Hi Friends!
Every year, before we start planning for the new year, I like to pause and look back at the year we’ve just had. One of my favorite reasons in looking back, is I’m reminded of all the progress we have made in and around our house. I vowed to myself when we moved here that I would take my time to savor each transformation, but sometimes I grow impatient with “taking my time”, longing to see more results, faster. Reflecting helps me appreciate all the time and energy I did put in last year, while also giving me fresh motivation for the year ahead.
Come and see ~
In comparing the projects we actually completed around our house vs. the goals post I shared at the beginning of last year, there was really only one goal that was nearly completed, lol. But instead of feeling discouragement, I recognized that while things didn’t end going according to how I thought they would, we ending up tackling some bigger projects that initially were not part of the plan.
The Kids Hallway
I shared this project in my Goals post at the beginning of 2024. I started by giving the trim a fresh coat of bright white paint (I shared about my favorite trim paint HERE). Then proceeded to paint all the walls White Heron by Benjamin Moore. My husband built me some photo ledges so that I could put up some family photos that used to hang on the staircase in our previous home.
I also painted the interior doors a very soft gray-beige color called Gossamer Veil by Sherwin-Williams and limewashed the exposed brick on the opposite wall. We plan to tackle one more feature in this hallway within the next couple of weeks, and then I will share the full reveal.
Renovating our Back Porch
This past year we also began renovating our back porch. We had been talking about tackling this project, but we weren’t 100% if it was something we were going to do last year or start this year. This project ended up consuming the bulk of our time and energy last year, lol, but we are so glad we started it.
Progress :
We still have to rebuild the screened-in porch section, paint the trim, and stain the deck boards once they are ready. I shared the Design Plan – HERE, and a lot of the progression of the demo and rebuilding process – HERE, along with answering questions as to why we chose what we did when it came to rebuilding it. I can’t wait to finish up the final steps, along with furnishing it and using it once the warmer weather arrives. You can see below how I styled it for fall, even though we aren’t quite finished yet.
Garden Upgrades
Along with adding more plants and vegetable varieties to our raised blueberry bush garden bed this year, we also added two obelisks in the front boxes. They are currently in stock on Amazon – HERE, but are very hard to come by once the warmer weather is upon us. I love the addition they make to our raised bed garden, and I can’t wait to see how the spring bulbs I planted this past fall come up in the spring. You can read more about planting spring bulbs HERE.
Home Office Built Ins
Another big project was completed last year with the installation of our new home office built-ins by our friends at Built-In NH. Similar to the back porch renovation, it wasn’t on our initial list for 2024, but the opportunity presented itself, and we jumped at the chance of getting it completed. We still have more plans for furnishing and finishing our home office, but below, you can see what this wall looked like before :
Read about our Home Office Design Plan HERE.
New Kitchen Cupboard
One space in our house that I wanted to change immediately was the built-in desk area in our kitchen. Even though I love having modern appliances and updated cabinets in our kitchen, I still want to include pieces that complement the historic period of when our house was originally built. I’ve always loved old antique hutches, and I knew this wall space in our kitchen would be the perfect spot for one. After almost four years of searching, I finally found the perfect one. Or you could say it found me, since it was a Facebook Marketplace find. Last month we removed the desk cabinets, patched the walls and ceiling, had the hardwood flooring patched underneath, and the space was finally ready for us to move in the hutch.
Here is what that process looked like :
See more of our New Kitchen Cupboard HERE.
Looking back over the past year we completed some big projects that have been on our to-do list since moving into this house. Along with a lot of other ones that I didn’t highlight in the round-up above. I love to make lists, and cross things off of them, but I think last year was a perfect example of sometimes things go as planned, and sometimes other plans come along instead. I may not have crossed everything off of my list from 2024, like tackling our pantry (hopefully that will happen this year), but we did tackle some bigger projects that I am so happy to have started.
I also tackled a SECRET project last year I have yet to share with you! I shared this photo on Instagram last spring after a long winter of sitting at this desk for many hours to complete it.
Some of you guessed what it was, but I wanted to wait to share the official announcement. I will be sharing more about the secret project I was working on this week! So stay tuned 🙂
