A look inside our Pasadena house... progress pictures!

If you’re new here, I want to share a little about our house journey over the last five years. It’s been full of lessons, surprises, and plenty of moments where we just had to figure things out as we went along…

In 2020, we bought our first home during all the COVID craziness. Rates had dropped so low that it seemed like the perfect time to dive in as first-time buyers. The house was bank-owned, had really great bones, but needed a lot of love. We did a full renovation with an interior designer while living there, which meant we were basically camping in our own home. We ate most meals out because our kitchen was a hot plate, microwave, and refrigerator in the garage. When I had Poppy, our bedroom was in the living room, and there was plastic everywhere trying to keep out the dust. Living through a renovation with a newborn is a special kind of chaos and not something I would recommend to any new mom.

After two years of hard work, we LOVED the house. But there were a few curveballs. The neighborhood had only one narrow exit, which made traffic a little stressful when guests arrived. Parking was tight, we had two spots in front of our house but no street parking was allowed. Our fire insurance was sky-high because it was technically a fire zone. And let’s just say, our neighbor was a bit grumpy (in my opinion). She called the fire department on us multiple occasions, insisting our 80-year-old oak tree was about to fall on her house. It wasn’t (it was healthy and strong) but she wanted it removed. Thankfully, California law protects oak trees, so it stayed. She also called the police about our trash cans while I was in the hospital after delivery Poppy and again for a noise complaint during Poppy’s 1 p.m. birthday party. The officers were lovely, but those little moments reminded us this was not a forever spot for our family.

After enjoying the house for a bit with no workers around, we found another one that stole our hearts. It was in a private part of Pasadena with great freeway access and while still having a good amount of privacy. It needed some structural work and updates, but we were ready. By September 2022, we purchased it, dreaming of a forever home. Our plan was to start construction soon, but definitely not live through another full renovation.

We sold our original house in January 2023. The buyers even bought all our furniture, so we felt like we were starting over in a apartment while we dreamed of our “forever home” hopefully not taking too long.

Looking back, our first remodel taught me a lot. I loved the final result of the design, but it was also a very reactionary process with lots of last-minute changes. This time, I wanted a design team that was organized, communicative, and truly on top of things. I did quite a bit of research and interviewed different design teams to finally know that Tatum Kendrick Design felt like the perfect fit. Twelve years of experience, a clear process, and a style I adored, warm old-world tones with modern finishes, made me confident we could create something special. I really connected with her thoughtfulness about how she thinks of a space and Anthony and I were both on the same page with it. The design process took about four months to refine- they were very front-end planning heavy which I really appreciated (instead of having change orders later), and then the city permits held us up for another six. During that time, I got pregnant with Elliott, still living in the apartment, watching as our dream slowly started to take shape. Eventually, in 2023, we moved into a rental house in San Marino while the remodel in Pasadena finally began.

During the fall of 2023, I also started taking my health seriously and learning to make home-cooked meals. I signed up for any cooking class I could and it sparked a bigger vision: I wanted a garden, to grow more of our own food, and for the kids to grow up around farm animals and spend more time in nature than in the city. But that all seemed a little far-fetched for our current lives.

Around the summer of 2024, Jadyn started thinking seriously about going out-of-state for college. That got us thinking about where we really wanted to raise our little ones. Both my husband and I grew up in Southern California, and leaving felt like a huge step. But after listing our priorities; faith, slower pace, land, family, and community…Tennessee started feeling right (and a very business-friendly state was a huge plus). I wanted to be present for our kids, not rushing from one thing to the next, and I didn’t want work to take over so much that I missed these little years. There was a lot of soul-searching, praying and goal-setting, and by the end of it….we decided we would not move into the house but instead list if for sale after it was completed and start establishing roots in Tennessee while the kids were still little.

Now after three years of planning and waiting, seeing the vision come to life has been incredible. It even looks better than the sketches. Furniture and appliances are going in next week, which will really bring the design together. It is a little bittersweet knowing we won’t live there, but I take comfort knowing someone else will make amazing memories. It feels kind of like we were playing a long game of pretend living there, dreaming of what could be while slowly building it, but no actual memories in it.

We are planning to work with Tatum’s team again for certain aspects of our home here in Tennessee, but it won’t be a full remodel. Taking each room one at a time and not trying to do everything at once has been such a good lesson.

I loved our life in Pasadena and all the memories we made there, but this slower, country pace feels just right for us at this stage in our life. I can’t wait to make our house here a home, one room at a time, just like we’ve done in every chapter before.

Here’s what it looks like so far: