the burrow: a dining room tour

In progress.

That’s my kitchen and dining room.

But – mostly done.

Of course, if you know me and my affinity for rearranging furniture and wall spaces and everything in between, then you know any home I live in will always, in part, be a work in progress.

Despite the unstained shelves and the barn door that eventually needs stain or paint, I’m going to give you all a little tour.

The best place to start is always the beginning.

This is my house.  (Pre new roof and pre new kitchen.)

The plan was to enclose the carport and turn it into a dining room.

My dear friend from Virginia – who has been my friend since the bad hair and even worse clothing styles of junior high – brought her family down for a long and labor-filled weekend shortly after I purchased the house.

Let me just say – her husband is a machine. Dude did SO much work. (Also – he would laugh at me calling him “dude”. I’m laughing at myself now.)

On the inside, here’s what the kitchen already looked like.

It was a cute kitchen. But I really wanted to fit my table in my house.

And so – the addition.

Plus, until the remodel, to reach the laundry room you had to go out through the garage. Certainly not end of the world, but if there’s a better option, I’m all for that.

In order to keep the costs as low a humanly possible, which was a huge part of the goal of this project, I didn’t add anything to the new addition like a sink or stove or whatever. I kept all the appliances in their same spots in the current kitchen.  Basically, we were creating a big old dining room.

The outside came first.

New roof.  New walls.  New windows.

Yeah, I started decorating before the phases were completed.

After Melvin left from his very productive weekend, my friend Mark was next on the list of crew. Basically, Mark is a one man show who can do it all. And – he worked fast.  Plus, he daily had to work while we homeschooled and he was most patient with dogs and kids poking their heads in a LOT.

Eventually floors went in. 

I originally planned to just stain the concrete – I love the way that looks.  But after more thought, price comparison and time waiting for stain to dry, I went with this LifeProof floor.  And I love it.  I think, given that there are brick walls and a large space, the concrete would have been cool, but this floor looked more finished and a little less industrial for our home.  (Even though I think industrial is very fun.)

Oh yes – and the laundry room.  

Which went through a complete makeover.

This was the handiwork of Steve. Who may have questioned my paint color but graciously went with whatever I asked.

And I thought about cleaning everything up for a spic and span glorious photo like all the cool kids do in Instagram and blogs.  But then I thought, “Nah.” Mostly because that would take too much time.  But also because this is for real what it looked like when I snapped this photo a few minutes ago and this is a room that still makes me happy – just like it is.

You guys. In our old home our laundry room was neither heated nor cooled.  If you did not get your clean laundry out soon enough, it could likely grow mold.  Don’t even think about what happened to the dirty laundry.  Once, a literal bird flew into the laundry room and made its nest on the shelf. Inside our house.  So.  You know – we could only go up from there.

And then – the rest of the kitchen.

Always shifting.

Also – the way it looks on any given day. Random stuff on every table. Regular life.

Still planning on painting the outside door.  One day. 

And adding a concrete pad to the entrance instead of the classy plywood I’ve got going on currently.

It’s our Burrow.

It’s cozy and happy.  Loud noise is often heard inside and outside. The doors are like revolving doors almost always.

But once we had a carport and now we have a spacious dining room and it’s bright and cheerful and it’s home.

Nearly every single day, one or many of us, say out loud, almost in surprise still, “Man, I really love this house.”

It’s not perfect, but it’s perfect for us.

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