The Fake Stat

Finally Done

It's just shy of 1 year in the new house and it's finally done. Ok, so it'll never be really done, but all the walls are decorated and the TV's up. You can't beat that. HGTV would be proud.

Here are a couple pictures. First the relaxing seating area in the bedroom. (For the record, the bears in the corner all have sentimental value.)

Here is the cool picture I got in Vegas. (I originally wanted more sconces, but my sister said I had hit my limit and needed actual art.)

After 7.5 months, the TV is finally hung and all the holes in the walls patched and painted. Yeah!

So now that the inside is done, it's time to figure out what to do with that patio, or lack of patio to be exact...

All That's Green is Not Grass

In my old neighborhood there was no pressure to have the best yard. In general, if you kept the yard green and mowed, that was sufficient. My saving grace was that weeds are green, so when they are mowed short, it resembles a nice green yard.

This is not the case in my new neighborhood. Rumor has is that my next door neighbor is often yard of the month. Not having this intense suburban gardening pressure in the past, I am grossly incapable of competing here.

I played a rousing game of Weed / Not Weed today with a friend. If you are not familiar with the game, it goes something like this:

(Us staring at the flower bed - I use the word "flower" loosely here.)
Me: I think that's supposed to be there.
Friend: Um, that's a weed.
Me: What about that one. Is that a weed?
Friend: No, I think that's an annual.
Me: An annual what?
Friend: It's not a weed.
Me: How am I supposed to know these things. I just live here.

So that's my question. How do people know these gardening things? When do you weed and when do you feed? Why wouldn't you always weed and feed. How do people know the names of grasses, plants, and trees? How will I ever know the difference between an annual and perennial if I'm still playing Weed / Not Weed?

I might sneak out and put silk flowers in tonight and be done with it...

Toilet Lids, Elves, and Occam's Razor

There's something weird going on in my new house.

Last night a friend and I had dinner and then watched a little What Not to Wear. I love that show. We had a nice Zinfandel while we chatted. At the end of the evening, she used the bathroom and left for this "hot new place" in Dallas (there is sarcasm there, but it's an inside joke, sorry).

As I was shutting off the lights, getting ready for bed, I noticed that the toilet lid was up. I know this is going t be hard to believe, but I have a thing about that (thanks mom...). Being tired, and not wanting to be all OCD, I left it up and went to bed.

This morning when I walked by the bathroom the lid was down. I specifically remember NOT putting the lid down. So I was a bit freaked out by it. Then I thought, maybe I have a OCD ghost, spirit, gnome, or, my personal hope, elf living in the house.

If we weigh the options, on one hand we have OCD elves and on the other hand we have the fact that I had a couple glasses of wine and closing the toilet lid may not have been a highlight of a day that started in Detroit, Occam's razor says that the elf theory may not prove to be the correct one.

I'm thinking of trying a couple more toilet lid experiments and trying to get the elf on film. I hope that the elf, who I'll call Ocd, will help around the house more once he knows that it's ok with me. If I'm lucky, Ocd will have an bill paying elf friend who can keep up with the mail on my desk.

The Definition of Scope Creep

My bedroom is so dark. I need a floor lamp.
I think my curtains are making the room feel dark.
I like these curtains, but they don't match my color scheme. I guess I'll need new sheets and a duvet cover.
Since I'm buying a new duvet cover, I should go ahead and get a new comforter.

Original plan (new lamp) - $39.99
Final plan (new bedroom) - $500+

That's scope creep. I only hope that the new bedroom color scheme doesn't clash with the bathroom...

HGTV Here I Come

I am so ready for my own HGTV show. My house is done and it actually looks like I live in it. With just the skills that my sister taught me in the old house, I decorated my new house all by myself (ok, mostly).

To be honest, I kind of took the stuff my sister did in the old house and arranged it in the new house, but I picked where to put it, so that counts. So here are the pictures:

1st the living room

Notice the sexy couch that no one is allowed to sit on. It looks so good with the bamboo tree...

Next the kitchen

The table is not set yet because I still have to remove the tags from the dishes. Don't get me started about the stupid sticky tags...

Now the office

The desk and chair only cost $350 online (some assembly required - like 5000 parts). I don't know how the desk got messy already...

Up to the media room
Notice I even decorated the stairway with my cool fireworks photos. The media room is noticeably missing all forms of media, so it is really just a photo room right now. I like to go up there and stare at the wall on occasion and imagine what the big screen will look like. Then I get sad and go back down...

Missing from the photos are my minimally decorated bedroom (I may have to break down and get a dresser or something), anally organized closet (is it really so anal to put pictures of your shoes on the the plastic shoe boxes so you know what shoe is inside?), and the exercise / junk room (if you didn't see it in the pictures, it's in this room).

All in all, I'd say it's a good place to live, if you don't count that lack of big screen thing.

My Shiny New Kitchen

I had the world's fastest contractors and now all the work is done and I've moved in. All of the yellow laminate is gone and I have a shiny new updated kitchen. Here are the before and after pictures:

Before:
Notice the yellow countertops and boring white floor.

After:
Newly updated with granite countertops, travertine floors, and stainless appliances!

I love my new kitchen. I might even cook in it sometime. I'm actually looking forward to having my first party, but the holiday schedule means I have to wait until after the new year.

All I've been doing the last two weekends is moving. I can't handle having stuff all in disarray so I've been obsessively organizing and cleaning. I think I've cleaned my countertops half a dozen times and I haven't even cooked yet.

I'm very excited about the super cool speed-cook microwave oven. It came with a CD. I passed the test, so soon I will be a speed-cooking fool! It's all very exciting.

House for Sale - No Longer Homeless

I closed on my new house yesterday. Woohoo! It's all very exciting. I don't remember being this excited about the 1st house, but then that was before I became a decorating and entertaining addict.

There was a moment of doubt about the house when I realized that I had a "communal" mailbox instead of my own person mailbox. The sellers told me that it was much better because it was locked and no one could go though my mail. They have a point there, but it's still weird.

I was told that the 70+ year old lady next door was big into gardening. Her yard is immaculate. Her backyard looks like it's straight out of Alice in Wonderland with these huge, perfectly round manicured trees. If the yard was a bit larger, I imagine that it would have one of those labyrinths made out of tall hedges. I have not had much luck with flowers, trees, grass, or really anything else green. I'm pretty sure that the grass that was green when I did the walk through before closing was already dying when I came back 3 hours later.

My utilities are slowly being turned on over the next week. The contractors are coming tomorrow to give me quotes on remodeling the kitchen. If all goes as planned, the work will start next week.

Within 4 hours of closing, I bought the new sectional for the media room. The salesperson told me the sale ended that night. At 10 minutes to closing and still giddy about my new house, I totally fell for it. It's being delivered on the 10th. Can't wait to sit in it and stare at the blank wall where the TV will be, since I doubt I'll have the media center purchased by then. But at the rate I'm going, you never know...

I have HGTV-itus

I am completely out of control! I can't stop decorating and I haven't even closed on the house yet. I woke up this Saturday morning at 6:00 am and was unable to fall back to sleep because I was too excited about picking out my new countertops.

I blame it on HGTV. I lived in the old house for 13 years. Most of the last 10 years I had a quaint, minimalist decorating style. It didn't really lend itself to entertaining, but that was ok. The last 4 months, after my sister helped decorate it to sell, was the only time I really had any decorating going on. Now I can't stop.

After watching all those decorating shows, I can't stop decorating. I want to buy stuff for the walls, stuff to put in the bedrooms, accessories to stick in the corners. I just can't remember exactly what color or how big anything is. Plus my boyfriend is going to get tired of me putting more stuff for my new house in his dining room and kitchen.

I just bought the sexiest sofa. It's a light cream color, so no one is going to be allowed to sit on it, but boy does it look good next to my bamboo tree. (If you don't understand how a sofa can be sexy, then you need to watch more HGTV.) The purchase was justified since I destroyed my old futon and have no sofa now. It will look wonderful next to the cherry blossom rug I'm buying next.

I also just got this great set of noodle bowls. All of this came from the Storehouse store closing sale, so I got a good deal. I figure that once I have to pay my new mortgage all I'll be able to afford to eat is Ramen, so the noodle bowls will come in handy.

All of this is on top of the gorgeous blue and black granite countertops. They will look great with the slate floors I want to install.

I don't know how the people on the HVTV shows can decorate for $2000 and in 2 days.  It probably has something to do with the staff of carpenters, tilers, painters, and decorators that come with the show. It's unfair because you watch those shows and start wanting to decorate so you can cook 30 minute meals and entertain your friends, but you can never really do it under $2000 and in 30 minutes.

I have set a budget, so that will (should) keep me under control. If there is anything I learned from my 1st house, it's if I don't do it now, I won't do it until I'm ready to sell. I also feel that at twenty-seventeen, I should be living like an adult. That means matching noodle bowls, furniture that you can't sit on, and a big plasma TV. I work hard. I think I deserve it.

House for Sale - The Cool New House

Ok, so the old house is sold and occupied by a total stranger. Occasionally, I even think about driving by to see if he got the grass to grow, but then I would know it was my fault all the grass was dead.

The bigger news is that I have a new house and an closing with a big media / game room. I'm very excited! Suddenly my new regular TV is too small, so I am going to need to get new audio / video equipment. Luckily my boyfriend is prepared to help in the product selection. I can only imagine that this endeavor will be reasonably priced. I think I should look into the upcoming laser TV technology. Better then plasma, sign me up.

I moved the closing up 4 days today because I can't wait to tear up the kitchen and start buying stuff I need and other stuff I don't need.  It's all very exciting!

House for Sale - Sold!, Week 19

It's done! The house is sold! A huge amount of stress has been lifted. What a great feeling.

I celebrated by going shopping. I'm homeless, but I don't care - I have a lot of new clothes after all...

I guess after 20 weeks the saga ends with the sale of the house and ensuing shopping spree. I still have to find a new home, but the pressure was all in the sale my house. Now I can relax and find the perfect new home.