Thankful Thursday: Happy House-aversary

 

                Yesterday marked three years since we moved to the lake. Three years in one house. This has to be some kind of a record for us! (Our actual record in one house is just a little over four years.)

                I get all nostalgic when I think about our move to the lake. We’d worked on the house night and day for five months, and we couldn’t believe, on that chilly February morning, that moving day had actually arrived.

                We moved in, unpacked, and took our after pictures. But as I’ve said before on the blog, home never truly has an after. It’s always in process. Always becoming…just like all of us. There are pretty stages, messy stages, and growing stages. We continue to have all those things – both personally and in this house!

                In honor of our third year in this home, I thought I would choose my three favorite changes we made in the last year. Three investments of time and love that we put into this house-turned home.

                The first? New siding. Our siding was damaged, so we saved up and put up something more durable – and more in keeping with a lake home style. We were sure we would like it, but we actually love it so much more than we even thought we would. (Several neighbors stopped by to offer their support to our design changes, so we were glad they liked it too!) We feel like we gifted our home a pretty new dress that shows off who she really is.

                The second? A new window that allows us to appreciate our pretty view even more. This one was Ryan’s vision, and while I didn’t hesitate to trust him, I admit that I am so glad he had this idea. I never would have thought of it, and it is a complete game-changer in appreciating the lake and in inviting natural light to a previously pretty dark room.

                The third? The addition of our little fireplace corner in the dining room. I shared about it here, if you want to see the full story, but it involved an electric stove we already owned, a thrifted fireplace surround, and some brick peel-and-stick wallpaper. It finished a previously mediocre wall, and makes the room feel so polished.

                I love these three love-gifts to our home. Each of them feels like an uncovering of what should have/could have been all along. I’m sure there are more tweaks like these that we can continue to make in the future.

                The diamond in the rough we met three and a half years ago shines a little more with each passing year. We surely do love her.