YOU WON’T BELIEVE WHAT WE GOT DONE IN 2020!

2020 was a strange but very productive year here at StoneGable and the Tanglewood House! Actually, since October of 2019 since we moved into our new home we have been very busy making it the sanctuary perfect for us. Here’s a look at the changes in our home.

2020 found us staying at home and really it was a blessing for Bobby and me because we could hunker (Lancaster Co word) down and work on making our new house a home.

The first project on our list for 2020 was to create an office for me to work in.

Here’s how the room looked when we moved in…

And here’s how it looks now…

We had built in cabinets installed across the back of our office. What a difference!

You can read and see more about OUR HOME OFFICE HERE.

We also added French doors to the office opening. This created a bit of privacy and a pretty architectural element in the foyer part of our home.

Next we turned our attention to the outside of our home and landscaped had new landscaping put in all the way around our home. This was a big job so we did it in three stages.

Sorry, I did not take pictures of our landscaping.

The back of our home was landscaped with plants that would give us color from early spring through fall. Because of my love for hydrangeas and roses we had some beautiful oak leaf hydrangeas planted and red and pink knockout roses.

On the side of our home we planted more hydrangeas and salvia and other ground cover.

The front of our home was a big job!

Here’s how it looked when we moved in.

The landscaping on the right side of our home was so overgrown and the grasses were so messy! They blew their fluff all over the porch and front door.

Hidden behind all the overgrowth was a beautiful little weeping redbud tree that I could only see from the window of my office.

So we had almost everything ripped out keeping the hydrangeas and the redbud and a couple other plants and landscaped the entire front.

We also created a new bend on the right side of the walk going up to the house.

There we added a deep red crape myrtle, winterberries, red slipper hydrangeas and more.

In the spring I’ll do a post and share our landscaping.

Another project is to install what I call “swingy doors”. These are a set of doors that swing instead of opening.

Because we use this door so much it made sense not to have a door that we would have to continually open.

They close in what I also call our “secret passageway”. It’s a hallway/room/mudroom from our foyer to our kitchen. Sort of a shortcut.

In that hallway/room/ mudroom is the entrance to our garage. The washer and dryer is on one side and a big pantry is on the other.

You can see the other door in the kitchen pictures below. And talking about the kitchen…

Our biggest project in 2020 was our kitchen.

Here’s how it looked when we moved in…

We started this project towards the end of July and it ran until the middle of October.

And here’s what our kitchen looks like now…

I decorated the kitchen for fall and then for Christmas. So I have no images of our kitchen without seasonal decor yet. In January I’ll have a kitchen tour on the blog.

Here’s what we did…

• demolished the backsplash, the countertop, and the bar
• painted the cabinetry
• added cabinets above the existing ones that reach the ceiling
• replaced the center cabinets with glass ones
• added lights in all the glass cabinets
• installed a new stove (LOVE my stove)
• added a new hood and exhaust system
• reconfigured and built a new bar
• added a footrest to the bar
• added a new Calcutta Gold marble basketweave backsplash
• installed under cabinet lighting, outlets, and USB ports
• added Ultra White quartz countertops
• installed a new composite farmhouse sink
• installed pop-up outlets on the counter
• put new hardware on the cabinets
• installed new lighting
• added banquet seating under the windows

Cooking in and decorating this kitchen is so much fun!

I continue to decorate the Tanglewood House. It’s a steep learning curve.

This home is very open and has lots and lots of windows. It’s light and bright with high ceilings and interesting angles arches.

It takes time to learn a home. It’s personality and it’s moods!

I believe that a home tells us how to decorate it. Our fourth home, Tanglewood is far different than our third home StoneGable.

It’s more contemporary and open. And it has a very airy feel.

I’m still learning. I thought I could take our furniture from StoneGable and put it in our new home. But I’m finding that some of it works like our white buffet.

But a lot of our furniture did not fit. It felt out of place. So we are slowly replacing it with furniture that is the right scale and proportion and feel.

One example of finding the right furniture is in our sunroom.

We replace the sofa in there for a low profile sectional that would not hinder the view of the golf course.

There have been a hundred little decorating projects here at the Tanglewood House in 2020 and there will be just as many in 2021.

I hope you have enjoyed this recap of the things we have accomplished this year. I think the biggest one is just feeling like Tanglewood is our home.

We are blessed to have a second forever home that works for our lives now. I wake up every day and tell Bobby, “I love our home”.

Now let’s see what some of my friends have accomplished in their homes this year…

Designthusiasm | On Sutton Place | Southern Hospitality