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Gina and Matt Married 1pintopinterest

Congrats Gina and Matt!

These two are the epitome of go with the flow. What every bride worries about all year long happened to Gina, rain. But guess what!! Can you even tell?? We made an impulse decision to head to Franklin Park Conservatory and I am so glad we did. Their wedding photos turned out as happy and bright as they are. Occasionally things happen on wedding days that we cannot control, but Gina and Matt rolled with it and directed their energy toward what really matters, each other. I loved spending the day with them and their sweet family. Forever grateful for every client that chooses me.

Thank you so much. Happy few months of marriage!!

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BedroomBlog 1pintopinterest

Hi, friends!

Welcome to my third post about our house projects!

Your can view the living room :ย HERE

And you can view the bathrooms :ย HERE

Honestly, these posts help my mental state, haha. Moving from a brand new M/I build where the home owners association mows your grass, to 4 acres of literal mess every direction you turn can be justtttttt a little overwhelming. I’d be lying if I said there weren’t days I didn’t question our decision to do this. (If I want to change everything, was this the wrong house!? Nick and I are both so busy with work how will we ever have time to enjoy it!? Its endless!) But when I look back at where we started, and how far we’ve come in 9 months doing everything ourselves on weekends and when we have time… I feel SO much better. The property is perfect, an oversized 4 car garage for the hubs, two entrances to the property and a barn that will one day be my studio, 4 fenced in acres with 60 beautiful trees (my dogs are in heaven!) and close to family. We did OKAY. We can do this! Things you want in life take work, and we’re learning that lesson hard this year! We are excited for when the renovations are mostly done and we can relax and just maintain the property. We might still be two years away from that point… but if I keep reminding myself where we were I will make it through another day! I love to show the fun parts of my life but I believe in being real. And this dream is so much work! I am grateful for the journey – but girlfriend is TIRED ๐Ÿ™‚

This Summer has been 90% work outside. We moved in in November so it just felt right to wait on landscaping and outdoor projects until the Spring. Our fence is going up beautifully!! It makes the curb appeal to the property SO much better! We tore out all the old chain link (this is a dirty job let me tell you!), cut down shrubs/bushes, tore out a pond, removed a hot tub, installed new AC and furnace, installed a new gate for the 2nd entrance, and are still working on a million things outside around the property! We have plans to start the kitchen in November and I seriously can’t wait for this!! We just sat down with a contractor to help us lay out the cabinets/appliances and its finally getting real. We have all the materials chosen, now its just a matter of ordering them and getting to work! Thats going to be a massive DEMO DAY so be sure to follow along!

But today is all about our bedroom! Joanna Gaines is my soul sista. Any Fixer Upper fans!? She is the best. We are kindred spirits. I’ve felt so inspired by all of their home transformations! This is a good thing, because I can see exactly what I want to do to a space almost instantly. It’s bad because I don’t realize exactly how much work its going to take to get there ๐Ÿ™‚ I truly thought we would be finished by this point. Like done! HA. But we’re learning a lot and definitely gaining pride in our home. So, when I walked into our room for the first time when we viewed the home I was SOLD. We viewed the house in mid October, all the leaves were changed and the bedroom had the perfect tree house view of the property. The room looked nothing how I wanted it to, but again I saw the potential and we got to work. Here’s all we did!

  • Painted all windows and trim white
  • Replaced every outlet and switch and covers
  • Painted the sunroom off the bedroom white
  • Built a cabinet to hide the heater during the warmer months
  • Tore out the sliding glass door track and built a cased opening
  • Removed all doors and replaced with white doors with new hardware
  • Removed dated blinds and patched holes
  • Hung textured wallpaper to cover damaged walls from a bad past paint job (hard to see in pics!)
  • And of course, decorated! You can thank Target, World Market, Urban Outfitters, West Elm, Ikea, and antique malls for most of what you see!

I imagined the sunroom this very white and bright space with lots of plant life! Its kinda a photographers dream. SO bright! One thing we learned after moving in is that the house doesn’t get incredible natural light during the Summer months because of all the shade the trees provide. The shade is great because it keeps the house and patio cool, but I’m missing the light we had when all the leaves were down! We are hoping to cut down a fourth of the trees and thin them out so we can let in a little more light and give ourselves a break from all the raking in the Fall ๐Ÿ™‚ We are hoping to do the upstairs flooring eventually, but downstairs is #1 on the list! Because the house was built in the 80’s there is no true “master.” So we have tiny closets and no bathroom in our bedroom. I will say these are two of the things I miss most!! But I get ready at my Grandmas vanity in the sunroom because the light is amazing! We had to weigh our priorities are decided to give these things up! #firstworldproblems

Thanks for following along on this crazy journey we’ve found ourselves on!! You may not see another From Suburban Hood To Choppin Wood post until Winter once the kitchen is done! EEEEK! I may do one more on our progress outside, we will just see how far we get!! Below you will see the BEFORE photos first. Theres unfortunately not many because we moved in in a mad dash, but you get the idea! Hope you enjoy.

See you next time!

xox

-Ashley

 

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Molly And Cade 5pintopinterest

Molly and Cade are getting married in a few short weeks and I am super excited to document their love again.

These two are the epitome of young and in love, and it inspired me so much! Their happiness is contagious and we had so much fun running around the park giggling and getting to know each other.

It’s a great feeling to photograph a couple that is so genuinely in love. Molly and Cade certainly made my job easy. I can already hear the wedding bells ringing! See you two in a few weeks!

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MyBridalShower 1pintopinterest

Something I love, TimeHop. I love TimeHop because daily it takes me down memory lane to some pretty incredible times in my life. One of those times, my engagement. The year that Nick and I were engaged was a whirlwind of wonderful. We had so many activities planned with our friends and family. It was a great year that I’ll never forget. Two years ago on July 20th was my bridal shower. When I saw it on my events today I got so excited to pull out the old hard drive and relive that amazing day! Then as I went through them I was like, dang that was fun and super cute. I want to share this again. So here it is, my bridal shower! Being a bride is such a fun, once in a lifetime time in life that involves everyone you love coming together for you on several occasions. It was such a dream and I am so glad I have these moments captured that we can cherish forever! Thanks again to my Sis & BFF for spoiling me rotten! I love these photos and will be forever grateful for them and every person that made our wedding planning perfect. Yay!

 

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