9 Years Ago Today {and basement/home randomness}

9 Years ago today we found ourselves moving into our home. We had quickly sold our first home (after the first showing!) before we even broke ground on the one we were building.  As a result, we had to move into an apartment while our house was built. We lived there for 5 months and on December 22, 2003, we moved in to our home! You can read more about what our kitchen cabinets looked like at that time here.

We were worried about impacting our family and friends around the holiday season, so we ended up renting a U-haul and moving the majority of our belongings ourselves. We did ask one friend did come and help us for about 3 hours – there were a few things that I was not able to help lift down the stairs from our apartment (TV, TV cabinet, couches, etc.). We were so thankful to have the help that day!
It’s crazy to thing about all of the changes we have made to our home over the last nine years and we have been loving every minute of it!

The basement is currently consuming a lot of our free time (and money!!). After focusing on tiling the shower and the basement entry, we moved on the family room. We hung the mantel over the fireplace and construction on the built-in cabinets has begun.  (Which you know if you follow me on Instagram).
Here are a few random pictures from the basement – the work continues!

This picture is from weeks ago, but here is the shower before grout. All of the tile in the basement has been grouted for weeks and the fixtures have been installed. I just haven’t taken the time to take any updated pictures…





We were “mid-grout” here:



After we were done with the tiling, we put up the fireplace mantel and now the built-in cabinets are being built. Hubby brought in the bases for a quick “size check” so we could get a feel for how they would look. The cabinet on the right side will be angled into the room since that is where the TV will be. They are farther along now – more pics once they are installed!



It has snowed here a few times and we just recently had a blizzard here in Minnesota. Here is our front porch after one of the snowfalls – all set for Christmas!



Happy Holidays to you!