Renovation
I love my house, and I hate my house. Do you know what I mean? It's a 1950s ranch that we bought nine years ago and moved in on Christmas Eve. I bought it because it had a wood ceiling, a funky old oven and it reminded me of my grandparents. We replaced every window. We replaced the furnace. We replaced the roof. We painted it. We built a fence. We cut down a giant redwood whose giant, rain-soaked limbs were perched precariously over the living room. And then, we had another baby. And then, I went back to work. And then, we ran out of money. And then, and then, and then.... So here we are, eight years later and hardly any closer to the myriad improvements that I'd envisioned when we first became homeowners. The last three years have been..um, let's say dicey...and haven't really been conducive to expensive home repairs and cosmetic improvements. However. I daresay the pendulum has begun to swing the other way. As the car payments and random loans start dropping away I am once again plotting and planning things like tiling all the floors that aren't hardwood, replacing 1970s paneling with actual walls, replacing cabinet hardware and oh my gosh, PAINTING every square inch of that darn house. And I want terra cotta-colored tile just like this:
This cat is going to be in my calendar. And someday, those tiles will be in my house.
Beautiful cat… nice tile too. :o) Good luck with the house. It seems the projects never end.
Oh Rachael, I so hear you. Similar story, but I’m a little further down the “what I envisioned” path. Our house is a modular raised ranch that had zero character when we bought it. The former owner chose all the cheapest options for everything when he built it (including doing a lot himself, using second-hand stuff, mainly incompetently since I don’t think he owned a level or a square). Over the last 13 years I have done small cosmetic projects like painting and some landscaping, but all along I basically hated the house (though I love the land it sits on, which is why we bought the property in the first place). Then…this past year we were able to do a full downstairs renovation. A major piece of that project was my new studio and its garden patio. Having that has totally changed my perception of the house and now I love it and can’t imagine wanting to live anywhere else. Hang in there–you’ll get there!
I love your work, btw. And that cat tile is gorgeous. Looks like my cat Autumn 🙂