A Decade of Marches – Addicted 2 Decorating®


August 16th of this year will mark 10 years since Matt and I bought our house. Ten years! I have said that many times. I have already mentioned this in a few blog posts. And yet, it still seems hard to believe that 10 years have come to a close. And as I have already mentioned, my goal is to finish all the interior rooms of our house by the 10 year anniversary of our ownership of this house. If I counted correctly, that means I have 4.5 months to finish my studio.

So just to appreciate the last 10 years, I’m going to look back at what projects I’ve been working on this month (March) for each of the last 10 years. It’s a fun exercise, not only to remember all the different projects, but to see how far things have come. Here’s a quick look back…

This Month Ten Years Ago (2013)

In March 2013, Matt and I were still living in our small condo near the Baylor University campus, and I had completed a 20-day makeover I had done in a small hallway bathroom. Here’s what it looked like before I started changing…

And here is how it looks after the change…

I was a novice DIYer back then, but I learned how to make a wood countertop and new cabinet doors for the vanity. I also painted the bathtub and tub surround, installed new vinyl tile flooring, and more. If you haven’t before, you can click here for a little trip back in time to see this change.

Nine Years Ago This Month (2014)

In March of 2014, Matt and I lived in the house for just a few months (I think it was October 2013 when we finally moved in), and I finished a Phase 1 of the decoration of the living room. No remodeling went into it. The room still has the old drywall, old polystyrene ceiling tiles, old windows, and window unit air conditioner. This is a “pig lipstick” kind of project.

I’m still amazed looking back at that living room. Who am I decorating for? That room doesn’t really belong to me. I love the ottoman, though! I built and polished that myself, and it’s one of my favorite things I’ve ever done. And who remembers my painted sofa? 😀 It starts with a very strong blue and white flower, and I painted it white. It is extremely durable and feels a bit like vinyl.

Also in March of 2014, I just started renovating the kitchen. I had no idea what I was doing, but with sheer determination, I started removing the original cabinets and shoving them into the great room next to the kitchen (ie, the room that was originally divided to be our pantry and breakfast room).

If you missed the original kitchen makeover with green and gold cabinets, you can see that here.

Eight Years Ago This Month (2015)

In March of 2015, I was more than halfway done with the hallway bathroom renovation. After finishing the kitchen remodel, I felt pretty confident in my DIY abilities and the new skills I learned during the renovation, so there wasn’t much planning and nothing. budgeting, I jumped right into a bathroom renovation.

This room looked like this when we bought the house…

hallway bathroom before - edited 2021

All of the original bathrooms were torn down to the studs, floor joists, and ceiling joists, and I started completely over. So at the end of March 2015, I had the panel installed on the walls, and I was done. the paneled skirting I added to the side of the standard bathtub

And I just finished it too the vanity mirror with sconces attached into the frame.

But as you can see in the reflection in the mirror, I still have trim to install in the room, and several finishing touches before the room is finished. If you miss the original bathroom makeover, you can see it here.

Seven Years Ago This Month (2016)

March of 2016 was when I was in the middle of my attempt to turn our living room into a dining room. That, forever and always, will be remembered in my mind as my smallest idea in this house, and it consumed months of my time as I tried to make the room into something that it was clearly not intended to be.

That funny idea involves lots and lots of picture frames framing the walls. Why in the world would I choose to put picture frame molding on the walls of a room with five windows, a fireplace, a door, and two cased openings?!

I’d love to know what was going on in our lives during that time, because it seems like I may have been dealing with some sort of mental/emotional issues that manifested themselves in my crazy, reckless decisions in our home.

I struggled and struggled in that room, trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, and finally gave up writing a post on March 25th titled “Know when to Walk“. I’m so glad I left that plan! We have so much stuff in our little living room these days. I can’t even imagine how useless that room would be to us if I had turned it into a dining room.

The end of March 2016 was also when I started the hand-drawn birds and butterflies mural on the entrance wall.

i don’t have finish the mural until April 2016. Of all my projects that I have done in this house, and that did not make the final cut, this is the most often mentioned in the comments of readers as the project y’all miss the most.

Six Years Ago This Month (2017)

In March of 2017, I spent my time focusing on a few different things. I haven’t started the pantry makeover yet, but I did install the pantry doors. I used bifold closet doors, and took them apart to install them as french doors in the pantry.

Now, that pantry doesn’t have any doors on it, and those are the doors I used to use build the cabinet that is currently in the water closet area of ​​our master bathroom.

In March of 2017, I was also in the middle of painting the kitchen after deciding that a green kitchen just wasn’t for me. In the picture above, you can see the kitchen cabinet doors lining up against the empty pantry walls. Looking back on these old posts, I’m reminded that I tried many other colors before landing on the teal they are today. I actually tried a navy blue for the lower cabinets, and a very light gray for the upper cabinets. That was horrible in my kitchen, so I tried many other colors, finally leaning on my love of teals.

March of 2017 was obviously a busy month, because I was too refinished concrete countertops in kitchen.

This Month Five Years Ago (2018)

In March of 2018, I focused on several projects on the front porch. I finished the wooden porch I built to float over the original concrete porchand I have also installed new posts and they are packed to look like thicker columns. But I haven’t gotten over the new steps and railings yet.

That month too, me a small portico was built over the side door of the studio.

Four Years Ago This Month (2019)

March of 2019 is about the studio. At the beginning of the month, the room had new drywall.

And at the end of the month, I was hard at work to paint the back entrance to the studio.

And now, I’m about to do it all. 😀

This Month Three Years Ago (2020)

In March of 2020, I took a long break from our house project to work on my mom’s kitchen remodel. It was a fun and rewarding project. When we started that project, her kitchen looked like this…

mom's kitchen before - 2-2

At the end of March, it wasn’t finished, but we were building new cabinet doors, and were in the process of painting the cabinets and installing the doors.

At that time, it was more than a month before his kitchen was finished.

In case you missed the before and after of my mom’s kitchen makeover, you can see that here.

This Month Two Years Ago (2021)

March of 2021 was a slow month as far as home projects because Matt spent a week in the hospital. But one thing that caught my eye when looking at the posts I wrote that month was my post about our home gym inspiration. I’ve decided I want colorful striped walls in the bedroom, but I’m still trying to figure out exactly what I want. Here is one of the mock ups I made. 😀

That’s not far from what I did (with different colors, thank goodness), but check out this mockup I made…

I mean…YOWZA! 😀 Let’s just say I’m glad I stuck with what I had. Striped walls are just right. A striped ceiling like that? It’s quite a lot.

A Year Ago This Month (2022)

In March of last year, I seemed to have a hard time staying focused, probably because I was in the middle of a bathroom renovation and had to do big projects (like tiling the bathroom floor) that I really don’t want to do it. and fear that must be done. Not only did I work on the master bathroom, but I worked on installing trim in the home gym. And then, in between all of that, I took some time to do small kitchen organizing project.

This Month, 2023

And this month, March 2023, is my big victory after our home gym.

So here’s a look at what happened this month over the past ten years. I enjoy looking back and seeing how far this house has come, and taking a little trip back.

And now I’m done with one bedroom, and it’s four and a half months before we mark our 10-year anniversary in this house. I wish I could do it!



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