Thoughts of the Week - Our Home In Progress

In January we will have lived in this house for 2 years and we just picked a paint color last month.  It's the 3rd house we've lived in, and unlike the first 2 where we whipped through a flurry of DIY projects like Tasmanian devils, we've taken our time with this house, trying to be patient and really think about what we want the house to feel and look like.  As you know we started with the backyard in April and built a pool, mainly because we knew if anything, we wanted to build a pool.  So even if we couldn't decide on a paint color, we at least made use out of the backyard, the main reason we moved to this house in the first place. 

We initially had grand plans for this space but the longer we lived here the more we realized that it wasn't more space we needed, just more functional space.  So after many months of going back and forth, we finally put forth plans to get rid of the ridiculous built in that was smack dab in the middle of our family room and build proper linen storage, the one and only linen closet in the house.  We installed a very functional and affordable closet organization unit in Syd's closet, details to come, got rid of the chandelier that we constantly knocked our heads on and installed recessed lighting, and we painted the walls.  After owning 3 homes, I can swear that there is absolutely nothing at all that makes a home feel more like yours quicker than adding paint to your walls.  I tell you as soon as the walls went from drab white to Benjamin Moore Thunder, my love for this house grew exponentially and suddenly my irritation with the freeway noise and traffic from the school across the street shrunk in half.

We recently sold our huge sectional that always felt too large for this space and bought a classic English rolled arm sofa.  Our plans are to move this sofa into the living room up front and order a smaller chaise type sofa that allows for more seating.  I'm trying to avoid making mistakes in this house and rushing through decisions, even though I want it all finished now and today.  So I've had this swatch sitting out in the open for the last 3 weeks trying to decide if it's the right fabric for our new sofa.  Once we get the sofa I'll make other decisions about the need for more seating and artwork.  We'll also need to replace the area rug seeing as the brown shag one pictured is from Syd's nursery and we've been using it just so the ottoman doesn't slide around.

Shelly has been helping me out but I think she's started to take me less and less serious because one week I'll be all gung ho, saying "let's finish this thing!" and then 5 weeks go by and nothing progresses.  I'm not afraid, just not rushing it.  Our home will never have that "well-traveled" look because well, quite honestly we haven't traveled much.  The only place we've ever been that requires a passport is Mexico, and that's before they even required passports.  Oh!  We have been to the US Virgin Islands on a company work trip but being a US territory, we didn't even need one there.  But even if we had traveled the world we probably wouldn't have had the money or foresight to bring home exotic treasures to furnish our home with.  So instead of well traveled, I'll gladly take eclectic and unique, meaning not everything on display from Store A or Store B (that Pottery Barn Friends episode comes to mind).  I see some trips to the flea market and local estate sales in our future.  The little stool below is from a friend of a friend's estate sale and it was made by her father.  It may have only traveled from the hills of Riverside, but at least it has some history.

My house doesn't need to be designer perfect, but I do just want it to have a "finished" look.  The living room is almost there, but the TV room definitely needs some work.  Timing wise I don't want to set a deadline but I would like it to be finished sometime in this century, which would require me to find the balance between being indecisive and frenzied rash decision making.  I've learned that rushing through decisions in your home usually ends in regret and wasted money.         

More than anything though I just want to walk in and feel comfortable and settled enough to do this without looking around at unfinished projects and empty walls. 

We'll get there.  I'm sure of it :)

have a great weekend everyone!  Off to go back to nursing a still sick little boy.

By the way, here are the only 2 pictures I found of what the TV room looked like before we took out the mirrored wall and built in.  I wouldn't make it 2 seconds as a DIY design blogger seeing as I didn't take any before pictures.  These pictures were taken right after we moved in almost 2 years ago.