Home Improvement

Excuse my house in all it's glory. Yes sometimes it really looks like this. Even if these are old photos from when we first moved in. Hey! I'm keeping it real.

This is home. Has been since last August. We'd hoped to be moving from here soon (this Spring actually), but we're in a holding pattern (till at least the end of May, maybe all the way to the end of July). We've tossed around a lot of thoughts, plans, hopes. But have finally come to a conclusion that makes sense, and gives me a feeling of some stability. Financially, and security. We'll be staying here till then, maybe a little longer. Maybe shorter. But I can make some plans, and some improvements. Because honestly, this space was seen as temporary, and so was organized as such. It's not working. But it can.

We've got plans for this space, and we need to make them work, and get it done. On a deadline.

First off, replacing the original carpet. Yes this carpet was installed when they built this place. And being this is a weekly rental, you can imagine how bad the carpet is. We won't go barefoot, or even just in stocking feet- our feet turn black and stick, especially bad when it's humid. Chris made a deal with the manager that if they supplied the flooring, he'd put it in. Wood vinyl flooring it it! He's already completed the hall (original seen above, updated pictures in a later post- when it's all finished!). And was planning on starting the living room this weekend, but a leaky washer has postponed that plan. (Hoping the washer is an easy fix.) IF there's enough (and he's pretty sure there will be) we'll be doing the small bedroom too. It will look sooo nice, and be nice to not wear shoes all.the.time.

The easiest project, but also the longest awaited one, is a bedroom door on the smallest bedroom (currently shared by the youngest 3 boys). We've been waiting on this since we moved in, but Chris has lit a fire under their bottoms. When this comes in, there will be a big room switch. We will move into the small and the boys into ours. (The other bedroom in the above photos). This idea works because during the day the boys can only play in the living room (this kills me) because their room is so small (no floor space). And Chris sleeps in ours. We don't need the space of the bigger room, the boys do. Not nearly as many toys in my living room- my bonus! (I'm not naive enough to believe there will be none, but less is more!)

After those are said and done, we'll move on to others. (Those are just the biggest, hopefully the rest will fall into place after.) Organization of the rest of the house is a biggie. A bit of paint- if it's in our budget. And furniture- primarily made from recycled pallets- to be built.  The glass cabinets, well the glass, are being removed. I will be replacing the glass with fabric. Two reasons: 1- the glass isn't very secure in the doors, and there's been 3 that have fallen out (twice on top of kids heads, luckily they didn't break. THIS is why I don't do glass around kids, remnant of an incident when my brother was 2.) The 2nd- it'll give a bit more separation to the living room/kitchen area (I hate the open floor plan). Screens and curtains, are on the list.  And container gardens, not nearly what we've done in the past, but hopefully it'll give us some supplement, a project to get the kids involved in, and some greening of our "yard",

Pallets will have a big role in our improvements. Hopefully we can find more than plenty. Here's a few ideas:

-couch
-bunk beds (full under twin) for the girls
-kitchen island
-headboard for our bed
-planters
-book cases


I'll absolutely be doing update blogs, as we go. Hoping they aren't too few and far between. That'd mean we weren't making progress. I need progress. (Haha)

This is home for a bit longer, and it's time to make it feel like that, instead of a waiting room. The old cliche is true- Home is where the heart is. I have a hard time putting in my heart into homes, like people who leave our lives, homes can leave a whole too. But I need to put a bit into it here, to mend my heart and hold my head together.