Rachel's Blatherings: Rearranged

Rearranged

7 September 2010

Early last week A said to me something about rearranging the furniture. I love to rearrange furniture. It makes everything feel fresh and new. But, I felt I had created the optimal arrangement when we first moved in. And moving one of our living spaces would mean moving three. A big job. So, I told him he should get out his beloved graph paper and map each room (formal living, dining, and family rooms), then cut out little movable squares and rectangles representing (to scale, of course) each piece of furniture so that I could see if it would work.

He provided what I asked for, so I played around with my paper house (think grown-up version of a cross between paper dolls and doll house!) for a few nights. I came up with a solution which I felt was less ideal than what we started with but would furnish (ahaha!) change.

So, we lured some friends over Saturday and fed them amply (ending with scratch-made Angel Food cake and chocolate whipped cream--nummmm!), then put them to work. Even with the meticulous planning stage, we still ran into a few problems, but they were good sports and we accomplished the goal. A helped me rearrange the art on Monday, but I would still like to do a little repainting (I'll show you where in the pics below), hang some more curtains, and add a couple of area rugs. In the meantime, though, we think this will work better for our family, and for our small group needs.

Here are the befores:

Looking from the kitchen into the dining area

Looking toward the back door into the family room/great room

The formal living room

And NOW...

This was the formal living and is now the family room. I hate that green paint under the chair rail. It doesn't look good with anything in there now! Grrrrrrr.

Another look into the new family room. Obviously, we need to do something about the art on the wall to the left. A little spare!

One last look into this room. Nothing very exciting about this view!

And here is the new long room! :) You can just see the edge of the flowered couch up close. This arrangement facillitates easier feeding/gathering of groups larger than 8.

A nice private seating area if you need it, but never far from the action. I would like a little area rug in that corner. Maybe a round one? I love that my maps there to the left can be easily studied. There are some interesting things in those old maps!

And looking back into the house from the back door, you can now see the flowered couch. Very easy to pull the dining chairs around after dinner for discussion. I would like to have a rug over there under the couch and coffee table. The "curtains" are a sari I picked up in India and have never been able to use before! The other window needs to be dressed somehow, though.

All in all, I think I like it. It has yet to be small-group tested, but it's working well for the family so far!

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Round Two Timeline

9/24/08 Home study update home visit for Ghana adoption
10/15/08 Dossier sent to AOHG
10/15/08 I600A application sent to USCIS
10/30/08 First heard about possible domestic private adoption
11/18/08 Last spoke with contact about possible domestic adoption; expected to hear back about meeting with birthmother
12/3/08 Withdrew application from AOHG
1/6/09 Found out another family had been chosen for possible domestic adoption
1/21/09 USCIS fingerprinting appointment
1/8/09 Received USCIS fingerprinting appointment notice
4/11/09 Sent Pre-Application to Covenant Care Adoptions for Domestic Infant Adoption program
6/8/09 Social worker visit to update home study from International to Domestic
7/24/09 Received completed home study update
8/25/09 Went "on the list" for birthfamilies to choose from
4/28/10 Found out a birth mom had chosen us
5/8/10 Met the birth mom
5/11/10 Got the call that birth mom changed her mind
5/19/10 Birth mom's scheduled c-section
11/30/10 Visit from DSS sw about foster parenting
11/30/10 Got the call that another birth mom had chosen us
12/21/10 Met with the birth mom
1/15/11 @1:42 PM BB was born!
1/19/11 ICPC (interstate) paperwork sent to GA for approval
1/31/11 ICPC Clearance Approved
2/10/11 Placement Ceremony and Pup comes home!!!!
8/3/11 It's Official! Pup's Adoption Decree was issued