2014 was a fun year. And by fun I definitely mean action packed. Emotional. Bank draining. Exciting. And terrifying.

Caleb and I got engaged in late March of 2014 (after dating for 3 years), bought a house in Sept/Oct, renovated it in basically 90 days, moved all our stuff in it on December 5, and got married on December 7!!

So while the renovating process was like the fastest blip ever, it was also full of some late nights, every night after work. By mostly Caleb, his brother, and their dad.

So, wanna see some before’s haha?? It was REALLY well taken care of, on a great piece of property at the end of a street, cows in the backyard. Pretty dreamy. I have a good gut instinct for things, and I was pretty much sold as soon as I saw it.

Cute right? Well I thought so. We closed on Oct 17. And we started taking down walls the very next day haha.

HI wall and giant wood built ins that I hated taking down.

Without the wall! We had to start work right away because we had less than 60 days to get this done. Caleb had a whole schedule planned out and he worked there every single day after work and all day on weekends to get it looking spiffy.

Thankfully, like I said the house was in great shape, we just had to fix cosmetic things to update it. Cosmetic things still take time too though LOL.

Here’s a list of what we got rid of :

• removed popcorn from the ceilings
• removed old baseboards
• patched the ceiling where we removed that wall separating the living and dining/kitchen area
• removed old carpet
• removed old ceiling fans and lighting

In the kitchen, they had some really well made cabinets that didn’t need to be taken out, so we decided just to have new doors made and to adjust the layout to allow more space and create a more distinct “island” .

We decided to separate the bar sticking out there and make that the island. Here’s a in between pic of the kitchen.

That thing sticking out there is the island that was on the other side. When we took that off, our carpenter was able to add on 1 new upper and 2 new lower cabinets for us.

Things we spiffied up, instead of buying new

• cabinets (only the doors were new, such a cheaper route and no one can tell!)
• spray painted closet doors
• painted all the room doors
• kept some of the wood paneling in the dining room, just painted it!

List of new stuff

• counter tops
• flooring – we went with a wood laminate that has held up really well
• baseboards and window trim (makes a huge difference)
• french doors to the back porch
• 1 new ceiling fan
• recessed lighting in the kitchen
• hanging light over the sink
• hanging light over our dining room table

We honestly didn’t do a whole lot else when we initially got in here. Both of our bathrooms needed love but we didn’t have the budget or time to tackle those. We did end up redoing our guest bathroom so I’ll do a separate post about that later! It’s very pretty and I’m in love with it. Lotta white and black.

Ok, wanna see some afters?

We didn’t do this outside work right when we moved in, it took a while, and still needs some work. We whitewashed the brick with a white paint/water mixture that surprisingly worked pretty well. Caleb built and stained the wood shutters and added those to the windows. He also built a window box for little shade plants on the porch. I’m supposed to keep those alive, but I don’t so pray for me that I can be better about that.

We painted the double front doors (which are so charming by the way, we love them) a really nice teal that I’m still obsessed with 4 years later.

Caleb also wrapped the the metal columns in wood and stained them to match the shutters. We did some other work on the porch and I’ll maybe highlight that later too.

OK – INSIDE AFTERS!!

She’s not big, but she’ll do. Subway tile, walnut island, black appliances, white cabinets.

Obsessed with this window at the sink that looks out to our back porch and yard. Perfect for when the kiddos are over and I’m busy in the kitchen. Also perfect for spotting baby cows while washing dishes. Also pictured is my kitchen oil stash (I have multiple) and my FAV Thieves cleaner that I use to clean literally everything.

Pretty crazy to think that there was a wall separating these two rooms. See where those 2 air vents are on the ceiling? That’s where the wall was LOL! Also notice that I have decorated the house like 3% since we moved in 4.5 years ago haha!! I have serious analysis paralysis and also a strict budget, so I basically will have the house decorated by the time we move out in 40 years.

Loooooove those framed pictures on the green wall; a combo of a couple pictures Caleb took while we were in Georgia last year and my favorite wedding picture. Caleb built us 2 different tables. The first he liked, but didn’t love so we ended up moving that one to the back porch. This is the 2nd and we love love love it.

You can see those french doors leading to the porch and a peek at the other table built. The kitchen cabinets start 2 inches to the right of the edge of the doors. The dining and kitchen are very close but it works really well when we have friends over.

Thats basically it for what we redid. I still don’t have the bedrooms styled out the way I would like and we’re working on redoing our office here soon. Still a lot of projects coming, so when those are finished, I’ll fill ya in!

If you have any questions about sources or paint colors, just let me know!