Don't Quit Your Daydream

I've always loved looking at houses. I can remember when my parents were looking to move from Tibbits Ave in Troy and we went house hunting as a family. I can still picture a house in Brunswick that had the coolest kitchen and steps walking up into a dining room with a blue carpeted rug. I noticed the high ceilings, the light fixtures, and the uniquely decorated room with blue flowered wallpaper. I was nine at the time.

My first house I purchased was a beautiful brick cape house. Wall to wall wool green carpets lined every single room. Each section of the house had its uniquely decorated wallpaper - even certain ceilings. However, the archways, the staircase right at the center of the house, and the black and white penny tile in the bathrooms lured me in. I had to buy that house. The potential of rearranging a kitchen that had a pink stovetop, pink floors, pink wallpaper, Pepto-Bismol formica countertops, and the most amazing pale pink double oven was the icing on the cake. Like I said, I had to have that house. The cherry stained doors with the vintage glass doorknobs that had not been touched for decades showed the character and charm of a house that was so well built in the 1930s. I saw the life that was lived in the house and I wanted to preserve it.

I never thought to do the before and after pictures but when I sold that house I took a picture of every room and remember how much it had been transformed.

Rearranging, painting, and building structures is like a therapy for me. While working on a project my mind stays present. No outside negative thoughts, no what ifs, I just am in the moment of what is. It is the best type of therapy. However, it is a bit more of an expensive copay than just sitting down with someone one-on-one.

So fast forward to now. It's been a unique few years for me. My "therapy sessions" continued in my present home. Redoing stairs, painting and repainting rooms, tiling a kitchen, removing cabinets, and creating a garden in just the right spot. My house is fairly complete. I have always looked at properties and land for sale all the time. I was so close to buying a barn with land this past summer. It haunts me to this day that I couldn't swing the commitment, cost and location. That's my ultimate dream. A small house on 5-10 acres of land with a barn and some water. Goodbye suburbia, hello rural life with peace and quiet.

In the meantime, I bought another house to restore. A small 3 bedroom 1 1/2 bath to work on. Another wallpaper, carpeted, paneled home with so much potential. My goal this time is to show the transformation. The befores, during, and after pictures. I'll be making some furniture and staging the home in the process. Why am I documenting it? Not for the shout outs, not for the praise, just because it is something different from my day to day responsibilities, which, full transparency, has been extremely challenging. This website, this process of transforming my house just brings me joy in a time where I selfishly need more of. While I would love to retrain my brain to remove negativity, the feelings of not belonging, the personal struggles, I just can't seem to change, but a house I can control. While perhaps I need to work on those other areas, I'd rather pull up carpets, make a farm table, and paint a room while listening to music until the middle of the night. Life is too short to wait for things to change, end, or become restructured into a perfect instagram story. There's no such thing. So, I've decided to be present and enjoy the process. Every house needs a structure, a foundation, good bones to keep it upright. A few adjustments are needed from time to time to make it better. Hmmmmm, this does seem eerily similar to one's life journey, doesn't it?

This is as open and personal I've ever been and probably the last one on this site. From here on in, the updates will solely be on the house project itself. I hope you enjoy!