a little slice of heaven

It’s no secret that I love beautiful things. I am obsessed with vintage (read: old) things, great deals and anything with meaning. This combination of loves has resulted in (almost) 30 years worth of random furnishings, yard sale finds, or what my husband likes to refer to as junk.  When he’s in a good mood, he calls me a packrat. When he’s in a bad mood, he calls me a hoarder.

But its in my DNA. I have collectors on both sides of the family. I grew up in a house where the dining room table was a staging ground – a place to put your things, collect your mail, leave things that had no home – not a place to eat dinner. My mom is attached to her things, so much so that when her & my dad decided to downsize their house they did it by getting a bigger one!

And then there’s my Babci (my grandmom). My family recently went through her house before it’s sold, and were given free range of a multitude of things. I honestly had no idea she had so many things! Because, like the other collectors in our family, most of her treasures are hidden away.

After buying our home in 2008, I started to collect even more. And lucky me, I now had a basement and attic to store it all in! We started to update the rooms in this house one by one, and in the beginning I had a vision in mind for each one of them. I imagined our living room to be a warm and inviting place, our bedroom – a cozy little retreat, my office – a place where I could work happily and efficiently. And while I haven’t missed the mark on all of these plans, there isn’t one room in this house that I’ve ever felt was finished. Complete. Perfect. I can’t tell you how many different times I’ve rearranged furniture, moved the dish rack in the kitchen, bought a better piece of furniture for the entry-way. And nothing has ever felt right.

That is, until Frances’s room. Everything in this room has a place and a purpose. The colors make me happy, the little treasures make me smile, the completeness puts me at ease. I find reasons to stay in her room – to straighten up, to play with her, to rock her to sleep. I’ll read a book while she naps in my arms, or catch up with friends on the phone. With all of the clutter in the rest of the house (admittedly put there by yours truly), I feel like her room is the one place where I can actually think. No distractions, no fixes, no lists. My little slice of heaven.

 

 

I keep a small journal to write my thoughts. So far, it’s been used to record the things that Frances is doing at her month milestones, the nicknames we call her and any other things that I will surely forget by the time I go to put her baby book together. The rug pictured above is a favorite find of mine – $37 and some change on clearance from Lowes. LOVE.

The photograph pictured below was taken by Tammy from Tammy Bradshaw Photography. It is my favorite from our session.

 

 

The rocker. My absolute favorite place to be. Usually we have a white blanket hanging over the chair, but it was being washed the day that I took these photographs. (I photographed it on a hanger a few days later and included it above) Brandon’s Great-Grandmother, Claire, started the blanket before she passed away. His Aunt Barbara finished it and sent it along to us for the baby. I love having things in Frances’s room that our Great-Grandmothers made, or loved. Something that she can hold in her hands one day, and be proud to be named after such strong and talented women.

The elephant above was my Great-Grandmother’s. She collected elephants, but only if their trunks were up. For good luck. I now scatter my house with elephants where I can, but only with the trunks up.

 

 

A photograph of my Great-Grandmother, Frances Polchlopek, rests on top of the book that my sister got (my) Frances when she was born. A little backstory: my middle name is Frances, after my Great-Grandmother of course. I grew up hating the name. Seriously hating it. I couldn’t figure out why my mom would give me such a terrible name. I kid you not.

Then sometime during college, or shortly after, I picked up the book A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. I fell in love with that book then, and I am still in love with it now. If you’ve read the book, you know where this is going – the main character’s name is Frances (Francie is her nickname). Well, slowly my love for the book morphed into my love of the name Frances.

 

 

Ralphie the Elephant. Our first purchase for the baby’s room. We had no idea where we were going to put him or what we were going to do with him, but I just remember feeling so good about picking out something for our baby, for the first time, together.

 

 

The armoire. Such a great find! My sister and I found this on the porch of a friend’s neighbor with a sign reading “FREE”. It was a very light wood color with some flower stenciling on it – totally not my thing. But once Brandon painted it, it was perfect. We fashioned it with some pretty little map knobs from Etsy and now it feels like a completely different piece.

 

 

Oh, Mac.

My Babci always says that any time you see a cardinal, it is someone who had passed on coming to visit. After my Grandpop passed away, whenever we would see a cardinal we would say that he was coming to say hello. A few years ago my cousin Jenn and I were at a yard sale and we saw this cardinal beanie baby – we knew right away that we had to get it for our Babci. When we opened up the tag to reveal the little cardinal’s name, we both got goosebumps.

Mac. Grandpop Mackiewicz, Mac for short.

While cleaning out my Babci’s house before it was sold, I saw little Mac sitting there and I brought him home. I placed him in Frances’s window. I like to think that my Grandpop Mac looks in on her from time to time.

 

 

My other obsession. My other loves. My dogs.

My sister gave me these portraits of Blue Moon and Red Stripe for my baby shower. And I ugly girl cried. Seriously. None of the baby stuff even made me the tiniest bit blurry eyed and then I open up some pictures of my dogs and I’m sobbing.

My sister commissioned her friend, Alyssa, to sketch these stunning portraits for me. It is a gift that I cannot measure in words or in thanks. Alyssa is one talented lady, and you can check out her other beautiful illustrations here.

When I got these, I knew immediately that they must go over the baby’s crib. I needed my big babies to look over my little baby.

 

 

I hope that Frances grows to love this room, as much as we have loved creating this room for her. I hope that she feels safe in this room, and calm. That she will enjoy reading her books and playing with her blocks in here. That she will retreat up here after a long weekend away, needing her space, her place in the world.

And I hope that this room loves her back. That it collects her future spills and crayon drawings, her little scribbles and messy handprints – gently preserving her growth throughout the years. That it will become her little slice of heaven.