Greetings owls! Hunters of the night and silent fliers. Put down those mouse snacks! I can’t stand watching you eat live mice!
I’ve crawled out of the woodwork to peek around, say hi, and give you an update. Plus, I didn’t want any of you to worry and report me missing to the American Sewing Guild’s governing body. Those nice ladies have enough to do without dealing with yet another false missing person report.
So! Where were we? I can’t remember my last update to all ya’ll, and I’m too lazy to read my own blog, so I’ll start from the beginning. Sometime in late January, we found out my husband’s job was being relocated to the Dallas area. Since then, we’ve been to Texas twice. I’ve looked at about a million seemingly identical brick houses – on the 2nd trip, I went down early and saw more houses than Mr. Bug. He got to come down on the weekend and see finalists. Lucky.
We’ve managed to find a house in Texas. Lord willin’ and the crik don’t rise, it’ll be ours officially at the end of April. At the same time, we managed to sell our little, much-loved south Minneapolis nest to a nice young couple. Lord willin’ and the more northern crik don’t rise, our nest will officially pass into their hot little hands at the end of April. Actually, our closing dates are the same day. We are the masters of timing.
Here’s our new house. If you’ve ever seen the houses in Texas, it might look familiar…
As many of you know, moving stinks. There are SO many details to deal with and selling one house while buying another makes it even more crazy time! I’m having a hard time remembering what we’re doing in which state!
And for any of you who are wondering about MY job, which I only started last August, never fear. My awesome boss has awesomely decided to let me work remotely from Texas. Did I mention his awesomeness? While there’s a lot more details there to work out, it’s a super-relief to have a job lined up. Plus, I really like what I do, so I’m glad to not have to leave the company. Plus, I think I’ll REALLY like working from home. Get ready for some obsessive what-to-wear-when-you-work-at-home posts in the future!
Speaking of obsessive, let’s talk sewing rooms, shall we? I know a couple of you commented and/or emailed me about the loss of my recently put together basement sewing lair. Boo. I love my basement sewing nook! Luckily, when Mr. Bug and I put that together, we kept everything basic, white and movable in case we decided to finish the basement at some point. I wanted to furniture to be super flexible. And here’s something I learned while looking at houses in Texas: why have one living room when you can have three? That’s right. Three. Our new house has three living rooms. On the first floor. Technically, there’s the family room/great room, the ‘game room/den’ and the formal living room. Since Mr. Bug and I have NO interest in getting a pool table, the game room’s not really our thing. And formal living rooms annoy me with their ostentatious lack of use. At least, they annoy me for our lifestyle. I really wanted a house where we’d use ALL the rooms.
So in our version of the house, we’re keeping the family room and using the connected game room as the sewing room. The formal living room is connected to the game room, and that’s going to be Mr. Bug’s playroom. You know, dark shelves, poker table, model trains and various other boy-related furnishings.
Here’s a picture from the real estate listing of my future sewing room. The listing agent get’s a C- (in my book) on her photo taking abilities….
Yes. That’s a fireplace. There’s two in the house. Honestly, that whole ‘everything’s bigger in Texas’ maxim apparently holds some truth. The family room is through the door in the lower right of the photo. Here’s the view looking the other direction. Mr. Bug’s poker room and the front door are through the french doors – and you can see the door to the family room much better!
Obviously, we wont’ be going with the guitar and futon vibe. And I’m hoping we can swap out those startingly light carpets for hardwoods asap – honestly, don’t these people know about basset hounds with their muddy tummies? Lucy’ll have those carpets awful in NO time!
Having nothing better to do (I’ve already modeled out my new home office) I built the sewing room in my Better Homes and Gardens interior design software last night. Here’s what I’m thinking for the sewing room version of this room – first, the view towards the fireplace…
Cozy, right? This sewing room will have to be a bit more cutesy than functional – it’s right on the first floor, after all. And I like having my sewing room as a place to hang out and chat. And may as well take advantage of the fireplace, right? For all those hot Texas nights… The TV is two-birds, one-stone thing. If we put one there, it is totally viewable from Mr. Bug’s poker room as well. Apparently, it’s important that men playing poker watch other TV-men playing poker. While they’re playing poker. Here’s the view going the other direction…
And two more renderings that I think are a little better, but I don’t have any real-life photos from these angles…
I found the following links that were super helpful and inspirational… this sewing room is an adorable, totally a functioning sewing room, but something that I’d be happy to have on my first floor and open to everything. I LOVED this project, especially the hack to make the Ikea Expedit shelving look more traditional. And I thought this idea of leaving out a few shelves to make hanging space in the Expedites was super clever.
So there’s the update! The next two weeks are super busy, but on the 17th the movers come to take away all my things….
Oooh, exciting!
My brain is a bit boggled by the three livingrooms thing. Even in the ritziest houses around here I thought two was the max (on one floor… you often get another one in the basement). I’m glad you’re finding logical uses for them! And I know you will have the cutest sewing room ever.
Good luck with all the crazy moving deets!
There are NO BASEMENTS in Texas! As a northern girl I was honestly baffled. I still don’t understand how they build houses without basements. It seems like a big cement slab, no matter how reinforced, just isn’t a good idea when it’s right on the dirt!!
The no basements thing weirds me out, too! But, I’m also a northern gal (just south of you currently, in Madison, WI). Do they not get tornadoes in TX?
I just saw on Yahoo! that there are possible tornadoes in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. So, I guess that question is answered. Now, the bigger question is, where do Texans hide when the twisters hit?
Closets, bathrooms, bathtubs, tiny interior rooms. We do not have the ground freeze here so no need to dig it out for a basement. Also, places like central Texas are all rock anyway. Your slab will only crack if you do not water around the house during droughts.
Having lived in Texas at one time, I do recognize the house, including the complete lack of a basement.
You laugh now at the fireplace, but many houses have a wimpy furnace and poor insulation (which baffled me, cuz just insulation is also useful against hot weather).
Have fun creating your awesome sewing room.
I’m looking forward to the fireplaces! On our first house-hunting trip it was really chilly – and it snowed! Folks went nuts!
Good luck with the moves and the closings! Having just gone through our own two closings on one day, I feel your impending pain. Hope everything goes smoothly, and have fun planning your sewing space!
The two closings thing is nutty! I’m totally losing track of which closer is which, etc. And buying in TX is very different from buying in MN!!
Your plans look great for a cozy useful sewing space.
Oooooh, a fireplace in the sewing room would be a dangerous thing for me when I got frustrated with a project. he he he Good luck with the move!
What did you use to make those 3D renderings? That’s a genius way to plan out a room before sliding furniture around, especially in a sweaty Texas heat.
Congrats on not only finding a new home but also on selling the old one! I hope you get the most awesome sewing room and thanks for the links to both of those sites which are new to me but have me drooling. Here’s hoping that your move is smooth, that nothing is lost and that the unpacking is quick and painless!
Congrats on the move and new house – Your sewing room looks fantastic!! We are also moving and I already staked out my sewing room – it is going to be huge but I have not planned it yet. I take pictures on Monday so I can start planning and drooling over many different catalogs and the IKEA website!!
Most of Texas doesn’t have basements because the earth shifts too much–you’d get huge cracks. It’s not the freeze cycle there that causes problems, it’s geologic movement caused by things like natural gas deposits. In summer, you have to be sure to “water the house” to ensure that drying, shifting earth doesn’t heave and cause your foundation and brickwork to crack.
In case of tornadoes, hide in the bathtub or an interior closet (preferably one that backs up to a bathroom.
Congratulations! I can’t wait to see all the pictures as you decorate your new house. 🙂
I have missed your blog! It is so ggod to hear from you and I am glad it all seams to be working out! Don’t stay a way so long next time!
Nora 🙂
That will be just amazing. Although I am newer to your blog, I do have to say I have already missed you and was thrilled to see a message pop up in my email! I wish you the best for a smooth transition into your new home and look forward to seeing great things come out of the sewing room.
Congrats on finding a house. The reason we don’t have basements in Texas is because the soil here makes building basements prohibitively expensive. Welcome to Texas.
This is really amazing. Congrats for having such a beautiful house. A dream house to cherish and live. Hope you would be very happy to have it.
Awesome house! Well, it’s not actually a house. But a Home. 🙂 Good luck to your new home. New home. New beginning.
I so love the entertainment room of yours! We also have our basement before, but because of the flood which the water is coming into our basement we decided to closed it. But having a sewing room is cool! You can actually do all your stuff there.. Love your idea!
This is really beautiful, it’s a perfect place for a perfect family like yours… I love the way it around…
The basic ability to sew on a button, hem pants or fix a rip is one that every child should know and understand. Many kids do still learn this technique in home ec in middle school but I will make sure my son knows how to sew his own clothes instead of depending on the women in his life.
Beautiful house… Wish you all the best in your new home. I love the architectural design! Thank you for sharing every part of it.
This is really beautiful, very warm and lovely place for a complete family… I want also to have this beautiful set.up home…
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Great job! What’s a beautiful house. It’s really warm and lovely. Hope that I will have the same house like that.
Thank you so much.