Flashback

We’ve been in our house about a year and a half and sometimes it feels like we’ve been here forever and sometimes it feels like we’ve just begun.

Looking back over an article about our home that ran in our local newspaper last summer, it was clear we had accomplished quite a bit in our first few months in our house. The fact we managed to unpack everything was nothing short of a miracle and by the time the photographer arrived, most of the rooms were painted, the furniture was situated, and the pictures were hung on the wall.

We had installed some new lights, replaced the aging thermostat, and I think Jonathan had rewired the basement by then (funny, they weren’t interested in taking photos of that). We still had the cheap brass and glass doorknobs but I think I was the only one bothered by that.It’s now over a year later and we still have some long standing projects on our list. We were so optimistic in the article about our backyard bocce court but we eventually decided—smartly—to focus on the front yard this year and then move on to the back. We’ll need to do some regrading to help with drainage and probably fix the back patio as well. After that comes the fun part—landscaping and figuring out whether or not we want the court regulation size.

The kitchen will need an overhaul at some point, not only to make it more sympathetic to the rest of the house but to replace the tile floor that never seems to look clean. That’s definitely down the road a bit—it looks like we’ll have to replace our aging HVAC before then. (Sometimes it seems as if the previous owners were simply running out the clock on the repairs.)

Repainting the kitchen would be quick, and should be an easier project than we’re making it. The walls are non-descript beige but still manage to clash with the cupboards. We’re also finding them a tough match for any color we’d like on the walls so  we’re beginning to think we’ll need to go ahead and paint the cupboards as well. It’s not a long term solution but the kitchen is a major project and even our temporary fix should be something we’ll be happy with for years, rather than months.

Probably the biggest change has been to the outside. My one condition before agreeing to the article was that no photos be taken of the outside of the house—the pistachio green paint, plastic gray siding, and dead plants was far too horrible to appear in print. I only let this one slip by because it was so cute.