We’re in the house! Aren’t you god-damned glad that’s over? No more having to hear about me moving stuff among the Airsteam/ storage/apartment/house, no more whining posts about all that crap.
It’s true we still have that storage unit we got when we first moved here, and we still technically have the apartment, but the apartment just to clean and the storage unit just until we get a shed built at the house—if we’re going to stay in the house. About that: we might find out the final $ for renovation next week. Back to the point of this post, though.
Moving was relatively easy, thanks to Doug’s son helping us, again, and thanks to Tracy renting a U-Haul trailer. Tracy and Laszlo loaded all (basically four pieces of) the furniture into the trailer in one round, and I loaded the last of my these-are-just-as-good-as-free-weights boxes into the back of the truck.
We happened to arrive at the house on a Wednesday when everyone has to park on the other side of the street, so we simply parked smack dab in front of the house, unloaded everything as easily as we loaded it up, then ordered some Thai food. I walked all of four minutes to pick it up. We ate on the front porch, Tracy returned Laszlo and the U-Haul, and we both put our feet up at the house!
And man is it a strange house. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. And again. We’ve had to prop up the fronts of the dressers with shims to make them appear to be against the walls that aren’t plumb, and we really need a handrail to walk along the hallway in one place upstairs.
It’s like the House of Vortex in Montana up there. (Very old picture of Kim and me at The House of Vortex, which, sadly, appears to no longer be?)
Half our furniture we got free off the sidewalk during student move-out last fall, and half we bought at Goodwill or the neighborhood Habitat for Humanity ReStore. The other half we found in the house after closing (if you saw our furniture, that math would make sense).
For example, we found two wicker chairs on the porch and put one inside because it’s more comfortable than nothing. Welcome to our fashionable living room!
It bugs me that Tracy wants our legendary (to us) super expensive sofa (we spent more $ on that than anything else we own—all of $200) not centered in front of the living room windows, but hey, that’s how loose is our goose.
Now, if only I could get rid of the primary-colors theme that snuck up on me. I swear, the red is because that’s the color of all the student furniture here, and the blue is by pure chance (curtains came with the house; ottoman was the one furniture we owned in the Airstream). Okay, I did just buy the rug online, but, I swear, when I picked it out it didn’t look that blue and, well … red. Dammit.* The curtains I will change, for sure.
I’m finding that if I leave my beloved market basket on the landing, it fills magically with stuff to go upstairs and downstairs, and then that stuff does go upstairs or downstairs, eventually. Even my sticky dots from the Airstream bathroom walls might be handy here; you bump your head on that ceiling if you’re taller than 5’4”. Will any visitor look up in time to wonder why there are dots on the ceiling?
Having two bathrooms is entirely vexing. How do you know where your “bathroom stuff” is, like bandaids and hand lotion? It doesn’t help that we’re showering downstairs to avoid spending unnecessary time in the tiny upstairs one. I did take a bath in the clawfoot tub upstairs soon after we were done moving in furniture, and it wasn’t half bad.
I had to buy a pantry in a kit (I didn’t know such a thing existed, either), and it was harder to put together than a tiny house. A lot less attractive, too. This must be the ugliest kitchen I have ever lived in.
Except for …
the other kitchen in the house! Right now, I’m making the upstairs kitchen into an office/craft room. If we get the renovation done this summer, we’ll turn it into our substitute kitchen during all that work—in which case that pantry in a kit will come in handy, once again.
Is your head spinning? If not, mine is for the both of us.
I’ll give you another update when we hear from the builder on the final estimate for renovations.
*Since writing this, I’ve decided that rug is pretty wrong. I am on a mission to return it and buy a lighter, less … primary-colored one. Wish me luck. With all the shit going on in this world right now, I ought to be able to control my living room rug.
Congratulations on finally moving in! I hope you stay there for many, many years to come…if for no other reason than quick access to Thai food!
FWIW, I would have centered the sofa, too. Is there a particular reason he doesn’t want to do that?
With the sofa centered, there’s not room on either side for a recliner, which is his center of operations right now (with laptop on lap). And hey, he hates being off the road, he hates the house. He should be able to have his recliner and off-center sofa if they help, even infinitesimally.
Thanks!
That makes perfect sense to me actually! All of it.
Congrats on the move! Temporary colors and drapes aside, it must feel good to actually be in after all this time.
I love the warning dots.
And a 4 minute walk for Thai?
Sounds perfect!
Thank you! Yes, it’s taken a few hours (okay, a day) but I do feel much more settled. I laughed at the four minutes … I knew it was close by, but I was planning what I was doing during the move and needed to know how long I should set aside for the walk over there. Four minutes is what my map app told me, and I laughed to see it! That does not need much planning, does it.
Congrats on being in the house!! Are you sure about changing the rug? I like it with sofa and ottoman! Maybe change the curtains and throw pillows instead?
Thanks so much! I can see how the rug might work (I did pick it, after all) but it’s just not me. I ordered a salmon-colored one and have plans on returning the blue/red one. Definitely different curtains and ottoman though. Looking forward to liking what I see.
Congrats! It’s been a long road but I’m happy to hear you moved in! And by the way… strange adds character! Honestly, from the photos, I don’t see strange. I think the ottoman matches the curtains and the rug, thus, so the blue ottoman makes sense. I’ll be honest, the second kitchen threw me, but there may come a time you want to eat pancakes in the middle of the night and you can do it without going downstairs. A second kitchen… adds charm!
Ha! The second kitchen will save our butts if we go with the long renovation and need to live upstairs for three months. It used to be its own apartment up there, and heck could be again if we need the money. Second kitchens can be a boon. Just, renovated. 🙂 Thanks for the wishes!
Yay to being in the house!! I am so jealous of that tub.
It felt great to soak in that tub! And, a friend sent me ideas for painting the outside body of it to contrast with the inside, and I bet I could make it look super cool. Thanks for the best wishes!