I’ve been significantly less crafty lately, unless you count the millions of baby human cells I’ve been cultivating on a daily basis (that’s another post, but basically I’m doing this with gallons of water, pounds of buffalo burgers, and a “healthy” spritzing of any dessert I can find). I HAVE been selling a ton of my inventory back-stock on eBay and accepting far too many pieces from repeat clients. I’m even getting like 3 people/week who want me to sell their wedding dresses, thanks to my Yelp page. So, I’ve been selling things like crazy and trying to get this adorable little house looking a little more organized.
We’ve mostly given up on the idea of painting the faux-wood sideboards and refinishing the linoleum for several reasons:
- First and foremost, it’s not our house and we have not been invited to do so.
- There are a ton of other things that we’ve been doing with the other 2 houses (replacing cracked or leaking windows, rewiring electrical connections, and making cute-but-threatening signs to visitors to start cleaning up after themselves – Pinterest needs a healthier “aggressive signage” search).
- I’m tired and I just want the house looking clean and organized. I’ve long given up on the idea of Sunset Magazine or Design Sponge wanting to interview me. At this point, I’d be impressed if “Dog of the Day” on Instagram wanted to take a picture of Spencer for their “Dogs Missing Chromosomes” special.
So back to our little house. You remember it’s state upon move-in? Remember Tetris?
So we finally got settled and now it’s a lovely, calm house to be in again. (since this photo, the trunks and wine fridge have gone to storage to make room for a stroller. Note that wood valances are still present…The living room (the other half of this photo) has looked the same for as long as I can remember. I wish I had my parent’s photo album to prove it. Here’s what it looked like when we moved in (and for the last 40 years, for that matter)I sold/stored everything in the photo, cleaned the sand out of the piece-worked floor nooks, and feverishly started looking for that sectional I wanted so badly…We made a huge mistake of going all over San Diego looking at consignment shops, furniture stores, Ikea, etc. They all had ones I liked, but they were at least $1,200. You can find most ANYTHING on Craigslist if you’re patient enough. So we went home and within the week, I ended up finding a nearly-new one on Craigslist for $275 AND he delivered it to us that moment. I love instant gratification. And not spending $1,200. So we put the rug back down, moved the couch in, and re-positioned our (Texas-sized) tandem bike painting.
We even did a little re-do on the garden outside (the reason being the death-trap spike plant that inhabited a large portion of the patio). It will take a while for it to fill back in, but it’s still cute.
And on to the boudoir, where the magic happens. By magic, I most definitely am referring to the amount of pillows I am able to fit on my 2/3 of the bed (I now count as 2 people and have earned more space). It really is no joke how uncomfortable it is for a former stomach-sleeper to be 9 months pregnant. Currently, I’ve temporarily solved this by sleeping belly-down into a body pillow that I bend to look like a doughnut. This only works if you bend your legs like a frog to accommodate the pillow.
I digress…Remember the bedroom before?
The bedroom’s not looking as sassy as I would have liked for this photo. It’s better in person. We took the shutter doors off the closet and put those up those blue curtains up, which gives me at least another foot of room on my side of the bed. Ty added more shelves in the closet (super cheap Home Depot fix), so now that functions better too. Because we put the giant king bed in here, there was no longer room for the dresser that was positioned at the end of the bed SO I broke down and went to Ikea to buy a space-saving dresser solution. We bought this awesome shoe cabinet and put all our tees, socks (mine), and super-sexy lingerie (Tyrone’s) in there.
Now. For the grand finale and what you all have been waiting for…the baby’s nursery! With all the organizing and work it took to make the rest of the house function, any good mother would want the baby’s room looking even BETTER! A super clean, uncluttered, peaceful space is what I really wanted…Here’s what I’ve got instead…
*warning, this is NOT a ‘before’ photo. This is it people.I know. It’s a mess. And I feel terrible about it all that I seem to be missing that mother gene that makes you want to nest and make a nursery for your baby. I keep thinking, “but where will all my precious inventory go?! How will I work?” I do have that dresser we moved from the bedroom (my mom’s dresser in the 1960’s!) that the baby will get it’s butt wiped on. It’s ass better appreciate the valuable real estate it’s occupying…
*valuable side note: the drawers were really hard to open/close so I did a little research about lubing those up. The best recommendation is to get “Gulf Wax,” which is just paraffin wax for canning food. Bought it at the grocery for ~$5, rubbed it straight onto the wood slidey parts, and the dresser now works like a charm.Here’s my “Final Thoughts” moment…I live in a tiny house. In a BEAUTIFUL city with so much to offer. I mean, I have a membership to the ZOO! I have the entire Pacific Ocean 10 steps from my front door! I don’t need an entire room dedicated to a tiny baby when my husband and I have to share every other square inch. This baby will be loved and will absolutely have fun experiences but maybe it doesn’t necessarily need a room full of *things* to survive. I mean, I had my own room growing up and all, but how many of you remember playing in cardboard boxes and with cups in the bathtub? That was the LIFE! Oh. None of you? Shit. Well then wish me luck.