The Home Front

So, I know I have been talking a lot about the food and local cuisine, but I haven't really talked much about how the house is coming along!

We are the corner unit of a 4-unit multiplex.  The outside, so far, is still looking bland and a little dirty but seeing what some of the neighbors did with theirs gives me a few ideas. I actually ordered a painted wooden sign from Etsy that reads, "Home Is Where The Marine Corps Sends Us" with smaller wooden signs hanging from that which read where you've been stationed. Since this is our first duty station (I don't count Sacramento) together, ours is going to show Okinawa, Japan. I'm pretty excited for it to arrive! Next chore will be to figure out the rules about planting flowers and plants. I may just have to go with big planter pots (which may be the better way to go since the poisonous Habu snakes hide out in unkempt shrubbery! No thanks...). 

The "hospital kitchen" with it's stainless steel counters, grocery store floors and yellowed plastic counters, has come a long way now! The very first thing we did was paint the cabinets a pretty blue color. It's not quite as light as Sky Blue, but it's still pretty light. Yesterday, I finished painting the walls in the kitchen white. With little splashes of red, pink and yellow, the kitchen is really cute (and clean/crisp). My goal is to always have fresh flowers in there :)  Another thing I love about the kitchen? Sunlight!! That's something that was sorely missed back at our old apartment. This kitchen is big enough to set up our tall cocktail table as our new breakfast nook area, complete with red flowers, Mickey Mimosa glasses, and a couple red and yellow Mickey plates (something you'll notice in the kitchen is that it is very Disney..we went a little crazy shopping on our honeymoon lol). 


With furniture set up in the house, it doesn't look as bland and blah as before.  I have decided that I want to paint the living room now.  We have an oatmeal colored couch and ottoman, black entertainment center and a black dining room table with black chairs. Actually, the correct term is Espresso but whatever, it's black. Sitting in here now I am craving some color! I'm thinking of painting the walls a shade of yellow. Maybe a light marigold color? I think it would lighten the room a bit plus it would go along with the color scheme of the kitchen. Problem is that at the Makeman (local Japanese Home Depot) store there was only two yellow options and they were not what I was looking for: pastel Easter egg yellow and bright neon yellow. I would ask if they could mix the two, but it's very hard finding English speaking workers and my pocket Japanese language book doesn't really have any "can you mix these two paints?" options!  The search will continue.

Moving on..going upstairs, we painted the banister a raspberry pink color. I know, it's a little out there, but when else will I get a change to paint a pink railing? Um, never? The stairway is so depressing, with it's yellow lighting, hospital floors, yellowed walls...I just had to add color! I also want to find black and white paisley print contact/wall paper that I can stick to poster board then apply that to the stair risers. I think the hot pink will make more sense, then.  We haven't touched the two extra bedrooms, but we did paint our room a light, fairytale blue. It really makes all the difference. Our sheer ivory curtains are being shipped here as we speak! The room is just big enough for our Cal King bed and a small night stand. Oh, and the small entertainment stand with our TV on it. That's it. Our dressing rooms are the first guest room for Matt and mine is the walk-in closet in our master bedroom. I just painted some of the bathroom white yesterday. I have to wait to buy more paint before I can finish. In the meantime, I'm really debating on painting the yellow plastic cabinets the same hot pink color or the leftover blue from the kitchen. What do you think? If a bathroom is going to be stark white then it needs a good contrasting color, I think.  Matt is such a trooper letting me paint things girlie and pink lol

Well, that's the little tour of our new home! Now that we are getting settled, I think I want to stay here versus move all over again (for when they have to renovate). I can't handle the thought of all our things being packed up again only for me to have to unpack again and repaint again and put my body through stress...you guessed it..again! But, we'll do what we have to do. (Just don't mind me bitching about it part of the time! )

BTW Here are some ocean shots from a rest stop we found: