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

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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Snoozing in a sunbeam. 😴 #thelovelyvictorian

Snoozing in a sunbeam. 😴

#thelovelyvictorian #makingitlovely

You know how everyone loved gray for the last deca

You know how everyone loved gray for the last decade and I was over here like, “I’ll take and love this old house full of warm toned wood everywhere, thanks?” Yep. Just a little encouragement/reminder to not feel pressured to follow (or particularly care about) trends. 🤎 Skip the cool neutrals and give me all the drab colors, baby. I love them.

Swipe to see my very own custom meme, courtesy of

Swipe to see my very own custom meme, courtesy of Brandon. #accurate
There’s less work to do in the garden right now, and I have been deep diving fragrance info as a comfort. 🤎

I’ve added three varieties of Seaside Serenade H

I’ve added three varieties of Seaside Serenade Hydrangeas from @monroviaplants to the garden! They are a good size to fit into my existing garden beds, each reaching 3-4’ tall and wide, they have sturdy stems so they won’t flop (hooray!), and thicker leaves to resist wilting. And they rebloom! You can see more in my Stories. #sponsored

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. 💀🤍

FOLLOW @MAKINGITLOVELY

Let’s Work Together

Design Services

Our 1891 Victorian

Take the Tour

Sources & Paint Colors

Sims 4 CC and Stardew Mods

Lulu Lovely on Patreon

Latest Posts

Warm Caramels with a Hint of Blush

September 2, 2021

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

Snoozing in a sunbeam. 😴 #thelovelyvictorian

Snoozing in a sunbeam. 😴

#thelovelyvictorian #makingitlovely

You know how everyone loved gray for the last deca

You know how everyone loved gray for the last decade and I was over here like, “I’ll take and love this old house full of warm toned wood everywhere, thanks?” Yep. Just a little encouragement/reminder to not feel pressured to follow (or particularly care about) trends. 🤎 Skip the cool neutrals and give me all the drab colors, baby. I love them.

Swipe to see my very own custom meme, courtesy of

Swipe to see my very own custom meme, courtesy of Brandon. #accurate
There’s less work to do in the garden right now, and I have been deep diving fragrance info as a comfort. 🤎

I’ve added three varieties of Seaside Serenade H

I’ve added three varieties of Seaside Serenade Hydrangeas from @monroviaplants to the garden! They are a good size to fit into my existing garden beds, each reaching 3-4’ tall and wide, they have sturdy stems so they won’t flop (hooray!), and thicker leaves to resist wilting. And they rebloom! You can see more in my Stories. #sponsored

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. 💀🤍

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