Hoarders

I am not a hoarder.

I swear.

Although if you walk into my house right now you wouldn’t believe me.  One glance from the A&E television producers, and I’d probably be the star of the next episode of the reality tv show.  So…here is what happened.Ten years ago I graduated from college and started a great career with no husband or family for the foreseeable future at the time.  I bought a small house that I renovated with the help of my family, and I moved in with my cousin as a roommate.  The house was perfect.  After renovations (my realtor and I joked that it was the crackhead house before I got hold of it – more details coming in a future blog post), it was just what I wanted.  It was very low maintenance and perfect for my cousin and me.

Yes, the ceiling is pink.

Then introduce my future husband Kent and his daughter Trinity.  Kent was considering purchasing a house when we met, but because I already owned one, he moved into my house instead.  Suddenly I had a built in family.    Not to mention that my husband is a musician, which means he came along with about 15 guitars and speakers and all sorts of fun stuff (which I also LOVE, but it takes up space).  At first it was great.  My cousin moved out, and Trinity and I painted the room the colors of her choice.  The spare room became Kent’s office/music room. We planned to move into a place with more space and a bigger yard, but for then it was still okay.

Insert new baby.

We knew we didn’t have space.  My very handy husband, with the help of family and friends, built a shed that we could use as a separate man-cave.  We did everything we were supposed to – approval from the home owners association included.  We built the shed.  Then suddenly the HOA decided we had to take it down (a story for another day/blog post).

Hoarders

Right at the same time, we acquired all sorts of new baby accessories, which have been crammed into every crevice in our house – a lot of stuff is needed for such a small person.  The guitars moved to a new home in the corner of our kitchen.  Kent’s back inversion table thingy moved into Trinity’s room.  The computer desk settled into the corner of our living room.  For weeks we couldn’t even open our front door.  Kent had to sell some of his music equipment to make room.  In addition to that, we have now started collecting boxes to pack with when we move.  Our space is livable, but not ideal.

Boxes. Everywhere.

We are tired of living in an episode of Hoarders!  It is time to move!  So we have started house shopping.  We may build; we may renovate.  It’s all up in the air right now, but we are really excited!  I plan on documenting our progress – and getting your opinions 😉  My husband and I both enjoy home improvement projects, and we are definitely do-it-yourselfers.  So expect many how-tos and blog posts about our experiences in the future!