The house was new, as well, so we just hopped right in and felt like we were living in a palace! (If you'd seen the small apartment we lived in, in San Clemente, CA, you'd completely understand!). Of course, no house is perfect, even new! We were warned by the lady who managed our "walk-through" to get as much noted as possible, but that we'd inevitably find little things here and there over time, that show the home's imperfections. It's just part of the experience, ha!
Of course, I really cannot and will not complain. What I'm mentioning in this post is not reflective of my dissatisfaction with our home- only a reflection of our overall experience as new homeowners.
The first thing that really caved, was the builder-grade carpet. We have two dogs and Georgia red clay in the back yard, and it just couldn't hold up- at least not in the living room. So, after Weezy hit a stage of separation anxiety and ripped up some carpet in our living room (ultimately leading to crate training, which has been a lifesaver), I honestly had to say I was thankful for the segway into making it go away! :) Of course, it's not an immediate fix we could afford right away, so we've been living with concrete floors for a while now- but at least it looks better and is easier to clean. Below is a picture of the damage I came home to one day:
Anyway, the next issue we had came about when we called the company who originally did our flooring for the contractor. We just wanted to replace the carpeted area with the laminate wood flooring that we already had. Well, it's a discontinued product (which the contractor probably installed due to a discount for this very reason). So, we were advised that we may be able to find some spare flooring via warehouse websites, but to be cautious because they could be the leftover, less "matchy" pieces of the batch. So, we decided to just go with something drastically different. To be honest, I haven't loved anything I've picked out so far, but I don't want to pay for the leftover existing flooring, knowing that if anything ever happened, we'd have to start over with something different anyway. Why not make the living room flooring different, and replace the rest of the house with the new flooring if we ever feel the need to? All I know, is I just hate feeling like the house is "undone." But, I'm so so grateful for what we already have. Oh, and we're not doing carpet again. With animals, potential allergies of family and friends, and the upkeep, it's just not worth it.
Once the floors are done, I'll be THRILLED to host dinners and have people over and really celebrate our home, making it warm and inviting, just as I've always hoped to.
The next thing that I noticed (actually my mom noticed- Thanks, Mom), is that some of the fixtures in the bathrooms just don't match. We have bronze door knobs, brushed nickel light fixtures, and shiny silver faucets. Of course, the bathrooms are nice and clean, and serve their function, but those little details are certainly ones that we never even thought of when we were in awe of our new home. One day, inexpensively, we can fix those features to be designed more cohesively, and ultimately, for future resale. But that's nothing compared to the joy we have of living in our neighborhood and knowing that we've accomplished the task of buying a home in the first place. Again- I'm just speaking of my experience. I'm sure everyone learns this when they have lived in their homes for a while!
And finally, the most recent project I've tackled, was just last night! Our kitchen has a dining area (the only dining area, since we opted out of a formal dining room as a necessity), and the cabinetry in the kitchen is gorgeous, yet they are all quite shallow. If I had chargers or larger plates, they'd have no place in the kitchen unless we created shelving, or gave up space in the pantry. So... Ikea came to the rescue!
I found this beauty there, and once I realized it'd fit into our little nook next to our table, I just couldn't pass up extra counter space and storage, so that when little Ali gets here, we have more room for bottles, plates, and her serving ware.
Here's what I built all by myself last night!!
This sucker took me 3 hours to build, and was super heavy duty. Don't worry, I used discretion when I was building it as to how to lessen the load of moving it from place to place. I did not overexert myself and kept thinking, "Man, I'm a handy-woman!"
So for a really inexpensive project, I added 74 inches of counter space, 3 drawers and 148 Inches of shelving to our kitchen space. And all I can think about is using this bad boy for a buffet over the holidays!
Well, I'd better stop while I'm ahead! I still have so many more posts to update, but I needed to talk about the house for once!
Until Soon!
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