I can’t believe it’s been a whole year (well, a little over a year) since we packed up our lives in Oklahoma and made the big move across the country to Kentucky. It feels just like yesterday! So naturally, it feels like we haven’t done as much to the house as we would’ve liked…. but we have tackled so many big projects this year, and we are proud of how far we’ve come.

I’m blessed to call this home ours. Sure, it has some quirky things we’re not super in love with – like the layouts of the kitchen and back patio are a bit awkward. However, the three acres of mixed woods and pasture, the gorgeous arched window in the office, and the tall ceilings have made this house such a great home. Besides, with a little bit of love and elbow grease, we’ll tweak our home to exactly how we want!

So, let’s toss aside any should’ve-could’ve-would’ve thoughts about not being as far as we’d like in our renovations. We have so many plans for this house; trying to fit everything into a year is not only out of our budget but wouldn’t be doable by ourselves (and we love to DIY). Instead, let’s look at what we have accomplished because it’s something to be proud of!

Flooring Replacement Progress

Our biggest project of the year was replacing the entire house’s flooring! The house originally had carpet installed in about 90% of the house (bathrooms included, yuck!). There were horribly warped hardwood floors in the kitchen and dining room- seriously, it was a tripping hazard. Plus, the previous owners were heavy smokers, so everything was saturated with smoke residue.

The same day we received the keys to the house, we ripped all the existing floors out and lived on subfloors for months! We took probably 2 months just to find a main flooring option we liked (it’s an important decision!). Then we had to wait for it to get delivered. We installed it all ourselves, which took us a long time!

We still need new flooring in a portion of our primary bathroom, and eventually we will replace the vinyl in the laundry room.

A Fresh Coat of Paint

Imagine moving into this:

• The living room, kitchen, and hallway = green.
• The dining room = taupe.
• One bedroom = dark blue, and the other is burnt orange.
• The primary bedroom and both bathrooms are Pepto Bismol pink. Pepto Bismol Pink.
• The laundry room is a weird, sunshine yellow.
• The office is a hideous mustard yellow.
• Let’s not forget the smoke residue coating all the walls. You could see outlines of the previous owners’ wall decor. *facepalm*

The whole house was in dire need of a fresh coat of paint. So far, we’ve knocked out most of the spaces we interact with daily: primary bedroom, living room, dining room, kitchen, hallway, and guest bathroom.

The rest of the house will get painted as we renovate those rooms, so stay tuned!

Fireplace Update

We love how the updated fireplace turned out. The new hearth is a slimmer profile giving us more space in the living room, and the fresh coat of paint has helped tone down the “too much of a wood cabin” feel. (I’m not sure I like the paint color we chose, but it’s much better than before!)

Dining Room Updates

The dining room accent wall is my favorite project we tackled this past year. I still get fuzzy feelings every time I walk past this wall! We still need to paint the ceiling (it’s yellowed from smoke), add a fun wood accent to the tray ceiling, and deck it out with some more color.

Guest Bath Renovation

Living on subfloors was still not ideal for a bathroom, so we needed to update this room quickly. So far, we’ve installed LVT floors, painted, and updated fixtures and accessories. We’ve accomplished pretty much everything on our mood board; however, the bathroom still feels like it’s missing some character – I’m thinking a toilet accent wall project coming soon?

Vegetable Garden Progress

The garden has been so much more work than I expected! And then the summer heat came out of nowhere halting my construction progress! Which is a good thing because I’ve learned so much about gardening at a larger scale this season and I definitely want to make a major layout change from my initial garden master design plan. So, there’s still a long way to go to call the garden “finished,” but watching the vegetables grow makes all the hard work worth it!

Fencing Updates

We have been slowly working on fencing our property. The goal is to fence our entire 3-acre property: we want plenty of room to entertain friends, a space for our dogs to play, and an area for goats, chickens, and donkeys. So far, we’ve probably installed 800-900 feet of fencing, and we’ll need another 1,000 feet or so to get the whole perimeter. The fencing is nothing fabulous, just t-posts and wire (maybe one day we’ll upgrade to a split rail wood fence). Check out our experience with welded vs. woven wire fencing if you’re in the market for wire fencing.

Garage Progress

Does anyone else use their garage as a storage unit? Because we sure do! The garage has been a catch-all room since we moved in. Last fall, we (and I certainly mean me, myself, and I) planned on renovating it, but when push came to shove, it kept getting used for storage. We weren’t quite unpacked at the time, so the garage renovation was put on hold. However, we’re making progress and we’re even in the middle of a mobile workbench build for the table and miter saws, so stay tuned!

Progress, progress, progress!

We’ve tackled a lot of spaces this year, and I am so proud of ourselves! With that said, we still have a long way to go and a lot of rooms that haven’t been touched yet (like the primary bed and bathroom, home office, and laundry room, just to name a few). We’ll slowly but surely renovate all these spaces, one room at a time!