Oh brother. I have at least six posts started that never got finished and are too late now to make any sense… and I did start writing this on her actual half birthday/day-we-actually-moved-into-our-house-anniversary but I’ll post it anyways because THIS IS A BIG DEAL! One whole year of His AMAZING provisions and one and a half years of having the biggest bundle of joy in our lives! So here ya go – late post and all, thanks for bearing with me ;)

My baby girl turned one and a half years old today and we have officially been blessed enough to live in our little house for an entire year so excuse me while I go weep in a corner by my own self. I can’t believe it’s been a year. Greg and I were trying to figure out the math again today on our way home from the Boardwalk and still have no idea how we were able to buy anything – let alone this place. Sometimes that God of ours just blows us away. And this year was a year of much blowing. Being the perfectionist I am, I tend to not like to share anything unless it’s up to a certain standard (hence why I’ve barely shared anything like originally planned haha) but then I kick myself for not being able to look back on where it once was and how it’s morphed and changed (which is the whole POINT of this blog for me) so I thought it would be fun to reminisce on this last year at this little home that He gave us.

I feel like we hit the ground running and haven’t been able to take a breath yet but now I’m so burnt out, I think it shall stay this way for a while :) I got most of it painted (with one coat – it really needs two but who has time for that!?) and have firmly established that I hate painting with a passion. Abbie had just turned 6 months when we moved in, I think we had something like $80 to call our own and a big empty house with a bajillion boxes to go through that I adored because I hadn’t seen them for all of nine months while we waited on His perfect timing. Our family was going through a bit of a difficult time but the Lord sent the dear Hadley’s to come help us move all our stuff and I will forever have a special place in my heart for that huge act of kindness. Because really – who likes helping with moving. No one. So bless you, dear people. I’m still in awe. Obviously.

We didn’t know that after you get your house tented, you have to call PG&E to come turn your gas back on. Therefore after a sweaty day of moving, we both braved the freezing shower, crawled into our very own beloved bed in our very own master bedroom and I still remember that I never have felt more clean or thankful. We sold a bunch of our stuff before we moved back to Santa Cruz so we no longer had a dining table or chairs or various other things so we lived with a very empty house for several months. I took on a ceiling mural to get us a sofa that was bigger than a love seat. I think my neck still hurts. We signed up to host a 7 week bible study, not knowing where people were going to sit but trusting that He would once again provide as He was so good at doing, and sure enough, that sofa arrived the week before it started. We hosted Thanksgiving and Christmas and already have a bajillion memories stocked up in these walls. I’m so thankful for this house and for my family and that I GET TO HAVE MY BABY HERE! in my own home!!! in just a couple of days/weeks!

I get my Houzz emails every week and look at my daily blogs that I love to follow and man there are some gorgeous houses out there. They are new and shiny and picture perfect, but the other day, I put Abbie down for her nap, tidied up the house and picked some fresh flowers from my one little bush that actually has blooms and sat down looking around at the sun streaming in through those big old gorgeous windows, and in the quiet of that moment, I’ve never been so thankful. Our things are worn and loved and already stained yet each thing I looked around at is such a gift. I sat there so thankful for my little house and tried to stop my mind from reeling on what project to take on next or what will we eventually do here or here and it was so lovely! I feel like we are at a place now where it finally feels like home – if still a bit bare – but I can take a breather and spend some quality time with my littles. Or I should say, we shall see… HA.

A tour!

This room is my favorite room… it has the best light and feels (I guess) the most finished even though it is far from that line ;) *And Greg took the big breath* It needs accessorizing badly but that’ll come eventually. Greg got me those pillows for my birthday way back when we were dating and they have traveled with us wherever we have gone… I love them. But they are faded and all the zippers are broken and do not close anymore but WHO CAN TELL!? Nevertheless, we are on a pillow hunt :) and pillows, doggonit, are expensive. Hence ol stripes are pretty much here to stay. And I know that mirror is hung about four inches too high but these walls make all hanging jobs difficult and so it stays as well. And one day we will have side tables and seating other than a giant couch and pictures on the walls and EACH THING but for now it feels calm and restful and I love sitting there and looking and looking. So. much. white. Actually once I had finished painting the main floor my beloved Chantilly Lace, I thought I might be tired of the whole white thing. And then I laughed at that nonsense and kept painting everything I could find the same ol white.

BEFORE
And this is where I am kicking myself for not taking proper before and after pictures. I figured we had some from the listing but all those were taken with a wide angle lens and make the rooms look huge so they aren’t the best to compare. Anyways, check out the plastic black roller blinds that offer a nice false sense of privacy, and the seemingly adorable shutters that were SO filthy and had a smell. Ahhhh let’s remember.

And now moving on to the front room of the house… BEFORE
Speaking of a smell… THAT WINDOW. Omgosh I don’t think it had been painted since 1886. And although I did my best to clean it, that sucker was caked on… nothing a little bit of paint can’t cover up heheheh… I make Greg cringe. Again, please don’t look too closely if you come to our house.

I went a little crazy in this room and painted it a different shade of white. I know. WOAH. The bold design choices I took are really astounding ;) Anyways, I am forever on a rug hunt for this room. I finally committed to a fine piece of quality slave labor this morning and am in a deep sense of guilt for how horribly cheap it was but I’m hoping it will work until we find the perfect one… and again – one day we will have tables and accessories ;) We call this room our morning room cause it gets the best light in the morning and sometimes we make our way out of bed and have our coffee in there and it always feels like such a treat. I had that lamp for all of a week before I had my BSF ladies and their kids over for a luncheon and said lamp took a tumble from the stream of children playing under it. It was so pretty before it was dented but alas, such is life.

BEFORE-ish
This was when our table first arrived and we couldn’t agree on/have money for chairs so we had to sit on trash cans and borrow my parents foldups etc. It’s still one of my favorite memories here when my aunt and uncle and cousins came over and made us their killer sourdough pancakes. I’m literally salivating thinking about it. And let’s take a moment to wonder why not one of these doors is the same height. 
And afterish!

Those chairs are sometimes my favorite thing we ever bought and sometimes my cursed purchase. I can’t make up my mind. But they work so they’ll stay for a while ;)

All I wanted was to get the stairs done before baby came. That’s all. Haha just kidding. But that was a big thing. Because for most of this year they have looked like this.
Although the carpet was nice and plush, it was always a little damp which sort of creeped me out so I hastily ripped it up (with much help from dad!) in September and it remained this way till like last week. And although it looooooks finished… it’s not. But I’ve stopped looking closely and have almost forgotten about how I need to go back and touch them up. Maybe other people will too ;)

You’ve seen the nursery, and our one glorious bathroom renovation, but here’s the guest room in progress. 
Still need to paint those shelves and make it more homey in there but it’s coming along :) I had fun pretending like I knew how to make pillows and a headboard that you can’t see cause I had the brilliant idea of making it white linen. You are my craft project little room and I am enjoying you. Anyways, it’s better than it was before which was just a blowup bed and a Mexican blanket thrown on so we are making progress ;)

We both hate being in our bedroom cause there is one window and it’s dark and looming but one day it will be nice. I tattooed our wall while Greg was out of town so there’s that. I missed him so :) 

Our kitchen still looks like a cabin and our office still looks like a hoarder’s dream but these things take time ;)

Oh and the other two bathrooms will have to wait because they are embarrassing at this moment in time. I would happily show you all that I’ve been stabbing at around the yard but I’m pretty sure that’s only exciting to me. I always ask Greg if he notices something is different but he can rarely tell :-P unless an entire bush is gone. In which case we have to have a big talk cause men don’t like change and I have to remind him to not give a pregnant woman a little saw and leave her alone with lots of things to cut! But anyways that’s about it! Dear little house, we have loved you! Thank you for giving me a lifetime supply of projects. I will try not to complain ;)