A High Bar for 500

 Dear reader,

Believe it or not--and honestly *I* don't even believe it--this is the 500th post to this blog. I did not think, when we bought this house back in September 2009 (with our first post technically before closing, in August of that year), that we'd be going this long. There have been long gaps of inactivity and I'm still not caught up with everything we accomplished in 2024 during the almost year-long set of projects that began with the new addition and ended with upgrades to pretty much every bedroom in the house, but here we are, nearing the end of 2025 with 16 years of posts and, apparently, at number 500.

So it was a lot of pressure figuring out what to say! There's still plenty to write about, what with still being behind. But it felt like this post had to be different somehow. Rather than go into excruciating detail about one of the few big projects remaining to be shared, I wanted to cut to the good part and share a few amazing "after" pictures, leaving most of the in-between for later. Both are sort of an ode to D (ew, I know, emotion, gross) as he's combined his knack for fixing things with his newish hobby of carpentry into something that has transformed our house--and would have cost quite a bit of money if we had hired someone else to do it. Without further ado...

For the room that used to be the nursery, started with this:

Here it is, a quick "in-between" picture without the IKEA Stuva units, just so you can appreciate and compare the full space itself:

to THIS! Built-in closets and customs shelving, all by D (with a little help from his brother on the trim):

Our growing kid now has her own actual closet, instead of just some free-standing drawers...Again, much more to come on the "how D did it" later.

And the second big reveal, since it feels like 500 warrants more than just one, is for our entryway.

Our "before" picture actually comes from before we enclosed the sunroom, but besides that door in the background and the swapped out rug, this is pretty much what this space looked like until the beginning of 2025:

to...

ready?

It's a dramatic shift so I feel like I have to build some suspense...

...

...

...

THIS:

D designed and built a custom slat wall and matching storage bench. 

I told you it was pretty impressive. 

Here's the view from the other side where you can see the cool way it casts shadows on the ceiling, the built-in two-level hooks, and our pretty new loveseat (details later):

In looking back on these 16 years of homeownership, I would say we have upped our game (really, D has upped his game--I'm just here to cut in and edge on the painting and provide input on color and design). 

Here's to 500 more posts (or, at least, a few upcoming posts that go into more details on these two projects)!