1.26.2013

Goal Three

You guys remember my New Year's goals? {How could you forget? I bring them up at least once a week, I think.} My third goal was to re-do our living room and kitchen, and I've been meaning to talk a little bit more about my plans.

About our house: I love this house we're living in. It's such a blessing to our family. I wanted to buy it the moment I saw the listing when I was casually browsing for houses, four months before we started seriously house shopping. I knew it was the perfect home for us when I first set foot in the living room. It was as though could feel the emotions {the love} that we would experience in that room echoing back and resonating in my heart. {Sappy? Maybe. But I'm unapologetic about that this year. Deal with the sappiness, guys.}

I love this house, but also I love what this house could become. I am constantly making plans for how I could improve our home, even though I know that we don't have the time, energy or money to make most of those plans a reality. Add a garage! Increase the counter space! Move this wall! Tear down the shed! Replace all major appliances!

You may think I'm kidding, but no. I have shouted all of those orders at imaginary work crews. I am the kind of person who likes to dream big in her head before facing practicalities. HOWEVER, I have trimmed my ideal down to a few goals that I think are actually accomplishable. After all, I just want to re-do the living room and kitchen this year, not our entire property inside and out.

I took the opportunity on Thursday to snap a few pictures of our living room {in its natural state; don't mind how everything is a disaster}, since it's the room I want to tackle during the first half of the year. I've made a few notes on what I'd like to change as a kind of to-do list for myself.



It's a little overwhelming at times, how much I want to change. I'm trying to take it one step at a time. First, we need to take down that popcorn ceiling {gross}.

Have you done any house updates lately? I'd love to hear about your projects.

15 comments:

  1. I love your reading corner! I also love how you added "Convince Christian to put his coat away" to your list. That would totally be on my list, too.

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    1. To be fair, Christian reminded me that that's my coat on top of his in the picture, so I have my own putting-away skills to brush up on. :)

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  2. I can personally tell you that popcorn ceiling removal is the worst. I have heard of a tool at Home Depot that you can attach a bag to that catches the stuff at it is scraped off. Definitely clear EVERYTHING out of the room and hang plastic over the door ways. Take a wet cloth and test a corner to see if it comes off. If your ceiling has ever been painted then it takes the project from miserable to nearly impossible.

    P.S. The pillows are adorable in your reading corner!

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    1. Yes, I am expecting it to be the worst. I convinced Christian that HE'S the one who needs to do it, since Lucy shouldn't be here when it happens, and I need to stay with Lucy... it seems logical enough to me. I think our ceiling hasn't ever been painted, since it looks all kinds of shabby {stained & off-white & generally just really ugly}.

      And thanks! You did an awesome job of making them.

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  3. Your reading corner! Adorbs. So glad to see those spice racks in use (ours are still sitting in Tate's closet). I love all your ideas & can't wait to see it come to life!

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    1. Thank you! And thank you again for the spice racks; they are perfect. The reading corner is one of those things that when I was finished, I said to Christian, "what do you think?" And he said, "there's not much to it." Clearly I was looking to the wrong source for feedback.

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  4. your house looks so nice! i love that little reading corner. i also have a bazillion goals for improving our house! i want to install pergo (we have a huge dog, so hardwood is out) on our whole first floor, knock down the wall b/t the kitche and dining room to add a breakfast bar, replace all appliances...redo all bathrooms, paint the 2 story foyer and family room. ya know, just some small projects ;)

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    1. Thank you! And I know exactly what you mean. It's a mixture of I LOVE THIS HOUSE and EVERYTHING NEEDS TO CHANGE! Good luck with your projects. :)

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  5. It probably wouldn't apply to what you want to do for the living room but have you ever checked out the Habitat for Humanity ReStores? They have all kinds of random house supplies. I'm not sure where they come from, maybe contractors or building sights but it's like a Home Depot version of Goodwill (but not as cheap). I like to go there if I'm looking for things to upcycle/refinish- tables, lamps- and Jericho bought cabinetry for our garage for way cheap.

    Anyway, just wanted to put in a plug for the ReStore.

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    1. I've heard of it, but I've never been there myself. Thanks for the idea; I'll have to check that out.

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  6. I love your handwriting! I'd love to see you "write" more! Sounds like you have good projects planned!

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    1. Thank you, but it's actually not my writing! It's a font I downloaded from http://kevinandamanda.com/fonts/fontsforpeas/ called Rachel's Chicken Scratch, I think.

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  7. i like your pictures! i make little changes all the time with my house, and i don't think i ever got good before pictures, since the change was so gradual. oh well. cute couch too! is that from ikea?

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    1. Thank you! We've made a few changes to our living room already {we've painted once already}; I wish I had true before pictures because they were absolutely terrible. And yes, our couch is from Ikea. :)

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  8. We have several rooms we need to remodel. It's so overwhelming though. I wish I could just snap my fingers and have it done!!!

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