rearranging

C and I moved into our house last September, and we've been renovating it ever since. It was built in the 50s and had been vacant for 5 years before we bought it, so a lot of things were outdated and/or in need of repair. We tackled the kitchen (and adjoining laundry room) first. Completely gutted it and installed new cabinets, countertops, and floors. [Side note: never do a kitchen renovation yourself unless you LOVE washing dishes in the bathtub for 6 months.] We (and by we I clearly mean C) then extended said floors into the rest of the house (except the bedrooms and bathrooms). New drywall and paint in the main room, and new trim everywhere. There are still projects that we want/need to do, but the place is looking pretty spiffy.

As a result of all of this turmoil, the state of our unpacking is... marginal at best. Oh sure, the house isn't strewn with boxes or anything, but the front bedroom... well.... there might be some boxes (and extra furniture) in there. C's friends from college and their kids came to visit a few weeks ago, and the 5-year-old looked in there and said "Do you NEED all this stuff?" No, Luke. No we don't. It was sort of the slap in the face that I needed to want to get things more in order instead of just shutting that bedroom door and pretending that it didn't exist.

The problem is this: C and I are both very independent people. It's amazing that we even like each other. We each owned a house when we got together (although I was in the process of selling mine), and so together we had two houses' worth of pretty nice furniture. Furniture that neither of us was willing to give up. We each have our own personal style, and those styles typically don't mesh. I'm more traditional (think dark wood and curved lines), and C is more modern-minimalist (think steel + wood). We each spent a decent amount of money on our own furniture, and weren't real crazy about the other's aesthetic choices. While compromises were made when we first moved in together (we kept my bedroom furniture and couches), this means we still have 2 sets of living room furniture. In the old house, we had a second living room (branded as my "office") set up in a spare bedroom. Out of control. In this house, I want the currently-spare bedrooms to have a better purpose. After all, one day they're going to be bedrooms for tiny humans! :)

Maybe 6 months or so after we moved in, we bought a king sized bed. This has been better for our marriage than just about anything else. Seriously, if you've got the space, get the king sized bed. Anyway, that meant that our old queen sized bed was available as a guest bed, so we set it up in the bedroom that wasn't filled with moving boxes (and extra furniture). Unfortunately, that bedroom also had the safe and my desk in it. Oh, and all of the wall art that we still haven't gotten around to hanging up yet. And, you know, random knitting projects. (Sigh.) Needless to say it's been a bit squishy in there for quite awhile.

For the past week or so we've been talking about rearranging some things. Getting rid of his desktop computer that's currently in the living room and replacing it with mine, which means we can disassemble the desk that's in the spare bedroom, which means... etc, etc. Well last night we actually did it. Despite a few arguments (just because I forgot the easy way to take the desk apart doesn't mean... well, maybe it does.), things are looking good and I'm already feeling better about things. Although we didn't get rid of anything, that's on the horizon, and nothing makes me feel better than a good purge. It's still going to be hard to get rid of my furniture (yeah, we decided to get rid of my furniture), but that's life. I'd rather be with my husband and his furniture than be by myself with my furniture. It's all about perspective. Still, it's hard to give up things that you still love and that are still perfectly nice. Oh well. Hopefully we can sell everything that we don't need anymore and get some cash out of it. That would be a very happy ending indeed.