One Year House Anniversary

Today is our one year anniversary of owning our house. We have worked all year to try and make it "ours." We both had visions of what we wanted and I think it has really turned out nicely. There are still lots of projects that need finishing, and lots that need starting. We have loved having our friends and families here, and we hope they have loved being here just as much. And for those of you who haven't been able to visit, remember our door is always open and there is always sweet tea in the fridge. Thanks to everyone who has helped us make this house our home!

Here are a few pictures of some of the projects we have finished....


The front yard landscaping. If you want to see the whole thing, go here.



This was our first project - Jeni's kitchen. I love my kitchen. I have always wanted a red kitchen. (red=passion and cooking is one of my passions, go figure.) The first thing to go was the linoleum floor tiles that they put up as a back splash. UGH! They were ugly and made a mess of the walls as we pulled them down. But it all worked out, as it always does.

Thanks to red-headed Kelli from bringing me my "Indulge" sign. It's one of my favorite things in my kitchen. Actually in those two pictures you can see a lot my favorite things - my pot rack that is very well traveled, my All-Clad, my Gail Pittman pottery, my lady corkscrew from our German friends, Urs and Kirsi, the lights under the cabinets, and my little flip down TV.



Then came the living room...We wanted all of the rooms on the first floor to flow together. The kitchen and the living room share two adjoining walls so we tried to use colors from the same family. I wish I had a better picture of the living room, but we let a friend use our camera this weekend, so I'm stuck with what I have saved.


And the dining room, our labor of love. As many of you know it took us five days to complete this project. The results make it worth every minute. I have wanted to do this technique for years and finally got the chance. I love it!


To be honest the only room in the house that I didn't want to change when we first moved in was the master bedroom. Unfortunately they didn't leave us any extra paint, and I really couldn't find a comforter that I liked to match. I did however find this one, and we took the colors from it to paint the walls, ceiling and bathroom (and the closet as soon as it starts to cool down). I'm still working on trying to find a fabric for the curtains. And bedroom furniture, well that's a long story.


Master bathroom. The Charleston themed border had to go. (Once again I wish I had a better "after" picture...)


Guest Bathroom. After the kitchen this was the room that I most wanted changed. And what a pain the butt it was -- the clouds painted with high gloss paint, the coat after coat of primer, and finally the finished project. Now I want to change the color to something lighter...you would think I would just be happy that it's not a lighthouse room anymore.


And finally our deck....I love it. One of my favorite parts is the smell of fresh herbs - rosemary, basil, chives--yum. I do have a post with all the changes we made to the back yard, but I haven't finished all the labels. I hope to have that up next week.

Once again, thanks to everyone who has came, visited, celebrated birthdays, holidays, or just sat on the deck, had a cold beer and a good laugh.