Box piles are thinning and all but two puzzling pieces of furniture have found a home. What a difference a few days makes.

Last night, my husband and I danced a do-si-do with these two furniture orphans between us.  After a full turn around the living room — first with one, then the other — we failed to find a suitable spot for either.  Maybe it was the lateness of the hour or perhaps simple exhaustion; I only know I went to bed with hope that Sis could solve what I could not.

My sister Christi is gifted at home decorating, perhaps a carryover from displaying merchandise for sell in the gift shop she ran for years.  If she wished, Sis could moonlight as an interior redesigner   — those special home decorators who simply move around what homeowners already possess to make it look better than before.  Christi redesigned my Mesta Park living room before it went on the market and the results were amazing — her design plan offered a lovely first impression to everyone who came through the front door.

Though the boxes and furniture placement are minor inconveniences when compared to our loss of an operable kitchen.  Since our home sold faster than anticipated, my kitchen remodel is still in process.  Unless one counts a shiny new refrigerator, we moved into a home where the kitchen space is bare:  No cabinets; no stove or oven.  Not even a kitchen sink.  Just bare walls, filled with gaping holes, electrical wires protruding from the wall.

The appliances scheduled for delivery today didn’t make it.  I’m told the cabinets will arrive around the Fourth of July.  The rest is really up in the air as counter-top builders and tile contractors don’t like to put themselves in a corner.  They simply tell me they’ll do their best to give us a 2-to-3 week turnaround.  I’ve translated this as, best case, an operable kitchen by end of July.

Meanwhile, we’re either dining out or “camping in,’ keeping meals and dining utensils simple.  We each have one coffee cup for use.  We share a few plastic glasses and a few pieces of silverware that we clean in a small bathroom sink. with a nearby bottle of dishwashing soap.   We eat off of paper plates. I’m surprised at how little we actually need to get by on.  We prepare meals on the grill or eat sandwiches or salads we can assemble without cooking — like my favorite chicken salad I made Monday, which began with a chicken roasted by a local grocer.

As I think about it, maybe redesigning a living room is a lot like making a nice sandwich spread — as long as I can leave the cooking to others.

Chicken Salad