Making a House a Home: 2019 in Review

During the late Summer of 2018 we made a decision to purchase an older home here in our small Midwest city. It might have seemed like a spur of the moment event from the outside, but we had known since we moved into our previous home 5 years before, that we needed a place with more space on one level. We knew that it would need to be a home in an older subdivision close-in town so it would have a bigger yard to accommodate a house that was more square footage in the main living areas. We found a place, but it was not my dream home to say the least. It would require a lot of updating inside and out, but we made a plan to get to work. That takes me to the beginning of 2019.

Stacking Painted Baskets

I'm very fortunate to have a long wall in the Hearth Room that can handle multiple pieces of furniture, and I've made use of it to bring back two vintage pieces I've had for years. I didn't know how they would look together, but I realized I'd need something of a different size and texture to go between the two. 

Candlestick Lamps on the Sofa Table

I love using tabletop and task lighting to give a room a comfortable intimate feeling. In this house it's not only for the ambiance, but mostly because it's dim; ok, sometimes kinda dark. This time of year, with gray and dismal skies, doesn't help to keep things brightened up. I'm not a fan of overhead lighting because it's mostly too harsh, so I realized I needed to have some extra table and floor lamps around here. *This isn't a sponsored post, just sharing my new lamps from a great online source.

A Light and Bright New Entry

This is my first post since we moved in last week, and it's been a busy week for sure. We did this move in stages and it really paid off in our ability to make the transition much easier than other moves. All the interior remodeling has been done and the house was clean and ready with most of the furniture here in place. The best part is that it already felt like "Home". The sun came out today, so I grabbed my camera and took advantage of some wonderful soft Northern light.

A First Look at the Casual Dining Area

Next week is our final move of furniture, and officially we will "move in" and take up residence. We will still have things to go back and pack up at the old house, but our master bedroom furniture, big TV and the rest of the Living Room furniture will be at the new house. Unless we want to camp out on the floor, we'll make the leap to get there! 

Last post I shared how the Hearth Room is coming along and a glimpse of the eating area in the sunroom. All the chairs to this table set aren't here yet, since we're still using 3 of them at the old house. But as I said earlier, I think I have the main pieces out here. The extra little tables and smaller decor are subject to change, though. The corners are hard to decorate out here because of having to be able to reach the blind adjustments, so that's the reason for the larger cupboards having to be placed in front of the windows.

Layering Decor in the Hearth Room

We are getting furniture in place and unpacking "decor" throughout the new place, so I've been trying out ideas and moving pieces around. One of the house projects that made a big difference in looks and functionality in the Hearth Room was a beef-up of the concrete mantel. Not sure why it would have been made of concrete, but the big problem was that it was a very narrow ledge and wasn't proportionate to the size of the fireplace. You can read about that project here. The update is a huge improvement.

New House Journal: First Look at the Sunroom and Armoire

I know to some of you our "move" seems unconventional to put it mildly. Even my husband commented last night that the way we've handled this renovation and the moving process "has been weird". The reno part took far longer than we had ever considered, since we ended up having to do much more work to get things ready to move in.

(I'm laughing when I see in this photo that the little white decorative piece on top of the cupboard had fallen over. It was almost dark when I took this, and I didn't realize it until we'd already left the house, so no time to go back and redo this shot.) 

Warning: Phone Pics Ahead

Antique Sideboard Buffet Makes a Comeback

Hi Friends! Well, we're in the stage right now where we have most of the furniture at the new house, but also a lot of boxes starting to mount up. It's exciting being this close, especially when we see rooms coming together with our favorite pieces.

Here it is with a fresh new look.

New House Journal: Living and Dining Rooms and a New Recliner

We had a busy last week with another partial move and then working over the weekend at the new house. This last trip we got my office furniture, most of the Living Room, more basement stuff, guest bedroom and the big room size rugs for the Living Room and Dining Room that I cleaned last weekend. Phone pics ahead; sorry for the less than perfect images.

New House Journal: Moving little by little

We have one "move" down, probably two more to go. We are using a small moving company that we've used before and found a few guys that we really trust. They are amazingly careful and so far have been able to get some BIG furniture down the stairs. My hubby has taken my office furniture and computer apart for this week's installment, so it may be a bit before I can get pics for posts, other than phone shots.

New House Journal: Laundry Room Update

We didn't do a lot of huge projects here at the new house, but we had a lot of medium and small re-dos. The laundry room/bath was one of the bigger projects. I'll share the "after" photos first so you won't get totally grossed out. If you've ever done a bath renovation you will know what I mean. It can be pretty ugly when you're down to the plumbing and bare walls. This wasn't a flashy makeover, we just wanted a clean fresh look in this space that will be used multiple times a day. Since I don't have a dedicated, guest friendly "powder room", I'm sure this will be a default bathroom that company will wander into.

New House Journal: Hearth Room, Wood Blinds, and a Dated Master Bath

Hi Everyone, I thought I'd check in and let you know what we've been up to this last week or so. We had a great Christmas, but I've just been "off kilter" with this long drawn out mini renovation and move. Since we've only been able to work at the house on weekends, it's taken us since the end of September to get where we are today. We started the Big Clean and moved a few odds and ends this last weekend. Thank Goodness, we're almost there.

(the wires are the cable tv box, and I'm hoping my big armoire will fit there

to house the tv and storage. That wall looks pretty bare right now.)

New House Journal: New Hardwoods and Carpet

This post is probably way more exciting for me personally than for any of you readers, but it's part of my documenting the progress of our new house. When we first walked into the Entry, other than notice the shiny ceilings, was the fact that the formal living and dining rooms were covered in carpet. Now I have nothing against carpet as you will see, but I really wanted hardwood floors this next time around.

New House Journal: Painting the Antique Sideboard Buffet

We've been working weekends at the new house, and I've been spending at least one day a week there working on my own. We tend to work on bigger jobs on the weekends, then I do some things that I can get accomplished on my own without Hubby's help the rest of the week. OK ... some days are just spent doing laundry and resting up for the next round of fun.

New House Journal: Slipcovered Sofa Set and Mantel Makeover

We're making a lot of headway at the new house, with several things coming to completion. The hardwood floors were installed before Thanksgiving and the finish of the carpet install was this afternoon. I'll share those once I get decent pics. Right now I have something hiding underneath plastic drop cloths that I'm anxious to share. One of my favorite things on my check list is the long awaited delivery of my new Slipcovered Sofa Set. Big Yay.

New House Journal: Timber Frame Front Porch

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. We worked most of the weekend painting the laundry/bath and Hearth Room/Kitchen. One project we took on called for some study and investigation. Today,  I'm sharing a little Pinterest inspiration that I gathered, to help me find a solution for a front porch "mini makeover" on our new house. To say I was not a fan of the front porch is an understatement. The house is a long drawn out 60's brick "ranch" that has a lovely setting, but just left me lacking that home-y English Cottage feel that I love.

Pinterest

New House Journal: Painting the Woodwork

These photos are really not blogworthy, because they were taken with my phone and the lighting is so poor in these rooms. The little chandelier is so pretty, but it's throwing shadows on the wall that look mottle-y and dirty. (the walls WERE dirty, I think they must have used a lot of candles or the fireplace soot built up over time) Anyway, it was either using these pics, or waiting until I could get my camera over there. The flooring will be installed next week, so I'll wait and get some better ones when they are in.

Dining Room

A few misplaced things...

Even though we're working on the new house with it pretty much in disarray and a lot going on, I still have that need to scatter a little Fall Decor about. During August and September I was able to get a jump on some packing, especially some of my decor pieces like old dishes and vintage odds and ends. I found a few things that I don't think I'd shared on the blog for awhile so I thought I'd try to use a few of them for the season.

An Encore Autumn Outdoors Tablescape and Getting Started at the New House

It's so hard to believe that it's actually October now... and that it's my favorite time of the year, AND that I don't even have one real pumpkin on my porch. Really... no pumpkins on my porch, real or faux. I DO have some pretty rust colored mums and my orange pillows that I bought last year for the little iron bench. Here are a few pics from several years ago from an outside Fall Tablescape to keep me in a "happy place".

New House Journal: Dining Room Chandy

We're making progress through the process of buying this house. This last week we've negotiated the inspection results; nothing major or deal breaking, just little things that need to be taken care of. This is an older home, built in the 60's, and even though it's been partially renovated there are still lots of updates we need to finish. Looks like it needs a small amount of roof repair, some tree limbs hanging on electrical lines... the things I never wanted to worry about again. We realized a while back that to get the usable space on one level we need, we have to go with an older home. We've researched the new custom home route and that's not something we want to go through now. We don't want to be further out of town, and that's what we'd be getting with a subdivision of new builds. I talked some about our decision making process in my last post. I'm excited about all that's ahead with this big project, but I still feel I need to explain our decision. Maybe I'm still trying to convince myself, haha. I know that sometimes our big life choices are not so easy to make. But then again, that IS life isn't it? Stepping out in Faith to do what we feel God is directing us to do.