Right before Bara Faith was born, I blogged about how we were moving into our forever home.  I had just binged watched a few seasons of “Fixer Upper” and as I dreamed of motherhood, I had visions of being my own style of Joanna Gaines with a yard full of babies running around feeding chickens and goats here on our property while raising my own garden of vegetables I would grow from scratch. So when we found this farm house for sale in Jacksonville in the heart of old Mandarin, we jumped on it! I had so much fun updating it, bringing it new life, and home staging it the way I envisioned Joanna Gaines would be proud of, with my twist of glam touch of course, all before our first child was due to arrive.

But then my first baby was born a month early, we literally moved in this house the day after we brought her home from the hospital, and my world got turned upside down now as a new mom.  And my second baby came as a surprise a short 16 months later and my world really got turned upside.  And slowly, my visions of chickens and goats and my own vegetable garden slowly faded as I juggled caring for two babies under two, because I could barely get a shower in most days let alone take on trying to care for farm animals and keep up a garden.  So as I grew into my motherhood, still most days trying to find the balance, I had to realize, I am no Joanna Gaines.  I applaud her and other mothers who do the mom and farm life so gracefully intertwined as one, but I have quickly realized the farm life was just not for me the way I had hoped it could be.

And as these babies get older, the Florida girl in me is craving living back in a community that has Florida style amenities for the kids like pools and playgrounds and other families around with young kids for them to play with. So Stephen and I are moving forward with building a home in a local community that offers just that.  (I won’t call that one our forever home, but our “next home.”  ha!)

So with that, our farmhouse is for sale!  If you know someone in the Jacksonville, FL area looking for a farmhouse, please share this blog entry with them! They can contact me here through my website or social media, and I’d be happy to connect them with our realtor for all the more info details. Here are some past blog entries with the full tour of our home to share, and our realtor can provide the MLS listing with a walk through virtual tour as well:

Our Farmhouse Tour

As we start to slowly let go of this house, here are some of the things I really love about this home and property, and look forward to finding the next person to fall in love with it:

  • The way the morning golden light peeks through the hanging Spanish moss trees into my kitchen window greeting each day as I make my coffee.
  • Walking outside to pick fresh lemons and pecans from our two lemon trees and pecan tree.
  • Though we are close to everything suburban, we are tucked behind trees on an acre and a half of land that make us feel like we are in the country.
  • The smell of sweet Jasmine that blooms in the spring on the trellis over our back patio.
  • The way the original hardwood floors creak with history when my babies run across the house.
  • All the natural light that peers through the windows such as the bay window in the living room, or the tall windows in my office.
  • Pushing my daughter on the built in old fashioned wooden swing set in the yard that stays with the house.
  • Sitting on the front porch rocking chairs with my coffee when the air turns crisp.
  • The fact that this house was in a movie with Julia Roberts brother Eric.  This house looked completely different back then in a 90s TV movie no one has ever heard of, but it’s fun to watch the movie and see all the scenes our home was in.
  • The original kitchen now turned butler pantry before the new kitchen was added on, wondering what meals were made in there in the 1950s.
  • The original shiplap all throughout the house that would make Joanna Gaines faint.
  • The original chandelier that hangs in my daughter’s nursery.
  • Knowing *this* will always be the home I brought my babies home to.

Built in 1951, this home comes with a lot of cool history, and during the two years we have been here, it has carved it’s way into the history of the beginning of our family.  It will always hold a special place in our hearts as I know it will become for the next family that we hand the keys to!

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