CarrieDaway

We’ve been in our house for just over a month and I love it just as much as I did when B sent the Zillow listing. From the moment I stepped through the door it felt like home and now that I’ve painted the door ‘Lovebird pink’ I’ve appropriately marked my territory.

After we got the keys we had a whirlwind two weeks of renovations. The house was unexpectedly filthy and a lot of basic cleaning was needed. It also turned out that every repair/update was done wrong and had to be fixed. The result was more work and money than we planned. That said, we’re not upset about it. In this housing market we feel good about the sale price and problems are inevitable with homeownership. Fortunately, we’ve been able to do everything we need to and problems that could have been really bad (i.e. leaking roof) turned out to be easy fixes.

Nevertheless, there are a lot of things left to be done – big and small projects – so I’ll deem these pictures interim and not final. The house needs new windows but that’s an expense we have to save for. When we’re able to switch them out, I know it will feel like a brand new house because the dirty beige is distracting. There are also smaller pieces I’m saving for or at least holding off on. In these rooms it would be a entry table, curtains, centerpiece, pillows, perhaps another picture for the wall. I’m not pining, I am happy with everything thus far and patience is a virtue!

Our house is smaller than 1200 sq ft and my #1 home decor goal was to not have it feel like a shoebox. It was staged with a nice dark grey color but I wanted everything light and airy on the main floor. I also wanted it pink.

Danny was adamantly opposed to the use of pink in our home but I’m happy to say I won him over. I selected 4 pink colors for a test the night we got the keys and I’m so glad I picked a variety because the ‘Soothing Pink’ I used was not the one I thought I would like. Fortunately, Cara was there to help decide because if she hadn’t been I may have been talked into a darker shade that no one would be happy with. This color is a hint of pink that makes me happy and is unassuming enough that Danny isn’t bothered and some people don’t even notice it.

I bought 12 frames for a wall collage but this time it was Melissa’s sage advice that guided my choices. She felt it would be too much and after putting up these three pictures I had to agree. Our parents and our little family are the winners and I think the photos complement each other but are also unique.

I’ve kept four items left over in the house and this light is one of them. Since I didn’t want too much pink in the house, I asked Danny to build a chair rail. We might continue the project to be Batton Board or we’ll leave it like this forever, only time will tell.

The built in shelving in the dining room is a favorite. When we first moved in Danny absentmindedly arranged the glassware in a perfect design. I forgot to take a picture before I moved them to paint so this is second best but I still think it looks nice. It’s also out of reach of toddling babies.

There’s part one. Nothing magazine worthy but it’s home.