A Second-hand Home

First of all, we're not homeowners. Please keep that in the front of your mind as you read through this. As renters we're not typically allowed to change major cosmetic eyesores (i.e. the kitchen cabinets) and even if we were, it wouldn't be the best investment of our time or money. So those, we're just going to live with.

Now that being said, I'd like to give you a quick tour of what we call home. I would estimate that 98% of our furnishings were either given to us our bought via craigslist. I could count on one hand the furniture that we've bought new.

Am I complaining: no. I don't mind. In fact, I prefer it this way. We have a baby and dogs (and my klutzy self)... things get broken. Seeing as we haven't made a large financial investment in anything we own, its okay. A house is meant to be lived in.

Lets start with our bedroom.



This is probably the least decorated room in the house. It's a little plain jane. A work in progress. Lets just say we keep the door closed most of the time. Its also tiny, has an awful layout and almost nonexistent closet. Hence the hand-me-down armoire (that's how you spell that right?).

In fact the whole house is lacking in the closet department. I love old houses, but if you're not going to build in usable closets, please have a basement (both of which we're lacking).

On that note, let see the only picture I was able to get of the bathroom. Perhaps if we had a tripod and better camera I could have gotten a better angle. Oh well, without further-a-do here's where we get pretty.

There's not much to it, right? That's how we like it. It didn't look this way when we moved in. Okay, close your eyes. Picture a mauve colored door (trim included) bead-board peeling, mauve and brown wallpaper, peeling wallpaper, made to look like sponge painting crap. It was bad. So bad in fact that I had Andrew start peeling that wallpaper in the last month of my pregnancy because I just couldn't take it any longer.

So we painted it a very neutral beige (isn't near as yellow looking in person) and refinished the bead-board. Oh we also painted all the trim and door white.

Alright, lets move into the kitchen. I've done what I can in here people. Until the cabinets and trim are painted it remains our black sheep. I make no excuses for the previous owner. I just hope they were color blind and I pity their current house.

Maroon cabinets....really...poop colored trim..I'm at a loss for words.

That's my homemade chalkboard...what do ya think?

I made (still have one to go) some temporary window coverings out of curtains I bought at World Market (similar to these). The second one is a temporary table runner. Our current table (free) was handed down to us by my older brother's girlfriend. It came with a melted wax stain. I plan to refinish the top and paint it with some chalkboard paint (like this).

Lets see, what else... The tea and coffee tins, which I still love, are from the Paramount Antique mall.

And our "desk"...let me explain. When we got a second dog (Tosha was lonely, depressed, and getting fat) we needed a room to kennel them up. So our office is now the dogs' room.

All our files and paper work just got piled up. I'm a visual person. If I don't see a bill, it probably won't get paid. I'm sorry that's just the way it is. Case-in-point, I needed a desk. This whatever you call it was only 20 dollars on craigslist. It provides adequate storage and with 5 dollars worth of walmart became my desk.

I added a layer of cork board to the back, a dry erase on the upper cabinet door (for bills) and bought some tacks. It serves its purpose.

I planned finishing up with the living room and Madelin's room, people, I am tired. Those rooms are better, I promise. Besides, leaving you with the kitchen (not our strong point) I'm going to need to redeem myself tomorrow,
So stay tuned...