Making our house a home
I have briefly mentioned in a couple different blogs that one of my original purposes for this blog was to document all the changes I have been making to turn our “bachelor pad” into a “home”. That being said I’ve lived there over a year now and I feel like I should elaborate a bit more on this topic.
My husband has been in this house for over 6 years and you can imagine some of the hesitation of moving into “his house” and wishing we had started marriage in “our house”. It just is ideal to establish a home together where you both have a say if what goes in the house and where things go, etc. I admit that I was a pretty big brat about it at times and I am embarrassed to say I did A LOT of whining and complaining that the house was already full of his stuff and I just had to fit my stuff where I could. I was blinded by my selfishness and couldn’t see how wonderful it was that we didn’t have to rent a place at first and owned a home of our own and were building equity. Not to mention Bryant went out of his way to make room for my stuff and make sacrifices to make me happy living there. (Go ahead and shake your head at my bratiness…I deserve it).
I also should mention that this wasn’t any normal bachelor pad, in fact, I’m blessed to say he has nice furniture and some decorations and didn’t have bud light boxes up on the wall or any other crazy “bachelor pad” decor. I think it’s safe to thank my MIL for encouraging him to buy nice furniture and not sleep on a mattress on the floor like some single guys that age.
It’s a small house that is probably about 12 years old-ish and the location couldn’t get much better. It’s the perfect starter home for us and the two fur-babies and I can see that now. The more things I changed around and re-did the more I grew to love the house. Of course we both want something newer and larger in the near future but for now this house is definitely a home to us and I am not always wishing and waiting for the next house.
I wish I had taken pictures before to show you the before and after pictures but I started this blog about 6 months too late. It’s amazing what a few decorations and small changes will do to a house and my feelings about the house! We pretty much had two of everything so we chose the furniture items we wanted to use and we decided not to purchase any new furniture until we’re in a new house and know what we really want and what space it is going in. This is probably the hardest thing for me right now! I spend so much time decorating and trying to make some changes but I’m limited with the furniture we have and my decorations don’t always match the furniture we currently have. We’re also sticking with the bedding Bryant has had for years because we haven’t been able to find anything we like at a reasonable price. Does anyone else find bedding REALLY HARD to find?
Here is what we’ve changed in the past year:
– Tiled the kitchen, bathrooms and foyer area
– New Bedding for the Guest Bedroom
– Painted front door and shutters on the house
But mostly the biggest impact has been we got rid of a lot of stuff and I have re-decorated throughout the entire house and this, I think, has made the biggest difference and also have been relatively inexpensive changes.
Bryant doesn’t get super excited about all my decorations but occasionally he’ll mention how good the house looks and how impressed he is of how inexpensive all my decorations have been. I’m definitely a scavenger and I’m always looking for furniture on the side of the road, windows, old wood, etc. He shakes his head when I bring home crazy items from the side of the road but I think he’s starting to trust me these days that if I have an idea, it might actually look decent.