Redo Big Blue: My Meaningful Work
Updated: Aug 17, 2022
Welcome! I am so glad you found your way over here! As you can see, I have started a new blog.
This blog is the beginning of a new chapter for me and Redo Big Blue. It marks the beginning of something that feels not just important to me right now, but honestly sort of essential. And It feels like I cannot dive into this new chapter without first getting really clear about why I’m starting a new chapter in the first place. Why does this matter enough to me to actually start putting things into motion?
Many of you who are reading this right now most likely know that Redo Big Blue isn't a new thing. I started my redo.big.blue account on Instagram about 2 years ago, right as Covid-19 triggered a shift in life as we knew it. My husband (Riley) and I were in the middle of purchasing our first home. A 1900 sq ft., bright blue home that called us in and insisted we come and breath new life into every last inch of it. When we moved, I decided to create this account for the sole purpose of documenting our renovation journey. A place for us to be able to revisit all of our hard work. A compilation of photos and videos to remind us of where it all started.
In that 1st year, we worked HARD to mostly reset this house and create a clean slate to build upon, and we had so much fun doing it! My husband and I learned that we made a really good team and we were good at what we were doing. We found so much joy in solving problems together and putting energy into our combined creativity. It felt like it really enriched our lives. Then, at the beginning of the second year, life sort of insisted we put the brakes on things while our 4th daughter joined our family. We took on a few projects that felt necessary, but otherwise left the tools in the toolbox. Our baby girl made her way here in November of 2021. The following few months were a true joy for me. As we started the new year though, I quickly found myself hitting a real low.
Anyone who knows me knows that motherhood is a relationship I take very seriously and it means the world to me. however, I was experiencing some very real signs of depression. I felt completely trapped at the thought of every day, for the next however many years, consisting of the same things over and over again. Get kids to and from school. Change diapers. Do the laundry. Bathe the kids. Try to teach them basic life skills while they challenge my efforts on every front. Tidy, tidy, and tidy some more. Make meals. Bedtime. Live in my own little head, without any adult interaction for the majority of each day. It was starting to feel completely suffocating and oh, so lonely. It all culminated in the biggest mental/emotional breakdown I think I’ve ever had. I knew that I had to make some changes because there was absolutely no way I could/should/would continue in that, so my husband and I started searching for solution.
Around the same time, a few things fell into place for us to start renovating our powder bathroom. It was our first project in months, and naturally I started to document the journey on Instagram. About a week into it, my husband and I both recognized a big shift in my mental health. I had more energy under my wings, and was just overall in a much healthier state of mind. We were discussing it as we cleaned up dinner one night and realized that the shift seemed to all come back to our bathroom renovation and my Redo Big Blue account. It was clear that these two things were helping me tap into 3 important things that had been missing in my life:
Connection - Those of you who follow along and engage in what I share, you guys truly enhance my life. And while I am truly taking a focus in my own personal life to build and maintain meaningful friendships because that is SO important, it is no secret that getting out of my house as a stay at home mom of 4 young kids is a whole ordeal. It’s hard enough to just get to the grocery store once a week, let alone go out to lunch with my friends. When you and I choose to show up and gather in authentic and intentional ways on social media, (cannot emphasize those two words enough) it can lead to genuine connection and the beginnings of beautiful friendships.
Creativity - Using our home and my Instagram account as a means of generating creativity in my life gives me energy and brings me joy! Creativity is an essential part of a fulfilling life, and I am no exception to that rule. For me, I feel that it is a necessary ingredient to feel at home in my body and connected to myself.
Meaningful Work - As the queen Breen Brown explains it, "Meaningful work is all about honoring both your deep gladness and your strengths to the benefit of others". Holy cow, have I been in need of meaningful work. Work that honors my gladness, and uses my strengths to contribute to the world around me. Not a job, but work. The relationship I hold with my children will ALWAYS be priority for me, but I believe I am a better mother when I honor my own needs, and right now I need creative and meaningful work. Which brings me back to Redo Big Blue. This is MY meaningful work!
So,I am ready to start being more intentional with what I do here at Redo Big Blue. I am eager and excited to dive deeper into this work and discover what it has in store! I am so grateful for the canvas this little space gives me for my creativity. I am so grateful for the connection it gives me to any and all of you. And even if everyone decided to abandon ship today, I need this. It is bringing me joy and adding value to my life. It is an outlet that means something to ME, and honestly I feel like I am just barely getting started.
That's why I'm starting this blog. That's why I'm showing up in your Instagram feeds. That's what this is all about.
This blog is the new hub for Redo Big Blue. Here you will find me (and my husband!) continuing the adventure of renovating this house. I will naturally be sharing tips and tricks we learn along the way that might be beneficial to others, but we will put extra effort and focus into designing/creating spaces in our home that tell our families stories and hold special meaning to us. THAT is what excites me. In addition to that, and this is the new part that feels SO exciting to me, you will find me sharing the stories and meanings behind these spaces through my absolute favorite creative medium: MUSIC. More on that to come soon.
My biggest hope would be that Redo Big Blue can be a place that offers YOU genuine and authentic connection. I hope it helps YOU add more meaning to your own spaces with your own stories behind them, and inspires YOU to tap into your own creative outlets. Thank you to those of you who have chosen to be a part of this with me.
Here we go!
-Kambrie