A Year Of 'Firsts' On This Grace-Filled Journey

Within the next month, it's going to be very busy in our house with the addition of another daughter at the beginning of March.  And since it's going to be a year of new and exciting things, I've decided to write my monthly column on "firsts" throughout the year.

Since January brings all things new, I thought I would write about surviving our very first home renovation project. And though we aren't completely done, it's definitely been a journey worth doing.
Our home features a finished basement, that we actually use for our living room most of the time.  It's got a large, open room, as well as a small side room and a bathroom.  The bathroom had been done not that long before we bought the house, so it was in good shape.  However, the basement was in desperate need of some new carpet and trim.  Since that type of project would require moving things out anyway, we opted just to have the basement remodeled all together.

Family movie time in the new basement!

Initially, Kyle and I talked about doing some of the work ourselves, or recruiting some family members to help us out along the way. We decided that it might be worth our time to look into having someone do the work for us. Although it might have saved us some money to do some of the things, like painting, on our own, we also thought about the other things we could do with that time, and it seemed like a better idea to hire the work done.  And it was worth every single cent we spent.

We used the larger room to watch TV and play with Grace, and we considered the smaller room an office, mainly because it included a desk, piled high with junk that needed to be thrown out.  Instead of fixing it up as an office, we decided it might be more fun to turn it into a toy room, and picked out a light purple color for the walls. Built in the 1960s, the room still has the original wood paneling. Instead of covering it up, we opted to paint over it, and were very pleased with the results. 

Grace's new playroom.

For Christmas, we got Grace a Disney princess wall hanging for the walls in the playroom, and it's been fun to set up many of her toys and books in that room.  I hope that she and her little sister will enjoy countless hours of fun as they grow up.

When it came to the main room, we picked a sage green type color for the walls, mainly because I'm a huge fan of green.  The walls have always been white, so it's been fun to see it spruced up with some color.  We have also enjoyed hanging things back on the walls and bringing new things down. 
As with all home improvement projects, we hit a few bumps along the way, but didn't give it much worry. We knew things would all get done, and it didn't do much good to worry if it got off schedule.  And eventually, all the work was done.  We have absolutely loved the fluffy new carpet, and it's like a whole new living space since we rearranged the furniture.

Some of the new wall decor in the basement.

I wouldn't say the project is complete, as we still can't get the van in the garage for the stuff stored out there.  I've been working hard to sort through things and get rid of a lot of stuff. Like most people, we just have way too much stuff, and I refuse to bring things back downstairs until they've been gone through.  I must admit that part is taking longer than I had hoped, but it's been worth it too.  We have lots of boxes ready to donate to the Salvation Army, and I know we will eventually get things sorted out.

Thanks to the help of some awesome local businesses, our family not only survived, but thrived through our first home improvement project.  And I'm pretty sure that not having to paint together means that our marriage will last a little longer too. 

Though we may not get all our home projects finished up before the baby comes, we know it will eventually get there.  It's going to be a great year of "firsts" for our family, and I hope you enjoy reading more about our Grace-filled journey.




MLH