Nicole Balch Design
House Tour
- Our Current Home (The Victorian)
- Our First Home (The Bungalow)
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House Tours

• Tour our current home, an 1891 Victorian in Oak Park, IL.

• Tour our first home, a 1910 bungalow in Oak Park, IL.

Hello! I’m Nicole Balch.

Designer with a handyman background, renovating our Victorian home in historic Oak Park, IL (just outside of Chicago). Mom of three, fan of pink, keeping busy all around.

More about Nicole…

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I avoided *common* annuals when I first started ga

I avoided *common* annuals when I first started gardening. Petunias, begonias, impatiens… yawn, boring. I wanted the obscure! The unusual! Surely I shouldn’t include such overused plants if I want my yard to be interesting, right?

Welp. I’ve planted all of the above this year, and I’ve been doing so for a while now. That planter you see here is filled with one itty bitty sweet potato vine and one small petunia pot. There’s a perennial salvia in there too but you can barely see it. It’s the petunias that are going strong here. They’re common for a reason - they flower and flower and give it their all for a $10 investment in the spring.

#thelovelygarden #makingitlovely

We’ve been using our Odin touch faucet from @bri

We’ve been using our Odin touch faucet from @brizoanddeltachicago for a while now, and it has finally happened. I was in another kitchen and I went to use the sink with a tap before remembering that not all faucets are *fancy.* It’s my favorite feature! Hands are messy? Boom. Just tap with the forearm. Washing your hands and don’t want to leave the faucet running while you lather up? Tap on, tap off, tap on… super convenient. Touch faucets are the best, especially when they’re this pretty.

#sponsored #designwithbrizodeltachicago #brizoanddeltachicago #mydeltavoiceIQ #brizo #deltafaucet #mybrizodeltachicago #sourcedatbrizoanddeltachicago

I’ve been working on the garden and now I’m co

I’ve been working on the garden and now I’m concentrating on a quarter-circle-shaped section in back. From where I’m standing, the left side is looking lush with sun king aralia, solomon’s seal, brunnera, lungwort, astilbe, foamflower, hellebore, and hosta. I haven’t laid out the right side as well yet, but there are more hostas, the scrawniest dogwood tree sapling, and three oakleaf hydrangeas. There’s a bobo hydrangea in an antique wash basin planter that has survived several winters, and a viburnum that was supposed to take up space in the middle but just kinda hasn’t.
#thelovelygarden #makingitlovely

Old signage, well-loved art supplies, and an assor

Old signage, well-loved art supplies, and an assortment of skulls. My mother-in-law really knows how to pull together a space. 💀🤍

#sponsoredpost There’s still more to do in the

#sponsoredpost

There’s still more to do in the kitchen before I call it complete, but one big step was installing our new faucets from @brizoanddeltachicago. The Odin touch faucet was a novelty at first, especially to the kids, but it’s becoming second nature to turn the water on and off with a tap now. And filtered water with its own tap? So nice! I have an apron-front sink and soapstone counters coming in soon, but between the faucet upgrade and a new color on the cabinets, the kitchen already feels so much better.

#designwithbrizodeltachicago #brizoanddeltachicago #mydeltavoiceIQ #brizo #deltafaucet #mybrizodeltachicago #sourcedatbrizoanddeltachicago

I’ve been trying this cool new thing where I wee

I’ve been trying this cool new thing where I weed the garden, assess what I already have, and make space BEFORE I go plant shopping. Hoping to avoid plants sitting in their pots forever! Success so far has been mixed. #makingitlovely #thelovelygarden #thelovelyvictorian

Blooming today : John Davis climbing rose. 🌹 #m

Blooming today : John Davis climbing rose. 🌹 #makingitlovely #thelovelyvictorian #thelovelygarden

Hostas! The giant ones are my favorite, followed b

Hostas! The giant ones are my favorite, followed by the ones with blue edges. I do not know the names of any but I love them all. 🌱
#makingitlovely #thelovelyvictorian #thelovelygarden

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Our 1891 Victorian

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Sources & Paint Colors

Sims 4 CC and Stardew Mods

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Latest Posts

Gardening Through Grief

June 7, 2021

Modern Garden Furniture Meets Fairy Whimsy

May 25, 2021

My New (Old) Dutch Bicycle

May 5, 2021

Stardew Valley Lovely Kitchen Mod

March 26, 2021

Bathroom Design Plans

March 11, 2021

I avoided *common* annuals when I first started ga

I avoided *common* annuals when I first started gardening. Petunias, begonias, impatiens… yawn, boring. I wanted the obscure! The unusual! Surely I shouldn’t include such overused plants if I want my yard to be interesting, right?

Welp. I’ve planted all of the above this year, and I’ve been doing so for a while now. That planter you see here is filled with one itty bitty sweet potato vine and one small petunia pot. There’s a perennial salvia in there too but you can barely see it. It’s the petunias that are going strong here. They’re common for a reason - they flower and flower and give it their all for a $10 investment in the spring.

#thelovelygarden #makingitlovely

We’ve been using our Odin touch faucet from @bri

We’ve been using our Odin touch faucet from @brizoanddeltachicago for a while now, and it has finally happened. I was in another kitchen and I went to use the sink with a tap before remembering that not all faucets are *fancy.* It’s my favorite feature! Hands are messy? Boom. Just tap with the forearm. Washing your hands and don’t want to leave the faucet running while you lather up? Tap on, tap off, tap on… super convenient. Touch faucets are the best, especially when they’re this pretty.

#sponsored #designwithbrizodeltachicago #brizoanddeltachicago #mydeltavoiceIQ #brizo #deltafaucet #mybrizodeltachicago #sourcedatbrizoanddeltachicago

I’ve been working on the garden and now I’m co

I’ve been working on the garden and now I’m concentrating on a quarter-circle-shaped section in back. From where I’m standing, the left side is looking lush with sun king aralia, solomon’s seal, brunnera, lungwort, astilbe, foamflower, hellebore, and hosta. I haven’t laid out the right side as well yet, but there are more hostas, the scrawniest dogwood tree sapling, and three oakleaf hydrangeas. There’s a bobo hydrangea in an antique wash basin planter that has survived several winters, and a viburnum that was supposed to take up space in the middle but just kinda hasn’t.
#thelovelygarden #makingitlovely

Old signage, well-loved art supplies, and an assor

Old signage, well-loved art supplies, and an assortment of skulls. My mother-in-law really knows how to pull together a space. 💀🤍

#sponsoredpost There’s still more to do in the

#sponsoredpost

There’s still more to do in the kitchen before I call it complete, but one big step was installing our new faucets from @brizoanddeltachicago. The Odin touch faucet was a novelty at first, especially to the kids, but it’s becoming second nature to turn the water on and off with a tap now. And filtered water with its own tap? So nice! I have an apron-front sink and soapstone counters coming in soon, but between the faucet upgrade and a new color on the cabinets, the kitchen already feels so much better.

#designwithbrizodeltachicago #brizoanddeltachicago #mydeltavoiceIQ #brizo #deltafaucet #mybrizodeltachicago #sourcedatbrizoanddeltachicago

I’ve been trying this cool new thing where I wee

I’ve been trying this cool new thing where I weed the garden, assess what I already have, and make space BEFORE I go plant shopping. Hoping to avoid plants sitting in their pots forever! Success so far has been mixed. #makingitlovely #thelovelygarden #thelovelyvictorian

Blooming today : John Davis climbing rose. 🌹 #m

Blooming today : John Davis climbing rose. 🌹 #makingitlovely #thelovelyvictorian #thelovelygarden

Hostas! The giant ones are my favorite, followed b

Hostas! The giant ones are my favorite, followed by the ones with blue edges. I do not know the names of any but I love them all. 🌱
#makingitlovely #thelovelyvictorian #thelovelygarden

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