Our Home One Year Later

It has been one year since we closed on our house! My to-do list is pretty long, so I kind of feel like I haven't gotten that much done... Until I look back on these before pictures and realize how the house has changed so much. We're loving our home and working on projects.  Even one year later, we're still adjusting to the new area and vibe of this town. We're finding new favorite spots, meeting new people, and learning new things about our town every day.

To see some updated pictures of our home, you can check out my posts on the exterior, kitchen, living room, dining room, entryway, kid's room, and the master bedroom. The living room (now partially gym) and dining room (now studio/messy room) have changed a little since I last shared pictures, but they're all works in progress. It has been fun spending the last year working on projects and really making this space into our own. One year down and many more to come...

Entryway : Progress

This post contains affiliate links.
To make things a little easier, our entryway will include the entrance, stairs, and small 'book nook' at the top of the stairs.  Eventually I'll probably branch out and share some separate book nook posts, but there is still lots of work to do before then and I'm treating it all as one space right now.

I would have loved to design and DIY our own stained glass transom, but I'm a little too busy for that right now. I found this window film and thought we'd give it a try.  It looks much better than I was anticipating. I'm also really surprised about how visible this transom window is throughout the home. I can see it from the dining room, living room, top of the stairs, and back entrance. I love how it shines in the morning light and it was the perfect inexpensive touch to bring a little bit of color and character to this space.

I have no actual 'before' pictures for the book nook, but just picture a plain old empty space at the top of the stairs.  It's probably always been ignored and most people would think of it as a useless space. For the first ten months in our home, this was used as a place for boxes that were halfway unpacked, extra diaper and wipes boxes, and our giant bin of primer. I'm working on making sure each inch of our home has a purpose, so I thought this would be a great reading spot.  In the long run, I'd love to do a built in bench and bookshelves for the perfect little space to escape, but for now we just have a small chair, a bin with diapers and wipes, and the baby gate... functional, but not very fashionable

The stairway window was in need of some kind of coverage. It's a weird spot for a window and would look weird with blinds, curtains, or any other window treatment I could think of. I picked out a striped window film that still lets in light, allows us to peek outside, but doesn't give everyone a free show when we're walking around in our undies.

There is so much to do and each thing on the list is like a domino effect throughout the whole space. I would love to have this space semi-done by the end of September.

TO DO

+ Paint prep (remove some paint covered wallpaper, lots and lots of patching)

+ Paint (leaning towards white)

+ Paint a pattern on a couple of the walls (still brainstorming)

+ Replace sconces (already purchased)

+ Paint doors (front door and basement)

+ Paint or replace tile

+ Hang artwork (whole wall filled of photos? a couple pieces?)

+ Replace the carpet (wood steps? runner? we'll have to see)

+ Built in bookshelf

+ Built in bench

What kind of pattern do you think I should paint on the walls?

House Exterior : Progress

I feel like I've put tons of work out here, but making very little visible progress at this point.  I don't have too much to share, but I wanted to share some of my own pictures and plans.

In the backyard, I moved the stones from this circular bed. We found that when we were playing outside it was just in our way and we'd walk right through it, so I'm slowly working on getting rid of that.  I'm transplanting a bunch of the hastas to the front garden and trying to even out the area.  I'm hoping some of the spreading 'weeds' we have will cover up this area without too much work from me, but we'll see how that goes.  I still need to fill in some of the divots so there aren't a bunch of random holes in the yard.

I've slowly been working on clearing out behind the garage.  There is a ton of overgrown weeds, trees, leaves, and overall junk.  It's taking so much time, but progress is progress.  I also started tearing apart the raised bed.  The wood was rotting, so I reused some of that soil for my veggie garden and I'll reuse the irrigation system on another raised bed when I get that fully taken out. I'm planning on putting some french doors in the back of the garage and turn it into a little studio, or 'she shed' as they call it these days.  I'll share more of those plans when we're closer to implementing them

I've also slowly been working on the front garden.  I cleared out a bunch of dandelions and moved some of the hastas up there.  My sister bought me some tulip bulbs from the zoo and we planted those up in the front too.  Not much to look at yet, but we're in it for the long haul.  

Other than that, not much has changed with the house exterior.  We have big plans, but it's going to take quite a while (and lots of money) to get to them all.  We have the following low cost things on our to-do list for this year (hopefully):

+ remove honeysuckles in front garden/yard

+ remove screened in porch

+ remove awnings

+ train some plants up the fence (started with some clematis so far... not super successful)

+ clean up the patio so we can enjoy some Friday night cookouts

+ save up for some long term plans like painting the house, new roof, etc