I walked into the mudroom the next house-work-day after they had taken the ceiling down, not even having seen photos of it yet.

Whoa.

I mean.

I guess I should have known, logically, that we had a tall roof under there…but I never…realized.

Let me remind you that it felt like a cave (that was literally falling in)!

I immediately fell in love, of course, with the vaulted ceiling feeling.

It just felt all…open and light and airy, and like what had always been my least favorite room in the house might have just become my most favorite.

Matt hesitated. I hesitated at his hesitation, but I still loved the vaulted ceiling. Our marriage counselor would be proud of us that we were able to actually talk through it instead of clamming up, getting mad, or any of those other well-known renovation drama things. It took awhile to work through what we were going to do.

Funny how we both see things the other doesn’t: Matt explained his needs from a construction side (electrical through the attic, plumbing through the walls, insulation for the ceiling, etc.), and I expressed my thoughts from a family, design, and aesthetic viewpoint.

We came to a compromise: raise the ceiling, but to the maximum height Matt would be comfortable with.

And then I continued to make life difficult for Matt.

“Oh! Those spaces on the ends would be perfect for reading nooks!”

“But I was planning to box them off, nice and simple…”

[cue another long discussion while we made up our minds]

And, again, we compromised: one reading nook, on one end.

Funny. We had talked just the day before about changing our plans to moving back in–if we hadn’t decided to move back in, those features wouldn’t have mattered.

It would just be a boring ceiling at the same height as the kitchen ceiling, and boring straight walls on the end. No discussions needed.

I guess I keep Matt’s life from being boring.