Key the exhale and lingering exhaustion. We made it back from South Carolina, and not only is my body a little sore from the sweltering southern heat, the miles of walking in the historic district, and the short 15 hour commute back to Michigan… my brain hurts too. A full Haven Conference 2018 is its own blog post in itself, but to summarize, for someone going on their 9th year I leave every year learning so-so-so much. Outside of the mounds of knowledge, I get to see some of my blog idols and inspiring friends. Exhaustion will be on the top of everyones emotion leaving The Haven Conference, but its accompanied by inspiring and motivating.

I think this year’s mission, and the conference confirmed it, is I need to be smarter and more efficient with what I do. Whether thats DIY Projects, Designing Spaces, Running the Store, or blogging. I don’t know how I am going to do that right now, I just know, in order for me to continue to get my life balanced and happy, I need to work smarter. One thing that is making me feel better is tackling things like our upstairs hallway that we have been avoiding forever. It’s a narrow space that needed some love & so we decided to put that on the top of our list…

I am a dreamer – in my dream home… an alternate definition for indecisive. I hesitate too often in making decision, or wondering if I made a wrong decision with a design. I am trying to make calm my thoughts with sensible decisions. As you know we are finally making our way upstairs in our renovation. From our guest bedroom wallpaper (here) to our new new floors in the master (here). Sometimes the simple projects make a world of difference, and carrying the shiplap upstairs is the perfect little project that will make a big difference.

Here is the space before shiplap & any work besides the painted banister…

& here is the space in progress…

Awesome how that shiplap just covers up that wallpaper huh? We will be painting the shiplap & the trim up here along with all the flooring. The shiplap is the same that we used downstairs on our main level. It’s 6″ tongue and groove nickel slot boards that we got from our local lumber yard, West Michigan Lumber. I will share more progress very soon on this space, but I wanted to let you know what we were doing with this hallway upstairs… I hope you guys love it & now we just need to find some lights for up here! Thank you guys so much for stopping by the blog & for stopping by here every day to see what we are up to! xx