Consumerism or Nesting?

I have a relatively new house. Two years old, in fact. I have a new floor in the kitchen because the painter took a chunk out of the old floor when he moved the refrigerator.

I am not from around here. I come from a land of lush lawns resting on a layer of mud and clay. Here, the grass is not lush but scratchy. It also lays on sand and dirt. That sand gets tracked into the house no matter what you do. Since we have a dog and she doesn’t wear shoes, sand is tracked in daily.

The carpets were an upgrade. They were placed on top of upgraded padding. It cost quite a bit extra. The carpets are shot. So I “need” to replace them. Of course, that isn’t exactly true. I want to replace them. I want my house to look and feel like home rather than always seeing a glaring flaw. The carpets are filthy, worn, and bubble in each and every room.

So I am upgrading a second time. I have ceramic tile to be laid in the living room and third bedroom. It will look really nice. I hope. Eventually, the master suite will have a fake wood floor. I don’t want real wood because of the whole sand thing. No matter how clean we try to be, there will be sand dragged in and it will scratch the floors. So why should I set myself up for failure when there are wonderful faux wood floors now.

I also want a patio because of that whole icky grass thing. I have a screened in porch that is wonderful. We can eat out there and it is bug free. However, if I want to be in the sun, I have to be in the grass. See above for why that is not acceptable.

I don’t know how long it will take to get my house exactly right. As soon as I get one piece fixed, the next thing is looking out of place. Will the new floors make me want new furniture? The couch is 12 years old. I know that I want new furniture in the screened in porch so I can put what is currently in there out on the patio. That and the rocking chairs are about 15 years old.

Is this just a way to spend money? Is this trying to make my house a home? A little of both? I have thought about new bedroom furniture. That is 33 years old. Much of our furniture is around 10 – 12 years old because we bought lots of new stuff the last time we moved. That means I didn’t really have to buy a whole bunch of stuff when we moved this time. I have a smaller house this time and was getting rid of stuff rather than buying new. So do I just want new stuff?

Women are supposed to have more invested in their homes than men, but I’m not sure that is completely true. As soon as I mentioned new floor in the living room, the “man room” was added to the list of things-that-need-repaired. Since it is the “man room” I obviously am not in there much.

The landscaping was nice, but not my idea. Is the outside not part of the whole home ambiance? I think we both like spending money, or perhaps we both like feeling happy with our home.

That’s the reason we upgrade.