a real house tour. really.

If you don't know me personally and you enjoy reading my blog and have turned me into some really awesome storybook-like character in your mind, first of all, thanks. But no really, I hope you haven't, but if you have, there is no better way to completely erase any unrealistic ideas than to show you my home. I have never lived in a beautiful place. I like beautiful things and I love love love (LOVE LOVE) home decor, but I've never had the resources to make my place of dwelling a place that I really like. I have finally come to terms with the fact that it is possible I never will, or that, at the least, it will be a long time before I am able to. I used to get annoyed, a little jealous, and kind of depressed when looking at "Real House Tours" on other blogs, because I knew that: 1 - Even at its cleanest, my house was never has clean as their "messy," and 2 - there was no way I could get my house to be that beautiful. Possibly ever.

So, for every other woman out there who has a mutual secret loathing love for real house tours of beautiful homes on beautiful blogs with beautiful people, I share with you my real real house tour. Or rather, apartment tour. That I live in with my husband, kids, and my husband's cousin. That I did not clean, at all, before posting these pictures. I didn't even take out the trash in the bathroom first. That's how real this is about to get. These pictures of my home are taken with my cell phone camera. There is no editing, no curved edges on the photographs to make them look more romantic or poetic. It is what it is, and while I may not be thrilled with it, it's what I have, and I am thankful that we have the life we have. And I'm not saying that just to say it.

I do have to say that I had finished all the laundry before taking these pictures, so you just missed the giant piles of clean clothing and diapers strewn out all over the living room floor.


Hey! Welcome to our home. Come on in, and take off your shoes. Or don't. Because it's a rule we have that no one really follows. You can just put them in the shoe closet. Careful, it kind of stinks in there. What, you don't have a stinky shoe closet?

If you go down the hall, there to the right is River and Austen's room. They sleep in our bed so it's really just a toy room for now. It's my favorite room in the house. It's bright and cheerful and their window lets in so much beautiful light. Sometimes when I'm overwhelmed with the messiness of the rest of the house, I come in here with them while they play. 

The giant rocking horse was my brother's. I love it, but it's huge! I have this plan to paint it, but that would be a process. Sanding, priming, painting. I was thinking black and white stripes, or one bright, solid color. We'll see. There's River's "reading corner." Oh, I have plans. I want to put a small book shelf on the floor and the chair and floor lamp in the corner, and the letters R E A D above the bookshelf. And, I guess I kind of need some storage for all those stuffed animals and dolls. Why must children have so many stuffed animals? In the closet is their little dresser and Austen's diaper storage.

This is possibly my favorite thing in the whole house. I love the white shelving; it was money I'm glad we spent. We rarely buy new items and definitely not $75 at a time (for the shelving and cubes). I think it looks adorable and it really took care of the toys-everywhere problem. That vintage lamp still needs a damn lampshade.

Alright, onto our room, just down the hall there. That's our bathroom. It's so freaking small, I can't stand it. I hate having carpeting in the vanity area. Whose idea was that anyway? Definitely not someone who had a two year old who likes to climb onto the counter and spill water all over the floor.

The bathroom is probably the most put-together room in the whole house, besides the babies' room. I still adore the shower curtain my mom bought us when we got married, and there's a shelf we bought at Goodwill for seven bucks.

Right off the bathroom is our bedroom. Oh hey, there's our trusty air mattress! That's right, we've been living here for six months and still do not own a mattress. Why we must sleep with seven pillows and five blankets, I will never know. Spoiled Americans.

In the middle of the room is our bed frame. On a good day, everything is stuffed in the middle of the frame to keep it contained and neat-looking. On a normal day, it looks like this.

Um, let's move to the living room! *coughs nervously*

I can't wait to get a couch. Maybe this weekend we'll find a decent one on Craigslist. There are so many ugly couches in this world, guys. All that stuff by the fire place is John's computer/music equipment. I guess when our cousin moved back to Texas, her room will be the study. For now, it's just sitting there. Huge. And messy. And heavy. The black table in the corner is being used a sewing table right now, and I love it, because I've actually been sewing! I don't know if we'll keep it there, because it's pretty big, but for now this room is just for practicality. Nothing about it is actually attractive.

The piano was purchased of Craigslist as a mother's day present, and there's Austen's swing my parents bought her for Christmas that she is now much too fat for. It doesn't really rock any more when she sits in it; just kind of grunts forward and back.

Off to the left is the dining area and kitchen. After almost two years of not having a table, John built this one out of legs from a round table and a separate table top, both found in the dump at our apartment. After a good sanitizing, he sanded down the top and stained in teal, and then painted the base and legs black. We found the chairs along with the black table (my sewing table) at Goodwill for a total of $25. I am very proud of my husband -- he created a beautiful piece!

And to finish, here is my tiny kitchen. Clearly, we need more storage space. Natalie, if you're reading this, that is your face on my fridge. Creepy? Maybe. Or that save-the-date magnet works really well.

If you have a house tour on your blog, please share! In all seriousness, I love seeing other people's homes. I like to see how people decorate (or don't) and the organization of their home (or lack thereof). In any respect, as everyone reading this is most likely at least in the 20% of the richest people in the world, we should all be happy and content with what we have, even if that means we've been sleeping on air mattresses!