Hey friend! I’m so glad you found your way here, even if it was by accident haha. I’m Amanda DeVries the author and content creator behind This Growing Home. And I’m about to tell you all about myself!
This Growing Home is all about making a house into a home (which is plastered all over the website so you’re probably sick of reading it by now. If you have been reading the short bio, then you also may have seen something about growth there as well.
Growth is at the core of who I am! I love learning and being challenged (even if I don’t always respond well to it!). Which is why it made it’s way into my website name.
Another thing I’m a big fan of is honesty, so you’ll frequently find my “moments of honesty” while you read through my posts. And here’s one just to get you started, This Growing Home started out as a mommy lifestyle blog. At the time, it was what I was “experienced” in and I wasn’t comfortable giving my opinion on anything else. To be super honest, I wasn’t even comfortable giving my opinion on motherhood.
But GROWTH happened and this website took a turn toward interior design! Which may not seem like much but I’m gonna share a little bit of myself with you, and that may help you understand my use of an exclamation point.
A Little About the Past
In school I played volleyball. I definitely wouldn’t have described my high school volleyball career as “successful” but I enjoyed it. And even once I made the transition to a college athlete, it was still more about enjoyment than excellence.
So why does that matter? Why do I feel like sharing this story with all of you? Because it wasn’t until after college (much after) when I started playing recreational volleyball and eventually became a high school volleyball coach, when I realized just how important it was to me!
Since we’ve probably never met face to face, I should tell you that I’m a naturally introverted person. My whole life I’ve struggled with confidence and communicating with people. But a year or so into coaching, I realized that it was the one place I really felt confident. As soon as I walked into the gym I carried myself differently, I spoke differently, I was DIFFERENT in a way I really liked.
It was then that I said to myself, “I wish I was this confident with other things. Isn’t there anything else that brings me this much enjoyment and happiness, where I can continue to grow and get excited and truly be myself without fearing other people’s opinions?”
Don’t get me wrong, confidence doesn’t always mean perfection. I still goof up and make mistakes. That’s life. And I also don’t think that perfection means always being confident. There is power and beauty in humility.
So long story….long OOPS haha! That is how This Growing Home became an interior design website. There are still hints of lifestyle that get dropped in every now and then. But after I realized my passion for home decor and design, there was no going back! I can’t get enough of it!!
A Little About the Why
So why is interior design so important to me? If you’ve never looked into the difference between extroverts and introverts, let me give you a quick synopsis. It’s all about where you’re refreshed. If you have a terrible day, where do you turn it around? An extrovert usually does this by being around others, while an introvert tends to find it away from others. It’s not that introverts don’t love and enjoy other people, but social activities usually take more energy than they give.
There ya have it, me in a nutshell. Home is my happy place! Or at least it should be. But there have been seasons of my life when that hasn’t been the case. When being home wasn’t comforting and it wasn’t restful and it didn’t bring me joy. So I started asking myself why?
I realized that I was making my home into what I thought others wanted, rather than into the place I needed. Once I was able to see that, I started making changes. I started looking at my home from a different perspective and everything changed.
It was a process that took time, but eventually (after many detours) I found what made me happy when it came to styling my own home. And after starting to make those changes in my home, it started affecting other areas of my life. I had less stress and anxiety. I felt more rested. My mind felt clearer. And I discovered that a house is much more than walls and a room. That’s what I want to help others discover.
You’re All Caught Up
That’s what This Growing Home is all about (although I didn’t know that when it was first created). This journey has taken many steps and there have been many failures, or let’s call them opportunities for GROWTH. And I’m sure there are more ahead of me. But I’m more confident than I’ve ever been that this is where I should be and what I should be doing! And I would love to help you as you discover how to make your house into a home.
Hopefully you enjoyed my mini blooper real, and feel like you know me a little better. Now, I would love to get to know you more! Find me on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter or subscribe to the email list so we can talk more.
