New Furniture Abounding

Part of the "problem" of moving into a much bigger house than the one we moved from is needing to fill all of the rooms. Surprisingly, we were pretty set in most areas. We have a living/dining room, and we really didn't want to put a lot of furniture in the "living" area since most of the time we are in the family room. But with just the dining room table and a love seat, the room looked pretty barren. So we set out to fill it. And fill it we did!
This is our new and improved dining room. We added a buffet and a china cabinet. When Chris got the table (right before we met), he didn't have room in his townhouse for a china cabinet. Now that we do have room, they have discontinued the line. We found another line that we like, and it blends nicely with what we have (or at least we think so!).
And here is Chris' pride and joy - well next to his family of course! We weren't really in the market for a bar, but while we were looking at the dining room furniture, Chris noticed that the store also had a selection of bars. Since we lost his wet bar when we moved, this is perfect for him. Even more so that the area we had before, since that was in the basement, and not really accessible when we entertained. This bar is in the front of the house and is REALLY nice. You're all welcome to come belly up to this bar - margaritas on the house!
Here is our new family room. We got new couches, and a recliner for Chris. We got new tables, lamps and a rug. And the big honkin' unit around the t.v. I can't tell if it makes the t.v. look bigger or smaller, but I love the way it looks regardless.
And finally, the masculine office. We sold Chris' desk before we moved, and were planning on getting him some new office furniture. When we got down here, we found out that the Bombay Company was going out of business and liquidating their stock. We found a set we liked, and waited it out. We got a great deal on the furniture and it looks beautiful. A big difference from this.

So there you have it. Our house is still a work in progress, but it's really starting to feel more like home. Well, actually anywhere that has all of my boys in it feels like home to me, but you know what I mean.

Remember this...

Here's what a lot of blood, sweat & tears hard work will do...
Same view. I know, you can't believe it's the same room, but I assure you that it is. We will no longer need to condemn the playroom. As you can see, the train table has made its appearance in the room with the t.v. in the corner. Along the back wall is the garage for all of their cars and in the other corner we have their kitchen. Along the right wall is the Lego table, the rocking horse, and you can see the corner of the bookshelves.
I'm loving these crates from Target. Each crate holds something different. The bottom shelf is filled with toys and books for Colin. There are also crates for blocks, Duplos, cars, Weebles, farm animals, action figures, Little People and more that I can't remember right now. On the smaller bookshelf are the puzzles, felt boards, and other such things.
Finally, we have the closet. I have placed a shelving unit from Target. This houses our Noah's arks, musical instruments, big cars. You can also see the work bench that Brian got for Christmas last year and the Leap Frog table.

I'm really pleased with how the playroom has turned out. It is just like I pictured it in my mind. Plenty of room for the kids to play and lots of areas to keep their toys organized - well, at least for tonight!

I am so tired of boxes

One day I hope to be free of moving boxes. I'm not sure when that day will be. Chris and I made great headway on unpacking this weekend. Chris worked downstairs, and I tackled the boys' bedrooms.

Our move included a full unpack, but we chose to just have a partial unpack. It was very helpful in getting my kitchen organized quickly.It may not look like it, but everything is in either a cabinet or drawer and is nice and neat. Loving it!

However, there are other areas of the house that should be condemned. Here are some pictures of the playroom and office Just so I can share the pain view with you.

Despite the boxes, I am so insanely happy in my new house. There is room for the kiddos to move around. One day, there will be a big playroom for them to play in and keep their toys from being strewn about the house. Since we are only the 6th family in the neighborhood, there are lots of "fields" to run about in (and areas for Bailey to do her "bidness"). The only thing that is missing is the relationships that I had in VA. You know who you are, and you know how much I miss you!

We're In!

No time to write - busy, busy, busy with moving from the apartment to the new house, but we slept here for the first time last night. I can hardly believe we are really in our new home! It's so beautiful I can't even describe it. After all of our stuff arrives and it gets arranged, I'll take pictures to try and capture how lovely it is. For now, just pray for some peace for all of us in these next few stressful days of moving.

Evolution of a Home

While we can't settle on our house until next week, it is finished (except for a minor plumbing inspection failure!) and we are excited to move into our home. Here's the evolution of our house from start to finish. Enjoy!

Got grass?

Well we do! As of yesterday, the landscapers were hard at work planting trees, shrubs, plants and laying sod. It's really starting to look like a house instead of a building just plopped in the middle of some dirt.

That tree on the right of the house looks lovely whilst looking out the window of the loft.

If anyone can identify that plant to the right of the front door, I would greatly appreciate it!

When I went over today to meet with the painter, I noticed that the carpets have been steam cleaned, the kitchen looks sparkling, and all of the tile floors have been mopped. Now we're just waiting on a couple of city papers to get pushed through and we're in! We will find out tomorrow afternoon if it is possible to close as early as this Friday. If you have a moment to say a little prayer that it all works out, I'd appreciate it. I know there are more important things and people to pray for, and we will be in this house within the next week and a half, but it would just be a huge stress reliever to be able to close this week. But I'm not in charge...

We're so close...

to getting into our new house. When we went by today to harass talk to the sales guys, we took a quick peek inside our house. Here's the latest shot of the front. Notice we have a driveway and sidewalk now. What you can't really see is that the sprinkler system was installed on Friday. Come Monday, you won't even see dirt anymore as they are scheduled to lay the sod down. As of today we are scheduled to close before the end of the year - it's just a matter of which day and we won't find that out until probably Monday. Bottom line is that in about 2 weeks we will no longer be renters but will be in our home! I'm getting so excited I'm like a little kid before Christmas. I just want someone to put a big bow on top of the house like they do on those car commercials!

And of course no home would be complete without a pool. We finalized the plans for putting in a pool today. This is what we are shooting for:

We will have a beach entrance for the kids to play in. A hot tub for Chris to play in. And a soothing waterfall (that rocky area at the back of the pool) to help me relax.

Anyone care to come over for a dip in the pool in a couple of months?

Playing on the playground

Every time we go to see how our new house is coming along, Brian and Sean (without fail, I might add) ask as we enter and as we exit the neighborhood if we can play on the playground. For a long time I told them that it wasn't quite ready to be played on - actually I wasn't sure if we were allowed to play on it!

Finally, I broke down. We trundled out of the car and hit the equipment running! The boys had a ball, I wasn't stressed out about being at a large playground and keeping my eye on them (there are only 2 other houses occupied in the neighborhood right now!) and they got to run some of the crazies off. (There's a discussion going on over at the 4 Real Boards about boys and inside rowdiness right now.) Now, we make it a point to try and stop for some playing time whenever we go over to the new neighborhood.

Counters, Spindles and Potties, Oh my!

More and more, our house is beginning to take shape. I went back by today to re-measure the windows (you know, measure twice, cut once!) and took a few more pictures of the inside. We have the kitchen all hooked up (and no, the counters are not really blue - it's just a protective film!)...
the spindles on the staircase are finally painted...
and of course, no new house picture collection is complete without a picture of at least one of the new potties!Everything is coming together and I'm starting to feel like we aren't just on an extended vacation.

No, Colin is not in a construction zone!

But boy, does the tile at my parent's house look an awful lot like the tile that's
in our new house! [theirs is bigger though;-)]

Scenes from the front door.

Looking from the front door to the living/dining room. That hallway in the
back leads to the kitchen. The alcove back there is the laundry closet.

Standing by my "stove" looking across the kitchen into the family room.
The door leads to Chris' office.

Everything is starting to come together. I went into the house today to measure the windows to start pricing out window treatments (yikes!). While I was there, the plumber and electrician were working hard putting in all of the appliances, light fixtures, air conditioning units (yes, we have dual zones, baby!), toilets, sinks, etc. All of the cabinets and counter tops are installed in the kitchen. I met the construction supervisor today and he assured me that he should have our house complete and to settlement by the third week in December at the latest!!!! Alleluia! Less than a month to go and we can start settling back into some sense of normalcy. I can't wait. Check back to see the latest and greatest updates on our home sweet home.

Paint, Windows, Door & Walls

Paint, Windows, Doors & Walls, Doors & Walls
Paint, Windows, Doors & Walls, Doors & Walls
Phone & Cable & Electric are in too,
Paint, Windows, Doors & Walls, Doors & Walls!

House Progress

I have been meaning to post on the progress of our new home and since the pictures I take are large in size (and I don't know how to resize them) I thought I would take everyone on a pictorial tour of the progress that's been made on our future home.

The form boards go up - should be about 90 days from this point that we close!

Foundation is poured!

The cement blocks are ready to build the first floor...

And now we have our first floor!

And the second story is up!

View from the "foyer" - roof joists

View from my future kitchen window - well, minus the sink, countertops, cabinets, window panes, a nice valance, window sill, a pool out back and grass - but you get the picture!

Side view of the house

Back of the house

This is today's shot - at least from the morning. They are working on the front elevation - see the right side of the picture. As of this afternoon (according to Chris), they had put tar paper on almost all of the roof!

More pictures will follow as I get them. We are so excited about our new house and can't wait until it's complete so that we can make it a home.