Lucky

I find that I often take things for granted.  It took me until last night (while entertaining in my new kitchen for the first time) to realize how much we have been able to accomplish by ourselves over the last few months.  I am truly lucky to have such a handy husband (who knew?), and we are both very very lucky to have family and friends that have been willing to help out (and deal with our craziness) during this process.  Yes, it has taken much longer than we imagined (or at least than I imagined), but it has been rewarding.  Not only did we save a lot of money, but we also grew as individuals and as a team.  I know it sounds cheesy, but to make it through this with our sanity (which b will argue is debatable on my part) and still in love is nothing short of a miracle. 

We've also picked up some pretty fun skills along the way.  Just this past weekend - my parents were down helping finish some projects while b was traveling - I installed molding by myself for the first time.  normally this is b's department, but I felt handy that morning and decided to give it a go.  I took all of my measurements, ran outside, set up the mitre saw, cut a few pieces of quarter round, turned on the air compressor and just waltzed in the bathroom with a nail gun in hand (right past my mother with her jaw hanging on the floor).  Without hesitation or doubt, I just lined up the pieces, put a little wood glue on the back and fired some nails through the molding.  I'm fairly certain that both of my parents were standing outside the door waiting with a phone in hand to call 911 in case I nailed my finger to the wall....BUT I DIDN'T!  And it looked good.  I bet you thought I was going to say that I totally ruined it, but I actually didn't.  I was beaming from ear to ear the rest of the day.  It was just one little project, but it made me feel so accomplished.  It is totally empowering.  And if I can do it, then you can DEFINITELY do it.  I will write up a little molding tutorial in the next few weeks for anyone that wants to give it a try.  :)

So back to the whole "lucky" thing.

It didn't hit me until a few friends starting commenting on the transformation that I felt like it was real.  Being so involved in the process, you tend to forget the "before" images and just become enveloped by the "during" ones.  I definitely saw the beauty and potential in the house when we first looked, but once we started tearing down walls and wreaking havoc on the place, I lost sight of that vision.  I suppose it was always in the back of my mind, but the dust and dirt and plastic has been fogging up my design mojo for waaaaay too long.  We hung up our first frame on the wall the other day (gasp) and I instantly felt more at home.  I know its a small improvement, but every little bit helps.     

I am finally starting to fall in love with my house....