Roots in a Rental Home

"I got a man to stick it out / and make a home from a rented house, oh..."
How Feist-y is we!

My dad came up for the week and helped John essentially tear our home apart and put it back together. I appreciate my dad alot for doing that, because we didn't know where to start. He did.

John and I are just in a rental and although we have no intention of buying anytime soon, it's sometimes a little scary to make major changes to a home that isn't "ours", and this is the first real time we've done it. With the baby coming so soon (less than ten weeks!) we realized that it's time to not only combat the mice problem permanent-o, but freshen up what we think will be our home until we have a toddler. We'll see. It feels like a lot of commitment and work for something we don't own, but a home is a home is a home... and it's ours. Siiiigh :)

Andrew, quite obviously thrilled to join the fun

The kitchen had a real mice problem, and the ultimate solution we could (dad could) think of was to throw sheet metal in, um, every single crack or potential mouse-hole we could find in that room. So, John and Dad tore apart all of the cupboards and planned to line them. As they were doing that, they suddenly came to the realization that the cupboards were gross. (Duh, I've been saying this for months!) They were white, but not really white... they were more like, gray with a lot of coffee stain drips and probably some projectile vomit (the last people who lived here were always in party-town apparently).. so of course after a call to the Landlord we bought some white kitchen paint and the boys got to it (my brother was suckered in, too). Everything got torn out of the kitchen, vaccuumed, Lysole-d, apparently some nasty stuff was found (sawdust? really?) and after some serious dedication I now have 3 men to thank for a kitchen that feels like new and I'm thankful for that. The walls are still green and black and will need some touch-ups in some torn-up places, but touch-ups are easy peasy!

But it doesn't end there.

The nursery! The nursery has been painted. It's prettyyyy and bright and airy and I love it. Pictures will come when it's finished (which won't be for some time, it's 90% DIY-project-decorated and that means time).

Cutting in the nursery - the walls are no longer blue!

So, in a home that's not "our" home, we have managed to make it feel very much like ours. Earlier this week we were given the opportunity to live in a home in Toronto for a 12 month lease for next to nothing, in a gorgeous area, in a gorgeous house, yadda yadda, and - very much unlike our previous selves - we turned it down without blinking. This is our home. This is our place. This is, for now, where our roots lie. And that feels amazing.

I forgot what roots simply felt like.