Both items will require a little personalizing, but what are we if not inventive? My catch phrase for this house is "cheap and cheerful" which replaces the previous owner's motto of "cheap and ugly make-do"! After following a trail of owners through the security system papers, I have determined that the original owners were not afraid to buy wisely. The subsequent owners? Not so much. The original owners of the home lived here for quite awhile, raising a rather large family by the size of the place for the era. I grew up in a house a little more than half the size of this place with five in our family, and my father provided a comfortable life. The OO (original owners) did extra things like having lights installed in all of the closets, a hall closet fitted with shelves for "stuff" which of course in my case translates into "china". It is a deep hall closet and service for twelve including every imaginable serving piece took only two shelves of the available four!There are also two other hall closets (very long hall!) one for linens and one for out of season outerwear. At the time the house was built, the fittings were "state of the art". Pull out drawers for appliances in the kitchen. Primitive to today's standards, granted, but how special were they then? There is a broom closet in the kitchen, and a coat closet with shelves above. And above that? More cupboard space to the ceiling for things you seldom use but don't want to go down to the cold room to get...like the bread machine, and hundreds of rolls of paper towels! AND there is a guest closet in the living room, close by the front door. Things like that just make my heart sing. Storage space galore, that I am determined to use for the storage of a fewer things and a lot of air! It occurred to me while sorting and slaving, that I have still got far too much stuff! Our closets were together in half an hour. We both took the Konmari system to heart and discarded or donated all old, unloved and unused clothing before we moved. Just between you and me, one day a fat lady will hit Goodwill and made out like a bandit. But what use is something if you don't use it! I wish her well!
But I digress. The second owners had the property for just a couple of years, and may have done a bit of painting. Badly. The last owners? Put in a deluxe garage, and just cheaped out on everything else. There are some things that require attention in an older home. Windows for one. Using silicone to stick them shut, requiring a 150 dollar service call to remedy? Not a good plan. They also had a fondness for doing things themselves. You can tell by the bathroom tile. Imagine if you will, a grey marbled tub and surround. Nice shiny chrome faucet, brushed nickel grab bars. A off white shower curtain with a brown naked tree printed on it that they kindly left behind. And the shower curtain rod. A curved one that protrudes into the narrow room about a foot, so you have to leave the shower curtain pulled to one side in order not to have that tree in your face when sitting on the throne. Moving on to the walls...rectangular modern tiles. Taupe. With grey metallic corner tiles. AND a chocolate brown strip running around the top and the bottom of the tile walls. A beige lino floor that really wanted to be cork but didn't make it. And the vanity? A slap dash paint job to the outside, beige of course, and a spray painted effort on the handles- lumpy metallic grey. Could they not find the time to wash them before painting? Anyway, this is offset nicely by the yellow cast to the lighting, and yet another shade of beige on the upper portion of the walls. The absolutely lovely toiletries cupboard is yet another shade of beige, with another type of handle on the door. French provincial this time. Spray painted lumpy metallic as well. Sigh. I didn't mention the khaki green cellular blind did I? Can't miss that one! They still work like a charm though and were purchased by the OO. I found the information on the blind itself. We took down a thermometer by the window, and at one time the trim actually matched the blinds, in the kitchen anyway. Did I mention that these blinds are on six windows of the house? It is such a shame because the blinds would have been great if they were white. Anyway, in a month or two it should be done. White. Pristine. Grey. Done. You know, even my towels look dirty in there at the moment! And I go out of my way to have absolutely white and bright linens. It boggles the mind what went into these decisions, but I am thinking not much! Not much at all. Anyway, moving on with less whining...
My goal is to declutter by another 30% but I must admit, I am going to take my time doing so. There isn't a rush, but it is a necessity to get rid of stuff before there is an urgent need to get rid of it, if you follow my line of thought. The kids have their own taste, they don't want our old stuff. So if something should happen to one of us, the other would be left with quite a burden. So, we need to be able to live a full life while here, but realize that we will need to be able to turn on a dime. Can't do that with a ton of stuff under your arm, can you?
Last night I watched a movie in the rumpus room. I curled up on the settee with a wool blanket I bought in Scotland years ago and never used. It was soooooo warm and toasty! And our family tartan to boot. Well, it was Rick's mum's family tartan. I have always loved the Royal Stuart tartan, but now I have a right to it through marriage! I just wish I had saved my Highland Queen kilt I had years and years ago...it would have made great pillows and chair upholstery for the writing desk chair! Some day I will find a meter or so.....maybe even pj flannel for cushion covers! I have pajamas on the brain today since there are no deliveries, no installers, NADA, nuttin', zippo. Today is officially a pajama day. Rick is in Winnipeg, I am free as a bird. I have a piece of fish thawing for supper and leftover potatoes in the frig. Add a bit of butter and voila. I will be one happy camper! I haven't had a PJ day in forever, so I am looking forward to sneaking in a nap or two as well. Netflix here I come!
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