The Story of Our House: The 1st Year

 

Every house has a story.  I think that’s why we can get so emotionally attached to them—or not, depending on the memories we make there.  It’s hard to believe that we’ve been in our “new” house for a little over a year.  And, I’m realizing I’ve never really shared much of a home tour.  So, here are several of the pictures I snapped the day we closed on the house last June, and some highlights of our family’s first twelve months here.

 

 

 

 

We bought the house from a sweet lady (who I hear checks the blog; I hope she likes our changes!).  She and her late husband built it about twelve years ago, and I could tell there was a lot of love and attention to detail that went into it from the first moment I walked through the door.  As the saying goes, it just had “good bones”.

 

 

 

 

 

This was the formal dining room that we changed into our home office:

 

 

 

 

I loved the spaciousness of the breakfast room and kitchen—for good reason.  We spend lots of time here:

 

  

 

 

The living room (you can see a glimpse of my progress here) . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the master bedroom, which leads to the master bath, which leads to the closet:

 

 

We took down the window treatments and painted the bedroom earlier this year.  See the new color here.

I plan on changing the wallpaper, but I have zero experience with taking it down.  I’ll be sure to blog about that when it happens :)

 

 

 

 

The master closet was a surprise when we first looked at the house, with lots of custom built-ins.  This could be a great “dressing room” some day, but for now, we also use it for baby supplies and the occasional game of hide and seek:

 

 

 

 

The powder room—and most likely my next project:

 

 

 

 

The laundry room with lots of storage, which makes me really happy:

 

 

 

 

One of the kids’ bedrooms—both look basically like this:

 

 

 

 

And, the space I spend the least time in but am probably the most thankful for—our playroom:

 

 

Wouldn’t that window nook be perfect for something like this?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our first “dinner party” the night we moved in:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think I told you that we were in the middle of the Better Homes & Gardens shoot (at the old house) at the same time we were moving.  But, we were so excited to stay here that we slept without any furniture for the first couple of nights :)

 

 

 

 

We also learned that along with mature landscaping comes a lot of work.  My dad spent a whole day of their first visit trapped in our shrubs with a trimmer.

 

 

 

 

During the first year, we’ve had fun celebrating birthdays, 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The colors of the seasons,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holidays,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And “BIG” surprises . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, almost one year exactly after our move-in day, we moved in two new family members:

 

Arriving home from the hospital and slightly scared to death :)

 

 

Thanks for sharing in our first, fun year in this house. 

 

Beach Dreaming

 

We’re back after spending last week at the beach, playing in the water and digging our toes in the sand. . .

 

 

 

 

It made me think about the beach house I would like to have “someday”.  (It never hurts to dream.)

 

 

(the view from our deck)

 

 

 

I would use lots of white paint and natural textures. . .

 

House to Home

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Timothy Whealon Interiors via DecorPad

 

 

And, I would have a little writing loft—overlooking the ocean--where I’d work on my book for a few hours every morning.  (When I “grow up”,  I’d like to write a novel, not a decorating book.  I don’t quite have what it’s going to be about all worked out just yet, but maybe that will come. . .)

 

 Rue Magazine

 

 

 

And, I’ll drink coffee the entire time I work each morning.

 

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After lunch, I’ll go to the beach and play in the waves every day for an hour or two for my exercise.

 

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And, I’ll work on my shell collection.

 

 

 

 

Oh, and since this is my daydream, I’ll also have perfect beach hair like this:

 

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Instead of like this:

 

 

 

 

In late afternoon, I’ll head back to my loft and work on my abstract paintings that look like the sky.

 

 

 

 

And, for good measure, I’ll take a little nap in a corner like this:

 

 

 

 

And, at night, I’ll host fabulous dinner parties on the beach for all of our beach friends :)

 

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Then, I’ll do it all again the next day.

 

Am I the only one whose mind wanders while I’m sitting in the sun? :)

 

If I Had a Dorm Room Do-Over

 

After seeing my home in BH&G, my college dorm roommate sent me a Facebook message asking why in the world I hadn’t used my decorating skills back in the day when we put our sad room together.  That’s a good question. . . Our room was really bad.  (Although we thought it was pretty awesome, at the time, in all of it’s burgundy and hunter green glory.)

 

It seems that dorm rooms have gotten a little more glamorous since then.  Look at this transformation by Kara Paslay Designs that I found in my online searching. 

 

The depressing before. . .

 

 

 

And, the happy after:

 

image source

 

 

My favorite part of the room is this $15 headboard made from an inexpensive (stained) piece of wood and some painter’s tape (sprayed gold).

 

 

This is great as a headboard and could also work on any wall where you need a big graphic piece.  Read more about this project here.

 

 

And, since back-to-school is almost upon us, I put together a collection of fun, colorful pieces for my most recent Houzz ideabook that I would use if I had a “dorm room do-over.”

 

 

 

Okay, confess.  What’s the ugliest thing you did to your dorm room?

Pure Sweetness (Forgive Me)

 

I just have to share my favorite photos from the twins’ newborn session with Lindsay Hart.  She did such a beautiful job, and I’m thrilled she captured their teeny tininess at two weeks.  Can you believe they’re 8 weeks old today?! 

Alright, bear with me, and if you’re still around at the end of this post, there’s some info on a great giveaway :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A big thanks to Lindsay for these photographs.  I’ll cherish them always—especially since I’m sure I won’t remember this sleep-deprived time in our lives very well. 

 

 

Want to learn some of Lindsay’s tricks?  She’s holding a Mom-ography Workshop in Charlotte on August 11th, and she’s giving away one spot in the class.  You can enter either on her blog or Facebook page.