Hi guys! So, I thought I'd share with you a little slice of the world that I call home. I work from home, so to me it's so important to have a space that I can call home and feel at home in. I thought I'd share with you a bit of our house story and our married journey so far.
I feel like when you look at Instagram and YouTube and any other social media platform, generally you tend to see people's highlights. Holidays, brunches, super fun girl hangs, you name it. But you most likely won't find people's bad days on Instagram. So I thought I'd do a little bit of "real talk" and tell you a bit about our journey and where we are now. Ever since we got married, we've had on our minds to buy a house. Living in London makes it so much harder to do, as you won't find a 2/3 bedroom house anywhere near the city for anything less than £700k. Talk about expensive!! So we've had to look outside. But to get long term goals, you have to do short term sacrifice. And sometimes that's not the easiest thing to do.
We at first started living with Live in Guardians and we were sharing the house with a few other people. I'm not gonna lie, it was a struggle for me. If you know anything about Guardian places, it's basically a place that the owner hasn't rented out but they need to stop people from squatting there, so they give it out for super cheap rent. We did the best we could to make the place nice, but it never felt like home. I didn't enjoy being there, I especially didn't enjoy having people over because I felt like I couldn't host them properly. Everything was just a bit gross, as much as you tried to scrub it all down. Now, I'm not gonna lie either - I realised I had a lot of entitlement and pride within me. I knew it was something that needed sorting, and that God was going to work in me. Thankfully, living there allowed us to save a whole lot more than we would've anywhere else, which in reality really allowed us to be in a much better place financially. Long term goals, short term sacrifice.
Fast forward to April this year and we had to move out. We originally thought we would stay there as they were renovating the entire place - hello stone bathroom! But in the last minute, we got told we had just a few days to move out. I found that time so stressful. I went on 6 viewings, and nothing struck out to me as what I would call "home". I remember on the Wednesday night, I broke down and prayed, "God, I'm done with doing this in my own strength. You can find me the place now." and I left it in his hands. The next morning, a real estate agent sent me a link to a place they actually still had available, and I immediately went to see it. I walked in and felt peaceful, like it was home. We moved in 2 days later right on time for when we needed to move out! How incredible is God!
Over the past few months, we've been decorating it and I feel like it's gotten to a space where I can call home. Throughout this journey, I've learned to be so much more grateful for what I've got, and to be a little less proud. And I love having people over! We're still on a journey to buy our own home, but how lovely it feels to have a space that I feel I can call home in the meantime.
I'm obsessed with all things tropical, so I've tried to go for a tropical but yet also cozy vibe - that's where the furry textures come in.
My pineapple is actually from Poundland (um yes it was a pound!! SO awesome!!)
The plumeria candle (which I will never light due to its cuteness) is from Thailand from our friend Kylie, who is doing an incredible helping women who have been trafficked out in Thailand! (if you want to find out more about this and how you can help, click here)
Our bedside tables are from eBay - I wanted to go for a nordic vibe and these were perfect!!
And the most amazing frames ever alongside the prints are from Desenio (except the calligraphy one - that was me!) You can actually get my discount code for Desenio 2 days only! Not available on the handpicked or frames, but totally available for these gorgeous prints! They have some absolutely amazing prints, so get your butt on their website and use my discount code NATALYJENNINGS25 to get 25% off from the 8th-10th of August!
I also totally forgot to include our tv & my desk space - but that's still being touched up so maybe another time ;)
Hope this encourages you all to know that the grass is not always greener on the other side - everyone has their own battles. But once you take a look at how beautifully vibrant your grass is, you'll see how much you really have to be thankful for.
Love you all,
Nat xx
"Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:18
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