Tag: renovation

Moving On

~ kristalauren ~ Leave a comment

If you told me to describe our future home using 3 adjectives, these are what I would choose — cozy, clean, and chic. When we first started putting everything together I was leaning more towards a coastal vibe, but seeing that we live nowhere near a beach, that makes absolutely no sense. I love simple elegance and despite living with two messy boys (in their defense, I’m not particularly neat either), I love a clean looking home.

I hate warm tones and prefer cooler colors in a home. Before we decided to build, my husband realized pretty darn fast that I really do not like beige, particularly in a bathroom. I had to laugh any time we visited a new place and he would shout, “Babe, you’re going to want to change the tile in here!” about any bathroom that was remotely tan. The funny thing is, our last home had all beige bathrooms, but we weren’t going to stay in our townhouse long enough to make even a tiny reno worth it. I was incredibly happy there and cried when my husband said he wanted to move into our forever home. We had made so many great memories there and I loved the location. I loved our neighborhood, our neighbors, and how much it just felt like home. Now that we’re several months removed from living there I’m straight excited about moving, but it definitely wasn’t that way during the moving process. It was really bittersweet. I would have been happy living there forever, but there’s something exciting about moving to a place you know you’re going to stay put. Here are some photos of our first home together — kind of the “before” collage:

We will always have a flag out front. I had someone paint our new home as a present for Robert, and asked for our little pine tree and American flag to the watercolor.
This was our kitchen! It actually makes me kind of sad looking at this photo. Not too long ago I made lots of dinners in this space.
Knock out the arch, replace the countertop, stain the railing, change the fan, and get rid of those ceilings! Sorry — I thought you were asking how I would like to renovate this space.
Such a special little space.
I didn’t spend a lot of time making this house our home, but in hindsight I could have at least replaced the mirror and added paint for a small price.
This was the office Robert made for me. He got the desk for my birthday a few years ago, and built me a gaming computer during COVID!

Selling our house in this market was great. It was gone in a week, but buying was a whole other story. If you’ve been in the market for a house the past 8 months or so, you’ve probably noticed how insanely low rates got, which caused a huge amount of people to rush out and try to get a new home if they weren’t busy refinancing their own. It got so competitive it wasn’t unusual for a home to have 15 or more bids on it. We started shopping at a really bad time (lots of the winter months), so there was such a small selection of houses that were even on the market. Of course, now that we have a place, I’ve seen a million homes go on the market that are great and we would have bid on, but it’s still been so fun getting to create what we want together. More on that another day.

Can I Have Your Cobblestones?

~ kristalauren ~ 6 Comments

I got a glimpse into one of the most hilarious corners of adult life this week — the Facebook Marketplace.

Being a homeowner has been fun because I love our place, but it’s also a whole lot of work. We are redoing our back yard right now, and dug up about 400 cobblestones that must have been put in as some sort of underground patio by the last owners. These things are easily a pound each, and it would not be fun taking them all to the dump, so I listed them on Facebook Marketplace to get rid of them. Guys. My phone blew up. 

“Hi, is this item available?”

“Hello, I’d like to come take a look at the cobblestones.”

“Hey, when can I come pick up the stones?”

“I can come get them today, give me your address.”

I got dozens of messages in the matter of minutes, and they just kept coming. It was amusing, but also stressful enough that I didn’t check my Facebook messages for a few days after creating my listing. When I finally had the patience and courage to sort through everything, I signed on to weed through all the people who wanted our cobblestones. My method was pretty simple. Women got priority because I would rather have a woman come to my house than a man (Why? Check out my last post). Then they got eliminated from the list if their profile picture wasn’t of them. I love dogs more than just about anyone, but I’d like to know whoever is coming over doesn’t mind putting her face out there for me to see. Finally, the easiest part was that I just gave whoever reached out first the priority. This whole week I’ve been bombarded with more messages that I could have ever imagined, been ghosted by people who claimed to want the stones, and finally met up with a really nice couple who is going to use them on their horse farm.

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As anxiety-inducing as the Facebook Marketplace is, I’d definitely recommend it to anyone trying to get rid of any sort of home goods. People on there are sharks just waiting for something to chomp down on, and if you don’t feel like hauling something away, your trash could be another person’s treasure.

What do you think one of the most hilarious things about being in your late twenties or early thirties is? Do you have any experience with the crazy world of Facebook Marketplace? 

A Visit From The Fire Department

~ kristalauren ~ 9 Comments

Oh my gosh, I have had such a crazy day already and it’s only 1 PM!

After a relaxing morning of writing a little and going for a walk since it’s like, above 70 degrees in February, I used the gas stove top to make a light lunch. It didn’t turn off, though, and kept clicking with little spurts of gas coming out. I went to the neighbors’ house to see if they knew what to do with no avail. So I called our gas company, who sent me to a contractor, who said they weren’t allowed to work with stove tops like ours anymore and sent me to the local fire department.

I was super embarrassed to call — especially because I went on a date with someone who works there once — but a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do! The people on the other end of the non-emergency fire line were incredibly nice and said that yes, they were the correct people to call for this kind of thing.

Macy and I waited outside for about ten minutes before the fire truck pulled up to our house.

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I didn’t have any time to put makeup on before leaving the house, so pulled the classic “hide behind a hat” move.

We heard the truck’s massive engine a full minute before it actually got to our house, and it was kind of hilarious to see all the neighbors lined up along the street, unashamed of being nosy to see what was going on.

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Three people came up to the house — two men and a woman — and it was actually really cool getting to watch them in action. They shut off the gas, told me that I should never do that myself, as I’m not trained to do so with this type of equipment, and said we needed an entire new gas stove top. Noted.

The female told me that it was really good I had called, and that women should certainly know how to take care of things around the house. It was actually really neat seeing how knowledgeable everyone was, and it inspired me to learn more about how to take care of minor problems in the home. I know my POTS prevents me from doing a lot of physical activities (And thinking altogether if I have brain fog or dizziness!), but I still think it is important to know what needs to be taken care of — even if I need to ask someone else to help me actually do it.

I waved goodbye to everyone as they drove off, and took a mental note to bake them all some goodies later this weekend to say “thank you” for coming over. People like that are really wonderful, as they essentially chose a job where they serve people all day long. Now I have to go take a nap, though, since sitting outside in the hot sun took a lot out of the POTSie in me. Have a great rest of your Thursday, friends!

Guarded

~ kristalauren ~ Leave a comment

My last relationship left me with dust and rubbish. It was as if a storm came in and demolished everything beautiful I had taken so long to build. How could someone else completely ruin me like that? When did I give him that kind of power?

I spent months sitting in the middle of the wreckage. I was paralyzed from the shock of it all and couldn’t move — until I saw a little flower peeking out from the middle of the place my comfortable home used to be. I cautiously walked over to it and took note of the beauty that was before me in such a gray space.

Finally after gaining my strength and seeking help from others, we rebuilt a new, stronger foundation. I had been naive last time, failing to build walls on my home and trusting the man I loved not to destroy it. This time I put up giant concrete walls. No one would even think about trying to break them down; they were my fortress and protection. Nobody could come in, but I couldn’t get out.

Then I met someone new. He tore down my hard, concrete walls and rebuilt a home with windows so the sun could shine through.

Now there’s a garden with flowers and I can come and go as I please. He can come inside and sit with me. I notice the clouds when they’re looming outside, but more days are sunny than not. I go outside and dance in the rain, and I have realized that a life filled with love is completely worth risking another storm. I now know that I can make it through any kind of weather that comes my way and that there is always going to be beauty in my life — even if it’s just a single flower in the middle of a bunch of ruins.

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This picture was taken by my beautiful friend Audrey, who also did my hair and makeup for our shoot. Check her out if you need a photographer in the DMV!