This house tour is long overdue. Our last video tour was in January. January! You can check out that tour here and our very first house tour here, taken 17 months ago. In the nine months since our previous house tour, a lot has changed. In fact I dare say, it is the most dramatic house video tour in Chris Loves Julia history! Don't you just love it when reality shows say things like that (ahem, Bachelor Pad) when they have only existed for 3 seasons. Whatta history! Same thing applies here, but now that we are settling more into our style, the changes we whipped out in the past several months are pretty significant. In our last video, we hadn't renovated the family room or studio or living room or painted the railings. The updated, tweaked and renovated list is long, which is why we love to do these video tours sporadically so we can one day look back at this one, filmed this morning, and say, "Wow, look at the old kitchen!" It's true, we can't wait to say that one.
On the flipside, the tours are hard to squeeze in because we always want to finish up our latest project or room before doing a tour of the whole house. For months, in the back of my mind, I have thought, "I need to take a video of our place again." But an in-progress room always held me back. I recently turned to our mentors, the king and queen of DIY, John and Sherry for advice about shooting a home video tour when projects and rooms are always in progress. Sherry's advice was perfect:
We just pull the trigger and do it even if we’re halfway through something. There are a few angles/rooms where we can hide something that’s in progress if we really need to, or we’ll just call it out (ex: “you can see we’re in the middle of ____ right now, more on that soon!”).
So, with the house in decently-clean shape, we pulled the video tour trigger on our always-in-progress home, again:
Greta completely video-bombed the tour. She was supposed to be napping, but as soon as I heard her signature, "Mommy!!! I yuh you!!" I knew she wasn't going to let the video happen without her making an appearance. Her room was really dark due to her light-blocking curtains and because we unscrew her lightbulbs for naps and bedtimes, I couldn't even flip the switch for you to catch a glimpse of her room. Next time. Next time.
It's pretty crazy for us to see how much has changed in 9 months, even when we were the ones who did it. Weird, huh? It makes me so excited to see how our home continues to evolve over the next few months. How will the living room turn out? What will Greta's big-girl room look like? Is that home gym actually gonna happen? Is it a little strange that I am asking questions that I will eventually answer myself, when I don't know the answer right now? It feels so nerdy and sci-fi. And....right.
Unfortunately, she does exactly that. As soon as we transitioned her from a crib to a toddler bed, she spent most of her naps and bedtime turning on and off her light. :/
This is great! I didn't see the first tour so I'm a newbie on that front :). Looks wonderful and fun to see how all the rooms 'fit together' in relation to each other. I love the photo bombing (Great is so cute!) and am also a huge YHL fan - and ironcially just did my OWN little video if you want to check it out. It's a little time-lapse video (inspired by John and Sherry's ones they do sometimes) and like yours, got video bombed by my little toddler. Ha. I guess they have a knack for knowing when mommy is 'busy'. http://visualmeringue.blogspot.ca/2012/09/i-keep-on-fallin.html
Looking for our favorite things? A place to shop our home room by room, or just catch up on what Julia's wearing / loving right now? Browse the CLJ shop
Every year when I pack up the decorations after Christmas, I collect all of the garlands together in one box, I get all the candlesticks together in another box, and all my nativity sets go into their own box. We label the boxes "garlands," "candles," "nativity sets,"...which seems great until you remember that you have […]
What do you make for Christmas dinner? Sometimes we'll do a prime rib or a roast turkey, but this year, I'm going all out with a Christmas ham that just looks festive. For this recipe, I made a cranberry-orange glaze with some warm winter spices that takes this ham to the next level. Oh and […]
Raise your hand if you panic when your phone's low battery notification turns on? (Just me??) There's nothing worse when I'm out on a fun holiday outing taking video memories of my family, and I see that red light. Or I'm traveling and stuck in the airport on a layover...it gives me anxiety! I've tried […]
I put out a call on Insta to see if anyone needed help with holiday hosting, and I had so many great replies. There were some questions that popped up multiple times too, so I compiled this Q&A to hopefully help you prep for a smooth and stress-free hosting season. It can feel intimidating to […]
Another way for us to stay in touch! Joining our weekly newsletter gives you access to exclusive content, never-before-seen photos, your questions answered, and our favorite DIYs. Sign up below!
Welcome to our online community where we've posted home, DIY, style, renovations, and family since '09. Renovating our #cljmoderncottage in Idaho and headed for new adventures in Raleigh, NC. #cljfam #cljtransformations
Ooo! Those are National Geographic Magazines. Like 50+ years worth.
I love the video tours! I'm curious, what are all of the yellow (books, maybe?) that are on the shelves around your tv?
Greta is absolutely adorable!! I love her! I posted a video tour today, but it's missing a super cute little girl ;)
Unfortunately, she does exactly that. As soon as we transitioned her from a crib to a toddler bed, she spent most of her naps and bedtime turning on and off her light. :/
Why do you unscrew the lightbulbs for her naps? Are you worried she'll hop out of bed and turn lights on?
It's so fun seeing the video tours, just to get a better idea of the layout and changes. And Greta is so adorable!!
This is great! I didn't see the first tour so I'm a newbie on that front :). Looks wonderful and fun to see how all the rooms 'fit together' in relation to each other. I love the photo bombing (Great is so cute!) and am also a huge YHL fan - and ironcially just did my OWN little video if you want to check it out. It's a little time-lapse video (inspired by John and Sherry's ones they do sometimes) and like yours, got video bombed by my little toddler. Ha. I guess they have a knack for knowing when mommy is 'busy'.
http://visualmeringue.blogspot.ca/2012/09/i-keep-on-fallin.html
Cool vid! I love seeing things on video. So much easier to get an impression of how everything flows together when we're walking "with" you.