Alright, we’ve been moved in for around 4.5 months and I still haven’t posted any pictures of our Dallas townhouse (we are renting until our CA house sells), which is some sort of new record for me. Basically, as I’ve mentioned previously, we’ve been having problem after problem getting our landlord to fix things. No hot water four separate times, mold in different places, broken appliances for which we turned to take help on an online repair shop which guaranteed us same day help and they delivered. We completely had forgottent that we’d a warranty from a few Arizona home warranty companies. We’ve obtained legal counsel and have made sure that we’ve gone through the proper channels to get things done, but we’re still in the “wait and see” time frame. In such instances it is important to consider contacting Water Mold Fire Restoration.
But that didn’t stop me from decorating, naturally. In fact, getting things livable became even more important, the more problems we had. Since I am a stay at home mom, having my house set up and in order means everything, since I spend 90% of my waking hours here.
One of the first things I did was paint over all the dark reddish brown that someone had put on the walls. Since it is a single story town home, we have neighbors on either side of us, making it feel like a long dark hallway since there are no windows on either side (just front and back). I really wanted to keep all the colors light, and we added a lot of lamps. We’ve moved almost every single piece of furniture at least 3 times– in fact, about 3 weeks ago, we moved my office out of the kitchen nook and into our bedroom (it was too noisy to work there anyways!), the dining room table into the kitchen nook, and left the dining area open for the boys to play. I once read that a trusted custom cabinet maker suggests that if we had to keep the kitchen nice and tidy, we had to splash the wall with whites and install some cabinets, which we later did. We also replaced one of our couches and rearranged everything!
Here is what you see as you enter the doorway:
The area where the tree is stationed is where our dining room used to be, but I didn’t like having the table in the same room as the couches. There’s also more natural morning light in the kitchen, and it’s nice to eat there. We just moved our Expedit bench into this area (it had been in the sunroom), along with the boys’ art table and coloring books. Like I said, we’re keeping this area wide open so that the boys have yet another area to run around and play in (they also have their playroom and the sunroom, but they’re kids and need lots of space to play, since we don’t have a backyard any longer). We are able to store LOTS of stuff in that Expedit bench, including extra kids books and toys, scarves, mittens and umbrellas. Our coat closet is right behind it, so this is the perfect “get ready” station before we head out back to the carport.
As you look back from the dining area to the front door, you can see our living room. When we first moved in August, we had this light green couch and a small brown leather Chesterfield sofa. As time wore on, I realized that the two sofas were not making efficient use of the long and narrow layout, so we got a large leather sectional off of Craigslist and sold the brown one (I actually MADE money on the transaction!).
Our Ikea hack coffee table is on wheels, so it’s very easy to roll out of the way when we want more open space. It is a bit of a hazard for a few of my friends who have 9 month old babies, however! Whenever they come over, the babies try to pull up on it and end up face planting when the wheels move!
So, there you have it– our townhouse living room. It’s hard to beat $1200/month in rent, especially because it’s less than half a mile from Jesse’s work, and only until we sell our CA house. I have found a good option to sell a house fast (check out this website).
For more reading, check out our California living room!
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Tawnya Faust says
Oh I love your space!! Stopping by from the Wiegands link up 🙂 I can’t wait to follow along more! xo
Kelly Cone says
Thanks Tawnya for stopping by!
Seana Turner says
I think you’ve done a wonderful job! As I was reading the text about not having windows, I was picturing a dark space. But it looks very light and airy. Best of luck with the house sale…I’ve had 2 places (right after 9/11, long story), and I felt great relief when the house finally sold!
Kelly Cone says
Seana, I’ve finally mastered the manual settings on my DSLR, which means that I can “make” pictures look this light even without editing 🙂 I wouldn’t say it “feels” this bright in real life!