Our Four(ish) Year Home Tour

Check out our four year home tour – see a mix of both exterior and interior areas, how we've changed our decor and furniture, and even what diy projects we've loved.

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Seeing a brand new house is fun – but I think the story of a house gets really cool when a family starts making all of the changes that make that house a home.

That's exactly what we've been doing for the past four years in our home! I shared a home tour when it was brand new and an update at one year of all of the changes we had made so far. But, looking back now, it is so different at around 4 1/2 years in. We've really put our mark on this home and changed things to make it ours.

Let's take a look at what's changed in our home since that one year home tour!

Outside – Front of House

2018:

Now:

Since 2018, we've completely redone our flower beds! Ok, I know these pictures aren't super impressive when compared to the original home tour, but keep in mind that it's the middle of winter here (and we're due for some fresh pine straw). These hydrangeas are gorgeous in the middle of summer! I mentioned in that post that I wasn't a big fan of the beds our builder initially put in – so we completely tore them up, put down weed protection, and put in shrubs/flowers/trees that we wanted. You can see that full post here.

We've toyed with the idea of putting some kind of artificial turf in for the front lawn. That area just doesn't get a lot of sun and doesn't seem to want to grow healthy grass. Stay tuned – we're not totally sold on it yet, but definitely considering! (If you have any experience with turf, I'd love to hear it!)

We've also put in exterior landscape lights since that post. It totally changes the way our home looks at night – I love it! We had this done for us, but honestly could have done it ourselves…we used this set of lights.

Foyer

2018:

Now:

The big change to our foyer was the addition of our DIY farmhouse entry table. We still love this project so much!

Dining Room

2018:

Now:

This room hadn't had a lot of TLC when we posted in 2018 – but we've done a lot of work since then. The chairs got a pseudo-upholstery job (I really just attached foam to them and covered with removable chair covers), we've hung both our blueprints and some favorite trivets on the wall. It looks like an actual room now! See a dining room and foyer tour (from 2019) here.

Playroom

2018:

Now:

Not a lot of changes to this room since 2018…when we moved in, this is one of the first rooms we tackled, so we had already made the big changes here. The only big difference is a new couch cover. We're still loving the big DIY Ikea built-ins we installed in this room…they're so functional!

You can see a full post about our playroom (from 2018) here.

Craft Room

2019:

There wasn't a picture of this room in our one year home tour post because we rarely used it then – it was just really a junk room.

Now:

I just used an older picture of the craft room because it honestly hasn't changed too much since we redid it in 2019 – it's just a little more cluttered now. 🙂 When the pandemic hit, my husband started working from home and never really went back to a traditional office. It's so nice that he has the option and he enjoys the flexibility of working from home! This became his office as well as the craft room. So imagine this space with a real office chair, a big office computer, and lots of little tech gadgets all over the desk.

We also typically keep the murphy bed desk folded out so the kids can work on craft projects as needed (we don't use the murphy bed as a bed that much at all, it's just there for the occasional guest). When we were virtual schooling during the spring of 2020, this is where Emmie did her schoolwork each day. This room has gotten us through a lot – I'm so glad we redid it when we did!

You can see more of the craft room here.

Kitchen

2018:

Now:

The actual kitchen area is virtually the same as it was in 2018, but we've done a little bit of work on the seating area. If you look at the before picture above, you can see the corner of a picnic table we kept in the corner for the kids – it was really just a junk collection site. We sold that and put in an inexpensive cube organizer as a collection area (organized with these bins from Ikea), and even though it's still a junk collection site, at least it's prettier now! 🙂 And yes, those are the same chairs – we just started using slip covers (a must if you sit in upholstered chairs to eat frequently).

You can see more of the kitchen (from 2018) here.

Living Room

2018:

Now:

The biggest change to the living area is a new couch! Many of you who followed our story for years know we had a beagle that was absolutely part of our family and was very loved. He passed away in January of this year at 14 years old. We said for years that we wouldn't replace our couch until he either passed or couldn't jump on it anymore – that time came last year, so it was finally time to get something new.

And we decided to get a bed! 🙂 We both liked the idea of a pit couch, so even thought it might not be the “picture perfect” solution for our living room, it is definitely the right solution. We love it! (Here's a link to where we bought it.) It's incredibly comfy and absolutely perfect for movie nights. It's so comfy that Noah has actually been sitting on the couch way more at night, something he never did before.

We can pull that center ottoman out if needed to make it a “U” shape when we have guests over. It's an amazing solution – we've told each other at least 10 times over the past few months that this was a great purchase.

We'd love to get a new rug, that's next on the home wish list. Needless to say, with a beagle on it for around 5 years, this one is in dire need of replacing.

Crown Molding

2020:

Now:

This has been one of my favorite DIY projects! When we were building, I brought up the idea of having really thick crown molding in the bigger rooms of the house and was shot down – not only would the cost be high but the builder thought it would be too heavy. I went with his suggestion, but always had it in the back of my mind that I wanted really thick, heavy crown molding in a few rooms.

In 2020, we decided to give it a try in the dining room and absolutely loved it. Since then, we've installed it in our living room/kitchen area and master bedroom too. I don't regret it one bit – it's improved the look of those rooms so much!

Here's how we did it.

Deck

2017:

Without a doubt, the biggest home improvement project we've taken on since 2018 is our deck/outdoor area. From the beginning, Noah regretted not having our deck built bigger. As it was, it really just became more of a “pathway” to the stairs than an actual outdoor area.

Everybody had their list of to-dos around the house that they tackled at the beginning of the pandemic – one of mine was staining our deck. Pressure treated wood really has to kind of settle for a few months before it can be stained, so we didn't do this immediately – and then it just kind of got away from us until 2020.

I finally did it – and about a month later, Noah decided to finally pay to have our deck extended. It was one of our more expensive home projects in the past few years because of the height of the deck (that far end is probably 15-20 feet off the ground), and it's something we knew we'd have to have professionally done.

So, that left us with a big, pretty, mismatched deck. And if we're being honest, we hated (and still hate) the color of the stain. The red is just entirely too red for us. But, once you stain, you're kind of stuck with it unless you paint over it…and that's exactly our plan.

We recently stained the rest of the deck to make everything match, and our plan is to paint over the stain in the next few months. We're still deciding on a color! But besides that, we absolutely love the space. (Sorry this picture isn't great – again, winter. We keep our furniture and grill covered…I'll try to get a prettier picture soon.) We also had a plug for a TV put outside, making it so perfect to watch a movie or a football game on a cool afternoon.

And there you have it – the good, the bad, and the ugly (stain 😂) of our changes over the past 4 years! Thanks for stopping by the newest edition of our home tour posts. You can see more about our home by clicking here.