My Real (Messy) Life

The Nester has issued a challenge, and it’s a doozy. She asked us to take photos of our homes the way they look today and show the world how we really live. Gulp.

I’ve been working around the clock for the past two weeks while I’ve been juggling various writing projects. Let’s just say cleaning the house has fallen to the bottom of my to-do list. This is possibly the worst time in the world for me to invite you in to look around.

I’m thinking that if I just take close-ups of everything, like this bowl of apples on my kitchen table, then it might look just fine! No one will see the mess that lurks all around it. The crumbs on the chairs and floor. The pile of dishes in the kitchen sink.

But I know that’s not the point of the challenge. The point is to see how beautiful our lives are, even though they aren’t perfect. Or, as the Nester puts it, “It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful.”

Why do I get the sinking feeling she might retract that statement after she sees my place?

Oh, what the heck. Come on in. I’ll resist the urge to discreetly wipe the dust off surfaces or toss any toys under the beds. I’m sure you could use a good laugh. And there’s nothing like seeing someone else’s mess to make you feel better about your own place. I’ll think of this as an exercise in building your self-esteem.

We usually come in through the back door and into the mudroom. Oops. I tripped over a pair of shoes to get this shot, but don’t worry. I kicked them aside for you.

Here’s a question: why can’t we seem to put the shoes in the cubbies where they belong? Why are they always scattered all over the floor, and in a pile in the doorway?

The next room is the kitchen. I spent the last two days moving everything around in here. I bought a bunch of new plates and accessories in turquoise and I’ve been trying them out to see if they’ll work. I’m still not sure.

As I explained in my post about Decorating in Black & White, I like to keep everything neutral so I can change the colors with the seasons. I do orange in the Fall and red and silver in the winter. In the Spring I usually have green in here, but this year I wanted some bright blues instead. I’m not sure they’re working, though. I’ll keep shuffling things around.

As you can see, it’s all still in a state of flux, with the boxes and bags they came in scattered around, along with everything else. I can’t decide what I want on top of the cabinets. Dave is about to install molding along the tops of the cabinets, anyway, so maybe I should just wait and figure it out after he’s done.

Let’s get a good look at the kitchen window. Notice anything missing inside that frame? Yep, I still haven’t gotten around to putting a picture in there.

The kids were trying to eat lunch while I snapped these photos. “What are you doing, Mom?”

Lily, who didn’t know her brother was giving her bunny ears, said, “Make sure you get Jacob in the picture. You need to tell everyone who reads your blog that he’s the coolest brother ever!” She might change her mind when she sees what he was doing in the background.

On to the family room:

There’s a Risk game in progress. Those can last for days. Jacob and Dave will resume the game tonight after Dave gets home from work. One reason I want a dining room table so badly is so that we can play board games on it. We play a lot of games around here, and it’s hard to fit all the pieces on the coffee table.

Now let’s poke our heads down in the basement to see what kinds of mess the kids have made over the last few days. I haven’t been down here for awhile, so I’m not sure what to expect.

I’m so sorry. It’s worse than I thought. Let’s head back up, shall we? Quickly!

Next stop: Dave’s study, which is a work in progress. We recently put my piano in there–it’s the one I grew up practicing on, and it’s the one my mom had when she was a girl, too. I’ve had that picture propped on it for over a month. I keep waiting for it to hang itself, but it never does.

You can also see the step ladder and various other things we’ve been using during the dining room remodeling project. His study has basically turned into one giant work zone.

If you peek out the french doors from Dave’s study, across the foyer, you’ll see the dining room that we’ve been working on for months now. It’s still not finished. But it’s getting there. See? We’ve already done a ton of work.

When we started, the dining room looked like this:

Yeah, we had carpet in the dining room. Why? No idea. The builder put carpet in all of the dining rooms in our neighborhood. We never used this room as a dining room–it was more of a sitting room, or a room to hold a piano in. Total waste of space. We’re trying to change all that.

So we replaced the carpet with hardwoods that match the foyer and kitchen, and Dave has added crown molding, a chair rail, wainscoting, and trim around the window and doorway (I don’t call him “Handy” for nothing!). Now we just have to get a new chandelier, window treatment, and, oh, yeah, furniture!

Now let’s go upstairs and peek inside the kids’ rooms. Brace yourselves:

Apparently my children don’t like closed drawers. They like their clothes to breathe.

And, our final stop on the tour, the playroom at the end of the hall:

Well, at least that’s not so bad. It took everything I had not to straighten the slipcover and pillows on the sofa before taking the picture, though. This is the first kitchen table we ever owned as a couple. It makes a great craft table for the kids now:

Whew! This concludes your tour of my real (messy) life. I hope you feel better about the state of your own house now.

If you’re feeling brave, join us! Head over to The Nesting Place for instructions if you want to play along on your own blog, or visit all the other blogs that are inviting us into their homes today.

There’s so much pressure on us to be perfect all the time. To be perfect parents of perfect children. To have the perfect career. To have the perfect wardrobe and perfect hair. And perfect houses to boot. It can be exhausting, really.

So let’s give ourselves a break today. Repeat after me The Nester’s famous words:

“It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful…“

If You Want to See More:

• Before & After: My Writing Room Makeover
• Crown Molding Magic: Our Fireplace Makeover
• Decorating in Black & White: My Family Room Through the Seasons
• Lily’s Little Bathroom Makeover

Tagged as: children, Decorating, House Tour, motherhood, Nesting Place