There were definitely times over the past few months when I doubted we would ever have “after” photos of our new house. I remember thinking everything was disorganized just packing one house (see Smooch September 2012). Then we moved the contents of the Illinois house and the two PODS from my Missouri house into one house.

To make matters worse, before we moved in, I ordered a few things online so new stuff was also being delivered to the house (in my defense, we now had a kitchen counter and we simply had to have bar stools . . . stuff like that). One large item was even delivered on move-in day. Really? Now I see why John was at work that day – smart!

And that’s just the boxes and furniture. Add in the still-in-progress remodeling and it was . . . overwhelming. My motto became “one box at a time” and John’s motto was “one project at a time.” Those projects sure go a lot faster on HGTV. I’m obsessed with “Property Brothers” and “Love it or List it” right now, but living in a house under construction is not nearly as much fun as watching it on TV. (and everything takes much longer than one hour!)

So finally, all the boxes were unpacked (except those in the garage – hey, Rome wasn’t built in a day!) and the projects were mostly complete (we still don’t have the interior doors installed but who needs doors?) and we slowed down to take a breath. No room is completely finished, so we have “Before & During” pics. But now when I look at the one photo John snapped of our living room completely full of boxes (because I couldn’t bring myself to take one), that room is starting to look more and more like an “After.”

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