Liz Fourez - Love Grows Wild

Softening the Farmhouse

16 Jul

You know how little girls like to play dress up with their dolls? Or how mothers with daughters get to buy cute, ruffly dresses and bows for them to wear? Well, I’m a mom of boys, and the definition of playing dress up around here involves super hero costumes with masks and a weapon. Still cute, but not quite the same. 🙂

That’s part of the reason I think I love interior design and decorating my farmhouse so much. It allows me to be creative and try different things, and I’ve noticed that my style lately has leaned more towards a much more feminine, softer vintage farmhouse feel. I adore the industrial look of hard metal and dark rustic wood, but at this stage of my life (newly single) my heart is drawn more to soft lace and ruffles and faded wood tones and light, bright white spaces. I’ve noticed that my design choices have been slowly softening our home, and I love the blend of feminine romance and vintage farmhouse that is happening.

I think it all started when I designed my master bedroom…

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Little Boy Farmhouse Bedroom

27 Jun

Sponsored by Stearns & Foster // Last week I shared how I’ve been working up in my boys’ bedroom to create the perfect, little space just for them. I want their room to be a cozy, fun place for them to hangout and relax in, but I also need it to double as a guest bedroom when the need arises. So I revamped the layout of this awkward attic bedroom to maximize space, upgraded their beds to make them super comfortable, and added some fun accessories to give the room a charming vintage vibe. I finally feel like we hit a home run in here, and I’m so excited to show you guys my sweet boys’ farmhouse bedroom!

Note: I have links to all the items and decor in this room listed at the bottom of the post!

To remind you of where we started in this room five years ago, here’s a photo from the archives… [Read more…]

Filed Under: Home Decor and Design Tagged With: Design, Home Decor, Kids Bedroom, Makeover, Sponsored Post

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Progress in the Boys’ Bedroom

23 Jun

Sponsored by Stearns & Foster // Now that the boys are out of school for summer, I’ve finally had some time to work on updating their bedroom with them, and we’ve made quite a bit of progress in the last few weeks! I don’t show the kids’ spaces on the blog very often because normally they are messy and full of blanket forts and toys, but I’ve never really done a full blog post on what their bedroom looks like since we moved into this house, oh… 5 years ago. So I figured it was about time, and you guys would enjoy seeing more of our little farmhouse! I also tend to decorate for kids a little differently than I do the rest of our house, so I thought it would be fun for you to see a design that’s a little more bold and playful from me. Still very neutral and farmhouse and very “Liz”, but a little more pattern and color thrown in the mix!

The boys are getting older (whether I like it or not), and their bedroom needed to grow with them too a little bit. When we first moved here, the unused attic space was converted into two bedrooms, mine and the boys’. All they basically had to start with was a bunk bed that we couldn’t bunk because of the short, angled attic ceiling and two small dressers. I dug these old photos out of the archives to take you on a trip down memory lane… [Read more…]

Filed Under: Home Decor and Design Tagged With: Design, Home Decor, Kids Bedroom, Sponsored Post

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Hutch in the Living Room

23 Jun

Hi, sweet friends. Normally when I think of summer, I think of life at a much slower pace. Lazy summer days filled with sunshine and sweet tea and lightning bugs and bonfires. But this summer so far has been pretty hectic with a wisdom tooth removal surgery, baseball tournament after baseball tournament for the boys, embarking on a new adventure to open a small shop at a local antique store, and having to say goodbye to our 12 year old cocker spaniel pup. It hasn’t exactly been the laid-back summer I imagined we would have, but we’ve been enjoying each and every day to the fullest, as crazy as it has been.

I think our little farmhouse has reflected this season of busyness, and I’ve worked on simplifying our decor to feel cozy, calm, and low maintenance. Only using pieces that I truly love and that can be staples in our home year round, regardless of the season. Today I’m joining an amazing group of bloggers for a Simply Summer Home Tour, as you may remember I did last year. While much hasn’t changed in the farmhouse lately, I do have one space to show you that I’ve been working on this summer, and I love how our living room looks now after moving this antique hutch from the entryway into our living room.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Home Decor and Design Tagged With: Design, Home Decor, Living Room

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Peonies from my Garden

11 Jun

I wish I could say that I picked these beautiful flowers from my garden on a gorgeous sunny day without a care in the world… just enjoying the beauty of spring all around me and the warm sunshine on my face. I wish I could say that this past year hasn’t been one of hardest in my life and that I haven’t been desperately trying to make sense of the chaos around me. I wish I could say that I haven’t laid awake at night alone and crying, wondering what we could have done differently. I wish I could say that we made it. And most of all I wish I could say that I never had to have that excruciatingly painful conversation with my children and hold them while they cry.

But the reality is that we didn’t make it, and I picked these peonies on a day when life felt overwhelming. I had a million things I needed to do, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do any of them. So I walked outside to the yard I’ve been learning to take care of all by myself this spring and found my peonies in full bloom… a gift from nature that couldn’t have come at a more perfect time.

I carefully picked them all and brought them inside to my kitchen. They were stunningly beautiful and full of life and made my soul feel at peace. I grabbed my camera and started taking pictures… it felt as though their beauty was coming through the camera lens and into my heart… replacing the hurt and loneliness with inspiration and love and the desire to create again.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Little Bits of Love Tagged With: Little Bits of Love

by Liz Fourez 49 Comments

French Country in the Dining Room

11 May

I hinted a few weeks ago that I was thinking about making some changes in the dining room, and it all started with wanting new dining chairs to replace the black metal ones I had. Well, I found the perfect chairs that I totally fell in love with, and I should have known that one thing would lead to another and another… and another! That’s just how I roll apparently. After weighing quite a few chair options, I settled on a pair of chairs with a traditional French country feel to them, which I think fits in beautifully with farmhouse style. I was so inspired by these gorgeous chairs that I ended up making a few other changes in the dining room to reflect more of that softer, feminine, romantic French country look, and I’m loving the way this room feels now. What a difference!

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Home Decor and Design Tagged With: Design, Dining Room, Home Decor

by Liz Fourez 2 Comments

My Decorating Essentials: Throw Blankets

2 May

Every time I work on a room makeover or style a space for a photo shoot or even when I’m just tidying up the house before having company over, I’ve noticed lately that there are a handful of items that I almost always use to decorate with. Sort of a decorating “formula” I’ve played with and fine tuned over the last five years of writing this blog, and I thought the other day that I should start sharing my tried and true decorating essentials here on the blog. Whether you’re just getting started and need some design inspiration or you’re looking for those little finishing touches to make it finally feel like home, I hope this look inside my decorating process will give you the tools you need to pull a room together perfectly. In this decorating essentials series, I’ll show you how I use these go-to items in my own home and also give you a bunch of examples that you can shop for right from this blog post!

Today I thought I’d start with an easy and mostly inexpensive item that is both pretty and practical… throw blankets!

I have a mountain of throw blankets (probably way more than I need) that I keep all around the house. When the boys and I are curled up in the living room watching a movie, everyone wants their own blanket (even the dog does), and I like to have extra blankets in the bedrooms too for chilly nights. The practical purpose of a throw blanket is pretty obvious, but when you want to make your home feel more cozy and welcoming, adding blankets around the house is a great way to do that. Visually they add softness and a casual, inviting atmosphere and make you want to curl up and relax for awhile. [Read more…]