I’m no DIY’er
UGHHHH!! What were these manufactures thinking???
I’m no DIY’er
But that won’t stop me
As with many people my office is a spare bedroom in the basement, poor me! It’s a good sized room and has a large built-in storage area and is right next to our storage room. For a home office the layout is not bad, but it’s in the basement, so it’s dark, and, it’s in the basement, so it’s the last part of the house to be updated. The tile! oh my is it ugly. I’ve been looking at this tile for 3 years now and I decided I cannot take it anymore. Being, IN THE BASEMENT, and having tile floors on concrete and in Colorado, it is so cold in my office and my feet freeze. About a month ago, sitting at my desk, teeth chattering I hopped online and started looking at carpet. I had envisioned sisal carpeting with a beautiful area rug. Sisal carpet is not as economical (cheap) as I wanted to go. Plan B. sisal area rug! Did you know, Pottery Barn sells custom size rugs? I ordered the largest size that would fit in my office, 13’ x 13’. My office is a little larger than that so I would still have 6” showing on 3 sides and about 2’ on the fourth. Not wanting to spend a fortune on this area, since I don’t see clients in my office because, again, ITS IN THE BASEMENT, I decided to paint the tile floors. Could this even be done? off to Pinterest I go and low and behold I came across a lot of people that had discovered this before me. One of the videos showed the floors 5 years later, they still look good. Apparently, there are a lot of people with ugly tile, who is making this stuff? It didn’t look too difficult, a DIY project I could do. So the prep work begins! because I am lazy and the majority of the tile will be covered by the rug I make the decision to only paint the 2’ perimeter and two hallways. So I moved my desk into the family room and pushed the rest of the furniture to the center of the room and clean the floor with Simple Green and go back over with clear water and tape the trim. Writing this out, I realize, that doesn’t seem like a lot but by this point it is early afternoon and I’ve still got all the painting to do and I’ve decided to also paint the storage space and the attached bathroom. Just the thought had me overwhelmed.
Out to the garage I go to take inventory of the paint supplies I have before heading the local DIY big box store. Who do you suppose is sitting in front of my house? MY PAINTER!!! He had no idea it was my house and being in my painting clothes it took him a minute to recognize me. If that is not a sign, I don’t know what is. So yada, yada, yada… his crew is here painting the floors and bathroom. While they are here, I think I’m going to have him paint the doors as well. It’s something I’ve been debating for 5 years. All of our doors are stained natural wood, but I really want them to be black. We’re going to start with the doors in my office and see how I like it. I’ll post pictures when it’s done.
Virtual Decorating???
I knew that some walls had to come down but I was not sure how the client would take the news. I went to the next appointment with my 3D images in hand to show them how it would look in the end, and they agreed.
It’s a thing! A year ago I got a call from a past real estate client that he was ready to redo the house he had bought a few years before. As I recalled, the house, a quad-level, was dated and had a lot of small rooms. We arranged a meeting and put a plan together, we would start at the top and work our way down. Together we came up with a soothing color scheme for the whole house.
Now, a year later we have completed the top level, 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, you can read a little about it here https://www.masseyinteriors.com/blog/2019/3/3/the-fruits-of-our-labors and we have started on the main level. When you entered the house there was a very small tile area that was open to an L shaped living/dining room. then behind a wall was a very small kitchen. These homeowners love to cook and bake, something that was just not enjoyable in such tight quarters. I knew that some walls had to come down but I was not sure how the client would take the news. I went to the next appointment with my 3D images in hand to show them how it would look in the end, and they agreed. We would take down two walls to make room for a large island with a built-in stove, place the refrigerator between the two windows, add cabinets above the half wall, expand the foyer space and replace all the carpet and vinyl flooring with engineered hardwood. The plan was set into motion.
We had the walls down and the flooring out when the news came out that we would be quarantined for the next 4-6 weeks. We were lucky in that everything was in and setting in the clients garage and the contractor had a good grasp on what to do. between good planning and the help of technology, we are getting through and it is looking great. Here are some before and during photos. A few more weeks for after pics.
Corona Confessions...
I am still working, but not a whole lot. At the end of each day, 5:00 by these new, lowered standards, I sit on the patio, glass of wine in hand and realize, not much is checked off my list.
We have now been under quarantine for 3 weeks, I really thought I would have so much more accomplished. I had such good intentions when this first started, I was going to get my house spic and span, the garden would be tilled and mulched, I would bake and do art with daughter and oh so much more.
3 weeks in and the house is really falling to pieces, I told the cleaning people to stay home and take care of themselves, with all of this extra time on my hands I could certainly clean my own house. NOPE. I realize I hate cleaning my own house. Normally I love to clean windows this time of year, not this year. In three weeks’ time, I have cleaned 8 windows, outside only, and if I’m being perfectly honest, husband did 5 of those. Every morning I wake up with the resolve to really get something done today. I am still working, but not a whole lot. At the end of each day, 5:00 by these new, lowered standards, I sit on the patio, glass of wine in hand and realize, not much is checked off my list.
But I’ve decided to give myself a break, the most important chore is getting done and that is spending time with my daughter. We have baked, and done artwork, gone for long walks and bike rides even a couple of picnics. We’ve had a spa day and a mini make-up lesson. Maybe tomorrow we will do mani/pedis. When it comes right down to it, this time is a gift. We are lucky enough to have a home to be quarantined in and people we want to be quarantined with. Our neighborhood is amazing and we are blessed with surprise music and 6’ apart happy hours. All-in-all if we just get to connect a bit more, then this is truly a blessing and spending this time racing around trying to accomplish everything at once would be the real waste of time.
So, from our family to yours, I hope you too can give yourself a break and enjoy just being, because really, isn’t that what life should be about???
And hey, stay safe out there…