(We bought our house from California. B did not see the house we purchased until the day we arrived, here’s his first spotting of our new home)

In the thick of it here. My brain is on overload from a long list of happy décor decisions to make. This favorite chair I’ve always coveted, or that amazing chair from the new catalog? Mirrored couches or cozy sectional? Otomi teal wallpaper or bold black and white pattern? I’ve been going to bed at night with the thoughts of a mad man. I just see images of wallpaper patterns, rugs and color swatches madly dashing through my brain with no coherent thought process. Is this going to look good when I am done, or will it be a mumbled jumbled mess because I took on too much at once?

I am complaining with a big fat Cheshire cat smile on my face. Seriously. I want to go smooch the buyer of our last house for taking all my furniture. I’ve entered the wonderland of home ownership starting fresh with no furniture.

But it is not all rainbows and unicorns. I do have a budget that is pretty tricky to keep when every single room needs furnishing. As much as I am sourcing my days away from website to website I am also meticulously checking in on that budget spreadsheet. Cheating some rooms for the honor of others. So maybe Oliver’s cute room is good enough with the old dresser from mom, and this family room can afford to host the beloved minted print I’ve had my eye on. These are the daily give and takes.

In the meantime we have a strange visitors life of the new home. We temporarily live one block away in a dark tiny basement my 4-year old twins have dubbed “The Underground”. My parents have been gracious hosts. Mom and I have even worked out a who-cooks-dinner, who-buys-the-wine schedule. I am whole heartedly embracing every minute of their time after missing them afar for the past 16 years. But torture I tell you. Every fiber of my being demands instant gratification. From one block away I visit our new house daily to work a couple hours in the quiet upstairs office dreaming of future life here, and then I pack up and return to The Underground.

The house work is slow moving. Finally, walls are about to come down, and people are actually going to report for work to our house with purpose on Monday. Progress. I’ll take any visual change to this house that shows me something is happening to shorten the distance between our family and the day we move here. The sounds of construction will be happy to hear.

***
Here’s a peekaboo BEFORE of the living room, hopefully our largest transformation. We are removing the walls between these two spaces to create one large great room.
Construction List
*Remove old behemoth radiators
*Install HVAC
*Remove all walls in front foyer, family and dining room to create Great Room + install seamless beam
*Remove flooring
*Install new flooring
*Install additional fireplace & build out
*Paint every last surface
and boy do I ever wish I win with adding this one to the list….
*New kitchen counters & backsplash