A few house before and afters

Next week it will be a year since we closed on our house, which is kind of mind boggling.  I feel like we've only been here a handful of months.  Where does the time go, already?!  Anyway, I thought it might be time to take a look at some of the things we've done to our new place - it helps me switch my focus from my to-do list and feel good about our what we've already done.  I should mention first and foremost that Jon (and his dad) updated almost all our electrical wiring over the past year, which has been VERY time consuming - there was some very weird stuff happening with the wiring.  I'm so glad that's (almost) done, and now we can focus more on things that aren't hidden behind the walls.  Yesssss!

So here we are right after closing, almost a year ago:

I can guess what the poor guy is thinking, because I was thinking the exact same thing!

And, a few after photos:

Gratuitous cat photo. You're welcome. :)

Some thoughts on what we've done so far:  

1) We LOVE the look of the polished concrete floor in the living room, but it isn't holding up well at all.  {{insert me sobbing}}  I'm not sure if that's because we live in a damp, humid area, or if the finish we went with wasn't right.  I'm not actually sure what we'll do to remedy this - we've been looking at putting in hardwoods, but of course that's big $$$.  {{more sobbing}} Or maybe we'll have it done professionally?  For now, it looks really great...from a distance.

2) The painted tile and vinyl flooring might be the best thing I've done so far.  It's durable and neutral, both a win in my book.  We are currently shopping for a new kitchen flooring, but since we won't be tearing our the tile in the rest of the entry way/dining area, like ever, thank goodness we thought to paint it.  

3) Paint.  I've always been all about the color all the time (anyone remember my lime green bathroom?) so it felt a little risky to go with a white palette for our new home.  But, I love it so much.  The space is light and airy and it makes me happy.  Henry likes to tell me that it's very modern. :P

In the works:  I'm currently painting Henry's room - Havah's room was finished last month.  Jon is gutting the powder room and hopefully will be finished this month.  We'll put new flooring in the homeschool room and kitchen this fall (fingers and toes double crossed).  I can't wait to post more pictures of those projects soon!