Turning a House into a Home

Anyone who knows me (or just facebook stalks me) knows that I am ALWAYS doing something around my house. I have painted every room in my house at least twice and feel the need for change quite often. I've definitely been learning a lesson in being content over this last year or so. Although I love my job very much, selling real estate has definitely taken my itch for a new house up a notch (and it was a pretty strong itch before that too...). It's been a struggle to find contentment in my house each day. At first I wasn't even sure if I wanted to pray for it. I would have rather just prayed for a new house, but I know that right now just isn't the right timing for us. So I've finally decided to embrace my house and start to fall in love with it again. I think the key to this is realizing that it's not about the actual house I live in, but instead I need to put my focus on making it the best "home" possible. It's not about the actual walls of my house, but about the love and care we put into it. I am very blessed to have it and I'm sure God has been less than pleased with my ungrateful heart. It definitely is something that won't change overnight, but I am taking a step in the right direction each day when I make a decision to be grateful for the blessings in my life!!

I don't know how long we will be here, but I do know that whether it's six months or six years, I will be thankful that I have a home of my own and I will spend each day making it a place I love to live in.

So with that being said, a lot of people on facebook keep asking me for some updated pics of my latest renovations (like my shutters and my home office)... so here are some pics of the house as it is right now. But every other room in my house is currently in the middle of some project.... literally!  I still have LOTS to do, so stay tuned....

 Okay so here is the before picture of the house....  the previous owner apparently LOVED blue.  Not only was the front of the house blue, but also the kitchen countertops were royal blue laminate, and the back deck was painted light blue.  The counters and deck were both changed a long time ago, we just never seemed to get to the outside.... until now!!!

And the new front of our house!!!  Soooo much classier!!!  (Keep in mind, it's not a good time to take pictures since most of my flowers are not in bloom in the fall.... but it's not too bad!!)

Close up of the front door!  The light and ugly blue numbers still have yet to be changed.  That should hopefully be done soon and I will post new pictures of them once the get replaced!!

So for this picture, I must give a Big shout out to my wonderful Mother-in-law, who heard me say that I wanted a mum for my front porch (if you can consider that a porch...)  Anyway, the very next morning, she got me a mum!!!  :)

And now for the office.......

Here is my beloved workspace!!!

And a close-up of my "inspiration board"!  No matter how bad my day may be, I can always look up and smile when I see this!  The picture at the top is of my grandparents fifty years apart.  And the one on the right was just a few months before my Grandpa passed away so it is very special to me and it reminds me of what true love should look like!!

And then there's Miah's space in my office!  As a work at home mom, I need to have an area for Miah to play in my office, or it just wouldn't be practical.  And yes, I know this chair looks quite silly so low to the ground, but one of the legs broke off of it ew months ago, thanks to one of my husbands friends(we still love you Winsor!!)... so it didn't turn out to be as easy of a fix as we thought... but now it is perfect "Miah-size" and she LOVES it!!  So function wins out over style on this one! :)

And the rest of Miah's play space.... her kitchen set that Jerry's aunt found free along the road last week!  We cleaned it up and now it works perfectly in my office!  I don't handle toys in my living room very well,  unless they can be hidden....

And my cute little window display.  I think it's my favorite part of my office!!  I love the way the blind and curtain turned out!! :)

And my closet may not be real attractive, but it's super organized and I love it!!! I like knowing that everything has a place, it makes me happy!!