Thursday, August 21, 2014

The Next Project (I Hope)

I finally whined enough to my husband about the skanky carpets in our upstairs that he agreed to go looking for new carpet with me this weekend. The rugs are about 12 years old, and have been vomited on, bled on, peed on and pooped on, and they are absolutely disgusting. 

My husband refused to even entertain the idea of new carpets until our dog was gone. Well, he passed away in November, and I have been pissing and moaning since the spring for new carpets. Or no carpets and just wood floor. I don't care. I just want that nastiness out of my house.

Now the husband is talking about replacing the wood floors in the hallway and up the steps and only carpeting the three bedrooms. Cost will be a determining factor.

However, regardless of what ends up on the floor, our extra bedroom will have to be the next project. We only used it for about six years as a bedroom for my oldest son, and then we moved him in with his younger brother, and the room quickly became a junk room. Most of the time there were toys in there, and when the boys were little, the intention was for it to become a playroom, but that never happened. 

We've gotten rid of several bins of toys, but we still have many more bins of Legos and trucks that my husband doesn't want to part with. He keeps wanting to save stuff in case we have grandchildren someday. I get the sentiment, but I suspect things will be wildly different by the time that happens. So I'm going to do my best to convince him that most of it must go. 

I'll take before pics in the daylight and post them. Even if we end up not getting the rugs replaced soon, I should still go through the room. My husband actually mentioned something about painting it and reconverting it back to a bedroom, perhaps for my older son when he comes home from college. Regardless, I probably won't start working on it in earnest until the end of September, when the weather cools down and I'm done sewing flags for the band (something I do every year at the beginning of band season).

Check back later for pictures of the room that has been bane of my existence for the last 12 years. 

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Regrets

Earlier this spring, after having decluttered some and realizing that one of the whole points of minimalism is the experience over the stuff, I had planned to do two things in early summer that would have brought me great joy. 

1. The Minimalists were coming to my area and I had the date marked on the calendar and even reserved four tickets. I was going to drag my husband and two boys there if it killed us!

2. Two of my favorite musical groups -- The Script and One Republic -- were coming to a venue near me at the end of June. My boys like One Republic and I LOVE The Script, so win/win, right?

Neither of these things happened. My husband was working the night that The Minimalists were coming, and it was very close to my son's high school graduation, and I was overwhelmed, and it was supposed to thunderstorm that night, and excuses, excuses, excuses.

The concert night was the same evening we were coming home from vacation. At that point, we had spent quite a bit of money during our vacation and my husband didn't want us to spend any more. So we didn't go. 

I REGRET NOT DOING THESE TWO THINGS MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE THIS SUMMER. 

If you have the slightest doubt about whether you should do something that that you know you would really enjoy, do it, despite whatever obstacles might be in your way. Otherwise, I promise you, you will regret it.

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

The Front Porch, Or The Room I Am In All The Time

We had a cloudy/rainy weekend a few weeks back; the first one in about 2-1/2 months. I decided to make the best of a weekend indoors, and I did the whole porch. Now, I LOVE sitting out there. It's much cooler than the rest of the house and since it is enclosed, I don't have to worry about mosquitoes. They have taken over my back yard and every time I step outside for even a brief moment, I get another bite. Bug spray doesn't help, so I have enjoyed my tea or glass of wine on the front porch for the first time in about a year. Also, while I can't actually see the sunset, if the sky is orange, the porch glows. I love August sunsets.

Here are the results. Be mindful that NOTHING in this room matches. It's a collection of stuff I bought/thrifted at different times. One day, my goal is to have a nice wicker furniture set out here. Till then, just having it neat and clean is enough.


This was a gift from my mother in law several years ago. It's made of that melamine(?) plastic and can also be hung on the wall. I just haven't had a chance to hang it, so it sits on one of the bookcases and
is the first thing you see when you come in the door.
The coat closet. I put away as many of the baseball caps as I could.
These two are destined to stay out, but at least they are on hooks.
 The couch, where I sit and relax, blog, and nap. These windows connect to my living room.
This is the side facing the driveway. I moved our indoor/outdoor fountain indoors where I can actually enjoy it. Unfortunately, the first weekend it was there, I was watching a dog that used the fountain
as her own personal water bowl.
This is the shoe rack. At the moment, there is simply nowhere else to put it. 
This is the larger of the two matching lanterns. I decided to put the smaller one out on my back patio with a real candle, and place all three of the battery operated ones in here. A bold move on my part.
The bottom part of the window sill in the photo above is a piece of wood trim nailed to the sill because my former dog chewed it to shreds. Don't ask. It needs to be painted, which has been on my to do list for eons. I'm not quite ready to do that yet because once I do, I'll have to paint the rest of the windows and that can turn into quite a project. 

I'm not sure yet what my next project will be. I think I'll work on my wardrobe for the next round of Project 333. 

I also really need to finish tackling the basement, as well as our spare bedroom, and my boys' bedroom, and...

...those darned CDs. Yup, still waiting.

Things will be hectic here for a few more weeks but I will try to make posting twice a week a priority. Thanks for visiting and stop back soon.