This is a walkthrough of our new home when my husband, daughter and I moved to Michigan. My husband and I moved from New York to Michigan in 2010. These pictures show the house untouched, no fresh paint and barely any furniture. Coming from a small studio apartment to a big house was exciting, we hit the jackpot with this house!
Looking back at these old photos helps me realize how much we have changed our land and home....in a good way. I'm glad we went down the path of a more homesteading sustainable life. Our house and land have so much potential to be something greater than it was/is. We didn't know much about owning a home, let alone, 18 acres of land but we're just finally getting a hold of a homeowners responsibility.
Our journey of homesteading/gardening began 2 years later. You can see my previous post on our first garden in 2012, here.... https://steemit.com/homesteading/@kokibyivana/the-start-of-gardening-2012
The house was built in 1990 and has 18 acres of land plus 3/4 of a pond. The previous owners told us this was a fairly new house because their old house was burned down due to a sauna mishap.
Exploring the outdoors! We couldn't believe how much land we own. It's amazing.
It took a LONG time to remove those rocks and flowers from this area. Don't worry we placed them somewhere else on our property. We now have 2 large grow beds growing greens and carrots, 2 beds growing cilantro, a peach tree and lavender growing in the front of our house. Loving it!
Let's have a look inside, shall we? There are now so many things that have changed but it's so nice to look back to see how much it progressed.
Entrance-Front Door.
Dining room. Notice: We didn't have furniture yet.
Living room with a 2 seasons room with sliding doors. We don't use that room during the winter. Brrrrr.
Our amazing wood stove.
Kitchen! Lots of things changed in the kitchen-many broken cabinet drawers, paper towel holder doesn't work anymore, went through 2 refrigerators, oven doesn't work; the stove top works but not the oven, 2 broken ripped up cabinets, sink hose sprayer broke, oy vey. The joys of owning a home, you won't be able to fix everything.
Laundry room/garage door entrance. 2 rooms and bathroom. The rooms look very different now.
Master Bedroom.
Finished Basement
Walk out sliding doors heading towards the back of the house.
2 big rooms.
Half Bath.
Thank you for walking through our land and home a bit! We changed a fair amount of the outdoors, which is our happy place.
We went from the outdoors looking like this......
To this......purpose and more life! It took a lot of research, happy accidents and time to start from scratch but we're doing it! :-D
Warmly,
Ivana
You had a yard?!
Welcome Jacob! 😃
Once upon a time, a small 40 X 30 patch of struggling grass on our sandy hill.
It is inspiring for me to have been witness to the journey you both have taken here in Michigan. From the time you first opened your home up to me during the summer of 2013, through today and into the unforeseeable future, my understanding of the world has been heavily influenced by the philosophies and principles that you both put into practice.
Keep on keeping on!
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WOW! Gorgeous place! So nice to see where the adventure began!
My birthday and the New Year are coming up, and it seemed like a great time to thank my most engaged followers. I went through my last week of posts and made note of all my followers who actually commented, and I am leaving you all a tip! as my way of saying "Thank you!" and as my birthday gifting!
That’s awesome, thank you!
Happy Birthday!
Thank you!
Beautiful home. You all are blessed. I love what you have done with the garden. Blessings.
Thank you so much!
Looks like a paradise.
It sure feels like it. We do something new/different every year with the garden...it keeps us on our toes and it's enjoyable. Thanks for reading!
Awesome! Welcome to Michigan.. the weather is probably close to the same.
I'm a lifelong Michiganian or Michigander- which ever you prefer.
Hey! Where do you reside in Michigan? :-)
Grew up in Metro Detroit (Warren), moved to the thumb about 15 years ago, now live in between the two...kind of southern thumb gal now. Hubby is a city boy, I'm a country girl... we compromised.
How about you?
Awesome! I live in the Grand Rapids area. :) Maybe one day we could meet up!
that would be great! There's another homesteader in Michigan that I'm quite good friends with @em3 He lives closer to me than you and we are trying to figure out a time to meet up with our families... once spring is here, of course!
Sounds amazing! Would love to actually meet fellow homesteaders in MI. Keep me updated. :-)
Lovely home and property. Where are you in Michigan? I have family who live both downstate, in city, and also up north in Petoskey and the UP. Now living in Mi I am sure you have learned such terms as 'down state' up north' the U P' and Yuppers' ;)
Hi! Thanks for reading! I live in the Grand Rapids area. Sadly, I haven't learned the terms 'down state' or 'Yuppers'. I do know the 'U P' and "Up North'. I'm about 45-55 minutes away from the city, I guess 'downstate' :)
Yes, to those who live 'up north' you would be downstate. I haven't lived in MI for years, but I have a lot of family still there. We used to have a lake house in Petoskey for the Summer and that was 'up north' to us, but our relatives who crossed the Mack bridge to the UP thought they were the real 'up north' so I guess it is all relative ;) It looks like you have found a wonderful place, though I don't envy you your Winters, brrrr. Yet, here in easter MA our WInters are usually not too bad, but this week it is MI cold!
You learn something new everyday. Now, if someone asks me if I’m “downstate”, I’d know how to answer them. Haha.
Yes, the winters can be brutal. It’s currently 0 degrees, windchill -8 degrees. Brrrrr is right!
@originalworks :)
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Wow! That looks so beautiful!
Thank you! Thank you! We're happy with it. :)
yes its amazing home and nice picture i like it@rastalikelove
Lovely! Looks like a ton of potential! How fun. Best of luck on your endeavors. New to Steemit here, and my blog will focus a lot on gardening, especially with tips for busy moms! Following!
Hello and welcome! It’s nice meeting other mommas and gardener. :) I like the direction of your posts, will follow back.
Beautiful home & land! <3
Thank you!
I see you're a homesteader and momma. Where do you reside?
This is gold. I teared up because so much has changed and you guys have grown so much.