0/2025: From House to Home

Image © Jose 2025

We just bought a house.

It’s old, rugged, and far from perfect. The stairs creak, the walls have scars, and there’s a barn out back that quietly waits for me to bring it back to life. It’s a house that’s seen over a century of life, carrying stories that we’ll never fully know. And now it’s waiting for us to add our own.

But this isn’t just about fixing up a house. It’s about figuring out what happens during that process—how renovation isn’t just about patching what’s broken, but also about discovering what’s beneath the layers, deciding what’s worth keeping, and understanding how the work we do outside of ourselves changes something inside too.

This house will push us. It will test our patience, our creativity, and our ability to compromise. I’ll be working with contractors and sub-contractors, with friends and family, and sometimes on my own. There will be learning, tension, passion, arguments, budget debates, and decisions to be made. My wife will be at the center of it all with me—living in the house more than I will, working from home, with strong opinions on what stays, what goes, and how the house should feel. There will be moments of disagreement, frustration, and compromise, but also shared excitement and alignment on what really matters.

We’re not just building a house. We’re building a life inside it. This process will bring questions beyond practicality or aesthetics. What makes a house a home? When do we feel at home in a space—or in ourselves? What stories do we carry forward, and what do we leave behind?

These are the questions I’ll be exploring this year, through weekly reflections. But this won’t be a renovation diary or a home improvement guide. It’s about something deeper—the stories, people, and lessons that surface when you start to tear things down and build them back up.

Every Sunday evening, like clockwork, I’ll hit Publish. It’s become a ritual for me—ending the week with reflection before stepping into the next one. Is it the best time to post for engagement? Probably not. People are winding down, getting ready for Monday. But I’ve found that Sunday evening feels like the right time for storytelling. The world slows down a bit, and it feels like a moment to pause, catch my breath, and make sense of the week that’s passed.

Last year, this habit kept me grounded. I shared 52 weekly posts, reflecting on life and work, and along the way, I found meaning in moments I might have otherwise missed. This year, I’m continuing that ritual, but through a different lens—our house, our home, and everything that comes with it.

Alongside each post, I’ll share a visual element. Last year, I used Generative AI to create images, but this year, I’m leaving the medium open. It could be a photo, a drawing, something crafted with AI, or an edited image. I won’t reveal what tools I’ve used, because the tools don’t matter. The story does.

This house has a past. We’re its future. And somewhere between the two, we’ll figure out what it really means to feel at home.

Welcome to From House to Home. Let’s see what stories we uncover along the way.