{House} Happy 3rd House-iversary!

2009 was a great year for us. We got married (yay for commitment!), I started a blog, I returned to camp as assistant director, and we bought our first house. With interest rates at all time lows and the first time home buyers tax credit, we took advantage of a slowed market and low real estate prices and snagged our little rancher on a street of bungalows.

Our house-iversary is today, celebrating three years in this cute space we get to call our own. To take a trip down memory lane, here are our posts from the last three years:

Buying our house....http://www.makinitinmemphis.com/2009/09/big-news.html
Year 1 anniversary....http://www.makinitinmemphis.com/2010/10/homeowners-for-year.html
Year 2 anniversary....http://www.makinitinmemphis.com/2011/10/happy-two-year-anniversary-house.html

Here I am the first night we had our house, three years ago today:

And our house today...

We love our house, love our neighborhood. We walk to some of our favorite restaurants and take long walks around the neighborhood and down our green line.

While this year didn't bring a brand new kitchen, we did get a new door and window:
http://www.makinitinmemphis.com/2012/05/house-exterior-part-three.html

We also updated the dining room some more:
http://www.makinitinmemphis.com/2012/08/house-browser-window-shopping-for.html

and continue to chip away at the guest room chaos:

It is nowhere near perfect but it is better than how it used to be! You can see the floor and bed.

For funsies, it is always a good time to look back at pictures of when we toured the house (MLS photos) to now.

Before (2009 MLS photo of previous owner):

Now:

Before, 2009 MLS photo:

Now:

The kitchen in MLS photos, 2009:

And now...

The den from the week we moved in....

And now...

And a little panoramic fun...

Clearly there is still lots to do.. and there will be probably until we sell the house, whenever that will be. But isn't that the fun in it? Looking at our goal list for the house from last year, we partially accomplished two of our goals (the exterior and guest room) but didn't do the others... and probably won't until Jake's bringing in income instead of paying for school. But for the sake of posterity, a list for you of the things we have yet to do... in no particular order

• posts for the front of the house to replace the wrought iron
• paint or stain the door (still haven't decided!)
• new windows for the front of the house and side of the house (?)
• new shelving system for the pantry/re-organize and paint the pantry
• drywall the den (remove panelling), new flooring for the den, white trim and grey walls to match the kitchen
• either replace the back door OR put in french doors and convert door to window in den
• widen the door between the den and dining room
• paint the back bathroom, replace hardware on cabinets in both bathrooms, new counters in both bathrooms
• clean up/organize office (solution for dog kennels?)
• continue organization of guest room/craft room

Needless to say, we've got our work cut out for us! But I'm lucky because I've got a great guy along for the ride with me. And we're in this together. 

In celebrating three years of being massively in debt (oh and loving our house),