Thieves Would Weep

I've spent the whole morning rearranging my living room. Wheee!! It's about time, is all I can say. It's still somewhat temporary, of course, but at least now it feels more like a living room.

You know, I'm really beginning to despise that word-- "temporary." It seems like every project that we do is temporary in some way or other. Finishing the current project is always hinging on finishing something else which can't be started until something else is finished. See? My temporary kitchen that I used for two years is a prime example. As another instance, we used flat paint on the walls in the living room because eventually, in re-siding the outside of the house, there will be studs pulled which, as I have learned, ruins walls. So the walls will need to be fixed which means they will need to be sanded, and flat paint is sandable. Flat paint looks terrific when you first get it on. But you can only admire it for 3.78 minutes before it looks like the front of my three-year-old's shirt. Everything sticks to flat paint, you see, and it doesn't come off. Oh sure, I washed the walls today, little good that it did. It was more about my feeling better about life in general, except it didn't work because when I got done, quel surprise? The walls were still scuzzy.

Do you see whence my waryness flows?

So here are pictures of the living room as we have lived in it for the last two years, complete with the TEMPORARY kitchen. (And please forgive the poor photos throughout this post. I hate taking indoor pictures with a crumby camera. But it's better than my trying to explain it, right? "Oh yeah, the couch is over there and the wood stove here... can you picture it?")















Oh the clutter! The ugly! It hurts.

That door next to the kitchen range led to what is now the REAL kitchen. Also note all of my very creatve storage. Ugh. Makes me claustrophobic all over again.

So here it is now, after moving into the real kitchen a month and a half ago and moving the stove across the room. And a whole lot of cleaning.





That tall cabinet is what stored all my dishes and appliances in the temporary kitchen. After cleaning it out, I had grand dreams of making it an art supply cabinet. Hahaha. How we all did laugh. It is now full of the things I canned over the summer, with the overflow stacked around in various nooks and crannies.

Don't we own a lot of fine furniture? Very expensive, I assure you.

I can't think of a single piece of furniture that we've ever bought. And it shows. But at least I've been able to repurpose things and/or make them look decent (well, somewhat). Like that couch. I love that couch. It is the most comfortable couch in existence. That was given to Nathan before we were married. When we got engaged, I visited him in Indianna and when I saw that couch (back when it was beige instead of red) in his appartment, I thought, "Someday, we will have children who will daily pile all those pillows on the floor and make me insane." And I was right! Well, about a "child" anyway. Sadly, the jury's still out on the "children" thing.




The Mexican rug on the wall is hanging over the electrical panel. Classy, I know. And that black circle on the wall? Is where the chimney used to through. It's now stuffed with a black trash bag. Extra classy.





We have this unique decorating style that involves bundles of electrical wires poking through the wall. We wrapped them in green tape for that special little touch. There's another one behind the desk. Oh, and on that desk (which was free and is in need of some well-placed nails and glue) I will put my sewing maching so that I don't have to go spelunking in my closet to find it when Nathan rips his jeans.

That big rug on the floor is a nice thick, wool one that was given to me by a friend who got it from a neighbor who is a carpet cleaner and cleaned it well after he got it from someone who's basement flooded, soaking the rug. (Still following me?) I'm positive that it weighs no less than nine hundred pounds. I'm not even exaggerating. You should have heard the grunting and groaning as I heaved it down the stairs and unrolled it.




And this is the "Veiw of Multiple Doorways". I count six.

I'm really feeling like this room needs a couple more chairs and maybe a coffee table to finish it up. Problem is, I don't have any well-off friends who give away cool furniture. (Note to self: Make friends. Rich ones.)

And hopefully, most of the stuff in this picture will be moved to the mudroom (through that pretty door), where it all belongs. It is TEMPORARY, pending the "finishing" of the mudroom. Gah!

Oh! And just look at our ground-breaking art nouveau-- Fire Brick Sculputre. It's the hottest new thing:

We haven't decided what to call this particular piece. I usually prefer to title it, "Raffamuffaschniggafrigga" and Nathan calls it "But I might need them someday!"

Here endeth this historical tour of my living room.



(Yes, Mom, I know. The kitchen tour is coming. Someday.)