#Stanley90sreno week 8: A little burnout, plus holiday distractions (and Christmas tree hunting)

#Stanley90sreno week 8: A little burnout, plus holiday distractions (and Christmas tree hunting)

• 12.05.2016

Well... we've lost some steam. I wish I could say our energy and spirits were as high as ever as we get close to the holidays and our days get busier... and if left alone, I might still be working on the house in the evenings and every spare moment on weekends. But I would probably get really burned out and stressed and not really notice it. Husband has reached his limit before I have, and has forced us to slow down a little and we had a very quiet week at home sticking to a pre-fixer upper routine on the weeknights and then enjoying a staycation in downtown Portland on Friday night.

But, we didn't get nothing done on the house this past week...

It's hard to make decor decisions without our floors in, but I have been doing some research, online window shopping, and thrifting for the house. We've never had a buffet/sideboard in a dining room before but with this house's tiny kitchen, we realized we really needed one for extra dish storage, and that's what they're made for! I've been checking Craigslist and looking at some new ones online, but I found this mid-century one at the Restore for $75 and came back a few days later to buy it. It's not perfect (I don't love the honey color, and it's a little scratched on one corner on the top) but it definitely has more character than anything new. I also am not sure which corner of the dining room it should go in since on one wall it bumps into the curtain and it kinda impedes the path on the other wall... so I'm still about 5% considering returning it.

I'm also not sure how to style a buffet! Suggestions welcome.

We also made some long-overdue progress in installing our faux wood beam. (It's from AZ Faux Beams.) This thing arrived on moving day and was 16' long so has been a bit of an obstacle in our living room for almost two months now. We plan to install it in the vault of the living room ceiling but have been prioritizing other projects, and now we finally are ready to except we realized we don't have a tall enough ladder to reach up there to do it! But, we did finally do the step of measuring the width of the room and cutting the beam to the right size. Now we've leaned it against the wall rather than tripping over it on the floor.

We also got our Christmas tree!

Despite the chaos and mess of the house right now, we never considered not getting a tree since it's such a tradition for us. It is definitely different this year, though... we have so many things to do on the house that decorating a tree, mantel, and anything else seems a little pointless at times. I wish we had a finished living room to deck out with holiday decor, but if we can just get the flooring in there and tree decorated before Christmas I will call it a success!

Now to another week of holiday festivities and maybe doing some things around the house. Any tips for us fighting burnout and celebrating a different kind of Christmas this year??