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My Updated Home Tour Full of Inexpensive DIYs

It has been way too long since I shared an updated home tour!

So long in fact, the last time I shared our whole home was before my youngest, Lincoln, was born. And he’s 2.5 years old now! So it is definitely time for an update.

I wouldn’t exactly say our 1973 brick ranch was my dream home when we moved in. (And if I’m being honest, I still dream of living in a 100 year old farmhouse someday.) But over the past few years I’ve slowly been working to transform our dark, dated 1970s home into a place we love to be.

Updating everything on a tiny budget, doing one little project at a time has been a huge undertaking. And even though there always seems to be another project waiting to be done, I’m thrilled with how our home has become our happy place.  

I’m going to take you on a little tour of our home room by room. Of course, it goes without saying that these photos show our home on it’s very best, most tidy day ever. Most of the time the floor is covered with a somewhat horrifying number of tiny toys. 

Below each picture, I have linked to as many shopping sources and DIY tutorials as possible. Since our home is filled with secondhand treasures, it isn’t possible for me to share links to many of the exact items we own, but I have tried to link to something similar whenever possible.

This post contains affiliate links which means if you make a purchase after clicking a link I will earn a small commission but it won’t cost you a penny more.  Click here to see my full disclosure policy.

Entryway

entryway with blue front door and diy orb chandelier

tutorial for DIY house numbertutorial for DIY orb light fixture

For a long time, our foyer was the ugliest room in our whole house, but a colorful wood wall and other personal touches completely brought it to life! You can see more of our entryway here.

entryway with weathered wood plank wall and quatrefoil mirror

similar mirrortutorial for DIY wood plank wall * table is no longer available

Libraryliving room with vintage furniture

Similar Rug * tutorial for reupholstered sofatutorial for DIY curtain rods * tutorial for DIY lampshadestutorial for DIY Thankful signtutorial for DIY arrow growth chart

 

My kids call this room the library because of the wall of built-in bookshelves I added. I’m a big reader, so I love the idea of a home library. Plus it sounds so fancy! Our library is full of color and almost everything in here is either a killer yard sale find or a DIY project. (Those green chairs were only $30 for the pair!)  

 

living room with built in billy bookcases

Tutorial for built-in IKEA bookshelves 

Dining Room

dining room with wood table and blue chairs
 
 
Our dining room is separated from the library by a small half wall. The table is most often covered in legos and crayons, but as our kids get older, we’re working on eating more family dinners here as well. 

 

ornate gold mirror over a modern white table

white table (similar)

Kitchen

blue and white kitchen makeover on a budget

backsplash stencil * tutorial for painted cabinets * tutorial for stenciled backsplash * tutorial for updating hinges * tutorial for updating IKEA stepstooltutorial for wood plank wreath

This kitchen has come such a long way from the dated beige room it used to be. I was able to completely transform this entire room for less than $1000 including ‘new’ appliances. Now it’s a space I love to be in. You can see the awful before pictures and read more about the whole transformation here.

modern farmhouse kitchen and family room

barstools * tutorial for painting countertopstutorial for DIY planter box

Family Room

blue and white family room and kitchen

Rugcharcoal chesterfield sofa * turquoise lamps (similar) * tutorial for numbered wooden boxes * tutorial for refinished end tables 

This is the room where we spend most of our time; it holds our only TV and most of the kids’ toys and it gets lots of use! Painting the fireplace blue was a little risky but it made such a huge difference in making this space feel cozy and welcoming. 

blue fireplace with rustic mantel

upcycled firewood holder * tutorial for painted fireplace * tutorial for DIY mantel * tutorial for TV frame

Bathroom

blue and white bathroom with board and batten walls

gray bath matsgray and white towelstutorial for board and batten walls, tutorial for sunburst mirrortips for installing tile

Our hall bathroom was another room that was still stuck a few decades in the past. I did most of the work on this room myself from tiling the shower to installing the dresser vanity to adding the board and batten walls. And while it was very time-consuming, it wasn’t nearly as difficult as I’d imagined.  You can see the horrible before pictures along with all the details of this makeover here.

 

old dresser turned into a bathroom vanity

vessel sink * faucettp holder * tutorial for cow hand towel holder * tutorial for turning a dresser into a vanity

Master Bedroom

bedroom with diy curvy wooden headboard

white sconces * fabric for curtains * tutorial for sewing curtains * tutorial for DIY headboard * tutorial for creating nightstands from a vanity

I recently gave our master bedroom a major refresh using for less than $50 using things we already owned along with a bit of DIY. Over the years I’ve made three different DIY headboards for this room, but this curvy wood plank headboard is by far my favorite.  You can see more details and photos of this space here.

Dresser with gallery wall full of texture

tutorial for succulent wall art * You & me sign and wall hooks – tutorials in my book, Wood Plank Projects

Boys’ Shared Room

shared boys room with mountain mural and vintage globes

striped bedding * arrow sheets * basket (similar) * tutorial for window awnings * tutorial for mountain mural * tutorial for signs * tutorial for making bedskirt from flat sheet

My 4 and 7 year old sons share this bedroom and it is full of so many fun details from the mountain mural headboards to the vintage globe collection. Kids rooms are definitely the most fun to decorate! You can see more photos and details of this room here.

kids room with play tent and huge bear

play tent * huge bear * tutorial for explore letters

Nursery

navy, gray, and white nursery

floating shelves * crib (similar) * tutorial for Dream Big mural * tutorial for painted dresser

The nursery is currently my 2.5 year old’s bedroom. I know he will be ready for a big boy room soon but for now we’re still enjoying this sweet space. You can see all of the details and more photos here.

gray rocker in nursery

glider (similar) * tutorial for DIY curtains * tutorial for reupholstering glider * tutorial for pedestal table

 
Thanks so much for visiting our home! I hope you’ll follow along here as I continue to make this house our home one step at a time. In the meantime, if you love DIY and thrifty decorating as much as I do, I’d love for you to pin this tour to Pinterest!
 
Home Tour full of inexpensive DIY projects from lovely etc.
 
 
 

 

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8 Comments

  1. Wow…you have done an amazing job re-doing every room! I can’t believe it’s the same kitchen. The flow of colors and decor is quite terrific, too. Really beautiful home you’ve made.

  2. Your home is beautiful! Can you tell me what the wall color is in the living room with the amazing fire place? Did you use the same color through out your entire first floor? Thank you in advance for you response.

    1. Thank you so much! We do have the same paint color throughout almost our whole house. It is Bleached Slate by Valspar and I really like it. It’s a great creamy white that isn’t too stark or too yellow.

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