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The Before and Afters of 2013

December 30, 2013

2013 has been the most eventful and unexpected year of our five years of marriage. It has been stressful, but wonderful too. It has been a year of growth and change--lots of change--and surprises. We all feel...tired and a little worn out, but really really good about where we are right now.

In addition to a lot of small projects or parts of the whole we tackled, we have had several before and afters completed this year alone that are always good to keep us motivated as we start a new year.

Way back in March, we finished turning Greta's former nursery:

into her big girl room:

The capstone project being her closet:
In July, we quickly revamped our master bathroom:
And also finally wrapped up our kitchen renovation in July:
Just in time for our biggest before and after of the year (besides my ever-expanding belly), an unexpected change in location in August. We sold our first house:
And moved to Idaho and fell for this one:
We wasted no time getting started transforming this house. By the beginning of November, we had our first before and after--the half hall bath:
And for the last renovation of the year, we tackled our new reading room, almost finishing it up just this month (still need to tackle the floors):
While we miss our first house, we are finally starting to feel quite at home here. Every day we are coming up with new ideas and projects. While the newly finished kitchen was hard to leave behind, our new kitchen is much larger and has so much more potential. We actually can't wait to take it on with new ideas. Of all the projects, Greta's room has probably been the hardest to leave behind. We had just barely finished it and she loved it! We'd love to get her new room fitting her personality sooner rather than later--ideally before the baby comes. Which is where we'll pick up next time--projects you can look forward to from us in 2014. Our renovation calendar is filling up!
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  1. Can't wait to see what progress you make on the new house in the coming year. I think Greta's closet and your new blue and white bathroom were my favorite makeovers of the year. All the best in the new year, Julia!

  2. We just moved into an old farmhouse (circa 1880) and we have a "summer kitchen" that we are going to use as a pantry/ kitchen prep space and ever since I saw your frosted glass pantry door I have been thinking of a space where I could put one. It would fit perfectly into the summer kitchen!

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