2025 House Tour (A work in progress one year in)
It’s hard to believe it’s been a little over one year since we moved into this house! In some ways it feels like we just got here and others it feels like it’s been such a long time since we were in our last house.
I shared some photos of our home when it was totally empty right before we moved in and then I shared a few rooms in my recent Christmas home tour. But I’ve shared very few pictures of the rest of the house since we moved in.
I think I’ve been waiting for things to feel more finished, but let’s be real, putting a whole house together is a process. If I wait until everything is how I want it to be, I’ll never share photos.
I got the idea to do a yearly house tour from Amanda at Love and Renovations. She shares a tour of her home every year to document the changes that have happened throughout the year. And also so she can look back and see a snapshot of what their home looked like each year as time goes by. I loved the idea so I decided to make my own yearly home tour!
This isn’t a ‘look how awesome our house is’ kind of house tour by any means. It’s more a peek at how things look at this moment in time. Right at this moment, there are some parts of this house that I adore, there are some parts that still feel like a blank canvas, and there are some parts that I can’t wait to change.
I have lots of plans for this year that I’m really excited about, but in the meantime, welcome to our home!
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Entryway
When you come in the front door, there’s an entryway that leads to the dining room, a powder room, and the stairs. Eventually, I’d like to add some more color to this area, but for now I love that it’s nice and bright and open.
In this area, I have the white table, antique mirror, and vintage piano stools that were in the dining room in our old house.
Throughout the house, you’ll see many things from our last house. I’m a big believer in using what you have and I love trying furniture out in different rooms.
I’ve actually bought very little furniture for this house since we moved in a year ago and I’m pretty proud of that. This house is more than twice as big as our previous house and there are still some holes I’d like to fill, but I’m taking my time and looking for great secondhand pieces or building my own furniture as much as possible.
Dining Room
The dining room is the first room you see when you come in and it’s such a nice, bright space.
I refinished this table years ago and I still love it. I also painted the chairs and reupholstered them and reupholstered that bench with gray leather.
Everything is still going strong, except the bench. It’s been almost nine years since I reupholstered it and it’s starting to show some wear. I think it will be okay for another year or two, but will need to be updated or replaced before long.
I also have the vintage radio I repurposed a few months ago in the dining room. This was one of my favorite projects from last year.
I love the bay window and picture molding and overall, I think it’s a really pretty room.
But I absolutely hate that light fixture! I’m not a fan of most of the light fixtures in the house, but I think this one has to be the worst. It’s the first thing on my list to go. I’d also love to get some curtains, a new rug, and eventually maybe add some fun wallpaper.
Living Room
The next room you come to is the living room; this is my favorite room in the house.
I love all the windows and natural light that pours in. It’s the opposite of our last house which was perpetually a bit gloomy. We’re still using the vintage couch I reupholstered 6 years ago, though I did replace the foam in the couch cushions this year because they were getting pretty flat.
And we’re also using the painted dresser, reupholstered arm chair, and DIY TV frame from our last living room.
The only ‘new’ things I’ve bought for this room are the floor lamp and the round side table – both were lucky finds at Goodwill.
I do want to change a few things this year. I love this space, but it desperately needs some color. I’m considering repainting the dresser a fun color and maybe replacing the rug. I’d also love to make a few tweaks to the fireplace like switching out that blah tile. And I really want to replace the ceiling fan with a nicer light fixture since we don’t need a fan in here.
Kitchen and Breakfast Area
The living room connects to a small breakfast area and the kitchen. The little breakfast area was completely bare when we moved in – we didn’t have an eat-in kitchen before so we really didn’t have any furniture to go here!
The table and wooden washstand were both thrifted finds. And the chairs are inexpensive Amazon finds.
I haven’t done a single thing to the kitchen since moving in. It definitely isn’t my dream kitchen, but it’s a pretty nice kitchen overall.
It’s a good size and has a great workflow, so I’m not planning on any major renovations. But I do want to add some color and personality this year. I’m thinking a fun color on the cabinets and some new hardware is going to be the easiest way to liven things up.
Family Room and Basement Bath
One of the things I love about this house is the big family room in the basement. With three boys, it’s awesome having a space where they can play and be loud on a completely different floor from us.
The tall bookcases and TV stand were left by the previous owner and the rest of the furniture came from various rooms in our old house. Eventually I want to build a big wall of built-ins to hold the TV and all our books. I don’t know if I’ll get to that this year, but I’d like to at least patch and repaint that black wall.
So far, the only project I’ve tackled down here was building shelves to organize all the toys in the closets. That project has been worth it’s weight in gold! Here’s a photo of how the closets looked when I opened them today. We’ve had to do a couple of resets over the past year when things started to get messy, but overall, they’ve worked great to keep everything organized.
Primary Bedroom and Bath
Our primary bedroom is huge compared to our last one! It’s a great room and I love the cathedral ceiling but our old queen bed looked tiny in this room.
We just upgraded to a king bed right before Christmas and I love it! It’s so nice having that extra space, especially when my youngest has a nightmare and wants to sleep with us.
I got this velvet upholstered bed from Amazon and overall I’m pretty happy with it. It’s really sturdy, the tufted headboard is super comfy, and it was a great price. Next I want to change out our tiny little nightstands with bigger ones with more room for books and real lamps.
I also want to paint the walls a darker color. The light blue is beautiful but I think a dark color will help make this room feel more cozy. And I want to figure out some better window treatments for that window. I love all the light it lets in but that particular arch style feels very dated and I’d love to minimize that.
The primary bathroom is also huge. A lot of people would probably call it outdated, especially that big built-in tub, but functionally it’s awesome and the colors that were already here are actually really nice.
I would like to try to update things a bit this year though. I haven’t decided what exactly, but I think a few changes could really help soften all those squares and also warm this room up.
The kids’ rooms
I’m in the middle of giving my twelve year old’s room an update. In the fall I added an accent wall papered with vintage maps. I also turned an old door into a headboard and built a bed frame.
That’s where this room is right now. I’m getting ready to build him a closet organizer and am finishing up painting a new nightstand for him. Then we just need window treatments, wall art, and a few other small things. There isn’t a whole lot left to do, so I’m hoping to finish this room in the next month or so.
My younger two boys are seven and nine and they share a room. I’m not going to share any pics of it this tour because to be honest, it’s a huge mess. I’m hoping to help them get things better organized and make some fun changes in there this year. I love decorating kids’ rooms so I want to get to work on this one this year while they’re still little!
The Guest Room and Bonus Room
We also have a small guest room upstairs. We moved the queen bed from our bedroom into here including the DIY wood plank headboard I made a few years ago. This room could definitely use some love, but it’s pretty far down on the priority list.
We also have a large bonus room over our garage. Right now, it’s mostly just a big blank canvas. My oldest practices his tuba in here and I sometimes work on projects and film Youtube videos here.
More bathrooms
There are two more bathrooms and a powder room spread throughout the house. They’re all totally fine as is, but also a bit boring. Eventually I’d like to do some fun things to these bathrooms, but it isn’t super high on the priority list.
And that’s our home one year in! I didn’t include pictures of our outdoor spaces because right now it’s cold and icy out there, but you can see our back porch makeover here. (It’s the one space I would actually consider finished!)
One thing that’s funny about taking photos of your whole house is it becomes really obvious what your house goals for the year should be! Looking at these photos, I have tons of ideas for projects to tackle and ways to get creative in the house, but the thing I absolutely have to do first? Change out the light in the dining room!
And now I’m already looking forward to seeing all the changes in next year’s home tour!
Dear Carrie,
Congratulations on your new home! I think it is beautiful, and I know that you will be making it even more beautiful as time goes by.
Chris
Thank you so much for the encouragment!
Carrie, your house is beautiful, but so also is your authenticity. You are so relatable and I love that about you! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much!
I love the simple, bright white and gray paint on the walls. It is so elegant. Your furniture is classic. You should be so proud of yourself. Your home is lovely. Congratulations. Can’t wait to see what you add!
Thank you so much!
It’s a lovely house. I’m so happy for you to have this wonderful space to work your magic!
Thank you Alice! That is so kind!
Carrie,
I love your blog and the house is awesome. HGTV should take some pointers. I love antiques and enjoy seeing how you repurpose them and revive them to work today. Thanks for sharing.
Sheran
Thank you for your kind words! They definitely put a smile on my face.