I'm trying to get our new home looking less like Decor by Atlas Movers and more like a home, we've been here 4 months so I think it's about time...Glenn has obligingly built new living room bookcases and a tv stand thingie (as in assembly required, not from scratch) and I've been putting stuff on the bookcases, etc. My beautiful art photo of an Irish Abbey ruin is over the mantle and the little occasional table beside the fireplace has Glenn’s pretty glass chess set on it. These touches make me happy. There's still a long way to go but progress is being made. The big complication is we have so much techno-clutter! It's difficult to camouflage into 'decor'. And don't ask me how I feel about the Rubik’s cubes, juggling balls and the Lego Robot on the mantle.
I had made personal plans to work on the place this weekend. The property manager is coming on Tuesday with the dryer vent cleaning company and I didn't want them to think we are low lifes. It's the way I was raised so I can't help myself.
This afternoon I went upstairs to read for a bit ( I took Matt to Tower and bought the new Dune: Battle of Corrin) and after just reading for a little bit got sleepy and took a long nap. What that means is it's now 11 pm and I'm not the least bit sleepy. Glenn went to bed awhile back and shortly after that I got bored and decided to work on things. I was unwrapping the shot glass collection (it came about because shot glasses are small and easy to bring home from my business travels so that’s what I would get for Glenn whenever I went somewhere new) but it disturbed Glenn’s sleep…it’s amazing how the stairwell magnifies sound right up into our bedroom. I’ve picked up a lot of the junk that’s accumulated on the dining room table but I needed to wash the tablecloth so that stopped the progress there. I picked up some books and separated the one's I've read from the ones in progress and have put them on the little 3 shelf thingie that matches the new bookshelves and moved it from beside the door to a spot closer to the couch and reading light.
Right now the dining room table is also my home office and computer desk. We had to store it when we were in the other place because it was too big. I bought a little table with a tile top and that’s what Glenn is using for his computer desk, it sits right behind a wall divider between the living room and the dining room. The wall goes up about…heck exactly 3 feet (because I can see the yardstick propped against it) and then there’s a cutout so you can see through from the living to dining areas.
Thing about it is that the little ‘sill’ in the cutout is that it's getting covered with stuff. So is the top of my curio cabinet which is full of Lenox. I put some of the stuff away (my digital camera, moved the Sony Clie, but Dustpuppy, Glenn’s digital camera, a Demotivator’s mug ‘the glass is now half empty’ and a couple of widgets are still on it – eventually it will go in a different spot and that will probably help. The tall chairs we had at the counter in the old place are lined up against the wall and are pretty useless so they’ve become clutter collectors as well. They’ll end up outside in the garage when we bring in the dining room chairs. Those are in shabby condition now so I’m thinking of buying slipcovers until I can afford to have the table and chairs refinished.
Glenn saw a computer desk at Fry’s this morning that is in the same color wood as the new shelves in the living room so we’ll probably buy it next weekend and get it set up. I think there will be a screen or something put up that can hide the area when it’s not in use.
I bought a draping slipcover for the loveseat, it doesn’t quite work. I don’t know why the loveseat is a weird size but I bought it at Pier One. Could be it's metric or something. I’m thinking seriously about a new couch…we’ve got room enough for something bigger and nicer. I'm not happy about the current 'coffee table', which is two parsons tables that were used for a tv stand in the old place and have totally trashed finishes. I'd like to get them refinished as they're solid wood and were very nice once, came from a model home sale. Another thing I'm not too happy about is the floor fan, but we do need it to keep the air circulating. It's not been a very hot summer and the place is well insulated but the fan makes it much more comfortable. Not sure what to do about it.
The kitchen is the last thing downstairs to work on, and mostly that will be just getting the clutter of the counters, thank goodness.