Can you believe today is already the 1st of July?! We are now more than halfway through 2024!

I wanted to reflect on some of the home changes we have made over the first half of the year! Usually I do this in December when our Christmas lights are up and the house feels super cozy as sort of a year end “tradition” of looking around and seeing how far my home & life has come in a year, and manifest the changes I want to make over the next year. However, I’m trying to live slowly & make gratitude a much bigger part of my daily life; so I thought it would be good to pause & reflect on how much we have already done over the first half of the year & how much we have to be thankful for, before moving on to the second half of the year.

I replaced the broken stone fountain in the front garden with this one. I love the peace it brings my soul while I am watering the flowers in the front gardens. The water sounds are so soothing & I see the birds sipping from it during these extra hot days.

This was probably my very favorite find from the Large Item Pickup Days this year. It is a day where people all around town declutter their homes, yards, sheds, garages, etc and place all of their unwanted items on their front lawn for us scavengers to pick through before the trash men collect what’s left the next day. This brings me so much joy as I drive around and treasure hunt for new items to bring home for FREE!

Technically, this isn’t exactly a change – more of growth, but my pollinator garden is full of pollinators this year and I am LOVING it! The kids have found a new love/hobby of trapping & releasing bees from it 🤦🏼‍♀️. I’m going to have Niko build me some bee hives for them & ask one of our homeschool family friends to teach us the art of backyard beekeeping!

I replaced the old porch swing cushion that squirrels had chewed apart with this orange one that was also picked up during Large Item Pickup Days. It has a washable cover which I love and it adds a good pop of {my favorite} color to our porch. The long rug also came from the Large Item Pickup Days as well!

We finally took down the old panel wall that was hiding water damage. I loved the panel wall & how it gave it a very farmhouse/fake shiplap vibe after I painted it white. I even loved it when it looked straight out of the 70s. Everyone told me to take it down since the day I moved in, but I wouldn’t budge. Over the years, the panels became noticeably bowed and began popping off of the wall & it was no longer something we could ignore.

I reached out to my friend Sergiy who is a contractor to help, since this was a bigger project than Niko or I could take on ourselves. He had to remove the panels and demo the wall where it was crumbling, hang new drywall, add trim to the windows, and paint. Niko stained the window trim, painted the fireplace & mantel. I gave the black interior of the fireplace a fresh coat.

Sergiy also re-tiled our fireplace with super fun tiles I picked out. I love the way the color of the stars matches our floors and wooden furniture. I really love the fireplace so much now!!

I added these battery-operated candles that my friend gave to me for now, for a cozy feel, but eventually I’m going to get a working electric fireplace insert so that we can actually “use” our non-functioning fireplace in the winter. That is such a dream of mine!

He also added a border of trim around the tiles. I love the way it contains the fireplace area from the rest of the floor. We pushed the coffee table up against it since the kids enjoy jumping from it to the couch & back again. It keeps the table from sliding & causing kids to get hurt in the process.

I really wanted to make the fireplace stand out. I think this tile, trim, and color scheme really does that without it looking out of place. I think it fits perfectly in our home with style!

We re-arranged the furniture in this room as well and it flows so perfectly for our family now.

I asked my dad to replace our old lights with this beautiful chandelier that I got for a $25 donation to medical supplies for Ukraine! 💙💛

I went to do a local second-hand buy from someone who was selling online which ended up being the neighbor across the street from our UNWLA Branch 144 president which I mentioned at the sale. The lovely couple insisted that I take the money I was going to purchase the chandelier with and give it to her for the medical supply fundraiser instead. I love the way it makes our dining room look & I love that the money ended up going to a cause that matters deeply to me! It fits our style so much more than the previous lights.

I found this coat rack during the Large Item Pickup Days and my husband cut it to size to make it fit on the kids bench perfectly. They are used to hang the kids cooking aprons! They are huge helpers in the kitchen, and even prepare some of their meals themselves so having all of their supplies easily accessible to them is important.

After cutting & attaching it, he painted it white to match the bench and then painted the tips as Smiley faces & mushrooms. We have a cute mushrooms garland I found at Jungle Jim’s hanging on our dining room hutch so it makes it extra cute.

I’d love to paint this room next and have a beautiful color picked out to do it. I hope that I can make that happen before Thanksgiving since we usually host at our home! I love having the opportunity for guests to see how much I’ve worked on my home because it truly is my art.

I gave the kitchen a fresh coat of paint. To save money, I used the same green from the living room wall project. I think doing that really helped with the home flow as well. I love the fresh green so much!

I also hung this shelf for our oversized spices that were difficult to store before. It helped clear up the spice cabinet clutter & makes cooking a lot easier actually being able to see and access what I have both in the cabinets & on the shelf.

I made this section more functional, and brought the first aid box here as well for easier access than before. It fit perfectly on this shelf! I got the adorable 70s flower chair during the Large Item Pickup Days last year. It has been used in here every day since, and I love how it adds to the vintage vibes I’m going for.

I moved my cookbooks to the space above the cabinets & it looks a million times better than the clutter I had up there before. I absolutely LOVE the color it adds to this space. Eventually, the entire space will be filled full of cookbooks! I absolutely love cooking & baking. It is one of my biggest passions & I spend a great deal of time doing it every day of my life.

Sergiy built us a door for our bathroom so that we could get the privacy we need without losing the space we need. It has been life changing! My dad made sure that the lock was placed at the top so that no Littles could lock themselves in. Niko plans to stain this door to match the windows in the living room that he stained.

Niko restored this mirror that was original to the house. The owners before us painted it the ugliest brown, and I painted it black in my last bathroom makeover – a mistake I immediately regretted & learned from. He stripped all of the paint until it was only wood left. After sanding it, I painted the carved designs to give a folk/cottage vibe to it. I love the colors together and way it turned out.

We also replaced the sink & vanity with a teak wood one to match the mirror and door. The kids had cracked the old sink, and broken the door off of one side of the vanity so it was a much needed replacement. I love that the stool fits under it now!

Sergiy also added a fan to this bathroom. There previously was not one, only a small window inside of the shower. The amount of people in our modest home taking hot showers without proper air circulation caused a mold problem that was not going away. He cleaned & removed the mold & repainted this room using an oil based primer first. There has not been any mold since.

We also had to take down the cabinet on the wall that was damaged by rust and mold. The rust on the hinges made the doors unable to close properly and the paint was ruined by the mold and water damage from condensation. We still haven’t found a replacement, but I’m on the hunt!  Shelves will probably end up being our best solution, but I have a vision in mind that I’m searching to fulfill first.

I also FINALLY went online and bought a new rod insert for my toilet paper holder in the wall. The kids lost that years ago and I couldn’t find one in any home repair stores in person due to the 50s vintage design of it that is no longer used today, so I gave up looking and settled on a stand-alone one instead. I can’t stand things being on the ground because it is an extra thing in my way to move when I clean the floor, so I was not happy using the cluttery stand-alone one. I finally went on Amazon, found one in less than 10 seconds for only a few bucks and ordered to my door next day. Years of stressing solved in a literal matter of seconds.

Take this as your sign to stop procrastinating and just take care of the small tasks weighing down your plate. Chances are they will take little to no time, and will make you feel so accomplished after! You’ll wonder why you waited so long in the first place.

Sergiy also replaced the window in our master bedroom suite at the top of the stairs overlooking the backyard. There was a giant crack in the glass that was close to shattering, and the latches to keep the window closed were broken so the window was never fully shut. My dad bought a replacement Pella window & Sergiy installed it + added trim.

I found new curtains second-hand that I thought were perfect for this window! They are really pretty & definitely my style.

I repainted my master bathroom. The color is definitely better than before. I also added the little shelf for toilet paper, and picked up the rug at Large Item Pickup Days! It was perfect for this room.

I’m going to add some stick & peel wallpaper from The Dollar Tree on the side of the slide out drawer that I couldn’t reach to attractively hide the fact that it isn’t painted.

We’ve done SO much in the backyard this year that it needs it own post, but I wanted to give a little sneak peak of this turtle sandbox turned garden bed. The sandbox was picked up through a freebie site from a family who’s grandchildren have all outgrown it now. I think it’s so cute and kid friendly! I also began placing potted herbs under it so that it looks like he is munching on sage leaves. I had my herbs in the ground, but this year I decided to pot them to both make my life easier & clear the large garden bed space they were in to make room for a berry garden.

Along with changes in my home, I’ve been making changes & doing some clearing out in my personal life as well. This year, I went back to court to expunge my felonies I received when I was still in active addiction back in 2012 & 2013!

I never planned to do this. I was perfectly content being a stay at home mom, not ever needing my record for anything. However something that I didn’t realize was how badly it made me feel about myself or how much it was holding me back in my own thinking. The universe took matters into her own hands and added it to my to-do list for me. I got a random urge to go downtown & file the expungement paperwork one day out of the blue. Now here we are, a non-felon! And it feels great!

Looking back over the last 6 beautiful months has really opened my eyes to how much we have accomplished, just on the house alone! It’s easy to forget how much you accomplish over time when you are living daily life. It was a great reminder of how much I have done already and really take time to praise myself. I am a person who bases my self-worth on my productivity, yet never thinks I am doing enough & often talks down to myself when I feel that I have “wasted” any time. This reflection showed me that I’ve made a ton of progress & I have SO much to be thankful for.

I am so incredibly grateful for this house {which saved my life} & the family that we have built inside of it. It may be small, but it is filled with so much love, happiness, and life; just the way it should be ❤️.

Until next time ♡ Mama Morozov