Getting What You Want or . . . Be Careful What You Ask For

I love ‘home’ blogs. You know, the ones that show wonderful home DIY projects and fabulous before and after pictures.

I’ve been wishing that this blog was more of a Home blog. In a weird way, this wish has been granted.

Last September, life threw us a curveball and BBH & I left our wonderful red farmhouse. I’ve been living w/my mom in her beautiful 3 year old home in a senior community and BBH has been taking care of his own mother.

Not a great living situation, but necessary right now.

So all of my painting has been on canvas and watercolor paper. No furniture refinishing because no space to do it in. No DIY projects because the house is pretty well furnished.

Then, last week Life thru another curveball. Or maybe a change-up for you baseball fans. Mom is moving from the retirement community back to her 1920-something home on 13 oak & pine tree studded acres.

I grew up in this home.

Which means a lot of emotions are coming up for me. But I’m not ready to delve into those this morning. I’d rather tell you about all the positive aspects of this move.

Tons of room

Inside & out. The house is huge. It’s also pretty drafty and cold, but there’s tons of storage space.

A Workshop

I’m so excited about this. My dad’s old shop. Poor lighting and no heat, but I don’t care. A wonderful little space to refinish furniture!

I went to a thrift shop last week and found all sorts of goodies to refinish. Now I’ll have a place to sand, prime, paint & spray!

A Barn

A really, really old barn, but a barn! More room! I don’t think anyone’s set foot in there for years . . . well, a few little critters, maybe, but no two-legged creatures.

Every wall in the house needs painted.

I painted some murals and did some glazing years ago. I look at them now and just cringe.

Have you ever done that? Looked at some decorating choices you made, say, 10 years ago? Ugh!!!

So it’s not a blank palette, but even better . . . it HAS to be painted!

Soon!

Last night, instead of packing, instead of writing, I checked all the virtual paint sites. Such fun!

Today I’m headed over to the old-new house to take interior pictures, then I’ll play with the virtual paint sites.

While this ‘new’ home wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when I wanted a house to fix up, it certainly fits the bill.

And even though I won’t have total carte blanche like BBH would give me (yeah, I’m a lucky gal in that way), and I’ll have to use more conservative colors for Mom, it’ll still be fun.

Some gals from our aerobics class offered to help us paint. Now, usually, I’d just have BBH do it. He’s really, really, REALLY fast.

Tip: Hire a painter who’s 6’4” and super-strong. He’ll cover an entire room in paint before you’ve finished taping off.

But these gals really want to help Mom out. And one of them is a watercolor artist who’s been wanting to learn how to paint murals.

Hello?!? I just happen to know someone who teaches how to paint murals!

Not what I had in mind when I started Paint Parties, but, I think it’ll be a lot of fun!

So while I’m not thrilled with the idea of packing and moving again in less than 6 months, I am excited about all the DIY projects coming up.

At least, the ones involving paint. Not the plumbing, carpet cleaning, etc.

Maybe, just maybe, these projects will help me become more of a ‘home’ blogger.

What about your blog? Did you start out with one ‘niche’ idea in mind and now wish you could change it up a bit? Have you done it?

I’d love to know about you and your blog. And I bet other people would too!