home – This is my hobby.

Introducing Styled in South Florida Home Tours

Having this platform to express my creativity through writing sparked a desire for me to create something new.

In the chaos of modern living, I’ve found the most peace and self-care in my hobbies of thrifting, decorating, and admiring home design content.

So, I decided to create Styled in South Florida Home Tours, a YouTube series inspired by the same elements that drive the This is My Hobby blog – documenting style, spaces, and the personality behind creative, inspiring home design.

So far, I’ve filmed a five episode season, which I’ll launch this Sunday, June 7th — Eeee! I can’t believe it!

Each episode opens the doors to one of my stylish South Florida neighbors, who leads the viewer through the thoughtfully curated spaces in their house, highlighting design choices, style hacks, and sourcing details.

This is wholesome, feel-good, inspirational content for your screen.

An easy 15-minute watch on a Sunday morning with a cup of coffee and your favorite home design magazine.

A look inside that cute house you pass on your evening walk and wonder about.

I hope you’ll subscribe to the channel and tune in!

Styled in South Florida Home Tours: Season 1 Dates

June 7 – Tour a Colorful Coastal Home in Hypoluxo, Florida
June 14 – Inside a Collected Lake Worth Beach Home Full of Creativity and Charm
June 21 – Inside a Stylish Lantana, Florida Apartment Filled with Thrifted Finds
June 28 – Inside a Stunning South Florida Pool Cabana Designed by a Professional Organizer
July 5 – Tour a Pink Lilly Pulitzer-Inspired Home in West Palm Beach, Florida

Here on the blog, I’ll share behind-the-scenes content on each episode weekly, including images of the spaces and more about the home owners.

I hope you’ll subscribe, watch, and enjoy! Thank you for allowing me to share this with you.

xoxo Vanessa

Last week’s thrifted ‘fits:

I wore a romper sourced from City Girl Consignment for my first birthday celebration with my bestie.

We went to The Modern Rose in Delray Beach for breakfast – delish and the owner came over with a slice of cake and a rose – so special! Afterward we went on a thrift shopping spree.

Tank, pants and sunnies all sourced from Goodwill for continued birthday celebrations with the family.

Vince planned a thrift tour for me – isn’t this amazing?!

But first, brunch! I got a birthday serenade with cinnamon rolls at Berry Fresh Cafe.

I layered this Goodwill top over a maxi dress also sourced from Goodwill

Love throwing on this super comfy maxi from Goodwill WPB

An Airbnb Refresh

Vince and I purchased our first home in 2017 — a tiny, historic Spanish Mission style house with a cottage behind it.

We had our two boys and lived on top of each other but absolutely loved that little house.

Vince used the Florida room as his office, we knocked out a closet to put in a stackable washer and dryer (a lot of old FL homes don’t have laundry hookups indoor or in the main house), and I filled each space with thrifted finds.

So many sweet memories in our first home as a family.

Had so much fun styling and sharing with my friends.

Love, love, love this piece and will never get rid of it.

The hardest thing about living in this house was that our headboard was right against the boys’ bathroom, so they were constantly waking us up!

I had a blast making style choices for the boys’ room.

Was obsessed with this bird chandelier we ordered on Etsy but had to eventually dismantle because of our cats.

We filled the cottage with thrifted finds.

We moved to our current home just as the pandemic started — it couldn’t have been better timing. I can’t imagine us weathering lock down and virtual learning on top of each other in that small space.

Our new house is much bigger, but it’s a cookie cutter new build, so we sacrificed the historic charm of our first house for modern comforts as our family grew.

It was fun and special to watch our new house being built.

We did keep our first place, though, and now rent out both the main house and cottage.

With my hectic schedule, I hardly drive by the house and haven’t been inside in over a year, maybe longer. With all the amazing thrift finds I’ve come across recently and left behind, Vince asked me to consider snagging some and saving them for an airbnb decor revamp.

The current styling of the airbnb is much more modern, neutral and less eclectic than my house — it needs to appeal to broader tastes — so my challenge is finding ways to update decor that fit within as specific palate.

I went out over the weekend and came away with some starting points:

At Goodwill, I found four matching pillows to brighten up the couch, a basket that can be used on the kitchen counter or maybe living room coffee table, some artwork for the kitchen, and a woven trunk.

I’m thinking the woven trunk would be good to double as a table and extra storage in the secondary bedroom of the main house.

We are in desperate need of a new couch (maybe leather this time around?), so I’ll be visiting the Nearly New Shop in West Palm Beach weekly to see if I can find the perfect piece.

What do you think? I’m open to all suggestions for sprucing up the place. I’ll share styling details here as I go!

Last week’s thrifted ‘fits:

Shirt thrifted and passed on from a friend, Madewell jeans (my fave) from a Goodwill Boutique in Boca

Last Weekend’s Goodwill Haul

I popped into Goodwill last weekend after a brief hiatus, so I’m sharing my haul with you (never mind the wrinkled jeans – never ironing anything is my toxic trait):

I love a good button up and couldn’t pass up this long, lightweight one — picturing it with linen shorts for our spring break cruise next week. $7.99

As soon as I felt this jacket, I knew it was high quality, and I always love an embroidered detail. $7.99

Here’s what it’s priced at online:

I’m picturing this silky House of Harlow top with black slacks for work. $6.99

I found this cute basket to add to my collection:

I almost didn’t get this little plate because it has some damage, but I flipped it over to see that it’s vintage Fitz & Floyd. You know I love a shell moment!

This hand painted wooden picture frame is absolutely adorable. I’m thinking of adding this to my gift stash and giving it to someone for a birthday or special occasion.

Elaine’s room has a thrifted toy bakery stand, and I’ve thrifted toy fruits, veggies, breads, etc. for her to play with. I’ve also thrifted vintage straw baskets to hold all her produce (photos of Elaine’s room here).

I found these gorgeous baskets to add to her play area:

I’ve been wanting a new travel backpack that is cute enough to wear all day during vacation outings (I always haul wet wipes, a change of clothes, etc. for Elaine).

The thrifterverse provided: My best find this Goodwill haul was a brand new Vera Bradley travel backpack — and inside was a matching purse! I paid $20, which is a bit more than I usually like to spend on a thrifted item, but it’s totally worth it.

I thought these chairs were adorable, but I don’t have a need for them, so they stayed at the store. The embroidered detail is so sweet — with a good scrubbing, they’d look great.

Last week’s thrifted ‘fits:

A fave comfy dress from Goodwill West Palm Beach

J.Jill Linen Dress from Goodwill West Palm Beach

Baskets for a Better Life

My husband is the type of person who likes things in extremes.

For example, if he finds a pair of shorts he likes, he gets them in every color.

He’s really into baseball caps, so we have a plethora. He buys them everywhere we go.

Right now, he’s having a major sunglasses moment.

He discovered that for about $40, he can get an entire box full of sunglasses on Alibaba.

I don’t know anything about this site and am not endorsing it — y’all know I’m a thrifter/secondhand champion, so this sunglasses-in-bulk business is not my vibe.

I prefer to source cheap sunglasses from Goodwill.

We are aligned, however, in the general concept of cheap sunglasses for him, because he’s lost several expensive pairs, including on airplanes and in the ocean.

When the sunglasses box arrived, I immediately knew I was in danger.

With each pair Vince tried on, the previous was tossed to the side, and my kitchen counter was soon covered in sunnies.

A future flashed before me that was full of sunglasses — surfaces throughout my home covered in them — all the same pair in different colors.

The horror.

BASKETS TO THE RESCUE.