It was February 2007 when my husband, Trent, and I decided to make the move from Lansing, Michigan to Charlotte, North Carolina. We were both ready to get out of the cold and take on a new adventure in our lives. It’s been nearly twelve years and Charlotte and the fine people in it have treated us right, but we are about to embark on another turn with the decision to head back up to mid-Michigan. Yes, we might be a little bit crazy for going back to the cold, but we are thrilled to be closer to family and the place where our hearts never left.

We’ve both always been drawn to home design, sometimes obsessively so, but during the time we spent in Michigan, mid-century modern never crossed our minds. Our focus in those days was centered on arts and crafts bungalows, but we quickly learned we weren’t going to afford what we were dreaming of when we arrived in Charlotte. Instead, we bought an adorable townhome and enjoyed that for our first 7 years here, until building the home that we initially thought we would spend the rest of our lives in. It’s amazing the lessons you learn after building and then living in a house. As much as we adore our current home, life and the visions within it have shifted. Not only is it far too much house for just the two of us and a tiny cat, but it is no longer a style that we are in love with. As beautiful as the home is, it is nothing near mid-century modern, yet we started obsessing about that period before even completing the build. This is evident in the many mid-century pieces that we’ve incorporated in the house over the past five years, and now we’d like to give them a place that’s more suited for that style.

We placed our home on the market just a few weeks ago and although we were spying a few pockets of mid-century neighborhoods here in Charlotte, it was shortly after the home went on the market that the decision to move back to Michigan came about. It was after our first look at real estate in mid-Michigan that we couldn’t believe what we were seeing – mid-century modern is everywhere. I mean, some digging will still need to be done, but it exists in what appears to be greater abundance than what we ever expected. Neither of us can believe that we never noticed this in past years, but much like our lives have takes some shifts, so have our tastes in design and this just wasn’t on our radar all those years ago.

While there is still much to do, we are excited to share our journey in finding and creating our mid-century dream and everything that comes along with it. Life is an adventure and this new path is certainly going to be a fun one. Now just to sell the house in Charlotte!

-Tracie