Home Sweet Home

It's almost finished...My Home Sweet Home.

Moving in was a slow process for J and I. We got the big things done, but before we could fully unpack, we wanted to paint nearly every room. The colors in the house were all creamy, but we wanted a warmer neutral tone in the common areas. We also opted for a splash of color in the kitchen, one of the guest bedrooms, and soon to be the bathroom(s).

We were able to paint the kitchen, office, master bedroom, and one guest room before moving in. (With the help of his parents and T2!). Unfortunately there was still the large upstairs common area untouched, as well as a bedroom, the den, and the bathrooms. One weekend we tackled the den and the guest room (with the help of T2 of course!) but that still left the upstairs. There were still boxes piled high to one side of the living room because until everything was complete, we couldn't hang anything up. Merging all of our stuff, we weren't sure what to hang where and what we were even keeping.

So a couple of weeks ago our Friday night was pizza and painting. We started around 8pm and vowed to paint until it was complete. (Well I vowed to paint until it was complete, I just drug J down with me!). Alas--at midnight, the mission was complete. The house was fully painted and we were fully exhausted. My handy little J had even managed to build this lift thingy to put his ladder on so that he could reach the top of the cathedral ceiling to trim. I just shut my eyes!

The next day was so exciting because we finally got to decorate! We were able to hang pictures and prints and mirrors and shelves and OH! I got to wear my new pink tool belt. It's crazy the amount of stuff that just two people have! J took minutes (make that hours, ok a a year!) off of my life when he scaled the ledge next to the stairs (where the aforementioned cathedral ceiling is) to hang a mirror. I had the ER on speed dial. Luckily, we made it through that without injury. However, when J was back to the safety of the hardwood floor, he decided that mirror would go with the house! It was so nice in the end to look at our pretty little house all put together.

There are still some questionable areas. For example, I'm still not sure how or where to hang things in my guest room, so I just look at it everyday and contemplate. There is also an area in the den that makes somewhat of an L shape as it goes to the French door leading to the patio. I'm still not sure what to hang there either.

Then of course there is the ever present debate of the diploma. J's is proudly framed and hanging as it has been for a year. ETSU make their degrees a more manageable size to nicely and affordably frame yourself. However, mine is still in the tube. I want to get it framed, but it's so crazy expensive to do it the way I want. The current conclusion to this previously discussed issue, by fellow UT Grads who shall remain nameless to protect their identity from having been part of this fanatical and somewhat ridiculous conversation that was carried way too far, is to put up a nice set of wrought iron hooks, and gingerly lay the tube containing the diploma across it for a proud display. Hmmm....

Another good note of that weekend was that J finished putting in our closet shelving system in the laundry room and in my guest room. Oh, how that makes me giddy! It's so exciting. All of my sewing/crafty/stuff is so neat and organized. And there is plenty of space for my purses and shoes. (Well, the leftover shoes that wouldn't fit in the master closet--I like shoes a lot!). So, with all of the above being finished, we just have to order a few new pictures that we want to frame or replace others in frames. Of course, several of those will change after the wedding.

All that is left to do is the garage. One corner is most of my childhood in boxes while the rest is a shamble of J's tools, etc. He's working on building his work bench so he can clean that up. Once that's finished, it will just be changing out things as more wedding gifts arrive. That and removing everything from the "storage room" for the post wedding garage sale we are having in conjunction with a few other soon-to-be newlyweds.

How does this sound for an ad: "We just got married--come buy his stuff!"