ONE year later in This Whole House.

A little over ONE year ago, July 4th, 2013 weekend we moved into our first home here at the beach.  After nearly 2.5 years of renting, we were ready for the undertaking of renovating an old home and turning it into a home of character and style.  Although the journey has not been as quickly as hoped, I am amazed to look back over the first year and see what all we have accomplished.  I think it's important to do this in all areas of our life... it reminds us of the many blessings that outweigh the circumstances that try to bring us down. 

I remember moving day felt a lot like a game of Tetris.  Lots of stuff with no where to go.  I think I cried a few times from all of the emotions.  Thankfully Pastor Sam gave me a big hug that day and told me how much he loved my house.  Even if it were a lie, I needed to hear that.

You can see all of the BEFORES on closing day of This Whole House (here). 

Just two days after this picture was taken we celebrated a sweet ONE year olds birthday.  

I think we managed to clean it up pretty well.  Just hope no one looked in the garage that day. :)

We soon found out that the previous owner of our new home, had 4 German Shepherds, hence the horrendous smell in the garage.  First step was a good pressure washing and painting the brick.  It took the smell right out and thanks to my father-in-law we had some free labor.

We purchased speciality paint from Sherwin Williams so that the brick would not absorb the paint.

 

Then, the doors.  Which I was able to do.

See the gray brick.  Made such a huge difference and made the garage feel much cleaner and bigger.   There are still some things we plan to do to make this space more suitable for Wade Nagy and his many tools.

A chalk board door for the kiddos to play.  

Since they love playing in the garage instead of our huge backyard.

Next came the homeschool room/ office.  

And who could forget that my first born gave her life to the Lord just 3 days into homeschooling and was baptized at the beach just a few weeks later.  Read this post (here).

This whole house was full of character (hear the sarcasm) when we bought it.

Our first Christmas and our first fire.  I love a real fireplace and I have never had one.  Until now.

The free pallet projects which you can read about (here).

I found myself painting lots of furniture and received lots of questions from readers,

 so you can find my Chalk Paint Tutorial (here) and the details of this awesome Play Closet (here).

DIY projects like this one (here) kept me busy throughout the winter months and the girls are so excited about sticking a red nose on this new friend at Christmas time.  

I am actually looking forward to that too. :)

We had lots of parties, play dates and celebrations, including this popular post (here) about our Frozen Party that we had for our 6 year old daughter. 

My little ballerinas completed their first full year of dance.  They made mommy and daddy so proud.  

You can see more pictures and my thoughts behind them (here).

Soon Spring arrived and the deck furniture needed some love.  Here is one of the chairs that I sanded, stained (color: Gunstock) and added a few Target Outdoor Pillows (here) which made this oldie look brand new.  

Wade Nagy built this chair back in 2002.  It's one of my favorites.  

And with all the mad skills my hubby has, Wade Nagy started his own company this year.  

River Oak Construction and Design, LLC.

LIKE our Facebook page (here) to see the latest designs.

This was one of his spring projects.  An outdoor shower.  

Now I want one.

Painting the fireplace was a last minute idea before a wedding shower at our house.  

You can read about this post (here) and find out about the frustration I had while painting brick.

And finally, sometime in October, we will welcome home our 4th daughter, Porter Rae.

Therefore, our focus right now will be turning this room into a room for TWO little girls.  

I cannot wait to show you the final reveal in a few weeks!

Thanks for following our journey.  

I would love to hear your comments and ideas.