HEY APW,
If you haven’t seen me writing a mile a minute on APW in the last few weeks it’s because I’ve been… moving. Buying a house and then moving. The whole thing has been intense and wonderful and intense and sad and intense and OH MY GOD MY HOUSE IS A MESS. I’ve always sort of liked moving. It’s a chance to reorganize, get rid of half my stuff, and turn over a new leaf. But this time I was moving away from the house we brought both of our babies home from the hospital to, and apparently there are not enough tears in the world to shed when you’re walking away from your children’s babyhood.
On the plus side, after all these years of waiting, it turns out I’m really cutout for home ownership. We’ve already repainted the entire interior of our house (two thousand square feet is an unprecedented blessing in the Bay Area, right up till you’re painting all of it). And now our near endless task list includes installing new banisters (ones that children can’t actually fall through), replacing light switches, puttying floorboards, painting trim, installing a built-in bookcase, refurbishing a mid-century dresser, building a bathroom vanity, and the list goes on and on. I’ve moved into home decorating sites. Special nods to my friend Jordan at Oh Happy Day (whose brain I can blessedly pick in person), my friend Jenny at Little Green Notebook (who I particularly love for her ability to find things on the cheap and make them fabulous), Emily Henderson (girlfriend as an eye for the expensive—I mean as do I, without the budget for it—but she’s also got a knack for explaining how stylists think), and you know Craigslist and Ebay. The former for good deals on furniture, the latter for good deals on rugs.
Guys, this is fun. It’s like the puzzle of wedding planning (how do I make it look cool, for less?), but without the family pressures or the timeline, or anything. With our home? We do what we want. For realz. What are your favorite sources for home improvement?
Now it’s your open thread, jump on it.
xo
Meg
P.S. That shirt in the photo is my favorite (get it here). It’s clearly made for teenagers, which makes it so much funnier.
link round-up
Frostine Shake is a ballerina and burlesque performer based in Austin, Texas, who is proving that when it comes to ballet, size doesn’t matter.
Two women are using rainwater harvesting technology to bring clean water to villages in Kenya.
This twelve-year-old legally blind boy used eSight glasses to see his mom for the first time ever and it was the sweetest thing ever.
Speaking of sweetest ever, did you see the dog that remembered his owner’s scent after seven months apart?
Can You Not is a PAC that’s dedicated to creating more space for women and people of color in politics—by pushing out under-qualified straight white guys.
Average wedding costs now exceed student loan debt averages.
