I just love the holiday season and this year is our first Christmas in our first home (ooh – which means I should look for a new ornament – lol) so I couldn’t wait to decorate!
However, we spent the first five years of our marriage living in a small apartment so decorations were slim in comparison to the amount of space we have now! But we decided to try to make the most of it! However, next year I plan to go all out so this chick will be up bright and early the day after Christmas looking to score deals on decorations!
For me what makes looking at our decorations so much more exciting is to know what our house looked like 6 months ago! We bought a foreclosure (scored the most AMAZING deal!) and while the previous owners didn’t trash the place when they left we still had quite a bit of work to do (the previous owners must have had a thing for cheap paint and a hatred of painters tape).
So here is our holiday home tour!
We can start outside!
After moving in, we painted the front door red, installed a new storm door (which totally kicks butt), and painted the shutters! So far we only have a pretty wreath on the door but next year I envision mini trees on the porch and simple wreaths on all the windows!
Next onto our living room!
After moving in, we painted using Valspar paint in Drizzling Mist, put down laminate floor, and added window treatments! We love this space and spend so much of our time here! I love our photo wall! This year we have a slim pre-lit tree but I’m hoping for a big fat one next year and we’ll move this one to the playroom. Thanks to my asthma and Abby’s allergies, real trees are a bust so we’ll be sticking to artificial!
Probably the biggest change is our kitchen!
Ok so there aren’t a lot of Christmas decorations in this space to show off (just a cute Moose and snowman) but I just had to share the change! We painted the cabinets, put down new floorings, and just completed the countertops (I have a post coming up on Saturday about the transformation! It was SO easy!). Next year I hope to be able to add a touch of sparkle to this space. I have collected Holly Mountain Lodge dishes but have never really been able to utilize them so hopefully next year we’ll have a kicking party to showcase our space!
There you have it! Hopefully next year I will really have a classy yet modern space to show off! I love being a homeowner! Even though it does take more spoons 🙂
And if you haven’t noticed my house isn’t the only thing that has been renovated! What do you think of the new blog design?
Love the new blog design! Your kitchen looks amazing, by the way. Both in real life and in photos. But I think the photo wall is my favorite aspect.
Katie
Thanks Katie!
Thank you so much for sharing. Your home is lovely and the amount of work you’ve done is totally impressive. I’d love to have your kitchen!! Have a wonderful holiday in your new home!
Thank you so much!!! I feel so proud to be able to share our home!
Such a difference between the before and after. Wish I would have done the same. We had purple, pink, red, and black rooms when we moved in.
That ugly brown was in most of the rooms but we had a neon turquoise one too! Which we still see peaks of unfortunately! I’m really happy with our color choices though. I think gray makes a great neutral!
Wow, the house looks great! Congratulations! How did you manage so much work?? We’ve been in our house for 16 years and have only recently gotten curtains. We’ve painted a grand total of 4 rooms in that time (2 were small bathrooms).
Glad you’re enjoying your new house!
Sue
Sue – we were lucky to have help before we moved in! But for 3 weeks prior to our move we basically lived at the new house working until late at night trying to get ready! My husband did the majority of it (especially the floors) but I tried to do what I could to help out!
Love the new blog and the house! Your kitchen is outstanding! (and I’m jealous..Mine needs updating so bad)
your kitchen is fab!!! 🙂 excellent job.
i was excited about decorating in mynew home for the first christmas but i have stinky boys remodeling my bathroom so it’ll have to wait until next year. 🙁
Those counters turned out incredible! Thank you so much for sharing!
Thanks Jen!