what to do . . .
Day after tomorrow is February 1. I have seven months left. Seven rooms and a hallway are unfinished and I’ve blown over half my budget. This is not going according to plan. I don’t think the time line is a negotiable point, but I am going to have to revise the budget. Items for the next project are going to be expensive. Shit, let’s face it everything is expensive. I think for people my age, the biggest problem we have with what things cost is that we remember what things USED to cost. And frankly, I am a little bit bitter about it.
“They” say that the heart of the home is the kitchen. Not this home. In my home the heart is where the tv is, especially if there is a game on. Hey, I’m just being honest. This is where we live. We eat together, play games together and bitch about life together, in the den. Thats the ying. The yang is the largest room in the house goes unused 363 days a year. The living room. The den has been an issue for us since we bought the house. It became a bigger issue with every inch the kids grew and every friend they brought home. It’s an odd shape and has four windows and door in 9.5 x 16 feet. It does have great light though.
The den leads to the dining room, which does not have great light. Or hardly any natural light at all. And my table is too big, but I like my table so it’s a moot point. The dining room leads to the unused living room. Not much bigger (11 x 16) but more useable space. I’ve come to the conclusion that the first owners of this home were on a tight budget and opted not to pay the additional $100 to put a fireplace in. This has also always been a sore spot for me. A 1949 home in this neighborhood with no fireplace. How can that be. Leading into the living room is our dark and tiny “foyerette.” A whopping 6 x 3.5 feet. But what if we put in a glass door? That could help, but what about privacy? Do we care? Oh, and all of these rooms are connected by a charming little archways, which I am considering removing. Just to open it up more and allow for more light to travel through the house. But, is this a bad idea?? Does it hurt the character of the house? Will it make it more vanilla then it already is? Will it even make a difference?
Over the years I’ve tried many ways (some silly) to remedy these problems. First we built a box that annexed some space in the garage to put the tv and equipment. This was before flat screens and your television was about 40″ deep and weighed a million pounds. In November we took the “cubby” out. And ironically enough found out where the mice were residing when they weren’t in the house. They had a nice little condo, fully insulated with cable and wifi. And one year we flipped the rooms. No one can remember why we put them back. Only that we remember being glued to the tv during 9/11 in front room. Since Ashley left for college a while ago, every Sunday is home for dinner night. Now that all the kids have significant others, eight people in this tiny den is feeling a little like a circus clown car. Not enough room for everyone to sit, and forget about playing kinect on the xbox.
This is the long winded way to the next plan to make my crooked house more user friendly. The living room will house the big tv and will have a gas fireplace. We get new seating that works for the space and lose the lumpy sofa (Craig’s List) The den becomes my office (I did not show you photos of my office as it looks like a scene from hoarders)(really) and a real den with the small living room sofa and a different tv, just enough room for Ben and I. And the dining room probably stays a dark thru way. But I am open for suggestions. See photos.
Ben is going to hear about some of this stuff, right now, for the first time on my blog. Poor bastard. I’m counting on the prospect of him being able to buy a new tv to distract him.
The List…
Remove the popcorn ceiling in the living room. (this is suppose to be easy – really soak it down and scrape)
Enlarge foyerette? Remove arches?
Put in gas fireplace. *This will be done by us except for the gas hookup. More tiling and building.
Put small built-ins under the windows next to the fireplace?
Move office to den. Keep current tv console, leather sofa, ottoman, desk and make it work!
Repaint! for the millionth time. Have the taper come in and smooth out the walls and repair ice dam damnit damage.
New window treatments, seating, lighting and area rug for the LR. (Ben wants carpet, but give it up, it ain’t gonna happen!)
Oh, and cool wonderful accessories!
I’m exhausted just thinking about it. What do you think?
