Make my house *MY* house

I can’t live with my sitting room any more! It was lovely 15 years ago when I decorated it last, and I must admit fashions have gone full circle so that the wallpaper etc is right back on trend now :-) But it’s just not me. And it has swirls in the ceiling plaster, which drive me crazy. And it’s funny how I have been living with it all this time and not noticing just how much I don’t like it, but subconsciously it’s been niggling away. It has to change.

This is where I grew up.
My grandmother and both of my parents died here.
The house is furnished from generations past, and not in a good way. Yes, my grandfather’s desk is a nice desk, and it’s great to have some of my great-grandmother’s dressers, but I don’t need to hold on to the avocado green sofa I slept on at my grandparents’ house when I was a baby.

Today, I am cleaning out the closets. GO GO GO GO GO GO

Heloo!

and it worked. Yipee, it’s fabulous

I got a big round table cloth for $2 at the Goodwill blue hangar store and put that up around the ceiling fan. Started draping other textiles about. It’s starting to look really good.

We moved the bar acoutrements in there, wine storage for the stuff that isn’t in the wine fridge ($50 on craigslist! I’m still proud of that one!) It looks nice, decorative & festive.

I still need to figure out how to do an illuminated stained glass window in the entryway…the entryway definitely needs more light.

Haven’t done anything new with the floors.

But it’s lookin good & I am even getting to be OK with the idea of people coming over when it’s not 100% perfectly clean, thanks to my housemate and her active love life :)

Here’s my dining area

All this stuff is mine and it looks like mine and it is beautiful. Now I need to spend more time in here with my family and my stuff.

I have all kinds of space, I am just not using it very well.

I don’t have much free time, but what I have…I am not using very well.

I need to get organized and I need to get things done. I feel like I could get things done better and faster if I was organized, but yet I begrudge the time spent organizing because it’s not actually doing what needs to be done.

crazy. :(

My washer & dryer are kaput, so I’ve been on the hunt for a new one. I wanted a stacking unit so I’d have more storage space in the utility closet, but they’re expensive and I’m not sure it’s worth the ~$500 difference in price between a regular side by side and a stacking one, just to add in a couple of shelves & have an inconspicuous catbox location.

I just found out that the city of Austin offers a rebate program on washers, but you have to select from a list & submit a form and stuff. It’s normally “up to $100” but they’re running a summer special and doubling the rebate. let’s just focus on the “up to”...you submit your app and they give you what they give you. It’s not an automatic $200, it’s based on some internal formula that they don’t share with you.

The models they list seem to be in the $800 and up range. So…spending $300 on an unlisted washer and not getting a rebate may end up being better than spending $800 on a washer and maybe getting $200 back, at most.

Hm.

Anyway, I’ve got some time, so I think I’ll work up an XL spreadsheet and see if I can find a competitively-priced model from the City’s list.

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/watercon/sfwasher.htm

Tub:
57.5” L X 28.5” W Faucet is 19” from floor
W could be increased to 42”, L cannot be increased.

Wine Fridge for cutout in back of cabinet:
25.75” H X 19.5” W X 17” D

frame for Glass panel in entryway:
37 1/4 L X 6.75W (with sill), 4.75W (sill removed), X 47”H (with sill) 48”H (without sill)

Washer/dryer closet:
32” deep
61” wide
80” high