Love-Hate

Guess what?!  We live here now! 
 
It’s crazy because that day never seemed to want to come, and then when it did it all happened so fast and now it feels like we’ve been here all our lives.  It was like one day we just declared: ENOUGH!  EVERYBODY OUT – WE’RE MOVING IN!  Was everything quite ready? In hindsight, no. But we had reached our threshold. Michael and I kept having conversation the week of the move about when the beds would go, but in the end, we went when the Keurig went. #priorities
 
So there’s that! BOOM.
 
We won’t even talk about the actual move because you know how I feel about moving.  Just suffice it to say, we’ve yet to collect all our belongings from the various places we stashed them over the last year and a half.  Ugh.  But, we have the essentials and that’s what matters.
 
There’s also the fact that moving did nothing but ADD to our already impossibly long to-do list, so I’m sorry I’ve failed to bring y’all along. Every spare moment we get is spent working trying make this house homey. I’m afraid it’s going to take several more months (you know, or years) but at least we are here now and can work on it.

On days when I feel discouraged, I remember how far we've come. Before we share some of the finished photos before we moved in, let's all just take a little detour down memory lane (cue Started From the Bottom):

Now, I feel like you're more properly prepared to see these:

It’s been two months and we are still living amongst boxes and mismatched furniture.  We continue to unpack and to organize.  I still can’t find 50% of the things I look for and I’ve moved the junk drawer twice now for more space. Oh, and the cleaning. I mean, good heavens at the sheetrock dust! We’ve scrubbed, vacuumed, dusted, hired people to do the same and I still see sheetrock dust taunting me when the light catches any surface just right. 
 
Because of the to-do list that punches me in the throat every time I come home, I’ve developed a new vocabulary word: “Love-Hate.” As in: Love-hate you, house. Love-hate you, yard.  Love-hate you, boxes.  Love-hate you, Weird Empty Living Room.
 
Weird Empty Living Room is a proper noun because it's become like a taunting ghost in my daily life. It’s a big, nice, gorgeous space and currently a total F-A-I-L.  In my delusional mind, I never thought we’d get to the end of this project and have so little wiggle room left for buying furniture, so I gave most of what we had away.  So, now…at the end of the project when we have little room left for buying furniture…we have this awesome couch Michael’s parents bought us for Christmas surrounded by the craziest hodge-podge in the world.  The rug under the couch has been such a struggle and I finally landed on a navy number so I didn’t obsessively compulse over the juice, chocolate milk, and the occasional wine stain. I did find two pretty chairs that I couldn’t pass up.  I looked at them for weeks on LuLu & Georgia and just couldn’t bring myself to buy them. THEN I found the exact same chair from Target for half price (thanks Pinterest lens!) They are pretty much white, though, so just…pray for them.
 
On the other side of the coin, I just can’t figure out what to do in this space and it’s giving me a mental block.  I want it to be two spaces that flow as one and I’m not really clever at arranging furniture.  I’m driving the struggle bus here.  I know this is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but my OCD kicks into overdrive when I see this space.  For some reason it’s the only one that bothers me even though none of the other rooms are finished either.  WHATEVER.  It’ll come together…one day.
 
The biggest redeeming part is our kitchen. It functions as a retreat and is where we spend the majority of our time at home. Thankfully, kitchens come fully furnished with appliances and all we’ve added are some barstools and a really cool little bistro table Michael built for us in the breakfast nook.
 
Here are the four things I’ve decided I can never again live without in a kitchen:

• An island
• Our appliance garage where the Keurig lives
• The pull out trash and recycle cans – totally called that one
• The garbage disposal buttons by the sinks

 
First world problems, I know.  But dude those things are legit so do those if nothing else in a kitchen remodel. 
 
We’re working on perfecting the use the gas range and the convection oven.  We may have lost several dozen cookies to the dark side of the force in the beginning, but we’re getting the hang of it. So far, we’ve pretty much only entertained family and it’s exceeded our expectations so we’re working up the courage to invite more people over soon.  Just ignore Weird Empty Living Room who will be trying to crash the party. Hah!
 
You guys know how much I stink at the blog thing, but as the rooms come along I’ll share our progress and any advice.  For now, all I can say is if you find yourself deep into a home renovation…God bless you, friend.  Call me and I will talk you off the many ledges on which you may find yourself standing.  There is light at the end of the tunnel.  We still tell ourselves that daily!