A few months ago I started searching for a mantel for our dining room! For the last two years we’ve been in our house there has always been something not quite right to me in the dining room. The wall on the right side of the room is so large and no matter how I […]

April 28, 2017, the day we were interviewed to become Henry’s adoptive parents was such a special date in more ways than one.  I remember sitting in that cold, white conference room staring at the box of donuts we had brought to the ladies who would be interviewing us.  I took a deep breath as […]

After we attended the meeting that night, I had butterflies for weeks.  If you know anything about DSS, everything takes time – LOTS of time.  We overheard Henry’s case worker mention that he had two sisters that were up for adoption as well and friends, let me tell you – I went a little crazy. […]

March 30, 2017 we attended our first foster to adopt meeting in Baltimore City.  Our journey began 7 months before that night getting ready to adopt through foster care.  We had attended 10 weeks of training, had background checks, mental and wellness appointments, multiple home studies, countless meetings, and endless amounts of paperwork.  We were […]

It’s finally done!  If you have followed my Instagram stories, you know I have been working on this space for over a month now.  Since Curt started his new job and I began blogging we have been in need of an office space for us both.  One walk through Target I spotted the prettiest plaid […]

If there is one room in our home that I have wanted to redo since we’ve moved in, it would have to be our master bedroom.  Since moving in, I have tackled every room other than our bedroom because I knew upgrading to a king size bed was part of my plan and so we […]

I don’t know about you guys but Halloween is one of my absolute favorite holidays!  I looked forward to it every year as a child, picking out what I wanted to be, and getting together with my friends to go trick or treating.  Last year was our first Halloween being parents and goodness, it lived […]

Wooden bead chandeliers are SO GORGEOUS but goodness, they can be pricey!  I had seen a few DIY wooden bead chandeliers on Pinterest, but I couldn’t find a specific tutorial so most of this project was trial and error.  Gold chandeliers like the one I used are actually pretty common to thrift or buy second […]

Since starting my Instagram, the number one question I get is about thrifting.  If you aren’t used to thrifting, walking into a store full of second hand items can seem daunting.  Living near good thrift stores can definitely help your odds of finding good things, but even that little thrift store that may seem like […]

Ahhhh, is this real life?  I can’t believe Our Gathered Cottage is a reality, not just an Instagram username!  A year and a half ago my husband Curt and I purchased our first home, a darling 1953 cape cod in Baltimore, Maryland.  Since moving in we have not stopped fixing up our home in hopes […]