I started this post in November, which was my actual three year anniversary.
November marks
three years since I purchased and moved into my first home! About a year ago, Austin and his dog Jack moved in with me and my dogs and now I've got my eyes set on finding a bigger home for us. A 1500 sq ft tri-level is perfect for one human and two dogs - it's crowded for two humans and three dogs!
Anyway, I have a few updates to share today. You can see how far I've come from
6 months in HERE, to
ONE YEAR HERE, and to 2.5 years
HERE.
The backyard is still a work in progress. It's been a year since they dug up my whole backyard to fix a major plumbing issue that they actually didn't completely fix. In February, I had to call them back again. After a small tantrum, a big breakdown, and a phone call to my dad, they have it fixed again... for now.
I wanted to build a deck this summer, but we didn't get around to it. I think I worked too much so that's on the agenda for
next summer.
The major project this spring/summer was to grow the grass. The plumbing company just piled the dirt and left it to settle over last fall/winter. We had to level it out and get the grass growing this spring, but it has finally filled in now.
Summer 2015 I had started re-doing this garden area, but I got chiggers and quit. I wanted to remove the small white fencing and just replace it with the black garden edging.
This summer, I finished it up:
But the main thing that we finally finished this summer was the master bedroom! I did the living room, the main bathroom, and the spare bedroom first. Finally I am done with the master bedroom! My bedroom has essentially looked the same since I moved in.
I sold my bedroom set on Craig's List. Loved my sleigh bed and had it for years, but it was too big for this room. I wanted just a fabric headboard, which I finally found at the
At Home store. I also found the rug there, which matches perfectly. I love that place - it's huge and has so much stuff!
The dressers are from Ikea and took weeks to put together. Lighting I ordered from Lamps Plus. July we spent painting - still need to paint the ceiling. The walls are a khaki color with a dark chocolate accent wall. I'm looking for darker chocolate curtains.
The big thing this winter was the new fireplace!
I've lived here for three years and never touched the fireplace. I actually wasn't sure how much we would use it, but for re-sale purposes it needed to be maintenanced anyway. After talking to the guy, it was going to be worth it in the long run (although more expensive up front) to replace it with a vent-free
gas log fireplace.
You can read more about vented vs vent-free
HERE, but basically if we (or anyone in the future) ever planned on using the fireplace to produce heat, we wanted the heat to stay inside the house, not go out the damper.
We ended up using the heck out of this thing this winter and (what I was really worried about) didn't really notice much of an increase in our gas bill.
