2023 Before and After Home Projects

Without fail, every December as I reach the finish line I end up focusing on all the projects I didn’t get to and start to feel like I didn’t reach any of my goals. Then I put together my full before and after recap post and I realized just how much progress I actually made! This year, I averaged one big room renovation a month and with each completed project I feel like this house is starting to feel more and more like us. And ours.

2023 was largely focused on outdoor spaces. Since we spend so much time outside, entertaining and enjoying the beautiful weather here so my priority was working on all our exterior spaces. From seating areas, backyard dining, our upstairs balcony and a few DIY gardening projects. When the temps got too hot to work outside, I started my work inside…. and I’m just getting started!

2023 Before and After Home Projects

January | Hallway Refresh & Tile

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After

January was spent finishing up our arched hallway in the entry of our home. I love these arches and this view. I painted the hallway a custom version of SW creamy and tiled the backsplash of the niche. It feels so much brighter, cleaner and fresher. I am still debating on swapping out the pendant lights, that may happen this year too!

February | Dining Room Brick Fireplace

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After

In February I kicked off our dining room renovation, which ended up lasting a few months this year. After 6 months without a dining room table or an official place to eat or entertain, it was time. I love this brick fireplace in our dining room, it gives it such a charming and European look to this room. I painted the ceiling SW Urbane Bronze, added custom seat cushions and a little stying.

March | Dining Room Paint & Furniture

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After

In March, I focused on the rest of the dining room! Time to get all that furniture in! I gave the plastered walls a new coat of lime wash paint which added a soft matte texture to the walls, had two wall sconces installed and swapped out the chandelier to this . You can read all about the new neutral transitional furniture here.

April | Upstairs Hallway Refresh

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After

I took a little break from the dining room and did a quick DIY on our upstairs hallway. Sometimes I just crave a quick before and after in-between all the big renovation projects! I continued to paint the hallway SW custom creamy, put in a new art light and found this gorgeous console table on FB Marketplace to add a vignette to the top of the stairs.

May | DIY Floating Buffet

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After

When designing the dining room, I knew I wanted a buffet against this wall. I love having a space to style, to use as a backdrop for parties, dessert bars, food buffets, etc. I searched FOREVER to find a buffet (or two) to fit this space but couldn’t find anything that I loved. So I built my own! I built my own custom DIY Floating Buffet with reeded cabinet fronts using two IKEA cabinets as my base. Click here to see the full IKEA Hack and tutorial.

Balcony Makeover

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After

At the end of 2022, I gave our outdoor fireplace area a refresh, now it’s time to work on the backside of the house. This upstairs balcony off of our pool table room was the perfect space for a little trial run on some paint colors I wanted to tryout. What was supposed to be a test run on painting doors, turned into a full refresh out here… and I LOVE how it turned out. The only time we really sit out here is when we are watching thunderstorms from the balcony, but I hope it gets used more often this year!

DIY Faux French Doors

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After

In a perfect world, I would replace all our french doors with newer paned metal ones. But that is a price I’m not ready for right now! So I did the next best thing by painting them and added faux panes. You can get the full tutorial on this process here!

JUNE | BACKYARD DINING SPACE

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After

Our backyard dining space is where we hang out majority of the time outside! We have the outdoor TV, fans to cool off and we can dine next to the pool. It was time to give it a new look with a moody ceiling and updated fans, painted doors (still might do the faux panes on here too!) and new outdoor furniture.

DIY CLIMBING TRELLIS

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After

Part of my overall plan for the backyard was to add more contrast to the space with some darker ceilings and accents and also add a lot more greenery to the space. I wanted to break up the business of the brick with climbing greenery. I added these DIY trellises on either side of the arches. They have already grown SO much they have hit the top of the trellises already in just 6 months.

JULY | BACKYARD TOUR

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After

With all the exterior projects, it was time to officially give you a tour of our backyard! We fell in love with the architecture of our backyard when we first toured the house. The unique oval shape of the pool, the turf and the stone. All I really had to do was furnish it and make some cosmetic changes. I love a classic black and white backyard, it added contrast back here and a very timeless look.

AUGUST | STUDY MAKEOVER

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After

We have this unique and cute space in-between the boys’ rooms. It’s a great use of space. It was already built out as a homework station or small office with the desk space. I thought it was a perfect set up for the kids to do arts and crafts or even an office space for me. I wanted to give it a wow factor, update it with a lot of character and turn it into a really charming space. I installed a wall mural, replaced the countertop with the same black quartz as the dining room buffet and added a statement chandelier. Tour the full homework study here.

SEPTEMBER | POWDER ROOM REFRESH

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AFTER

Our downstairs powder room wasn’t even on the radar for this year, but I found myself in need of a quick project. Elle’s bedroom was taking much longer than anticipated and I needed a quick before and after project. I had left over lime wash paint from the dining room and decided to try it out in our powder room. The before bathroom was totally fine, but felt incredibly dark and dim. So I lightened up the paint, replaced the mirror and changed the sconce shades to make it feel a little brighter. Simple changes that will hold me over until the big renovation down the road.

OCTOBER | LIVNG ROOM UPDATES

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AFTER

Our main family room has been a slow and steady stream of progress since we moved in 18 months ago. I brought some pieces from our old house, bought the sofa from the previous owners and have slowly furnished it with FB marketplace finds. I have BIG plans for this space one day, but for now it feels cozy and welcoming for this in-between stage. I’d love to continue to work on it this year with fresh paint, maybe some curtains and more accent chairs.

DECEMBER | TEEN BEDROOM RENOVATION

BEFORE

AFTER

Last but not least, the largest renovation I tackled this year! The beginning of all the bedroom renovations. I started with my daughter’s vintage boho bedroom. She gave me specific directions for her bedroom and my goal was to bring her vision to life. We BOTH love how it turned out. The room before was very dim and dark, had hardly any lighting and a lot of wall paper. We added more canned lights, and trim work and painted the whole room a creamy white which really allowed all the beautiful trim work and paned windows to shine.

Before and After Home Projects Video

What’s to come in 2024?!

2024 will be focused on bedroom spaces for the kids, I want them all to feel like they have a space of their own. Finishing up the two stair cases and arched hallways, laundry room, mud room, and I’d love to tackle the big formal living room before Christmas next year!