The Big 6: Reflections on another year of home ownership

Happy Wednesday everyone! Hard to believe it’s May already but I hope you all had a lovely Mother’s Day weekend. I’ve had the privilege to be a stepmom to a fantastic kid for the last 3 years, but this year it was especially sweet since I celebrated with my little one who arrived in February. Enough about me and the baby though. It feels so good to dust off the keyboard and (attempt to) get back into the rhythm of blogging, or at least as much of a rhythm as it can be with a new baby.

When I’m not completely sleep-deprived, I’m planning out the laundry list of projects for hubby and me once the weather warms a bit more and we’re clear of this seemingly eternal COVID quarantine. (Hint: it involves a lot of building.)

April marked 6 years since we bought this little train wreck of a house and started wading through all the remodeling mayhem.

This past weekend I was browsing through the pictures from when we first moved in and it’s hardly the same house! In case you missed all our “under construction” posts, projects from the last year we had the master bathroom as well as the rec/office space redone and added a nursery for our baby girl.

Even after all that though, it still feels like there is a great deal more to do. Granted, a large portion of that to-do list is simply the odds and ends of home ownership with a handful of DIY improvement projects sprinkled throughout.

My agenda of “things I’d like to do” has morphed into “what NEEDS to be done” with a side of ” how can I make it pretty on a budget”. Take the kitchen for example. It fits into both need and want categories and needs a ton of work. Doing it on a tight budget is another thing entirely. In the meantime, my dream projects list gets smaller every year. This won’t be our forever home so at some point I need to put a cap on the home improvements. If we did everything on that list we’d be here another 10 years and – let’s be real – nobody here wants that. (Note to self – next house will not be a fixer-upper. At least not *this* much of a fixer-upper.)

But as I’ve said before, all the pain and headaches are somehow worth it. I look back at how much has changed in our time here and I’m not just talking about the house. I’ve become someone who gets excited about paint colors, light fixtures, and trips to Home Depot. Of course, this remodel has been a crazy, confusing learning process, in a strange way I’m thankful for it, even if I’m not entirely sure why.

Now the next task will be lawn and garden care with a baby in tow. I’d welcome any suggestions you might have.

Until next time!