I am SO jealous of my friend's new house!

[Aimeedyan]

She is a mom to 4 children under age 6 and they both work. They bought a new house near us, and the house really isn't much different than ours in size and amenities but what they have done with the house is amazing!

They moved 1.5 months ago. Every room is painted; flooring has been ripped out and stained in one room; kitchen cabinets have been removed, stripped, stained, and rehung; every piece of decor is on the wall; beadboard installed in a bathroom; curtains on all windows; builder lighting and mirrors have been replaced in all rooms; everything is perfectly decorated.

She is just missing a few details in the kid's rooms. The downstairs looks like they've 1)been professionally decorated and 2)been living there for years!

We moved 2.5 years ago. Our boxes were gone in 2 weeks but we STILL have rooms that aren't painted, I have 3 empty rooms, and I have a laundry list of things I want to do but can't seem to find money or time to do them.

I know she had more money saved than we did for lots of the work and hired out some of it, but just the time put into decorating was all hers. Just the time to think through what you want to do and shop for it all is amazing to me! Her home is very shabby chic, not at all my style, but done very very well. I'm a fan of home decorating and hers is top notch, really.

I was amazed - and jealous of how great it looked! I told DH I don't want them to come see our house now =) We still have so much of the builder basic stuff.

Do you know anyone that has whipped something into shape like that so quickly? I don't think she sleeps...

(I think once she finishes her house I'm going to make her come motivate me!!)

 

[disykat]

But now what will she do for fun? Half the fun is doing it a room at a time, planning etc. It took me a lot of years to get my house almost "done" and I find myself looking for new projects now. I figure if someone gets it all done faster, it just means they'll be "re"decorating sooner.

 

[DISUNC]

 

[DisneyMomOK]

Are you sure she is not from Mars or something???? Four kids under 6 and she decorates a house in a month and a half?? That is just not humanly possible, IMHO. Honestly, I am totally amazed!!!

 

[HelenePA]

How does she find the time, find out let me know. My kids rooms are mismatched with whatever we could find nothing matches (they really dont care either) I would LOVE to have all their rooms done and I'm living here 3 years

 

[jjpenguin]

We moved 5 years ago, no kids, and not always working and STILL need to do a ton of stuff.....

I think she's an alien

 

[Tinijocaro]

Are you sure she is not from Mars or something???? Four kids under 6 and she decorates a house in a month and a half?? That is just not humanly possible, IMHO. Honestly, I am totally amazed!!!

Not just four kids under 6, but while working full time! I had 4 kids under six and wasn't even working and there was no way in heck that I could do half of what she did. I'm going to guess that either she had lots of money to hire out designers, or her kids were really neglected during that time. And that's not jealousy speaking, I just don't see how you can come home from work, get dinner going, give your kids the attention that they need and deserve, and get a new house dcorated head to toe. Something had to give and I'm guessing it was the kids.

 

[MoniqueU]

I just don't have the creativity to decorate as nicely as it sounds like your friend has. But I am always totally unpacked on the first day of my move including china due to help. I will let clothes rot on the table the rest of the year but if I move I get into the full swing of things and become a commando unpacker, I can't stand living out of boxes.
Luckily the house I have now pretty much came completey decorated or at least I think it is.
I had 3 kids 5 and under one time I moved and i am not sure what I really did with the kids while I was moving and unpacking but I managed to get it done.

 

[ilisao]

Sure, I've known people to whip their houses into shape and have them perfectly decorated and accessorized. And those houses are just that - houses, not homes.

Don't get me wrong, I love a beautifully decorated home. But, I think it's a work in progress and when stuff gets done, it gets done. I've been in my home 4 years and the stairwell, upstairs hallways and bathrooms, guest room and office all still have to be painted. My office is a disaster. Other things in life have just taken priority.

Don't let it get to you.

 

[Nancyg56]

Aimee- my sister is like that. She is creative and is focused and actually finishes what she starts. She moved into her new home about 6 months ago and it is amazing. She painted, made curtains, added decorations throughout, made almost all of her table and dresser scarfs, the works. Her DH is handy so he customized her shed, basement storage and made some sort of shutter thing for a huge bathroom window that freaked her out. Her home is lived in and her pets are all over the place. Her kids are now young adults and they are always dragging stuff in and out and she still gets things done and hen helps her DD's decorate their home.

I have been in my house over 15 years, I just finished emptying boxes that I had moved in here. We did an extensive renovation and now I need to repaint everything but the color is a project for me , I cannot decide on curtains, you get the picture?

Don't worry about anyone else's house and then feel badly about yours. I still cannot figure out how you get all that you do done.

 

[Disney Doll]

I don't think it's fair to say that her kids were neglected while she was getting her house together. Maybe she is just very well-organized, which one would have to be with 4 kids and a full-time job. Maybe her husband really steps up to the plate and helps a lot. Maybe she has the kids doing things in the room that she is working on while she's in there working on it.

You can be hanging curtains in the kitchen while the kids are coloring at the kitchen table and still be spending quality time with them...my mother used to do that and I haven't grown up to be a serial killer, nor did I ever feel as if I were neglected during my childhood. My home growing up was nicely decorated and accessorized...cozy and comfy...and it was usually pretty neatly kept too. Having kids does not mean one's house has to be a pigsty unless one chooses to allow one's house to become a pigsty. We played with toys all over the livingroom (no family rooms back in the 60's!) and when we were done, the toys got put away, by us. We did our homework on the kitchen table (no computer room with a desk in a 5 room Cape in the 60's either!) and when we were done, all the papers and books got picked up and put away. Having children and having a clean house are not mutually exclusive.

My father had my brother helping him at the basement workbench when my brother was quite young. He was learning to hammer and use a saw probably when he was 4or 5 years old.

He's in the building business today & doing quite well, so maybe Dad was on to something!

 

[DVCLiz]

I don't think it's fair to say that her kids were neglected while she was getting her house together. Maybe she is just very well-organized, which one would have to be with 4 kids and a full-time job. Maybe her husband really steps up to the plate and helps a lot. Maybe she has the kids doing things in the room that she is working on while she's in there working on it.

You can be hanging curtains in the kitchen while the kids are coloring at the kitchen table and still be spending quality time with them...my mother used to do that and I haven't grown up to be a serial killer, nor did I ever feel as if I were neglected during my childhood.

My father had my brother helping him at the basement workbench when my brother was quite young. He was learning to hammer and use a saw probably when he was 4or 5 years old.

He's in the building business today & doing quite well, so maybe Dad was on to something!

I totally agree, and I'm glad you made this point. I don't think it's better parenting to be so totally focused on your children that you find yourself unable to do anything else - like unpack boxes from a move or make your home more attractive (that's not a judgement against any of you who still have boxes to unpack, btw!!!) As a matter of fact, I think it's better for small children to have some expectation that they will have some "neglect" during the day, even if they are home with Mom 24/7. It's part of being a well-adjusted kid to know, "Mom's in the next room sewing and she wants me to play with my Legos in the playroom" and be able to do that. Obvious questions of appropriate supervision and safety aside, that's how I raised my children and I think they turned out pretty well.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

OK....we are moving. We just moved here 4yrs ago....

Well we had to stage our house and did it that part in 2 weeks.

We did starting with decluttering, painting, etc....in Nov. So it took us 5 months really to "whip it together".

It takes priority and focus. OK so of course what are we saying again...this next house WE ARE going to DO what your friend did.

I am going to set it as a priority.

 

[juligrl]

I'll admit, I had everything painted/decorated/replaced before I was even living in my house. I know what I like and for the most part already had the stuff so all I had to do was put it up. I can't stand bare walls so decorating was easy for me. Then again, I was also unemployed and had only one child to deal with. How does your friend do it?

 

[ChrisnSteph]

New floors, cabinets, paint, lighting...sounds like she had a lot of extra money to do all those renovations. If I had the money, I'd be doing it too! Most of my house is still builder grade stuff, and I hate it. I still don't have stuff on the walls! I get bummed when I go to friends' houses and they're decorated to the nines, but I refuse to go into debt over it. We just do a little here, little there. I figure by the time we are ready to move in 15 years, everything will be done!

 

[Nancyg56]

I don't think it's fair to say that her kids were neglected while she was getting her house together. Maybe she is just very well-organized, which one would have to be with 4 kids and a full-time job. Maybe her husband really steps up to the plate and helps a lot. Maybe she has the kids doing things in the room that she is working on while she's in there working on it.

You are so right. When my children were little I was more organized than I am today, required (or so it seemed) less sleep and managed to get more done. I think it was because I had three children and many responsibilities that I had to stay on track. While my house was not always spotless it was clean and the kids all had their chores. However this woman did it I wish I could manage it now. My sister can get three times more done than I

 

[puffkin]

I think sometimes when you have a lot on your plate you just seem to be able to focus better and get things done. I am definitely like that!

That being said, I agree with you 100%. We have been in our neighborhood over 3 years now and our neighbors are building these huge houses with all these fabulous upgrades. They move in and I see truck after truck bring furniture and curtains, and fancy TV's and getting landscaping and patios/decks and sheds and $1,000 swing sets installed. They drive brand new luxury cars and half the woman don't work. And trust me, the husbands don't have that good of jobs. I just don't get it and get a little jealous. But then I realize they are probably in so much debt or can't afford to do fun things like go on vacations and things like that.

We do a little at a time, and do most of it on our own even though we both work full time and have pretty good jobs. We just got a patio put in last fall, so we are excited to use that this spring. I would say 3 rooms in my house are completely "finished" and the rest are works in progress. I could finish them now if I had the money, but I don't want to go into debt over it.

 

[Aimeedyan]

Ha ha - her children are most def not neglected. She works about 30 hours a week away from home. She sleeps very little and has an ADD personality, in that she go's - go's - go's constantly. She gets more done in an hour than I do in a full day =)

Her kids have had a role in shopping for their room stuff and helping decorate. that's why their rooms are still a work in progress.

But YES, she had a large amt of savings built up to help pay for some professional help with cabinets and paint. Flooring was a Sun morning job. She's hung all the stuff on the walls and decorated it all in the evenings and weekends. It's much of the same style she had in her previous house, she's just got 3x the space now so she's stretching her ideas to a bigger canvas. It's all amazing!

 

[DisneyMomOK]

Hmmm, so it sounds like she had the ideas all conceived (colors, furniture arrangement, etc.) prior to moving into the house, so she could just jump into the whole decorating project from day one? I believe that planning your decorating is the secret to completing it promptly. However, I also think that making it an ongoing project makes it more fun.

 

[momto2girls]

Don't you just hate friends like that? Seriously, I've been bitten by the decorating bug lately. I seriously want to just methodically upgrade/decorate every room in my house right now. We built this house 5 years ago and it is a very nice house, but I would love to replace some of the fixtures (sinks, faucets, etc.) and adds custom finishes (wainscoting, moulding, etc.). The only thing that is stopping me is that I'm not sure how long we will stay in this house. If the market was better, we'd be considering a move right now. So, perhaps we shouldn't do anything. On the other hand, the market might not improve for several years so maybe it would be worth it to go ahead and do it.