I am someone who likes to celebrate milestones. I love to look back, compare to the present, and dream of the future. I love to see things I once begged the universe for, becoming our everyday reality. This perspective gives me a lot of gratitude for the things we have.
Like my DREAM of living in the country. After college Nick and I hopped around to different spots downtown, in Clintonville, and German Village. And while that was the best of times, my heart yearned for sunsets and tree-lines and serenity. Our very humble budget did not allow for country life when we purchased our first home - an M/I hud house only a few years old. It was such a sweet little starter home, but that whisper to get to the country, and live the way my grandparents had, was becoming a scream. Fast forward to November 16, 2015 when we closed on the house we now refer to as Our Humble Hideaway.
Nick was 25 when we bought this place. We had NO idea what we were doing. Absolutely zero concept of what it took to clean up a property as dilapidated as this. We would have never gotten to where we are today without the constant help of my parents. From turning on and maintaining the tractor (and all the other machines we use!), to deep cleaning the house, to helping us figure out the millions of leaves that fall every year, to full blown renovating everything. It has been an absolute labor of love. There were so many tears in the beginning. The overwhelm of “how will we ever make this place beautiful” — and of course I had so little patience. Just one small example, the house had electric heat when we bought it, and the electric furnace was broken, it was mid November. We decided to go gas instead of replacing the electric. So we trenched the yard the 1,000 ft and ran a gas line to the road… but it took the gas company until January 8th to hook us up. Yes, we lived in this house with no heat for 2 months in the Winter. The fireplace was running 24-7. I literally slept in a coat. IT WAS ROUGH. Don’t even get me started on what it took to run high speed internet. The transition was anything but easy! The bathrooms were so gross I would take 2 second showers just to get out of there as fast as possible. But at the time, it was what we could afford. And I saw potential everywhere. I saw the dream. I saw the photography studio. I saw the fresh white paint and hardwood floors. I saw the kids running down the hill. I saw hosting friends. I saw bonfires and snow days. I saw gardens and flowers. I saw the dream. It took SO much work to get here, but I can say, a decade in we are 100% living that dream.
It feels like we have lived so many lives here. Purchasing this home as newlyweds, with nothing but exciting dreams coming true ahead, we had no idea the hardships we would face. I started this blog in 2016 after my second miscarriage. I was broken, depressed, and feeling hopeless that we would never have the family I so deeply wanted to raise here. And then 2020, shortly after our second miracle son was born - the pandemic. Nick and I both lost our jobs for months. Fear of illness, loss of income, isolation. It was tough times. And then just two years later being diagnosed with breast cancer. Having small children while going through cancer treatment is the hardest thing I have ever done. It put so much pressure on Nick and my family. Those days were the darkest of my life. I am happy to say I am (almost) 3 years cancer free and our life currently looks so much brighter.
This is all why I love to look back and celebrate milestones. Because what do I see? Resilience - Persistence - Determination - An unwillingness to let the dream die. We learned to pivot. We have learned to be flexible when things don’t go as we planned. We have learned that good things don’t come without hard work and sacrifice. I am so proud of us. To some, their house is a place they sleep. To us, it is our identity. It is where we spend the most beautiful, and simple days of our lives. It’s where we brought home our babies, its where we buried our beloved dogs, its where we’ve laughed, and cried, its where I laid on the bathroom floor for hours when the nausea from chemotherapy was just too much. It’s where we’ve hosted friends and partied the night away. It’s where our boys run through the wildflower meadow. It’s where we tuck them in at night. Our souls are within the walls of this home. Our hands have touched every square inch. This is our life’s work.
Ten entire years! If I could go back and tell 26 year old me that it would all turn out so beautiful, so personal, so ours. It really is better than I imagined. (Okay BUT my laundry is in the basement and I hate it and we have no closet space and I hate it and I want a first floor master and an office hahaha). Dreams of a first floor addition hopefully on the 5 year goal list. ANYWAYS. It’s been the best. When I went to make this blog post I saved 500 photos to share. Woof. That’s wayyyy too many. Narrowing it down felt impossible. So I started with some direct before and afters. Some views from the beginning to where they are now. What a transformation.
Like I said, I could share hundreds of photos! So much work, so many memories. And just to prove that absolutely none of this happened overnight, here are some DURING shots.
Here are some moments at home that stick out to me. Some monumental and celebratory, and others just simple and pure. All so near and dear to my heart.
2016, Nick and I with Jude and Scout after making it one whole year in this country life. It hadn’t broken us yet, haha. Don’t we look so rested? Wow to be in your 20’s. Just us and the dogs :)
This photo means so much to me. It’s been printed in our home since it was taken in 2017 by my great friend, Claire. Bringing home our double rainbow baby, with our beloved pups, to our dream home. Definitely a pinch me moment for me.
I love this photo. I love this moment even more. I asked our besties if I could do a Spring dinner for Nick’s birthday that year (2018). Everyone with their first babies, gathered around a table that Nick and I built when I was 38 weeks pregnant. I truly dreamt of this view. Friends gathering, the table full of food and kids. I don’t know how we got so lucky.
This photo. I remember exactly how I felt while taking it. Physically, I was sitting down because I was truly too weak to stand and hold the boys. I asked Nick to take a couple photos of me with them (as a just in case) and a way for me and them to remember a time that was so hard for us all. But children doing what they do best, bringing joy to every situation. Me, tired, nauseous, fighting cancer - them, running in circles playing in their own little innocent world. They got me through those days. No matter what happens with my health, I hope they can look back on this photo and know I tried so hard for them.
Our first Christmas with the greenhouse. When I got diagnosed with cancer I was afraid all my dreams, personal and professional were done. But I woke up one day, while still in treatment and said NO, this is the exact reason to do what I want because now I am acutely aware of how little time we have. So we went for it and built my dream greenhouse. It felt like such a risk at the time. I was so scared if my health would take a turn for the worse, could I take care of it? Was this a wise investment considering my current condition? Etc Etc Etc. But it’s truly been a dream come true. We’ve hosted friends and family. And the income we have made allowed me to step away from shooting weddings. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for this space and that we decided to go for it.
These moments, all post cancer treatment when I was starting to find myself again. Growing flowers, lots of flowers. Enjoying the pool that was FINALLY finished after two years and a run away contractor. And watching my growing boys running barefoot in our front yard in the Summertime, not much better than that.
This moment. Tears were in my eyes real time. It was Porter’s 6th birthday party. I was still doing immunotherapy. It was a lot for us to put on a big party but our guy wanted it so bad and honestly so did we. Seeing these children that I love so much, run down our hill in their Halloween costumes trick or treating on our property. Ya’ll this was a very real dream of mine. When we struggled to get pregnant, this was the vision I begged for. Babies running wild and free here, loving this land as much as we do. I love being able to have our friends and family enjoy our space too, it fills me up.
More gathering with loved ones. More beauty we planted with our own hands. I just love it here.
The 11th year of a beloved tradition we have with our friends. It started the day Nick and I got engaged in 2013. And this photo was October 2025. We have filled this truck with so many kids and so much love over the years. My heart is full when these people come to Our Humble Hideaway.
August 1992, hayrides on my grandparents property. October 2018, Porter’s first birthday party hayride. Everything I have done here has been inspired by the way my grandparents lived. Their farmhouse, that Gene built with his own hands, is just a couple miles from here. I still pass it a few times a year. It’s changed a lot since then. Gosh I miss it. But I cherish the memories we had there. Easter egg hunts over 10 acres, playing for hours in the creek, planting flowers and pulling weeds with Betty, the smell of my grandpas barn, the warm meals at their long table in the kitchen, and of course the hayrides. They made it special for us, and now I get to make it special for their great grandbabies. How lucky am I to have been loved in such a way that I want to replicate that for my own children.
A decade. Ten years. We have lived so much life! And while making this place “prettier” has certainly been fun, it’s the people we share it with that mean the most. We now have a home that we are excited to share and that has been the greatest joy of all. It all means so much to me because when we started this adventure I certainly saw the dream, but could we truly make it a reality? And while it took it us a decade, I’m so proud to say we did. In a very slow and steady, worked really hard, humble kind of way. Thank you all for cheering us on along the way. Likes, comments, joining us for pool parties and dinners, dropping off food when I was sick, renting the studios, and everything in-between. You mean so much to us. THANK YOU FOREVER.
Love, The West Family