Finally Making A Home

His and Hers chairs--which will not be misused by the children
under penalty of banishment from said chairs forever

Hubby and I bought our house over six years ago with the intention of it being our "forever" home.  It is big enough for our family without being overwhelming, a ranch style home with main floor laundry, right down the street from both our parents and my Grandma, in a good neighborhood.  The sort of home you would buy when you are looking to retire.

Somewhere along the way we lost sight of the "forever" part of our plan and started dreaming about our next house.  The house we build that has the big master bathroom, the extra room on the main floor so I can stop using our dining room as our school room, higher counters for all 6 feet 7 inches of Hubby, a bigger mud room we can all fit into without tripping when it's time to leave or come home, with the acreage and mature woods without undergrowth.  And maybe a pond or creek somewhere would be nice.

We started talking about it and making plans.  We made decisions to not make improvements on our current home.  Wood floors in the living and dining rooms.  Cork flooring in our bedroom.  Turning our 3 seasons sunroom into a 4 seasons room, thus creating a school room.  Redoing the master bathroom.  Turning the basement playroom into a game room where more than just kids would want to hang out.  Installing a third bathroom in the basement where we already have the plumbing stubbed in.

Tonight after Hubby and I wrestled the living room furniture around to fit our new recliner (okay, HUBBY wrestled the furniture and I just sat there and directed while Hubby kept telling me to sit down and not try to move anything), we sat down in our matching seats and started talking.

"I don't think we're going to move," says Hubby.

"Okay," says me.

"I want to start making improvements on our house and make it the house we want it to be.  Starting with the sunroom.  We're going to turn that into the school room and reclaim the rest of the house from all the books and papers and art projects."  Which involves insulating the plywood floor, the walls and ceiling, installing windows in place of the storm panes, and putting in a real door and not just a screen door.

I reached a point recently where I realized it was time to...I don't know...grow up maybe?  That I needed to stop dreaming about a different house and start investing in the house I have now.  Which is why when I was asked for my Christmas list this year, it only had one thing on it.--money to hire a painter to repaint almost the entire house.  It is something I have wanted to do for several years now but just never found the time or energy.  It is time to buy furniture that is not just functional, but actually matches and looks good together.  It is time to not just slap pictures up on the wall but to actually try to decorate.  It is time to be...a grown up.  Gulp.

So be prepared for big changes in the pipeline as we turn this house into a home.