18 months ago, I’d not dreamt of owning a home.
My partner and I spent many years renting–first separately, then together–and were not only keen on the vague (but rarely seized) sense of footloose-and-fancy-freedom renting gave us (“We could go anywhere! Any time! So… let’s stay in, rent a movie and order sushi!”) but also had learned to depend on having a landlord on speed dial. Sewer issues? Flooding basement? Some fool try to put an entire bouquet of flowers down the disposal? (Sorry about that, Mr. F.) Just call the landlord!
And it was great. At least when our landlord was great. Other times…less great. We were stuck with limits to our living space, ranging from reasonable to arbitrary, from how many and what kind of pets we could have, to how many working burners defined the stove as “functional,” to keeping the paint colors innocuous but dull, or at best suited someone else’s taste.
A series of personal events in our nuclear and extended family shifted all that—more of that tale in a future post–and we found ourselves the slightly surprised, excited, and overwhelmed owners of a lovely home in Albany. Our nearly hundred-year-old house had been very well cared for by its heavy-smoker owners of 40+years, but had not been redecorated in several decades. Yes, first there was smoke residue to contend with. But then, the creative part of my brain shifted into overdrive: THINK what we could DO with no LANDLORD to call the shots!
We had about a year of hard work ahead, with near endless opportunity for creativity. After our initial settling into the house, my partner was back to his usual creative ventures, but I had found a time-consuming and energizing new pastime. I was rarely without splinters in my hands, bruises I couldn’t remember causing, and paint in my hair. (So much paint in so much curly hair.) I showed my students–I’ve taught high school English for 20 years–the color we were painting the kitchen using the smudges on my forearm, and told them quite a few stories of getting in almost over my head with late night and weekend projects. Soon enough, I found myself with a house made over on a tight budget, completely suited to our taste and even featured in a cover story of a local magazine And perhaps most unexpectedly, I’ve delved into an interest that thrills me, and a connection to hands-on work I find very satisfying.
All this has led me back to Monticello NYS. Alex Monticello helped us find the home we fell in love with, which has led me to deepening my creative and practical interest in design, staging and installation in the Capital Region. I’m a few days from finishing the decorating in the Monticello Office–watch for the reveal in an upcoming post! I’ll also be blogging here about design, staging, and real estate-related issues, and offering staging and design services to the clients of Monticello NYS.
Watch, too, for more information about specific design projects, connecting with local artists for your redecorating needs, questions to consider when making decisions about your home design, how-to’s for one-day or weekend projects, and even a few tales of projects from our own home makeover.