I know I’ve mentioned this before but en my entire married life, I’ve never stayed in one house very long. About the longest I’ve stayed in any one house since leaving my parents’ home has been about 5 years but there were lots of 2 year stays. I’ve had at least 18 houses in 40 years. For those who have moved around that much, you may have experienced the same feelings we’ve had . . in that we never really do anything to the homes we buy because we know we’re not going to be there long. We just live with things the way they are . . never change carpet, never paint walls, never do anything!
Here, it’s all different because we plan to stay forever. I know I’m driving Vince nuts. One thing leads to another. I’ve never liked having things on the countertop. In some houses, we’ve had appliance garages and the coffee pot and mixer went in those. In one house, there was a little spot built for the coffee pot . . separate from the rest of the cabinets and I could live with that.
We have no special place for the coffee pot here and with the new countertops, and the new cabinets, I wanted everything off the counters so we’ve ordered the drawer to go in the pantry and moved the electric plug into the pantry for the coffee pot. Because the lighting isn’t great in the kitchen, Vince is installing under cabinet lights.
Even the paper towels can’t sit on the counter so I ordered paper towel holders that will mount under the cabinets – one for the kitchen and one for the new cabinets.
Paper Towel Holder
The old Kitchen Aid mixer weighs a ton and I have it in a cabinet. I have to push and pull to get it in and out and then we found some roll out shelves that attach to the shelves already in the cabinets. These shelves will support up to 100 pounds so I ordered a couple of those . . one for the mixer and one for the cabinet that holds my cast iron pots.
Then we decided that we will paint the living room and kitchen ourselves. I want to do some glazing and will practice on some extra sheets of drywall and when I get the color and look I want . . then I’ll be ready to tackle the walls in the house.
I would like to replace our doors but I haven’t gotten up the courage to tell Vince that yet. I think I’d better stop coming up with home improvement ideas or Vince may decide staying in one place is not a good idea!
Rebecca Grace says
Well, you are really lucky to have lived in all of those different homes with things laid out differently, because now that you are staying put, you really know what you like and what is easiest for you to live with. That is a huge advantage in remodeling or even new construction. So many people pick things out that they see in the design magazines or on TV, spend a lot of money on them, and realize later that it wasn’t really the best choice for them for one reason or another. So you can tell your husband that you’re actually saving him TONS of money by only changing everything once. 🙂
I got your border book in the mail from Amazon and it’s great, by the way! Lots of really good ideas, and I like the way you show and explain how the most effective pieced borders should relate to the design and scale of the quilt blocks. Still lusting after some EQ software…
Meanwhile I just discovered that one of the fabrics I used extensively in my blocks, a red batik, is not colorfast. Ugh… I’ll have to figure out how to deal with that before I assemble the blocks with borders, because I can’t have the whole thing ending up pink!
JudyL says
Even when we built our own home and thought we had thought of everything, there’s always been something we wish we had done differently. And, every house we’ve lived in, no matter how much we wish things were different here and there, we’ve always been able to make it a happy home. Nothing is ever perfect, but it’s what we make of it.
Donna says
RebeccaGrace, try using color catcher sheets (found in the laundry section of the grocery store by Shout). They soak up all the excess dye in the wash when you wash fabric. You might even try soaking your blocks in the sink with a Color Catcher sheet. I use one everytime I wash new fabric and so far I have not had a quilt to bleed on another piece of fabric. Hope it helps you.
Marie Gilkey says
Have you tried using the Color Fast sheets in the washer? I hear they work really well and may save you from the bleeding.
pat says
Judy, I had some drywall put up for a fireplace. It wasn,t a lot of drywall, but enough to create a mess. The workman were told, they must cover everything and work efficiently due to family having allergies. It got done in one day. Any one who works with this stuff may not realize all the fine dust and particles that comes from the dry wall. The workman cut the drywall with a machine outside, so not to spread all these airborne particles in the house. They wore masks. A word to the wise, do this in the summer or when your weather in Texas is workable with working outside. and check out what type of mask you would need. Cover everything with old sheets, etc. Have the vacuum out to clean any dust from working with the dry wall. Pat
JudyL says
Trust me . . we go through more respirators around here than most people can imagine. Vince uses them for cleaning chicken coops, for cutting grass, for chipping wood . . different respirators for different projects. He’s an EHS manager and is way more careful than most.
Sue K says
one step at a time – try to make the doors sound they were HIS idea – things go over much better that way!!
shirley bruner says
Well, if you plan on staying there forever….i say it should be just the way you want it. so, keep on improving. just let Vince rest between projects. LOL
CindyM says
We are a bit like you, moving around a lot. Although we were in the DFW area for 12 years, we lived in 3 different homes there. I always say “just when I get the house about how I want it, we move.” But we’ve been in this house in the Denver area since 2001! It’s even hard for me to believe. I guess time goes faster the older we get. How different from my parents, who as farmers, lived in their home all of their life. They actually lived in the house my mom was born in.
Gardenpat says
Funny how you look at a house in a whole different way when you have decided that it will be your final home! We had lived in Az and Ca in other houses before we moved to this home in Ohio 20 years ago. In the other houses, most renovations were done to get the house ready to sell, but here we have enjoyed renovating our old Victorian home every since we moved in! Will we ever get completely finished? probably not. But each completed project gives us such pleasure! It’s not the 10 acres in the country we thought we wanted- it’s in the middle of one of the oldest sections of our capital city- very urban! But, it has so much for us- manageable raised bed gardens, fruit trees, courtyard with koi pond, big side yard and even a neighbor across the alley that we can barter my bread for her fresh chicken eggs! What we thought we wanted couldn’t hold a candle to what we’ve been given! And that’s different for everyone, but such a blessing when you recognize it! So glad you’ve found that in this home!
Linda B in TX aka MI says
We have moved 25 times in 43 years, now sold our home and moved again into our RV fulltime in late October. We have already moved four times. To a park in MI, Arkansas-south of Branson MO, Carmine TX and last week we moved to La Grange TX. That makes 29 in 50 and a half years…We are going to try for 100!
CJ says
Same here. Endless moving. Looking forward to a “forever” home 🙂
Sherrill says
Oh my gosh, Judy, you sound just like me!! Just about the time I think I’m going to quit for awhile, I ask my handyman ‘ what about a skylight, how about replacing the front and back doors, what about…’? I don’t like the bathtub in the master and want to change it but then I never take a bath. YIKES! Did you get the rev-a-shelves? I’ve had several put in and LOVE them!!