Yep, the ol’ blog (or at least the WordPress version) turns four today! Although it feels like the house projects have slowed down, it was still a busy year – we had a baby, started our own firm, had the blog redesigned and the backyard transformed! It was a year of new beginnings and we’re still riding that wave.
Goals for this next year? We’re going to finish the basement bathroom and laundry room (we’ve renewed our building permit an embarrassing number of times), redo the bedroom (for reals!) and maybe, maaaybeee get going on the garage remodel. In addition to posts about house projects, we’ll also be sharing more of our Studio Zerbey projects and brainstorming ways to grow chezerbey beyond its humble house blog roots. (In fact, I’m going to the Alt Summit conference in January for the first time!)
On a related note, I’ve been meaning to take new photos of the house – the ones on our house tour and Studio Zerbey site still show the nursery as a flex room! So, a few days ago when the house was clean and the light was decent I snapped these:
We’ve added a few accessories to the space this year, but looking at these photos it’s still a bit too minimal for me. Granted, there is typically more clutter but I’d like to fill our home with more personal items. (Like y’know, actually printing and framing some of the family photos we took last Spring!)
The pouf is new! It’s from West Elm and I love it. Avery loves it too – as a step stool to reach taller and more dangerous things!
Cone of Shame photo bomb! (He had a sore on his tail, but it’s healing up.) Also, the runner is new-ish. We replaced the IKEA one (which was curling up on the ends) with this sisal runner from Crate&Barrel. We originally purchased a Chilewich runner but it was smaller and really showed how much the cork has faded at the back door so we returned it and bought the C&B one.
The poor fauxdenza – so useful and yet so hard to style. Avery is tall enough to swipe things close to the edge so we keep it mostly cleared off (when it’s not serving as a whole house catchall that is).
This will be its own blog post, but I think we’re going to replace the fridge soon. Now that we’re a family of three and eating at home a lot more, it’s just a little too small. Good thing Kyle designed in a contingency (aka “I told you so”) plan when he built those custom fir panels. 🙂
An architect friend of ours did this sketch of Bailey and every morning Avery points to it and smiles. (Thanks Margo!)
We’ve made zero progress on the bedroom. There are lots of ideas but it’s been back-burnered for the time being. I think it will be one of those projects that needs to be fully designed and materials purchased and then we just spend a weekend powering through. We’re also still debating whether to do custom doors and drawer fronts over the existing IKEA PAX wardrobe or a more custom curtain. Both are expensive and have their own pros and cons.
Finally, a big thank you to everyone who has supported us (with a comment or a crow bar) along this journey. This little corner of the internet is one of the best parts of my day and I’m thankful it exists. Cheers!