Central Florida House Tour - The Living Room

While some of the rooms in a house are deemed most important (and rightfully so; bathrooms and kitchens are the most essential), I needed to get my living room set up quick because most of the large furniture needed to go in there. I didn't want to leave all the furniture in the garage with moving boxes and home decor and everything else. It would make finding anything near to impossible! So we got to setting up the living room mainly to get everything out of the way. What it ended up doing was making this empty shell of a house feel like home.

One of my favorite aspects of this living room is the tall ceilings and very tall sliding glass doors into the backyard. I was standing on my tip-toes and reaching up, and I was still almost a foot away from the top of the doors. I've never had sliding glass doors this tall - they let in a ton of light, especially in the mornings. You can see the patio beyond, and the area where the previous owner's dogs dug up all the grass. That's an area I'll have to work on soon, but for now, let's keep focusing on the living room.

The first day we moved in, all we had was the television set and the futon. All the other furniture was in the second Pod. I'm glad though, because this gave me time to evaluate how I wanted the room set up. On the original house plans, this room is called a great room, not a living room. It's open to the kitchen which is open to the dining area. The room is 17 1/2' x 14', so it's pretty large. However, the layout is a bit...challenging. On the one wall we have the sliding glass doors in the middle of the wall. They're as wide as they are tall - 96" both ways - so I couldn't put any furniture against that wall. The wall opposite isn't a wall at all; there's a breakfast bar that opens up into the kitchen, so furniture can't go against that either. The wall where the previous owners had their television is also the wall where the entry door to the master bedroom is. 

This meant that the only full wall in the living room was the wall opposite the TV wall. This is where the previous owners had their sectional, but it wasn't where I wanted to put mine. For one, it felt like the seating was far from the television set. It left so much empty space in the middle of the room that it felt awkward, and definitely not cozy which is what I like. Second, the wall where they had their TV wasn't going to work for me. I have my fireplace/tv stand with side-by-side bookshelves, and although they would technically fit on the wall, it was an exact fit which would make it look crowded - another look I don't want in my house. Besides, they'd made holes in the wall for the television set. They'd hung the TV on the wall and put in holes to run the cord behind the wall, thus keeping it hidden from view. That's great - if you want to hang your tv. I didn't. It's a look I personally don't care for and I never have liked. So, if I put my tv there I'd have to find a way to cover the hole, either by patching it or putting an outlet cover over it. Or, I could ditch that set up altogether and do something different. I went for the last option.

By putting the fireplace and bookshelves on the largest wall, I was able to space them out so they wouldn't be on top of each other, which actually makes the room look bigger because it isn't crowded.

It also meant I could "float" the sectional in the middle of the room. I was concerned whether this would work or not, since my sectional is pretty big. Once I laid down the area rug, though, I was sure it would fit fine. Here I put the sectional together without the armless chair, but I quickly realized I could add it to the sectional without any issues. Even so, I figured I could fit the sectional but probably not the chair and ottoman. I was wrong.

I put it just at the entry into the living room facing the sectional. I'd wanted it to face the tv, but I like it this way because it's more conducive to conversation.

Little by little the room began to take shape. This is what the living room looks like today, the warm and cozy room that is elegant while still welcoming.

Walking in from the entryway, the living room opens up to an inviting sectional with pillows and blankets for that cozy feel. The sliding glass doors have two sets of curtains; sheers under two-toned curtains which I had at our first house. These let in light during the day but cover everything up at night. I have the same coffee table with my Kirkland's pitcher and Walmart carnations. The Gather sign beyond invites everyone to come in and relax.

One of my biggest concerns was whether my bookshelf would fit in this living room. It had fit just fine in our first house, but that living room was bigger. It didn't fit in the living room in the townhouse, but that was okay because I put it in the den. I didn't want to have to sell this piece; it's a favorite of mine. Not to worry, though. It fits perfectly behind the sectional with plenty of room to walk, and the best part is that it covers up the holes for the tv cord so I didn't have to do anything to them. If I change my mind one day and decide I want to hang up my tv, I can do it on this wall. Though I don't see that happening any time soon.

I really, really like how this wall turned out. Not only because the fireplace, tv, and bookshelves fit so nicely, but because the high ceilings allowed me to layer decor above it. In the townhouse, I had the wall scroll over the television and it looked really nice. Whenever I was pulling out my decor, I found the sign that I'd bought from Hobby Lobby that says "Bless this home with love & laughter". In the townhouse I'd put this in the kitchen, but here I don't have any soffits to put it on like I did in the townhouse. As I looked around I wondered how it would look above the scroll. The answer? Perfect! The color of the letters matches the paint color, and the wood is almost identical to the wood color of the fireplace and bookshelves. It was like it was meant to be there! The wall with the clock took some time, because I wasn't sure if I wanted to put anything there, but once I put it up I knew it was just what that wall needed.

I'm so glad I decided to put this room together early. I didn't decorate it right away; I took care of setting up the bathrooms and kitchen first. But once the furniture was in, the echoing subsided and the warmth of our familiar furniture gave me the motivation to get everything done. This is probably my favorite room in the house - at least for now. Stay tuned, there's more to come. 

Central Florida House Tour - The Master Bedroom

I've decided to do a house tour similar to the one I did whenever we moved into our townhouse. I enjoyed doing a step-by-step transformation, though I have to confess I didn't take as many pictures as I should have. It couldn't be helped; there was so much to do and my focus was on getting the house cleaned and habitable. And I had a whole lot of cleaning to do. The more I looked, the more I was convinced the cleaning crew did little more than spray room freshener to make the house smell nice.

 This is just some of the pet hair from cleaning the baseboards and around the corners. I had my work cut out for me.

This was how the bedroom looked after the first night. I had only packed the essentials on the first pod so we'd have a place to sleep, and since the one nightstand hadn't fit on the first pod it ended up with the bed and bedding. This was my bedroom for the first three days, then slowly furniture and decor made its way in. This is the bedroom now:

I decorated somewhat similarly to how I had it in the townhouse, with the same bedding and the same artwork above the bed. I didn't put the area rug completely underneath the bed because it would make the room seem empty. Even though it's the same furniture, it feels different in this room with the gray tiles and walls.

Next to the bed is my vanity. It fits beautifully between the two windows.

On the next wall, next to the door into the bedroom, I've set up my office. I have my desk and file cabinet here, with some artwork my daughter gave me. I have some ideas for how I might rearrange the room, but for now this is working well.

The last wall has a weird shape that is perfect for my chest of drawers. It fits right in between the master closet on the left and the master bathroom on the right. It's like it was made for my furniture.

The master bathroom will be next - stay tuned!

Moving In

After moving into our townhouse, I could only think of how happy I was once all the unpacking was done. I could focus on making our new little house into a home and not on all the boxes, bags, and plastic containers.

Yet, here we were once again.

First off, let me take you on a quick empty house tour, and a look at what our first day living here in our new home was like.

I love the front door to our new house. I love the arched transom window and the side window that let in lots of light. 

Straight ahead of the front door is a small hallway. To the right are the secondary bedrooms.

The living room is spacious. It's about 17' x 14', larger than the living room in the townhouse or even the family room in our old house. I'll admit I'm not a fan of all the gray in this room. The walls are gray, the tiles look like cement, but those things can be changed in time. I plan to live with it for awhile, but in the future I want to paint the walls a creamy warm white that matches my warm toned furniture better. The tiles are not my favorite but they are sort of a greige, so I think if I warm up the paint on the walls the flooring will warm up as well.

The dining area is right off the kitchen and to the left of the front door. It's not a dining room; the original plans call it a breakfast nook. It's pretty big though, more than enough space for what we need, and we certainly don't need a formal dining room. The large arched window lets in tons of light.

I should've taken a picture of the kitchen before we unloaded the car - oops! It doesn't seem like much here, but trust me, it's a very nice kitchen. It's large and comfortable to work in, and it even fits the kitchen island my daughter and son-in-law gifted me at Christmas which made me oh so happy!

The master bedroom is massive. At 18' x 12 1/2', it's the largest master bedroom I've ever had. It's surprising to me, because this house has less square footage than either our old house or the townhouse, but it's laid out so well that the house feels much bigger than it actually is. 

Quick pic of the master bedroom. It smelled nice and fresh. I was soon going to find out it wasn't. 

The master closet is bigger than the one I had at our first house, but smaller than the one at the townhouse. Either way, it's more than enough for my needs.

My son's bedroom. It's not very big, about the size of the bedroom he had at our old house. The ceiling fan will be replaced soon. He's not too fond of the blue blades and pink flowery pulls.

He's not upset about the bedroom being smaller, because the third bedroom is his office/music room. The fact that he has a whole "wing" of the house to himself makes up for the smaller rooms. That, and the bathroom.

Not that he needs them, but he has double sinks in his bathroom.

The tub and toilet are separate from the sink area, making this bathroom almost as big as the master bathroom. It's twice the size of the bathrooms in both our old houses.

The first day we arrived at the house at around 2:00 pm. The Pod hadn't arrived yet, and whenever I called the company they said the container was scheduled to arrive between 6:00 and 10:00 that night. We had no furniture, just the items that we'd brought in the car. So what did we do till the Pod arrived? 

First things first, we went in to use the bathrooms. After a long trip it's the first thing anyone wants to do. I went into the master bathroom, toilet paper in hand, thinking the bathrooms had been cleaned professionally so they should be spotless. Whenever I lifted the toilet cover, I found that someone had used the bathroom and hadn't flushed. Now, I suspect it was one of the children. The sellers have three young children, and well, kids are kids. They do things like that. What was upsetting to me is that these sellers paid over $150 to have this house cleaned, and it obviously was not.

The tile grout throughout the house was grimy and pretty disgusting. The previous owners had two large dogs and a cat that came in and out of the house constantly, and the floors showed it. The house smelled of kitty litter. It was bad. So they paid to have the floors professionally cleaned, as well as the cleaning crew that came in to clean the house. Well, the tile grout was scrubbed till it now looks like new. However, it was clear that they used machines to clean the floors, and these got the baseboards and corners filled with grimy dirt that neither the floor cleaners nor the cleaning crew did anything about. All around the house the baseboards were filthy, muddy and had pet hair caked on to them. It was vile.

After lunch my son and I headed to Lowe's. There were two things I wanted to buy immediately: new toilet seats and some sort of cleaner. The toilet seats were double what I would have paid if I'd ordered them from Amazon, but I didn't want to wait till Monday to get my order. There was no way I was going to use those old, nasty looking toilet seats. I bought a bottle of Method all purpose cleaner to start the real cleaning process. My son decided he was exhausted and needed a nap. There were some blankets and his pillow, so he made himself a make-shift bed on the floor. I, on the other hand, got down on my hands and knees, and for the next several hours I scrubbed baseboards. There was nothing else to do in the house; no furniture to sit down on, no internet connections, nothing to distract me from looking at the dirt. It kept me busy till the Pod arrived.

And thankfully it arrived around 7:30 pm. Unfortunately, the driver had a hard time getting it unloaded, so that while it was still light outside whenever he got there, it was dark by the time he left. Here it was, 8:30 at night, and we were unloading beds, mattresses, and bedding so we could get our beds set up. It took another couple of hours before we were done and ready to hit the sack. We couldn't even shower; I hadn't cleaned the bathrooms because all my bathroom cleaners were in the Pod. I didn't care. I was too tired to care. All I wanted was to get a good night's sleep, because the next day was going to be a busy one.

But that's a post for another day. See y'all soon!

A Quick Update

It's been almost a week now, but yes, we made it and we are moved in! I didn't have internet for a few days, and then it was unloading the pods and getting everything into the house while my son finished three college classes, so it's been a whirlwind of activity in our new house. I'll be updating slowly - there's still much to be done but now that my son is done with the semester and the pods are empty I can work at a slightly slower pace. 

We are so happy in our new home and neighborhood! God has been gracious to us and has provided over abundantly. Can't wait to share all the moving and decorating that's been going on!

 

Week In Review

The saying "Never a dull moment" certainly described this past week. 

Monday was a pretty good day. My back was feeling much better, and I was able to go grocery shopping and get some errands done. My daughter, who hadn't been feeling too well, stayed home from work. The previous week she'd had a stomach bug which no one else in the family caught, so it might well have been food poisoning, but now she had a stuffy nose and sinus congestion. Not unusual for this time of year; it's pollen season in Florida and allergies are running rampant. Others at her job were also sick so she wasn't entirely sure it was just allergies so she decided to stay home. She hadn't slept very well either, thanks to all the congestion. We all figured some rest would do her good.

Tuesday morning she was still all stuffed up and still hadn't slept more than a couple of hours. She decided a trip to the minute clinic was in order; Mucinex didn't seem to be enough. Since she works at a school she also went to get tested for Covid just to be safe. The week before, with the stomach bug, she'd gotten tested twice and both times tested negative. The doctor at the minute clinic told her she had a lot of fluid in her ears and nasal passages, common with bad allergies. He prescribed Zyrtec along with the Mucinex and a round of antibiotics to kill any bacteria that could cause infection. Then she got both the rapid and PCR tests for Covid and came home. About an hour later she got the rapid test result: Positive. Can y'all say panic?! I hate to admit it, but my first thought was, "I'm closing in 10 days, we can't get Covid!" I know I should have been worried for her first, but the truth is she didn't have fever, loss of taste, breathing issues (other than her nose was stuffed up), all her symptoms indicated a simple head cold, not a pandemic virus. The only reason she got tested was because she works at a school. If she'd worked anywhere else she wouldn't have bothered because she'd tested negative twice just a few days earlier. 

Within a couple of hours she got a call from the health department to take down her information. Since she'd also gotten the PCR test which, according to the CDC, is a more accurate test, she asked if it was possible for the PCR to come back negative. "No", she was told, "you can get a false negative but not a false positive. If you got a positive result it's because there's something there and the test detected it." So the quarantining began. We all stayed far from each other, she stayed in her bedroom with a mask, and the three of us went to get tested. All our tests came back negative, praise the Lord. She called her boss, while I emailed my realtor. We prepared for whatever might come.

Wednesday I went back to our old neighborhood - not the one we just moved out of, the previous one. My son has his favorite barber there, and I wanted to go see some friends and the new sanctuary that our church recently inaugurated. I had coffee with my best friend and realtor, then went by our old house to see our neighbor and catch up. It was such a nice day, but the Covid thing was always on the back of my mind. I was praying that my daughter's next test would come back negative even though she'd been told it was unlikely. I also prayed that neither my son E nor I would catch it.

Thursday morning I awoke to glorious news: her PCR test did in fact come back negative. Praise Jesus! I was over the moon thrilled! She was more confused than anything. She called the health department and asked how it was possible that she'd gotten a positive rapid result but a negative PCR. They told her the PCR was the more accurate test, so if it came back negative then the first test was a false positive. She argued that she'd been told she couldn't get a false positive, but this person told her that information was incorrect. Then she spoke to a doctor who said she should get tested again because one of the tests was wrong and the PCR might be the false negative. Honestly, I don't think anyone really knows what's right and what's wrong. By Thursday she was feeling 95% back to normal thanks to the meds the minute clinic doctor had given her. I'm still of the opinion it wasn't Covid; it was a head cold or really bad allergies, and either way it's gone. She's back to her old self, none of us has gotten anything, and we are just thankful that God spared us. Can we still catch the virus? Of course. But I don't dwell on that. We are happy and healthy and for that I'm grateful.

The next few days were project days. I wanted to help my son-in-law out with some to-do's before I left. Thursday and Friday we worked on the laundry room refresh that I posted about last week. Then Sunday I helped him put up window blinds in the dining room. They'd had some old vertical blinds that had yellowed with age and didn't look good at all. The new bright white blinds not only look better, they make the whole room look bigger and brighter. I'm so happy I could do this for them. They've been so good to us, it was the least I could do.

This week is the big week. Lord willing, we close on our house on Friday. I have a virtual walk-thru scheduled for 9:00 am. Since I won't have a mortgage, I can sign all the documents online and send them in via email. Within an hour I can be done and on my way to our new house. My, how times have changed! It's so much easier now to do things, what with the internet and all. I'm not gonna lie, I'm excited, nervous, and sad all at the same time. Excited to be moving in to a new house; nervous because I'm a planner and I keep going over everything, trying to make sure I have all my ducks in a row; and sad because I know how much I'm gonna miss my daughter and it hurts my heart that she won't be a 3 minute drive away. This move is bittersweet for that reason, but I know God has a plan and a purpose for everything, and that He works all things together for good for those who love Him. I'm resting in that knowledge and praising him along the way. 

A New Project

 My kids know me so well. They know I love a project. Putting things together, painting a piece of furniture or a room, decorating for a new look...anything that makes me feel productive. My daughter delivered, and while my shoulders are killing me I feel accomplished. Hard work is worth it whenever you can appreciate the end results.

I'd done my laundry room/closet at my townhouse and my son-in-law really liked it. He asked if I'd consider doing the same thing for their laundry closet. Theirs is in the kitchen and is slightly larger than mine was, and I was up to the challenge. My laundry room had a wood-looking wallpaper, in a cream and brown tone. My kid's home is decorated in cooler tones; the walls are all light gray. It wasn't going to work with the warmer tones that I'd used, so I sent them pictures of different peel and stick wallpaper to look at and consider. They came back with a brick pattern that is what I would call greige - not to warm but not complete cool either. It was the perfect color and pattern for the look they wanted.

I didn't get any before pictures because my daughter emptied everything out before I had a chance to, and whenever I was working I didn't stop to take pictures. But this is what it looked like after putting up the wallpaper and new shelves:

The wallpaper was surprisingly easy to put up, except whenever it was time to get around all the plumbing. It was tricky but I managed to get it all covered. My daughter picked out the darker colored wood shelves to make the room look more elegant. There was white, light wood, and gray wood as well. I took a piece of the wallpaper with us to Home Depot so we could find the right color and the dark wood worked. We used decorative brackets that are much nicer than the plain ones. They're more expensive but like my son-in-law said, for an extra $20 they got a higher end look so it's worth it.

I'm glad I was able to do this for them before I leave for Central Florida. An update on our move is coming - stay tuned!
  

The Week In Review

I usually do my weekly reviews on Sundays, but I'm sorta stuck at home today. I figured out the pain in my lower back, which radiates down my leg, is actually sciatica. I've had this before, whenever I was pregnant but after that as well. It's always gone away on its own so I'm not overly concerned. I just have to take it easy so the swelling of the muscles goes down and I can go back to normal. And it's really important that I get my mobility and strength back, because my realtor emailed me some good news this week. 

The reason we haven't moved into our house is because the sellers are building a new home, and they can't move into their home until it's completed. They requested extra time, and we agreed to give them until April 23rd. The problem is that new builds aren't predictable. Weather, materials, inspections, anything can cause a delay. They were told their house would be ready by the second or third week of April, but what if there were glitches? The sellers are trying to save money so going to a hotel with three kids, two dogs and a cat would be very expensive. We agreed that if they stayed in the house longer than the 23rd they would have to pay $100 per day, but we've already been in my daughter's house for a month, plus we've been sleeping here since late January. There's also the rental charges on the Pod containers to take into consideration. I was hoping and praying that they would be out of the house on time so we wouldn't have to wait any longer.

My realtor is so amazing. She has been in contact with the seller's agent on a weekly basis and keeping me in the loop. This week she emailed me a copy of a text she received from the seller's agent, saying that the sellers are on schedule to be out of the house a couple of days prior to closing, and they'd have the house and floors professionally cleaned before then as well! Thank You Jesus!! If all goes well (and I realize something can always come up) we will be able to close and move in on the 23rd, which is now less than two weeks away! Y'all, I cannot tell you how much I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed again, LOL! Don't get me wrong, I am so grateful to my daughter and son-in-law for taking us in, and thankful to God that He has provided for us. But I'm ready to start the next chapter of our lives in our new house, in our new city, getting to know the new area and seeing what God has in store.

So even though my week has been spent resting and not doing much of anything, I feel it has been productive. I've made a meal plan for the first couple of weeks in the new house, along with a shopping list. The refrigerator is scheduled to be delivered the day after we move in; once it's in we can buy groceries and stock the house with food. I also have a list of things I want to buy prior to the move. The nearest Costco is almost an hour away from our new house, so I won't be going there as often as I do now. There are certain items that I always get at Costco because they've got the best prices: facial tissues, toilet paper, allergy medicine, and a few other items. I've got two moving checklists going, one of things that have to be taken care of before the move, and one for immediately after. Next week I'll be setting up utilities so that nothing gets cut off whenever we move in. After that there's updating all my accounts with the new address. I'm a list lover so being able to sit down and get that organized and done gives me peace of mind.

I've had mixed emotions this past month. It still saddens me that I moved out of my townhouse, not because I didn't like it there, but because I was driven out by a stalker. I don't wish that on anyone. At the same time, I'm excited about the move, the new house, decorating, all that fun stuff. It's change, it's learning to accept change, and looking at it with the right perspective.