Instead of a thrilling descent into a wild canyon or a long drive to the beach this Friday, we drove twenty miles to the park in the next village over for a birthday party. Cubby and Charlie were the ones who were technically invited, but of course we all went. It was at a park; it didn't matter.
They had a wonderful time. A bunch of kids had brought scooters, so there was much scootering on the basketball court. There were hot dogs and chips and lemonade and cupcakes. There were goody bags with a superhero theme. And of course, there was a pinata*. Pinatas are de rigueur--or whatever the Spanish equivalent of that would be--here for children's birthday parties. I have taken note of this for future parties for my own children, assuming I ever actually have one. Wouldn't want to let everyone down.
Our new house was on our way home, so we stopped there to let the kids run wild through the empty rooms. I remember doing this myself many times as a military child. It was always exciting.
Less exciting for the parents, I now know. A. and I spent the whole time wandering around talking about the possibility of installing a dishwasher and how to paint over tacky fake paneling.
Well, I talked about those things. A. mostly talked about how much space there was in the attached shop for his tools and where he could plant garlic.
We have different priorities.
I'm sure I'll talk more at length about the house in the coming weeks, but briefly, it's a 1970s single-wide trailer--heLLO, classy!--with a substantial addition to make it into an actual house. For the past fifteen years or so it has been lived in by an older man living on his own. To say the interior design is dated is being generous.
Now, I am not an interior design person. My eyes glaze over when people start talking about "spaces" and paint colors and accent walls or whatever. But even I, low as my standards are, take issue with this living room.
Even a cute baby in the middle of the floor can't make this room attractive.
The first order of business is going to be closing off that pass-through to the kitchen that Cubby and Charlie spent the whole time leaping off of. The guy who built the addition was a little obsessed with pass-throughs. This one is going to become a partial bookshelf. It can't be a full bookshelf because it would block all the heat that needs to get from the woodstove in the kitchen to the living room.
Jack was totally enamored of the old-school wall phone with extra-long cord. He spent the whole time talking on it (it is not connected), winding it around the baby--who kept crawling after him to grab the cord--and stretching it out to make an obstacle for Cubby and Charlie to jump over.
Wild times in the ugly living room.
Charlie was particularly disappointed that we couldn't just stay in the house from that moment on. Why, he asked me, can't we just move in now?
Why? Because Mommy has to paint over that paneling ASAP. Living with that would surely cause me irrevocable mental anguish. Luckily, our two big Oriental rugs will nicely cover up the hideous brown carpet.
Anyway.
After an hour at the new house, I remembered that I had sourdough on the counter and it was surely an erupting mess at this point, so we rushed right home.
As I suspected.
So that was the fun yesterday. To be continued with another trip to the new house today so A. can unload all his tools and things from the Honda and the trailer he drove back from New York a few weeks ago. Including . . . the huge chest freezer! Let's hear it for a meat stockpile!
* Yeah, that should have the Spanish "n" with the little squiggle over the top, but the instructions for doing that in Chrome were like a page long, so . . . no. Sorry. It's a gringo pinata for you.
10 comments:
No wonder....you saved the freezer for the big REVEAL........cough cough . HA.
How exciting for you & your family.
Can't wait to see the living room paneling painted & the floor graced with your rugs.
I'm guessing there's enough outside space for a garden??
Linda
I did some googling and found a product called "wall liner" that apparently can be pasted over problems such as v-grooved paneling to provide a good paintable surface. It sounds really useful! I think that would be quicker and easier than filling the grooves, sanding, re-filling, resanding, sanding the whole thing for painting, priming, and painting. I think that carpet is about the ugliest thing I've ever seen. And of course, the pass through can be handy--but maybe not with boys on top.
You can pretend the paneling is vertical shiplap. Ha. And yay freezer!
Also, and less importantly, you could test Alt+164 in your blogger interface ... ñ
Best wishes for the painting (not my favorite) and moving (also not my favorite) and having your own space (VERY my favorite).
Karen.
I've seen paneling like that just painted over and it really doesn't look bad at all.
Once you get all your furniture in and pictures hung you won't even notice it.
I have also seen wall paper put over with great results. The carpet if it isn't too dirty will make a great insulation material. I think you would really use the pass through a lot for communication if nothing else , if you have your dining table in the big room it can be used for food and the table used for projects and reading for school. If that is the kitchen on the other side. I love it you guys are up for almost anything and the boys love it already.
Hey, this winter I painted over paneling similar to that (but MUCH darker -- in a nearly windowless basement, no less. Hooray for the highly questionable interior design choices of the late 1970s/early 1980s?) and the final product is actually really nice. It is indeed like vertical shiplap, as mentioned above by Karen.. And my mom, who also happens to be Karen.'s mom, has gone the wall liner route over paneling as mentioned above by mil. That also yielded excellent results; however, that does require actually hanging wall liner, which is like hanging wallpaper. If you do decide to give that a shot, be sure you get a liner with a texture of some kind to the surface of it. It is much more forgiving than that with no texture when it comes to covering blemishes/uneven areas on the paneling.
Also, and less importantly, very nice "Wayne's World" reference. I haven't thought of Wayne and Garth in, oh, a decade or maybe two.
And now I feel old. Party on, dude!
I can't wait to see what you do with the house!! I have so many pins on pinterest for when we own a house that we can do whatever we want to!
The pinatas are the best - I love the fact the Mums line up to take all their aggression out (at least that is what happened at C's 9th / 10th bday party) - they battered it, it was hilarious. The kids looked midly traumatised. I can't wait to see your new house in full - there is nothing better than starting again - the emptiness, the possibilities. I know you said you don't like design - but do you enjoy putting your own stamp on it with pictures etc? The panels would look great painted a light colour. J xx
Instead of closing off the pass through could you completely open it up? Congrats on the new house. Can't wait to see what you do with it.
Europafox: Kind of. I mean, I'm glad I get to do whatever I want, but I'm not too enthused about debating the exact right height for a picture on the wall. It's just not an interest of mine.
Susan: No, because the living room in about four steps down from the kitchen.
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