Less House, More Home

I started this post nearly two years ago (August 12, 2013 to be exact). You see, after discovering what it means to be a minimalist and recognizing that that was who I was, and then years of trying to implement some of its practices in my life, we finally bought a house that fit. We had a small home in Centerville, but it was ugly and not a single thing that I really enjoyed about it. I could paint and decorate and change light fixtures all I wanted, but the home still never found a place in my heart. Then we rented this enormous "Utah" house. It was beautiful and new, but certainly nothing I would ever want to call my own. It was fun to rent, temporarily, but it was definitely time to find our own place. Then I bought this house in Daybreak. I think it was just something I had to get out of my system. There is a piece of my heart in Daybreak -- I feel it every time I go there. The homes are so cute! And so not "Utah." There's color! And trails, and parks, and pools, and a lake! But there are no yards, and there's that pesky thing called an HOA that doesn't fit into my self-reliant/agency-loving lifestyle. So, my husband let me buy my house, and then I realized that he was right -- that it wasn't right for us.

So we kept looking. Brandon found this adorable little yellow house, with a huge yard. Small house for me, huge yard for him. I wasn't initially seeing the potential in this home, but Brandon has a way with those things, so I trusted him, and he is not one to let me down. We bought it the first day it was listed -- the market was cruising, and we knew we had to jump on it.

It was built in 1950. We've heard that it was originally built where I-15 is, but had to move it when the interstate was put in. I don't know if that's true. I'd love to learn its history, but I have met 3 different families who have lived in it. This is a photo I got from the county assessor.

This is what it looked like 2 years ago when we bought it:

And this is what it looked like today:

Yeah, we cleaned up the yard a little bit, but that's about it for the exterior. Now you're going to get a complete picture overload of before and afters (I tried really hard to take pictures standing in the same location, but I now have furniture and such in the way - and I was using a different lens on my camera!) Follow along...

I have my family motto just about ready to hang on this wall!

I didn't go into much detail with my bathroom shots -- we haven't really done anything in there. Here you can just see how we took out the window. No more natural light, but it was a good trade for an awesome pantry.

Sophie's room. Let's leave it at that.

These pictures help me see where I need to focus my next energies. My walls are so boring!

That cute little "stair hut" (as we call it) -- I let Sophie fill it with stuff that won't fit in her room. Think I have regrets about that one?

Man, I forgot to take pictures of the guest room and Chloe's room! You'll just have to settle for some before pictures for now.

Finally, outside!

Not only did we paint the fence, but we got new neighbors who own a VW van! That sure livens up the property. Just wish it wasn't black and white.

And since its not possible to have before shots of my pantry, I thought I'd just throw some on here at the end.

It's about 30 minutes late, but I stayed up till it was finished! Happy 2 years to our little home, and here's to many more.