This past weekend, my parents were in LA to see me. This was their first time here in a while and they hadn’t seen almost any of the work done to the condo in person. They had seen plenty of videos and photos, but the last time they were here things were still pretty much in the demolition and rebuilding stage. They saw the new opening in the kitchen, but the kitchen was a blank space with nothing there. They saw the bathroom torn down, but the walls only had the first moisture barrier on them and there was no tile or anything else. This was really their first chance to see what it’s going to look like when everything is all done.
There are still a few things that are being redone or worked on, but the current look is basically what it will be. So I was excited for them to finally get to see my new home. Plus, we had a bunch of different random things we wanted to get done while they were here.
My parents got here after I was done with work on Friday, so that day was just to give them a tour of the condo, for them to give me a few things, and for us to have dinner. Our busiest day was on Saturday. After my dad and I had our workout, we got to work at my place. My parents took a few notes of things we want to tell the contractor about to add to their touchup list first, but there are only a few little things that just need to be fixed (like tightening a fixture or fixing the slide on a drawer). Then, we did the big project which was hanging up the artwork that I have.
I don’t have a ton of artwork, but I do have a few pieces I love. I didn’t know exactly where I wanted to put everything, so we only worked on the ones I was sure about. So that was a painting in the hallway, another painting in the dining room, a mirror in the entryway that my parents brought for me so it was new to me, and a painting over my fireplace.
My dad is a perfectionist with all this so we were measuring and using my laser level to make sure everything was hung up perfectly, but we wanted to only have to do it once and then be done so I was ok with that. And even though some of my things aren’t on the walls yet since I still am unsure of where to put them, I am so much happier with the things I have up now. And it makes it feel even more like my place since these pieces are on the walls and not just leaning on the ground.
They also brought me a few other things for me to put around the place, such as the vase that I put on my fireplace. I have a lot of things I want to display, but I think I’ll be buying some display cabinets soon for my living room so those things are staying in boxes for now. But I like that I have more things that give my place some personality and it’s not quite as plain.
After the art was done, we had another mission. Originally, my plan was to keep my couch and get a new chair for my living room since my couch looks so tiny in the new space. I love that couch so much, but it’s really not right for me anymore. The color looks off with everything we designed, and even if I added a chair to the living room the couch would still probably look small and weird. So we decided to go to a furniture store near my place just to look around and see if we get any ideas.
Originally, I was thinking if I got a new couch I would want one that has the pullout that is under the seats to make it almost like a bed so you can stretch out more. But the store we went to only had one of those and I really didn’t like the way it looked and it wasn’t the right dimensions. So we kept looking around and we found a modular sofa that we could buy additional pieces for so it could be the right size for the space. And if I wanted a slightly smaller couch, one of the couch pieces could be moved to the side to be a chair. And while it doesn’t have a pullout to make it feel like a bed, the ottoman it comes with fits in nicely to make it have a bit of that feeling.
We didn’t want to make any rash decisions and we hadn’t really done all the measuring we needed to do at my place to make sure this was right, so we said we’d be back the next day if it would all work out. And when we measured, it would be perfect! So we went back on Sunday to order it!
The couch is going to be held for me until we are ready, and we aren’t exactly sure when that will be since we are waiting on the contractor to get back to us with some timelines for the work. But hopefully, that will be done soon and I can get the couch delivered (after I sell my old one).
I know I’m trying to not spend as much on new things, but the more I looked at my current couch, the more I knew I needed an upgrade to make my place what I wanted it to be. I’m still waiting on buying a lot of things that are on my list, such as the bookcase murphy bed I want to put in my office. And soon, I’ll work on some budgeting stuff to be able to figure out how long I will need to save until I can get that. But it is exciting to have some more new furniture coming soon!
The only negative part of our full weekend was that I was feeling really awful on Sunday. My pain and anti-nausea meds really weren’t working and I was having moments where I was in so much pain that I was in tears. So we had planned on spending more time together on Sunday before they left, but by the afternoon I knew I just needed to sleep off the rest of the day and hope things would stop hurting for me. So we had to say goodbye without getting to have dinner together on Sunday.
I’m not sure when my parents will be back in LA, but it probably won’t be for a little while. By the time they are back, I should hopefully have everything done here and my new couch! And maybe even more new things that I find to keep making this place feel like mine! But for now, I’m so glad we got the things done that we did and it’s coming together even more.
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