We purchased our first house in the Summer of 2012 and have been working hard to make it feel like home ever since. I wish someone would have told us before how crazy we were to move into a new home one month before our wedding day. It took us months to finally settle in to our home and I still had boxes waiting to be unpacked a year later.
It's hard to believe we've been in our home for over two years now, and we've even managed to unpack completely. Not only that, but we've made all kinds of changes as well. As we check projects off our ever growing to do list, I fall more in love with this home.
So here it is, the place we love to spend most of our time, and the place we are happy to call home.
The living room is our main headquarters, it is where we spend our most time. Whether its relaxing, entertaining, or studying, most likely it is occurring in this room. Depending on the season, this is also usually the most decorated part of the house.
The size, the colors, the furniture, the decor. All of these things make this room such a comfortable place to relax, blog, and binge watch netflix.
Living Room Projects:
Burlap Heart-Bench Makeover-TV Stand Makeover-Ruffled Curtains-Wine Cork Burst-Monogram Frame-DIY Pillow Sleeves
The kitchen and dining area is another commonly used area in our home... obviously. This room has also required little work, only painting the walls and adding our own personal touches. We also hung some blinds for the sliding glass door when the sun gets crazy, or when the dog won't stop barking at things in the yard. We used these a lot more before we put up our fence, but they are still very nice to have.
Two big changes have occurred in the kitchen/dinette in the last year. First, we finally got a new stove! My boss was going to sell it on Craig's List, but instead, he gave us a great deal on it! I mean it's no stainless steel or anything, but it functions and looks much better than our last one. And second, we got a new kitchen table! It came from my grandma's house and it matched our cupboards much better than our old one.
On the list of to-do's in this room is still a tiled back splash... eventually. I've also been considering foregoing the wine decor and decorating with bright blues and greens.
Ahh, the master bedroom. This was the first room we painted, and we did it on our own. It was the first time I had ever painted, and I was convinced I was going to mess it up. I think a part of the reason I love this room so much is because it was the first room we were able to put together on our own. Immediately after the wedding, we painted, purchased all new furniture, redid the closet, and picked out all the decor.
I would LOVE to stencil one entire wall in this room! I'm also considering putting a bench at the edge of the bed.
Master Bedroom Projects:
The guest room is still the same old guest room it's been since we moved in. This bedroom just happened to match our old comforter, and the bedroom set from the apartment doesn't look too terrible either. We actually slept in this room for the first two months or so that we lived here while we were waiting to paint the master and have furniture delivered.
The most excitement this room has seen is new curtains, which came from the living room. We have a house guest for the month of August, and after that I plan to change things up quite a bit in here. I haven't decided what I'll do in here, but I'm hoping to not have to paint. As of now, I'm thinking yellow, grey, and light blue. But until September (at least), nothing too exciting here!
Guest Room Projects:
The home office is the most recently updated room in our home! In case you missed it, I did the big Home Office Reveal a few weeks ago, and followed it up with a Home Office Details post to share where I purchased everything and the approximate cost of the makeover. Everything in this room is new to our home in the last year.
Home Office Projects:
Stenciled Cabinets-Antique Sewing Cabinet Transformation-Wall Collage-Fabric Covered Bulletin Board-Home Office Reveal-Home Office Details
Our bathroom is a very awkward shape, as you can see in the pictures. However, it has a rather large area near the sink for getting ready, and there's a closet to store towels, cleaning supplies, and other bathroom essentials. We haven't done much work in here either, just simply decorating thus far. Some candles, storage canisters, and vases go a long way if you ask me! And see that candle holder on the shelf there, that was the centerpiece at half the tables at our wedding. Talk about reusing things wherever possible.
This room needs a fresh coat of paint, a new mirror, new light fixtures, and some fancy hardware and I think it will be good to go!
Bathroom Projects:
Laundry Room: Here's your first look at our laundry room! We lucked out and ended up with a house that has first floor laundry, yay! Right off the kitchen, we love having our laundry right here. I would like to repaint the laundry room (and connecting half bath) a lighter color, add a shelf between the washer/dryer and the cupboards, and hang some fun decor. I scored this rug at TJ Maxx recently and think it's the perfect addition so far.
Hallway: I love the shelves of pictures at the end of our hallway! It is a great way to display a bunch of fun pictures all in one place. We made the shelves ourselves, and it is so convenient to be able to move the frames around if we want to. Right now it is full of wedding pictures, but we hope to one day have a mixture of pictures of our parents, grandparents, puppy, and of course children.
This is definitely the spot in our house that gets the most compliments.
I think it is simply amazing how great our grass looks this year, and at the beginning of August at that! We haven't done too much to our front yard, but we did cut down a large pine tree that was at the corner of our house. This year, we continued the rock to fill the dirt pile that was left after the pine tree, and we think it made a huge improvement! Eventually we'll continue all the way down the side of the house with plants, but for now that's all our budget would allow. I also planted flowers this year, which has been so much fun and added quite a bit of color to our yard.
In the near future, we really want need to replace the garage door and repaint the whole house.
Sometimes I look at this backyard and I am amazed that it is the same one we started with two years ago. The lawn was an absolute disaster, the pine trees were all the way to the ground. The steps to get out of the house were half cement, and half un-sturdy wood. We put up the fence, redid the patio, and planted a garden. This year, we were even able to mulch and landscape a little bit! I love being in our backyard! Of course there are still changes/improvements that I want to make back here, but for now it is just perfect!
Backyard Projects:
Well that concludes our home tour! It is crazy to think of all the things we have done, even though it seems as though there is a never ending list of things we want to do. We'll get to all those things eventually, since we do plan to be here for a while. So stick around for even more DIY projects, home improvements, and room makeovers!
Want to see more? Check out our One Year Home Tour here.
Still not satisfied? You can see our Christmas Home Tour here.
