A heartfelt before-and-after home tour reflecting on six years in our house, budget-friendly updates, room makeovers, and the slow, meaningful process of creating a home our family loves.
I can hardly believe it’s been six years since we moved into this house. Although it sometimes feels like we lived in our previous home forever, this is the place where my children are growing up and where their strongest memories will be made. We moved here in 2019 and just a few months later life changed in ways we never expected — but moving when we did turned out to be one of the best decisions we’ve made.
It’s been four years since I last shared a full before-and-after home tour. I drifted away from those conversational updates and missed the informal posts that simply documented what I was doing each week. This year I want to be more personal again and share progress, setbacks, and the small wins that make a house feel like ours. For now these updates will stay on the blog rather than moving to a newsletter service.
When we first moved in, we tackled some of the biggest eyesores — removing dated paint colors and refreshing finishes — and we even completed an exterior makeover that transformed the curb appeal. Over the past few years, though, updates have slowed. With two growing kids and rising costs for activities, we work at the pace of our budget. It’s slower than the rapid makeovers you often see online, but intentional and meaningful.
In the first two years after moving in, we completed many projects across the house. Since my last full update in 2021, I focused primarily on the laundry room, dining room, and a butler’s pantry — spaces that required both DIY work and a few major purchases. I’ll include quick mentions of those rooms later in this post.
Once the main public spaces on the first floor felt right, I turned my attention to the bedrooms. So far I’ve renovated just one full bathroom (a powder room), and three full bathrooms still patiently wait for their turn. Bedrooms feel more manageable as shorter, budget-friendly projects, so that’s where I’ve concentrated my energy this year.
Budget has shaped the timeline of our updates. While social media often highlights dramatic, quick transformations, most of our changes happen slowly because we buy what we can afford when we can afford it. That’s become part of how this home evolves — one cash-based, deliberate step at a time.
Last year I completed cosmetic updates to my younger daughter’s room to make it feel more cohesive and suited to her tastes. I also began a second phase of the primary bedroom makeover, which I paused for the holidays. The project remains in progress, with some new pieces arriving soon and a few DIY tasks waiting in my garage. Cold weather slowed me down briefly, but I expect to pick it back up in the coming weeks.
Below I’ll highlight the rooms I worked on this year and reflect on how far the house has come in six years.
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2025 House Projects | Before and Afters
This year I concentrated on my younger daughter’s bedroom and continued work on the primary bedroom. The tween room is complete and feels comfortable and organized; the primary bedroom is a work in progress with more finishing touches arriving soon. I’m excited to complete that space and then move on to the next project.
The Tween Daughter’s Room
After finishing my older daughter’s room the year before, I turned to the younger child’s space. The room began as a playroom after we moved in, but about a year later both girls requested their own rooms. For three years this became my younger daughter’s room and I didn’t touch it — until last year, when it was time for an update that reflected her growing tastes.
The refresh was straightforward: I painted the walls in a color she loves, added artwork, refinished a dresser, and upgraded storage and organization. We chose a beachy theme, cleared out items that no longer worked, and created functions that suit her current needs — a tidy place for toys, a dedicated jewelry station, and a comfortable spot for reading.
It feels good knowing both girls have rooms that suit them for the coming years while I focus on other areas of the house.
The Primary Bedroom
The primary bedroom is a large, multifunctional space with a sitting area that needed a cohesive direction. I had already painted and purchased foundational pieces like a bed frame and nightstands, but the room required a unifying theme and thoughtful decor choices. I created a second-phase design plan and have been gradually implementing it.
Progress so far includes repainting the walls to a warmer neutral and bringing in layered textures and vintage-inspired pieces. A DIY peacock art piece above the bed, salvaged and reworked, still makes me smile every time I walk in. We’ve added a Frame TV opposite the bed and I’m working on a custom frame for it. New arrivals — a large mirror and lamp shades for newly acquired lamps — will help pull the room together over the next few weeks.
I’m aiming to finish the primary bedroom soon — to be continued into the next season of projects.
More Primary Bedroom Posts:
- Traditional Bedroom Design Plan {Take 2}
- Christmas Bedroom Decor Ideas & Inspiration
- Bedside Cord Organization Ideas
- Our Primary Bedroom Window Treatments
Honorable Mentions from 2022, 2023 and 2024
Over the last several years I completed three major projects that deserve a quick recap: the dining room, the laundry room, and the butler’s pantry. These spaces are connected visually and functionally, and updating them made a big impact on how the entire first floor feels.
The Dining Room
In 2022 I painted and papered the dining room, tying it to a larger, three-part effort that included the laundry room and butler’s pantry. Because this room is visible the moment you enter the house, I wanted it to be immediately welcoming and visually interesting. The result is a layered, traditional-meets-modern space that sets the tone for the rest of the home.
Because the dining room greets guests, I wanted it to feel polished and thoughtfully designed from day one.
The Laundry Room
The laundry room coordinates with the dining room and is one of my favorite spaces. I pulled a blue tone from the dining room palette and used it here to create visual continuity between the rooms. It’s functional, bright, and now makes daily chores feel a little more pleasant.
The Butler’s Pantry
The butler’s pantry connects the dining room, laundry room, and kitchen, and because it’s visible from the entry, it needed to be both pretty and practical. We gave it a refresh that complements the adjacent rooms and improves storage and function.
There’s still more to tackle: a guest bedroom, three full bathrooms, a loft area, and a pantry upgrade are on the list. These larger projects will likely spread over several years, but I’m excited to chip away at them thoughtfully.
Final Thoughts
Six years in, this house reminds me that a home is built slowly — season by season and project by project — while life happens all around it. Some rooms come together quickly; others take years. That measured, deliberate approach has allowed the house to grow with our family, our budget, and our routines, and I appreciate the story each change adds.
As I look ahead to another year of projects (and inevitable pauses), I’m grateful for the progress we’ve made and enthusiastic about what’s next. I’ll continue sharing thoughtful, doable updates as I tackle one room at a time and embrace the art of slow decorating.