The Neighborhood

The neighborhood we bought our house in is very much a neighborhood of transition. There are definitely problems in our neighborhood, but there are lots of good things too. Ultimately it was because of those good things that we purchased where we did. The housing stock is very unique and there is a large variety of single family houses of different sizes, two-family and other houses. We've met fabulous people who care about the neighborhood as we do. There are business owners in their area who are investing to make this an inticing place to be.

It was largely because of our involvement in two political campaigns beginning in 2008, one national and one local we got to know our neighborhood and our ward better than we knew it in the first three years we lived in our apartment. (St. Louis is broken into almost 80 neighborhoods- most with subneighborhoods and 28 Wards each with an alderman.) As we looked at houses frequently one of us would say, I've knocked on this door, was it for Obama or Shane or both? Because of that we started to feel a real connection, not just with our apartment, but our neighborhood. I think I speak for both of us when I say we don't just want to come home and run into our house and not know anyone around us.

Currently the geographic subneighborhood of Dutchtown (our neighborhood) is without a neighborhood association, but our neighbors are working on that. Tonight Greg and I went to a meeting at to discuss forming a neighborhood association. I think people really get the power of doing this. There were some nay-sayers who attended the last meeting who didn't attend this one, but we will let them be the lazy dog and the lazy cat while we're the little red hen. We'll even let them share our bread when we're ready to eat.

Slowly a house becomes a home

As of today we have been in the house for a month. We spent much of today trying to clear some of the clutter that had taken over much of the house. (Which I had been eloquently describing as the apartment threw up all over the house. A bit graphic I know, but I bet you can picture it, right.)
Today, we ate two meals at our new dining room table. (Which Greg is supposed to blog about.) At breakfast it was in the middle of the living room and by dinner it had made it to the dining room. We also started working on straightening the basement.
Slowly things are making sense and starting to look like we actually live here, not like we're just squating. We've unpacked the CD collection and are slowly unpacking all of the barware. (Priorities, right.) Once we clear out the living and dining rooms the plan is to pa

int the basement so we have some room that is "done" and that we can hide in when the wallpaper starts to attack. Then we begin the big task of tackling the dining/living/hallway-room. It's a lot to do, but it's going to be so worth it.
-Elena

The Many Sides of Wallpaper

Today's entry is going to be a largely pictoral. In our house there are not one, not two, but SEVEN different wallpapers! (This is counting the three different color schemes of the same pattern.) Now we knew they were here when we put an offer on the house, and while I have cursed the presence of the wallpaper everyday since we've moved in, I hope that one day it will just be a big joke we tell people about when they come look at our beautiful house.

The entryway and stairs including the 20 feet up over the stairs. I guess I'm going up a ladder...

Living and dining rooms- really rather boring.

kitchen-extra ug-o!

Upstairs bathroom-the pink bathroom. Pink tile cool, metallic silver and black wallpaper-not so much. Especially since it's also on the ceiling of the bathroom.

Downstairs bathroom- really more silver metallic than it looks here, and actually the one I like the best. (Plus it's the smallest amount of paper- although it is on the ceiling!)

Guestroom-color combo 1of 3- Tan and Green.

Master bedroom- color combo 2 of 3- Blue and Green.

Office- color combo 3 of 3- Orange and Green (although it some places orange has faded to yellow.) This is the one Greg says makes him neurotic.

So yeah, that's a lot of wallpaper. I don't really know why it was necessary to put it on almost every wall of the house. (And the vast majority of those walls remaining have wood paneling on them.) I'm trying to look beyond the rediculousness of it all, because it really is a great house. It just needs a little love from the Sabrownins. (And a few of our closest friends...?)

-Elena

We really have the internet back!

Whoot, whoot! After far too long, we really are able to blog again! I've been storing up ideas in my head, so here is a forecast of what is to come:

• I hate wallpaper: Seriously, who thought it was a good idea.


• Wallpaper, be gone! Everyone has an opinion on how to remove it, and we have enough walls to try them all! (Also-three rooms have the same wallpaper pattern in different colors, pictures to come.)


• The Rabbit Room, or the Lagomorph Lounge- the new home of the foursome.


• The toilet-sink: you'll see.


• The rockin' pantry: awe-some!

There were surely many more ideas that have been swimming around in my head, but that's enough to keep everyone interested for a while.

As we were moving out of the apartment we of course spiraled into the phase of throwing random stuff into boxes and garbage bags to try to get out of the apartment. We were in limbo for about two weeks while we moved everything from point A to point H. It's been a huge relief to be done with that part of the process.

As exciting as it is to be starting this phase, leaving the apartment was really hard. We'd lived there for 4 years, which is half of our relationship and really the entire "adult" stage of our relationship. It's like leaving fake adulthood to go to real adulthood. Greg almost had to drive the four blocks home after we handed over the keys to our landlord since the tears were streaming down my face. It really was a great apartment. Our landlords are actually going to be renting it to the woman who rented it before us. Crazy. She recently moved back to the area and asked if they had any apartments open because she'd loved her apartment, and they were able to tell her that her old apartment was actually going to be open.

So now, what you have surely all been waiting for:


-Elena

Still no interwebs

We're still waiting for everything to get squared away with our cable company. Sunday? (fingers crossed.)