Danielle and her family lived in hotels and Airbnb’s while their home was being renovated. When it was finally finished, she fell in love with one particular feature.
“It’s my faucet in the kitchen.” Danielle says with a laugh. “You just touch it and it goes on, and the angels sing. It has made my life so much easier.”
Danielle also loves that they have used their daughters artwork in their home. “We frame art from my daughter. If you put anything in a white frame, it looks good.”
As an event designer, Danielle has lots of experience on creating the perfect aesthetic and has brought that into her home as well. “I feel like if you can integrate function and meaning into your space, it is so much better.”
A lot of moms tell us they feel bad for asking for help, especially when they first have children. One mom recently told us “I love your #MyRealHome series because I’m a new mom, and I felt terrible for not having it “more together,” now I feel like having it together sometimes means just saying you need a hand or two or three!”
And what does Danielle have to say about having an extra hand or two (or three!) “When we had kids we got a housecleaner. There are somethings that have to give. For me, it’s going to be the cleaning - it’s not going to be my kids or my husband. It makes me a better mom. It takes the stress away. You can focus on other things that you love. If you are excellent at Pinterest - do that. If you love baking, do that. By doing the things that YOU love, it makes you a better mom.“
At Zaarly, we’ve been learning a lot through our #MyRealHome campaign. Sometimes people just need to know that they are not alone. Houses get messy, kids find ways to get every surface dirty, mud is tracked in, schedules get crazy, sometimes family coming in for the holidays feels overwhelming. Danielle’s reminder for moms feeling stress? “Do the best you can for you and your family.”
She goes on with this important advice; “ There is no standard, there are no playbooks. Don’t be afraid to ask and ACCEPT help. And give help.”
Danielle has been living in Nashville with her husband for a few years now and has three beautiful children. She loves writing for Nashville Moms Blog because of the incredible community that she has found through it.
It’s our LAST week to enter our $250 home project giveaway! We will still be featuring #MyRealHome interviews with the amazing contributors from Nashville Moms Blog in the upcoming weeks. We’ve had three lucky winners so far, will you be the next?
Just post a photo of your REAL home, the messy, the dusty, the cracked windows, the kid artwork, the quirky throw pillow you found at Pier One. Whatever "real home” means to you at the moment, we want to see it. Tag your photos #MyRealHome and you will automatically be entered to win.
1. Purchase some caulk and cellular shades (insulating blinds) to increase efficiency. Use caulk to seal the window frame, and then setup your cellular shades. These shades are easy to install and work by creating pockets of air to insulate windows from the cold. A good set of shades can double or triple a window’s performance making these a no brainier for winter comfort and energy savings.
2. Change the furnace filter. This not only makes your furnace work more efficiently but also traps more allergens and dust.
3. Clean your gutters. Gutters that are full may back up water into the house, causing deterioration and water damage.
4. Install a draft dodger under doors that lead outside, can be purchased at any home goods store for around $10.
5. If you have any ceiling fans inside your home, know the rules: Counterclockwise rotation produces cooling breezes, and clockwise rotation produces warmer air. Set your thermostat to 55-65 degrees when you go to bed and work. You won’t enjoy the warmer temperature while you’re asleep or away from the house, anyway. You can also purchase a programmable thermostat.
Need a hand with a home project? Eugene can help! Contact Eugene today and get $25 toward your first service when you use the promo code WELCOME25.*first time customers*
Elissa, Nashville Moms Blog contributor, loves her living room. Did she find the perfect sofa? The perfectly matched end tables and coffee table? A fancy painting? Nope, Elissa loves her living room because of something she couldn’t buy, she loves that her living room is where she spends the most time with her family. Elissa’s family is what makes her house a HOME.
Elissa moved to Nashville after college over fifteen years ago. She and her husband have three children and live in the house that she bought while she was still single. She loves writing for Nashville Moms Blog because of the solidarity among mothers and sharing all of the wonderful things about Nashville.
Elissa recently wrote a piece for Nashville Moms Blog about her home. The post gets to the heart of our #MyRealHome campaign. Who hasn’t rushed around the house trying to get it in order because your mother-in-law calls and is “popping over”. How many of us haven’t invited people over because we feel like things are a big old mess, and we’re embarrassed? Elissa is learning to extend grace to herself, the same that she always extends to others.
“I need to give myself permission to extend the same grace to myself that I extend to others. I need to pick up the phone, invite a friend over, and just get over it.”
We want people to know that they aren’t alone. Everyone has unfinished projects and everyone, no matter how much they appear to be Martha Stewart on Facebook, has dealt with a messy home.
Elissa has felt the pressure to present the perfect home on her social media. “Yes, totally! I’m actively trying to work against that, though. I try to write posts and post pics that are more “real” and honest, but it’s a challenge. I feel vulnerable when I do it for sure.”
And she has this advice for moms; “We are all in the same boat and that no one has it completely together. Ask for help. Can you afford a one time treat of a mother’s helper so you can get a project done or maybe a house cleaner? Trade helping with a friend. Pick three things to focus on and relax about the other things. Be honest with your spouse about how you are feeling.”
We admire Elisa’s honesty and willingness to share. Sometimes just knowing that you are not alone can make all the difference.
At Zaarly, we are proud to partner with Nashville Moms Blog in a campaign we launched to get people talking about their real homes.#MyRealHome is all about showing the real parts of our homes. The messy, the quirky, the unfinished, and the things we’re proud of.
Post your photos of your real home on Instagram or Twitter, tag them #MyRealHome and be entered to win our weekly giveaway of $250 home project on Zaarly! Enter as often as you’d like.
“My favorite thing is when I can have a big reveal. I want my clients to be amazed. I love being able to make something happen that they never thought could be done, that is what I love about my job.”
Born and raised in Kansas City, Kelly has been a part of the art scene for a while now, even managing an art gallery at one point in KCK. Before that, she was in a corporate job–which wasn’t exactly her scene. “I didn’t enjoy that job,” Kelly said, “I was a weekend warrior, always creating–that is what I wanted to do.”
She would get into interior design when she worked at the art gallery, helping people pick out the right things for their home; it was a natural progression.
These days, she is enjoying helping people create spaces they love. Sometimes that means giving a room a fresh new color; sometimes it means completely reimagining the space.
And she won’t let a project go any less than perfect, often “being there from the very beginning stages of planning, through to the execution.” And if her time wasn’t enough, her dedication is even more fierce. Kelly states that “if it’s a certain table you want and we can’t find it, I can make it.”
She tries not to shy away from a challenge. She often uses her house to try new things. Kelly is always creating and always learning. When she sees something that interests her, she jumps in and tries it out. And to her, it doesn’t feel like work, and sometimes, she can hardly wait to get started in the morning so that she can create and learn more.
Kelly has five tips for making over a room:
1. In each room find a focal point. Let that inspire you to make that room. Whether it’s a pop of a different colors or a pattern.
2. Fall in love with your space! So many times, people base their homes off of what they see in a magazine, but it’s not what they want. Do what you love.
3. If you are having a hard time coming up with a concept, find something that means something to you, something that you love, and start there. Create a space that centers around something meaningful to you.
4. If you aren’t ready to fully commit to a complete change, come up with something a little more versatile, rather than fully committing. It could be large canvasses with a pattern you love or a color you want to see in a room instead of doing a complete re-paint.
5. There is always some way to modernize something around that one thing that you love. If you have an old antique piece, work with it rather than hiding it in a box, bring it out and see figure out how to make it work in your space.
And, of course, Kelly is there to help a customer realize their vision for a room, if it’s a complete overhaul, draping a canvas, or just figuring out where to put that nice antique piece in that modern home.
Contact Kelly today and get $25 off your first project on Zaarly when you use the promo code WELCOME25 at signup!
Do you know which polish to buy for your deck? How about the perfect kind of paint for the kind of house you own, in the climate you live in? Sure, some of us might know how to keep our houses perfect, down to which wood glue is best for baseboards–but the rest of us? We need to go to school–or have the school come to us.
For 14 years, Bob Holcolmbe taught technical theater in Southern Illinois, but last year, he left his job and moved back to Kansas City to marry a girl that he had dumped in 9th grade. And he couldn’t be happier.
“I did a complete 180, I have no regrets at all, I was ready,” Bob exclaimed.
When he moved back, he knew he wanted to keep teaching, helping people, and building things. So he started his own business.
“The teaching aspects have always been ingrained in me; I want to teach people things to empower them. I want to be able to help homeowners do projects on their own.”
He started with Zaarly when he was helping Zaarly’s home-service experts, Kari, and Sean. As things got busier for Kari and Sean, Bob started to do his own projects. “My first job,” Bob recalls, “was turning a 5x5 front porch into a 10x10 porch. They wanted to be able to sit outside at night and enjoy the neighborhood. I really loved building it, and giving them something that they really could enjoy. The cool thing about what I do is that it is everlasting. That family will get to enjoy that porch for many years to come.”
Now he does all kinds of projects, from beginning to end, and with his client always on his heart and mind: “The thing I love is meeting with the homeowner and getting to know what they need. The planning is necessary. I like to know what their stresses are, and I want to make sure they get exactly what they want.”
Being in technical theater, Bob had years of having to make sure that things were completed on time and within the budget he had. Because of this, his clients can get accurate estimates in how long a project will take and how much it will end up costing. But regardless of the project, Bob says, “I want the customer to know that I charge a fair price. I cater to everyone.”
We asked Bob if he had any advice for homeowners, and he had this to say:
“Anything you can do to preserve what you have. Whether it be staining the deck, or making your sure your house is painted. Make sure things like furnaces are maintained. Take care of what you have, because there are things you can control. You will get a lot more out of things and save a lot of money the better they are maintained.”
So what’s next for Bob as he continues to build his business?
“I want to be a personal trainer of home renovation. I want to teach people how to do things from plan out a project to doing smaller cosmetic fixes on their own. I want to empower people.”
You can contact Bob for any of your home projects, or if you want to build that theater set you’ve always dreamed of.
