I thought I'd show you where we are in getting our new house put together. Of course, where we are is, in the words of Pippo (quoting Curious George), “a terrible mess!”
We're this close, though, to things looking really good. I think.
When we first moved in, you may recall, we quickly painted Pippo's room and the guest room, and got started on the kitchen cabinets. We had a good deadline for that a few weeks ago, when my sister-in-law was in town for her husband's graduation from Basic Combat Training. We got the cabinet bases done so that we could move back in (sans doors and drawers) and (this was key with the whole visiting family situation) move all the kitchen stuff out of the guest room.
We still need to finish painting those doors and get them back on, of course, but for now this is very live-able, if not particularly tidy.
In the meantime, though, we embarked on another big project. Our house has a fairly open floor plan, so the living room, dining room, and kitchen all open into each other. The previous owners had painted each one of these spaces a different color, none of which we particularly liked.
Again, the blue was overbearing and too brown. This room seemed remarkably dark for one that gets so much light. |
With our things partially moved in. Dull dull blah. |
After living with them for a few weeks, we were convinced that we wanted to paint sooner rather than later — it's one thing when I say I think the wall color makes my furniture look lame, but when my husband volunteers that he “hates this yellow,” you know I'm not just being a crazy pregnant lady.
Problem is, in our current state (pregnant me, busy husband, energetic toddler), it would probably take us at least until next summer to get it all painted. The rooms are big, and the vaulted ceilings are very high. And we'd already started painting the trim white, and want to keep going with that throughout the house. (The woodwork is nothing special — I wouldn't paint over it if it were!) It was a big job.
I think I started with about 60 swatches and then moved this handful around from wall to wall every few hours for a weekend before deciding on a color. |
After much discussion and mental turmoil (mostly/entirely mine, I think), we decided to hire someone else to paint for us.
The mental turmoil came from my deep hesitation to pay someone else to do something I can do myself — and it seems like painting is something I should be able to do myself. The fact is, though, that I can't do it right now (maybe Mary Bailey could paint her house while 7 months pregnant, but I learned the hard way that I cannot. Even if I could, there's no way my husband is letting me up on a ladder high enough to get to the top of those walls), and my guess is that between the new baby and Pippo, it will be many months before I can.
It's in the budget, though, and will make it so we can really finally move in and get things set up the way we want before this baby comes.
(My mother and mother-in-law were both strongly in favor of hiring painters — in fact, they both have been telling us to do it since before we even moved in. They are both very experienced in living frugally, moving while pregnant, and making a home, so I figure if they think it's worth it, it's probably the way to go.)
So right now we're in the middle of what is hopefully our last round of pulling things apart before we can put them back together for real, and moving on to more interesting projects that make for prettier pictures.
And now that I've gotten over the commitment anxiety, I'm wicked excited about how it's all going to look when it's done.
We went with one color through the whole living area — a bright, warm, creamy white. The trim will be a brighter white. We're going for fresh, bright, glowing.
I'll tell you, there's nothing like having someone show up at your house with 10 gallons of paint to make you really hope that you chose the right color. Talk about commitment anxiety!
(Good news: it looks great!)
Between the baby coming in a few short months and knowing that we'll be moving again in a few years (3-4, most likely), we definitely are motivated to get things done sooner, rather than later. If we knew we'd be staying here for longer, these projects wouldn't seem as pressing. But if it's something we're going to want to do eventually, it makes sense to put in the effort or the money now and be able to enjoy the results the whole time we're living here, instead of getting it done right before we up and move.
Oh my. Thank goodness they'll be done soon! |
So that's where we are now! The painters should be out of here by the end of the week, if not before (crossing fingers). They've sort of taken over our workspace in the garage, so when they move out we can get back to work on our cabinets — I think having everything else painted will inspire us to put in that last push and get it all done.
I'll keep you posted.
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