THE START OF SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL: REIMAGINING OUR HOME SPACE AND CHOOSING OUR PERFECT WOOD STOVE
By Anna Bailey
One of my favorite things about our last home was our cozy wood stove. Around it was our gathering place. Late-night games of Catan, a cup of coffee with a good friend, taking naps by the glow and warmth it provided, and playing my guitar while writing a new song.
These are all sweet memories that linger in my mind.
A little over 3 years ago, we left that quaint little home we had raised our children in for many years, to move into a home with a lot more breathing room. With our growing kids and our growing business, we felt the growing pains in our lack of space. We bought our new home for its generous size, and it’s great potential. We had lots of ideas to transform it into a space that reflected our aesthetics and lifestyle.
Owning our own business has been such a rewarding experience. We love making beautiful art to share with the world. Yet, with all the adventures we’ve faced with the growth of Bailey Builds, we have had little time to focus on the space we call home, where we go to rejuvenate.
When Covid first made its mark on our country, and businesses nationwide were required to shut down, we used that pocket of time to start the process of making our home more suitable for the needs of our family.
We started in the lower level space, redefining the more utilitarian aspects of our home to accommodate our active lifestyle. Our kids are really into mountain biking, and our dogs, a Newfoundland and Aussiedoodle, needed a more user-friendly way to get in and out in our busy neighborhood.
We’ve made a lot of headway in making that space truly shine, with space for working on and cleaning bikes, as well as a dog washing station. We even began to venture into our upstairs design by opening up the staircase, giving it a more modern feel. You can even check out some of those adventures on our YouTube channel.
Life keeps moving, and our business keeps growing. Needless to say, our home projects often get left on the back burner. As entrepreneurs, there is sometimes that juggling act of deciding where the priorities fall. Over the last couple years, we’ve needed to focus on our business and the spaces we’re working to transform. And at the end of the day, instead of more work, our choice has been to enjoy our family.
This year we are making a commitment to value balance. We want to create space in our day to focus on both work goals and home goals. After a long day running a business, we want to go home to a place that sparks joy and refuels us for the next day. We’ve decided to make our home a priority this year.
Our house project is a big one, but if you’ve been following along for any amount of time, this probably doesn’t surprise you. To give you a big picture idea, we are completely moving our kitchen, and flipping our living room and dining room. A bonus to this big undertaking is that we should always have a working kitchen throughout the process.
With recent road construction, we are now able to get a broad view of Lake Superior across the entire south side of our home. We want to enjoy this breathtaking view as much as we can. With this renovation, I’ll be able to pour my morning cup of coffee while the sun peeks its face above north shore waters. I’ll be able to walk through the french doors to our living room space, enjoying the spectacular display of color flooding the sky, as morning sets in and the sun makes its grand entrance.
Where does one begin such a project?
We start with something beautiful. Something that sparks joy and, in this case, literally sparks and flickers the warmth that permeates our home.
Something that I’ve longed for since we left our last home. After taking down a half wall that separated our current kitchen and dining room, we installed a modern wood stove. A wood stove that will, once again, be at the center of our gathering space.
So what wood stove was perfect for us and will be perfect for you?
This wood stove is a popular choice because it combines form and function to provide maximum performance and pleasure using it. It is a family-friendly option that is easy to use and maintain while also being aesthetically pleasing to the eye and fitting our style to a tee.
I love that it has a glass door that lets you see the coziness of the blaze, but also ensures the ability to keep an eye on the flame.
When choosing your perfect wood stove it is important to not only factor in the overall aesthetics of the stove but also the functionality, safety, and efficiency.
If you work with a local show room like we did, they will be able to help you narrow down your choices based on what factors are most important to you. If you are in the northern Minnesota area I highly recommend checking out Duluth Stove & Fireplace. They were so awesome to work with at every stage of the process and we couldn’t be happier with our choice.
Though remodeling is a messy process, and there will be moments when we’ll have to step back and reassess where we’re headed, I love the fact that we have already created something beautiful to enjoy throughout the process. We are in for a lot of work, but our new wood stove is a reminder that it will all be worth it. So for now, I will fall in love with stoking the fire and feeling the warmth on my face once again. My heart is full.
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