Happy New Year, y'all!
2017 was a year of big changes for us. Most notably, my husband started his non-profit for military veterans,
Act6 Missions, and we moved from what we believed would be our "forever home" into our current house. These two events caused joy, stress, excitement and hope for the future, tears and grief for the past, and all other sorts of emotions. I am hopeful that 2018 will be our year of rest and reflection as we learn where our journey will next take us. But that is all a story for another time.
Once we realized we would be moving, I hired a photographer to take pictures of our home, specifically the spaces we had worked on the most to make our own, as well as pictures of our girls playing in their rooms. I wanted for them to be able to look back and remember this house, and how much we loved it - it was the house in which we became a family of 4, and it was the first house that felt like home to me after my mom passed away. We have moved several times over the last 14 years, and while we have loved them all, this house was special. We spent many late nights working on projects, painting rooms, dreaming up plans for the future, etc. It drew us closer together, and deepened our connection to our home.
Our kitchen was one of my favorite rooms. I sure am missing all that counter space!
We were lucky that the previous owners did the major renovation work, so all we had to do was come in and make it our own. The major changes throughout the house were:
- paint (the entire exterior, most walls, some cabinets, our daughter's ceiling)
- lighting in all rooms (including my favorite Sloane pendants, shown above the kitchen island)
- custom woodwork (board & batten with a picture ledge in the nursery, beadboard in the laundry, pantry, & garage entry, and a faux shiplap mudroom nook)
- the addition of built-in bookcases in three rooms (the living room, the dining room, and my oldest daughter's room, seen below)
Some of these changes were due to our participation in the One Room Challenge. You can see the befores and afters of our dining room
here, laundry room
here, and guest bedroom in the basement
here.
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| DIY Canvas Art in our oldest daughter's room |
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| One Room Challenge Basement Guest Bedroom |
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| One Room Challenge Laundry Room |
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| One Room Challenge Dining Room |
Thanks for taking the trip down memory lane with me! We loved so much about that home that it is still bittersweet to see these pictures and write this post. The fun part is looking back at what I would have changed if we had stayed long term, and then applying those insights to our new home. Most important are the other three people who live within these walls, and that together we have made each of these houses a home. ❤
