Happy Friday! Today is my 30th birthday (!) and we’re headed to Nantucket for the weekend. I can’t believe it will be our last few days out there before we stop traveling in preparation for baby boy’s arrival at the end of September! It’s been a busy week at the new house (you can see what we’re working on here and here) and I’m looking forward to some fresh air and family time this weekend. I hope you all have a great one!

1. This has been a big year for you — is it what you imagined 29 would be when you were 23?

That’s such a great question! I’ve always known I wanted to have children and own a home but I can’t say either of those was really on my radar at 23. Will and I met when I was 23 1/2 and I still had a lot of growing up to do! (You can read about that in this post!) In some ways I feel like I blinked and my twenties are over (as of today!) and in other ways I feel like we’ve been working towards these goals forever and they’re finally, finally falling into place!

2. Where’s the best place to stay on Nantucket?

Before my parents owned their own home on the island, we always stayed with my Grandy or rented a house that could accommodate our family of six. Renting a house is ideal if you want to be able to cook, take outdoor showers, etc. but I’ve also rounded up a ton of great hotels in my Nantucket guide (all of which have been vetted by family and friends who’ve stayed there!). It really depends what you’re looking for in a visit! 

3. Nantucket in two days, one night… impossible?

It’s definitely not impossible (particularly if you’re flying) but I can almost guarantee you’ll want to come back for more time! I talk about how I’d spend 36 hours on the island at the bottom of my Nantucket guide. 

4. I read you decided on a baby name — exciting! Will you be calling him by his given name or a nickname?

Nickname! 🙂

5. What makes you the most excited about being a mom? Congrats again!

So many things, big and small! Getting to see Will as a dad, soaking up newborn snuggles, seeing our parents as grandparents (and Grandy as a great-grandmother!), seeing which traits our baby inherits from each of us, buying baby clothes, seeing the world through new eyes, taking on the biggest role of our lives! The pre-kids chapter of our lives is closing and I think this next chapter is going to be more incredible than we can even fathom. 

6. How did you decide that you were ready to take the huge step of becoming a mom?

I don’t know that the timing was ever going to feel 100% perfect, but seeing some of our close friends become parents over the past couple years reassured us and made us increasingly eager to become parents ourselves. Plus we would love to have four kids if we’re able to and we knew that would be more likely the sooner we started. I’m happy we had a couple years to just enjoy married life together before babies, but we are extremely excited about what’s to come!

7. Do you see your design style changing with the new house? 

It will probably change more as a result of having a baby than buying a house! I always want to live in a home that’s classic and comfortable and I’m excited to upgrade certain furniture pieces and install wallpaper now that we know where we’ll be for the foreseeable future. But I’m pretty definitive about liking what I like, so outside of having more space to fuss with, I don’t anticipate any major shake-ups!

8. How are you deciding what you’ll DIY vs. outsource for your new house?

Honestly my parents are a huge help in determining what we can take on vs. where we need a professional because they bought a fixer-upper when they were first married and became extremely handy as a result. I love sanding and painting myself and my mom taught me how to tile the backsplash in our house on Nantucket so I’d say I’m pretty confident in our ability to make cosmetic changes ourselves, but we’ll definitely be calling in the pros when it comes to building new cabinetry or tackling anything concerning electricity or plumbing. 

9. Congrats on your new home! Would you recommend renting before buying? Pros/cons?

Thanks! That totally depends on your financial situation, how certain you are about where you want to live, and the state of the market in your area. We decided to buy a townhouse when we moved to Dallas even though we weren’t certain we’d be there for the long haul because the real estate market is so strong there and we were confident it was a good investment even in the short-term. We decided to rent when we moved to Connecticut because real estate is more expensive here and we wanted to spend more time in and around my hometown before agreeing it was a place we could both see ourselves wanting to live for a long time. You can’t beat the flexibility of renting when you’re in a transient stage of your life (us living in New York in our early twenties, for instance) but for us it made sense to start saving to buy as soon as (and honestly before) we knew where we’d want to raise our family.

10. Which room in the new house are you most excited about decorating?

Do I have to choose just one?! I’m excited about the nursery because that’s probably the only room that will come together in the next couple months. I’m excited about the living room because we have next to no furniture for that room (since most of our existing furnishings will live in the family room) and it will be something of a blank slate. And I’m excited about renovating the kitchen and powder room (hopefully sometime in 2020!) because those will be the biggest projects we’ve taken on and probably some of the most rewarding!