Well, well, well. So what do we have here?

A brand new year and a brand new website. A girl needs a pick-me-up now and again. I know you know the feeling – looking at the same thing over and over again until you about go crazy. Well, it’s not only my old blog that was giving me those winter blues. It’s my house too.

I love this house. Don’t get me wrong.  

But for the love, how long can a girl look at the same “problems” without them stealing a bit of her soul? We guestimated this project would take about five years (it’s going to take longer), but the truth is, there are eight people here all day, every day, and we live hard in this house. The changes we made to “neutralize the ugly” have come and gone.

Neutralizing the ugly. Always my initial design move.

For most of us, it’s impossible to have a concrete design plan right from the start. For me, it’s much easier to design something “eternal” for a client than it is for myself. In my own world, the space needs time to speak to me and share its potential, you might say. In the meantime, while I’m waiting for that communication from my space, it is vital to get rid of the soul-sucking ugly. And that is what we spent most of the first few years doing to this house, removing the soul-sucking ugly.

In the kitchen, we tore down horrid old cupboards and scraped off wallpaper only to have to hold the countertops up with the one thing we could get our hands on that winter – tree trunks. We ripped mauve carpeting out of bathrooms only to have plywood left behind. And we removed indoor deck wood spindles only to stare at them, wondering what would ever possess a sane builder to use deck railing in someone’s dream home (circa 1984).

It’s not only Jen who needs to “circle back around.” 

We’ll be spending much of this year “circling back around” to those parts of the house where we neutralized the ugly and then spent the next four years living HARD in that space. 

Our ‘to-do’ list is long and fabulous.

• Plastic switch plates that I threw paint on will be replaced with proper wooden switch plates painted to match the walls.
• Bathrooms that we deconstructed (so that I could remain sane), will now be finished so that I… can remain sane. (And married).
• 2×4 handrails will finally be used for firewood instead of graceful ascension down the stairs.
• Raw drywall will finally receive its color.
• And the deck railing? Heaven help us. That’s going to take an exorcism.

And that, Captain Smtih, is just the TIP of the Iceberg. It’s going to be a busy year, and you’ll hear NO complaints from me. I’ve got my tools charged up and my colors picked out. 

I get asked so often about the paint colors in our home.

Would you like my current color palette for 2022? Be sure you leave your email on the way out so I can give you my Paint Chart Printable. They all work together and either lend drama to a space or softly support some of our more dramatic furnishings. Between paint colors and remodeling, my creative brain is on fire between this house and the rental cottage we are working on. 

Yes, you read that right; our FIRST RENTAL COTTAGE! 

More on that later. I promise.

The washer and dryer are being hauled up to our new master bath as I type. You’ll have to pinch me as a master bath seems so luxurious and decadent, but we had the perfect space off of my office. This new bathroom will allow me to finally create some sanity in my boot room. That disaster of a room full of wet snow gear and insulation coming out of the wall. (Yes, the room I’m always joking about on the podcast.).  

I’ve got an idea –

Why don’t you watch this video? My first video of the year. I’m taking. you on a tour of everything that is WRONG with this house. (OK, not EVERYthing. But enough. Trust me.)

Thanks for being here. It’s been so long since I blogged like a proper blogger, and it feels good to be back. I’m glad you are here.