The Hygge Ranch: 60 Days Later & Projects We've Done So Far
Dear Diary -- some days, I honestly can't believe that we bought a house. And since this is my diary and a safe place, I feel okay with saying that there are even some days I wonder if we made a mistake.
Do I regret buying our house? Not even close!
But... baby... I most certainly underestimate how much I didn't know about being a first time homeowner. There really is so much that no one ever talks about, and not just the buying process.
Some days, I look around at all the things that need to be done — at all the things I'm learning — and I am motivated to tackle as much as a can and I get a lot done. But then there are the less kind days... and those days, the overwhelm cripples me — physically and mentally.
I remember our first week here, having to call to set up accounts for trash, water, and electric. While the latter wasn't anything new, that was a lot of adulting for one day! And each day has only gotten more and more adult.
My husband... he seems truly built for this.
Everyday he tackles a new task that I didn't even know needed tackling, etching away at the projects we've begun. Baby girl... well she's just happy to be here, even though on some days she wonders why we always have something to do — she's 5 so as far as she's considered, once we moved in, we were done. HA! So innocent.
Me... well, I'm still reeling from the living room refresh I started back at the apartment over the summer. The apartment was in complete disarray during this process, so by the time we moved, I was nearly 3 months into living in chaos. Now we're approaching another 3 months. As someone who is viscerally affected by my environment, this has made the adjustment all the more difficult.
Keeping busy helps.
Keeping still helps.
Really just depends on the day.
Nonetheless, diary, I am also happy to write that, when I take stock of the past 60 days — like an honest inventory — we have gotten so damn much done! It's almost astounding!
Living Room
While on the surface, the completion of the living room seems impressive, remember that I started this design over the summer. It was truly a matter of moving in & awaiting deliveries. All the behind the design details are here.
Dining Room
If I'm being completely honest, the dining room was NOT on my design agenda at all... but l'homme propose, Dieu dispose. Translation: man proposes, God disposes. Along with my design boo Rashida Banks, I partnered with The Home Depot for the holiday season. This allowed me the opportunity to create our dining room, complete with tablescape.
Bedrooms
We purposefully didn't make any major design plans for the bedrooms — some painting here, some decorating there... but nothing grand. We talked about replacing all the carpet in the house before we moved in, but since that didn't work out as planned, we had resigned to putting that on the back burner. The bedrooms though... the carpet being the original carpet — nearly 40 years ago! — versus the newer carpet downstairs, was something I quickly realized I couldn't just live with. We were able to pick our new flooring & have it installed just in time for us to finally move into our bedrooms before Christmas.
Laundry Room
Talk about a labor of love! Despite a number of delays, we finally got around to tiling the floor... after having already installed new lighting and painting. If you’ve been following along on my Instagram stories, then you already know that getting the appliances in the actual laundry room was no easy feat, but we made it happen and it ended up being the catalyst for an unexpected demo (and changes to the media room & study).
Media Room
After the One Room Challenge, I was inspired & committed to bringing this room to life — probably more than any of the others, but it has not been without its challenges. We removed the popcorn ceiling, updated the ceiling fan, and began painting — ceiling, trim, and doors all to Sherwin Williams' Tricorn Black — but had to put a pause on everything, even after the furniture came, to tackle the laundry room challenges.
The result? Switching the location of the study & the media room.
The new media room has been painted in Sherwin Williams' Cyberspace, just as we had planned for the original space, except this time, we decided to keep the ceiling & trim white. With more wall space, instead of a tv, we opted for a simple projector and now, it's a whole vibe in there even with so much still undone.
The Hygge Ranch
Now you can shop my designs & new home essentials
We still have A LOT of plans for the next 30 days, including our mini kitchen reno. And I haven't even gotten into a lot of the smaller things we've had to tackle — ya know... the things no one talks about.
From changing closet systems to updating the hardware to switching out the toilet seats. Admittedly, I've wondered if, on some level, we subconsciously succumbed to our own self-inflicted project pressure; but since all of the projects have forced my husband & I to have more frequent conversations about our plans — we're more doers than we are talkers, especially him — our frequent talks have actually helped us curb a lot of that project pressure. We've been able to talk through & prioritize, and give ourselves hard stops — what will it take for each in progress project to be complete... or at least complete enough to live with.
But no one tells you how overwhelming moving in and "getting settled" can be. NO one talks about how getting settled and feeling settled are not synonymous. Are we "settled in"? Yeah... sure. We have all of our accounts set up, beds to sleep in, internet up & running, and everything we need to live out our days. But do I actually feel settled? No where near it — projects are incomplete, my things aren't organized, and our systems are nonexistent. I'm grateful that we're no longer drowning in boxes to unpack and/or break down, but there are still so many boxes — I underestimated how much of a toll breaking down 18,965 lbs of boxes would take on body!
