Time for new glasses

I've always been a person who sees through "what needs improvement" type of glasses. I guess you could say that it was how I was brought up and that my father is very much like that, and me very much like my father. But I feel like I'm breaking free from that little, by little. At least externally anyway. I still have the dialog going on inside my head, but I've gotten better about just leaving it there.

I'm bringing this up because I had some friends of mine over for a "playdate" today. No, not a playdate for us, but for the kids. It came up a couple of weeks ago that my one friend, Elizabeth, was in the market for a house, but she wasn't interested in the cookie cutter type of houses. Oh man! Do I have the house for you! It occurred to me that she and my friend Carrie had never been to my house. So, we worked it out via email that they would come this morning, with kids in tow to check out my insanely unique house.

My house was built in the 60s. It has garage doors that look like a wine cellar and a big stone wall with wrought iron fencing that encloses our courtyard. When we moved in, the first thing we had to have done was have all the SHAG CARPETING removed. And paint over the paneling, and remove the "parquet" flooring (err...vinyl) and about a million other things that if I didn't have the "before" pictures, I would never remember. Because, now? Looking at my house just makes me feel like we haven't done anything at all.

So, I give them both the tour and they are impressed mostly by the bathrooms, which is no surprise because these are some of the last rooms to remain "untouched". Our downstairs bathroom is lovingly dubbed the "Liberace" bathroom due to it's not one but TWO chandeliers. They are my least favorite parts of the house, but definitely will be the most time consuming and expensive areas to remodel (hence their pristine state). I'm always embarrassed by them. I mean, they are clean, but they are just godawful ugly. My friends remind me though that it's all the lens with which you view things through. Carrie agreed with me on how difficult those types of projects are and Elizabeth used words like vintage, "making a come back", and awesome. I know she isn't going to beat down the doors to Home Depot for some crystal chandeliers of her own, but it made me realize that my house has something a lot of houses don't have...a personality!

Now, my house will definitely be getting a new personality over the next year (now that I'm staying at home with the kids and this is my "job", I want to redo everything!). But, for now, I will try harder to appreciate what I have and see the good in it all. After all, we have plenty of room for my family. Our stuff fits nicely and neatly into our spaces and we are happy here. Plus, those gold flecked mirrors in the downstairs Liberace bathroom? They EASILY drop 5 pounds off of you instantly. How can I get rid of those??