Goodbye Quarantine, Hello House: The Saga Continues

Written by Elissa Brown

Well, we did it. We bought a house!

Moving during a pandemic could have been a harrowing experience. Our last move, back in 2014, was insanely stressful (due, in part, to my slight hoarding tendencies. But now that everything I wore during the 90’s is apparently back in style, I wish I had hung onto some of those now “vintage” jeans.)

During the last move, we spent weeks packing, ran out of moving boxes in the eleventh hour, and broke not one, but two TVs.

Luckily, this time Danny and I embraced the fact that we are high maintenance and outsourced the majority of our move. I have to say, hiring movers to pack for us was worth every penny (our whole life was in boxes in less than four hours!)

The only downside? It has been four months and we still haven’t found our TV remotes.

Which brings me to my latest obsession: organizing. After discovering Getting Organized with the Home Edit on Netflix, and spending an inordinate amount of time digging through home organization pins on Pinterest, I was unstoppable. This new obsession has started to get out of hand. After spending a small fortune at the Container Store, I went to town (side note - Costco has a lot of the same bins for half as much. Rookie mistake).

You may have already guessed this, but I went down a bit of a rabbit hole. After the third (or fourth or fifth) shipment of containers arrived, Danny was convinced I was spiraling out of control. But he calmed down once he saw how much better our kitchen looked with everything stored (somewhat) neatly in a bin.

But not everything has been as exciting as organizing the kitchen and what used to be my Monica closet (you know, from that Friends episode.)

As you might remember, a big part of the justification for this move was to solve our “not wanting to live in a construction zone” dilemma. However, as luck would have it, a few seemingly simple projects have turned into a never-ending and (not so surprisingly) painstaking ordeal.

We wanted to change the massive farmhouse-style fireplace in the living room to be more of a low, frameless style, so that we would have space to hang Danny’s giant 75” TV. We originally thought we could get this done before we moved in (oh, young Elissa and Danny of six months ago, you were so naive). After months of stalking the fireplace company, we finally got an install date. I had almost accepted that our TV’s permanent home would be on the hearth on the fireplace.

Unfortunately, after the demo team came and tore out the old fireplace, leaving a massive hole in the middle of the living room, we learned that the fireplace that had been ordered was the wrong size. So now, the new fireplace will *hopefully* get delivered sometime this summer. At this rate, if we get the fireplace done before the end of 2021, I’ll be thrilled.

We also discovered that ordering new furniture takes FOREVER (first world problems, I know). In preparation for the move, we ordered a few new pieces, including a new bedroom set, and were optimistically looking forward to a swift and timely delivery.

"Instead of setting everything up in the master bedroom, then having to take it all apart to move it, we'll set it up in the guest room," we thought to ourselves. "After all, we'll definitely have it in the next month or two."

But the pandemic gods had other plans, and as seemed to be the trend, we were wrong.... again.

It took four months for the bedroom furniture to be delivered. The cheese tray I ordered during the after Christmas sale at West Elm that has yet to arrive should have been my first clue.

Even though the house is slowly coming together, if you've read any of my previous letters (or have ever met me), you know that I'm not the most patient person, and may need weekly therapy for enduring the months that I JUST WANTED TO SLEEP IN OUR BEDROOM.

Overall, the new house is great. The kitchen is fantastic and Danny and I can finally cook together without constantly bumping into each other. The cats have settled in well (almost suspiciously well... ) in part due to the new chair covers that are basically cat-sized memory foam mattresses.

I would say I have no complaints, but obviously I have plenty (I’m a complainer, what can I say.)

Next, we have plans to start on the backyard/landscaping project (amid a lumber, paver, and worker shortage). What could possibly go wrong?

Oh well, that seems like a problem for future Elissa and Danny.

To be continued…

Stay safe and healthy,

Elissa & Daniel Brown