Welcome, Christmas

We are getting into the Christmas spirit up here!  The tree is trimmed, the stockings are hung, and our giant chalkboard is looking very festive!  With a little inspiration from Pinterest, I've created a little Rudolph for our home.  Turns out, this is also the best place in the house to display Christmas cards from loved ones. 

Merry Christmas!

exterior door update

We painted our exterior doors and trim! 

Remember the before?  These are right from the store, with yellow-tinted trim and white primed doors.

...keep reading!  more pics!

flowers!

Building a new house means there is a TON of landscaping work to be done.  Last summer we created flower beds and planted grass.  Over the Fall, and again in the Spring, I planted a few things- some bulbs, peonies, hydrangea, lilac, and more.  But, the flowers that are really making an appearance this Summer are the seed packets I received as a gift at my bridal shower.  My favorite is this ever-growing Morning Glory.

 

 

I'm in love!  I just tossed these seeds in the flower bed and crossed my fingers.  This vine is an annual, & I'm planning to plant them every year from now on.

My hydrangeas are growing a little lately, but I'm not expecting flowers for at least another year.  The peonies are slow moving- I think I need to relocate them to a location with more direct sunlight hours.  The lilac growth seems to have totally stunted!  But, I'm remaining patient.  I want to plant another batch of perennials this Fall.  Any suggestions?

new chalkboard!

As we are settling into married life, I'm finding myself with a LOT of extra free time.  I didn't realize how much wedding planning had taken over my life.  It's really wonderful, but, at at the same time, it was making me feel sad that our big day had come and gone.  So, I got R to help me with a little project that I've been planning for almost a year now- my kitchen chalkboard wall!

  
We designed our kitchen with a large open wall, because a) we didn't anticipate needing more cabinet storage space (especially once we get laundry room cabinets installed), b) we didn't want to pay for more cabinets, and c) I thought we could add a little sideboard/coffee bar in that location.  Well, as it turns out, the space is too narrow for any furniture.  So, as we moved in and really started seeing how we'd utilize the space, I figured a giant chalkboard was a perfect fit.

...keep reading!  more pics!

life update

Sorry for the radio silence!  We've spend most of the Spring planning and preparing for our wedding.  The entire weekend was perfect, and we had the most wonderful time.

Now that we are happily married, I'm having a mixture of feelings.  I'm relieved that all my planning and worrying has come to and end, but I'm also sad that it's over.  That means I've got my new husband on the case to help me with some exciting house projects.  We've got one in the works that I promise to blog about soon! :)

basement progress

Well, winter has officially arrived!  It was so nice that it made a late arrival, but now we have lots of snow, and chillier temps.  I've been spending a lot of time in my bathtub with a glass of wine.

We always knew that finishing the basement was in our master plan.  What I wasn't expecting was how quickly R was going to begin.  He's been going full force!  Our new family room may be completed before I had even anticipated work to begin.  I'm just going to let the pictures speak for themselves.

Remember what it looked like when we moved in?  To meet code, the builder had to frame out the block and insulate.  Then he put a door at the bottom of the stairway to separate our finished and unfinished spaces of the home.  The site of the new family room is on the right side, closest to us.  The far side of the stairs will be another future project, including the site of our new sauna (SOW-na, if you please) and full bathroom.

 

We decided to start with finishing the family room.  But, as we got started, R realized that the main wall, with the walkout, was retaining quite a bit of moisture.  Which makes sense in the cold weather, because the block is almost completely exposed to the elements.  There's a small section that will be underground when we install a retaining wall, but that's on the opposite side of the house from the family room.  We took a little bit of a detour and sprung for new spray foam insulation to make this wall completely waterproof.  So, the almost brand new fiberglass insulation was removed to make way for the new.

 

 

Much better!  It may not necessarily be warmer than the fiberglass, but the waterproofing has given us some much needed peace of mind.  R had already spent time wiring receptacles in the family room, so onto drywall!  From this first picture you can see the original door at the bottom of the stairs.  Everything that's not drywalled has been removed.  Now the stairs lead right into the family room, and the existing wall on the far side of the stairs has been extended with a doorway to the rest of the basement.

 

 

Probably my favorite part of this project was removing the doorway at the bottom of the stairs, and a few feet of the wall between the stairs and the family room.  We always knew the door was temporary, but the demo was even more exciting than I had thought.  Now we get tons of natural sunlight from the walkout that floods up the stairway, and really makes the lower level (because it's too awesome to be called a basement now, right?) an inviting space.  It's going to be perfect for our family.

 

 

Now it was time to move the door over to separate the almost finished family room from the rest of the unfinished basement.  You can see where the original walls were located by the carpet at the bottom of the stairs.  It was a small change, but has already made a big difference.

 

 

This week R has been finishing the drywall, prepping for primer and paint.  After that we'll move onto installing a drop ceiling, trim, and carpet.  I've also got my heart set on a fireplace, but that's a few years down the road.  Stay tuned to watch our progress!