Video Home Tour – Spring 2020


In the middle of May, we celebrated the one year anniversary of owning our Finn Fixer Upper. And what a year it has been. We even added one more member to the household roster!Our newborn survival guideWhen we bought this home, we really didn’t know what we were in for. Yes, we had done plenty of DIY projects in our condo but never a full home renovation like this. And man, did this home need some TLC. I did a full video walkthrough of the home on the day we got the keys and it is WILD to see how different it looks now. Even if you watched it last year, I urge you to give it another look (especially pay attention to the wall right when you walk into the house!). How we saw past the beige on beige on beige is beyond me!

Before Video Tour

If you missed it, or just want to watch again, here’s the before video home tour. You can also see a full breakdown of all of the before photos in this blog post.

Phase One- RenovationGetting settled on moving day

Last summer, we tackled a three-month renovation to get the shell of our home upgraded. We hired a contractor to remove a few walls, install new hardwood floors, replace all of the trim and doors, install all new lighting, paint everything, and more. We ran into a bit of a fiasco in our living room and ended up having to go $25,000 over our budget to add a steel beam to hold up our second story (oy!). We spent a lot of money on phase one (we broke it all down here), but it was worth it to get a lot of the big stuff done immediately. And I share 9 lessons we learned taking on our first big home renovation.

Here’s a video walk-through 2 weeks after we moved in. You’ll notice that we have a lot of empty rooms (the office! the laundry room! the nursery!) that we’ve since completed around here.ย 

You can watch above or view on our YouTube channel right here. Finn even hinted at the prospect of designing a nursery at the beginning of the video. I think I was 6 weeks pregnant when we shot that video and you can tell he was excited at the prospect of this pregnancy working out!

Our Home Tour One Year LaterOur new office built-ins

And that brings us to today as we showcase our home tour one year later. I am incredibly proud of all of the work we’ve put into our home and I feel so comfortable and happy here. I actually shot the video walkthrough right before Rory came because I figured it would be easier to get all of the shots before her arrival (and I was looking for more tasks to cross off my list!). We obviously shot the interview after her arrival. What a sweetheart.Casey and Finn sitting on the stairsCasey and Finn on the stairs at Kenneth

You can view the video below or over on Youtube right here.

My Favorite Parts

  • :12 Look at that Rory girl smile!
  • 1:34 Pardon my potty mouth.
  • 2:25 Can’t wait to give this kitchen some TLC. Just imagine the possibilities…
  • 3:20 This bathroom gets a refresh this month. Woo hoo!
  • 3:30 The first project we tackled here…the laundry room.
  • 4:40 I’m still obsessed with the built-ins.
  • 5:00 The room where we’ve been spending all of our time lately.

casey and finn in the living room beforeCasey And Finn in the living room afterWhile our house has come a long way in a year, we still have years of work ahead of us. We’re still hoping to tackle the kitchen in the fall and that will be the next big project around here. Then, I think 2021 will be the “year of the bathrooms”.Our baby girl's nursery

We’ve always said this is not our forever home and we would only stay a few years and move onto our next project. But I have a feeling we may want to stay around here for a bit longer than we first anticipated. It really does feel like home and we both love the neighborhood so much.

Home Tour Sources

For sources to everything that I can link in my home, be sure to head to my shop page. I do my best to keep it updated regularly with all of the items throughout our house. If you need a paint color or DIY tutorial, our home tour page is the best spot for that! I have lots of before and afters of each space on there too. It’s always fun to see that page evolve over time…Our home tour one year later

I can’t wait to see how things look in our home a year from now. Thanks for encouraging us every step of the way as we transform our Finn Fixer Upper into our ultimate dream home!

Casey


The Year of Casey

Hey there!

Iโ€™m Casey Finn, the voice behind The DIY Playbook. I’m a Chicago gal teaching you how to design, DIY, and maintain your home…by yourself! Learn more about me right here.