Three-Year Housiversary: A Timeline

Today marks three years we have been living in our house together! Sunday, November 21, 2010, I moved into Trent's house - the house where he grew up and that we inherited together. 

We had just renovated the living room and made our first big purchases of a TV and a washer and dryer. That first month we slept in Trent's twin bed then on a mattress on the living room floor while we renovated the bedroom. We had our first Christmas tree in the living room that we got from Target on sale on Black Friday. I graduated from college that December, and we finished the bedroom reno in January. It all seems like yesterday.

Our temporary sleeping arrangement in December 2010.

Now, three years later it's fun to look back and see what all we've done with the house and how far it has come since we started. As we've discovered over the past few years, renovating your house takes time. (Especially if it was built in the 1800's and has problems that are much bigger than just cosmetic.) We've been going little by little, chugging along, project after project since 2010. In order to help visualize the major projects we've completed with the house so far, and to show how much time it really takes in between renovation projects, I thought I would create a little 3-Year Home Renovation Timeline of our house so far. So! Here goes....

Summer 2010

• Trent's dad moves out and we begin a complete living room renovation.

Fall 2010

• We finish the living room.
• We give the front porch a huge makeover.
• We start on the bedroom renovation.
• I move in, mid-bedroom reno.

Where the Bedroom reno started!

January 2011

• We finish the Bedroom Makeover.

Summer 2011

• Kitchen Phase 1 makeover - We painted all the walls, trim, and cabinets, and installed a beadboard backsplash. Doing what we can until we can gut it entirely and start from scratch.      

September 2011

• We begin a complete hallway renovation.

Fall 2011

• We give the Stairway and my office upstairs a little makeover.

2012

• We continue the hallway renovation - added a closet, doors to the bedroom and bathroom, lighting, finished putting up drywall, etc. (See more of our hallway renovation here, here, and here).

Summer 2013

• We landscape the west side of the house. 

Fall 2013

• The foundation work has started and we got the foundation wall rebuilt on the east side of the house. We all know how that project went...and is still going!

So those are the major improvements we've made to date, which doesn't count all of the many little projects in between that have helped to make our house "our home," like cleaning up the front and back yards, hanging art, filling our home with furniture, and planting a garden, just to name a few. Up until this fall, we had done everything entirely by ourselves without hiring outside help. The first project we contracted out was the dreaded foundation repair project. This project has been our most expensive project yet, by far, but in the long run will also probably be the most crucial so far as well. Fixing the major structural hurdles that this house will allow us to completely renovate the kitchen, and in general, just make the entire century-old house more stable, level, and structurally sound.

We have so many other major renovations and projects to take on yet, including eventually replacing all of the electrical, getting a new roof, putting up a fence, complete kitchen and bathroom renovations...and we have barely even touched some rooms yet, like the upstairs bedroom, the master bedroom closet, pantry, and the back room. I have a feeling it's going to take several more years to completely renovate this house so that we can finally sit back and relax! But maybe then, it will all be worth it. I can't wait to see where this journey will take us...

P.S. - Tour the whole house and see all the Before and Afters here.