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Monday, August 20, 2012

Our California Home

We just turned over the keys to our home here at Edwards AFB, California, and are feeling rather nostalgic. Oh, how we've loved this home! It's been our little Utopia in the middle of nowhere, and we created such beautiful, happy memories within its walls.
This is where, after years of waiting, we finally started our lives together. For three years, Matt came home for lunch every day. For one of those years, our sweet boy excitedly greeted him at the door. We cooked meals, baked cookies, chatted with friends, played the piano and guitar, cuddled up on the couch, and made plans for the future. It was our home base from which we launched many adventures both near and far, from the beaches of Orange County to the beaches of Kauai to the beaches of Positano, Italy. Our greatest adventure began here when we brought our first baby home.

In this home, we had a simple little life with our own little family, and it was all so perfect. It's hard to leave behind the house where so many wonderful things took place, but luckily we understand that home really is wherever we are together. C.S. Lewis said, "There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind." So here's to our happy homes and adventures still to come!

That said, here is our California home! We had a family emergency on the day that I had planned to take nice pictures of the house, so the pictures I ended up taking later were a bit sporadic and I missed some obvious views (like a normal, front-of-both-couches view of the family room. How do I not have that?). Next house, right? Meanwhile, my very favorite room of the house is Jake's nursery, so that will get a post of its own next.

The entry/stroller parking (it's a spoiled little thing, that stroller):
The living room:
The dining room:
(I never did finish styling those shelves...)
One shot of our beautiful orange oak kitchen:
Ah, and back to the dining room:
With a view from the living room and a view of the covered patio:
Walking back through the family room:
The guest bedroom/office/bike parking (because apparently nice bikes don't belong in the garage?):
The bathrooms:
The hallway looking into the master bedroom:
Our room:
Typical pillow fight. Jake loves it.
The end! We lived on base and painted nearly our entire house, which means we subsequently had to repaint the entire thing back to white. To any of you who might ever consider doing the same, just know that it was entirely worth it. For just $200 of greige, blue and green paint initially and $200 of white at the end, our basic, boring base house felt like a comfortable, inviting home for three years.

However, my siblings (or, as Heidi astutely put it, "indentured servants" since I paid their way in exchange for labor) who came out to help repaint to white might disagree just a little bit. So I do have a few suggestions, like: Don't do the world's most awesome paint job in which you paint every single little nook and cranny that no one will ever have to see, because it means that you will have to do the world's most awesome repaint job later. And you should probably not paint bathrooms, or at least don't paint every square millimeter behind the toilet. Okay, that basically covers it. Also, just be aware that creating a "before" out of your "after" -- that is, painting an ugly, yellow-y white over your pretty colors -- isn't all that satisfying. It was quite telling, though, because as soon as our colors were gone, it didn't feel at all like our home any more... which made us even more grateful that we had made it our home to begin with.

Just for kicks and giggles, a couple scenes from painting (compliments of my dear siblings):
Clearly, they love doing business with me.
Actually, we had some super-fun late-night paint parties to 90's pop, so it couldn't have been all that bad. Plus, they got a trip to California out of it! Basically, indentured servitude rocks.

16 comments:

  1. I love the canvases over your bed! Can I ask what size they are? We are getting ready to move and was thinking of having canvases printed to put over our king sized bed!

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  2. I've decided your siblings are simply hilarious. "I hate Ashley" as mean as it is even as a joke, I laughed, I'm still laughing.

    I love my family, but I would totally go for adoption. I hear they adopt 27 year olds all the time.

    Ash, your first home was perfect, I know when first started following you.. how much you wanted one, and bam.. all these years later. Crazy. life goes so fast, right? so fast. I mean Jake is almost 1. c'mon.

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  3. The photos of your California home are beautiful. I can see why y'all loved it so much!

    My family is currently in the process of selling the house where I grew up so we can downsize... Your post made me all sentimental about about my home!

    Bailey

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  4. I love the paint colors you chose! And I agree, having some color on the walls really makes a difference. This is our first rental that has been painted anything but white and, while we didn't get to choose the colors, it does make a world of difference in the "homey" department. Plus I like the colors, so that helps :-)

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  5. Beautiful home! I love the colors you chose, it looks so bright and happy.

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  6. Too bad who ever is moving in couldn't have seen the colors you had. They would probably have liked them and then you wouldn't have had to paint!

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  7. I love what you did with your house! The paint colors were so beautiful and serene. I especially loved the grey in the dining room and the light blue in the living room. So light and airy. Love love it. I can't wait to see what you do with your next house!

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  8. (The above comment is Angie. I didn't realize I wasn't signed in.)

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  9. Completely jealous of your post housing. Army never has anything that nice.

    I've never been brave enough to paint. Perhaps one day I'll try it in just one room and see how it goes. =)

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  10. Just like everyone else, I adore how you decorated your house. Shane and I are buying a house with some smaller rooms and your light colors help open up space. Will you email the colors you used? It is always so tough to find colors that work (as you know). alyssa.nan@gmail.com. When are you and I going to meet face to face? :)

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  11. Tamara- I want to say they are 16x20, but I'm not 100% sure. I'd recommend cutting pieces of paper in the sizes you are considering and then taping them to the wall to make your final decision. That's what we did and it made me feel so much more confident when placing my order.

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  12. Aw, thanks everyone!

    Shay- I feel like being former next-door neighbors is an adequate prerequisite for adoption. Consider it done!

    Tobi- Not to rub in the whole AF base housing thing more, but our house was a whopping 6-months old when we moved in. We totally lucked out! Also, you should totally paint! Be brave!

    Sydna- They actually have a rule that allows the people moving in to either accept your paint or not. We knew the blue and green were risky, but we were really hopeful that our griege throughout the rest of the house would get to stay. (The colors look funky in some pictures, but it was all the same as the dining room.) But then when the time came, no one has been assigned to our house yet so we didn't even have that option! Such a bummer.

    Jo- It'd better be soon! We already have Colorado plans In the works. And I'll send the colors your way for sure! For anyone else who's curious, the griege was Glidden Sand White, the blue was Glidden Sea Spray, and the green was Behe Laurel Mist.

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  13. I love all of your decor!! I think you'll have to come up my way in CA to decorate =)

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  14. Ashley why I didn't think of looking here for the paint colors I don't know! I was wondering about the other colors too but didn't want to ask you again! My living room is yellow and the hallway is sage green but I don't like I now that its up. I'm going to get a sample of the green you had. You have great taste!

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