A Year in Review

This week we hit ONE YEAR of owning our home. That means one year of construction, one year of learning, one year of dust, one year of projects, one year of disarray, one year of work, and one year of PROGRESS.

A year ago if you had told me we'd still be working on the house, still have a list a mile long of "need to dos" and even longer list of "nice to dos" I would've said you were crazy, but there really was no way to predict how long this would take. We didn't have a budget, didn't have a timeline, really didn't have a "plan" at all. We just tackled each project, one step at a time, which sometimes meant one step forwards and two steps back.

We've done the "usual" home improvement projects of painting, putting up trim, hanging curtains and blinds, and switching out light fixtures, but we've also taken on removing a (small) wall and rebuilding it one foot away, laying all our floors (both LVP and tile), putting up crown moulding, taking down popcorn ceilings, replacing all the interior doors, and of course, building all of our kitchen cabinets.

We've acquired more tools than I can count, and learned to use them! We've made mistakes, some we could fix, and some we're living with (I'm still working on not pointing out those mistakes when people come over). We've learned patience (ehhh, maybe more patience... I still don't have much!), and worked on our communication. We've worked as a team, divided and conquered, and even called in reinforcements as needed (thanks Momma and Padre!).

We've had family and friends come to visit and they've looked past the dust and unfinished projects and told us they see the potential.

We've felt extremely accomplished, crazy, and overwhelmed, sometimes all in the same week.

We've probably added as many projects to our "to-do" list as we've crossed off. Each one making it onto the list as our confidence grows from the project before, so I'll count this as a win!

In between all the projects we've had manatees swim through our canal; had more lizards, frogs, and bugs (and one snake!) brought into the house than I'd like to admit (thanks, Clover); witnessed four baby burrowing owls grow up in our front yard; and have had visits from the neighborhood iguanas. Some days I wonder if we are living in a zoo.

We've weathered two hurricanes with (knock on wood) just minor flooding of the dock, and an escape attempt from our kayaks. We've been caught in one storm on the boat (sorry Tyler and Kristin!), and survived to tell the tale.

We've spent some weekends working non-stop, and others with family, both mine here locally, and Scott's when they visit.

We were (and are) extremely thankful for this visit Scott's dad was able to make down. He paid us what I would consider to be the ultimate compliment while he was here, saying our home was "so liveable" with a giant smile on his face. Seeing our blog (and our house most days!) you could argue it's a disaster; constantly messy and dusty, but he was so proud of the work Scott and I are doing, and he saw the home we are slowly building from the mess.

It's been a wild ride, and it's not done yet! We are mid-kitchen renovation and still have both bathrooms to tackle. Outside We've had new sod laid and planted some plants, but we have the lanai deck to refinish, the dock area to work on, and a garden to build.

It's been a year, but we are really just getting started. Thanks for cheering us along!