Hi and welcome to the new blog; A handmade home. 2022 was a HUGE year for me and my husband. A bunch of personal set backs happened, we lost our life savings due to one of our cats needing emergency life saving surgery and then subsequently every other pet deciding to get sick! (thanks guys!) I had a big mental health episode and biggest of all, I gave birth to our first child. Our beautiful little boy Milo Fox. Last year changed me. Completely. In both good and bad ways. But I'm not here to bring everyone down (including myself) so lets focus on the good!
Becoming a mam has literally flipped my entire world on its head. I'm different. I want different things. I'm not willing to do 'anything' to reach the goals I had set for myself before. Goals that require me to do 'everything' to reach them aren't even goals of mine any more. Call me old fashioned but I don't want to sacrifice my time with my child to work round the clock. I'm setting boundaries for myself. I'm giving myself permission to let go of structure and being in control of everything. I'm wanting to slow down. And this is both physically, mentally and in my home.
For so long I have tried to 'make something of myself' to become an artist well known on instagram, to make a living from my art work. Monetizing any and all hobbies I had the slightest bit of talent in, in the name of being creative for a living. But the reality is, to achieve this goal is HARD. Especially when I was trying to attain this goal through social media. I was working so hard to grow my instagram account cause I thought that that is what would kick start my career and make me my millions... well not millions, I never expected that, but my tens of thousands per year for sure! But that is no longer my goal. Having my son (as well as how this past year has gone and in general, the landscape of social media and 'life online' these day) has made me realize something; Im not into world domination any more. Of course I'm going to keep my instagram account, and this website, but I am no longer putting so much pressure for social media to be what makes me and my career exist.
So what is the point of this babbling then? Well this shift got me thinking about what I do want to be doing. And after this past few years, I realized that one of my biggest loves is my home. I LOVE being at home. Admittedly I am an introvert, I can't party like I used to so weekly binges are out and honestly, my happy place is curled up on the sofa with a cup of tea and a book and that doesn't make me feel like I'm missing out (If I can be out for a few drinks and still be home by 10pm to do this before bed then that is an ultimate win!) And one of the things I enjoy most being at home is making my space feel cozy, recycling things to make other things and DIY projects.
Like this table! We had a butchers block thing that we found outside the back of our apartment building a few years ago that has been a kitchen bench, an art bench, my screen printing table and then we decided to separate the block from it's stand and turn it into a dining table! It turned out I wanted our larger table back (I had originally wanted to utilize the room for something else other than just a dining room so we needed a slimmer dining table but then, as usual, my plans changed)
If I had thought on, I would have taken better photos of these things but hey ho. I fell pregnant as soon as we moved into our new apartment. We had planned to only use the place as a stepping stone to a house but the year didn't go as planned so now we've decided to stay put for a few years while we figure out life as parents which means we want to make it our home for a while.
So this blog is going to be a place for me to document that process. I want to document all the handmade things I make, share how I did it, patterns, tips and, more than likely, so many mistakes. I want to live in a home that has texture, character, is sustainable and fixes/up-cycles before it throws away. I hope some things inspire you and if anyone has tips or ideas on how to make something better, I am always open to hearing them!
Take care, Laur x
(Ps. that's not a mistake, people call me Laur (Lor) for short)