Living With Kids: Bridget Griffen

When Bridget and her husband had the opportunity to purchase her mother’s home, they knew it was a great opportunity. And saving money on the home purchase price allowed them to set aside a big chuck of change for renovations. You’ll love looking around this modern farmhouse in Daytona, Florida. It’s bright and airy and full of light — so welcoming. Welcome, Bridget!

My husband, Corey, and I (Bridget) live here with our baby girl. We met online back in 2019 — seems common nowadays. Then, after meeting face to face we became inseparable. I’m a licensed practical nurse and I’ve had my license since 2017, but I’ve always been creative and love to design/decorate. My husband is in construction — directional drilling — and has been doing that for most of his life. Our baby is almost seven months old and loves to smile, giggle, and roll over. She is loving and loves to cuddle.

We live in an old neighborhood located in South Daytona, Florida. The homes around us, including ours, have been around since the late 1940’s with a price tag starting at 225k and up. We love being close to town, but not so close to others. Living in a tourist town makes it hard to find activities and things to do that aren’t on the internet or billboards.

This home use to be my mom’s. My mom was looking to move and we decided to buy to make it our own without breaking the bank. Though the closing process took some time, along with the renovating, it was well worth it.

We knew at the very least we would need to have a new roof and windows put in because the weather here is so unpredictable, but luckily we had a thorough inspection and there was no major structural damage or anything to worry about.

We both knew in order to get the things we wanted, including a freestanding bathtub and walk in shower, we had to renovate. We had no doubt about this process, but didn’t know the process would take so long with supply shortages and the whole pandemic.

I designed and decorated everything myself. I’m very proud of myself as some things I could not see until they were delivered. I’ve always loved the farmhouse look with wood accents, and I think that was accomplished in this mini farmhouse home. I was definitely inspired by Hearth & Hand with Magnolia by Chip and Joanna Gaines. 

Since we were able to get a good deal on the home, we took out a $203,000 loan, and decided not to move in until all the renovations were done. We had to have a lot of patience and understanding as the process did not happen over night. Now that’ it’s done, we wouldn’t change a thing and we are in love with everything in our home. Our home is modern with a lovely farmhouse appeal. We are very proud of the results and how our hard work paid off. We still can’t believe we get to live life in this home.

Finally being able to move in, after the renovations were complete, was a feeling of relief and happiness! I guess we never thought we’d move in even though we would and did. With one incident after another our hopes were fading, but we finally got to move in on Mother’s Day weekend of this year. Talk about a perfect Mother’s Day present!

Our home brings a feeling of calm and serenity with candles lit and fresh flowers throughout.

I think my superpower is the ability to stay on the move with minimal sleep while keeping our baby entertained and keeping our house running. Being a first time mom is overwhelming, hard work. But It’s exciting at the same time and worth every minute. Raising our baby in this home is a dream come true. Not only is our home renovated, but complete with safety features throughout. This is a plus, especially since our little one is slowly on the move and constantly keeping us on our toes, but we wouldn’t change a thing. We really hope our daughter understands we made this house our home with sweat and tears — that we had to work on our credit, and save our money. Lastly, we just hope she remembers all the good times that will be made here.

Living with our baby has been nothing short of fun! She loves to smile, laugh, and roll over. I think I miss how little she was when she was first born. In a blink of an eye she now weighs 17lbs 3ozs, but time flies when you are having fun. We wouldn’t want our lives any different.

I wish someone had told me (and I had listened) that this process wasn’t going to be easy. I didn’t want to believe it at first and now I know it’s 100% true! Long processes lead to an understanding of patience and determination. We both appreciate the hard work it took us to get here and will always remember this process. We hope to only grow from this and hopefully have the opportunity to fix more properties up in the future. 

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Thank you, Bridget! Renovating a home can be so much work, and doing all of that while expecting a baby must have been especially challenging. If must feel so great to be able to settle into your dream home with your baby, especially after the complications and the difficulties of the last couple of years.

Are you the type who would want to finish the whole project before moving into the house? Or are you more likely to want to live in the home for a while to really decide and figure out what you want? Could you stand to live in the mess of a renovation? Or would it be easier for you to push though and get everything done?

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Living with Kids is edited by Joshua Bingham. You can follow him on Instagram too.

Would you like to share your home in our Living With Kids series? It’s lots of fun, I promise! (And we are always looking for more diversity in the families we feature here. Single parents, non-traditional parents, families of color, LGBT parents, multi-generational families. Reach out! We’d love to hear your stories!!) Email us at features@designmom.com.