My Little Messy House 🏡

This morning, Ryan and I spent several hours cleaning the house. We mostly picked up, vacuumed, mopped, scrubbed floors and baseboards, and broke down lots of boxes left over from birthday and Thanksgiving celebrations, while both tending to the girls and getting a little bit of assistance from them too. (They love to vacuum and spray things!)

Even after a couple hours of our joint effort, I was resenting our little house with its cracked kitchen tiles and lack of storage space. Finally, I remembered to take some pictures. I have been doing this photo trick since before kids and before this house. Ryan and I shared a 500 SF studio apartment with our 2 large dogs. I would snap pics whenever I felt overwhelmed, and it would help me sort of step out of the clutter and see the space for what it really was. Does anyone else feel this way about a photo of their space??? It’s like the clutter IRL sets my nervous system a flutter but the mess in a picture says to my eyeballs, “awe, look at that lived-in space.” So, I thought it would be fun to share some snaps with you here of our hardworking 1200 square foot home. (We also have a 300 SF add-on that serves as Ryan’s home office. I didn’t include it because I just wasn’t thinking.)

This is our only dining space, above. Fun fact: I took all of these 1st 3 photos from the same spot.

I dream of replacing our soffit and upper cabinets on this side of the kitchen with open shelving, but I haven’t yet because I don’t want to be brainwashed by the open shelving trend only to regret removing old cabinets made of solid wood. (Have I been conditioned by social media to think I like open shelving???) I’d also like to replace the floor and wall tile but anyway…

I love our Cocoa Berry living room.

Our Cyber Grape bedroom was one of the first rooms we painted, the day we closed on our house. We scraped the popcorn from the ceiling first. Not sure why one piece of artwork is missing or why the bed skirt is lopsided.

This hallway bathroom is such a mystery. What were they thinking installing these separate vanities and sinks that resemble boobs? I despise the tile but every time I consider replacing it, I start to feel like every other option is overdone and think, “what’s so bad about hideous tile?” And again I wonder, “do I really think this is ugly or has social media conditioned me?” I think quite a bit about the time and money that goes in to “updating” homes for no real reason.

Soph’s room is a mess of horsies and it makes me happy.

Finally, Fiona’s bedroom. Both girls’ rooms are just 10×10 and filled to the brim with cozy stuff for play and snuggles.

Thanks for reading my messy little home tour 🤗