One Massive Imperfection

I love DIY blogs, let’s just put that out there.  So after stalking a few of my favorites this evening I came across a link party hosted by Nesting Place (one of my favorite blogs).  The subject…imperfections!  So I’ve put my regularly scheduled blog post on hold (it was about a rug for the parlor which we’ll fill you in about on Thursday).  Instead, we’re going to dish about the most massive imperfection in our house…our guest room.  Fair warning, I’m not Jack Handy (you know…Jack Handy’s Deep Thoughts on SNL?) but be prepared for some Angie Bohovich Deep Thoughts.  They’re actually pretty shallow.  Maybe wading pool depth this evening.

So this weekend, the parlor and living room light fixtures weren’t the only illumination projects crossed off our to-do list.  We also, FINALLY, got a working light fixture in the guest room.  Note…I use the term “light fixture” very loosely here.

The light is just a pig tail light, and it’s ugly as sin, but it’s a light and I love it!  The other day when I was blogging about the two new light fixtures downstairs (back here for those who missed it), I mentioned how Colby pretty much cut all of the old wiring in the house because it was scary.  Unfortunately, not all of our lights and switches have been hooked back up, guest room included (and I know this room doesn’t look like a guest room…I’ll get to that momentarily).  The wiring was there, we just needed to cut through the ceiling and install the new light.  So after nearly two years (no exaggeration) Colby braved the attic and installed a cheap, basic, pig tail light fixture…totally temporary I swear.  Can I get a woot woot!

And in the name of keeping it real, imperfections and all, I didn’t even clean the room pre-pictures!  I usually speed clean a room before picture taking.  We’re talking chuck things outside the room so everything looks cleaner and more put together instead of the ginormous disorganized mess that it really is.  Check it…there’s even dust on the mirror.

But back to the light.  The light fixture…or lack of light fixture in this room is a total imperfection.  But it’s the most beautiful imperfection that I’ve ever seen.  It’s just one of those form over function things.  Now that there’s light, we longer have to turn on the hallway light and the bathroom light across the hall when we need some light in the room.  I can even put on my makeup without looking like a clown.

But let’s take a moment to REALLY talk about this room, which is a giant imperfection in and of itself.  So this room is one of three, incredibly small bedrooms in our home.  In Angie’s grand master plan of things, this room and the master bedroom were going to get the gut job this spring.  We wanted to take down all the old plaster walls, re-insulate, wire the outlets, sheet rock, floor it, paint it pretty and make it a REAL guest room instead of a temporary walk in closet for all our clothes.  Oh yeah, and move the wall dividing the two spaces just a few inches to make enough space in our room for a his/hers closet in our master.

Because of the upcoming project, we haven’t really done anything to either of these rooms.  They’re essentially the same exact rooms as when we moved in almost two years ago.  But lately, we’ve been feeling a little unprepared for such a massive project.  It’s a massive, massive project.  We’ve already tackled a gut job in one of the upstairs bedrooms, the bathroom, and the dining room.  They stress us out, make us angry (usually during the drywall sanding part), and keep us indoors during the summer when we would much rather be weeding…oh wait…that’s just me.  But because of our upcoming wedding, and trying to save every penny for our honeymoon, we’re just not ready to re-do these rooms like we want to.  That puts a total damper on my five year plan for a total home makeover.  I’m not gonna lie, I was sad.  Mostly because I’m ready for this hot mess…who am I kidding it’s just a mess…to go away.

Oh yes, that’s the wallpaper falling off of the slanty part of the ceiling and it falls off a little more every day.  But as sad as I am about not forging ahead as planned, it doesn’t mean that these rooms have to be giant eyesores and imperfections in our house.  I had some great success in both the living room and the parlor in stripping the wallpaper/paneling, skim coating the plaster walls and painting the rooms.  And a painted floor is always fair game in my book.  These aren’t perfect solutions.  Painted floors show dirt and skim coating doesn’t come out completely even, but it will still be beautiful.

So look for some posts in the near future for how we’re going to re-do this room and turn it into a real guest room that can in fact host guests.  I’m already picking out the paint colors even though that’s probably still a month down the road.

Pssst…so I’m curious, anyone else have home imperfections that you love?  Or even ones that you hate…like we hate that shaggy blue carpet in the guest room?  Dish!