As the holiday weekend approaches, I am taking some time out to look around and count my blessings. We just celebrated the three year anniversary of our 102-year-old home purchase in June. We have been slowly renovating it since we purchased it, and the biggest project in this process has been our kitchen.

Old homes are so quirky to renovate. Not only are we renovating the house, which means updating it to our standards of living with modern touches, we're also trying our best to preserve the home's original charm and integrity. Far too many flippers and investors buy homes like ours and give them basic makeovers without any care whatsoever to the history of the home.

Our house sits on a busy corner. The traffic can be maddening sometimes, but then I stop and remind myself that I lived in New Jersey until I was nearly ten years old, so what am I even complaining about? Marked as Lot #1 in our town, it was one of the first homes built here, and it was the mayor's house. That doesn't mean it's fancy, but for its time, it certainly was. It's fun to walk around and imagine a distinguished family residing here, sitting by the fire, or receiving guests in the parlor.

The house has some really cool features, like original beadboard through the hidden stairwell and upstairs, where I can only imagine is where servants lived and worked at one time. Push button light switches are in several main rooms of the house, and we opted to keep them, because they are such a unique thing, as well as a fun conversation starter. We have high ceilings with panels across them, original hardwood floors, clawfoot tubs, and an upstairs bedroom lined completely in cedar. What a closet that room would make! You really have to love and respect old homes in order to renovate and live in them.

I have to hand it to my husband. He has been working tirelessly to update this house. We're talking, ripping it all down to bare bones and building it back up. I love the changes we've been able to make, and if money were no object, we'd be further along... but if we were quickly finished with the project, I can only imagine we'd get bored. It's nice to have ongoing projects that challenge us and require the two of us to work together in the areas we're best suited.

Once we're finished with the kitchen, I will be so glad to move on from it! Our butler's pantry and upstairs bathroom are next on the renovation list. Thankfully, they are much smaller projects!

I'm really proud of how far we've come with the renovations, and proud of my wonderful husband for doing 95% of the work himself. He is truly amazing!