So Anyway, Moving Right Along…

I’m moving.

A short time ago it was decided that my daughter and I would move in with my mom this fall when the lease is up on our apartment.  There are a multitude of reasons for this decision, but basically what it comes down to is… family needs to be there for each other and it’ll be easier to do that if we’re all living under the same roof.  It wasn’t an easy decision by any means, but this is the first thing in 2 years that I even feel remotely sure about doing.

Not that I’m looking forward to it though…

Don’t get me wrong ~ I love my mom to pieces, we have always been very close and get along really well, but the prospect of living together again after so many years = kinda, sorta, okay… totally scares the crap out of me.  My daughter on the other hand, is so excited that she can hardly stand it.  And my mom?  Well, I think she’s excited too, but is also a bit apprehensive like I am.   All of our lives have been so discombobulated for the past few years, and we’ve each went through so many major life changes recently that to put it quite simply… it has been just really overwhelming at times.   So now to make yet another major change is a little more than scary.  But necessary.  And I do feel a sense of peace about it even amidst the “totally scares the crap out of me” part.

One of the reasons I’m sharing this tid-bit of  info here is because we are also going to be doing some updating and remodeling to my mom’s house, and I plan to live to write about it.  😉  And I’m only partly joking when I say it that way because I’m afraid it’s going to be quite an undertaking for us 3 ladies over the next several months.  Anyone who has done remodeling knows what I’m talking about…

We have already been busy at work going through many of the things in my mom’s house and deciding what to do with some of it in preparation for the updates and for our moving there.  I foresee a garage sale in our near future.  😉

But there are also many things to hold onto.  The other day for example, I sat on my mom’s bed and looked through a box of my baby clothes and outfits I wore as a child.  I’m really glad my mom held onto those, they are so precious.  And my “mini” was in there ~ a favorite little shirt/dress I wore as a toddler!

Here is an old photo of me wearing it.  Too bad this isn’t in color so you could see just how crazy my “mini” truly is with its bright pink, orange, and yellow stripped combination of colors.  Wasn’t I just the cutest little thing?  😉~

So many precious keepsakes and memories are stored at my mom’s house, and we are going to make sure there is a special place for all of those things.

She also has some awesome vintage 70’s decor that’s Dy-no-mite!  (Yeah, you won’t get that reference unless you were there ;)).

In looking through some of my mom’s old photo albums I found several photos taken of her house shortly after it was remodeled in 1976, and I thought I’d start with those as “before” pictures, but also for nostalgia sake.  I’m so glad my mom thought to take these photos…

The first room we are updating is my parent’s room which my daughter will be moving into.  She has already picked out her new carpeting ~ I don’t know why she wouldn’t want to keep the red stuff that’s already in there.  😉  Red is my mom’s favorite color…  I’m totally keeping that lamp!  I know it’s really red and kinda “out there” but I love it.  No idea where it’s gonna go, probably in the basement for a while, but we’re definitely keeping it!

~

The next room we’ll be working on is mine and my sis’s old room which is where I’m moving back into.  So weird.  My mom says there are hardwood floors under the carpet and I’m really hoping she’s right!

This was my sis’s side of the room.  These leopard curtains are still hanging in this room.  What do you think… should I keep them up when I move in?  😉

And my side…I spy with my little eye what looks like a Cher poster hanging above my bed.  I don’t remember being particularly into Cher, I was more into Shaun Cassidy.  He was so dreamy haha!  Pretty sure I still have his album laying around somewhere.  I also seem to recall having multiple posters of Luke Skywalker on my side of the room, but maybe that was later ~ not sure what year Star Wars came out.  Yep, I was a nerd even way back then!  The tapestry on the ceiling is still hanging in my old room too.  There’s also one on my sis’s side.  I’m planning to take them down when I move in, but not getting rid of them.

~

This next room was my brother’s and is where my mom will be.  This is the only room in the house that has been updated since 1976, but we’ll still be painting it and tearing out the carpet eventually.

More animal prints, they must have really been the “in” thing…~

The living room…

Whoa check out the fabric on this couch!   It’s totally “far out man” ;).   It’s long gone now, but that lamp isn’t (there’s a set actually) and it’s another thing that we aren’t going to rush into getting rid of ~ I think I may have a “thing” for old lamps.  😉  My mom has also informed me that we are keeping that shadow box which is still hanging above her current couch.   It was a wedding gift from her parents and is very special to her.  I happen to think it’s pretty cool too!  I asked her if we can set different things on/in it though (maybe some of mine) and she agreed.  🙂More of the living room.  My dad’s chair.  It has changed to different chairs over all these years, but this was always his spot.  I miss him being in it.   ♥ Just recently took down this macrame plant hanger and my sis says she wants it.  It’s all yours sis.  I’m sure she’ll do something cool with it, because she’s cool like that.  Speaking of cool, look at that cool old stand-up ashtray.  Our old TV.  Thing weighed a million pounds!  No remote control on that baby.  That’s my sis’s graduation photo ~ she still looks almost exactly the same.  No lie.~

The dining room.  Not sure if we’ll be updating that dark paneling or not because it might be too difficult/a bother right now to remove.  Maybe a coat of paint could go over it, but I don’t know yet.  My mom and I still need to discuss it and figure out what we want to do.  I really like that light fixture there too, so I’m not sure if we’ll replace it or not.  Maybe it’s not just old lamps, but old light fixtures in general that I have a “thing” for…~

This railing that sort of separates the dining room along with the stairway is all wrought iron and is probably going to stay that way for now, but we’ll see as time goes on and other updates are made…

~

The kitchen will be the biggest undertaking.  We are planning to give it a complete makeover ~ new counter tops, sink, stove, walls and flooring.  We’re not sure what we want do with the cabinets just yet though…

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The entire house has all dark colored stain on the woodwork which along with the wrought iron really dates the general design and decor.  With new carpeting and painting throughout we’ll have to decide what we want to do about the dark stain.

This is all going to be quite time consuming and a lot of work, not to mention expensive, but I hope it can be “fun” for us too.

I want to mention here before I close, that this house was built in 1902 and was the house that my mom grew up in.  She and my dad bought the house from my grandpa when he had to go into a nursing home after a stroke, and had it remodeled.

Interesting… once my daughter moves in, that will make 4 generations of my family that have lived in this house, 5 if you count my great grandma that lived here too for a time.  Kinda cool if you think about it…