The Seven Year Itch – A NEW link-up

This entry is part 1 of 5 in the series The 7 Year Itch

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A short time after my husband and I got married, I was invited to a designer’s workshop at a friend’s home.  She had just finished an amazing home (my husband’s company built the home) and had decorated it just the way she loved with the help of an interior decorator.  She asked the interior decorator to host the workshop and talk with a small group of ladies about making their home uniquely theirs on any budget.

I do not remember much about the workshop, but one thing she said stuck with me after all these years.  She said,

“The average American homemaker redecorates her home every seven years.”

I thought she was crazy.  I thought she was saying this about her clients (people who could afford to redecorate every seven years).  I thought, “I have never lived in a house for seven years!  How could this be?”  And I thought about my grandparent’s homes – they certainly never redecorated and they had definitely lived in their homes for more than seven years.

BUT, a crazy thing happened in the intervening years.  We bought the home where we are currently living seven years ago – the longest I have lived anywhere by a long, long stretch.  And in the middle of last year, we started dreaming about changing almost everything.  We started thinking of our rooms differently.  We gave them new purpose and new plans.  We were beginning to get the seven-year itch in our home.

Our living room suddenly seemed to need other storage options and a new couch (and a new coffee table).  That led to shopping for a new flooring option and designing a built-in bookshelf and bench for one wall.

We would like our girls to eventually share a room, so we are in the middle of transitioning one of our old guest rooms into the girls’ room.  And our former nursery is going to be a guest room.

Our downstairs guest room is transitioning into my husband’s office.

We are redoing our entryway.

We are reworking some things in the kitchen and dining room.

I have small plans for my office and the laundry room.

Our stairway is set to see some artwork and a gallery on the walls.

There is virtually no part of our home that we are not planning on changing in some way!

So, this year we are planning lots and lots of projects for our home.  Some are simple DIY-type projects.  Others are complete redos of rooms.  And I thought I would share this journey with you.

Do you have the seven-year itch in your home (or just itches in your home)? Are you planning remodeling or refreshing projects to make your house feel a little more like home to you?  Has your design aesthetic changed over the past few years and you want your home to catch the vision?

The seven year itch link up

Come join us as we change our home and scratch all the itches we have in our home this year!  I will be doing a link up each month to let you share your projects (big or small) in your home and to tell you the progress we have made.

I am so ready to get started!

Here are the projects we have been working on this past month:

Our downstairs bathroom is in the process of remodeling – but we are at a complete standstill while we wait for a material to arrive!  Here’s what it looks like today.

seven year itch Powder Bathroom Remodel - shower and floor done

This is the shower and floor.  The shower tile was a scrap off of one of my husband’s jobs.  The tile in the floor of the shower was discovered in the middle of this process in our garage!  Score!  The floor tile for the main floor is the same tile we have put into our living room and are considering taking up the stairs.  We are in LOVE with it!

seven year itch Powder Bathroom lighting - remodel
These are the light fixtures we have selected for the vanity.  They are inspired by some fixtures from one of my husband’s jobs, but we spent much less by purchasing them at The Home Depot!  We are waiting on the stone for the wall behind the vanity to get here (hopefully this week).  The whole space is prepped and ready for the tile and a mirror.  We are going to be covering the niche where the medicine cabinet used to be and giving that wall a different treatment.

 

seven year itch - Library chair and pouf

And the project that is closest to being finished is this part of our living room.  We are still waiting on some shelves we had fabricated to be installed, but this is our library chair (a hand-me-down from one of my husband’s jobs – he obviously has the best job in the world, right?).  We ordered this pouf from the Land of Nod while they had them on sale this month and I am loving it!  The girls are loving it because they have a new mountain to climb and fall off of – parental supervision required at all times!

 

There is a little glimpse into all the goings on around here.  What are you up to.  Come link up and let us know!

The details:

**This will be a monthly link up going live on the last Monday of the month each month.
**I will be pinning all the submissions and then sharing my favorites in the next month’s post.
**Please do not post links to ads.
**Link what you’ve got, as much as you want.
**Visit a couple other links to get inspiration and give props to the other homemakers and designers you love.
**Come back next month and let us know what else you are doing.




Series NavigationThe 7 Year Itch – Inspiring Ideas for Home >>

This Post Has 12 Comments

  1. Christine

    lovin this post….so true. It caught my attention because it;s been 7 years for us too and I feel the same way!!!!! I just repainted our dining room and changed many things and the “To Do” list is endless. New follower here!!! Christine from Little Brags

    1. ussleah

      Thanks, Christine, for the follow! I knew we weren’t alone on the 7 year thing! We are doing so many different projects at the moment, it is hard to focus on just one when I need to, but they will all eventually get done – maybe by the 14 year mark! 😉

      1. Christine

        Hi Leah (is that your name?) sorry…I don’t see it posted here. Just an FYI…when you reply on your blog directly to a comment, the person that left a comment will not get your reply unless they check the box below (notify me of follow up comments). I just happened to still have your window open and saw your reply. Just letting you know in case you did not know that. I made that mistake for my entire first year of blogging. I would take the time to reply to each comment directly and nobody ever got my replies and a lot of readers probably felt ignored. oh and by the way I love that pouf, I am thinking about getting it…so cute…..Did you get it for $100 or less? xoxoxo Christine

        1. ussleah

          Oh, I know they don’t necessarily get a message back, but I like to let my readers know I take the time to respond to their comments – whether or not they want to hear back. I really love when people take the time to comment on a post.
          And, yes the pouf was less than $100 on sale (I honestly can’t remember at the moment). It also comes in a creamy color.

          Thanks for responding! I hope I can count you as a new bloggy friend!

          1. Christine

            Thanks Leah, I know the reply thing is a real pain….I am replying to my readers via email, when they are non-reply I try to track them down vie Google Plus….I wish these glitches would get fixed. So frustrating!!!! Have a wonderful week!!!!

  2. Tricia

    Such a great idea for a link up! Sadly I haven’t lived in a house for seven years since before I left for college (which sorta shocks me now that I type that out!) but we get itches that we scratch in small ways all the time!

    1. ussleah

      Thanks, Tricia! I can’t believe we have lived here for 7 years already! We moved quite a lot when I was a kid! You can still link-up any projects you think fit!

  3. Topaz

    That is interesting. I’ve never thought about it, but that does sound about right. I even remember when I was little that ever so often my mom just seemed to grow tired of everything the way it was and rearrange the furniture….the affordable way everyone can change their home. lol

  4. Seven years sounds about right. Your home looks like a great work in progress! Thanks for linking up to Pin Your Friday Favorite.

  5. This sounds about right. I Iike changing things up even if it’s just in small ways. Your library chair and poof look great! #saturdaysharefest

  6. Laura Ehlers

    LOVE the bathroom tile! So pretty! We have been in our ‘starter home’ for 28 years now! Trust me – this was never the plan. I haven’t completely redecorated every 7 years but do try to update here and there. most recently with new paint in the living room/dining room. and hoping to do new flooring in those spaces this year as 28 years, two kids, two cats and a dog are about all the wear you can squeeze out of a carpet! looking forward to your updates.
    #SITSGirls Sharefest!

    1. ussleah

      Thanks for stopping by, Laura! We love the tile, too. It was a freebie to us. It was an overage for one of my husband’s jobs. Wow! 28 years in ONE home?! That is such a foreign concept to me. Glad to hear you are still working on making your house a home!

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