I literally gasped when I saw these photos as I was digging through my archives. Was this how our flat looked like? Cushions lined up neatly on the couch, on the floor? Orchids lining the window ledge?
A magazine stand stacked with the latest copies of Fortune, The Economist, The New Yorker, Newsweek, etc. Behind that, an exercise mat. Plants galore. Walls free from stickers and pen scribbles. Our monstrous old TV. Our fax machine before various coins inserted by little hands into the machine rendered it useless. CD’s neatly stacked and categorized. We even had a rug on the floor.
Now? No plant. At all. We gave away all our precious orchids and the ficus and the various other plants. (Click here for a close-up of all our babies before our real babies arrived). We stowed away the rug. No more magazine rack either. We got rid of monstrous TV. The pale green sofa cover has smudges, finger paints. Even the dark blue sofa cover that we use more these days is decorated with kiddie "art," courtesy of Josh and Zoë. There are stickers of various kinds on the walls, on the side of the TV cabinet and its glass doors, the CD rack. Even that piece of Bali art on the wall behind the couch has stickers on the glass! (Yes, we have a couple of little monkeys around here.) Toys, books, pens, crayons strewn all over, lining the window ledge, under the couch, in nooks and crannies.
Those pictures above? Were of a flat of a childless couple. Ever since our two tikesters, our flat has been in a “much loved” state. Today, I look back, I smile. And sigh. I shake my head. I smile again.
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26 COMMENTS:
My kids will be blessed that my pets have already done the ground work on getting any crazy ideas I may have ever held about maintaining a tidy, chaos free environment completely out of my head.
Our first born was such a darling. The best son you can ever wish for from a child. He was so neat and orderly. The house was always in perfect shape. Then two daughters came along and we had a complete makeover in our house. They played with plant soil, drew on walls and furnitures. Stickers stuck everywhere. Things pulled out and stayed out. It's still like this now but getting a little better since they're older. I wish I had taken pictures of how our place looked like.
It is so beautiful now that it is well loved and child proofed, right? : )
Your orchids were gorgeous. Your kids are pretty beautiful too:).
Awwww, but it must have been much more quiet...
I'm envious of how gorgeous your orchids were. I love orchids! I had an orchid from my mom that was stolen from my yard. I was so heartbroken.
It's nice to have a well lived in home...one that's filled with kids artwork and masterpieces and toys and books that they love. To me, that's comfort.
LOL, I suppose I should take some before pictures :)
My little house is all neat, organized and LONELY now that my boys are grown. I liked it better when there were puzzles, toys and 'stickers' everywhere! :-) Enjoy my friend! They grow up way too fast!!
Hugs,
Coreen
how neat was your flat! would love a latest pic of the same. :) we had to give away our huge showcase, sofa and few other things to friends and relatives to make more crawling space for ash. things we do for love!
~ash's mum
But now your house is your home!
I am with Rosebelle!! My son was a darling and our apartment was always neat and tidy!! All hell broke loose once my daughter arrived. Torn books, scribbled walls, strewn spices, watercolours on floor, name it!! It was disaster everywhere!!:D Given a choice, would I trade the neat apartment for my daughter?? NEVER!!:D
@Rosebelle/May - It was the same way with us. Z was more of a "destroyer" than J was when they were toddlers. Your comments got me thinking though. Maybe it's because by the time #2 came around, our attention was divided between two children instead of just one...? It just so happened that our #2's were girls?
It truly is amazing how different life becomes, but none of us would change a thing!
PS. We made the mistake of buying a cream colored sofa when our first was a baby. Not good. Not good at all.
That's so funny! My husband and I have not done much to rearrange our living arrangements, yet. But, our living room does look like a daycare center or something. In addition to all of our pre-baby furniture, we now have a pack n' play, swing, toys, jolly jumper, etc, etc. '
-Jessica a.k.a Nya's mom
I bet your place looks much better now as it is full of signs of love and family! Perfect!
Best wishes for a fabulous day,
Natasha, Stacey and Holly.
Love your "home" but wow, orchids? I would love to have those in plenty here!
...an now it is a famliy cozy home-
Greetinmgs from Germany
Liebe Grüße, Petra
It is nice to remember how life used to be so pretty and orderly, but I wouldn't trade all of the messes for anything!
Choose life! You can't go wrong with that. Later, when they are gone, you can have orchids, cushions and order.
Your flat looked wonderful before kids. But there was no kiddie art work to brighten it up.
Oh to have the before place now!
Yup..that's pretty much how it goes after kids! LOL
I love your place! espically those pillows..I love the big plant next to the tv!
Yep...it's the life we don't know we choose when we decide to become parents...sure, we know about the cuddling of cute babies, sleepness nights, dirty diapers, playful and fun family time...all the good and bad of being parents. But, somehow, we are never able to picture all of that in a setting different from the pre-kids one, since the morph takes place over a long period of time. Then, whoops, there it is one day; the place no longer looks like a magazine pic...it DOES, however, look like a HOME!!! I know which one I would choose, any day ;D I think we're on the same page with this one!
I love this! Sometimes the things we give up are worth what we get in return!
Ain't that the truth, sister! C'est la vie, as we mature from singles, to couple to parenthood, our homes evolve as well...
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