Making Someone Else’s House Your Home

That’s what your doing when you buy a house from someone isn’t it?  Your making what was someone else’s home your own.  It takes time and it takes a while before your new place starts to really feel like home.  Or at least that’s always been my experience.  I’m just now after over 2 years in this house starting feel like this is “our home”.

I think it’s easy as a design enthusiastic diy’er to look around your home and see all those things you still want to do.  It’s not that you don’t appreciate what you have; but because of the love of “making it home” you can’t help but notice the “unfinished” spaces.

I didn’t start this blog until after we had already moved in and had been living in the house for a few months.  One of the things that I’ve always regretted is that I didn’t take any pictures on move-in day.

Imagine how surprised I was when I decided to look up real estate listings in our area (I do this every now and again just to see what’s on the market) and stumbled across the online listing of our house complete with a virtual home tour!  The listing shows that the house has been sold, but I guess it stays active for awhile?  I guess once something is on the Internet it stays out there forever – kinda scary for a blogger huh?

Anyhow, take a look at what our family room looked like when we toured this house.

Here’s what the room looks like now.

This room is close to being done – or as done as it gets around here.  I’m amazed at how much progress we’ve made in the “making it our own” department.  One of the biggest changes to this room was whitewashing the brick fireplace.  That one change made a world of difference and brought in so much light to this room.

We refreshed the wall color, painted the fireplace wall a different color, had the carpet replaced with bamboo floors,  stenciled some drop cloths for curtain panels, and had new doors installed and painted black.  
While I still have a few things left on my to-do list, it feels good to look back and appreciate all that has been done.  
Just for fun, here’s what the dining room looked like. 
And here’s what it looks like now. 
Except I added stripes to the lamp shades…….
                     
and got a new rug.  You can get a full run-down on all the projects completed in this room here
It’s good to do, but it’s also good to sit back and appreciate.  My mom quoted scripture a lot when I was child, and she always liked to remind me (when I would complain about house chores and homework) of Ecclesiastes 3:1 – There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.  This is our last weekend of summer.  School starts on Wednesday.  The unfinished projects can wait.  This is the time to celebrate, live it up, soak up the last few lazy summer days, and enjoy what has already been done! 
Have a great weekend.  I’ll be back Monday! 


*Linking up at Thrifty Decor Chick 

Share this

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest

you might also love

  • LOVE this post. And your house is A-MAZING! Truly. And I've been feeling the end-of-summer thing too – time to go live those last days to the fullest, hit the pool, the beach, the snowball stands and HAVE FUN! Enjoy! XO, Liz@NaptimeDecorator

  • well said. just broke my hand, so i've been trying to just sit back and appreciate what's done around me. i keep reminding myself i have the school year to dive in again. thanks for this post, very timely for me!

  • What a great transformation! We're moving into a condo next week with a lot of dated features and wallpaper in pretty much every room that has to go! I'm a little overwhelmed with all that has to be done but I'm excited too. Especially after looking at your pics. Great job. Love your style!

  • I love the changes you've made! It's like a "House Hunters" before and after, bloggy version! The black doors, floors and fireplace are fantastic! You've really done a lot in a hort amount of time (we're coming up on two years too!). We must be cut from the same cloth, because I dug up real estate photos too, and had a lot of fun with the comparison.

  • Ummmm…..can you say…..amazing photography? That picture with the leather couch literally took my breath away. I felt like I was looking at a room in Anthro.

    You are amazing.

    🙂 me

  • Carmel, this is a great post because it speaks to what we all feel when we move: a sense of loss for the comfy home we had, and then trying to make a new house feel like a home. That's exactly how I felt when we bought this house 1.5yrs ago. I stil feel that way! There was a lot we had to do: take down wallpaper, deal with mildew smells (our house still smells a bit funky), and just trying to decorate after moving from a small 2br condo to a big 4br house. There is always something to do to make it feel more like home! Lol

    Serena
    Thrift Diving
    http://www.ThriftDiving.com

  • Wow, I just LOVE your style. You clearly have an eye for mix and matching fun eclectic elements that look really cohesive and put together! Love it!

  • here from Thrifty Decor – your room looks amazing! Love the colors – what a difference! Great job. Your dining room looks great too. Lots of inspiration – thanks 🙂

  • I swear you have been channeling my mind all the way from Indiana!! I have been looking for a rug with that exact style in a vibrant red! I just bought black and cream plaid houndstooth fabric with a small red pinstripe from Etsy the other day! I'm also looking for a ceramic horse head as I'm trying to work with a contemporary, eclectic, equestrian feel in our cardboard box of a living room. Can you tell me where you found your ceramic horse head?

  • Want to be a Fifth House Insider?

    Get the latest updates, exclusive content and behind the scenes photos delivered to your inbox weekly!