In which we talk about reno ...

I suppose I should clarify. I do not speak of the city in Nevada that is chock-a-block with casinos and ski resorts.

Instead I am talking about renovation. Home renovation. The only activity that we are stupid enough to attempt to do while currently occupying the space we're doing it in. And the irony is that we do it in order to make where we live more enjoyable to live in ... by making it less enjoyable to live in for a while.

We have lived in our house for twenty years. For the first few years we didn't have the money to do renovations unless it was absolutely critical - replacing the roof, a new HVAC system. 

Then we were too busy raising a child. I admire and am also more than a little horrified by people who have pristine, museum-worthy homes with children living in them. And who don't have a Downton Abbey-style staff keeping it clean every single moment. 

Don't get me wrong I, too, covet those Chip and Joanna Gaines Magnolia Farm-decorated houses all in creams, distressed whites, and shiplap. But I also realize that I don't have a behind-the-scenes team sourcing all that (surely very expensive) furniture and decor. Or a sponsor who is paying for it all. Or a life that supports a house done all in shades of DON'T SPILL ANYTHING ON THAT WHITE COUCH!

I have three dogs. Black ones.

I have a creek. A muddy one.

Dogs + muddy creek = muddy paw prints all over my hardwood floors, rugs, kitchen floor, furniture, and clothes.

I have a husband who is the least pretentious and least concerned about appearances person I have ever met. It's one of the things I love most about him. He's also very handy. So he changes the oil in the cars and details them; he builds things like decks; and he does sportsy things like martial arts. Dirty and/or stinky past times.

I just do not have a life that supports aspiration of Joanna.

But I do still want the house to look nice. I want to be able to have friends and family over to our home. I want to feel like I'm not living in a frat house.

Unfortunately, every time we start a project we end up waylaid by some bizarre DIY the original owner performed. Bizarre often equals violates code, is unsafe, and causes other issues that violates code and is unsafe. 

We completed our family room a few years ago.

Waylaying then was completely my fault - I decided to write and publish two books. 

BUT! BUT we've finally gotten to where we can renovate our combined living room/dining room space. The grownup spaces! 

We've been working slowly but surely. And we're almost done. The old garden window, inappropriate placed in a wall that gets practically no light, and that leaked like the gash the iceberg tore in the side of the Titanic. The room has been repainted. The old and outdated chair railing was removed and replaced as was the base molding. Art work sits ready to be hung. New furniture, the hardest part of any reno for us because we have this fantastical idea that ... get this ... furniture should be attractive AND comfortable. My darling husband and I have disagreements about what both attractive and comfortable mean. 

Over the two-plus decades we've been together we have come to consensus that since the last time he showed good taste was when he chose me to fall in love with, that I would be in charge of deciding "attractive."

Comfortable is another matter. That decision involves negotiation, compromise, and a willingness for him to recognize that if my feet can't reach the ground I cannot remove myself from the furniture without abs that rival those of all the Avengers combined.

But we persevered and are now hosting Christmas Eve at our house from now on. Now, we just have to finish the last few details and decide on a menu.

Oh ... we have to agree on a menu. *sigh*