It Finally Feels Like Home
I have felt a huge shift in my mind over the last few weeks towards our house, and it’s been pretty amazing. My mindset started shifting as I was finishing up the living room and the hallway, and the music room was so close to being finished. For the first time since we bought this house in 2013, this house finally started feeling like home to me. It’s a feeling that almost brings tears to my eyes, because it’s something that I haven’t felt in a very long time.
Each place where Matt and I have lived for the last fifteen years (starting with the condo, and now this house) has felt more like a project to me than a home, and for very good reason. They’ve both been projects where we live on site. And while our condo was a very fun project for me, it was never completely finished, so it never really felt like home to me. It was always just a project.
The same has been true of this house. For the better part of the last seven-and-a-half years, I’ve viewed it not as my home, but as my project. There was always a constant presence of tools and paint cans and unfinished projects. There was never a place where I wanted to just sit down and relax, so I was always in project mode. And because of that, I found myself constantly working, generally until 11:00pm or later, and then going to bed and starting over again the next day.
And then 2020 happened. Last year made me (and probably millions of other people) realize the importance of family, of down time, and of home. So this year, I wanted to make a point of finishing lingering projects, getting the tools and paint cans cleared out, and learning to live and relax in our home.
And that has definitely happened this year. I started the year by finishing the guest bedroom, then the living room, then the hallway, and then the music room.
(Note: If you’re reading this post on any website other than Addicted 2 Decorating, that means you’re reading on a site that is stealing my blog content. I hope you’ll consider joining me on my actual blog by clicking here.)
Add those to the rooms that were already finished before this year, and that’s a pretty significant portion of our home that’s actually finished, tool- and paint can-free, and completely usable.
And while the breakfast room (aka, the sitting room for now) isn’t quite finished to my liking just yet (and evidently the new rug has been lost in transit), it has become the most used room in our home.
Our home. For the first time, I say those words and I actually feel it. This is home now. There are actually places where I can sit and relax. I have my favorite place to sit and read (the living room sofa), and my favorite comfy place to sit and watch a show or work on my laptop (the sitting room), or my favorite place to take a break during my work day and scroll Instagram for a few minutes (the music room settee). I find myself actually wanting to quit working earlier now so that I can have some time in the evenings to just sit and relax and watch a show.
And I have to say that it’s also quite amazing to have a home where I can let someone in the front door, and the first thing out of my mouth is no longer, “Please excuse the mess. I have about a thousand projects going on right now.” I no longer feel the need to make excuses for unfinished projects, tools lying about, and paint cans stacked in the corner.
Now I can actually open the door and simply be proud of the home I’ve created. I’ve worked hard for this, and I was never really sure if this place would ever actually feel like home. I was beginning to feel like it would always and forever just be my project. I’m so relieved that it actually does feel like home now. It’s such a good feeling to walk through my own front door and have that feeling of, “Ahhhhh, I’m home.” I hope you have that, too! And if not, I hope you’ll keep plugging away at those projects until you do, because there’s really nothing like it. And we all need that in this crazy world, right?
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
What a blessing for you to finally have that feeling! Your home is absolutely beautiful, so Kristi! Kudos to you for all your hard work – and taking us along on your journey. Looking forward to more as you meet up with the future Kristi.
And it is lovely….the rooms are unique and reflect your vision . You have done a beautiful job!
I’m so happy that you are feeling that way about your home. What a joy that is.
I am so happy for you. You can now say There’s no place like home. You’ve worked so hard all these past years to get to this point. Enjoy what you have created.
I love how you’ve used so much color in your home! You are amazing. I have been following you for some time. Congrats on all your progress.
What a wonderful feeling, congrats!! And thank you for sharing it all with us along the way 🙂
Wow. You are a powerhouse! Amazing work. You are an inspiration to me personally. Enjoy the fruits of your labor, it is beautiful.
What a beautiful post, Kristi! You have worked so hard on your home over the past few years, you should be very proud of yourself. It looks fabulous and I think that most of us wish we had your talents and abilities.
That feeling of a peaceful home is awesome and so glad, my friend, that you have that. It is well deserved!
Every space is just beautiful Kristy. You are an inspiration. Now make yourself and Matt a cup of tea and sit and relax while admiring all your hard work. Thankyou for letting us all come on your journey. Regards Kate Melbourne Australia
Hi, I’m constantly amazed at the things you do. I’ve been following you for a while and do so admire your skills and your ability to soldier on no matter what. You don’t complain you just keep at it. I’m truly awed at the things you are able to do. Keep at it. The end is in sight. A loyal fan
You have done an amazing job on your home. Sit, relax and enjoy!
Kristi, I know that feeling well. To say this space doesn’t NEED anything. Just take these moments to be proud of yourself! Great job- a true masterpiece!
As I scrolled through the photos of each room in your home, I noted so many projects in each photo that you built or made yourself, and I am just in awe. So much creativity, so much hands-on hard work, have gone into each room, it almost brought me to tears. Cherish every moment with Matt as you both enjoy the environments you have created, and may you have many more in the future!
Love all that you have done to yours and Matt’s home. Can’t wait to see the rest of your rooms as you work on them. Will you be working on your office after the gym or the master bathroom.
Welcome Home, the best place to be! And you have created a beauty.
You deserve feeling this way. What an accomplishment and beautiful outcome. Thanks for bringing us along on your journey!
Next onto your studio? That is a space just for you. Maybe set up a corner to video projects that your viewers would like to see, without having any supplies or paint cans in your home.
I can hardly wait to see what happens next.
I want to get the home gym done before I move on to the studio. The studio is going to be a huge project with all of those cabinets (plus I’m hoping for a miracle that lumber prices will come down in the next month or so), and I want to get the easier project done first. Plus, I want to hire a physical therapist to come twice a week and work with Matt, and I think the home gym will be very useful for that. So the sooner the better.
A “Stop and smell the roses” moment for a full-house remodel – excellent!!! So happy for you.
I get what you are saying! And I am so happy for you! You now have lovely rooms to relax, cook, bathe, sleep and enjoy time with your hubby! The remaining projects can have the door shut at the end of the day. And you go home from work! Enjoy your beautiful home!
Sheila F.
It all looks wonderful and you deserve to sit and relax in your home! Congratulations!
Reading your post made me smile!
How wonderful for you to sit, breathe, and relax and know that this is MY HOME! A place to be proud of for all that you have done to create your slice of a heaven in a home of your vision and hard work! Kristi, bravo! You have brought joy to many as we have seen the transformation ( even showing how to do things in our homes) and saw the finished project(s)! Thank you for a wonderful trip of creative, colorful, beautiful rooms that made a true spectacular HOME!
I have so enjoyed watching you so all of these rooms!! I even love the reworking of them!! I love the evolving aesthetic of your style that always stays true!! I am always excited for a new post from you!!
How wonderful! The well deserved reward of a job well done.
I’m so happy for you! I get so excited when I see a new post from you. I LOVE YOUR HOME!!!!!
It’s a beautiful home! Fantastic job!
Beautiful post! I also know the feeling! My gosh, I forgot about those gorgeous tiles in the pantry! The colors in your home flow so well from room to room – well done!
Stupendous!!!! Congratulations on many jobs well done to achieve these many dreams. Clearly your cat is quite clear THIS IS HIS HOME!!!! Take a nod from your feline as he’s mastered “chill”. Enjoy!
Wonderful!!!
So pleased for you! can’t wait to see what magic you do with the rest of your home!
It is so lovely. All the work has paid off. You are a bright light to all of us!
I’m so happy for you and hope you find yourself truly enjoying your home from here out! Even though there are more projects to come, having enough finished space to make your home a home is huge! Congratulations and thank you for taking us all along on the journey!!
Your home is stunning. Your creativity is off the chart. Your use of color is inspiration. In a blogland full of white farmhouse style homes, yours is the one I love to study because it’s full of color, real life, step by step and even the occasional redo’s. Thank you for taking us on the journey with you. Can’t wait to see the next spaces evolve.
Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Your thoughts and feelings are a message to us all, appreciate your home, family and the hard work we all do to make our homes, ours. Thank you for sharing throughout the years, it has been a journey and one I am grateful to be watching since your condo days.
So nice for you to have that home feeling. We moved 5 years ago and just this Spring I finished the last room to my specs, it is a accomplished feeling! I was thinking after reading your list that you should include all the beautiful work on the outside! Good job, everything is gorgeous.
I am sooooo happy that you have learned how to enjoy your accomplishments. Sometimes those of us who need to feel productive have the hardest time just enjoying what we have. Such a good reminder for me to look around and be thankful for all I see and enjoy it! Your house is very beautiful. I have loved this journey of yours. Thanks for sharing!
Your home looks amazing! Just beautiful, enjoy it!
I love everything you’ve done to make a wonderful home for you and Matt! I have followed you for years thru all the mishaps and changes 🤣😂. I especially love your use of color! I love color! Hope you enjoy for a good while until you just have to have a project 🤣.
Question: Did you make the Pink Curtains in the Living Room (I sew so not a problem) or did you purchase ( I don’t remember) where did you purchase material or the curtains, I love love them. please let me know….Gayle in South Louisiana
She made the curtains it I don’t remember where she got the material from…. joann’s maybe??
I did make the curtains, and I got the fabric at Joann Fabrics. I broke one of my own rules and chose a fabric intended for apparel, but I couldn’t pass up that color. It was such a gorgeous pink (to me) — not too girly like the pink you’d put in a child’s room, and kind of muted, but not so muted that it’s dull. Anyway, it’s polyester suiting fabric and not appropriate for curtains at all because it has a stretch to it. But it has such a soft hand, it hangs and drapes beautifully, and I thought it had enough body and weight to it that maybe the stretch wouldn’t be an issue. So far, they’ve held up great.
Kristi – you are Wonder Woman. So happy for you. What will you do and what will you write about now that your house is almost completed??
I love this post! So glad you are feeling at home. Your photos are gorgeous (as always).
I’m so happy for you, Kristi!! What a wonderful blessing your home is. I think we all strengthened our Attitude of Gratitude in 2020. When the outside world is off kilter, there is truly no place like home (with a comfy chair and nice lamp to soak in God’s Word). I’m also super excited for you about your Studio and Master Bedroom…. your Studio space is wonderful! 🙂
Home Sweet Home! There’s nothing like it!
So happy for you and Matt.
I am so happy for you. Your home is so lovely and I know it must feel fantastic to have a few places to be able to just sit and do whatever. I’m looking forward to seeing the weight room and your main bedroom and bathroom unfold.
I wonder how much you have increased your home’s value with all your hard work. I’ll bet the amount would be jaw-dropping! (NOT that I’m encouraging you to think about selling…! lol)
If this pandemic has done nothing else, I think it has caused people to realize what is most important to us humans; we value family, God, health and home above all the other frills. I’m glad you have time now to focus on those things more, as we have occasionally tried to remind you to do! I know for myself, this past year has caused me to realize I don’t need to fuss over having the latest or newest or most trendy thing I see on the internet or tv. Who really cares if my living room doesn’t have a Fig tree? Do I really need to buy new clothes every season? DO I REALLY NEED A HAIRCUT EVERY 6-8 WEEKS? (that lasted for well over a year! I had my high school hair again! LOL!) At 67 years old, I finally realized I can do without a lot of things, but I can’t give up family! Welcome HOME!!!!
Your home is beautiful and you’ve made it that way! Thanks for sharing your journey and taking us along!
I only see one problem with all of this. What will you do when it is all done???? LOL!
The house next door to us is for sale right now. I’m so tempted to snatch it up!
Kristi, I am so happy for you and Matt! Your hard work has paid off and your home is stunning. I am smiling ear to ear for you. Love you and the fam!
Really lovely post! All the pictures are beautiful, too – looking like a great place to call home! I hope you are so proud of yourself and how far you’ve come.
You have earned it, many times over! Such a happy home.
I have been following you since you started working on the kitchen. You have come such a long way since then! Your touch is on every piece of fabric, every bit of woodwork and the paint colour choices are all you. Welcome home!
Your happy message brought tears to my eyes, Kristi.
I have thought of your aspirations and plans and achievements for your home to be something like learning a language. Years ago, I lived in Korea and faced the challenge of learning that language. At first, I wrote down the vocabulary words I didn’t know so it was like slugging up a mountain. Then, one day, I felt like I was coming down the mountain, at last. Now the process is repeating since I live in Ecuador and am learning Spanish.
There are still many projects ahead for you, but now that the main parts of your home are done, you are coming down the other side of your mountain. It doesn’t matter how long the next phases will take you. We will follow along and cheer you on.
Thanks for showing so many of your rooms in one view. The perspective of both ‘the forest and the trees.’ The flow of colors from room to room is beautiful.
Thank you for sharing your feelings as well as your skill. Your unique way of working satisfies your need to break up the routine stuff to do a creative fun project. (“Takes one to know one”, which is hard for a methodical person to get. It doesn’t matter if they do or not. Never bothered me either.)
I hope the new rug shows up soon.
I had actually forgotten about several of your “projects”. You house is lovely and I am amazed in all that your accomplished. I actually started following you just as you bought the house so I have seen the entire renovation. I do love the color and it will probably surprise you but my favorite space is the pantry. I just can’t get past those gorgeous tiles you created. After that there are many many close seconds (grin). I look forward to watching you finish up what is left. In the meantime just sit back and enjoy your home. If anyone deserves it you and Matt do. Your post made me smile; no, not smile, but grin ear to ear.
Kristi, your post made me so happy for you. Your projects are now done, are beautiful, and you and Matt can enjoy the home you have so skillfully made. I realize you have some other additions planned but at least you have all the rooms you can live in everyday finished the way you wanted. And at night you can relax with Matt and you both get to enjoy each other…no late night work for you! Of course I think we are all looking forward to the next phase too. Enjoy your beautiful home. PS) I forgot how much I LOVE that pantry!
What a beautiful post. It brought tears to my eyes and a smile to my lips.
Welcome home Kristi. Welcome home.
Yay! That’s a great place to be–enjoy your home, you deserve it!
Kristi, you have done an amazing job renovating your home… and I’m so happy for you that it finally has begun to feel like home. You should be so proud! I look forward to the remainder of your home (your workshop, master bedroom and bathroom, and your sunroom) to see what you accomplish there. But what you have already done, almost totally by yourself, is something to truly be admired. Not many people can do what you have done. Enjoy it, my friend. You deserve it. xo
Kristi, your home is stunning. I’ve been following you for some time now and I think back, as I look at each room, on how your hands and heart have touched every surface in your home and I’m just amazed. You are an artist extraordinaire. Thank you for inviting me in!!!!
Wow! Just WOW!
Yay for you! I doubt I could have spent as long as you have creating your dream home. I have to admit, in many ways, I am so glad my bar is so much lower than yours! I’m very happy for you!!!!
It’s truly dazzling. And 100% unique. It’s been a lot of fun watching the process over the years.
Eoderful and meaningful post! Congratulations for all your hard work!
May I add that, for me, one of the things that it changed from project list to home was to have spaces that had a flow: no project interrupting the floe from the kitchen to the living room to the bathroom to the entryway. All done (almost! 😂😂😂)
What a wonderfully happy house you have!
How’s the master bath coming along? I’ve been waiting to see that wallpaper up. Did I miss it or has it been put on hold with the insane rise in lumber costs?
It was on hold due to our contractor’s schedule, but he was able to send the contract to us last week so we can get started in a couple of weeks.
I know your excited. Can’t wait to see that lovely paper up.
Congratulations Kristi and Matt !! And Welcome HOME !! I have followed you for a long time and it is NOT disappointing. I love everything you do. Your house IS beautiful. So glad you and Matt can now spend some deserved time together…relaxing. (I know you are not done..but you know what I mean…). Cheers to ALL you have accomplished. Looking forward to ‘everything’ else you have up your sleeve.
I’m so glad that you finally have that feeling that you are home! The rooms that you have completed are beautiful and look very inviting. Be proud and just relax and enjoy.
God has certainly blessed your mess while living in remodel mode, May He continue to bless you in your new beautiful home.
Time for a new house tour perhaps? I am super glad you feel at home. Everyone should. It all looks amazing.
Your home is so beautiful! Glad it feels like home to you now!