As I type this exactly 1 year has passed since we received the keys to our home (Our Emerald Nest) and moved in. And, we love it just as much as from the day we received those keys (…well really since the 7 months before that watching our house come to life being built).

A Year Filled With Firsts

This year has been filled with a lot of firsts – First time meeting our new neighbors. First birthday celebrations. First seeing all the changes of the seasons in a new way (no more messy cottonwood trees). First how many trick-or-treaters do you think we will have? First Thanksgiving (although we ordered in and didn’t cook this year). First, where do we put the Christmas Tree … and how many Christmas Trees should we put up? First Christmas complete with the first snow. First of celebrating fun times with family and friends. First celebration of a life fully lived (gathering for my grandpa’s passing). All of these firsts of many, many more memories to follow.

With all of these firsts, there have also been a lot of home changes – taking Our Emerald Nest from a builder basic and turning it into our version of WOW. All the while having the “pinch me” moments with “I can’t believe we get to live here”.

Cha-Cha Changes

After moving in last year we hit the ground running with making updates starting with changing out all of the lighting and ending just yesterday with staining our side of the neighbor’s fence that lines our driveway.

Looking Back At The Year

With as much that has happened in just a year … and to really take in what all we have done … let’s take a glimpse at “A Year In A Life”…

• Changed out every light in the house. Getting rid of all basic frosted globes (affectionately named after a woman’s body part) with stunning modern-glam fixtures
• Hung a wall mural in the entryway that makes a statement
• Hung coordinating grasscloth wallpaper in the great room and dining room
• Painted a little drama on the dining room ceiling with metallic gold paint
• Hung a very colorful fun wallpaper in the laundry room
• Added floor-to-ceiling draperies on all the windows in the house (to soften the windows – because we do have white-wood blinds)
• Upgraded the drawer and cabinet pulls on all of the cabinetry in the house to give them a more custom look
• Replaced all of the builder-basic bathroom sheet mirrors with 5 beautifully framed mirrors
• Painted the perfect color accent walls in the primary bedroom, loft/family room space, all 3 bathrooms, and my office
• Created a dreamy closet dressing room out of a bedroom complete with a sparkly chandelier
• Hung custom house numbers above the front door porch entry to help add a warm welcome
• Designed and installed landscaping in the backyard, including adding stamped concrete, trees, shrubs, plants, and an entertaining area
• Re-Styled the landscaping in the front yard to add a bit of dimension with more plants and shrubs
• Built a custom-designed gate to connect the front yard to the backyard for easy access to the entertaining space
• Installed an irrigation system in the backyard and moved around the irrigation in the front yard so our plants would stay alive (since I don’t have a very good green thumb).
• Designed and built a dry bar in the loft/family room space where the builder intended (and built space for) a closet to go
• Created style in each room with space planning and purchasing furniture to fill and complete the spaces
• Stained our side of the neighbor’s fence that lines our driveway with the stain to match the rest of our fencing

A Couple Hiccups Along The Way

We also had a couple of home hiccups this first year with some big builder repairs…

• Our main sewer line broke 3 weeks in and had our front yard and part of our driveway dug up and put back together to find and repair the break
• At our mid-year inspection our inspector found 4 inches of water in our crawlspace due to a sump pump not being connected and after having the pump wired for power (as it should have been) had all the standing water pumped out, the space dried with fans and the crawlspace vapor barrier and installation put back together so that it looked like nothing had happened.

End Of The Year Repairs

We are now in the middle of our 1 year Builder Repairs of having our house settling issues (drywall cracks, nail pops, cabinets & doors adjusted and carpet stretched) fixed like new. So far those fixes are going smoothly and everything is looking back to brand new.

Time To Enjoy

Looking at this list makes us smile at what we have accomplished with updating our home in one short year. Will there be more changes and updates in the future? I would be lying if my answer was no. Updating our home is my happy place after all I have been designing, creating, and updating the spaces of my home my entire life.

So as we sit and enjoy all that we have accomplished this past year, stay tuned for Our Emerald Nest’s continued transformation.

Here is a little glimpse of our “Year In The Life”…