Google+ home tour Archives - Southern Weddings

Southern Weddings

Tag: home tour

Sometimes it seems like all of the houses everywhere are white, white, white, yes? That doesn’t work for this color-loving gal, so when I spotted Megan Martin’s bright Florida home, I knew I wanted to share it here! The life she shares with her husband and three kiddos is equally breezy and beautiful, and I know you will love getting to know this sweet gal today. Enjoy, friends!

Thank you to sweet Sarahdipity Photos for this lovely glimpse inside the Martin’s home!

The couple: Megan and Jeremy Martin, 30 and 32
Years married: 6
Where they live: Jacksonville, Florida

Tell us a little bit about yourselves. Hi! We are Jeremy and Megan Martin. We were both born and raised in sunny Jacksonville, Florida and still call the First Coast home. And we are the epitome of complete opposites! Jeremy is reserved, analytical, methodical, extremely smart, and intentional. I take chances on a whim, say yes and figure it out later, have a big imagination, and fail miserably at routines, ha! But you know what they say: opposites attract. Although wildly different, somehow, we just clicked from day one and have been learning how to love each other well ever since!

Tell us your love story in one sentence. We’re just two people in love learning to live by grace, embrace the mess, and say yes to taking chances!
What is your favorite part of being married? Truly just doing life together! I love living out the slow, mundane, and daily routine with J just as much as I love the adventurous memories. It is all a joy.
What has been the most surprising thing about marriage? It really does take work. Once the rush of dating and wedding bells slow down, you have to be so intentional to be present and open with your spouse every day. It sounds so obvious, but as life goes on, it has been surprising to see just how real the work of growing together in marriage is. It is good work, though!

Where do you splurge and where do you save when decorating? I don’t tend to splurge too much when it comes to our home. Almost every single piece of furniture in our home was handed down to us or thrifted and refinished to fit our style and I love it that way! My mom kept all of my Mema’s furniture, and when we got married, she let me choose pieces to fill our home with. My favorite piece is her vintage hutch. I painted it blue and gave it pretty new hardware. It is my forever something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue! To juxtapose the vintage pieces, I love to shop for more modern-inspired accessories. My favorite brands for the smaller details include Kate Spade, the Threshold line at Target, and amazing smaller designer businesses like Tonic Living, Framebridge, and The Lighting Connection.

Tell us a little bit about where you live. Since we first got married, Jeremy has had big dreams to build up a portfolio of residential real estate properties, so we’ve been working hard to make that happen. We’ve scrimped and saved and DIY renovated our way to home number three, where we live now!
Tell us about the process of moving in together. Moving in together was so FUN. Everyday felt like Christmas morning when we first got married! When it comes to our styles, Jeremy isn’t too opinionated about the actual visual design of our home but does appreciate clean and meaningful spaces. For us, blending styles has been more about being conscious of each other’s desires. He is so great about letting me stretch my design wings, so to speak, and I’m learning to lean into being intentional about details that matter instead of stuff for stuff’s sake.

Which room in your home is your favorite, and why? My favorite room in our home is the living room. When we moved in, Jeremy made the suggestion to not put a TV in our living room. We turned the traditional living room design around and have our couch on what would traditionally be the “TV” wall, facing the open floor plan. At first, I wanted to fill the open space on the other side of the couch, but we quickly found that having a big open void was perfect for our little family! The girls twirl and dance with Daddy. Sitting on the couch and watching them play is my favorite! It also lends itself to open conversation when we have guests over. No one feels like they are in their own corner, so it is easy for the whole house to feel together!

Which items from your wedding registry do you use the most often? We use our kitchen items most from our registry! We both lived with our parents before saying “I do,” so we registered for quite a bit of kitchenware. We registered for a timeless set of white dinnerware from Pottery Barn that effortlessly blends with any style and still use the same cookware and knives from our sweet wedding guests!
What different decisions, if any, would you make for your registry if you knew then what you knew now? I’d say register for the plush and nice towels! Six years later, I finally splurged on dreamy towels and they are the best! So random, but so good! ;)

Who cooks dinner? Most days I do! But there are plenty of afternoons where I call on J to pick us up something to make the evening easier!
What is your go-to weeknight meal? Weekend meal? We are pretty simple eaters over here! Most weekdays we either eat skillet chicken or steak with a veggie or my favorite One Pot Pasta meal from Martha Stewart. I don’t plan weekend meals. We usually get together with friends and family on the weekends and figure it out as we go!
What’s your favorite place to find recipes? I love the food blog The Girl Who Ate Everything! She has a ton of amazing and easy recipes to follow! I also frequent Martha Stewart’s food blog when I need cooking advice.

What most makes your house feel like home? Having our sweet memories framed on the walls really makes this place feel like home. I love catching glimpses every day of what can feel like distant moments!
What is your favorite memory from your wedding? My favorite memory from our wedding day was our last private dance in the reception space before we made our grand exit! Those last slow moments of soaking in our big day together were so special.
How do you remember your wedding in your home? I have a pretty keepsake box of wedding details and mementos that stays in our master bedroom. Every so often I will pull it out to remember our wedding day and now tell our story to our little girls. And my favorite photo from the night is framed in our living room!

How does your family handle finances? My husband is the brains behind our finances. Mostly because I am 100% a right-brained kinda gal! We don’t live by a strict budget, but I’m sure J wouldn’t mind it if we did. ;)
What’s your best tip for balancing your relationship and other life priorities? We don’t have a perfect balance by any stretch of the imagination. For us, it is all about little intentional choices. When we aren’t focused on daily making time for each other, we can quickly feel strain and stress in our relationship. The time won’t just appear. You have to make it! In our current season of life, that looks like getting up before the sun rises so we can have time to read and study the Gospel together and talk about what is going on in our worlds.

What is one small way you love or serve your spouse? Jeremy is an Acts of Service guy and feels loved when he can come home from a long workday to a clean and uncluttered space. I don’t always make it happen (and he gives lots of grace there!), but I try to focus on serving him in the home so we can all enjoy a restful environment.
Do you have children? We have two little girls and one coming very soon in November! We are going to be surprised this time around and can’t wait to find out if we will be having a boy or girl!
Before getting married, I wish someone had told me… to learn our love languages. We are wired so differently, and the way we receive love is apart of that. In the early years, we often mistook genuine actions for selfish ones because we didn’t fully understand how we give and receive love individually. We are still learning and growing in love every day, but by simply understanding how to best show love to each other, even when it seems completely foreign, our relationship flourishes!

Thank you so much for sharing, Megan! Friends, you can follow along with Megan’s adventures on Instagram and on her site!

emily Written with love by Emily
2 Comments
  1. avatar Sue reply

    Absolutely fantastic!

  2. avatar Baby Photography London reply

    Nice shots of the family! Specially the last one :)

Southern Weddings reserves the right to delete comments which contain profanity or personal attacks or seek to promote a business unrelated to the post.  And remember: a good attitude is like kudzu – it spreads.  We love hearing your kind thoughts!

Reply to:
close

I think it’s a bit dangerous to hold someone up as a “model wife” – after all, no one’s perfect. But for many people I know, that’s who Sarah Tucker is. Or, if we don’t want to use that term, let’s go with “beloved inspiration” :)

And for good reason – Sarah adores her husband and is not afraid to tell you about it. She’s smart, she’s stylish, she’s a great friend, a gracious hostess, and curates a welcoming home in Florida. It has been a joy to get to know her over the years, so if this is the first time you’ve made her introduction, I’m excited for you! Get ready to be inspired :)

Thanks to Shannon Kirsten for sharing these photos!

The couple: Sarah (33) and JB (35)
Years married: 7
The kiddos: John (4) and Wesley (2)

Tell us a little bit about yourselves. We live in an old colonial home in Palmetto. JB is a financial advisor for Edward Jones, and I’m currently a stay at home mom and blogger. We have two of the sweetest boys in the world and one Boston terrier puppy named Lola.
Tell us your love story in one sentence. I was five and he was seven when we first met, and we’ve pretty much been crushing on each other ever since.

Tell us a little bit about where you live. We bought our house in 2015. I honestly think this is our forever home. I love what our area has to offer, our family is close by, and our neighbors are the sweetest.
Tell us about the process of moving in together. Do you have any tips for blending your two styles? We had a long distance relationship until we were married, so we had no idea what living with one another entailed in the day-to-day sense. We lived abroad for the first two years of our marriage, in tiny apartments with zero style. When we moved back, I was excited to start collecting and decorating. JB is definitely the muscles behind anything I want to do, and he is a good sport about it all. He doesn’t care too much about style, but he does care about function. He has helped me make more practical decisions when it comes to design.

What is your favorite part of being married? Having someone to make the coffee ;) Just kidding…but that is nice! I just love JB. I love sharing my life with him, seeing things through his eyes, and sharing our joy and sorrows TOGETHER.

Which room in your home is your favorite, and why? I love our sleeping porch. We have a sleeping porch swing bed, and I love sitting out there on cool nights with JB and watching the boys be silly.
What most makes your house feel like home? It’s imperfect, just like us. And that is part of what gives it its charm. Our house is a home people can love in, toddlers can be toddlers, and people can spill a glass of wine and no one is going to cry.

Where do you splurge and where do you save when decorating? Our leather couches are the priciest pieces we’ve purchased. Everything else I save on. I love things with a bit of a history, and I prefer shopping at thrift/consignment stores and Goodwill for unique pieces. I also, of course, love Target! I get a ton of inspiration looking through Serena & Lily and Ballard Designs magazines, but rarely buy too much from either.

What is your favorite memory from your wedding? I loved walking down the aisle with my father, and seeing the smiliest JB at the end.
How do you remember your wedding in your home? (Pictures, mementos, etc.) We have pictures of our wedding on the walls and on our bedside table. We also have an oil painting that an artist did of one of Jessica Lorren’s photos.

Which item from your wedding registry do you use the most often? Our cast iron skillet.
Who cooks dinner? We often share in that. I’ll do the salad and sides, and he’ll grill the meat.

What’s your favorite place to find recipes? Real Simple’s Great Food Fast is my all-time favorite.
How does your family handle finances? Do you use a set budget? Finance is in JB’s wheelhouse, so he works the budget. We do talk about finances freely in our home, which I think is important.

What is one small way you love or serve your spouse? I pretty much force anyone within earshot to know what an amazing person he is.
Do you have children? What are your hopes and plans for the future in this area? Yes! We have two darling boys. We do hope to expand our family, but we shall see.
This year, our family is most excited about… Adding a new brother in-law AND a new sister in-law! They are the perfect additions to our family.

If you aren’t already a fan of Sarah’s blog, you’re in for a treat! You can also find her on Instagram and Facebook. Have a wonderful weekend friends!

emily Written with love by Emily
4 Comments
  1. avatar Stephanie Shaul reply

    This is such a beautiful, beautiful: curated but lived in! And I am all for gushing openly about how wonderful your husband is!!

  2. avatar Sarah Tucker – Exterior Paint Colors on a Colonial – Sarah Tucker reply

    […]  More of our home on Southern Weddings […]

  3. avatar Britt | Southern Mama Guide reply

    love love love sarah tucker!! her home is just gorgeous and i loved getting another peek! such a sweet family!!

    xo. britt

  4. avatar Rebecca Wilson reply

    Ahhhh…. the welcoming Red front door. Just the beginning that opens up to such great taste. Sarah’s style is a statement of warmth both personally and in design

Southern Weddings reserves the right to delete comments which contain profanity or personal attacks or seek to promote a business unrelated to the post.  And remember: a good attitude is like kudzu – it spreads.  We love hearing your kind thoughts!

Reply to:
close

Our name is Southern Weddings, and the biggest portion of our heart will always be for seeing you down the aisle with grace, style, joy, and love. But over the last few years, it’s been such a pleasure to pull the curtain back a bit and learn from just-married couples in our Southern Newlywed column. In Southern Weddings V9, we brought Southern Newlywed to print and shared five different spaces shared by sweet married couples. They’re each unique, and our goal was to show you that even if your current abode doesn’t match the dream farmhouse in your mind, it can still be a beautiful place to start your life together.

We’ll be sharing extended tours of all five throughout the next few months, but in the meantime, we wanted to give you a sneak peek! If you just can’t wait, go pick up your copy on newsstands or in the Southern Weddings Shop now :)

Emily and Tim’s Kentucky home made for hosting, with family, friends, and Airbnb guests (photo by Whitney Neal)

Jillian and Hayden’s Texas apartment abode (photo by Kimberly Chau with styling by Jennifer Laura Design)

Sarah and JB’s traditional Florida home (photo by Shannon Kirsten)

Whitney and Michael’s Kentucky fixer upper (photo by Whitney Neal)

And finally, Anna and Daniel’s home on the road (photo by Anna Shackleford)

P.S. Need more Southern Newlywed? See all our home tours here!

emily Written with love by Emily
1 Comment
  1. avatar Mary Kay reply

    I love your Southern Newlywed column and am so happy to see it in print!

Southern Weddings reserves the right to delete comments which contain profanity or personal attacks or seek to promote a business unrelated to the post.  And remember: a good attitude is like kudzu – it spreads.  We love hearing your kind thoughts!

Reply to:
close
Top