The Fox Den
My husband Sam and I had a dream, long before we were married, to own a home and make it our sanctuary. Sam is a carpenter with a passion for fine details and, with my working in design, we make a pretty good team. The spaces in which I spend time have always been deeply important to me. I used to rearrange my bedroom approximately once a month growing up and organized my stuffed animals just so. I would even clean my friend’s bedrooms for fun when I went to their houses, which endeared both my friends and their parents to me. All of that is to say that it is no surprise that I landed in this field and that, in our minimal spare time, Sam and I revel in pouring ourselves into our home.
Being millennials, however, and buying a home when we did we took what we could get. That may sound bad, and I don’t mean it to. We adore our home, but it is not without its quirks. Sam, our daughter, our dog Fig and I all share 964 square feet of house, which feels even smaller in the dark Washington winters. When we purchased the house it had single-paned windows and no insulation in the roof. But we just couldn’t pass up the little chalet perched atop Green Mountain. Being outdoor enthusiasts, what we affectionally call the Fox Den, had the foundation of our future sanctuary. We just had some work to do.
And that work is still very much in progress. The list of projects we want to do to make this our forever home seems endless. But it is easy to forget how much work we have already done. Here is a non-exhaustive list of projects we have already done:
Replaced the existing marble countertops with butcher block
Replaced the single-paned windows with double-paned windows
Re-insulated the crawl space
Removed existing built-in cabinets and installed custom made cabinets
Re-painted the entire interior of the house, including ceilings
Stripped the paint from the stairs and re-stained to natural wood
Built entry way storage
Built a half wall along the staircase
Removed an awkward corner closet to add space to primary bedroom
Tiled the kitchen
Resided the house
The list goes on. It is easy to forget all the work we have already done when we feel that there is still so much work to do. But the Fox Den will likely be a lifetime project, and we couldn’t be any more excited to tackle what lies ahead. Stay tuned for project updates - there are many more to come!
