Introducing make-over Mondays.

Recently we got confirmation that Big’s company really did intend to put in an application for a green card for our family. Technically, it would be for four of us as our two youngest were born in the US and are therefore American citizens….they don’t need a green card.  We’ve been waiting for this confirmation since 2009 (actually 2006) and the collective sigh of relief from Big and I was massive.

We’ve owned our home since 2006 and I finally feel like I can make it my own.  As a result, I decided it was time to decide how to make this place work.  After all, back in 2006 we were buying a home for a family of four.  We are now a family of six. Let’s just say, we are *slightly* under-housed.  We live in a lovely neighborhood, in a 3 bedroom plus den, 2 bathroom split level home (which is hard to find here in Alaska), with a teensy tiny kitchen, no formal dining room but a large living room and family room space, and no basement.  For a basic 1980′s house it’s decent (despite the two previous owners who I’ve talked about before) and I didn’t want to have to start from scratch by buying a new home. Basically to move, we’d lose all our equity from the past 5 years and have to start all over, that is IF we could sell this one.  PLUS for what we paid, we were looking at at least a jump of $150,000 to upgrade to the size we need for the size of our family. Long story short, we are staying put.

Recently, I’ve realized that perhaps I need to be more grateful for what I have versus what I *could* have.  So I started there.  I’ve decrap-ified my home (aka: put the stuff I want to store/sell/throw away in the garage to deal with in the spring, much to Big’s dismay), thought long and hard on how to make this space work and got to it.

The first was to make a space for ME.  I didn’t have a spot where I could go and relax by myself.  The only space that I could really claim is my bedroom.  I poured over Craigslist for just the right dresser and nightstand.  Found it after 6 months.  I had a quilt made on Etsy.com (how I love you Etsy) and bought a new duvet and cover from Target.  I re-purposed some curtains I had in the closet, brought a little side table and bench upstairs, got a great deal on a chair on Target.com and got to work.  Here’s the result:

Sorry I have no before pictures…just trust me that it didn’t look like an adult’s room until I did the makeover.  The dresser and mirror are HUGE.  I didn’t have one as my children needed dressers when we moved in so we gave our old set to them.  Shopped for dressers lately? Crazy pricey!  This dresser is perfect for almost every piece of casual clothing I own leaving my closet freed up for other stuff, like my million pairs of shoes.  Nah, more like 30 something pairs…but the point is that I have SPACE in my closet where it was jam-packed before.

The ceiling fan was bought 2 summers ago and I LOVE that it gives super circulation in the summer months but doesn’t require four blades…I find ceiling fans ugly at best but this one is fab.  We spent two very DARK winters though, as the light fixture takes only candelabra bulbs and it wasn’t until this year they came out with candelabra based regular wattage bulbs…so we can see again.  So word for the wise, you don’t need those ugly drop lights on ceiling fans to get bright light.  Candlelabra bulbs can now do the trick and are hidden from view.  The bench at the bottom of the bed give me a little more storage and a place to display a few little trinkets (because I hate cluttering up the dresser top with stuff).  The side table matches the dresser and has 3 ample sided drawers for all of Big’s miscellaneous crap (and he seems to have a lot).  The bed we bought we we moved up here as the movers destroyed our old one.  This one is a sturdy black heavy wrought iron. The rug helps with echo and noise reduction in a room with all wood floors.  I do love me some wood floors in the bedroom though…even in Alaska.

A few years back, we took off the ugly bi-fold wood closet doors and swapped them out with glass sliding doors from 2 other rooms in the house.  What a difference it made for light and the appearance of space…because for a master bedroom, this is one tiny room.  It is only 16′x16′-ish.  See the first of two awkward corners?  OY…it was a challenge.  A Target chair and 18″ round pedestal table fit just right.  it looks cramped but it is actually perfect.   You get a close up of the patchwork quilt I had made on Etsy too.  I wanted a basic Pottery barn style patchwork and it turned out better than I could have imagined.

Whomever designed this house created a useless corner conundrum and put the door to the en-suite bathroom in exactly the wrong spot.  A small bookshelf hides the cords to the wall mounted tv.  Instead of books, I put baskets.  I hate cluttery books, hence why I think the Kindle was the best invention in the 2000′s so far.  Every room should have candlesticks too.  LOVE candlesticks.  I don’t actually burn the candles ever since Scentsy was invented, the second best invention so far in this decade.  Some people say a tv has no place in the bedroom…a bedroom is for two things and two thing only.  One being sleeping.  You can figure out the other one.  I don’t know though, I enjoy watching a movie in bed…much more comfy than sitting on any couch don’t you think?

At any rate, I am supremely pleased with my new bedroom.  It’s amazing how my attitude changed once I realized my “house” is indeed my “home”.   No more “renters” mentality for me.  So internets, give me some constructive criticism. What would you change, what would you do differently?

K.

Advertisement