7QT: things I regret in our house
Ahh, the joys of homeowning, where you only discover things you hate after you've already spent money on them and then you have to live with them for quite awhile before you can justify changing them out.
You know where I'm coming from, right? I'm sure this is a universal thing, but it has felt especially relevant this past week for some reason, so I thought I'd detail out a few things we've done to the house or in our married life that I regret. (That sounds more ominous than it really is, haha.)
Blah blah blah, something about mistakes are all things to learn from, you've heard it before. Just thought I'd add a dose of realism to this here magical land of perfectness I portray on here. (SNORT.) Linking up with Kelly!
1. Wedding registry
Okay, this is probably not the case for everyone, but David and I were talking the other night as we started packing up stuff for our kitchen renovation (eeek! more details soon!) that we kind of wish we hadn't asked for like...half the stuff we registered for. Why did we think we needed 8 million glass cups for ten different types of beverages? The most used cups in our house are the mason jars we actually got for our wedding decorations, free from David's grandpa, and they don't seem to mind being used as wine glasses/margarita glasses/vases.
The lure of materialism when you get set free in a Bed Bath & Beyond with a handheld scanner is really hard to resist. I wish we'd resisted a little more, and asked for cash -- or at least less three-tiered serving dishes that I haven't used once in the 5 years we've been married.
2. Painting the basement
This one I will take 100% responsibility for. Is it just me, or do other get bit by the painting bug SO hard sometimes that you just have to immediately paint a room that you've been meaning to for a long time? This is exactly what happened with our basement, where my work office is (as well as all our toys), so in other words the room I spend most of my time in from 8-5 every day.
I absolutely *hated* the color it was before, which was a gross yellow-tan. I got a couple samples of what I was sure was brown-undertone gray. Spoiler alert: it wasn't. No matter what terrible light you photograph it in, it's blue.
I like to lie to myself and say that I meant to pick blue, but it's not great. I mean, the basement has many a flaw (the terrible lighting and random Western style doors to name a few), but the paint color makes me mad because it's something we did. I sold the leftovers so I didn't waste all the money we put into it, but still.
3. Cheap curtains for bedrooms
This one chews me up inside the most. For whatever reason, spending actual money on curtains is just really, really painful for me. So every time I've bought curtains, or had to buy curtains, I've searched for the cheapest I could find, and then those further on sale. It has been something I...obviously...regret.
I think I wouldn't have believed if you'd told me before making the mistake for myself that you really can't get good looking curtains for cheap. It still makes me extremely mad, don't get me wrong, but I won't buy cheap curtains again in the future. Sigh.
4. IKEA desk
File this one under technically serviceable but could be better, so not completely a waste. We bought just some very cheap table tops and legs from IKEA, and it has worked passably for awhile. But I kind of wish we'd just spent a little more on a real wooden desk for me. It's not big enough for me to be comfortable (I wish it was about 12" deeper, this was the deepest top IKEA had), and it moves around a lot. Like, whenever Cora comes and pulls on my lap to get me to pick her up, she can move it with her hand.
I think some of that is because it's on carpet, but it's not really attached to itself so that's the biggest issue. Whenever we get the time, David's going to make me something a little better. But that's far down on the to-do list so, who knows when it'll happen. The worst part is we had to get rid of the awesome antique wooden desk we rehabbed that I used in our old house because it wouldn't fit down our stairs. :(
5. Cheap carpet in the basement
Again, this one isn't exactly our fault because the carpet was installed when our house was "mini-flipped" before we bought it. But it has got to be the cheapest, most horrible carpet you can possibly buy at any store. It's super plasticky, very rough, and already super worn in places where we use it a lot. Also, they were either lazy or irresponsible when they installed it, and you can feel the nails underneath it with your feet (YIKES) when you step near the edges of anything, aka the doorways, the bottom of the stairs, etc.
You can literally spread the fibers of the carpet apart with your fingers, quite easily, and see the plastic underlay they're glued to. When you vacuum it, and then walk over freshly-vacuumed areas, it crunches under your feet like you're stepping on a sheet of plastic wrap, except louder.
I would have vastly preferred the weird bar/carpet/wood stove situation that existed before they "flipped," shown below. (Love scrolling way down on realtor.com to find the previous listings of houses!)
6. Not immediately buying window coverings for the whole house
This is more of a laziness thing rather than a waste of money, but I wish we'd bought window coverings for every single window the moment we moved in. The previous owners stripped them all when they left, except the weird Americana curtains in the kitchen (??? these people had a VERY weird aesthetic) (again shown below). So we lived for a long while with blankets as window coverings, and over the two years since we've moved -- WHAT, how have we been here that long? -- we've slowly purchased them. I wish we'd just gotten it out of the way, especially because we bought mostly the same thing for every single room, these faux wood blinds from Home Depot (except our roman shades in the living room, because that window was too big for these shades).
We actually have a few windows left that still need them, especially with the sun still shining at 9 p.m. during the summer -- including our bedroom, and the two girls' rooms which just have curtains. We'll get there.
7.
Okay, I thought I could come up with 7 things but I'm one short. Hey, that's pretty good for two years of living here, if you thing about it. But I mean, we've obviously made some mistakes I wish I could go back and fix. haha.
So far no regrets on the major things we've done to the house -- the fireplace which I still love, the front raised garden beds, and removing the tree in the backyard. (There's a post coming soon about the garden beds, I think. If I get around to it. This post took me two weeks to write, so no promises.) Hopefully we'll feel the same about the kitchen once it gets completed this summer.
Anything you regret in your house? Tell me so I feel less bad about ours.
Linking up with Kelly for quick takes since I had...almost 7 things! haha. Head to hers for more takers.
HG
You know where I'm coming from, right? I'm sure this is a universal thing, but it has felt especially relevant this past week for some reason, so I thought I'd detail out a few things we've done to the house or in our married life that I regret. (That sounds more ominous than it really is, haha.)
Blah blah blah, something about mistakes are all things to learn from, you've heard it before. Just thought I'd add a dose of realism to this here magical land of perfectness I portray on here. (SNORT.) Linking up with Kelly!
1. Wedding registry
Okay, this is probably not the case for everyone, but David and I were talking the other night as we started packing up stuff for our kitchen renovation (eeek! more details soon!) that we kind of wish we hadn't asked for like...half the stuff we registered for. Why did we think we needed 8 million glass cups for ten different types of beverages? The most used cups in our house are the mason jars we actually got for our wedding decorations, free from David's grandpa, and they don't seem to mind being used as wine glasses/margarita glasses/vases.
 |
| two shot glasses is all we need |
2. Painting the basement
This one I will take 100% responsibility for. Is it just me, or do other get bit by the painting bug SO hard sometimes that you just have to immediately paint a room that you've been meaning to for a long time? This is exactly what happened with our basement, where my work office is (as well as all our toys), so in other words the room I spend most of my time in from 8-5 every day.
I absolutely *hated* the color it was before, which was a gross yellow-tan. I got a couple samples of what I was sure was brown-undertone gray. Spoiler alert: it wasn't. No matter what terrible light you photograph it in, it's blue.
I like to lie to myself and say that I meant to pick blue, but it's not great. I mean, the basement has many a flaw (the terrible lighting and random Western style doors to name a few), but the paint color makes me mad because it's something we did. I sold the leftovers so I didn't waste all the money we put into it, but still.
3. Cheap curtains for bedrooms
This one chews me up inside the most. For whatever reason, spending actual money on curtains is just really, really painful for me. So every time I've bought curtains, or had to buy curtains, I've searched for the cheapest I could find, and then those further on sale. It has been something I...obviously...regret.
I think I wouldn't have believed if you'd told me before making the mistake for myself that you really can't get good looking curtains for cheap. It still makes me extremely mad, don't get me wrong, but I won't buy cheap curtains again in the future. Sigh.
4. IKEA desk
File this one under technically serviceable but could be better, so not completely a waste. We bought just some very cheap table tops and legs from IKEA, and it has worked passably for awhile. But I kind of wish we'd just spent a little more on a real wooden desk for me. It's not big enough for me to be comfortable (I wish it was about 12" deeper, this was the deepest top IKEA had), and it moves around a lot. Like, whenever Cora comes and pulls on my lap to get me to pick her up, she can move it with her hand.
I think some of that is because it's on carpet, but it's not really attached to itself so that's the biggest issue. Whenever we get the time, David's going to make me something a little better. But that's far down on the to-do list so, who knows when it'll happen. The worst part is we had to get rid of the awesome antique wooden desk we rehabbed that I used in our old house because it wouldn't fit down our stairs. :(
5. Cheap carpet in the basement
Again, this one isn't exactly our fault because the carpet was installed when our house was "mini-flipped" before we bought it. But it has got to be the cheapest, most horrible carpet you can possibly buy at any store. It's super plasticky, very rough, and already super worn in places where we use it a lot. Also, they were either lazy or irresponsible when they installed it, and you can feel the nails underneath it with your feet (YIKES) when you step near the edges of anything, aka the doorways, the bottom of the stairs, etc.
You can literally spread the fibers of the carpet apart with your fingers, quite easily, and see the plastic underlay they're glued to. When you vacuum it, and then walk over freshly-vacuumed areas, it crunches under your feet like you're stepping on a sheet of plastic wrap, except louder.
I would have vastly preferred the weird bar/carpet/wood stove situation that existed before they "flipped," shown below. (Love scrolling way down on realtor.com to find the previous listings of houses!)
6. Not immediately buying window coverings for the whole house
This is more of a laziness thing rather than a waste of money, but I wish we'd bought window coverings for every single window the moment we moved in. The previous owners stripped them all when they left, except the weird Americana curtains in the kitchen (??? these people had a VERY weird aesthetic) (again shown below). So we lived for a long while with blankets as window coverings, and over the two years since we've moved -- WHAT, how have we been here that long? -- we've slowly purchased them. I wish we'd just gotten it out of the way, especially because we bought mostly the same thing for every single room, these faux wood blinds from Home Depot (except our roman shades in the living room, because that window was too big for these shades).
We actually have a few windows left that still need them, especially with the sun still shining at 9 p.m. during the summer -- including our bedroom, and the two girls' rooms which just have curtains. We'll get there.
 |
| example of what we've got throughout the house! |
Okay, I thought I could come up with 7 things but I'm one short. Hey, that's pretty good for two years of living here, if you thing about it. But I mean, we've obviously made some mistakes I wish I could go back and fix. haha.
So far no regrets on the major things we've done to the house -- the fireplace which I still love, the front raised garden beds, and removing the tree in the backyard. (There's a post coming soon about the garden beds, I think. If I get around to it. This post took me two weeks to write, so no promises.) Hopefully we'll feel the same about the kitchen once it gets completed this summer.
Anything you regret in your house? Tell me so I feel less bad about ours.
Linking up with Kelly for quick takes since I had...almost 7 things! haha. Head to hers for more takers.
HG
Yes! I feel you... We painted part of our kitchen a dark red. The lighting in there is atrocious and it just feels too dark. I'm repainting it straight up white this summer! I also painted my bathroom light blue (leftover from Luke's room that happened to match our shower curtain) ... and I'm starting to hate it. Luckily those are easy fixes!
ReplyDeleteAnd 100% agree on the registry thing... WAY to many glasses for every possible beverage. Plus the original every day glasses we ordered were too narrow at the top for our hands to get in, so they were a PAIN to clean. I donated all of it to Salvation Army last year.
Registry regret is a thing, seriously. And I struggle sooo much when buying people a wedding gift because I'm like, "But are they gonna regret registering for this?? What will they 100% still use in a few years?!"
ReplyDeleteWe attempted to paint our guest room/sports paraphernalia room gray...but it turned out purple. Sigh. I just don't have it in me to paint it again. (Okay, honestly, I regret most of our paint choices because we did a different color in every single room! We were dumb.)