Keeping it Real, No Apologies

Something I've noticed in the last month and a half of doing in home consultations, is just about every home I go to, they apologize.  I find it completely unnecessary of course but whether it's the unfinished state of a room or the toys that didn't get picked up, they feel the need to apologize for the current state of their home.
I understand, don't get me wrong!  I've done it too.  But I kind of wonder if they do it because they assume I will be disguisted with their kids toys or their wood panelling.  Maybe they assume that because my job is to make rooms beautiful, that I live in a beautiful perfect home and will find theirs horrible?
I have to laugh a little inside when they're apologizing and think,  "If only they could see my house!"

So here's a little background; We have lived in this house for just over two years.  We needed a larger house because we wanted another baby and lived in a tiny starter house with no basement or garage.  We considered renovating, RTMs, and building but none really worked well for our situation.  When we were looking there were two houses for sale that fit our needs.  They both needed a lot of work and updating, so it was a bit of a toss up but price and space ended up being the decision maker.
We have been slowly trying to make our way through it but with me being at home with the kids and going to school, budget and time has been on the slim side. 

So here I am, keeping it real and letting you all see some of the undecorated and unrenovated spaces of my home!  eeek

 

Here's my unfinished basement.  It still needs flooring, baseboards, trim around the windows and to be decorated.  The basement is a family room/playroom, although the kids spend far more time down there than we do.  It's mostly mismatched hand me down furniture and random area rugs to cover the bare floors.  I have plans to put down wood look flooring, paint, put up shelving for all the kids toys and of course new furniture for the family room.  However that is not happening immediately, so I dream for now :)  Notice I didn't clean up the kids toys...keeping it real!

 

My dream kitchen!  Or not.  It's big, has lots of storage, and it's easy to work in but it definitely isn't my idea of a good looking kitchen.  I would like white shaker style cabinets, butcher block counter tops, subway tile backsplash, a cute pendant and roman blinds over the sink.  And just about any floors would be better than the faux brick lino.

 

 

 

Embarassed of your wood panelling?  Here's the wall of wood in our master!  She's a beaut!  All of the bedrooms and the dining room had these walls of wood.  This is the last surviving one!  They take a pile of work to sand down and paint but look a million times better afterwards.  We did put new floors in because I couldn't handle the faux pink marble floors that were in here but otherwise the master has gone untouched.  Hopefully this summer it will get done!

 

Master Bedroom by kirstenmp on Polyvore

 This is the moodboard I made for my master a few months ago.  We'll see if I don't tweak it a bit before it actually gets done.  I've got the chair, bedding and new side tables already but I have this thing about collecting everything for the room and then installing it all at once. 

 



 

And my original 50's bathroom!  The mint is back and I don't mind all the glass walls actually but everything is starting to get pretty worn down and showing it's age.

 

Source: housetweaking.com via Kirsten on Pinterest

 

This is much closer to my dream bathroom!  On the list of things to save for.

 

 

So the point of this post? I love beautiful rooms and designing them but I live in reality,  just like all of you.  So no apologies needed!