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Weekend Recap: Taming the Terror

by Jessica on August 23, 2011

in Cats, House, Interior Design

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A couple weeks after moving in, we dubbed this room “The Terror Room.” I’ve been told every new homeowner has one. It’s the extra room or spot where stuff ends up when it doesn’t fit anywhere else or requires more time than you have to sort out. The stuff you put off unpacking, gifts you don’t know where to put, artwork you haven’t hung yet. Ours has it all. Or did. We finally took care of it this weekend, well somewhat. But now we need some help from you. But first, the clean-up:

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Huge piles of small, random stuff. Hands down the most annoyingly tedious to stuff to clean up.

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I organized all of our gardening accessories and antiques into boxes for now. Hopefully with some shelving in this closet, we can store things a little better until we actually get to decorating.

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Look, my wedding bouquet! Ladies, I have no idea what to do with it! Obviously it’s probably worth keeping, but is there anything I can do with it besides let it hang?

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All of our blankets and bedding, now in one place. I’m thinking a huge blanket fort might be in order this winter, if for no other reason than to see how far we can get it to stretch around the house. (Note: I tidied them up after taking this photo.)

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Neil found a whole bag of his socks. How he didn’t know they were missing illustrates another problem altogether. Is there such a thing as too many socks?

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We have tons of art and frames to sort through, for now they are still stacked against the wall. Definitely have to start painting now that the temperatures are cooling off.

As we cleaned, we noticed a few things that definitely need to be addressed, right after we finish scratching our heads and asking why and how and why people end up making the decisions they do:

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Cables through a random place in the plaster, great choice! And how about that outlet sitting on the floor? Why put it in the wall like like a conformist when you can have it hanging out and mismatched to boot? And what was the logic behind removing the molding?

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This also totally necessitates cutting through the molding. Totally.

When we finished, we hauled tons of boxes and trash out:

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And were left with this:

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Ever finish one project to find you have about five more? That’s how we feel right now, but we are excited to finally have this room ready for — something? That’s where we need your help. We put our guest room upstairs with the second bathroom, and we already have an office and a TV room, so what should we do with this room?

It’s nicely located right off the kitchen, maybe another lounge area? I mean *eventually* it could be a kids room, but for now it’s just hanging out semi-empty. We need ideas before Felix fully claims it as his new room:

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Are you there God? It’s me, Felix. I’ve been a good cat this year, please let this be my room, please!?

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House Check-in: 1 Month!

by Jessica on July 7, 2011

in Furniture, House, Interior Design, Television

1 Month!

Over the holiday weekend, we celebrated ONE MONTH in our new house. The feeling is totally reminiscent of when our relationship was new and we were total cheeseballs about every little milestone and month that passed. Even though we are at the beginning of what is sure to be a long journey, it’s exciting to know we have made some big progress in the short month we’ve been here.

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Unpacking. Our house was total chaos in the beginning. Everything was thrown every which way, we had furniture in the middle of rooms and we slept wherever we could find a place. Looking back, I don’t know how we functioned!

Backyard

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Yardwork. We’ve put some major sweat and hours into taming the yard, and while we have big plans for it that we hope to start once the weather cools down, it’s been nice having a yard that doesn’t bite back.

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Buffet Contents

Purchases. While we’ve been mostly frugal in order to be as prepared as possible for all the no-fun purchases that come with being new homeowners (there are a lot!), we still made room for a few fun purchases to make our house feel more like a home.

Our first major purchase was our Google TV, which has been an awesome edition and way to unwind at night while we work upstairs in the loft. We not only use it for Netflix, but for collaborating on projects simultaneously.

Our second major purchase was bedroom furniture, which I apologize for being pretty elusive about. The furniture looks great, and it’s ready for the big reveal, however the rest of the room is still a bit of a mess as we get organized. I hope to show you all the progress we’re making next week, because we’re definitely going to need some advice!

Our third purchase was a lovely buffet that we picked up for a steal on Craigslist. With a little furniture polish and TLC it shines in our dining room.

Compared to a new house, it feels like there is a certain courting process involved in settling into an older home. The best quote I’ve found to describe it is from Under the Tuscan Sun; it goes:

“The trick to overcoming buyer’s remorse is to have a plan. Pick one room and make it yours. Go slowly through the house. Be polite, introduce yourself, so it can introduce itself to you.”

Although we’re slowly putting our own mark on the house, it still to an extent feels like we’re living in someone else’s house. The previous owner lived and raised a family here for 45 years! It’s going to take time, and in the meantime, we’re enjoying all the little discoveries we’re making in it almost daily. It’s slowly becoming our home, and we still can’t believe it’s ours.

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Our New Home

by Jessica on June 3, 2011

in House, Relocation

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I’m so excited to finally introduce you to our new home! After what felt like months of waiting, we’re finally in and buried in mountains of boxes and packing material. I guess I should tell you a bit about the place. Our home was built in 1948 in a subdivision adjacent to campus on its west side. Originally billed as a development for luxury homes, they also built some smaller ones to diversify the neighborhood. The streets are fully shaded by full grown trees and curve and wind through the development, creating lots of tiny pockets and plenty of peace and quiet and a feeling of ultimate privacy. So without further ado, a bit of a tour:

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When you walk in the front door, you are immediately in what will be our living room/TV Room. Most people would probably choose to make this a formal living room, but after sacrificing an entire room for that in our last place, we want each room to be useful in some way.

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It has an awesome fireplace that is unfortunately out of commission, and a great built-in whose future contents are thus far undetermined. I’m not good with this stuff…

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As you back up you find yourself in the formal dining room. I’ve never had one, so this is all new to me. It has a very nice vintage feature that I’m in love with:

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A sliding serving window! I love it! Most designers would say to open up the kitchen and make it “flow,” but I don’t know if I could given this window would become a fatality. It’s so perfect.

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Next stop and Clive’s favorite room, the kitchen! Through the pocket doors…

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Ta-Da! Okay, I know what you’re thinking, and the answer is most definitely yes, there is definitely too much blue. It was obvious to us from the first visit that the previous owner (of 45 years!) loved the color blue. It was everywhere, and nowhere more obvious than the kitchen. Counters and backsplash are definitely topping the to-do list.

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From the kitchen, you can access the garage, which is the entire basement level. This will be Neil’s realm, and whatever he chooses to do with it. Lots of upgrades and guy stuff to be sure.

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And finally, a 3-car garage! No more speeding to parking garages to spare the cars from hail and tornado warnings. If you follow us on Twitter, you know that was starting to get a bit old.

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Here’s a view of from the side of the house. The driveway is to the side and the garage is tucked under the house. It’s a little tricky getting out, but we’re learning.

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Back inside, I took kind of a boring picture of the master that really doesn’t do it justice. It’s twice the size of our old room, and I’m baffled how to arrange a room that doesn’t have to have furniture less than three feet from the bed.

Bathroom montage

Here’s a little montage of the master bathroom. Again, blue. But I like the floor tile, so if we can get a little knock-down of the all-over blue tile, we’ll be in better shape. Still, a little dated and needing work.

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Here is the second bedroom on the main level. This is the eventual kid room but for now it will be kind of an extra lounge room for when we entertain, since it’s right off the kitchen. It will have the two couches from the former formal living room and will be nice and cozy.

Now we can head upstairs!

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This is going to be our office! I’ve always loved lofts, and now we have one! All of our work will be done here, and I hope to add a reading nook in one of the corners.

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Here’s one of the nooks. There’s one in the office, and one in the guest bedroom. I’m thinking of putting a few plants up here.

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The guest room, with more blue of course. Why people choose strange carpet colors is beyond me.

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And finally, a vague shot of the guest bathroom. Love the sink!

So there you have it, a tour of the house before all our stuff landed in it. It’s pure chaos in there right now. On top of moving this past weekend, Neil and I have both been battling a flu bug and our terrible Internet ISP that made updating and unpacking much slower than it should. We’re feeling a lot better, and hope to have the place cleared up before the end of the weekend. Then it’s on to start making to-do lists and sharing our plans with you!

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