As the solo parent of three incredible autistic children, life has been a roller-coaster ride filled with victories, frustrations, struggles, joys, and lots of survival mode. In between navigating meltdowns, school systems, therapy sessions, and simply managing the ebb and flow of everyday life, which can be challenging enough, as many of you know.
In the midst of my unique parenting journey, our house has become more than just a roof over our heads. It’s also been neglected and as I’ve emerged from survival mode, I’m working to breathe new life into the house that has kept us safe and warm for all these years. It’s nothing a little bit of love, a fresh coat of paint, and some sweat equity won’t fix.
I’m starting in my office because I need a dedicated work space. I’m converting it into a recording studio and that’s been taking a little time. Working from home is a blessing in many ways but it also presents many challenges, especially with work/life balance. For me and my ADHD brain, I need that dedicated space to work in and then leave and close off when I’m done for the day.
The next three projects will be the kitchen, dining room, and my bedroom. The kitchen is currently the bane of my existence because it’s not very functional. I have some ideas to improve that without going crazy. I need to create some additional work space for food preparation. That’s a little further down the line but for the meantime, a fresh coat of paint and a new ceiling fan will go along way.
The dining room is already in pretty good shape. It’s a bit chaotic while the office is torn apart but I finally found new dining room chairs earlier this year. The way my kids are, I was joking around about needing commercial dining chairs because they are so rough on them. So far so good and I’ll take that as a win. 🙂
I’m really excited to get my bedroom done because I’m really focusing on self care and sleep is a huge part of that. I’m currently working out of my bedroom until the studio is done because it’s the quietest place in the house. Being able to move all the recording equipment and computer stuff out of my bedroom will be a welcomed change. I’ve also been toying around with what to do with my balcony. It’s an old style sleeper porch off the second floor. I would love to turn that into a plant room cause it gets so much sunlight but it’s not fully enclosed. I would need to enclose it and ensure some kind of freeze protection in order for the plants to survive the Ohio winter. It’s probably not in the cards but it’s on my home improvement bucket-list.
Thankfully, there are no major repairs that need done. The roof is new, and the furnace/ac are in good shape. Somewhere down the road, I’d love to look into a ground source heat pump but not for this house, and definitely not anytime soon. That’s another thing for the bucket-list.
It’s been a long journey and I have some work to do but the reality is that most of it is relatively simple projects. I won’t be here forever but I want to make the best of what we have and teach my kids about upkeep and maintaining the house. Life has been so challenging over the years that things like this weren’t even on my radar. Until recently, having the time, energy, and resources to even start these projects simply wasn’t possible. I’m grateful for the progress and I can’t wait to breathe life back into this house and finally make it a home.
