From House to Home

I have had a few requests (honestly, I am always shocked that you people read this thing) for an update and some pics of the new place.

I’ve done a lot to my little house since I took possession back in mid-July and moved in mid-August. And by I what I really mean is WE- the we being my fabulous family. Two and a half months of cleaning, painting, landscaping, electrical work… it’s really been quite a transformation and I couldn't have done it without them.

Indoors we cleaned till things sparkled, installed two new ceiling fans, a zillion smoke alarms and lots of security features (when your step-dad is a retired cop and your dad lives in the big city of St. Louis, you never need to worry about people breaking into your home! You also have people doing background checks on all of your neighbors, LOL). The back entrance was scrubbed and brightened up with a coat of paint by my dad’s girlfriend Kate. My kitchen was scrubbed, cabinets scoured and new cute contact paper put in all shelves and drawers by my mom. Dad and Mike secured the house from top to bottom, fixed windows and doors, and did wiring. The front porch was revamped- stinky carpeting removed and old glue scraped away, new carpet cut and put down- mom, Mike and dad all get thanks for this! Dad sanded my entry door until I could open and close it without having to kick it (and reinforced the part of my door that I had injured with said kicking- although this removes some of the ghetto charm, LOL). The old Hartman lake house daybed completed the porch, making it my favorite place for reading in the evenings. Tech work in the form of internet security was done by my little brother, who along with his wife Haley, also put together my new bathroom cabinet and helped with the hanging of fans. A myriad of boxes unpacked and furniture was moved and put together by everyone, including my adorable children.

The living room, and connecting walk in closet, were my babies. Formerly dark and paneled and pretty darned ugly (sorry Theo!), they are now a relaxing shade of blue (called Zen) with “cotton white” trim and décor that reflects my sense of style more than any room I’ve ever owned. With a set of dark brown vintage couches, a gorgeous Japanese botanical style area rug, mission style coffee table and entertainment center set, and two bookcases which I refinished in a deep chocolate brown on either side of the fireplace, the room looks exactly as I wanted it to- and of that I’m pretty darned proud! Perhaps one of my favorite parts of the room is the fireplace area because all the pieces on that wall are ones I put a lot of hard work into. The bookcases, formerly a dark green, came from my sister-in-law’s Great Aunt Jewel’s estate. I refinished them to match my furniture and gave them some new hardware and a nice coat of beeswax polish to make them shine a bit. The mirror above my fireplace came from a local antique store. It was formerly a dresser mirror, very big, old and heavy and in need of some serious TLC. But an afternoon spent with some light sandpaper, refinishing oil and beeswax polish made it look gorgeous- and well worth the $30 I spent on it. Hanging it was a bit more than I had bargained for (did I mention that thing is insanely heavy?! And my fireplace mantle is high and I am short!), but I’m a stubborn chick and eventually, after much very unladylike cursing and sweating, I got it hung and leveled to my satisfaction. My mantle is now decorated with a bunch of different nature/botanical style pieces, and the look is carried on throughout the entire room. I’m in the process of adding some black and white prints of the kids to make it a true family room. This room is definitely my favorite because it is so very representative of me.

Attached to the living room is my little walk in closet. I was told the room was designed to be a second bathroom, started back in the 70’s when that part of the house was added on, but then never finished. It does in fact have the rough in for plumbing, which I’ve capped off in poor man’s style- duct tape. I painted over the 40 year old drywall with a bright white, hung some additional shelving and added in some bookshelves for all my stuff. Eventually I plan to put down some carpeting on that sub-floor, so that it no longer gets my feet all dirty each day when I get my clothes out! But for now it serves as a fantastic walk in closet, which makes up for the fact that my bedroom is the only one without its own closet.

Outdoors we pruned trees and shrubs, removed scrub trees and a mountain of weeds (this was more work than you could ever imagine and involved MANY days of labor by my entire family, especially my dad and step-dad), installed some fencing to keep the kids in and the weirdos out, set up the patio furniture and installed lighting along the walkway, and put in a stone patio area with fire pit.

So after all this hard work, and having lived here for a month and a half now, my little house is finally starting to feel like a home. I’m looking forward to hosting a housewarming party soon (better get to planning!), though I’m a bit disappointed with the fact that it seems the weather has gotten too cool for an outdoor party. Never the less, I’m going to make it happen. Maybe I’ll even bake a cake. Hope to see you all there. :)


On a side note, there appears to be a limit to the number of pics I can post to each blog entry. So I don't get to post all the "my family working" shots that I wanted to (and so what you get this time is the most recent project- fence and fire pit). But trust me, they busted their rears!!!!