Homeownership {Month 1}

Well, today marks about 1 month, 6 days into our homeownership. It’s been great to not have ogres stomping on top of us like we did in our apartment. It’s nice being able to blast Glee songs at obscene volumes whenever I’d like. Pee Wee loves having a huge yard to run around tormenting squirrels in. All in all, it’s been great.

It’s also been overwhelming because there’s a ton of stuff I want to do, and no time or money to do it in. I mean, we have a reasonable amount in savings, but rather than dry that up with projects we “want” to do but don’t “need” to do, we’re saving it for when something that we HAVE to take care of arises. Like when we were without hot water for 5 days or so, and we thought our water heater was broken. We called our home warranty service, they sent out a plumber, and we ended up paying $60 to have the plumber switch on the water heater breaker for us. Yes, you read that correctly. All they did was flip the damn switch back on. I took frigid cold showers and had flu symptoms for a week over a SWITCH. I thought our water heater breaker would be where the other breaker switch thingies were in the house, but apparently the panel for our water heater is outside on the side of the house. During a crazy windstorm, the door blew open and the switch magically switched to off. We paid SIXTY dollars for that. SIXTY!!!

Crap.

We also paid $175 to do preventative pest control in our home, attic and outdoor buildings. They got rid of a ton of wasps nests so that it’d be safe to be outside.

This homeownership gig is expensive. Our first mortgage payment isn’t even due until December 1st, so luckily we had about a month and a half to not have to worry about it, and we put that extra money towards our car so we can pay it off in June of 2011.

So, what have we done then? Well, lots of laundry, and hey, no need to put quarters in the machine. Love that! I’ve never washed without having to put in quarters. I feel all luxurious and pampered when I do laundry because my washer/dryer chimes when it’s done and it has fancy schmancy features. I installed a light fixture.

Yup, that’s about it. I had a grand idea to paint over the wood paneling in our living room, which looks like this (mind you, these pics are all when the seller still lived here):

I’ve lounged in our living room plenty since we bought the house, but I always feel kinda gloomy in there because it’s SO DARK. So, what better to brighten up the wood paneling with some paint, right? I ran the idea by the hubby during his lunch break, he agreed. I happily drove to Sherwin Williams to pick out 2 shades I liked for the room, and I bookmarked Young House Love’s tutorial on this subject and was ready to go when he got home.

Then he tells me, well, I don’t want to spend all this money on something we’re just going to end up tearing down and repainting anyway. Fair enough, makes sense.

We come home from dinner, pry off a piece of wood paneling and what do we see? Not drywall, which is what I was hoping and praying for. My heart shattered into 1.8 million pieces and the waterworks came on from my eyes. I so desperately wanted a gorgeous living room for Christmas. That’s all I want. I want a gorgeous living room that I can blog about that would draw more readers so I can afford to go to Blissdom or Blogher like the cool bloggers. I want to be a cool blogger, too. Sigh.

But now I sit here venting to you all, because, well, it’s my blog and I can vent if I want to.

I am overwhelmed. There’s so much I want to do, and I have no clue where to start. My other project I want to work on is my office wall. Here’s a picture of what that looks like right now:

That was on a particularly busy Etsy order day, so it’s a mess, sorry. Using Publisher, I made up 2 mock-ups of what I want it to look like:

Picture 1 is a espresso stain with chrome knobs/pulls. The wallpaper or design would be a damask pattern. Also, in both options I’ll be moving the top cabinets to the ceiling and adding crown moulding for a more upscale, custom look at the top. Picture 2 is white cabinets with satin nickel knobs/pulls. The wallpaper would be a gray with ivory metallic like damask wallpaper. I am thinking white would look good since it’s a bright color and is probably more universally liked than espresso/dark finishes. Plus, with the dark flooring we want, the white would pop better. In the center of either design, I’d place my Ung Drill frame or maybe some glass shelves for a clean, modern look.

Which option do you like better and why? Also, can someone tell me it’ll all be ok and my house will be pretty and updated eventually? Sometimes you need a little reassurance.

Today is November 12, 2010 and we’ve been homeowners for 1 month, 6 days.