Sunday, September 11, 2011

Making a House a Home

Yesterday I woke up with some seriously, near manic-ish energy.  Like, I literally woke up, ready to do something.  I have recovered from my little bug from earlier in the week and I guess that meant s**t needed to get done!  So, after practicing dance, writing in my journal, I decided to break out the paint supplies that had been sitting around for...ummm.. let's go with awhile and begin working on finally getting the dining room painted.  I was tired of this house not feeling like home and it's time we put some of our plans in motion!

From blah to bright!

It was just me for the first hour or so, then Jon came back from his biology class and helped out.  As you can see, the walls were white.  I have often felt that I'm walking through an institution because the walls are so sterile white- everywhere in this house. I love white, but, too much of it is just... irritating. Gradually we came around to painting first with the living room and then we kinda just stopped.  However, we're picking up speed with that and other projects/decorating things around here.  It really is time to put some personality in this home!  For too long it has just functioned as a living space, but, now we want more of our own little stamp to make it a place where we really feel at home.

I like it when I don't have to use the ladder.  I have this thing about falling.... and heights make it worse!  Gravity, will you ever be cool?

 Leo should be happy he's yellow already.  I'm certain he got paint on him, there's no way he could've avoided it!
The painting took us no more than four hours.  That's right, under four hours!!  God bless primer and paint together.  It really speeds up the painting process.  Is it sad that I could go on and on about that?  
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After we were finished painting I looked at our furniture in there and felt really... well, I felt worse about the room!  It wasn't because of the paint, I LOVE it, but, I realized that the huge dining room table that had been sitting in there, mostly unused, was just not right for the space and new color.  Jon was given that table three years ago, it used to be his sister's.  We decided that we'd keep an eye out (we're in the process of saving money atm) for a nice, smaller dining room table, and a piano to really make the dining room a place we would go into and use for its intended purposes.  The cats used that room more than we did, and that's kinda sad when you think about it.


This morning I decided to look through Craigslist and see if anything caught my eye.  I've gone through it before for dining room tables, bookcases, etc to see if I found something that was a bargain.  No luck, obviously, so I figured what was the harm in looking through furniture for sale ads?   
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And what do you know, I found a bloody table!!  And was being sold for only $150 to boot!!  I emailed Jon the ad and texted him to call me back after looking at it (he was running errands, I was cleaning house- and surfing the internet).  When he did I nearly begged him to go take a look as I was sure it would be a great table for us.  It may not be something we'll keep forever, but, it would definitely be more functional, add space for a piano, and more us!  He went over and gave me a call saying he did indeed like it and if I was good he'd bring it home.  WOOT!
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I must mention here that he fit that entire thing, plus a leaf, in his Prius.  That's right, I said Prius.  Makes you wonder how much Tetris Jon played as a kid.

Two minutes.  That's all it took for the cats to begin finding sweet spots on the table.

We have swaped the tables out and I couldn't be more thrilled will the look.  It's perfect!  Not to big, but, can be added to if necessary.  We will sell the other table on Craigslist for cheap, and hopefully selling that will pay for this table.  This purchase was not planned to be so soon, but, hey life is funny sometimes.  I'm glad a little initiative and the universe throwing us a bone yielded such great results.  I can't wait for a piano to be in there and to have some nice meals on that table.


If the cats don't mind sharing the dining room that is. ;-)

2 comments:

Sarah said...

It looks lovely!! Don't try to put flowers on that table, though ;) We're hoping to get rid of some more carpet here in the next month or two. Home improvement is GREAT!

Habebi said...

Thanks chica!! Yay for more carpet being pulled up! Wood floors are so much better, you do see the dirt and such more, but, once it's cleaned it's cleaned!! Painting the office, redoing the closet in there, and possibly putting up some crown moulding is next. Yay for home improvements indeed!