It’s starting to feel like home…

The past couple of months have been so stressful. It started as a long-awaited master bathroom remodel that had to be put on hold due to an unexpected emergency with a family member. This emergency meant that we needed to focus on other areas of the house… things that we had planned to do in the future- after the bathroom.

Another project took over so that we could create another room in the house and it is finally finished. There are some touchups to complete and I know there will be some furniture changes in the future but it is finished for now… at least until after the upcoming baby shower.

I’ve been wanting to put a wall up between the breakfast area and the den for long time. I created a wall and separated the area in so many ways over the past few years that I felt confident that a wall would be beneficial. You can see some of the many ways that this space has changed HERE.

The wall is up and we now have two separate rooms… it looks amazing. The process took a little longer than expected because we’ve been dealing with A LOT. We’ve had to travel much more than usual and we are constantly running errands, making phone calls, and checking in on things elsewhere. It’s been STRESSING and then to put the remodel on top of it has been a bit OVERWHELMING at times. Thankfully, we’ve been blessed with family and friends to help.

Finishing touches

Mr. Awesome finished up the trim in the two rooms and the laundry room… we had never gotten around to finishing that from last year. It always amazes me how much of a different that the trim makes and then the caulking in of the trim… Wow!

It just couldn’t wait… laundry room makeover.

I still have a little touch-up to do with the paint but it all started really coming together and feeling so good. The paint color is SW Alpaca… same as we have used in most of the house so far.

Living room/Dining room

The living room also got a little bit of a makeover with the painted cabinets and a new ceiling fan. We also brought in some different furniture as this will also become the dining/homeschool area. I have since moved the recliner to my bedroom as well.

The pool table is marked to leave this area but for now we covered it with a FANCY custom tablecloth… a couple of plastic liners taped together underneath and covered with a couple of fabric shower curtains… lol. We tucked the ends underneath to help keep it in place for now too.

My sister came down a couple of weeks ago and helped me move the AC to the living room window, and we built a stand to go under it. She came down again this past weekend and helped me get these spaces finished up. We added some paper blinds to the front windows to hopefully help keep the room a little cooler… this Florida heat wave has been MISERABLE!

My sister knows exaclty how to keep us motivated!

We also added an awesome retractable baby gate and an adjustable high chair to our shopping list for this area. We did add a couple of regular baby gates as well because we have a little explorer around and they help to keep her contained a little bit. I also purchased some more door alarms as she has gotten to where she can unlock and open doors now!

Little Miss has figured out that she can crawl underneath so we’ll be adding the included fix for that soon!

I would like to eventually build some baby gates that can be attached to the wall and then folded or slid back when not in use but that will be a future project.

Kitchen

I repainted the floors again after this picture.

I did a lot of deep cleaning as there was a lot of dust everywhere from the sanding of the drywall. We wiped all the cabinets down and took apart the kitchen island so we could give it a clean. We also cleaned underneath it really well… it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be though. The shelf paper made cleaning so much easier than I had expected.

I’ll add my affiliate links to all the products at the end of this post.

I also reorganized the shelves when we put everything back together. We just used some baskets and bins that we already had on hand so nothing really matches but it works for now. These shelves are meant to be temporary so I really don’t want to buy anything specifically for them right now.

My baking center is now on the long counter in the kitchen opposed to the previous location. I’m trying to free up the main traffic areas because they get so busy in the mornings and at meal times… so many traffic jams!

Things are a lot less cluttered than they were, but I can still declutter a bit more. Last year, we actually cut the hole in the wall and lost a few cabinets so that was a big adjustment but so worth it! We love being able to see into the living room/dining room and it makes the house feel so much more open. We still plan to add a breakfast bar here in the future.

Living room remodel… it looks so good!

Morning Kitchen

The ‘Morning Kitchen’ has been incredible and Mr. Awesome has already been talking about doing some built-in shelves here. For now, I am using some old toy shelves and those cabinets from the laundry room.

I did put some of that leftover shelf paper on the tops to help protect them and to help make it look a little more cohesive with the kitchen area… we’re working on getting everything to match but right now some of this furniture is just ‘place holders’ until we decide exactly how we need each area to function. I can say that I do want some closed shelving, or at least some pretty bins, in this area to hide all the supplies..

While the guys were finishing the trim, I decided to paint the old cabinets from the laundry room. I used some primer and paint that Mr. Awesome had left over from another job. It is a really bright white… not quite my favorite but it works for now.

I also cleaned up an old blue shelf that I had rescued from the trash pile before … it was something that had belonged to his Granny at some point. We have several items in this area that have been passed down. You may have seen this shelf in older photos but I’ve had it stored in the shed since last year.

This beverage station has been a HIT with everyone!

The two white cabinets hold the cold cereals and the hot breakfast items… things we need for our mornings. All the coffee and tea supplies are within arm’s reach. I used these little white baskets** to hold some supplies like tea bags, herbal tea blends, coffee mixes, extra creamers, and other items that we use on a regular basis. **Affiliate links to products used will be at the bottom of the post.

The older tall white cabinet belonged to Mr. Awesome’s Granny so I just gave it a good cleaning, repaired the screen, and touched up a couple of the spots that needed paint.

This is the microwave area… part of the way I set everything up is based on how are outlets are connected to different breakers. I try not to have too many things on one breaker. We have bamboo bins with the instant oatmeal packets and popcorn. We also have the toaster here and the bread bin. The drawer caddy holds our dish rags, dish towels, and bread towels.

The picture above the hutch and the old fork and spoon also belonged to Granny. This is actually a buffet cabinet with a foldout top and a shelf that I got for free on Facebook. They went well together so here they are for now. Plus they fit perfectly in this little nook.

The Big Fork and Spoon Makeover

I moved the apron hooks to the other side of the room along with this fridge. The yellow/brown apron belonged to my Mom-Mom along with a few other items that are sprinkled about the kitchen area… already full of memories even though this is a new area.

The kiddos kept banging the fridge door on the island but the new fridge works perfectly on the other side plus we’ll be able to run the water line to it easier.

*This is the first thing we see when we walk out of our bedroom in the morning.*

One of my favorite parts of this room is the view… this isn’t the exact blind I wanted but it was one I could afford because it was on sale. It blocks just enough of the window that I get more of a view of the pond than of the neighbors.

It took us a little bit of finagling to figure out how to roll it up but it really wasn’t that difficult. The major difficulty was that the fridge overlaps the window ever so slightly so it makes rolling the blind a little tricky. When I do replace this I’ll need to make sure to get one with a pull string or something.

Now I just need to find some shorter stools that are a little more comfortable and this spot will be pretty close to perfect. I have been enjoying my coffee and Bible Study here in the mornings.

Den ‘Quiet Room’

This is probably our favorite room. We actually sat her for quite a while after we finished this room on Saturday. It is surprisingly relaxing and peaceful which was exactly how we wanted it to feel.

We didn’t have enough trim to finish these windows but we will get to them sometime in the future… that may be next week or next year but it’ll get done.

My sister helped hang the curtains in here too… it’s still a challenge for me to do some of these things since having shoulder surgery.

We both agreed that the fireplace looks so good now that we shouldn’t cover it up with furniture!

July 2025 Life Updates: Blessings upon Blessings

Adding the curtains and just cleaning up made so much of a difference! I didn’t get floor-length curtains so there is a small amount of light that comes in and it just creates such a peaceful ambience.

Then with the curtains open the view is amazing… we can also keep an eye on the kids in the yard while they play.

We kept the dining table in here for now as we have a baby shower coming up very soon… so exciting! We also kept the old fridge in here until we can get some help to get it out of the house… not something I want to tackle right now.

We plan to add some trim to the doorway this week and maybe a door later although we aren’t completely decided on that or what kind of door. We also need to widen the door to the laundry room to make it handicap accessible as we have the ramp that comes up to the back porch.

After we got this room cleaned we refilled our drinks and sat at the table with the curtains closed and just enjoyed the peacefulness. This is when dubbed this ‘the quiet room’. It was so relaxing and I could almost feel the stress melting away… I am so GRATEFUL for everyone who helped us get this finished.

This was definitely a weight lifted off our shoulders and it has helped encourage us to keep pressing on as we start a new chapter in our lives. We have so much to look forward too and there are a lot of uncertainties about what the future will hold but we are trusting that all things will work together for the good.

I slept so GOOD the night that we finished… Mr. Awesome said that I scared him a little as I didn’t even move!

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. -Romans 8:28

We also trust that God will supply us with what we need when we need it.

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. -Philippians 4:6

I have been holding tight to His promises and I have been writing a LOT of verses on our walls that haven’t yet been finished.

If you’ve made it this far then we are truly grateful as we know this post was a bit long. We’ll add the links below.

God Bless!

AMAZON WISHLIST

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This Makeover:

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Living Room Makeover Links

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