our humble {housiversary}

Last week we passed the year mark, here at our humble little abode. It's gone fast, and I think we've come a long way with making this the house we hoped it could be. It's been a fun little start to our journey here, and we have lots more we still want to do.

When we saw this house our old house wasn't even on the market yet. We were trying to decide what to do and I found the MLS listing for this home:

Maybe you can imagine why my hubby wasn't too interested to come and check it out. It lacked curb appeal. It had been unoccupied for a year or so. We wanted a home with lots of character, we wanted a perfect area. We took a drive from the suburbs of Salt Lake where we lived to this small town, it feels like "the country" compared to where we were before.

It was about 400 square feet smaller than our previous home, we went from 3800 sq ft to about 3400. Everything was beige inside, a blank slate, but definitely lacking in charm and architectural details that we love. It had a bigger back yard, we went from .25 to .35, which was a plus for us. It backs a fenced canal that runs from a canyon, but the plus is that it's being put underground starting this month, and a bike/running trail is going over the top of it, which is a big plus for us, we can't wait to take our bikes right out through the backyard and onto a trail that goes for a long way into a canyon.

The first time we drove through the neighborhood I knew I wanted this house. There were kids all over the place, super nice neighbors, and I just felt like I could see myself calling it home. I joke that we bought this house for the park down the street with tall trees and a little creek that runs through it. I'm half serious about that. I wanted it before I even saw the inside and we kind of agreed that it would take something really bad inside to change our minds, like a terrible floor plan or something that couldn't be changed. But we walked through and though it was plain, we saw potential.
A year later we still have a long way to go, but it's closer to what we hoped it could be.

Here's a look back at all that has changed over the past year.

From the main pictures you can see the shutters we made, so I won't re-post those pictures.

We replaced the cheapie blinds that were all over the house in most rooms, I still have bathrooms and the living room left to replace.

Front Door
before:

after:

Formal living room
before:
after:
I haven't touched this room at all, aside from putting things in it, no paint or anything else has been changed yet. As you can see, we use it more as a living room/office combo. when the basement is finished the desk will go down into a real office and I have a piano that my grandma gave to my mom and now my mom is passing it to me. It needs refinishing, but I'm really excited about it. we'll put that in here and I'm not sure what else we'll do with this room.

Big Boy Room
before:
after:


Little Boy's Room
before:
after:
(his room has changed even since these pictures, he moved into a twin bed and out of the crib.)


Master Bedroom



The master bedroom is almost finished, I'm waiting for a nightstand on back order, and still working to solve my chair problem mentioned last week. :)

Family Room

I haven't done much with the family room, I'm kind of waiting for the basement to be finished, then I plan on sending these couches down stairs and starting fresh with something lighter upstairs. I feel like I need a fresh pair of eyes in this area, I'm not 100% sure of the direction I want to go, but I have time and it's okay for now.


Basement
before:
after:
we are getting so close down there! We've actually progressed past the point of this picture, the walls and ceilings are all primed and painted.

The hubby and I went down last night and put extra breakers in all by ourselves! We have a little bit more electrical work to do, trims, doors, banister and stair stuff and then the big one, carpet and then all done! I can't wait to start enjoying it!

Backyard

after:
It speaks for itself. Grass is about the best thing that happened to us all summer long! We love it. Scott did the sprinkling system himself, I helped dig some trenches, but he did most of that. We chose to hydro-seed and we were amazed at how fast it grew! We are hoping to build a pretty pergola over the patio next summer!

So the things I hope to do in the near future:
We've had hardwood floors in our past homes and really love the look and practicality of it. I have visions of something like this throughout the main floor:

of course lots more trim work, of course finishing the basement and moving our leather furniture down stairs, slipcovered couches for upstairs, move my piano in, figuring out what I want out of the family room, and of course I will always be imagining taking my kitchen from this:
to this:

or something close to it, consider this a conceptual drawing. :)

I have lots of other little things planned, and the more we get into it, the more I'm loving it!

Happy Housiversary to us!