The last time I wrote in 2017, I mentioned that we had made a counter offer on a home and it was rejected. But thankfully we had a great realtor who refused to give up, and she fought tooth and nail to get a deal for us. We have been in our new house since the beginning of December and have been working to make it home. Lots and lots of white paint to brighten things up! We will add in some color once we knock down a few walls in the next month or so.

Layla’s room is the one I am most excited about so I might as well start there! As we make other changes I’ll post about those. Don’t worry! It won’t be a home reno blog. We’ll just sprinkle that in as it happens.

Layla slept on an air mattress for the first month. She had little else besides, but made no complaints. I had a plan in mind for her room, specifically her bed. However what I wanted was not within reach financially so I was trying to figure out some alternative. One day I decided to search out the Jenny Lind bed I wanted on Craigslist knowing I would come up empty because they aren’t ever on resale sites. And if I paid the $650 for a twin bed you better believe I’d be keeping it forever too. Ahem. Anyway, it just so happened that someone was indeed selling their Jenny Lind bed brand new in the box from Land of Nod. They needed two foot boards because of their A frame cabin, so they purchased two beds to make it happen. They were left with a complete bed and two headboards. They photographed it and I thought it looked wonderful, and contacted them straight away.

Teddy and I packed into our little car and headed out for a three hour tour. Okay, no. But it was supposed to be a three hour drive from Tennessee, through North Carolina, and into South Carolina. We left after church on cloudy New Years Eve, and expected to be back by 8pm. We didn’t know we were headed for ice that would shut down everything around…in our car with no heat.

By the time I crossed the border into NC the ice was so thick on the window there was a mere 10″ square of visibility. I didn’t have a clue what to do, so I turned on the defrost which only works if the car is going and hoped for the best. It did help a little bit but Teddy and I were freezing cold. The GPS took us off the interstate because of traffic, so I followed what it said. That was a huge mistake because old country back roads don’t get salt like the interstate eventually would. We got stuck in a ditch and had to be rescued by a kind local who advised me to get back onto the interstate. That took more than an hour, but we made it back on, and then my phone died. After traveling a grand 3mph, I stopped off at a gas station in Asheville to purchase a charger. I couldn’t get it to work in my car so I plugged in at the station long enough to get my bearings and figure out where to go next. Again, a backroad was the only option presented to me, so I followed. I got stuck again and swore I tore up the car. With some help I turned around, content that the only solution for us was to find a hotel for the night. We wouldn’t make it if I kept going. By now it was after 7pm and I was only halfway there. Having checked every single hotel on the main drag in Asheville, all of which were booked solid, I was confused and frankly just wanted to fall apart. But I knew it wouldn’t help me so I kept it together. It was so discouraging to pass overturned cars and multi car pileups every quarter mile. I wondered if we would sleep in our car. I came to an Ingles grocery store and their Starbucks sign was like a beacon to me. We went in for warmth and discovered that there were others stranded there, including many of the workers who couldn’t make it home. Thankfully, it was a 24 hour store and they allowed us to stay overnight in their cafe area. We pushed some chairs together, purchased a blanket, and slept a little.

By morning the roads were sufficiently salted thanks to some very diligent workers. We were able to continue our journey to Greenville safely and got the bed back for Layla.

It was quite a way to ring in the New Year. I don’t know that I would willingly repeat it, but I’m thankful we were safe and that we got the bed we set out for. It sure does look great in her room. So back to that…

The bed is adorned with the voile and lawn quilt I made for Layla a few years back. It’s made with our favorite Anna Maria Horner voiles and Liberty tana lawn, and hand quilted by yours truly. It’s one of my all time favorite makes. The horse print is by Sarah Jane and I adore it! It’s so soft and sweet.

I needlepointed the flower pillow with a kit from AMH a few years back.

I ordered these horse decals from Urban Wall Decals and though the measuring and placing took several hours, I think they were well worth the effort. The confetti dots above her bed are also from Urban Walls. Super super easy to apply those. Just peel and stick.

I made the curtains from Rifle Paper Co fabric from their latest collection, Menagerie. They are minty with metallic gold dots and I think they are nothing short of fabulous, and they will go with practically everything.

The basket is from Target’s Pillowfort collection.

We still want to change the closet doors, or at least paint them. So it’s not totally there, but her room is the closest to being done of any in the house, and I confess I sometimes wish it was my room.

Oh and a side note: we had to get a mattress for Layla, and after looking at spring mattresses a little and quickly feeling overwhelmed, it occurred to me that spring mattresses are fun to jump on. And they are also noisy and often uncomfortable. So I looked into some foam mattresses and was thrilled to find Tuft & Needle. It’s a soft foam that somehow has some bounce to it (but not enough that it’s fun to jump on. score!). It’s super comfortable and I’m happy she has something that’ll last till she’s an adult. The warranty was a huge selling point. It was delivered to the door, and unlike a lot of the foam mattresses out there that have all sorts of hoops to jump through, if we were displeased with this one they guarantee all of my money back and they will send a crew to pick up the mattress and donate it to a shelter. That’s awesome, right? Anyway, we are super happy with it and will be getting those for the boys and our guest bedroom soon as well. I thought you might like to know in case you are in the market for a mattress. I’ll put in an Amazon link- that’s where we got ours. Here’s that link.

I better wrap it up or you’ll think I’m writing a book. Thanks for stopping by!

-Meredith