Our Current House Tour – Modern Farmhouse Style in the Suburbs

If you’ve landed on this house tour page from any of the others, it may seem obvious that Dean and I have moved a lot in over 20 years of marriage.

Which is entirely true.

The gist is we’ve not always been great planners. We bought our first house when we already had two kids and a third on the way. Then a few years later the commute was too much for Dean (and the three vehicles we went through in five years), so we moved back to the city. But moving into the city means prices are higher than outside the city so we could only afford a wee little bungalow (1050 sq. ft.). But that wee little bungalow was so good for us in so many ways.

We figured out how to work together, we launched Home Made Lovely and we spent a lot of time together as a family. Love grows best in little houses.

But alas we outgrew that house and bought the next bigger size we could afford (1350 sq. ft.) in a beautiful neighborhood.  We loved that house and the yard and the neighbors. But it too became too small for us. (We have a large extended family!)

So in 2016, we bought this house. 

It’s about 2000 sq. ft. plus a finished basement, rounding it up to about 3000 sq. ft. total. It’s nice and open and there are four actual bedrooms upstairs. And more than one bathroom – which feels like a luxury with three teenagers!

And there’s a pool which I’ve always wanted – like forever!

We will be updating it as time and money allow. Just like you and your home!

Click/tap here to shop the look of our home

Entryway

The entryway started out with some good bones, a nice high ceiling, and plenty of space. But it lacked character.

So we swapped out the light fixture, painted the doors, and added some panel molding and new wall paint.

We recently gave our entryway a wee little refresh by taking out the tired black winter rug (that absorbs all the salt and snow-wet) and replacing it with a fresh round jute rug for summer. We also sanded the church pew-style bench and re-stained it to go better with our adjacent dining room table.

Dining Room

 The dining room started out the same as the entry…a little bland with good bones.

But we changed the lighting, added a coffered ceiling detail and more panel molding – along with some new paint of course!

Then we worked with The Brick and needed to change many things we loved about the space (including our Restoration Hardware table and the warm neutral color scheme we loved) for that partnership. 

Related: How to Organize a Dining Room Hutch

In the end, we decided to go back to our original vision for the space. Our dining room just got a makeover this past winter. It’s one of our most-used spaces, that hosts family dinners, game nights, puzzle building, and laundry folding. 

Living Room

The living room looked liked this right after we moved in…

And then went through a few variations too. 

After we changed the couch’s slipcover to Nordvalla Beige (from Gray) in 2018, refinished the fireplace, and added shiplap (initially painted black and then later white) to the wall in 2019, things were feeling a bit more like us.

Further changes were made during the pandem!c…

Kitchen

The kitchen is a huge part of why we bought this house almost 5 years ago. Not because we loved what it was then, but rather we loved the potential it had, and how open it was to the living room.  Shortly after we moved in we did a budget makeover with Ikea doors, a bigger island, and new appliances. And while most of it is holding up well, there are a few things like trim that we’d like to upgrade from the cheaper materials we used at the time. (And please excuse the dinged and scuffed up island – I need to repaint it and we need new stools. The upholstery tacks on these ones are terrible for the island!)

Later on, we painted the island white to brighten up the space. 

Master Bedroom

Initially, we painted and add a few accessories to make it our own.

And then repainted and changed the furniture. 

About a month or two after we changed up some things in the living and dining rooms, we also updated our bedroom a bit. 

But I found it to be still not quite right and a tad too busy. So we made a few more changes recently. 

And then our new rug finally came in and we’re calling the room complete! (Aside from the flooring – we want to replace all the laminate in the house, but we’ve entered an expensive kid and life season, so it has to wait.)

Daughter’s Bedroom

Our oldest daughter got a room makeover in early 2017 when we participated in the FrogTape Paintover Challenge.

Our Laundry Room

Our tiny little laundry room is actually just across from the dining room on the main floor. Not much has changed in here. Except it’s a wee bit dustier most days and we did just reorganize the storage shelves with more baskets and bins. 

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(This page will be updated as we update the house.)

You can see our FIRST house here. 

And our SECOND house here.

And our THIRD house here.

And our FOURTH house here (you are here).