One year (and 2 months) in!!

Has it really been since January that I updated this blog? Time flies when you're in your house!
Since January we have done a number of little house projects and the current goal for this year is to get the whole main floor painted and decorated.
Next years goal is to finish the basement and build a deck.

Anyway, first project back in February was to do a DIY shiplap wall in our family room. The room felt so big and open and bare with that wall especially- and we wanted it to feel more cozy and homey.
Here is what we had before:

 Here is all the wood on the wall- so many people said we should keep it the natural wood and not paint it white- and while it was beautiful it wasn't what I was going for.

 Here is the finished project.

The next project we tackled was the "dining room" in the Milan- but for us its what we call the "kids office or music room". It was a terrible use of the room and became a sort of 'catch all' room where stuff got put and it was so ugly.  A couple weeks ago I was fed up with it and decided to try and make it what I wanted. 

Here it is before

 This was after I just moved everything off the wall- so much better already!!!

Then I painted the entire room and we built a 12 foot long desk (the length of the wall) out of three bookcases I got on clearance at Target and 3 2x6x12s. 

I have a sign ordered to hang on the wall and I will add a bunch of things we already have to make a little gallery and organizational wall over the desk.  Also will eventually get a cozy chair for the corner next to the piano. Thinking of an area rug also. 

Our next project we did just yesterday- I had some leftover shiplap boards from that project in February so I sanded them all last week and finally convinced my husband to help me get them on the wall. I will say this time we did a much better job and it was definitely easier the 2nd time around. I also painted the other walls of the morning room the same agreeable gray that I'm painting most of the main floor of the house. 

Close up of the wall. I love how it draws your eye upwars now and makes the room seem so much taller. 

My favorite thing about the house is the green view from the back windows. I feel like I'm on vacation every day living in such a beautiful place. 

Those are all our finished projects so far. As i type this my husband is at home depot getting all the materials to build us a mudroom bench/locker area. We have never built anything like that from scratch so its going to be an adventure for sure. Hopefully we are able to figure it out without too much wasted time and materials. 

A year and 2 months into our home and we are still loving it!!! ❤