My husband and I have been married for 31 years. In that time, we've lived in nine different places. We've been in this home the longest. And I love it here. I love the area. I love how close we are to things here, yet we live in the country. It really is perfect.
After our two oldest sons moved out, we talked about what we should do. Should we downsize to a smaller home? Or should we renovate?
Given the housing market these days, we opted to stay where we are and just make the house work better for our current situation.
Our main floor is open. It's a big circle with a small entry. Once you walk in, the house opens up to the kitchen, living room, den, and dining room - in one large circle.
The den served its purpose years ago. It was our homeschooling room, and I had a desk there for a number of years. In the last few years though, it really became a dead space almost. It had my printer, two pianos (one small upright and one electric piano) and some bookshelves. Plus we had two empty bedrooms upstairs.
Our home is roughly 22 years old. I'm pretty sure the carpet is original. And it was definitely showing its age. The first thing we decided to do was have it replaced with snap-laminate flooring.
Next, we determined my office would be in the den area. My husband would convert one of the upstairs bedrooms to his office. And the second empty bedroom would become our guest room/music room.
Then the work began. Most of it was done by a contractor while we were at Author Nation in November. They did the following updates:
Removed carpet from four rooms and put down new flooring
Installed a new window in our dining room that looks out over our driveway
Painted two rooms
When we returned from our trip, I foolishly thought I'd just need to unpack and we'd be good to go. I forgot that most of items I had packed before the trip, now needed new homes. Yikes!
For the last five weeks, we have:
Stained the new window trim
Painted the dining room and living room
Purchased new furniture that all needs to be assembled
Purchased new area rugs
Began to unpack
Check out all the "during photos" below.
And today was a huge win for me! I managed to get the dining room put back together. I also moved all the boxes out of the kitchen where they have been living. Most are put away, but I still have a couple more bookcases to build so there are a few boxes of books in my office waiting.
I'll be sharing more home renovation photos as I complete rooms.
Comment and let me know what you think about home renovations. I'd love to hear from you.
Evelyn
What a lovely room!! I appreciate the hard work it takes to live in a home while you renovate/finish....we've done it 3 times (with no contractor) prior to where we live now! One definitely has the feeling of "accomplishment".