MY AMERICAN DREAM

One of the quintessential pieces of the American dream is the desire to own your own home. People save, and skimp, barter, beg, and steal to finally move from being a renter to a home owner.

On April 10th 2009, at a weirdly young age I made my own leap from being a renter to a home owner. At the time I didn't even have a job, and it was all sorts of crazy, and everything just sort of fit and before I knew it I was hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. TA-DA! Now don't get me wrong, I love my house. I love that we were even able to make this whole crazy owning our own home thing come to life in the first place. When it was all said and done, I believe that there is a different feeling one gets about their home when they know that the possibilities are truly endless.

BUT there also lies a catch in that once you sign all 700 of those papers you most likely also become a complete and total SLAVE to your home. Financially, and physically.

Since the house became ours Adam and I have performed a plethora of home repairs. Most all of which have been maintenance related, and less about evoking a feeling of, "Oh look how pretty! I love what you've done with the place!"

First there was the entryway support beam replacement (700 dollars later!), the two month process last summer of recaulking and then HAND PAINTING our two story house (seizure), painting the dinning room, paint touch ups in every single room of our house (which OMG isn't finished), removing and replacing the caulking in the kitchen and bathroom countertops, installing a fence border last summer, laying down what felt to Adam like a football field worth of sod in the backyard, and now, now we've successfully replaced the front entryway tile.

Have you ever demoed tile? This is one project I was finally totally behind because it's angry, there is a lot of violent use of sledge hammers, and you're welcome to grunt and scream with reckless abandon and no one tells you to stop scaring the dog.

Ok, sadly this picture is more, Redneck With A Hammer In Pink Crocs, and less, Awesome Demo Bitch Who Kicks Much Ass. But there is only so much I can do here people. 

Adam and I have BIG dreams for this home of ours. And the only disappointing part in all of it is that most of these dreams are also deeply halted by the funds we don't have. But, we're learning to do what we can, with what we have.

For the last year, all our beautification projects have had to wait as the necessity projects have come first. I have always understood the importance of maintenance, like replacing the caulking on the exterior of our house, but it's just really difficult to get a hard on about CAULKING. Especially when it takes up nearly two months of your summer.

But this time, even with the knee strain, and the lost Thursday night, the lost Friday night, the lost Saturday day, and oh, the lost Monday night, I finally have a project where I can point and say, "Don't you love our new tile? We did it ourselves."

Here is what we started with.

Oh how we hated the bla cream generic mass produced icky tile. Also, please note how it seems that Adam and I appear to have like 16 of our closest friends and family over for dinner in this shot. The sad part, those are all OUR shoes.

Shoes and all, four days later I present you with this, our new entryway.

The lighting sucks in this image, and there is still plastic on my carpet, and we haven't even reattached the trim, but it doesn't matter because I'm in love. Please excuse me while I rub my naked body all over our new entryway.

Pay no mind. Just step over me on your way in. 

Ashley, the Accidental Olympian

Comments

[Kristy]

Looks fantastic....the floor...not the croc's. lol

[Kelly @ The Startup Wife]

hey, that looks great! that's gorgeous tile. it feels very pacific northwest-y to me. In a classy way, not kitschy.

[Jen A.]

AWESOME ASHLEY -- Seriously beautiful! When I demo'd my fireplace hearth (also tile), Dad brought over a compressor-driven chisel. It made getting the tile up easy, but it was a killer on my arms and back! We had to take shifts using it. I'm so glad you got to finish a project that will make you happy every day! :)

[Ashley, The Accidental Olympian]

JEN -- Where was your father when I needed him most?

Actually, the hardest thing for Adam and I was being constantly hunched over. Laying the tiles, grouting, sponging, all bent over. The fact I'm not walking with a hunch is a testimonial to my genes.

Or something.

KELLY & KRISTY -- Thanks for the love!

[Sarah]

Home-ownership sucks. We moved into our house BRAND NEW. Seven months later, the inside is being rebuilt. Damn pipes.

Homeownership is also awesome. Because I don't rent (for the first time, pretty much ever) I was able to paint anything, and any color I wanted. People who are prone to seizures should not visit my home.

The tile looks fabulous! Great job!

[the Grumbles]

ooooh! looking fancy! house projects eat up the majority of our money too. it's a horrible kind of slavery, isn't it?

and we also have a giant pile of shoes, but ours is on the steps. where it's more dangerous and inconvenient.

i just tried to post this and it went all funky, so if it posts twice, sorry and delete one of them!

[mart]

I think Adam should build you an awesome shoe rack to go with your beautiful tile job..High 5 to both of you!

[Rachel]

So...you kind of just made me glad not to own a house. I do love beautifying though, and I hate living somewhere that isn't really mine, buuuut yeah. The entryway looks great though!

[flutter]

Look how fabulous! congratulations

[Tori]

i'm so jealous it's not even funny. i have the tile from your "before" picture and THAT was my "after." (you should have seen the hideous shit it replaced. oh. my. god.)

[Ashley, The Accidental Olympian]

I love all you ladies. Have I told you all that lately?

Come on over to my house, I've got wine. We can all sit on the new entry tile.

[Naomi]

I'm not sure if I like the pink crocs or the tile more...dilemma.

But in all honesty, the entry way looks great. Can't wait to try it out!