.  There's a blog to record and share the progress of this amazing home.  Go check it out at www.greyhound-estate.com.  To be asked to work on this project with Tiger Construction and the other designer, Randal Beach, was a huge honor.  "If you're offered a seat on a rocket ship, you don't ask which one.  You just get on." ** I'm glad I was offered a seat.  It's been such a great experience.  I can't wait to share the results of all of the work on this house with you!

Also with Tiger Construction, we remodeled this South Highlands home.  This house is so charming and the quintessential South Highlands home.  I loved designing the home with updated but classic paint colors, flooring, and fixtures.

This little room was so special to me because it's the sweet nursery for the baby boy of one of my best friends.  Knox was born in November and is absolutely perfect and I wanted his room to be almost as cute as he would be.  I tried, but he's cuter! 

This was such a fun room to do because it's the room of my life-long friend.  To show her support of my new career, she allowed me to practice on her room.  That's trust for ya! I love how it turned out and I'm grateful that she allowed me to practice on her!  (And I'm so thankful that she let me satisfy my obsession of lucite!)

This is a kitchen remodel that was a little bit of a challenge because of the low ceilings.  When I was contacted by my client, she had already designed the cabinets with the cabinet maker.  We tweaked a couple of things to make it just the way she wanted and then picked out fixtures, granite, paint colors, and lighting to make this the kitchen she had pictured in her mind.  She and I are both in love with this granite on the island.  Swoon!

This client already has a beautiful home, but they wanted to freshen up a few things.  We changed the color of the island from a dark color to a light green.  It brightened the whole room.  We completely redecorated the master bedroom and bath with new paint, furniture, and fixtures.  Then, we also did a fun and classy vanity in the half bath.  The navy and gold is so gorgeous together.  

I cannot put into words my gratitude for the support of my friends and family and for the trust of my clients.  Starting anything is scary, but step by step, God is leading me in this new endeavor.  Thank you all so much for being a part of it!  Happy New Year! 

*Steven Furtick
**Eric Schmidt to Sheryl Sandberg

Knox's Nursery

It seems like an eternity since I last posted.  I have been so busy that I literally haven’t had time to sit down and collect my thoughts into a coherent sentence that I could share with you all.  This is both good and bad.  The good is that I have had some awesome projects to work on!  The bad is that I wanted to be able to share with you all more regularly.  I’m still working out the kinks and, hopefully, I’ll get into a good rhythm of being able to post.  

This past weekend, I took Will and a friend of his to see Lego Ninjago.  It was a cute movie and had a good message.  In one part of the movie, the ninjas had to choose a path on their journey.  There were two signs.  One read something like this: “The shortcut will take you through a scary boneyard of skeletons.”  The other sign indicated it was the long way around.  Don’t you wish we had signs that were honest like that?  Sure, I’d prefer the shortcut, but usually choosing the shortcut does not only mean getting to your destination more quickly.  It usually means that you have to give something up to make that trip shorter or to reach the goal more quickly.  Maybe you have to sacrifice friendships.  Maybe you have to sacrifice your own integrity.  Maybe you have to sacrifice quality.  Maybe it’s just time that you’re losing.  As much as I value time these days (because it seems like I never have enough), that’s actually the least valuable thing you could lose by cutting corners.  Everything else is so costly. 

Building anything new takes time.  Whether it’s a house, a nursery, a family -- they all take lots of time and commitment.  Rarely can you choose what is fun, fast, or easy and still be pleased with the outcome.  It will take you through a boneyard of scary skeletons.  I wanted to have this nursery finished sooner so I could share it with you, but to do it correctly and do it well, just required more time.  I wasn't willing to sacrifice quality or beauty of the finished room for fun, fast, and easy.  

In the nursery for my precious friend, Robin’s, baby boy, I have some gorgeous stuff to show you for this elegant baby room.  Who said a nursery has to be, well, babyish?  

Robin is a dear friend of mine and I wanted her to step into this nursery over and over again and fall in love with the room each time.  It's so fun to prepare for the arrival of a little one and to sit in his room in anticipation of his arrival!  I wanted it to be everything she dreamed of and more.  I cannot wait to meet sweet Knox and hold him and love on him! 

When we started designing Knox's nursery, we went for elegant and tailored for this baby.  The room started with brown walls, so the first call was to the painter who painted the walls white.  Then, we hung removable wallpaper on one wall for an accent.  I love the navy and light blue that are in the wallpaper and in the rug.  Both patterns look so crisp and classic and the light blue in the materials makes them perfect for a baby's room.  The elephants on the crib rail are fun, but still a tailored look with the navy and white color pallet.  Navy, white, and khaki lends itself to sophistication.  This will be a sophisticated baby!  

Robin chose all the mirrors on the walls.  I love how elegant these make the room look and feel.  The big mirror over the bed looks like a sun rising over Knox's crib.  And when Knox is ready for a toddler room or a big boy room, Robin can repurpose these mirrors elsewhere in her home if she wants.   

This stylish lucite-legged lamp came from Target.  I love the gold accents on the legs!

Knox's dresser is doubling as a changing table. The cover on the changing pad matches the navy and khaki of the bed and the elephant diaper holder was a great find on Etsy!  We wanted to keep the space over the dresser simple and clean so we added one large piece of art over the table for a little splash of color. 

Knox has some beautiful curtains with a Greek key pattern border.  These are from Pottery Barn. 

A great little reading center to hold all of Knox's books and a pint-sized rocking chair for when he's old enough to sit by himself.

Knox, we can't wait to meet you!  I hope you sleep soundly for your mama in your new room!  

  

The Precise Thing

When I decided to leave my job as a CFO, it was one of the hardest things to do and, yet, I didn't really decide this actual thing.  What I decided was to let God tell me what the steps were.  I didn't decide that I would do all these steps that were laid out before me because there were no steps laid out before me.  There was always just one step.  I only knew what each step was right before I did it.  The first step was to let go of my self-planned life, put it in His hands, and let Him show me each step for the days after.  I had to pry my white-knuckled grip off of my career and let it go.

"...I learn that making decisions is not about doing the right thing or the wrong thing.  It's about doing the precise thing.  The precise thing is always incredibly personal and often makes no sense to anyone else." - Glennon Doyle Melton

Once I decided to let Him tell me what to do, I couldn't turn back.  There was no way to undo my realization that He had a better plan for my life than I did.  I knew that by admitting this I may be ridiculed and the road may not always be easy.  But each day, I do what He tells me to do for that day knowing that this path leads to somewhere really wonderful.  

I love to read.  I also love to listen to books or sermons or motivational speakers.  One sermon that I listened to as I was processing all of this by Steven Furtick was about Joshua and the Battle of Jericho.  Until listening to this sermon, I've never thought about how out-of-his-mind-crazy Joshua must've seemed to his army as he told them to march around the city one time a day for six days and then on the seventh day to march around the city seven times while the priests blow their trumpets.  At the completion of this, they were to blow their trumpets loudly and the people were to shout.  Then, the walls of the city would fall.  (I mean, that only makes logical sense.  Right?)

If you put that scenario into modern times, it seems pretty ridiculous.  Joshua and his army would certainly make the news and be ridiculed and humiliated for being so naive to think that all you had to do was march around a city a few times and the walls would fall down.  Furtick jokingly considers how the army wives must've reacted.  Maybe their conversation went something like this: 

Army Wife: So, honey, what did you do today? 
Soldier: Well, you know, we just... um... walked... around the city. 
Army Wife: Oh.  Just walked?  You didn't fight anybody? 
Soldier: No, not today.  We just walked today.  I think we're gonna fight some tomorrow.  You know, we gotta take down these walls. 
Army Wife: Oh, okay. Well, tomorrow then. 

God didn't give Joshua or his army any indication during those six days that they would be victorious on the seventh day. He didn't make a few bricks fall each day that they walked around the city so that they could see they were making progress with their marching.  He waited until the very end.  Until they had finished their mission in total faith.  Sometimes, to be victorious, we have to be willing to do something that looks ridiculous.   (Sermon: "Don't Stop on Six")

Building this business and this blog and this new way of life is a vulnerable, unknown, open-ended process for me.  To some people, it may seem totally strange... even ridiculous... to make such a drastic change.  But I'm willing to look ridiculous because I have total faith that God has a plan that is so much better than my own.  My responsibility is to do the precise thing and the outcome is God's. 

And on those days when I momentarily take the steering wheel back and then start to panic because I'm not sure of the way, I have some amazingly supportive friends who remind me to listen to Him and just do the precise thing.  I don't need to know the next ten steps.  I only need the next step.  Just do the precise thing.  

Haters Gonna Hate! Hooters Gonna Hoot!

Thank you, Jimmy Fallon's sidekick, Steve Higgins, for providing the title of this blog.

Do y'all watch Jimmy Fallon's Hashtags?  If you haven't ever pulled them up for your kids on youtube (because kids can't stay up until 10:30 to watch it in "real time"), then do so and cackle from the couch as you watch them together.  The only downside is that kids want to repeat all the funnies right after he has said whatever hilarious thing he has said and you have to tell them to be quiet because you will miss the next hilarious hashtag. We love it when Jimmy and his sidekick, Steve Higgins, get going on one hashtag. They not only crack everybody else up, they crack themselves up. I start laughing at the two of them laughing. It is so much fun to watch. One of our favorites is called #momquotes. Viewers write in with funny things their mom says. One of the tweets reads "Instead of 'LOL', my mom will text 'OTAH' which, according to her, stands for 'Oh, that's a hoot.'" (We have adopted this at the Vance house. It works quite nicely and it must be yelled. Just saying "OTAH" in your regular voice in the middle of a conversation doesn't do it justice.) Then, after Jimmy reads this hashtag: "My mom once said to me, 'I don't want my instagram to be private because I want my haters to know what's up!'", Steve chimes in "Haters gonna hate. Hooters gonna hoot!"  I'm laughing just thinking about it.

Okay, so I have a point here... and my point is... if you want to try something new, just try it. Don't think about your critics. Focus on your cheerleaders. If you want to paint, go get a brush. Walmart has them for really cheap and all your mess ups that will occur before your masterpiece will not cost you a fortune. If you want to write, then sit at the computer and just let it all flow out. It will be a mess on the first draft. I can almost promise you that. But, don't worry about what ANYBODY has to say about it, let it just flow out of you anyway. It will get better. More importantly, you will feel better. 

I'm not an artist and I'm not a writer, but I have learned over the last couple of years that if I don't have SOMETHING going on in the creative realm, I am no fun. My grandmother is 87 years young and to this very day, she NEVER doesn't have "a project" going on. EVER. The few decades following her retirement were probably busier for her than while she was working. She stayed busy. It has kept her brain sharp. It keeps her engaged. It connects her with others who are working on similar projects. Her eyesight is not as good as it used to be so she got a magnifying glass and a brighter light. No excuses. Nothing stops her from her projects. She also ALWAYS has a good book going. (We say "going".  That means "that she is reading".) She can't see the print of a book very well anymore, so she now has a Kindle that she can make big on the screen. No excuses.

I have realized that I must carve out time to be creative. I used to put it at the bottom of the list because most people would think that clean laundry is more important than painting. I did. But recently, I have realized that the laundry and dishes (although very important) can be done later. Right now, I must paint. And so I do. Pat doesn't judge either. He knows I'm a more likable person after I have gotten it out of my system. He is such a patient man. 

My first project to share is Will's room. He has wanted a big boy bed for about a year. When I say "big boy bed", I don't mean he was in a toddler bed and we needed a regular twin bed. He's eight. I mean he is a big boy. Literally. A big boy. So, he needed a bigGER bed than the twin bed he had. I realized while I was redecorating his room that kids want to have a really nice space, too. I just assumed that my boys don't notice if something was decorated or not decorated. I mean, they barely stop spinning long enough to see their room, but I was wrong. He loves that he has a space of his own with a bed that is big enough for him to stretch out and that looks really cool, too. Kids do appreciate some nice decor. 

The boys shared this room when we moved into our house nearly four years ago. Ben soon moved out because he didn't want to share a room and we never made this room just Will's room, so therefore, we still have a "B" on the wall and a "Benjamin" on the pillow.

I love these beds because my granddad made them himself for my two brothers. Andrew received his bed just a week after I was born. My granddad wrote their names and the date on the headboard beneath the rails. The woodwork is beautiful.

Of course, we have pillows with their name on them and a big initial above their beds because I love names and initials and monograms.

And the after...

I know the first thing you're going to say... I can't believe you're using a white quilt for an eight-year-old's bed. Let me say this... "Scotch Guard"...coat it down and it will be fine. Don't get me wrong, though, when he plopped belly down on the bed the other day with a mini bag of cheetos in one hand and cheetos fingers on the other, I may have screamed, "Don't put your hands down!! Get up off the bed, but don't touch it!" He was doing the Superman exercise move...like this...

He has a strong core.

If you know me, you know that I cannot.CAN.NOT. monogram enough stuff. So, to say I have monogrammed a few things is an understatement. When I decided to monogram a quilt for Will, it had to be something different than the usual monogram. I called up Lindy at Poppy's Monograms and asked for something special. This WV is from the vintage letter book. It takes some time and costs a little more, but it is well worth it. It's so different and looks more like a logo than a monogram. I love it. 

The bed itself was a total find at Home Again. I love a bargain almost as much as a good monogram. This bed is an Ethan Allen canopy bed. I left off the canopy and just use it as a four poster bed. 

Next, I ordered his bedside table from Wayfair. Have y'all fallen in love with lucite lately? It's everywhere. My house is pretty traditional and lucite tends to have a more modern feel, but, friend, I am finding ways to incorporate lucite in any space that I can because I love it. It really does work with any style that you have going. The legs on this table are lucite. The front of the table opens up so you can fill it with as much junk as you can possibly find. Love!! My friends at Twin*kle Toes made the vinyl WV to match the quilt monogram for me. They're so talented!

Will wanted a desk in his new room. I ordered this desk from Target, because you do not have to break the bank to decorate a room. I purchased a pin board for school memories from Hobby Lobby and I did a little abstract art with Will's initials. 

I wanted something cool and young, but not baby-ish to go over the bed. I saw the deer and knew that was it. It's mature without looking too old and young without looking babyish. I painted it gold like every good deer head should be painted. I mounted it on the wall and Voila!...it was totally invisible because it matched the wall exactly. That's when it hit me that it had to be mustard yellow. No doubt about it. I painted the canvas over his bed, mounted the mustard deer head, and called it a day. 

I use lots of my boys' art from school for their bedrooms and playroom area. First of all, I love it! What mom doesn't? Second of all, it's original. (My grandmother always told me that she liked to make my dresses for church so that we wouldn't see ourselves walking down the street? I feel the same way about my art, I suppose.) Third of all, I think the kids get a kick out of seeing their own work framed and on display. As they should! Some of these pieces have been to Art Break for crying out loud. Frame these bad boys!

This is my first design project to share. I'm always in awe of people who put their work out there for all to see. It's a vulnerable and scary place to be. What if someone doesn't like it? What if I painted the deer head the wrong color? Here is what you have to tell yourself...If you have something creative that you want to try. Try it. It does not matter if it looks horrible the first or twenty times. Remind yourself that the only people whose feedback matters are the ones who are also out there trying the really scary stuff. It's most likely that they'll be the ones to build you up and cheer you on. The rest of the people, the ones critiquing you from the sidelines, don't get a voice. Mute them. bzzzzzp! (That's the noise I make when the boys are talking and they probably should not be talking.) Bzzzzzp! It includes a hand motion. 

"If you're not in the arena also getting your ass kicked, I'm not interested in your feedback."  -Brene Brown

Thanks to all my cheerleaders who are also doing the hard stuff! I love you guys!

Beginning to Breathe

How does one start a blog? or a business?  It feels like you have to write a War and Peace-sized post to introduce yourself and to tell everyone why you're starting a blog.  And a business.  This blog is no different.  Except I can't possibly go back and tell you everything that has brought me here so I feel like we're just dropping a pin on this day in my life and moving forward.  But I do have to tell you what today is for me.  Today is so different from yesterday.  And the day before that.  I'm in a transition phase right now and it's both exciting and, honestly, scary as hell.  Everyone who has coached me has said that's exactly how I should feel right now.  (Okay, so we'll call that "success".)  And, that's where I am.

One of my favorite authors, Brene' Brown (whom I will quote with reckless abandon), penned, "You can choose courage or you can choose comfort, but you cannot choose both."  She is right.  I chose this.  I chose scary and humbling and difficult and exciting.  I chose this. 

MLV Interiors was originally to be the name of a design blog.  No, I'm not a certified designer.  I'm actually a certified accountant.  I left my job as a CFO of a large company to pursue something different.  Not necessarily better than...as this is not a competition and I have a whole lot of friends in the corporate world who I love and respect.  But God was nudging me and He had been for a long time to drop everything and walk away from that job to do something different.  He had a different plan than I had for myself.  Or maybe He saw potential in me that I didn't see in myself.  I don't know.  Either way, here I am.  I'm writing this blog.  This blog that I thought would be about design, but I decided the other day that if it was just a design blog, I would only be showing one little sliver of me to you.  I thought maybe MLV Interiors was not only about the interiors of houses, but about the interior of all of us.  So, this blog is about doing the really uncomfortable stuff in life, about being a professional and a mom all at the same time, about being a good team member in this "village" where we raise our kids, about those days when our hearts hurt, and about those days when we can't stop laughing.  I pray for a lot of laughter.  Oh, and I might even share some paint colors and wall tile on here, too.

To make such a drastic shift in careers, first I feel like I have to "unbecome".  Yes, I have stolen the meaning of that word from Glennon Melton, but it so perfectly describes what I'm going through right now.  I knew how to be a CPA.  That was easy because I had been one for so long.  But I don't know all the ins and outs of design.  Far from it.  In building a business around something that I'm so passionate about, I also realize that I have much to learn.  So, first, I must unbecome.  I must be vulnerable and humble and willing to learn from my experiences.  That is hard to do when you're at the top of your game in one field and starting at the bottom in another, but part of me is ready for this.  I'm very excited and eager to learn a new business.  I'm excited to peel back and shed all the layers and unbecome what I am so I can become something new.

This transition has allowed me some time and space to breathe.  Peeling back the layers and shedding the old me has granted me the space and time to just... breathe.  Even as I write that word... breathe... I can't help but think how unimportant that word was to me a couple of years ago.  There was always time to breathe later.  Until I couldn't.  I couldn't find my breath.  When you can't breathe, it doesn't matter the benefits or the lifestyle or the "what will people say?" any longer.  All you care about is the life-giving oxygen that your body and mind desperately craves.  God made it clear to me that if I would quit supplying my own oxygen, He would provide the oxygen I needed.  And I was finally able to breathe.

So, I'm learning to breathe and doing lots of things differently.  I'm going to unbecome so I can become again.  I am going to peel away the layers and allow the raw, unrefined, vulnerable me to connect with friends who are probably going through some of the same challenges as me, but didn't know they could or how to talk about it.  Maybe there are some other people out there learning how to breathe just like me.  Or maybe there are some new friends out there who just need help picking out new lamps for their guest room.  Either way, I'm excited about the launch of MLV Interiors.