I started the year by sharing a 2019 project preview – and I’m happy to report we accomplished almost everything on the list. Except finishing the upstairs hallway and starting master bathroom renovation, which was a huge maybe for the end of the year anyway. Technically we haven’t finalized the den and living room either, but we’re making slow changes and that’s what matters to me. Creating a home you love doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time and patience. Life happens in between and often throws curve balls you don’t expect. That’s what 2019 felt like for us at least. A lot of personal growth, but also a lot of heartache. Amidst it all, we still kept chugging along on our home renovation endeavor. We’ve been in our house 3.5 years now and it definitely feels so much more like us. Scroll through to see the highlights from each month!
JANUARY
I set a word of the year and that was believe after a tough 2018.
I truly felt 2019 was going to be “our year”. I clung strong to my word of the year, believe. Believing that good things were to come and that 2019 would bring change. It did bring change and there were definitely some good things that happened in 2019, but we still felt a lot of heartache and questioning. I sometimes even wondered if I was naive in my word selection for the year.
FEBRUARY
In February we started our on upstairs guest bathroom renovation with great intentions of finishing it in 2-3 months. Little did we know it would be finished almost 7 months later. Like I said, life happens and when it does renovation takes a back seat, at least for us it did.
MARCH
I shared a simple spring home tour and though I love the cheeriness of Christmas décor I am secretly excited to start off with a fresh slate décor wise after the new year.
After 3 years of living in our home I felt equipped to finally write a post about 10 things I wish I’d known before buying a home. Some of them are doozies, but I can safely say I still love our home and would buy an older home in a heartbeat in the future.
APRIL
We got a new rug in our living room and ever since our living room has slowly been evolving into a space that feels just right.
We’re still waiting on renovating our master bathroom in all of its 80s Grecian column inspired glory, but in the mean time I gave our master bedroom a little refresh.
MAY
In 2019 we really focused on reducing waste and using more natural types of products all around our home.
I figured out a way that truly cleans our white enamel sink with ingredients you probably already have in your pantry!
JUNE
We went on a family trip to the 30A area of Florida and I wrote a beach vacation guide with all of our recommendations.
Shortly after we returned from our trip to Florida I had a 3rd miscarriage. Up until this point 2019 was feeling like a great year. In June it quickly took a nosedive. I am someone who suffers from anxiety on the daily, but this third miscarriage really put me in a dark and scary spot. I lost all hope and my word of the year, believe, seemed like it was mocking me in my face.
JULY-OCTOBER
We spent some time slowly putting the pieces and the hopes for our lives back together. I didn’t blog at all and was rarely present on social media. It was what I needed at the time and I’m glad I gave myself a break. During this time we slowly worked on our upstairs bathroom. As weird as it sounds, hours of tiling and grouting our upstairs bathroom slowly pulled me out of my anxiety and depression fog.
We started seeing a reproductive endocrinologist and I had surgery to correct a previous undiagnosed uterine septum. We went to Northern Michigan twice, once in July and once in September. Michigan is a place that always feels like home to me. Where we stay at my grandparent’s lake house is a slower pace of life and is a place where we spend a lot of time outside – kayaking, hiking, and enjoying nature. It was exactly what we needed during a difficult time in our lives.
For a good chunk of 2019 I was in a really dark place, but I was fortunate to have family and friends to support me through it. I shared my tips on how to support a friend or loved one through miscarriage.
NOVEMBER
November was the month things really started to come together around our house!
I shared our Tudor style home’s exterior paint reveal! It’s not a super dramatic before and after, but it sure does feel so much better to me now!
Before we had our house painted we also had a new concrete patio poured out back. We spent time this past fall adding landscaping all around the patio and making our previous mud pit of a yard much more usable!
November was a big month! I also revealed our modern traditional upstairs bathroom renovation! One of my favorites to date.
We hosted Thanksgiving this year and I knew I wanted to give our dining room a little love before the big day. With $300 I transformed our dining room into a space that flows so much better with the rest of our house.
DECEMBER
December was all about making our home feel cozy.
I shared our simple, warm & cozy holiday home. We took some time off at the end of the year and it was so nice to spend it with family and friends.
2019 didn’t turn out exactly to be the year we hoped for, we really thought I would be very pregnant right now and we’re so sad that’s not the case, but it sure did teach us a lot. We both grew individually and we grew as a couple as we navigated the heart wrenching waters of our fertility journey. We also gained some new DIY skills, but learned important lessons on what exactly our DIY limits are.
