I get a lot of comments from people who love our house and think that it looks like something out of a magazine. And in some ways, they’re right. Of couse, this is only insofar as magazine photos are staged and unmolested by humans and animals. When we take photos of the house for the blog, we do a great deal of cleaning and staging and tying up of the children dogs. With four kids (one of whom is a teenager) and two shedding dogs, it’s impossible to keep this house in any sort of regular order. I try to remind myself that life doesn’t happen when you are cleaning up. Life happens when you are making messes and memories.
I also get comments from people saying how much they like the honesty and reality in my posts. Honesty is one of my core values. Being yourself is the best way to sort those who like you for who you are from those who don’t. So this post is my way of saying, ‘How you like me now?’
Last Sunday morning I looked around the house and had to laugh to myself. I wondered that the readers of this blog would think of the way the house looks. I love lazy Sunday mornings. I had already cooked breakfast for the family. Two of us were in the family room watching ‘The Hunger Games’. The other two in our bedroom watching old episodes of ’30 Rock’. Cloudy and gray outside, this is a heavenly way to spend the morning.
So in the interest of full disclosure, I am letting you into my Sunday morning world. I hope you enjoy and this makes you feel good about your own hovel.
Fake and real….
And complete with retainer left on the bed…
And yes, I am even sharing a dust bunny hairball with you. Believe me when I say this is not the only one.
Feel better now?
StumpledUpon your site and love it! I can relate to this particular post. As I look around the room: the dining table, couch, floors, oh my. It all looks like they have endured a week of real living!
Mary, thanks so much! And real living is the ONLY way to live in my opinion!
Brandy,
Loved this post, well all of them really. But this one hits pretty close to home!
I can match you dust bunny for dust bunny. It’s pretty bad over here. And we don’t have any dogs.
Do you think our house was designed by Fred Bassetti? They really are quite similar. We have the architects plans, but his name is not on them. Our house was built in 1961.
Nancy next door
Hi Nancy,
I sent you an email the other day because I am in Auckland! I am not sure if your house was designed by Fred, but there is an easy way to find out. You can search for a history of permits for your property here: https://transact.mybuildingpermit.com/permitsearch/SimpleSearch.aspx
It should give you the original building permit with the architect and builders name on it. Let me know what you find out!
Brandy
Even in it’s messy state I still hope one day my home looks as lovely as yours! I’m so glad to know that my family isn’t the only family that doesn’t remember to close the kitchen cabinets. Thank you for sharing!
Oh that cabinet thing makes me crazy. I am just short enough to get knocked by the corner if I don’t pay attention!
Wouldn’t be a home otherwise. Thanks for sharing.
And it’s very much a home if that’s the criteria!
Love your house and your honesty! We don’t live in a magazine shoot either lol!
Thanks, Sam! I don’t think anyone does. Anyone servant-less, anyway!
Ha ha ha. Love it. Our house is such a disaster right now. Even when I straighten up my desk it is still a joke. Thanks for letting it all hang out. It, honestly, was really not that bad! Happy Sunday.
I loved this post! I laughed out loud all the way through it, because I kept looking around my own house and seeing similar sights…3 empty Diet Coke bottles on my desk that haven’t made it to the recycling bin yet (because the bin is full and I keep putting off emptying it), a wadded up throw on the ottoman (because I was too sleepy to fold it when I went to bed last night and too busy so far today…and I’ll just need it again tonight anyway!), three boxes of stuff in the kitchen that need to be taken out to the storage room. Messes happen when we’re having fun!
I love this post! The bloggers that I enjoying reading the most are able to find a blend of being inspirational with home decor, crafts etc. and yet they also are not afraid to tell you when something goes wrong or what it really took to get something to look the way it did. So kudos!
Thanks, Alex! It’s only good if it’s real, I think!
I love your pics, Brandy!!! Ya’ll have done an amazing job of decorating. I can’t wait to see your house in person. Hopefully, your dad and I can plan a trip in the near future. We really miss the girls (and you , too)!!! Love, susie
I hope you can see it sometime soon too!
Love you!
Love the honesty…and the retainer! LOL. Thanks for sharing.
You are so very welcome! We’re all family here now!
I still love your house! I have wood floors, too, and I should’ve known. I learned it in middle school – bunnies multiply! Glad I’m not the only one!
Bunnies do multiply indeed! Dog hair is so difficult to manage. However, the dogs are SO worth it!