Get It Girl Spotlight: Holly of Life In The Fun Lane

Today's spotlight features one of my favorite bloggers around, Holly of "Life in the fun lane". I look forward to her blog updates, and get excited just to see pictures of her beautiful daughter Wren who has grown right before our laptoped eyes. The fabulous home projects that are done around Holly and Seans house never seem to amaze me. Holly has done a great job featuring the color white in their home, which inspires even me to step outside of the box of natural colors. She is one of the sweetest ladies online, and responds to emails, and questions with a cheerful response which is always nice. You cant get any better than a genuinely nice blogger right? I encourage you to visit her blog, you wont be sorry, and you will become a daily visitor without a doubt!

1.) What are your blog turnoffs? I really don't have turnoffs, but there are definitely certain things that really keep me interested in a blog. My voyeuristic side definitely gets the best of me and I tend to keep up with blogs that share the daily ins and outs of the author. I love reading and hearing about life moments like buying a new house or having a baby along with what type of dinner someone had last night. Though I do find it frustrating when a blogger I love to read stops blogging for long periods of time. I usually lose interest when it goes longer than a week or two.

2.) What made you start blogging, and what keeps you here?
The driving force behind starting our blog was actually Wren (our 4 month old baby). I was about 5 months pregnant, we had just moved into our current home, and I was looking for an outlet. We were so excited to meet her and we just wanted to get working on the house to have it all ready for her when she got here. I want her to be able to look back and see how much she changed our lives for the better and how happy we were. That is still why I do it. We want to create a home for her that she will have great memories of growing up in and a blog is our way of documenting that.

(Holly, with Wren)

3.) Is there anything that you would change about your blog or hope to add? I am currently in the process of adding separate pages for all of our completed rooms. This will make it easier for readers, as well as for ourselves, so we don't have to keep boring people with post after post about the minute changes and progress we make. It also saves readers the time of having to go back and find the original post.

4.) Out of all of your posts, which post is your favorite and why? My favorite post will always be the day I posted about Wren's birth. It was such a whirlwind when she was born unexpectedly at 35 weeks. The comments that people left really helped us through it and put a smile on our faces when we barely had energy to get dressed in the mornings.

(Wren)

5.) Who is your favorite tv home design personality and why? That is really easy! I am a huge fan of Sarah Richardson. She just seems like a really fun person, and you can see that she truly enjoys what she does.


6.) If you could design and sell something what would it be, and where would you want it sold? I have always loved refinishing old furniture. It is so rewarding to take something that might have been thrown out or overlooked and turn it around into something unique. It would be fun to start a store of my own that sells refinished pieces and other odds and ends.

(The Beautiful Wren)
7.) Favorites: color, personal item, household item, retail store, household store, blog, website.

Color: White

Personal Item: my engagement and wedding rings

Household Item: My kitchen table. I saw it in an antique store and about a week later I came home from work and it was sitting in our kitchen. I have to admit I have a pretty special husband.

Retail Store: I am not sure I could pick just one. I love mixing bargains from Forever 21 or Urban Outfitters with an awesome pair of jeans or shoes from somewhere like Barneys or Saks.

Household Store: That is another hard one! I love finding accessories and lamps and HomeGoods, but I am pretty eclectic when it comes to furniture. Anything from Ikea to www.beachdwelling.com makes me happy.

Blog: That is tough. I have too many to list.

Website: I am addicted to DecorPad right now. The awesome inspiration pictures and helpful members really make it a gem.

8.) Where do you do most of your blogging? (room, work) I praise the day my husband set up our wireless internet. Now I do about 90% of my blogging on my laptop while lounging around the jacuzzi in our master bathroom.

9.) Favorite magazine, design book? I am a huge fan of Atlanta Bartlett, Martha Stewart and Rachel Ashwell. I probably have all of their books (and magazines) but my absolute favorite book of all time is At Home With White by Atlanta Bartlett. I call it my design bible.

(Wren's beautiful room)

10.) Least favorite home decor style? I can truly say that I appreciate almost any style if the room looks pulled together and finished. One style that I can say will probably never be in our home is the contemporary tuscan look that has been really popular over the last couple years. It looks amazing in other people's homes, but it just isn't us.

11.) Is there a question, email, or comment from bloggers sent to you that made you say HUH? I have yet to receive a comment or email that has really left me scratching my head but I do get asked quite regularly how we manage to keep our white furniture clean with 2 dogs and a baby. I think that most people don't see our style as practical, but I feel the exact opposite, it doesn't get much easier than ripping off a slipcover and throwing it in the wash with some bleach. I don't know of any colors that I could do that with besides white.

(Holly's home)

12.) What is the one item in your home that you would never get rid of, and why? We have a mahogany armoire in our living room that my parents gave me when I graduated. It is huge, heavy, and a pain in the butt to move so I don't think it would be going even if we didn't love it.

13.) If you could start all over with a new blog, what would your main topic be? I don't think I would ever start over with a new blog. I know that the best way to be successful is to know your reader and stick with what they want, but I just don't think I have the willpower to strictly talk about 1 subject. I love that our daily life, vacations, and renovations are all documented for us to look back on.

(Holly and Sean)

14.) What blog/blogs is(are) your first stop daily? My first stops are the blogs I have listed on my blog. I check all of them as soon as they are updated~

15.) We see where you are now. What do you thing you will be blogging about in 3 years? I will probably still be blogging about family, dogs, furniture and interior design. Those 4 things have been pretty constant in my life for as long as I can remember.

*PHOTOS FROM HOLLY (LIFE IN THE FUN LANE)