Five years. 60 months. 260 weeks. 1,825 days. 43,800 hours.
It’s been a little quiet around here, and full disclosure that after this post, it’ll continue to be crickets at North Country Nest. That being said, we couldn’t NOT share anything for the big five year anniversary. Friends. FIVE YEARS.
I say this every year, but I still remember driving out of the parking lot with Brett, blaring the radio, so excited to move into our first home. It seems like just yesterday we were pulling up to the house for the first time, walking through the front door and getting started with scraping off the popcorn ceilings.
Fast forward five years later and those ceilings? They’re FINALLY finished.
And there are many more updates I am so excited to share with you. While we’ve been radio silence here on the blog, I promise it has NOT been that way in the house. After all, we’re on a baby deadline – she’s coming in April (hopefully stays put that long!) whether the home is ready or not.
Okay, enough chit chat. Let’s dive into the tour, shall we?
The Entryway
So many changes but I must say, totally worth the work. When we first moved in, this entryway for the mother-in-law suite. The house was split into two separate dwellings. We knocked down the main wall, removed the original mudroom and moved the main entrance to this space.
We renovated the entry for the first time in October 2016 for the One Room Challenge. Then we did an unexpected remodel January 2019. It’s been the same ever since and we’re still loving the new(ish) look.
>> Read all about the entryway here
The Living Room
Once we opened up the two dwellings, we had so much room (for activities! :-P) for the main living area.
This gave us the opportunity to add in a linen closet and new set of stairs. In addition, we swapped in new windows and a slider along the south wall and added in a fireplace.
>> Read all about the living room here
The Kitchen
It’s (basically) DONE!! Okay, backing it up. We painted the cabinets within the first few months of moving in. And then repainted them a few years later. And then started the official renovation December 2019.
>> Read all about the kitchen here
Guest Bathroom
The original guest bathroom was HUGE. Unreasonably large with a ton of wasted space. So, we cut it half, moved the door to the other side of the hallway and reconfigured the entire layout. It hasn’t changed much since we finished the space in 2017 which is a-okay. We do enough changing of everything else that it’s nice to have something stay the same 😛
>> Read all about the guest bathroom here
The Laundry Room
Speaking of changes – we are nearly wrapped up with the laundry room refresh. Way back in 2017, we completed the first laundry room and about 0.2 seconds after we finished, we found things that we didn’t like. The main one being the fact that the washer and dryer came out past the windows. So, after a lot of brainstorming, we finally came up with a layout that would alleviate the overlap AND help take care of the guest bedroom that had a lot of wasted space.
We unhooked the washer and dryer mid-January and thanks to my hard workin’ husband, we had the space finished within two weeks. I KNOW. The quickest remodel we’ve done to date.
I’m happy to report that Brett still walks into the laundry room and comments on how much he loves it so I think it’s safe to say we’ll be keeping this for awhile.
>> Read all about the laundry room here
The Guest Bedroom
Originally, the guest bedroom was attached the bathroom because it was the mother-in-law suite. When we reconfigured the bathroom, removed the original mudroom and brought the laundry room upstairs, this allowed us to change the bedroom layout. We moved the closet to the other side of the room, added in two windows and installed a barn door.
Part of the laundry room change meant taking space from the guest bedroom. Which, if I’m being honest, was totally fine because the space was too big anyways. This meant removing one of the windows to make room for the new laundry room wall.
We just finished painting the space a few days ago and have the carpet installation happening in the next few weeks. The plan is to instal built-ins and a desk where the sewing machine is currently sitting and add another closet organization system for the crafts. Although, all we really need is the bed moved in because we have a few guests that are already booked for after baby is here!
>> Read all about the guest bedroom here
Nursery/Guest Bedroom #2
Speaking of baby. The nursery currently looks like one hot mess, as you can see below. However, it wasn’t always this way. When we added in a closet to the other guest bedroom, we did the same to this one. We were able to completely finish the space for the One Room Challenge in October 2017 and haven’t really changed much since.
And then we found out we were expecting and since it’s the bedroom that’s closest to ours, it became the best option for the nursery. You can get a sneak peek of the paint colors but otherwise it’s nowhere near being ready. Currently everything is piled up in the center and waiting for carpet to be installed. This will involve ripping out of the plywood flooring and of course, moving all the stuff into the hallway/living room. Once the carpet is installed, we can move all the guest bedroom furniture into the guest bedroom and then get the nursery furniture up and ready. It’s the domino effect at it’s finest 😛
>> Read all about the nursery/guest bedroom here
The Office
On the other side of the hallway from the nursery is the office. This was a little jut-out area with a guest bathroom and closet. When we started planning for the kitchen renovation (which included adding a pantry), linen closet add-on and stair installation, we realized we could demo the closet and bathroom and make room for an office, pantry and shower for our master bathroom.
And because deciding on paint colors seems to be a struggle here at the Wittman household, the office received a paint refresh last October and boy does it make a big difference.
>> Read all about the office here
The Master Bathroom
The only change in the bedroom is that we swapped in a new window. This will be the last room on the first floor to renovate and even after five years, we’re still struggling with layout options. Every few months, one of us will get some inspiration and we’ll talk about layout. And then we go back to the drawing board.
The bathroom, however, got a mini makeover during the summer of 2019. We painted the floor tile, refinished the vanity and a gave the walls a new color. While it doesn’t fully make up for the awkward toilet in the middle of the room, it is definitely an improvement.
And as a random side note: the painted floor has held up really, really well. So, if you’re looking for a budget friendly way to change your tile floor, painting is definitely a good option!
>> Read all about the master bathroom here
And there ya have it – a five year home tour. Seems like we just started but then again, I can’t believe it’s been this long. Here’s to the next five and hopefully having the first floor done by then 😛
All our best,
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