Throughout history, homes have been our most personal spaces. It’s where we are raised up. Where we share meals and sleep. Where we have our biggest fights, but also the settings of our greatest joys and reconciliations. Where we reflect our style, our vision, and our desires. Where we are our most vulnerable and we express our truest self: the mess and the beauty.
Restoration in the Ordinary
The idea for Redeeming Hampton first came in 2015 as I was restoring our 1950s brick Tudor. I loved the idea giving life to this older home and I wanted to share our projects along the way. More on that here. While it wasn’t the right time to start a blog then, it hasn’t been far from my mind since the moment we first got the keys.
So why now? Honestly, what really put me over the edge wasn’t a surge of inspiration, but a heart of discontentment. While this blog is an effort to share ideas to make our houses into homes, it’s also a space to explore, grow and learn in areas that are robbing me of joy; bringing darkness into light.
A few of these topics include life as a newlywed, hospitality verses entertaining (and that you can still exude hospitality without a home), cultivating and celebrating friendships, and the idea that “their success is not my failure” (which is a giant theme in my conversations with other women lately).
Redeeming Hampton is Born
Redeeming Hampton was born to celebrate the beautiful mess of real life. Constantly staring at the screen and scroll, it’s easy to lose sight of what’s in front of me in all the simple, lovely, and imperfect. It’s out of this that I desire to fight for restoring joy and beauty in my home, in my relationships, and in my neighborhood. In a world of building higher fences, what would it look like to meet our neighbors? Instead of tearing people down, what would it look like build people up (our family and the strangers on the Internet)?
You know it’s funny, as I prepare and have visions for this blog to say homes are not perfect, here I am struggling to write my first blog post. “It needs to perfectly sum up what I’m all about.” So here I am, welcome to my imperfect blog, imperfect home, imperfect marriage and life. But don’t be mistaken, imperfect does not mean lack of purpose. Oh, how we have been given so much purpose in this life – in the simple and mundane. Grace abounds for you and for me.
The Process, Not the Sprint
I’d be so honored if you’d join me on this ride to enjoy the process and not the sprint, finding beauty in the ordinary everyday life, creating a rhythm of working on and enjoying our home, fighting for the joy, and loving what and who is right in front of us.
Welcome to Redeeming Hampton, friend!
Interested in learning more? Head over to the about tab.
Feature photo captured by The Brauns.