One year ago, on July 14, 2025, we officially became homeowners.

That sentence still feels a little surreal to write because, in so many ways, this house has already been home for much longer than that.

In July of 2001, when Zachary was just nine months old, the three of us packed up our lives in Connecticut and moved to North Carolina to live with Nigel’s grandparents, Mama and Papa. The plan was never to stay forever…but life has a funny way of writing a different story than the one we imagined.

Looking back now, I don’t think I would change a thing.

Mama and Papa helped us during a season when we truly needed it. Then, as the years went by and life changed, we were blessed to be there for them too.

They watched Zachary grow from a curious little boy into the incredible young man he is today, and I know so much of who he has become is because of the love, wisdom, patience, and quiet examples they shared with him every single day.

In October 2016, we said our heartbreaking goodbyes to Papa.

Life looked different after that.

The five of us became four, and together we cared for Mama through the years that followed until we said goodbye to her in February 2025.

This house has seen nearly every chapter of our adult lives.

It has held birthday parties, family dinners, ordinary Tuesday nights, holidays, laughter, tears, difficult conversations, celebrations, and quiet moments that somehow become the ones you remember most.

So when we purchased the house from the estate one year ago, it wasn’t just buying a house.

It was becoming caretakers of twenty-four years of memories.

It was bittersweet.

It was emotional.

And it was one of the greatest honors we’ve ever been given.

Making a House Feel Like Ours

Here’s the part I don’t think anyone prepares you for.

Homeownership isn’t just about replacing a water heater or discovering just how expensive everything suddenly becomes.

It’s also figuring out how to make a home feel like yours without feeling like you’re erasing the people who loved it before you.

That has probably been the hardest part.

Every project feels like closing one chapter while carefully beginning another.

Sometimes we’ve laughed.

Sometimes we’ve second-guessed ourselves.

Sometimes we’ve looked at a room halfway through painting and wondered if we’d completely lost our minds.

But little by little, the house is beginning to reflect the next chapter of its story…our chapter.

🚪 A New Welcome

Nigel happily removed the Storm Door he hated so much and we painted the front door a beautiful Navy Blue and later we painted our new BIGGER mailbox to match and moved it to the other side of the driveway.

The rest of our outdoor changes included landscape work, having a fence built to enclose the backyard so it feels a bit more private and Nigel is currently digging out a section next to the driveway to add a gravel extension.

Future outdoor plans include building some raise beds to try to grow some edible food – this could be fun and adding a shed as well as a bigger screened in porch to replace the Sunroom aka the Cat Room.

🛁 Goodbye, Lime Green

If you’ve ever shopped the reduced paint section at Lowe’s, you know you can find some interesting colors. Mama absolutely loved it. You never knew what she was going to come home with, and Papa was the world’s greatest “Yes, Dear” husband who always made the vision happen. That is how we ended up with a lime green bathroom.

After we got the walls primed and painted – WHEW that was a lot of work – we decided we wanted to paint the cabinets too and I LOVE how they came out!

This will also be the plan for the 2nd bathroom to match – just have to find the time to get started now that we have some extra paws running around.

💜 The Purple Bedroom

Yes…I painted over purple.

I know.

I can already hear some of you gasping.

As much as I love purple, we wanted something that felt calm, cozy, and like the next season of our lives.

Sure – they look sweet and innocent! Don’t worry – once Tsukiko is out of hiding I will make up for her lack of pictures!

We moved in and the amount of space is insane!! We still have some decor to figure out for the walls and we plan to eventually do the flooring within the whole house – but WHEW! 

🎮 Nigel’s Office

Mostly Nigel’s office…and only a little bit of closet.

And definitely not shared with me…

because someone had the crazy idea that we could share an office.

Absolutely not. 😂

✨ The Next Chapter

Looking back, we actually accomplished far more than I realized.

When you’re living through projects, all you see is the next thing on the list.

When you stop and look back, you realize just how much has changed.

Year Two will bring another bathroom remodel, Zachary moving into our old room, my future office (I have been waiting forever for that one!), and maybe…just maybe…the beginning of a kitchen renovation.

Although, if homeownership has taught me anything…

it’s never to assume the house doesn’t already have its own plans.

No matter what projects happen next, one thing will never change.

This house will always be Mama and Papa’s home.

It will always be where Zachary grew up.

It will always be where our family laughed, cried, celebrated, and loved one another.

Now it’s our turn to care for it.

To preserve the memories that already live here.

And to slowly add a few more of our own.

Here’s to Year Two. 🏡💜