The Passionate Parsley: Introducing the Herrick Home

If you would have told me a year ago that it would be nearly 12 months until my next blog post, I would never have believed it. But as other mamas know, life gets busier when you add a kiddo into the mix. Especially once they start cruising through the house like they own it all. Anyway, let's see...where did we leave off? Valor's six month birthday. Since then here is what's been going on:

Valor got his DOC band and wore it for three months
Celebrated our six year wedding anniversary
Nick and I both stood up in my sister's wedding
Valor was dedicated at church
Valor's got his first (and second) haircut and now desperately needs a third!
Had a big huge 1st birthday party
Valor was discharged from feeding therapy — but still continues his weekly aquatic, occupational and physical therapies
Found our (fixer upper) dream house unexpectedly
Decided to put our townhouse up on the market to see if it would sell...and it did within one weekend — so we bought our dream house
And that about brings you up-to-date, in a very brief sense!

So here we are...living in a major project. Our #herrickhome (follow our hashtag on Instagram!) was built in 1957 and is an all original quad-level home sitting on a half-acre lot. We live across the street from an awesome park with a pond for wintertime iceskating, our backyard backs up to the elementary school's soccer field, and literally around the corner from my parents. The couple who sold us the house are in their 90's and needed to downsize. The husband was a photographer and purchased this house in his 20's for $15,000... too bad we couldn't have purchased it for that price! Haha. Anyway, I wish the walls could talk because I know this house was always full since the couple then raised their family of five daughters here. I know the history is fascinating, but let's get to the good stuff...photos! Agreed?

I know the house isn't much to look at now, but I have a big vision for this place. And I will share as we go along.

Eventually we will say adios to the (not my favorite) brown siding.

I love the roof line of this house.

Space for our dining room and formal living room.

All I have to say about this kitchen is...I can't wait until we start swinging a sledge hammer!

This wall and the kitchen peninsula are both going to be taken out during the kitchen renovation. Currently, only the bottom half of the oven heats up.

This is the breakfast nook that we will be eliminating to increase the kitchen space.

Casual family room. Since moving in, we have replaced the carpet (we found asbestos tile underneath!), and Nick and my dad have worked long hours painting all the trim and paneling. If you follow me on Instagram, you've seen how good it looks now!

Stairway to heaven bathroom, off of the family room.

Upstairs landing that is quite spacious! Any suggestions with what should be done with this space? Or should we just leave it open? I'm leaning towards just open and maybe put our gallery wall up there on the left.

Retro green and pink bathroom. When we renovate this space, I want to keep the vanity — it's angled and I love it!

The lighting in this bathroom gets all the heart eyes!

Bedroom/Office — Since moving in, this room has been painted and the carpet has been removed to reveal wood flooring.

Valor's Room — This room has also been painted and Nick removed the carpet.

Master bedroom and the entryway into the fourth bedroom.

Fourth Bedroom — Eventually we would like to knock out the wall between the master and this fourth bedroom. During that renovation we will also construct a master bath and walk-in closet. Currently, the closet is less than desirable.

Utility Room

We are currently using this space for storage and house project central, but in the next year we hope to replace the flooring, give this room a nice paint job and turn this into a huge playroom for Valor.