There were many times this winter when Sarge and I both wished we had a fireplace. There's something so satisfying about sitting in front of the fire with a big blanket and a book...maybe in our next place.
Since we've lived her for a year now, I've discovered that I may have something even better than a fireplace: a built-in.
Our house was built in the 1920s, and has some really cool features, one of which is an awesome built-in in the dining room. Over the last year, I've taken to treating it almost as a mantel, and changing it with the seasons. When we first moved in, it looked like this:
Shortly thereafter, it became this:
Now, it looks like this:
(Pay no attention to the random box on the left.)
I did minimal decorating at Christmas, mostly because...I am really lazy about decorating at Christmas. We didn't even have a tree this year; isn't that sad? It's especially hilarious because last year, our first Christmas together, I was traumatized by the thought of us not having a tree. What a difference a year makes.
Anyway, I'm actually glad we have the built-in instead of a mantel because it's just as versatile and provides something a mantel can't: S T O R A G E. It holds a hodgepodge of things: my grandma's china set, our wine/beer/lowball glasses, miscellaneous vases, tablecoths (in the drawers), extension cords, other junk that has no place (don't judge me because I have a junk drawer in every drawere-d object).
(A closeup of said mantel. I acquired most of these milkglass pieces from Sarge's grandma, a fantastic lady with a fantastic collection of STUFF.)
So there you go. Step one in Learning to Love Your Old House: embracing the stuff you can't change.
Since we've lived her for a year now, I've discovered that I may have something even better than a fireplace: a built-in.
Our house was built in the 1920s, and has some really cool features, one of which is an awesome built-in in the dining room. Over the last year, I've taken to treating it almost as a mantel, and changing it with the seasons. When we first moved in, it looked like this:
Shortly thereafter, it became this:
Now, it looks like this:
(Pay no attention to the random box on the left.)
I did minimal decorating at Christmas, mostly because...I am really lazy about decorating at Christmas. We didn't even have a tree this year; isn't that sad? It's especially hilarious because last year, our first Christmas together, I was traumatized by the thought of us not having a tree. What a difference a year makes.
Anyway, I'm actually glad we have the built-in instead of a mantel because it's just as versatile and provides something a mantel can't: S T O R A G E. It holds a hodgepodge of things: my grandma's china set, our wine/beer/lowball glasses, miscellaneous vases, tablecoths (in the drawers), extension cords, other junk that has no place (don't judge me because I have a junk drawer in every drawere-d object).
(A closeup of said mantel. I acquired most of these milkglass pieces from Sarge's grandma, a fantastic lady with a fantastic collection of STUFF.)
So there you go. Step one in Learning to Love Your Old House: embracing the stuff you can't change.
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