Living the American Dream

We just bought a house.  It's the American dream, right?  A house with a lawn and a backyard and a two-car garage.  Bonus points if it's in a cul-de-sac.  We've got it all, baby, even the cul-de-sac.  Or we will once everything is processed and the loan is funded.

Orange dining room

Honestly, I'm a little nervous about returning to homeownership after several years of renting.  Renting has been awesome.  It's cheaper, for one thing, and we have the world's best landlords.  Renting has managed to hold back a lot of my renovation instincts to the point where I don't even like looking at house mags anymore.  We've saved a lot of money simply because I haven't had anything to paint.

Pink bathroom

That's all going to change.  We already have paint colors picked out even though the ink isn't dry on our closing documents.  Nothing inspires a desire to paint quite like the Pepto Bismol pink of our upstairs bathroom.  Isaac told us that he refuses to use that bathroom until it's a different color, and I can't blame him.  The previous owners were not afraid of color.  Normally I admire this kind of bravery, but they took it too far even for me.  In addition to the bathroom, his bedroom and the dining room are slated for a color change.

Isaac's aqua bedroom

My daughter, who hates change of any kind, has come to terms with the move only because the house has an enormous hedge surrounding the backyard.  Unfortunately, I may have ruined that for all of us.  Last night as we were tucking in the kids I might have mentioned something about dark fairies living in the hedge.  Oops!

Mindy's gold room

So, let's hope that the paint goes on smoothly, the roof doesn't leak, and we all stay employed so we can make those lovely new house payments.  And if there's anyone out there who'd like to help us move, I promise that there aren't actually dark fairies living in the hedge.