Sharing some reflections of this year so far and photos of our little-but-not-really-little remodel!
I don’t know how to describe it all, but these past months have felt chaotic, like I need to muster up all the stamina, find ways to keep my calm, try to come out of all this resilient… In all aspects of life from two constantly bickering toddlers, to little hiccups in personal relationships, to the busyness of my day job to many other things, never mind the constant chaos of the world as the backdrop. It’s been a lot. And among all of it, we’ve been sleeping out of our living room for months with all the items that were stashed away in our bedroom all cluttered around it. I always dream of the day when my surroundings would feel more minimal, but this was nothing but.
Several months ago, I decided to finally take a ballet class; it’s been a looong time since I’ve taken a class after having kids. Signed up for the class, gathered all my energy and excitement only to dig through the back of my closet for all my ballet clothes and shoes to find that half of it is grossly disintegrated in black mold. Horrifying, and sadly my only pair of pointe shoes ever looking half burnt (I have a photo, but I’ll save you from that) in a fire all had to be thrown away. We discovered that the floor beneath my closet was buckled up. The cause was our bedroom bathroom, the shower side adjacent to our closet, was likely leaking underneath the shower bench for who knows how long. Needless to say, we needed to vacate the room. We had a mold remediation team come in to remove any signs of mold, basically tearing down our shower, bathroom, closet, and part of our bedroom floors, dry out all the wood, etc.
My bedroom and bathroom were probably the last spaces on my list of house things to remodel, and now it became the top. As busy working parents, it took a long time for us (mostly Stephen) to research and vet out contractors for this job. Perhaps, this would’ve all been completed months ago, but it took awhile before we even had anyone come in. Now, after the fact, I am glad we took as long as we did because it gave me time to really brainstorm what I wanted out of it.
^some initial ideas, which over time changed into what it is now
I like many of the modern bathroom looks out there, but I also wanted this space to bring extra color and joy since that’s where I find my moments of quiet and respite from the noise of the day. It took awhile for me to figure out the palette I wanted, pretty tiles that were affordably priced (looooove Fireclay, but they’re way above my price point) and all the fixtures to complete it. Of course, I referenced many of Ohjoy’s house remodel and constantly browsing Pinterest. While using ChatGPT to come up with a layout may have been faster, I’m glad I took the long way – going back to the heart of why AI cannot do the job of an artist… it’s all in the little decisions. I am so pleased in the end with our corals, greens and touches of brass/gold.
^We also replaced our old carpet in our bedroom that this house came with with floors that matched the rest of our house, brighter lights, new paints. We feel so good!
Through it all, I remain grateful. I did not forget that woe-is-me-sleeping-out-of-my room that I actually have a house and a healthy family. These inconveniences are just that, inconveniences. And, with all this shuffling about, it reminds me of what are important objects in our material lives and what isn’t and should be let go. Things are feeling better than it did months ago, and yes, I did actually return to dance class. <3
