When Old House Character Doesn't Work for You.

Our home's name is Ruth. She has a personality. She's modest from the street-side, her heart is larger than you'd guess if you only saw her from the outside, she has quirky angles like many old ladies do, and yet she also has a comfortable lap, like a good grandma, and loads of charm.

Ruth's front room, circa 1963

I'm a lover of history, and have researched my house's architecture; it's a Colonial Revival Cape Cod, built in 1939. I am the fourth owner.

A house this old and older will have quite a few layers on it. I'm thoughtful about those. There's also a range of opinions out there about what to do about it, from the extreme of gutting them completely and putting modern builder's-grade interiors in them (which personally horrifies me), to being supremely dedicated to maintaining period authentic details in every way one can. That extreme I can appreciate a little better, for the sake of its desire to preserve original details from the era in which the house was built. But it's tough for me to be that rigid in my own life. I've got some pretty eclectic tastes, and being stuck in a narrow window of the late 1930's wouldn't work for me.

Besides, people don't live that way. As much as scrupulously period-authentic homes teach us about the way people lived in whatever era, they can be museum-like, and sort of artificial in the sense that it is the rare person who built a household from scratch in exactly the year, say, 1955, and kept it that way for 63 years. More often, people launch in adult life with hand-me-downs and heirlooms from previous eras, get tired of certain things and fall into the fads of the decade (shag carpet, anyone?) in the interim, feathering the nest over the years with what's needed, what works, what delights, and what feels like home.

In addition, one must embrace (me: strong simple graphic design) or survive (me: beige everything, granite countertops) the current home design trends and fashions of one's own time. "Dated" is the word home improvement shows squawk over and over again to describe older homes. Of course it is. Whether or not it's a pejorative is largely up to the house, and its owner.

My house has postage-stamp sized foyer, only a few feet by a few feet, and another, larger room we ingeniously refer to as the "front room" because it is, uh, at the front of the house. In the 1960s, someone paneled this room, and it was where the gentleman of the house lounged, smoked, and watched television.

That purple fabric across the top of the wall hid stereo speakers. It was just as attractive as you might imagine. 

While I like me a good rustic paneling, as seen on our recently renovated screen porch ceiling photo below--

...this was really not the same. It was made of a rather expensive veneer plywood (it's either mahogany or cherry) dark-stained, but not skillfully installed at all. It had gotten orangey over the years, and it made the room gloomy. Then a later owner had sawed a big, unfinished hole to get his big screen TV into the wall, and left that hole behind when we moved in. It was like the hall closet had a picture window into the front room. I hung an old sheet across the hole and put an old sofa in front of it. Which the kids used as a place to pile coats and backpacks.

Not proud, but it was real life here. I also tried to love the paneling. It's historic, I said to myself. Paneling was a thing in Midcentury houses. Part of the charm. 

And practical too. The scuffle of four boys was well hidden by those dark walls. I tried to foof it up with some of my own things:

And still really, really hated it. I just couldn't make myself love that dark room, and even if I'd been able to repair the hole in the one wall, it wasn't worth it to me to be this miserable for the sake of period authenticity. To hell with wood paneling, at least in this case. I needed light. I needed color.

It stuck around awhile though, because I didn't have the carpentry skills and budget to change things up. It's hard to bring yourself to spend money on a room that holds the coats and boots, mostly, when you've got so many other things to do with your house.

When Tom arrived on the scene, we decided that while we still did not want to spend a lot of money on this room at this point, we needed to make it one that better reflected that we both lived here now, that I work from home here and wanted it to be creative, and that we both wanted to invite the sunshine in as much as possible.

I only have two not-so-great cell phone photos from the renovation period, but they sum up the two big things that happened.

One was fixing the sawed-up wall, and adding another bookcase to the room.

You can see into our L-shaped hallway.

The second major part of the reno was paint. Buckets and buckets of primer, paint, and more paint.

If you look at the top of the above photo, you can see how dirty the ceiling tile was from the smokers who previously lived here. While it looked okay in contrast to the dark paneling, once we started painting it was obvious just how disgusting it really was.

The rest of the decor was a matter of assembling things we already had on hand.

Before we updated the room, I had put a folk-art style rug in there in colors that I loved to try to cheer the place up a little bit. I decided that would go back in, and be the inspiration for everything else.

Then Tom's hall tree went into the front of the room, so visitors have a place to leave their coats.

Tom made it from salvaged paneling and wood. I love that it is there to greet his kids when they come home.

The window has a simple white cotton curtain on the lower half for privacy. The room originally had wood cafe shutters, and I would like to do that again when the budget permits. The basket in the corner is to corral shoes (lots of boys, lots of tennies).

The green dresser is a crappy little old thing I rescued off a curb and spray painted. I've had it forever-- it just keeps changing color. It is tucked just on the other side of the front foyer, and holds incoming mail, change, keys, etc. The drawers hold the things you always needs right before running out the door-- mittens and hats, umbrellas, sun screen, insect repellent, etc.

My work space is usually much messier than this, but this is the "blog-pretty" version:

I have a preference for things with a history or a connection, so I'm always more likely to go with old/used furniture than with new. The oak desk belonged to a friend of my mother's. The printer stand is actually a record player/music stand from my Great Aunt Elizabeth's house. The lamp is hers too. 

The floor in this room is 1960s era vinyl composition tile. If it were new or in good shape I wouldn't mind it at all. I like the pattern. But it had carpet over it when I moved in, is full of staple holes, and has cracks and crumbles in places. The next time this room gets an overhaul, it will need to go, I hope in favor of tile or wood flooring.

I'm most pleased with the bookshelf area.

Lots of old friends live there.

Some of the shelves are extra deep, which is a plus for me. I'm famous for squirreling books away. The desk is a curbside find, and Tom uses it for his work-from-home days. The big baskets hold camera equipment and random electronic odds and ends.

I wanted to have fun in this room, so I gathered second-hand store picture frames, spray-painted them in black, ivory, orange, and green (to echo the colors in the rug), and framed family art.

I did not feel constrained by rules here. That part felt good. I like how grade school ceramic projects and family photos and favorite books mix on the shelf

And as much as the paint helped freshen this room up, having art made by people I care about, things that show their personality and humor and love, is the best part of this room by far.

When this room gets another round of attention in the future, it will most likely get some of the things that honor the 1930s Cape Cod heritage of the house, walls with painted wainscot paneling to match what is elsewhere in the house, wood flooring, and trim. In the long run, we'll have both fully respected the heritage of the house, but kept it fresh and for us. For now this redo fixed the biggest problems, and fits our personal style so much better. I only wish I hadn't waited so long.

Wrapping Up More Home Organization

I think of myself as an artistic sort of person. Most of the time when I say that, I mean writing; but I dabble in other things. I sew, cook, enjoy garden design, and other things people would consider to be artistic in one sense or another. Or at least crafty.

Which is why this truth about me makes me cranky:

I cannot wrap gifts.

There, I said it. I'm pretty clumsy at it, and packages from me look like they may have been scotch-taped together by a drunk raccoon. All my crafty efforts in other areas seem to make no difference when I'm confronted by a roll of paper and a gift box. It makes me highly, childishly irritable.

Over time, it's dawned on me that part of my problem with gift-wrapping is that it was such a big production in this house. I had two places where I stored some of the supplies. Tissue paper was scattered in multiple places too. And then I had to run down the tape and scissors from wherever the kids had squirreled it away.

By the time I got to the actual wrapping, I was already annoyed. Not a good way to go into anything crafty, or what's supposed to be an act of generosity. So it made sense to have a dedicated place to do this: a gift-wrapping center.

I actually resisted that idea for a long time. Because gift-wrapping centers smack of all the things I dislike about the Land of Lifestyle Magazine Make-believe-- that everyone's got loads of space in a blank slate of a suburban house and all the money in the world to customize it for a single-purpose use. And all the stuff on the shelves is color-coordinated with everything else and the room itself.

I am not saying that I wasn't attracted to the idea of that. This layout from Country Living is relatively simple and sweet and entirely doable:

Photo Source: County Living

But even doing something like that added a lot of time, effort, and costs to a household that already has several projects ahead of it in priority.

I did decide that finding a dedicated space for gift-wrapping was worthwhile. It just wasn't going to be beautiful.

This was a few hours of effort, with mostly existing stuff, in the corner of the furnace room in the basement. The table is a surplused metal lab/study table from the local university that I moved from another area. The shelves and pegboard were already hanging there. The boxes and basket I already owned, and they hold bows and gift tags.

I purchased the dish organizer on the shelf to hold folded gift bags, and I bought the small metal trash cans to hold the giftwrap. Um, about that. I have an embarrassing amount of giftwrap, I know. I am of the opinion that about 5 rolls at a time are plenty. But my mom gave me her stash, and I got carried away at a sale, and here I am with two buckets of gift wrap. On the upside I should be good for giftwrap for the next 5 years, and I hope to empty out one of those cans for another use down the road.

The window a/c units under the table, which I use in the upstairs bedroom windows during the summer, were already there and I didn't have the gumption to move them just for this picture. They'll be stored elsewhere next season, and I might hang some curtains under the table to store extra shipping boxes out of sight. I also haven't really done anything with the pegboard, but that can also come at a later time.

One other small expenditure: this tape dispenser.

It's a double dispenser, with a small reel for adhesive tape and a larger one for box tape. It has a cubby for scissors and pens. It's also hard to walk off with.

I need to stock up on tape and fill the dispenser, and I'll be ready to go the for the next round of birthdays, or Christmas. I cannot promise that my gifts won't still be looking drunk-raccoon-esque, but at least getting the job done will be less of an ordeal.

As a bonus, the area is not completely dedicated to gift wrapping alone; it will be multi-tasking, and soon. But that is another blog post.

What organizing projects are you up to in your home? What's working for you?

In Search of: a 2-step Organization Plan

How's January going for everybody so far?

I'm feeling a big "meh." I've had a head cold which of course doesn't help. But even if I felt better I still would rather not get out of the flannel sheets in the morning, and in the evening I feel like going on a kitchen strike. (Why do these people want to eat every day?!)

While I'm always relieved when the holidays are over, I seem to be struggling through a case of the winter blahs.

This is the time of year when most bloggers are reviewing the past year and thinking about goals for the twelve months ahead. But I can't seem to think past my next cup of coffee (that would be cream no sugar, please).

What I'm trying to say is that this is a bad time to talk about planning or organizing, and yet I seem determined to muddle through.

Because muddle is the operative word. A household of four kids and a working single mom never runs super-smoothly at the best of times, and there are just days where my life's not only not magazine pretty, it's sort of a ghastly storm system of shoes, dishes, sheet music, and homework papers that hovers over the household the entire week.

I'm not a naturally neat person, I know (my sister got that gene). And most of the time I consider that to be okay. There's always something I'd rather be doing than cleaning house. Who wouldn't?

That said, the clutter builds up to a point that I am tempted to endorse a simple two-step organization plan:

1. Prop open back door

2. Throw annoying shit out of it.

Doesn't that feel good, just thinking about it?

I don't think our family is any more consumerist than the next American family, which I realize isn't saying much. We live in an incredibly wasteful society. I like to think we are less so. But even with all the best efforts, with four children there is a constant downstream flow of outgrown clothing (this, especially), outgrown books, outgrown toys. And with a house that's got ongoing renovation projects, there's also a lot of building/redecorating refuse. I'd like to get a better handle on this, without resorting to my previously described 2-step system.

Gosh. That sounded like a goal, doesn't it? (It's not a resolution, though. I don't possess the backbone for those.)

I've been heading in that direction for awhile already, like this day in early November where I temporarily destroyed the twins' bedroom in a big clothing weed-out:

Or the items, including an end table, glassware, and artwork, I consigned to a shop in October:

I still liked this, but it just didn't "fit" in my current house or decor plan. Time to let someone else love it.

It's a big relief to move things out the door, whether they are going to consignment, charity, or the curb.

And I want more of the kind of relief I felt getting all this crap out of my garage: 

Pitching the clutter makes the remaining items much easier to live with, as I discovered with the hall closet organization that took place earlier last year. 

I'd just like to do more of it, and when I'm not in the throes of a tantrum of irritation like I was with the closet. 

I'm not sure what form "manage clutter better" will take this year, yet, I just know that the results are worth shooting for, whether it's a cleaner closet, fewer possessions, a more smoothly operating household, or all three. 

What have you got on your plate for 2015? 

The Big List Review

I made the big list of everything that I needed to do to the house ages ago, back in 2012, and have barely referred to it since. Because it makes me hyperventilate. And then drink. It isn't good for my health.

But lately, while I'm hanging out waiting for the work week to become the weekend, waiting for the free time to get going on more progress, I was wondering how things have gone since I introduced it.

I'm not going to go in the original order, and I'm not going to comment on the whole thing, but I thought I'd hit some highlights.

Some things have hardly any progress at all, but that's because they're mostly done, like my oldest son's bedroom:

You can read the original posts for this room here and here. But there are still items on the list. They just aren't super-big priorities.

Second Bedroom, first floor 

Hang blinds
Hang curtains
Paint
Paint trim
Rug
Furnish
Hang art, decorative items
Organize first closet
Organize second closet
Repair and update electrical

Other rooms got just one big thing, like my 14-year-old's music studio closet:

You can read about that adventure here. Again, there are still items on the list, especially painting trim, to do in this room. But again, not pressing when there are so many things with bigger impact needing attention elsewhere.

First Bedroom, first floor 

Paint 
Hang curtains
Hang blinds
Paint trim
Organize music studio in first closet
Organize storage in second closet
Update/repair electrical outlets
Rug
Furnish
Hang art, decorative items

The biggest number of indoor changes happened, oddly enough, in my living room, a room I've been nearly completely ignoring since we moved in, but only because I knocked off a bunch of smaller tasks, like removing carpet staples and finding a decorative item for over the fireplace:

Living Room 

Remove old carpet and pad 
Remove carpet staples
Paint ceiling and walls
Paint trim
Install and paint new quarter-round molding
Update electrical outlets with GFCI
Move wicker chair to screen porch/find replacement
Find rug
Finish lampshade on small lamp
Finish (or remove?) small alcoves on fireplace wall
Make/hang curtains
Find/edit/hang artowork for walls
Mirror Sconces for above fireplace  Clock instead

But the place where the progress was most satisfying happened in my bedroom, where I'm still working on having a grown-up lady space. 

You can read about the last round of work here. And I've begun some other items, like installing baseboard molding and trim, but can't cross it off the list yet.

First Bedroom, second floor (master)

Remove carpet/pad
Remove vinyl paneling
Remove drywall on South wall
Sand floor
Sheath drywall in entire room
Replace drywall on South wall
Update/repair electrical
Plaster/sand in alcove
Paint ceiling/walls in alcove
Paint floor in alcove
Stencil floor in alcove 
Install baseboard molding/trim in alcove
Plaster/sand in room
Paint ceiling/walls in room
Paint floor in room
Stencil floor in room
Install baseboard molding/trim in room
Paint trim
Rug
Furnishing
Select/hang art
Make/hang curtains
Organize/paint closet
Replace ceiling light

The place where I've made far and away the most improvements has been outdoor property improvements. I guess it figures, since I'd rather garden than anything else:

Outdoor property

Remove unwanted plants and shrubs
Rebuild/replace driveway retaining wall
Edge front perennial bed with permanent stone edging
Landscape front perennial bed
Edge front foundation bed with permanent stone edging
Landscape front foundation with shrubs, tree, and perennials
Remove front yard tree
Develop replacement landscape bed for tree
Develop landscape plan for back yard
Trim cedar tree in back yard
Decorate/furnish patio
    refurbish donated table purchased new one
    find patio dining chairs
    plant containers
    Paint outdoor rug
    other decorative elements
Build fence on back property line
Plan/build vegetable garden
Plan/build perennial beds along garage foundation, back property line

Short term: 
Replace deck railing with something better
stain deck

Long term: 
Demolish deck
Install brick patio/stoop with wrought iron railing

In total, I've crossed 31 items off my Big List since August 2012. Not bad. It's been slower than I thought, but better than I remember. The rest of the list follows after this parting photo, of the lilies from about a week ago, though the air was so humid the image isn't sharp. They weren't here three years ago either, which is a good reminder that wonderful things take time. Onward!

Entryway/Foyer

Wallpaper
Tile floor
Paint trim
Paint interior front door
Find area rug
Hang art
Organize coat closet

Dining Room

Remove carpet
Remove carpet staples
Remove vinyl wallpaper
Paint
Paint built-ins and trim
Find additional dining chairs
Sell hutch/find more period appropriate one
Find/hang suitable blinds
Make/hang curtains
Rearrange dishes/art in built-ins
Find/edit/hang artwork on walls
Find/repair/doorbell operations

Kitchen 

Replace appliances except dishwasher
Refinish cabinets
Replace countertops
Clean cabinet hardware
Paint
Replace flooring with new
Make/hang curtains
Replace ceiling fan with period lighting
Replace doorwall
Replace window in eat-in
Replace dishwasher
Find/arrange/hang art and items
Reorganize pantry

First Floor Bathroom 

Short Term: 
Remove carpet
Install temporary vinyl tile
Install new molding
Paint
Replace light fixture over vanity
Replace wall mirror
Replace toilet dispenser
Replace countertop
Replace sink/faucet
Replace shower curtain bar
Make/hang curtain
Replace cabinet hardware
Find/hang/arrange art

Long term: 
Reglaze porcelain on tub
Tile shower and floor area
Install shower door
Install tile floor

Front Room 

Remove carpet and pad
Revive/wax VCT flooring
Make/hang curtains
Rug
Repair/replace TV nook wall
Repair/revive wood paneling
Replace light fixture with vintage
Select/hang art work
Find bench/coat-hook arrangmenet
Find vintage file cabinet credenza for printer

First Floor Hallway 

Remove carpet/pad
Paint
Paint floor/replace floor/tile floor?
Paint trim
Carpet runner
Organize hall closet
Organize hall linen closet

Second bedroom, second floor 

Remove carpet/pad
Remove plywood paneling
Remove built-in bed/drawers
Repair plaster
Prime/paint ceiling and walls
Furnish
Hang curtains
Find nightstands
Find lamps for nightstands
Paint trim

Upstairs bathroom

Short term: 
Switch out cracked and leaky toilet
Switch out vanity fixtures
Remove carpet
Prime/paint old floor
Prime/paint old vanity
Find open shelf system for toiletries
Find vintage laundry hamper
Repair/sand/prime walls
Paint
Towel bars
Arrange/hang decorative items
Replace old medicine cabinet

Long term: 
Replace vanity with pedestal sink
Install mosaic tile flooring

Basement lounge/study 

Demolish old wood paneling
Demolish old ceiling tiles
Asbestos testing
Revive old VCT flooring
Update/repair electrical
Paint
Make curtains
Find credenza for TV console
Television
Rug
Find/arrange/hang decorative items
End tables
Coffe table
Pillows
Sofa
Books/display/storage
Find computer table

Basement laundry room 

New energy efficient washer/dryer
Countertop over new w/d for folding
repair missing vinyl floor tiles
Paint
Clean and paint cupboards

Basement Darkroom

Short term: 
Clean out junk
Bleach walls
Moisture barrier paint

Long term: 
Full shower bath?

Craft/work room 

Clean out junk
Bleach walls
Moisture barrier paint
Paint floor
Organize tools and craft area
Make/hang curtains
Rug
Task lighting
Hang storage shelves
Repair/update electrical/lighting
Toilet?

Structural/systems/maintenance 

Paint exterior
Inspect fireplace and chimney
Replace attic fan
New roofing/insulation/attic ventilations
New basement casement windows
New storm windows, whole house
Selected windows, replacement
Replace hot water heater

Garage

Clean garage attic
Paint garage
Roof garage/properly ventilate
Plan/organize/ potting shed
Organize garage storage.
Replace side entry door and lock

Do I Have To? Organize a Closet

I haven't done a "Do I Have To?" post since August. I hadn't forgot about what I'd imagined would be a monthly feature. It's just that philosophically speaking I was more in the mental state of "I don't want to" and even more possibly "You Can't Make Me," neither of which really bodes well for doing the work, taking the photos, and posting to the blog.

A few weeks ago when I was working feverishly on the bedroom and the bathroom, and had not an iota of patience or energy left, I decided to start a third project, mostly based on frustration over not being able to find a single AA battery in a house I was sure had several packages. Somewhere.

I emptied an entire closet out onto my dining room floor.

Beginning anything mid-hissy-fit is never a good step, and this one involved a few broken light bulbs.

But it felt good, too, as embarrassing as these photos are. Contrary to most older homes, our house has a lot of closets. A LOT. There are six closets on the main floor alone, and that doesn't include the bedrooms. If you include the bedrooms, there are TEN closets on the main floor. And I'm still not counting the dining room built-ins. Go ahead, be jealous.

And I love it. Luuuuuuurve it. But sometimes when you have an embarrassment of riches, be it wine or money or closets, you tend not to use it wisely. In my case, I was trying to move my possessions from three different location to this one home, saw all that vast empty space behind closed doors, and began cramming everything in as the moving boxes stacked up.

It helped for the short term, but in the long term we were looking at this:

I can not even. This photo begs a variety of questions:

Who needs three plungers? (Don't answer that.)
What earthly logic stores a stud finder with bath towels?
When are you going shopping for toilet paper? Soon, I hope.
How can you live like this?

Let's start with what I was absolutely not going to do:
Remodel. I had five fixed shelves (actually six with a little half shelf up at the very top), covered in sheet linoleum and edged with aluminum.

The person who'd built out this closet intended it to go the distance, and almost 75 years later, I'm disinclined to mess with something that's lasted this long. (That opening at the bottom is access to the shower plumbing. I needed to put the panel back up.)

You know those closets that are as beautifully decorated as an entire room, with their own design scheme and everything in labeled vintage containers? The ones with more magazine spreads than a minor celebrity?

Nope. Not gonna happen. I probably have the least Pinterest-worthy closet on the planet with 75-year-old linoleum shelving, but I just need it clean and organized. At the very least, I need to have it not looking like a small tribe of poo-flinging monkeys live in there.

I started by removing the trash. There was an astonishing amount of empty wrappers, probably courtesy of my children, operating on the same philosophy of leaving the cereal box in the kitchen cupboard with a 1/2 tablespoon of cereal in it.

Then I started organizing things in piles. Paper goods, light bulbs, batteries, toiletries. The first aid kit's contents had been strewn about the entire closet, and I got those all back in the box.

Organizing made me realize I'd been overshopping a bit. Clearly I won't need deodorant or shampoo for quite awhile. Or barber talc, though that was a three-fer deal. (I do the boys' haircuts.)

I moved all the tools out and the cleaning supplies went elsewhere too. Batteries and light bulbs also went someplace else. I decided this was going to be strictly bathroom supply.

I did purchase two of the baskets shown, but already had two in house. They were all from Target. The two large baskets are categorized as general toiletries for me, and general toiletries for the boys.

The plastic toolkit contains first aid supplies. The two smaller baskets are for seasonal needs. The small basket on the left holds suntan lotion, bug repellent, and hydrocortisone. The small basket on the right holds winter things, like dry-skin cream, mentholated rub, cough drops, hand sanitizer and chapstick, but it's empty because those items are in use around the household.

Isn't amazing how much spacious it seems when it's organized? It's almost a little spare. But that's okay by me. It's such a relief to open that now and know I can find what I want in an instant.

I also got out the paint and gave the door a fresh coat, inside and out. I know, it leaves the trim left to do and an obvious contrast between the new creamy white and the old pinky-beige, but that door. It was so grubby. Now it's clean, and I can get to the rest when I have time.

So now I've got this closet and one of Noah's closets (the rock studio, shown here) done. Only 8 more closets to go on the main floor. And yes, they all need a little work.

No wonder I threw a hissy fit.

Thrift Finds: Waiting for the Right Thing

I am not the world's most patient person. That doesn't always make me a good thrift shopper, the kind that will wait to strike until the exact item and price is right.

I think I may finally have learned my lesson. 

Last year about this time, I managed to pull together our front room with furniture I had on hand, plus some refitted curtains and a new rug: 

You can read about that adventure in this post. It's one of those rooms that looks better in person than in pictures, because the colors don't appear to play together in digital photos but do in real life. Also, I'm a little bit better photographer. (But only a bit.)

The thing I like best about this room is its coziness and personal art. Who doesn't like owl mirrors and drawings of dragons in teacups? Not anyone I want to know. 

The thing I liked least about this room was the printer situation. At first I put it on an old kitchen hostess cart that had been found lying about the place when I moved in: 

Which collected about six horizontal square feet of of crapola along with the printer. On an open shelf out in front of God and everybody. What a mess. 

I was so desperate to get that eyesore out of there that I sorted the mess, stashed the cart elsewhere, and  put the printer on the floor along that wall, which you can see if you scroll back up to the top photo. 

If you think a printer on the floor in a house with four boys doesn't seem like a great idea, I totally agree. I'm not saying this was ideal. Or even smart. But it beat the mess. Or the wrong piece of furniture, like that slightly rickety and rusty cart. 

But yes, I worried that one day one of the kids would come rolling along and step on the fold-out paper tray, and the Canon would be toast. 

I needed something small, no more than a couple feet wide, no more than 20 inches deep, and nothing too tall, bulky or dominating. I didn't want to spend a ton of money. I honestly didn't think finding something that size or shape would be that hard. Stupid me. 

Here. Look at vases while I kvetch about file cabinets some more. 

Since that project last year, I have looked at dozens of possibilities, some of which were: 

1. New printer stands, the cheapness and plastic crap of which depressed me. 

2. Lateral files, which were shallow enough, but too wide, and ridiculously pricey.

3. regular file cabinets, which were too deep, and not wide enough.

4. Vintage office furniture, which has taken a sudden turn into trendy and chic, and therefore now unaffordable. 

5. Surplus office furniture from our local university's weekly equipment inventory sales. Cheap, but everything I looked at was just somehow wrong.

6. An ongoing menagerie of second-hand small dressers, night stands, side tables, bookcases, and anything else I thought might fit the bill. 

A few weeks ago I was really getting fed up with the printer-on-the-floor situation, and was glumly contemplating a couple of options on Overstocks.com and Ikea, but not really in love with any of them and feeling really grouchy about it. Luckily it was late, and I didn't even have the energy to click through an online purchase. 

This weekend I stopped by my mother's to pick up and drop off the endless round of things that pass through the hands of family when you live in the same town. She'd been down to family in Missouri to pick up some things that had belonged to elderly relatives and was going through a giant sort, including a pile of things destined for the curb. 

The curb pile included this: 

This is the obligatory terrible cell phone photo of the item fresh from the back of my van. It is my Great Aunt Elizabeth's turntable and album stand. I think it is awesome. Also? Twenty-two inches wide and 16 1/2 inches deep. And FREE. Perfect on all counts. Open shelving again is less perfect, but I think the way they are arranged in this case I can make it work. No vinyl records though! 

It's in pretty rough shape, with water rings, loose veneer, and scratches. 

Oh and the dust too. I haven't had time to even unload my dishwasher this week, so don't expect dusting even for a blog post. 

I'm not sure whether it will stay this finish. The wood is in terrible shape, and the finish clashes with the paneling in the room. It might become a painted color. I'm not sure. But if it's waited a year to come into my life, it can wait another year while I decide how to fix it up. 

Another little tweak to this room also happened in recent weeks. This chair was what I started with: 

Don't get me wrong. I like the chair. But it just seems awfully busy in a room with a busy rug and busy curtains and wood paneling. Also, the boys were being rather rough on it. Not deliberately, just four boys doing their usual thing requires sturdy furniture. So instead of this one we are using another one from my Pathologically Large Stash of Old Chairs. (Yes. Capitalized. If you knew you'd understand.)

The orange isn't as bright as it appears in the photo. I like that I can wipe it down if things get a little out of control with the after-school snacking at the computer. Vinyl. It's a way of life. 

I learned from this year-long exercise in waiting that eventually, the Thrift Gods will smile on you. I am glad I resisted the temptation to solve this problem with a solution that involved throwing money at something else that I was less than crazy about. That never ends well, does it? I also learned that, in the instance of the chairs, living with a room makes you realize how first decisions may not be lasting ones, and rooms need to evolve to fit the way you actually live. 

What home decor items have you waited and waited and waited for? Did just the right thing eventually arrive in your life?