Making a “House” a “Home”: Step 1

The first step to making a house feel like home is to add something that you love as soon as possible.  For me that would be a coffee pot!  The funny thing is that I was planning to remove that awful wallpaper first thing, but once the coffee pot was in place and few days spent there the wallpaper started to grow on me.  I think it will still be removed, but it has moved down the list of things to do first. 

We are dragging this move out over a 2 month period so we are moving things up one carload at a time for now.  Last week was the first week.  We picked up our keys and ordered the mailbox key and took the first load of stuff to the house.  This load included a blow up air bed, toiletries, kitchen utensils, a little food and a can of paint.  After the car was unloaded we took a trip to Wal-Mart and bought a microwave, a mini refrigerator and a ladder along with other essentials.  We must have done good, because by the time we had to leave to return to our dreaded apartment we were calling this place “home” and the apartment is just “the apartment”.  It will be a long 2 months, but it will give us time to settle in and earn a little more money to pay the rent on the dreaded apartment which still has a 2 month lease and more importantly a little more time to spend with friends and family who I am sure we will miss when the move is complete.  When we get all settled we are hoping the friends and family will be able to enjoy many visits to us in our new place.  I talked to a woman the other day who has spent the last 13 years living in 2 states.  She says they live in each house for 2 weeks each month and have earned a lot of flying miles.  I asked how she does it and she said that is has just become a way of life for her.  I am such a homebody that just 2 months is going to be difficult.

We are off again today to spend a few days at “home”.  On the agenda this week will be our first painting project.  We are going to start with laundry/mud room which is the entry that most people seem to use to go into this house. 

Last week we swept down cobwebs and cleaned cupboards.  The carpet is new and it filled the vacuum bag with lint 2 times.  After all this was done we did have time to relax and enjoy a few very nice sunsets.  It seems the back deck is so strategically placed for enjoying the most amazing sunsets, something you don’t get to do ever at the apartment.  I tried to take a picture of the view, but sunsets aren’t easy to capture on my camera so just use your imagination and think of one of the most awesome sunsets you have ever seen with very intense colors.  Remember I have been living in a smog filled city so fresh country air and no city lights at night makes the sky look bluer and sunsets and stars even more intense.

I’m off to make a house a “home”.

Ferne