The Balcony Isn’t Finished. So Why Am I Cleaning It?
There are so many things at the old house that I want to fix.
That's probably the first thing you learn when you buy an old house.
You start noticing things everywhere.
A piece of wood that needs repair. Paint that needs attention. A garden bed that needs to be cleaned out. A room that needs something you haven't quite figured out yet.
And if I'm not careful, I could spend the next several years making lists.
So I'm trying something different.
I'm trying to figure out how to actually live in this house while we're working on it.
The Balcony
I've been looking at the balcony since we moved in.
It's one of those spaces that has a lot of potential, but hasn't really been usable for us yet.
The wood needs some repair. There are areas of rot that will eventually have to be addressed, and the painted floor needs some attention too. Repainting is on the list, but it's a spring project.
For now, I decided I didn't need to fix everything.
I just needed to get it clean.
So that's what I did.
After sweeping, scrubbing and clearing away all the dirt and debris, I could finally see the space again.
And it made a surprisingly big difference.
The balcony didn't suddenly become perfect.
But it started to feel like a place rather than another item on the list of things that need work.
The Rain Changed My Plans
Of course, old houses have a way of immediately pointing out the things you haven't thought about yet.
I had hoped to actually start enjoying the balcony after I cleaned it.
Then it rained.
And that's when I discovered something I hadn't really considered before:
the painted floor is incredibly slippery when it's wet.
So now I have another problem to solve.
I'd like to put my egg chair up here and use the balcony for morning coffee. I can already picture sitting here while the leaves are falling, looking out over the garden.
But I'm not interested in creating a pretty outdoor space that isn't practical or safe to use.
So now I'm wondering what the right solution is.
Would an outdoor rug help?
Would putting a rug over the painted wood simply create another problem by holding moisture against it?
I've started looking into it, and I'm learning that this isn't quite as simple as buying the prettiest outdoor rug and putting it down.
Outdoor rugs on wood need some thought. A rug that holds moisture against the surface can contribute to problems, particularly if it has an impermeable backing or doesn't allow the wood underneath to dry properly.
So for now, I'm not buying one just because I like the way it looks.
I'm going to figure out what makes sense for this particular balcony.
And I suspect this is going to be a recurring theme at our old house.
Not Everything Has to Be Finished
One of the things I'm learning about this house is that there is a difference between finished and usable.
The balcony isn't finished.
The wood needs repair.
The paint will eventually need to be redone.
I still need to figure out the slippery floor.
But it can also be clean.
It can have a chair.
It can be a place to drink coffee.
It can be somewhere to stand in the morning and watch the garden change.
That feels like progress.
I think that's how I'm going to have to approach this house.
There are some very big projects ahead of us, and some of them are going to take time. I don't want every room, garden bed and outdoor space to remain untouched until I can afford to make it perfect.
I want to find the small ways to make the house work for us now.
A Small Beginning
Eventually, I'll repair the wood.
I'll repaint the floor.
I'll figure out the best way to make the balcony comfortable and practical.
And maybe by next spring, I'll look back at these pictures and wonder why I thought this was a big transformation.
For now, though, I'm happy with clean.
I'm happy with an egg chair.
And I'm very much looking forward to sitting here with a cup of coffee and watching the leaves fall.
It's not finished.
But we're starting to live here.
And maybe that's the more important part.