Home Renovation Part 1- Parlor

When we bought this old house in April, we had some quick fix plans.  All it needed was some new paint,  cabinets, and floor refinishing.  Impressed by magazine articles featuring interior designers own tiny, once ramshackle homes, that are transformed via a coat of paint and nice throw pillows, I thought we could make it charming. 

Everything original to the house, which could have been redeemable, had been stripped over the years, and details like wood paneling, ceiling beams, wall-to-wall carpeting, and factory finished cherry floors were added in the 80s.  Instead of trying to recreate its colonial roots, we decided to embrace our love of  contemporary.

BEFORE

 AFTER

I still haven't decided whether to add window treatments.

The home lacks a proper foyer and the parlor acts as entrance and pass through to all of the other rooms on the main floor.

Light fixture from Shades of Light

An antique store purchase gives a nod to Red Riding Hood.

Chelsea Gray - I'm addicted!

We repaired, sanded, and stained the original Douglas Fir floors and painted the walls Benjamin Moore Chelsea Gray and paneling Wisp White (white with a hint of gray).

Unsure how to treat the wood ceiling beams, we eventually decided to paint them white.  Purists would likely disagree  with some of our choices, but I think it made our mid-century furniture feel more at home.

Looking like Laura Ingalls

Kids today look a lot different than we did.  Did tutus and princess costumes even exist in the 70s and 80s.  If they were available, then why I didn't I know?  All I know is that I wanted to look like Laura Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie.  In fact, I had my mom and aunt sew me numerous prairie dresses and bonnets to achieve said look.  See below.  That's me looking like I'm an extra on the set of Big Love.

This is me at my fifth birthday party.  I cropped my little friends out of the image, but none of them were wearing bonnets, which is kind of hilarious, so I may have been the only kid reading the Little House books and watching the series in reruns.  I can't be sure.  I stuck to this look for quite a while.  Actually, I think I was still dressing like this until we moved to the only 'urban' neighborhood in a quite suburban town in 1985, and this look was no longer going to be tolerated.

Reproduction Junction

Larry, Sienna, and Sophie - Beth Israel Hospital, Boston

Now that our girls are three-years-old it seems we have a major life decision to make: will we try for another child?  No. 3?  Numero tres? 

Well-meaning people have been asking whether we would try for a third child pretty much since my twins were born.  I thought I'd hit the jackpot popping out two healthy babies at once, but others seem to think a masculine child would make my family complete.  I believe women are equal to men,  so having only girls seems completely acceptable, which is shocking to some.

Luckily my husband feels the same way.  He doesn't seem to need to recreate his childhood with a boy.  In fact, he realizes that we probably have our hands full with the two children we already have.

I don't want to say that there are definitely no more babies in our future (I've had to eat my words too many times to be that decisive about anything).  In fact I wonder what it would be like to have just one baby.  Would pregnancy be less uncomfortable?  What would it be like to cuddle one infant at a time, or to read with one baby?

For a little added pressure, my girls regularly ask for a baby sister.  They also ask for a big sister, which would be a little more complicated.  Surely we can't have another baby just to please them.  They already make too many decisions for us, and besides, I already gave away all of the baby stuff when they turned one, quite confident that there would definitely be no more babies in our future.

We're headed into good territory: the girls are in preschool, one's potty-trained, they're becoming more independent, and travel (with them) seems possible. I'm also looking forward to working again in the near future, and another baby would put that on hold.

I haven't come to any conclusions yet.  We still have time since my Implanon contraceptive implant (yes, I'm over sharing again) is good for a few more months.