Tuesday, April 17, 2012

A Home in Progress

(Thank you for what you wrote on the last post. Just, thank you.)

I've mentioned once or twice or every post that my house is bit of a mess right now. Like disorganized dust-covered piles of stuff everywhere kind of mess. The kind of mess no house of mine has ever seen. I wanted to remember it all for the next time we get excited about renovations, so I walked around snapping pictures with my iPhone on Sunday. Behold:


my former sanctuary of a bedroom


family room/den, home of the future wetbar-turned-closet


living room, complete with broken toilets in boxes


sun room/casual eating room/JP's office/empty box storage


alternate view of the living room, now with recessed lights!


future post-mess discount decor


Lovely isn't it? And this is the best the house has looked in 4 weeks. Supposedly the work will be done Saturday. Which is good because (1) my parents arrive for a visit on Friday and (2) we are completely out of money.

Also on Sunday, I chefed a chicken pot pie. From scratch. I adapted it from PW's recipe (I added a lot more veggies, and a little more white wine, flour, and cream - it ended up being two pies. Two delicious pies.) Even Landon, who insists he doesn't like chicken (and refuses to acknowledge the disconnect between that statement and scarfing down organic chicken nuggets), exclaimed, "mommy, I LIKE this chicken!" It was heaven in a pie plate.




Unfortunately, making it created a mess too. I can't escape them.




My aunty K and a cousin came over for dinner last night (my cousin had to see a medical specialist in Dallas, so they flew in for a quick trip). As I showed them around the house, side-stepping toilets without a thought, I realized, ohmygod I've accepted this. Before now, I don't think I'd ever had people in my house when a pile of anything was present anywhere it wasn't supposed to be. The current state of my abode should appall me, but instead, I just called out the occasional warning as we stepped over building materials and then made homemade spaghetti (a recipe I'd never tried and only read once, as evidenced by my attempt to scramble egg in the sauce mixture instead of dumping it in the meatball mixture) and then sat outside on some mismatched chairs and while we watched my kids strip naked and splash in the pool. Somewhere the memory of the hostess I used to be is crying, but we had a great time and it was lovely to see them. One day, it will also be lovely (and not a violation of multiple building violations) to see my house.


hall/guest bathroom, please, don't mind the rubble.


Perhaps on Saturday.

5 comments:

  1. I hate living in chaos, too. But in a situation like this, all you can do is embrace it. Be one with the rubble. I'm sure your guests could see through the mess to the sparkling gem of a home that will emerge! I can't wait for that update!!

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    1. Ha, I can't wait for that update either!

      And yes, they had the vision. My aunt had recently knocked out four walls of her house and been under renovations for a year. She practically scoffed at my chaos as too small to take note. I can't imagine.

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  2. When we built our room upstairs I told people I was living in a garage sale. It made me twitchy too. Eventually I stopped seeing the extra queen sized bed in my room, which is good because it was there for a year! I can't wait to see the finished product!

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  3. Maybe your house doesn't look the way you want it to right now, but I'm SUPER impressed with the fact that you have already started your home remodel! We've lived in our house almost five years and we just put up curtains in our living room! We are planning a home remodel but it's taking so freaking long (partly due to lack of funds though).

    It will get there and soon it will be your perfect home!

    P.s. thanks for your comment on my birth story post. I always wanted more children but now I'm thinking maybe two is a pretty good number :)

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  4. Just think of how great it will be when it's done! I like the story about Landon... my little brother always told us he hated tomatoes, usually while consuming ketchup by the boatload :) The pot pies look delicious.

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