Day 16: Dream house

Hmmm...

That is a tricky one. The house I live in is pretty much ideal for this stage of my life. It is comfy old Victorian, built to be a family house. It is, as my dear Auntie said "like a pretty girl in an ugly dress". The ugly has improved somewhat over the course of my tenure, but, having SmallDaughter does limit me (as does being really lazy about house stuff!). She has written on (and painted on, and deodoranted on, and ...) EVERY SINGLE SURFACE in the house.





These are a couple of random pictures I found, I am not even sure exactly when they were taken. I think it tells you something about my life that, as dramatic as these are--they are such a part of my "normal" life that I had totally forgotten this incident. Which, by the way, was INK.

So it is very hard to get excited about spending lots of money to redo something, when it is just going to get markered up, so the interior stays mostly the same. Except the kitchen. WOT WOOT!


BEFORE

This picture, which was taken for something TOTALLY different, shows off the kitchen counters pretty well. The "blue" post shows off the @#$%^&* floor tiles. Thankfully, both are gone now!

I was feeling pretty proud of myself for having BOTH "before" and "after" pictures--FINALLY!, BUT, it seems that the computer has eaten all of the "after" pix, and I don't have time to hunt them down. So, I will try to post some soon. Sorry.

Anyway, if I had unlimited money and time, I would LOVE to build an underground house. This one inspired me, and it inspired my mom, and she actually went to see it--so imagine her disappointment upon finding that it had been purchased by a developer, bulldozed, and a community of McMansions built on the spot. I have actually talked to Paul Isaacson (who is a very nice guy) and he gave me some suggestions. I love the idea of an inner and outer greenhouse dome, so you can have light, grass and a garden year round--and still live in the north! I also love this one.

I really love the idea of living with the land, not against it, and using creativity to make a home that lives.

But until then, I really do love the one I am in (I just wish I could repaint it--I am getting rather tired of giving directions to "the big white one that really needs painted"--and having everyone find it easily!).

More chaos than usual

Those who know me well would be surprised to know that it was even possible to have more chaos than usual. But, let me assure you--it is.

Anyone who has ever cooked (or even been in!) my kitchen has said something along the lines of "If I ever win the lottery, I am redoing your kitchen!"

The kitchen does have some flaws.

There are the functionality flaws:

*It is very small--think "Galley Kitchen"
*No dishwasher.
*A 1950's era single sink.
*Cracks in the lathe and plaster on the back wall (the wall that faces the prevailing winter winds) means that during all the long winter months, every time you open a drawer or cupboard, you get a breeze stiff enough to blow your hair around--no joke.

Then there are the design/aesthetic flaws:

*Rusty metal 1950's era metal cupboards and counters (I like the functionality of them--I am just not a fan of the rust--and honestly the long cupboard that spent decades in the basement does look like it has a fairly advanced case of leprosy.)
*The Vent Hood From Hades (seriously--so ugly, it doesn't work, it collects greasy dirt the way Lady Gaga collects crazy, it sticks WAY out and it is at the perfect height to bash all of our heads against it).
*Horrible gray asphalt tile floor with big (dirt holding) spaces between the tiles.
*Horrible floor was redecorated by SmallDaughter.
*Decorating by the crazy woman who lived here before us--did I mention the algae colored paint that clashes with the '80's green and cream plaid wallpaper?


Well--the good news is--you don't have to win the lottery for me to get a new kitchen!!

We are working on it RIGHT NOW!

My awesome hubby surprised me with it, and my dad is doing the supervising (and the lions share of the work). We went shopping last week and have TONS of supplies ALL OVER EVERYWHERE. Everything that was in all of the kitchen cupboards had to be emptied into boxes so those cupboards can be removed. And the cupboards that have quietly resided in the dining room and office (quietly filling UP), had to be emptied into boxes so they can be installed. And then... all of those boxes had to be put somewhere. Well, truly--they got put everywhere.

This project happened WAY SOONER than I thought it would, and I was not the calm and organized creature that I aspire to dream of despair of becoming.

NOTE: We are currently experiencing technical difficulties getting the @#$%^&! pictures off of the !@#$%^&*!!! camera. Pictures coming soon.

We hope.

Feeling BLUE

For those of you who had a hard day, and are feeling down in the dumps, and wondering "how could this day even get any worse?" I have two words for you:

Methylene Blue

Now, for those of you who aren't current on their dyes and stains, Methylene Blue is "a heterocyclic aromatic chemical compound with the molecular formula C16H18N3SCl. It has many uses in a range of different fields, such as biology and chemistry." (Thanks, Wikipedia!")

Two of it's common uses are in microbiology as a culture stain (it is similar in its multiple levels of usefulness and and it's potency to Gentian Violet), and for aquarium owners to cure certain fish diseases (much like Gentian Violet kills yeast infections).

Both Methylene Blue and Gentian Violet are beautiful shades of their respective colors, and both of them stain like the dickens!

Enter SmallDaughter.

We had (for undisclosed reasons) a large (6 oz.) bottle of Methylene Blue stored high up in a kitchen cupboard (the cupboard that used to be over a refrigerator in a former kitchen arrangement) to keep it safe.

We don't anymore.

HOWEVER--on the bright side, my ugly kitchen linoleum tiles (and some cupboards) are infinitely more exciting, and my bathtub has an exciting "denim and indigo tie-dye with toeprints" motif. It also produces the most beautiful Caribbean blue bathwater imaginable.



PS--for those who are wondering, Methylene Blue IS NOT the same thing as Methyl Blue, and is not effective for certain dramatic scientific experiments. So, save your money. Darn, darn, darn.Just sayin'.

It could be worse...

To those of you who have uttered disparaging things about my house--specifically about the 50's pink and black tile in the bathroom (or worse, where those tiles fell off!) with it's clashing pink paint...



OR who have criticized the oatmeal colored 50's wallpaper...




OR the 80's green plaid wallpaper that is surrounded by a slightly clashing green paint trim...



OR made comments about the algae colored paint in the dining room (who thought matching the carpet would be a good idea?)???



OR the fact that every single one of the afformentioned decorative elements has been written on by SmallDaughter, well, all I have to say to YOU is..it could be worse....



You doubt me, but I have proof.

SCROLL DOWN...















these images courtesy LovelyListings.com

See, I was right!

My life is pretty close to perfect

Recently I had the chance to stay at the home of a friend-of-a-friend. Her home was beautiful. It was a fairly new house--built in the last 5 or 10 years, I would say. It had a lovely stone fireplace, tasteful wall decor, immaculate carpets (think beige--LOTS of beige) lovely furniture suites upstairs and down. It was also sparklingly clean. Like, even with 4 children who are alternately there (due to custody issues) and 4 dogs it was sparkling.

It would be almost impossible not to contrast it with my house.

My house was built over 100 years ago. It is a comfortable late Victorian (which means it doesn't have any gingerbread trim, but it does have a great porch and many funky roof angles and walls that stick out in funny places). It is in DIRE need of a new coat of paint on the outside (but first we have to fix all the places where the racoons or the wisteria ripped off bits of the siding).

It is not in a suburban neighborhood full of it's clone. We have one neighbor whose house is our home's "sister", but all of the other houses are in MANY random styles. There is not a lot of "taupe" or "beige" in our neighborhood. There are a lot of mature trees and amazing flower gardens.

Our furniture is that classic style "early thrift store". Not one piece matches another. EVERY single wall (and every other surface for that matter) has been written on by SmallDaughter. I refuse to repaint while she is still in the active picasso phase. I also refuse to get new carpet while she still dumps stuff. So our whole house has strange 1950's era avacado green and algae colored wool carpet--that ALWAYS comes clean, no matter what she has dumped on it (bubble bath, hershey's syrup, yellow mustard...)

It is not imaculate. Even when I clean and clean, I still can't get it to "immaculate". It is not filthy, but it is definitely lived in, and the fact that I personally can overlook something in the middle of the floor and step over it for MONTHS does nothing to help that.

With all that said, our house is full of life and laughter. Spills and messes are not crises, just something to clean up. Everyone is free to try creative endeavors, because we are not thwarted by the fear of messing up the perfection. All of the neighbor kids cook in my kitchen. My yard gets played in daily. My porch is never boring!

My funny looking raised gardens out back are thriving. The chickens behind the barn are fat, healthy and contented. I like them a lot more than I ever imagined that I would. My children are kind, funny, creative and polite. What more could I want?