March 2023 – simplify the chaos

March 2023 Book Reviews

Hello and Happy Last Day of March! You know what that means – time for another monthly book review!

I read four books this month and they were about as varied as it gets: fantasy/romance, domestic thriller, biography of a Founding Father, and a sourcebook for eco-conscious living. It was an unusual mix for sure! Let’s dive in.

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

As an orphan and a witch, Mika is very used to being on her own. Apart from a rare gathering with other witches here and there, she mostly keeps to herself and moves around a lot. Then one day, a mysterious invitation is sent to her: there are three young witches in need of training in a house in the English countryside. Would Mika consider coming to be their teacher? Intrigued, she arrives at Nowhere House where she finds an eclectic bunch of unrelated people who have formed their own little family within the safe haven of the estate. It’s possibly reckless and dangerous to have so many witches living in one spot, but Mika can’t help but feel like she’s finally found a place to belong…even if there are a few people who don’t seem entirely welcoming (like the handsome but cranky librarian, Jamie).

My library always has a little display of books based on a theme and during February there were a variety of love stories. I saw this one on display, thought the cover was cute, and decided to check it out. Unfortunately, my enthusiasm for the book kind of dwindled from there. I found this one hard to get into, and I couldn’t get invested in the characters or the conflict. To be completely honest, the writing felt simplistic and tried too hard; it was fairly tame and sweet and then would have a random swear word or sexual reference that felt really jarring. The lone steamy scene felt weird and out of place, particularly because Mika and Jamie did not have very believable chemistry. Their sunshine-meets-grumpy dynamic felt forced to me and I cringed through a lot of their interactions. I liked the idea of the diverse, quirky cast of characters, but none of them had much depth and I found myself wishing for a lot more character development. I don’t mean to bash this book – it was a Goodreads Choice Awards for Fantasy in 2022 so apparently a lot of people like it! I think if you’re in the mood for a cutesy, if predictable, story that has a magical cottagecore vibe and doesn’t require a lot of effort, you might like this one. It was just a big miss for me. [Here’s an example of how reading is so subjective: This book, which I did not at all enjoy, has a higher Goodreads rating than Love at First, which I read last month and adored so much that it made my top recommendations list. Not every book is going to resonate with every reader so take all reviews, mine included, with a grain of salt].

Watching You by Lisa Jewell

From Goodreads: Melville Heights is one of the nicest neighbourhoods in Bristol, England; home to doctors and lawyers and old-money academics. It’s not the sort of place where people are brutally murdered in their own kitchens. But it is the sort of place where everyone has a secret. And everyone is watching you.

Ooopph – a description like that sucked me right in! This book is a rotating-narrator look at the people in a neighborhood: Tom, the handsome headmaster of the local school who everyone seems infatuated by, Jenna, the teenaged girl who doesn’t trust him or the ramblings of her paranoid mother, Joey, the lonely woman who recently got married but is unsatisfied with her life, and Freddie, Tom’s son who keeps track of it all through secret photos and spying. I loved this one! It was twisty, turny, compulsive, and binge-worthy. I could not put it down! The pace was perfect: just when I felt like we had been going off of unanswered questions too long and felt the need for dots to start connecting, revelations started happening. My brain was swirling around various possibilities and while I did guess some of the twists (and the killer!) in advance, there were plenty of twists that I did not see coming. There is a strong believability factor in this book, which makes it a great domestic thriller – you can just imagine a neighborhood like this where people are watching each other’s comings and goings. It wasn’t jumpy or gory so it’s an excellent choice in thriller if you don’t like actually being scared while reading. I highly recommend!

The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams by Stacy Schiff

This biography was chosen by an online book club I’m a part of and while I do really enjoy history and learning about important people and events, this is probably not a book I would have chosen on my own. That being said, I am glad I read it! It’s FULL of information about Samuel Adams and before this I knew nothing. Now that I know just how much he contributed to the Revolutionary War, I’m actually shocked that the only thing I knew before reading was his name (and honestly, I really only knew that because of the beer company). I found it fascinating to see how Adams contributed to the ideas that led to mindset shifts and ultimately led to revolution – without his efforts I truly think things would have looked totally different. He was an absolutely critical Founding Father! As much as I did gain from reading, I also have to say this book was a hard read. The vocabulary is high-level, the sentences are long and intricate, and I found myself having to reread paragraphs to be able to understand. It’s definitely a more challenging read than other biographies I’ve read so just be aware of that if you’re interested in reading it.

Remodelista: The Low Impact Home: A Sourcebook for Stylish, Eco-Conscious Living by Margot Guralnick & Fan Winston

From Goodreads: Low-impact living is about making thoughtful, eco-friendly choices in your home. But being sustainable doesn’t have to mean sacrificing style. That’s where Remodelista comes in. In this comprehensive guide, they decode the secrets to creating a home that’s good for the planet—and totally livable.

This was another book I saw on display at my local library and I was immediately intrigued. I spent the next couple weeks casually reading section by section when I had some leisure time here and there. I really enjoyed flipping through and got lots of inspiration! I will say, the actual interiors weren’t as inspiring to me as the tips and suggestions for more eco-conscious living, but I took lots of notes on things that interested me as I was reading and I have many things I want to implement within my own home over time. If you’ve been here awhile, you likely know that sustainability is very important to me and I found this book to have TONS of good information. I actually want to have my own copy as something to refer back to and use as a sourcebook in the future so I’ll be on the lookout for a secondhand copy 😉 If you’re interested in sustainable living, this is a great resource!

What have you been reading lately?

Spring Cleaning my To-Do List

Hello and Happy Monday! This week is starting off so much stronger than last week – we had a nasty GI bug travel through our family and to say it was no fun is an understatement. Thankfully Ollie and I escaped it but the majority of my time was spent taking care of everyone else and helping aid recovery in whatever way I could. I did manage to get in some time towards the end of the week finishing up another stenciled wall in the guest bedroom so we’re continuing to make progress there!

While the stenciled wall is coming along, it is obviously somewhat tedious and a long process, so I’m going to be sprinkling in some smaller projects to break up the monotony. This week I decided to take some time to do a bit of “spring cleaning” of my project to-do list. Basically, I have a list in my head of the things, both big and small, that I want to accomplish in my house and I’m going to challenge myself to complete a few of the small things this week. I realized that several items were started or connected to the month of March in a previous year, so in the spirit of March almost being over yet again, I decided to tackle all those March-related things.

1. Finish Upgrading the Rustic Dresser

In March 2022, I shared how I made some mistakes in buying this dresser off Facebook Marketplace, which I originally intended to upgrade for my sister’s nursery (thankfully I found a much better option!) This one has just been sitting in our workshop for a year and it is beyond time for it to move on and go somewhere else. It’s already sanded down and Justin recently replaced a missing board on one side. This week, I’m going to stain +polyurethane it and then donate it to a family in need in my community. I’m glad to get it out of our space and very thankful it can go to someone else who needs it!

2. Update the Staircase Gallery Wall

In March 2021, I shared how I started a gallery wall by our spiral staircase. My goal was always to continue to build on this and add pictures as our family grows and now feels like the perfect time. Most importantly, we need to add some photos of Ollie! I’ve been collecting photos and frames to add to the wall so this should be a pretty fun and easy task.

3. Finish the Playroom Baseboard Trim

Also in March 2021, I updated and painted the window trim in the playroom. I later went through and painted the baseboards to match the wall color. The ONLY thing I didn’t paint was the piece of trim at the bottom of the wallpapered wall – I couldn’t decide if it should match the blue of the other walls or be a white to blend in more. I’ve decided on white and it’s time to get it painted and finished!

4. Make a Simple Phone Call!

And finally – also back in March 2021 (what a busy month that was!) I painted the front door of our house. This is significant because notice in the top left corner of the picture how the white paint stops? IT’S STILL LIKE THAT. Two. Years. Later.

It’s been a halfway-painted, two story foyer for 2+ years and it’s to the point now where I’m so used to it it doesn’t even really register for me how ridiculous it looks, ha! I cannot actually paint the second story level of our foyer because it’s way too high and complex, but I’ve just never gotten around to calling/getting quotes for hiring it out. So this week, I’m making the calls. This is probably the easiest item on the list and yet somehow the one I’m looking forward to the least (what is it about making phone calls!?) but I’m hoping that the fact that I’m writing about it here will help keep me accountable. It’s high time our foyer gets finished!

I’m also hoping to keep plugging away at the guest room stenciled wall – my mother-in-law is coming to visit on Friday for a week so we’ll see if I can get another section done before she arrives!

Next Up: Changes Coming to the Guest Suite!

This mid-afternoon blog post is brought to you by Daylight Savings Time, which I am blaming for being sleep-deprived this morning and not hitting “publish” like I thought I had. So Happy Monday afternoon!

The longer we have lived in this house, the more I feel like I’ve honed in on a specific vision for it. I’m so glad we didn’t do major renovations when we first moved in; living here has shown me how we actually need certain spaces to function and that has completely changed my mind on some ideas I had when we first bought the home. As I’ve spent nearly four years tackling smaller renovations room by room, I’ve cultivated spaces that feel right for our family and it’s been really gratifying to see those spaces now work together throughout the house like pieces to puzzle.

That being said, I have been feeling like some of my earliest projects don’t quite fit that puzzle very well. These renovations happened so early on that I didn’t necessarily have the “whole house vision” in mind and now that I do, I’m wanting to go back in and re-address some things. There’s one space in particular I’ve been thinking about a lot lately and feel ready to tackle: our guest suite!

When we first moved into our house, the guest suite immediately rose to the top of the project list. Technically, it couldn’t be considered a bedroom at the time because there was no window, but I immediately saw the potential. We hired a contractor to put in a window, strip the wallpaper, and demo the en suite bathroom – you can catch up on the initial renovation in previous posts (click here for the bedroom and here for the bathroom).

We initially finished the guest suite in early 2020 – just in time for a global pandemic and a very long pause on hosting guests. Ha! Eventually, I decided I wanted to add a bit of interest to the plain white walls and started a botanical wallpaper look using paint and a stencil. It was fairly labor intensive and I wasn’t sure I wanted to go all the way around the room so I paused after two walls. Along the way I also updated the bed and bedding and swapped out the nightstands for the ones from Justin and my bedroom (I still love all those changes!)

I recently had some inspiration for the guest suite that I think is going to make it make so much more sense with the rest of the house – it gave me that excited, adrenaline feeling in my gut that made me know this is the right direction to take the room! Here’s what I am going to be addressing:

1. Finishing the Faux Wallpaper. I do want to complete the wallpaper look all the way around the room and I’m going for it. I know that it will be time consuming, but I truly believe it will be worth it!

2. Paint the trim + doors + built-ins dark. Initially, I chose white walls and a light greige contrast trim because I thought it would help brighten the fairly dark room (the window is partially shaded by our back deck and with that + the angle of the house compared to the path of the sun, it never receives direct, bright sunlight). Now I have more confidence in leaning into the natural shadowiness of the bedroom and I want to go dark green on the trim. The goal is a cozy, moody retreat!

3. Finally update the ceiling light! The last remining boob light (if you know, you know) in our home has numbered days and I cannot wait to see it go.

4. Repaint the en suite bathroom. With the wallpaper going on every wall in the bedroom and the trim going dark green, I think I’ll need to change the guest bathroom color. I am currently leaning towards a pink and again, it’s giving me that adrenaline feeling of being nervous for a dramatic change but also excited because I think it’s the right call.

5. Replace the carpet. We are finally ready to get new carpet in the works throughout the whole basement. The current carpet is very worn, stained, pulling up in places, and just very much in need of being replaced. I do want to replace with another carpet because a) our basement gets very cold and carpet is such an easy way to keep it warm and cozy and b) this is a big rec space/entertaining space for kids and carpet makes more sense to me for kids to play on.

I’m starting this week on the wallpaper stencil – you can follow along on Instagram for the play-by-play!

Restoring a Thrifted Dresser (+ the finished Kids Room!)

Over the past week, I’ve been working to remove the paint from the kids’ shared dresser and restore it to a natural wood finish. It all came together yesterday and to say I’m in love is putting it mildly!

Before

After

Somewhere between 7-8 years ago, Justin and I bought this vintage midcentury dresser on Facebook Marketplace for $30. It had signs of wear and tear and the easiest solution at the time was to paint it, so I chose a mid-tone blue and gave it a little upgrade. It has lived happily as a kid dresser for the past 5.5 years (even serving as a changing table when LJ was younger) and is still one of my favorite thrifted finds to date.

I recently completed the mountain mural accent wall in the kids’ shared bedroom, and when I got everything back in place, things didn’t feel quite right. It seemed like a lot of painted surfaces: painted walls, painted trim, painted door, painted dresser. It also felt really heavily blue! I knew I needed to bring in some natural elements and decided to try to strip the paint off of the dresser. I had never attempted this before but figured worst case scenario would be I could just repaint it in a different color if stripping didn’t work.

After doing a bit of research online, I bought a product called Citristrip to try. First things first, I removed the drawers and hardware and placed the drawers face up on a drop cloth (I save old bedsheets for this purpose!) I wore a double layer of latex-free gloves and assembled things in my basement where there is a big open space and plenty of circulating air – Citristrip is safe to use indoors but I still wanted lots of ventilation.

I poured it out directly onto the dresser and used an old paintbrush to roughly apply it everywhere. After some trial and error I learned that thicker is better – you want a pretty thick layer on top of the paint!

I stashed the brush in a ziploc baggie and let the Citristrip soak in, quickly learning that leaving it on longer produces better results. You don’t want it to dry out, but you do want to give it time to work. And when it works, it looks wild!

My mind was blown! I kept thinking the paint looked like really elaborate frosting and couldn’t believe how much it bubbled up. The first round, where I did a light layer and only left it on 30 minutes, left a lot of residue but the second round, where I poured it on thick and left it on 2 hours, took nearly everything off!

I used a plastic scraper to remove the paint; sometimes I needed to do a bit of extra scraping to get it all off but it did not require a lot of muscle or effort to do the vast majority!

The main frame of the dresser took an extra round of Citristrip because the paint layer was thicker, but once I got everything stripped it was time to clean off the reside. I used mineral spirits (again, you want ventilation and gloves!) and a clean cloth to wipe down the surfaces; it works best to give the mineral spirits plenty of time to fully dry before sanding.

The dresser had a very thin layer of wood veneer on almost everything (more on that in a bit) and sanded well for me. I used an orbital sander, first with 80-grit sandpaper, then 120-grit, then 220-grit to get the surfaces down to raw wood. At this point, I started to feel optimistic that this was actually going to turn out well, because things were looking so much better!

I wiped everything down with a tack cloth and then it was time for gel stain – I chose this dark walnut color.

I have never used a gel stain before but it’s super easy to apply: I painted the stain on using a brush, first going in the direction against the grain, then immediately going over it with the brush again (without adding more stain), this time with the grain.

I let it set 2-3 minutes and then wiped it off with an old pillowcase (I’m telling you, save your old bedding for projects!) Here’s a look at two drawers in the process, one with the stain wiped off and one with it still soaking:

One unusual thing I hadn’t remembered about the dresser was that the top is actually laminate. Hmmm. The paint stripped off it fine and I used 220-grit sandpaper to get the remaining residue off, but it’s hard to tell how much of the gel stain it took. The walnut color I chose pretty closely matched the original color and I was afraid of blotchiness so I did the whole top at one time; it looks great with the rest of the dresser and definitely did darken, so it at least took some of the gel stain. It worked out and I’m happy with the result!

The legs did not take the stain well, although that’s probably because I didn’t want to sand them, so I decided to pivot and use Rub n Buff. My goal was to try to match the patina of the original brass drawer pulls. I removed the legs and used just a tiny bit of product, rubbing it in with an old cloth. I was pleasantly surprised to see the legs really did look similar to the drawer pulls!

After everything had a chance to dry, I put it all back together in my kids room and WOWZA, this was exactly what the space needed!

I LOVE the richness of the warm walnut color. It is seriously stunning, and the patina on the brass hardware + faux patina on the legs brings so much character!

This is still a $30 thrifted dresser, so it’s far from perfect, but I just think she’s a showstopper now. I am so so happy with how this dresser now ties in with the other wood tones throughout and completes the room . . . even though I don’t really ever think a room is totally finished. Our needs and tastes are constantly evolving and I like to make little tweaks to our rooms here and there along the way. Plus this room will likely need an overhaul of sorts down the room when there are two teenage boys sharing it (!!!) That being said, the kids’ room feels like it’s in a really good place for their current stage of life so for now…it’s done. 🙂

Sources:

Wall Color: Sherwin Williams Eider White and Nordic Bleu

Bedframes: Vintage

Dresser: Vintage

Striped Throw Blanket

Round Mirror

How I Decorate Slowly (and why I do it!)

It’s been five months since I shared my mood board inspiration for leveling up the living room. It’s been four months since I painted the walls white. It’s been two months since we installed the sconces . . . and nothing much has happened since. In terms of speed, this room transformation is practically glacial.

You may or may not have noticed, but I’ve slowed down on the pace of home projects around here lately. This was a choice I made very intentionally for a few reasons, and I can honestly say it’s been such a healthy decision for me and my family. Today I wanted to take a minute to just talk about why I’ve moved to a more sustainable pace and how I approach slowly transforming my home.

One big reason I’ve slowed down is: money. The vast majority of our projects up to this point have been on the smaller scale. I’ve gotten creative with finding ways to transform a space with a small budget: stenciling instead of wallpaper, upgrading thrifted furniture, painting cabinets, painting countertops, etc and we’ve done the large majority of work ourselves. Now we’re looking ahead to hiring out some bigger projects in the next year or two, so we’re quicker to save money and slower to spend on smaller projects.

Another, probably obvious, reason I’ve slowed down lately is due to time. I have three kids, so life is full! I’ve learned I can take advantage of nap time and preschool and yes, their daily allotted screen time to get things done. I can work late at night or wake up early in the morning. I’m good at finding ways to squeeze in projects but also, I don’t want to spend all my time on projects. I’m so aware of how fast these years are going and have been working really hard to strike a healthy balance of life and projects.

A great example happened this past weekend: we had a gloriously empty calendar where nothing was planned for anyone in our family. It was the perfect opportunity to update the kids’ bedroom dresser. It was also the perfect opportunity for some quality family time. We landed on a best-of-both-worlds solution: for our family, we chose a Saturday family adventure day (science museum, lunch, walking to a bakery for a special treat) and Sunday afternoon campfire (popcorn + smores!) together.

For ourselves, Justin played tennis with his friends Saturday morning while I played with the kids, then he took the kids in the evenings and Sunday morning before church so I could have time for the dresser. Saturday night we even had a movie-in-the-basement date night while I waited on the paint stripper to work its magic on the dresser. We both got time away for hobbies that energize us AND we got quality family time and couple time together. True, the dresser could’ve been completed if I buckled down and said no to all the other things, but that’s not healthy for anyone in my family. We’re ALL much happier with a slower project pace and a balance of time together and time on our own things.

The last reason I’m slowing down is hard to describe, but is a mixture of learning contentment and leaving space to figure out how this home can best serve our family. It takes time in a space to discover what it needs. Do I want a gallery wall here or one large piece of art? Do I want a console table here or something with storage? Learning to live with a blank wall or empty space in the meantime has been an exercise in contentment – I don’t truly need anything and I don’t want to buy things just to fill the house, so I’m okay with nothing until I find just what I want. Spending time in spaces helps me hone in on a vision and think through possibilities, and half the fun is in anticipating/dreaming/planning anyways. Just recently I decided that eventually, I’m going to swap the dining room and playroom. Not now, because our current setup is working in this season, but long-term, the switch will make more sense for us. It takes time to let my mind wander and think through these possibilities. In the meantime, I’m learning to be content with my house as is and let me tell you, there’s joy to be found in that contentment too.

So how have I been approaching a slower, more intentional way of working on my home? I’ve been reflecting on this quite a bit lately and here are some of the things that come to mind:

Thrift for Budget-Friendly Items

It’s no secret that I love thrifting. Buying secondhand is sustainable for the environment and easier on the wallet – a win-win in my book. I have had great luck slowly sourcing items over the years, thrifting everything from bigger items like chairs, side tables, and dressers to smaller décor pieces like picture frames, planters, and little tchotchkes. Thrifting has allowed me to fill my home with unique items and allows me to try out different things without a big commitment. I can also hold onto items loosely – if it breaks or ends up not working in our home, it’s easier to let go of.

All that being said, thrifting is not a quick, one-click process. It took me months to find a little lamp I loved for my kitchen countertop! I try to carve out time once a week or every-other-week to pop in to a thrift store, whether I have an hour to browse or just ten minutes to glance around (if you’re not sure where to start or how to maximize a quick trip, I wrote a post about making the most of thrifting when I’m limited on time). I’ve been thrifting for items for years and over time, my home is slowly filling with items I truly love. The hunt for items that speak to me takes time and patience, but it’s so rewarding once I find a gem for our home!

Use Placeholder Items to Determine What I really Want

I bought a teal-colored accent chair for the living room in our last home and absolutely loved it there. We moved here with it and it just hasn’t translated the same way. I’ve tried it in multiple rooms and in multiple places and have come to accept it just isn’t going to be a piece I keep long-term in this home. BUT! It has been an excellent placeholder for me while I determine what I do and don’t want.

When it sat in the playroom, it helped me determine I wanted a couch instead of a chair for more seating. When it sat in my office bay window it helped affirm that space worked perfectly for a chair – and I soon thrifted my beloved yellow chair. When it sat against the stairs in our living room, it made us realize that the extra seating was nice but the placement felt odd so we’d have to find the perfect option, otherwise it’s better to have nothing there. When it sat against a small wall in our living room, it helped me determine I really needed something with a smaller profile, leading me to this $5 thrift store chair.

Now it sits in the bay window area of our living room and has confirmed we do want another chair there (just not this one). And with that, I think this chair is ready for its next home. I’m glad we kept it for so long, even when I knew it wasn’t meant for this house, because it helped us figure out what DID work here. Now that we’re filling up with things we love and that work for this house, it’s ready for its next life . . . at my sister’s house! I’ll be sure to visit 😉

Shop My House

I love shopping my home to find just the right thing for a space! This is different than a placeholder, because these are all items I use, love, and want to keep in my house. I used to get stuck in a rut with thinking one item had to stay in the place where I first put it, but I realized once I held a looser grip on arrangements, it became so much fun to see the same old items in a new way! If you want to know more about how I do this, I wrote a whole post about shopping my home.

Again, this takes a little time to walk through my home and try to look at items individually and objectively. And then obviously, when I move something to a new place, I might have a blank space where that item used to be for a while. Maybe I’ll thrift a new item for that spot, maybe I’ll find something else in my home, or maybe it will be an empty place for my eyes to rest for a bit. It’s a process!

Live with Less

It’s actually pretty refreshing to have some blank space in my home. For example, my dining room is pretty bare – just a hand-me-down table and chairs and a large blank wall – but there are perks to that. It’s super easy to clean and maintain. My kids love racing around the table and there’s space to do that. We have a nice big floor area beside the table to make messy art projects. The blank slate-like nature of the room also makes it easier to dream of the future possibilities. There’s no clutter distracting my mind and I can just breathe and imagine what it could be . . . while enjoying the freedom that comes with less for now.

I realized that living with less also helped me recognize when an item really speaks to me – if I see it in the store and it feels worth giving up the blank space for, I know it’s a good one!

Enjoy the Imperfect House

I have been craving slowness in other areas of my life and lately I’ve been leaning into leaving space for that. I love to curl up with a blanket and a good book. I love the rhythmic process of baking homemade bread. I love sitting around the table playing the 15th round of Old Maid or Go Fish (my kids are in an era of loving games and it’s so much fun!) Life is happening in this home whether it’s “finished” or not, and I have been savoring the moments I step back from the projects and just enjoy living here.

We live in an era of instant gratification (Streaming services! Same day delivery! Instant downloads!) and I think this impacts home renovations too. You can turn on HGTV and watch an entire home undergo months and months of renovations in the span of 60 minutes. Before-and-after pictures on Instagram can show you a room transformation with just a simple swipe of your finger. We’re used to the process happening quickly, or at least, being shown to us quickly, but that’s not reality. Most transformations happen slowly and I have become much happier with a slower pace.

It also feels worth ending on this clarification: my chosen pace feels slow to me, but may not feel slow to you. Previously, I was going from project to project, finishing one and jumping right in to the next. I was challenging myself to complete entire rooms in a small amount of time and I was working on big projects one after another. My current pace is much slower and is more sustainable for my life and my family; it’s a balance that works for us. What that looks like will be different for every person – maybe one space a year is all you have the capacity and resources to handle and my pace seems unsustainable. Or maybe you have the capacity and resources for one room a month and my pace seems super slow. It’s true what they say: comparison is the thief of joy. I encourage you to find a pace that feels right for YOU and enjoy how that works for your life rather than dwell on anyone else’s.

Now I’m off to keep working on my kids’ dresser – slow and steady, just the way I like it. 🙂

February 2023 Book Reviews

It’s always surprising to me how fast February feels (especially since January is 87 days long) but here we are somehow in March already. I’m ready for longer days, more sunshine, and the beginning of Spring so I’m here for it!

In February I read two books and while one fell pretty flat for me, one is going to be added to my Top Recommendations List because I loved it so much. Let’s get into it!

All You Need to be Impossibly French by Helena Frith Powell

Last month I read Bringing Up Bebe and really enjoyed it. I joked with Justin that I was “entering my French era” and decided to try another book along the same lines. This particular one was written by a British woman living in France and follows kind of a similar thought process as Bringing up Bebe – she’s noticing the differences between herself (and other non-French women) and French women and wants to “uncover the secrets of [their] chic living.”

Here’s the thing. I did not have the same warm, affirming feelings as I did reading Bringing up Bebe. In fact, I found some aspects of this book to be more of a turnoff – like a strange recurring interaction with a Frenchman that borders emotional (and potentially physical) cheating and gave me the ick. While some chapters were interesting and entertaining, overall I wasn’t as charmed by this author’s deep dive into the world of French women. I tried to put more of a finger on why that was and checked the publication date: 2006. Oddly enough, this seemed to make things click. The book feels like the early-00’s obsession with thinness – the “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” era, you know what I mean? And reading it in 2023, yes we want to look good, channel fierce energy, worry less, take care of ourselves more, etc. . . . but in a healthy, well-rounded, accepting our flaws kind of way. And this book doesn’t seem to leave the same kind of room for that. Looking through that lens, I actually don’t think it’s a bad book, I just don’t think it aged particularly well and so it fell flat for me.

Love at First by Kate Clayborn

Nora adores her close-knit, quirky building and never wants anything about it to change. Unfortunately, the newest tenant, Will, is determined to bring change. After inheriting one of the six apartments in the building from his late uncle, he is clear about his intentions: renovate the apartment and rent it out. Horrified by the thought of a revolving door of renters ruining the familial feel of the building, Nora decides to make things difficult for Will in hopes that he changes his mind. Despite the ensuing sabotage and complications, Will and Nora get to know one another better and neither can deny that underneath the animosity they each feel a strong connection to one another.

I ADORED this book! I thought it was so fun and charming and sweet. Nora and Will are both really likeable characters and I enjoyed their back-and-forth dynamic. Their characters are relatable and down-to-earth and I particularly enjoyed Nora’s inner dialogue. I love a good alternating narration, enemies to lovers trope and this book did it so well. The vast majority of the story takes place in their shared apartment building and the rest of the cast of characters is eclectic and delightful. I just wanted to hang out in this building! I’d rank it as PG-13; there’s a bit of language and one steamy chapter (could easily be skipped over if you prefer). It’s predictable but not overly cheesy and is a great choice when you just want a realistic, feel-good romance. I highly recommend!

What have you been reading lately?