Well folks, we made it. With literally seconds to spare, Brian and I finished getting the house ready for hosting Christmas Eve. And it was absurd, really absurd, the amount of effort required to pull it off.
I dare say that anyone with a shred of good sense would have seen that trying to make this happen was foolish possibly to the point of delusional. That it was asinine to attempt to have the house not just livable, but converted into a holiday-themed extravaganza mere days after it was a gutted hazardous waste zone.
But I have never been known for having good sense, so why start now, just before the new year? Personality changes don’t start until January 1st before promptly being discarded, everyone knows that.
For those of you just now jumping in, we’ve been in a home demolition blitz for the better part of two months. Brian, Nolan and I have been living at my parents’ house while our own house was torn apart to the studs.
The dust from the project was so great that we had to wash every single item we owned (all the dishes, all the clothes, all the toys, all the…you get the idea). And on top of the hard core cleaning and unpacking and organizing we took it upon ourselves to host Christmas Eve, because I am a lunatic who doesn’t know when to call it a day.
(Also, if I’m being totally honest, I liked having the Christmas Eve deadline. I personally am entirely willing to work around the clock in the name of home design, but having an event in the books helped Brian engage in the panic mode that I so enjoy being in as a couple).
To give you some context, this is what our first floor looked like 10 days ago:
Below is the same wall (from a slightly different angle), after we spent a ludicrous amount of time and energy pretending we were on an HGTV competition show, rather than behaving like regular homeowners.
Here is a view of our former dining room (with the pink walls) and former family room (blue walls in the background).
Here is the same view of what has been transformed into the family room (with the Christmas Tree) and the play room (with the “whimsical” IKEA rug).
Here’s a view of the kitchen/dining area, before we took the wall down:
Here is the after shot. The kitchen is in the same place, but now it opens up to the rest of the first floor. Taking down the wall makes it seem approximately 10,000 times bigger.
And now, what is likely of most interest on a mom blog – the playroom!
And finally, the entry (which you would think would go first, right?):
In fact it is so cute that here it is bigger, so you can really see just how cute:
And here are two other photos from that series, just because.
Sometime soon I hope to have a more detailed post on playroom setup. First that will require me to get Nolan’s playroom tweaked, but that needs to wait until I can finish putting away a shit ton of laundry.
That project, as it didn’t effect my “designing”, has taken a back seat. It needs to take a front seat because otherwise the stray clothes may overtake our second floor, and the last thing we need is to be invited on Hoarders. Hoarders is not an HGTV show, after all. If it switches networks, sign me up!
Special thanks to my sister Catherine for preparing all of the food for Christmas Eve! There was no WAY we were pulling off both house prep and food prep. No friggin’ way. Having a sister who can basically cater a party at your house is really a Christmas miracle.
If you have renovation plans for 2015 and want to send me some before and after shots I’d love to see what people are doing! Happy New Year!
Elizabeth @ Bowl of Delicious
LOVE IT! The pewter color is really pretty. Can’t wait to see it in person! Good job, Faria family.
Liz
I can’t wait to show you!! Revere Pewter is really nice. I actually like the Light Pewter even better I think! I feel like for once we got the colors right first time around. Which is good since we hired painters and they’re probably not interested in mid-paint changes of plan
Emily
It looks amazing in person too! Even when you drop by unannounced;)
Bonnie
Good for you Liz! You knew what you wanted and went for it! A Supportive husband is key! It looks great… When can I get a consult?
Liz
Thanks Bonnie! Yes Brian has been super helpful. I doubt you want me for a consult, I change my mind tons of times and always end up returning things 🙂 But I am always up for trips to Home Goods!
Katie
It looks gorgeous, Liz! Well done!
Liz
Your mom had a little something to do with it!
Omar
Your house looks awesome! However, Nolan rockin’ a Ramones t-shirt was the best picture! “Gabba Gabba Hey”
Courtney P
Liz, you staged the shite out of that house.
Liz
Ha! Yes! I DID stage the shit out of it! Thanks for noticing 🙂
Courtney Brown
Well done Liz! I am very impressed with the entire thing.
Katie
Wow! It’s beautiful. Love the colors 🙂 and open space now. I can appreciate all the work you did to make this Christmas Eve deadline. It’ll be one that you certainly won’t forget. Relax a little now.
JKH
Love it! When are we coming for dinner!?!?!
Liz
You can come for dinner this week as long as you bring your rice and beans 🙂
Casey
Looks fabulous! I love your vision. Did the house kind of have two dining rooms before? One day we will be home owners, but until then we enjoy moving in and out of rooms so our landlord can fix stuff. Fond memory from 2014: moving out of our living and dining areas when Max was 3 weeks old so new windows could be put in. In February. At least it was just for one day!! We enjoyed a nice family visit and lots of car nursing. Happy New Year, favorite blogger!
Liz
Hey Casey! When we moved in, the family before us had a dining room right next to a space for a kitchen table, which was redundant. We have used two different rooms for dining rooms, but yeah, there kind of were two spaces for dining before. It was a weird use of space! Now we have Nolan’s play room in what will probably become our dining room WAY down the road…