About me!

Hi fellow DIY-ers, I’m Jillian! I am transforming my 70’s split level house one gallon of paint at a time! We bought our first home in August of 2019, and boy, did it need some love. Our original plan was to live in it for a few months and then slowly make some cosmetic changes. Well, that didn’t happen. We went right to work with taking down walls, refinishing the kitchen, and completely gutting the bathroom. The whole house was covered in 70’s inspired wallpaper and pink shag rugs. Yuck! The day we closed on the house, we started taking down wallpaper- that was my least favorite part of the reno. Our friends and family who came over for a visit “to see the house” were put right to work removing the wallpaper. I should probably apologize to them for that. Any who…

We were on track to have everything done by Thanksgiving and host, which was our goal. We got a little ahead of ourselves and wanted to invite our friends over for a Friends-giving the weekend before. We (my husband, brother-in-law, and father-in-law) were up until midnight the night before laying down the floor in the basement. We installed the bathroom faucet and vanity hours before the party started. Not to mention I sliced my thumb cutting potatoes the night before and had to get it glued up in the ER. Damn sweet potato casserole! Our friends were astonished by how much we did in 3 months. To be honest, it felt way longer than 3 months..

We hosted our family on Thanksgiving, and after that decided we would take a break until after the new year and enjoy all the hard work and time we put in. We went on our honeymoon after Christmas and rang in the new year in St. Lucia. I am so glad we waited a few months to go on this trip. Working a full time 9-5 job, working on the house until 9pm, then doing it all again the next day. Definitely appreciated this trip, and finally had time to relax and enjoy my husband.

While laying on the beach after a few mudslides, I made the decision I was going to start a blog. I had always loved decorating and DIY since I was little. One Christmas I had asked for a sander, and my father of 3 girls could not have been more happy. I would always drive around the neighborhood and go to yard sales and bring home these “pieces of crap- as my family would say”. But I saw a vision for them, and how to bring them back to life.

So here we are! I created Living On Lee to share my DIY and home decor ideas. Head over to my instagram @livingonlee for more tips and tricks.