When I walked in Ruby’s new house again last week, I had to laugh. Â We both burst out laughing, as I took in this scene in the dining room. Â I looked at the massive amount of stuff she had stowed in the dining room and immediately was transported back to when I moved in my house over 2 years ago. The stuff, it is amazing how it seems to multiply on a move. Â They moved from a big house to a smaller one and will not be able to use all the things she has accumulated, so the task will be to keep the best pieces and get rid of the rest.
If you missed the last post, right after they moved in, I showed the whole house floor plan, so you can see it without a lot of stuff in place.Â
I thought you all would enjoy seeing a house in progress and how long it takes to get a house looking like a real home. Â Ruby has tons of things she can use in this house, but I’m going to help her pare it down and only keep the best things. Â A yardsale will definitely be in order before this is over. I told her I’d help her sell some things on my Facebook page, so stay tuned for that.
She is looking at a new table and chairs for the dining room of this house, so we will see if she gets the one she was looking at. Â I went with her to a furniture store in Roswell and we looked at dining room and living room furniture, but some of it is yet to be determined. Â She is getting a new sofa and chairs for the great room.
When I saw all the fake plants and flowers she has held onto, the first thing I said was….all the fake plants have to go! She is in agreement with me and is going to let them go. Â I told her she doesn’t want to clutter up this house with too much stuff and real plants are so much better anyway. Â Those worked in the big house, but not so much in this one.
I think all of us who have moved have faced this same situation. Â We all accumulate way too much stuff and it does feel good to pare down and let go of the clutter. Â I’m still dealing with that myself in my own house. Â My last area to declutter is my garage and laundry room. Â This year I hope to get rid of all the excess that is still hanging around.
This leather recliner will end up in the basement when the new furniture gets in.
They got the new flat screen TV installed over the fireplace and it looks fantastic up there.
They had a huge screened porch in the old house and brought the furniture over. Â She’s got plenty for this porch too and it will be fun getting all of this together.
The master bedroom hasn’t changed much. She is going to get an upholstered headboard made for the bed. Â And she discovered her drapes are not long enough for these windows, so trying to find a solution for that dilemma. Â It’s always something when you move in a new house.
Master bedroom paint color: Â Oyster Bay by Sherwin Williams
She had this gold chair and ottoman in another room at her old house and it looks good with her bedding in here, which will all get put together eventually.
The kitchen is slow going too. Â With so many things, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and stall on getting things done. Â I went through that too and it took me a good month to get unpacked and feel like I was finally making progress on my house.
The guest room bed is in place, but not made up yet. Â It’s going to be a pretty space when it’s all finished in blues and creams.
Ruby has a huge collection of blue and white pottery and it’s all in these bins. Â She won’t be able to display it all, but we’ll figure out where to use it strategically and make some of it work. Â Blue and white is classic.
The guest bath will get a few pieces of blue and white, I’m sure. Â She has a couple of mirrors that can go in here, so we will figure that out too.
Downstairs on the newly painted concrete floors, she added the leather furniture that was in their old basement. This will be the man cave. I’m sure we will do plenty of tweaking in this room too.
I will help her work on this space too and figure out the best configuration. Â She has a lot of furniture in here, so some will probably have to go.
Next to this space is an extra unfinished bonus room in the basement. Â They are going to get drywall hung in here eventually and finish this space out as another guest room, I think. There’s a full bath down here and that will work out nicely for guests.
She really has great storage and there is an area behind those rooms in the basement that is just for storage. Â This is all her Christmas bins. Â Ruby loves Christmas and has plenty of collected decorations.
I don’t think I showed you the upstairs bonus room. Â It’s going to stay unfinished for the long run, unless they decide to finish it down the road. They may add drywall up here later and just paint the subfloor to make it a usable space. Â It could make another guest space one day, but look at all the storage room up here. Â This house is not lacking in storage space.
It’s even stubbed for a bathroom too.
In the garage are all the boxes waiting to be unpacked. You can see what a job Ruby has to get this house together. Â I’m going to help her go through things as it gets unpacked and will do my best to guide her as much as she wants my help in getting this house looking good. Â I know she is a little overwhelmed at the moment.
We did look at the furniture store in Roswell, called Tuscany, for some furniture pieces that she had seen there. Â She may end up with a sofa and swivel chairs from there and we looked at these Paula Deen fabrics for chair possibilities. Â I love the paisley and so does she. Â We’ll see what the final outcome is on furniture and fabric selections, but I sure am having fun with Ruby on this project.
I’ll be at her house this week, helping her try to get some semblance of order going and try to beautify a few areas in the house. Â I know how overwhelming that feeling is, unpacking boxes and trying to figure it all out.
She’s got such a great house to decorate and I can’t wait to see it all come together.
For those of you who want the floor plan of Ruby’s lake house, it’s the Merveille Vivante floor plan.  Click that link to go to the website.  The plan is 1400 s.f. and they enlarged it to 1,800 s.f.
First thing I said to myself was “Get rid of all the faux flowers and plants.” lol
Can’t wait to see how it all turns out!
Maybe she can add a deep contrast border on the MBR drapes to get the needed length.
I love that you’re keeping it real showing pictures of Ruby’s rooms with stuff everywhere! You’re such a good friend to help her with the enormous, and overwhelming, task of paring down and selecting items/accessories that will work in her new home. All those decisions! I can’t wait to see how it comes together! I’m sure it is going to look fabulous! We’re seriously considering downsizing in the next “year-ish” so I’ll be following along hoping to pick up some tips on how this is done right!
I would love to know what color she used in her master bedroom. Beautiful color!
Hi, Dana, that color is Oyster Bay by Sherwin Williams.
Beautiful home. Can’t wait to see it all come together…would love to know what type and color wood flooring is in the house… I just love the look of it…
Ruby will love being pared down! My husband and I just did this in two stages over the last year. We even got rid of our really nice heavy furniture and bought more simplified casual neutrals. I just worked one room at a time starting in the kitchen. She has such a nice home. Please tell her to enjoy every moment of the process!
I will be moving to another house in the next few months and I’ll be interested to hear your tips in sorting through the paraphernalia, and other ideas. Now I’m packing as I go to stage each room. I have so much “stuff” that we have half our basement full of it and it’s 600 sq. ft. The other side which is also 600 sq. ft. is cleared out and getting new carpet today. Some of the upstairs furniture will go there. I also would like to know what is the paint color on Ruby’s master bedroom wall?
You two are going to work hard but have so much fun! Ruby’s house will be fabulous. Tell her that I still love the accidental molding color. It looks wonderful.
When we moved into our house almost three years ago, I set up a staging room with all the things that I brought from the other house. It’s funny how some things that you loved just don’t work but sometimes with a little paint they do. 🙂
I can definitely relate but at least it is a brand new house & that is always fun & exciting to unpack for. I didn’t feel that way because of us having to work on this house at the same time that we were trying to unpack and usually I’m a positive person, ha! Ruby has a beautiful open floor plan so she won’t miss the sf probably at all. Ruby will love love this place once she gets it the way she wants it. Keep us posted!
Thank you for sharing this process! Love seeing this house becoming a home! I am trying to scale down the “stuff”. Even if I can’t spend a lot of time, my goal is 2 items everyday. I always enjoy your posts!
I recognize those stacks of boxes. In August we moved to a house with half the space of our previous home — and no storage. The move forced us to pare down, and I’m happy with the results. We had too much stuff, and I didn’t want our children to eventually have to deal with it.
It’s going to be a beauty!! Ruby has so many pretty things!
Moving into a new home is the perfect time to get rid of stuff. Ruby is very blessed to have you to help her through this tiring process! Just a bit of advice- I live in Ga and have a large screened in porch. I wouldn’t put anything on the porch yet. The pollen will start falling very soon and will be everywhere! I’ve already started the task of bringing everything inside. All my cushions, lamps, rugs, all decorative pieces. I cover all my furniture and tables with drop clothes until the pollen is over.
Ruby has a beautiful home and I can’t wait to see it decorated!!
We sold my parents’ home last year – and had to get rid of the collectibles, decorations, furniture and ‘stuff’ accumulated over 30 years of living there. NEVER IN MY LIFE HAVE I BEEN SO OVERWHELMED. It took weeks of sorting, trashing, giving away, etc… before we finally had the GIANT estate sale and even after a second day of half-price bargains there was just too much to deal with. Thankfully, the new owners loved my mom’s pink and blue Victorian taste and were happy to keep some of the ‘goodies’ we left behind. I know…I hear thousands of your readers saying ‘yes, I’ve been there.’ Sadly, there are days I will recall some ‘treasure’ of my mom’s and wish I had been able to keep it, but reality bites and I know I have no real use for all that stuff that was hers. Rhoda, your friend’s house is going to be a cozy, stylish new home.
My husband and I are looking for a house plan for downsizing on a mountain top! I would love to see Ruby’s house plan. Would it be possible for you to share it or maybe a link to it? It looks like it has many of the features we are looking for. Thank you!
Luci, I’ve had many requests for her floor plan. As soon as I get a link from her, I’ll post it. She’s been so busy.
Oh this makes me feel so much better Rhoda! LOL Our house looks like Ruby’s. It feels good to know this is normal when moving. Ruby is my inspiration.:-) We have a large storage building and two small. We have filled all of the first small one with Christmas and dishes and small furniture. The second small one is quickly filling up with bags of bedding and “artwork”. I hesitate getting rid of the prints etc., until we are in and I see what I need. We have a big basement at the new house, so I have room for that until I make up my mind. We take something every day for storage and the kids have picked what they want. Still lots of stuff, but it has been checked and I know when we get it to the new house it will need going through again.
Fortunately, our buyer bought everything on the list of furniture for sale, we gave them. That is very helpful since much of that is larger pieces. We are getting rid of silks and lots of bric a brac. I have given away all but the most special dishes and linens. We still have lots of stuff to move. This coming Sunday, the 8th our mover is moving everything except one mattress set and frame, to storage. We will keep a tv and bed here at the old house until we close here. We close the 16th. We had a note they changed the new house closing to the 27. It was originally the 20th. The guy helping us through this adventure is trying to get it back to the 20th. We need to be out of our old house by the 23rd 10am. I have booked a residence inn for a week, just in case they can’t get it back to the 20th.
Anyhooooo…very long story!! I can’t wait to see Ruby’s new home all set up. It looks gorgeous already!!
I’ve moved about 30 times in my life. I don’t know if it’s because I am 71 or what, but this has been the most interesting!!:-)
wow. It is a challenge for sure. Moving is NO FUN
No hurry, but when you do the floor plan. . . include the color of paint used on her kitchen cabinets. 🙂
Beautiful house and great furnishings to choose from, it will surely be beautiful once all is in place.
Blessings,
Cindy
Oh me…… I feel Ruby’s pain with her move!!! I am going through the same “downsizing debacle”…. moved from a 4 bedroom to patio home which I love, but ….. no where to put all the stuff I accumulated over the past 16 years. Quickly, decided I had to open a booth at consignment shop to get rid of the overflow which is working out pretty good even though I still have boxes stacked to the ceiling in the garage and some in each bedroom. I moved in October and am still working through the boxes and decisions on what to keep and what to get rid of, so please tell Ruby to know things “will get better”…. in time!! With spring almost here, I plan to enjoy decorating the screen porch and working in the yard to divert my attention to something fun. Ruby’s new porch in the tree tops will be “decorated & gorgeous” before you know it…. I can’t wait to see the pictures!! Thanks for sharing her journey!!! 🙂
A few years ago, I remarried and I sold the house I had lived in for twenty-six years, that spot where my children had grown up and it was filled with both memories and ‘stuff.’ Lots of stuff. My husband and I have taken advantage of transfer opportunities and are in our fourth house together in nine years. The experience has taught me so much about what I really value and want to keep. The keeper pile decreases with each move. If anyone is contemplating a move, start BEFORE you move to unload the things that aren’t important. Less to pack. Less to unpack. The packers and moving crew will thank you. And a wonderful, fresh feeling becomes easier to achieve quickly without all the clutter.