Pictures and Boxes

We are definitely getting settled into the house.  Things are mostly in order, there are very few boxes still lying around, and we have pictures on walls!  Here are a few of the more recent projects/additions to the house.

Photos in hall.



Painting and photos in guest room.



Painting in master!

 

Andy built me a box/bench for firewood storage!



Filled with firewood.

Firewood stacked in the back yard.



Another view of the firewood stack.

We have been working hard on cutting, splitting and stacking firewood for the winter.  It's been a few long days and lots of mosquito bites, but we're looking forward to being nice and toasty warm this winter.

Speaking of mosquito bites.....when I was a child my bites would swell to ridiculous sizes (remember mom & dad?!).  I seemed to have grown out of it, or so I thought.  I have been bitten so infrequently in the last few years (thank you dry climate!) that I think my body has forgotten how to respond.  The mosquitoes have been terrible this year and I've been bitten much more this summer, and several of the bites have become HUGE, just like when I was a kid.  Hmph!

Anyway, there are still projects we'll be working on with the house.  Andy plans to build a roof over the firewood.  I asked him to build me shelves for DVD storage in the living room.  We're going to have the venting for the forced air unit re-done to circulate heat from the living room to the bedrooms more efficiently.

And the list goes on...........

Fire

We're still working away on things...though a little slower than before.

This weekend Andy started searching for firewood.  We plan to heat the house this winter primarily with our little wood burning stove.  We have been offered by our fire chief, Pat, to take wood from the property he care-takes.  Andy was able to meet the owners of the property and they told him to 'please go ahead'.  So at least for this year we have some easy access to collecting firewood; and they're letting us use their wood splitter!

After just Saturday and Sunday afternoons Andy has cut, split and stacked 2 cords.  We're hoping to have 6 or 7, maybe more if we can get it, ready to go for the winter.  Andy had friend Wade's help this Sunday, I hope to be able to go help him next Sunday afternoon.

Over the weekend I worked on sealing the grout on the bathroom counters.  I put up our new shower curtain in the master bath.  And we received our paper towel holder, which has been assembled and set up in the kitchen.  I also moved some of the furniture in the shop to get it out of Andy's way so he can start filling the shop with tools and work things.

Here's some photos of the newest additions to the house:

New paper towel holder!

 

Fire in the stove

New shower curtain

No photos of the wood stacked yet...it was dark out when I thought of it.  Maybe tomorrow.

Andy is now focusing on getting his office set up.  He's making a custom desk.  He's had some help with some of the different pieces of it, now he has all those pieces and will be working on putting it together and getting it set up in the house.

Busy, busy, busy.  Enjoying being in the house for 2 weeks now!  How time flies.

Towels and Tables

It's been a great first 4 days in the house.  We're slowly getting things put away and set up where we want.  The garage is a little less full than it was.  There are more things hung on the walls.  The guest room is set up for now; we're still looking for a second twin bed or a double bed, and we'll reorganize the room at that point.

We're getting used to the house a little at a time.  It's much darker at night than the apartment where we had a street lamp right outside.  I used the oven for the first time tonight, and the adjustment from electric to gas will be a little trickier than I had expected.  I'm loving the gas range though!  The house seems a little colder than the apartment, but that could just be that we're approaching autumn.

Today was the most exciting progress we've had in awhile.  The towel bars finally arrived and Andy installed them this evening.  For each bath we got a towel ring, a towel bar and a toilet paper holder.  In the master bath we also put up a robe hook.  AND the kitchen table made it's way into the house!  It's all coming together.

Here's the latest in photos:


Guest bath w/new towel bar and TP holder.
(And the new shower curtain & rug I picked up Wednesday)

 

Towel bar and robe hook in master bath.

Table and chairs inside!

 

Bonus: View last night from our window.

Moving Day

We had a great move yesterday.  It was crazy busy, but everything made it to the house in the end....though we don't know where everything ended up yet, it's here somewhere.

We had an amazing turnout to help us move.  A few people who I didn't even know showed up with pick-ups ready to be loaded with furniture.  Many thanks to Justin, Becki, Bob, Tom, Lyn, Lollie, Rebekah, Emma, Dan, Noah, Doug, Steve, Cindy, Lisa, Karen, Sarah and everyone else and their trucks, trailers and minivans!  We had everything out of the apartment and unloaded at the house by noon.

I spent the afternoon unpacking and getting the master bed/bath organized.  Andy finished sealing the kitchen counters and back splash, touched up the 'cardboard' paint in the kitchen and hung the pendant light over the kitchen sink.  Steve steam cleaned our sofas and every rug in the house AND gave our kitchen floor a deep clean.  Dan installed our dining chandelier and the ceiling fan in the living room.  Justin and Becki brought pizza for dinner and helped us paint the final 'stonebriar' walls in the living/dining area.

Like I said, busy.

After everyone left I did the final 'stonebriar' coat on the living/dining walls while Andy hooked up our phone and internet.  Our service was scheduled to be switched from the apartment to the house yesterday, and wouldn't you know, they actually did it!  So we're up and running.

Today it's getting everything set up on the kitchen counters and trying to get some of the boxes out of the living room. Maybe I'll work on the guest room too.  And of course I need to do some final cleaning in the apartment (did I mention we had help with that yesterday too?!).  Our friends Patrick and Sarah are moving into the apartment and I don't want to leave them with too much cleaning; Sarah is 8 months pregnant after all.

Here are some photos of the house after the move:


Stuff piled in the garage.

 

Living room set up...mostly.

 

Freshly painted 'stonebriar' walls.

 

Bedroom unpacked and set up!

Steve is going to come paint our one last white wall...we had a little stand alone section in the living room coming out of the hall and we couldn't decide which color to paint it.  I think we've decided...but really we just need to get it done.  Steve is also going to hang the blinds on the last 2 windows and on the sliding door.

Andy is off at work and I've got the day off to work on the house, do some laundry and put together a shopping list....it's been 3 weeks since I bought food.  I think it's time to restock (and our fridge is so HUGE compared to the apartment...it looks really empty).

Home Stretch

We're in the home stretch...pun intended...and working to get ready to move into the house tomorrow.  It's been another really long day with lots of progress, even some I didn't expect.

Andy worked really hard over the last day or so on getting the back splash done in the kitchen.  It looks wonderful!  We're very pleased with it.  And the fireplace (still in progress when I left the house at 10pm tonight) is really the final piece that needs to come together before tomorrow.

I arrived at the house this afternoon after work to the promise of moving our dishwasher from the apartment to the house!  I love the dishwasher at the apartment and the one at the house is a little older, smaller, louder...  This afternoon our friend Jim made the switch for us.

I also arrived at the house to a kitchen sink installation in progress.  It's in, works and looks great.  I didn't realize how deep the sink is...I might fall in.  Andy also flipped the way the fridge/freezer doors open to a more convenient direction.  It was a little odd that they opened the way they did; into the kitchen instead of toward the wall.  That will be a nice little change.

Jim and his wife, Lisa, also helped us with some clean up of the house.  We started moving tools out of the kitchen, dining and living areas...into the garage, shop, trailer.  And more will go once the fireplace rock work is completed.

Our new neighbor, Jerry, from 2 doors down was kind enough to donate some of his time to the cause today.  He worked on the fireplace for close to 5 hours!  He got lots done and enabled Andy to work on all the other things that needed attention.

Once the work in the kitchen was done (dishwasher and sink installed), I started moving in!  I managed to move almost everything out of the kitchen and pantry at the apartment and organized it all in the new one.  Tomorrow we'll still need to move everything in the fridge/freezer and the table & chairs, but all the cabinets are empty.  Even the baker's rack got moved today.

We are thankful for friends, neighbors and family who have been so willing to give their time. We couldn't have done any of this without them.



Here are the photos I managed to take today of the progress:



Neighbor, Jerry, helping with the rock this afternoon.



Kitchen in progress...sink and dishwasher installation.

 

Father and son working to finish the fireplace...almost there!

 

Kitchen after moving in.

New sink with new faucet.

As we spend our last night in the apartment, it's definitely bitter-sweet.  We've lived here for the first 5 1/2 years of our marriage; we've never lived anywhere else together.  We had our first date here, our first kiss, Andy asked me to marry him here, it's even where we spent our wedding night.  There are lots of memories and significant moments tied to this little apartment.

I look forward to a new home and new memories to be made.  My car is loaded with boxes and our end tables from the living room.  We're ready for moving day....well, once the rock work is done and the living room is cleaned up a little.  People start arriving to help around 10am tomorrow!  Ready to move on to something new!

Fireplaces and Light Fixtures

Photos of from yesterday and today as promised:
 

Book case moved into the office and filled with books.



New light fixture and faucet installed in the master bath.

 

Granite complete!  Sink and back splash installation to come.

 

Mantle installed...about 10 minutes after the last of the granite went in.



Back splash tiles ready for sealing.



Light fixture and faucet in the guest bath.



Working on the fireplace rock!

That's pretty much all for today.  Once the rock is up for the fireplace Andy hopes to get some work done on the back splash in the kitchen.  I hope he'll put in the kitchen sink.  Getting the house cleaned up for a Monday move is definitely going to take some work, but we're more optimistic than we were a few days ago.

It's going to be another long weekend.

Granite and Rock

The granite counters are in!  They look great, Andy did a wonderful job.  Last night...and early this morning...the rock started going up on the fireplace, thanks to some help from friend Wade.  And we put the mantle up this afternoon!

Since I was working today I didn't spend much time at the house, but I did seal some of the tiles that will be used for the back splash and help with the mantle placement.  Then I was sent home to get some packing done.

My father-in-law was at the house again today installing some of the light fixtures.  He also put some of the blinds back up in the bedrooms!  So when we do move in we'll have some window coverings.  The only light fixtures that have not been switched out yet are: the chandelier in the dining area, the light over the kitchen sink, and the ceiling fan/light for the living room.

Andy will be working on the fireplace for awhile...and at some point getting the kitchen sink installed.  As of right now we're planning move-in-day for Monday.  We're putting the word out and hoping for lots of hands.  It'll be nice to be done going back and forth...and pulling 16+ hour days.  Looking forward to the evening when Andy & I can kick our feet up and finally celebrate owning our first home.

Photos of counters, rock, mantle and light fixtures coming soon.  Stay tuned.

Carpets...Paint...Granite

Another exciting day in the land of homeownership....  We're so tired we can hardly drag ourselves out of bed each morning and every meal we sit down for becomes another temptation for a nap.  It's hard even to drag myself off the couch to head to bed this time each evening.

Progress is being made and it's nice to see.  I spent the morning cleaning the carpets in the bedrooms and hall, then I got out the paint once again and went after the 'garden sage' walls of the living room.

I hadn't realized that those walls needed to be painted BEFORE the new fireplace rock went up.  Andy informed me that it would be very difficult to fill in the gaps between the rocks with paint...so it's better to paint now, put the rocks up and touch it up later if needed.  So there is now color in the living area of the house!!  This means we have only two colors left to put up, 'stonebriar' on the last wall in the living room and into the dining area and 'cardboard' in the kitchen for a little POP of color over the window and around the fridge.

Andy has still been working on the counters and he started laying the granite this evening!  Once the counters are in he'll get the back splash up and we'll have a functioning kitchen...well, after it's been cleaned, of course.

Not as many photos to share today, but here they are:

Cleaning the master bedroom carpet.

 

'Garden sage' paint in on the living room walls and in the entry.

 

Andy laying the granite tile counter tops!

Once I finished the paint this evening I was able to come back to the apartment and pack up a few more things.  Now that the carpets are clean in the bedrooms I can really start moving in!  Andy is still over working on the counter and I'm excited to go see the progress in the morning!

Moving Begins

Spent the day cleaning bathrooms, packing boxes, moving boxes, unpacking boxes and taking boxes back to the apartment.  So we have clean bathrooms!  I also ordered our bathroom hardware; towel bars, toilet paper holders and a robe hook for the master bath.

I started moving in a few items that wouldn't be in the way for carpet cleaning; bathroom stuff, shoes, books and I've got clothes loaded in the car from the closet.  This evening I'll clear everything out of the bedrooms and hall so I can vacuum and start cleaning carpets first thing in the morning.

Dad-in-law and our pastor cleaned up around all the windows and painted the three white walls in the guest room.  It was a last minute decision to paint those walls, but we had the paint and thought we'd go ahead.

Andy is still plugging away at the counter tops and the mantle.  He should start getting the granite down tonight or tomorrow!

Here are some photos I took earlier this evening:

Filled book case!

 

Clean guest bath!



Linen closet...I need to figure out how to store all those light bulbs.



I moved some of our shoes into our closet!

 

Clean master bath!



The carpet extractor has arrived!
Bedrooms and hall will be cleaned over the next day or two.

 

The SOLD sign finally went up!
And that's Andy working on the granite counters.



Projects of the Day

Today was full of surprises.  LOTS of people came by to help, some of whom I was not expecting.  I stopped by the house on my way to work this morning, and found Andy's dad at it once again.  He was working on the last wall in the master bedroom, the 'garden sage' wall.  What a treat to get to the house later in the day to find it complete!

I spent my afternoon and evening painting yet again; I touched up a few spots in the hall, started and completed the 2 1/2 'cavern clay' walls in the guest bath, helped with the 2 1/2 'stonebriar' walls in the office (now complete), and helped with the 2 'whole wheat' walls in the master bath (also complete!).  I had help from Andy & Joy P., Becca H., and Hannah K.  What wonderful friends!  Thus concludes the painting of everything except the living/dining/kitchen area....which is going to have to wait until some of the other projects are finished.

Andy took most of the day off from working on the house so he could get some 'real' work done, but he was back at it this evening.  He discovered yesterday that the kitchen counters weren't level, which could pose a problem once he starts laying the granite.  So instead of dealing with that, he and Andy P. worked on leveling the surface this evening.

Andy, is still over there putting the finishing touches on our mantle so it will be ready to go up on the fireplace.  So far it looks fabulous!  I'm excited to see it in place in the house.  It is a beautiful piece of wood...and have I mentioned it was given to us by one of Andy's former employees?  A totally unexpected and much appreciated gift.  We are so blessed!

Well, here are the photos showing some of the work of the day:

 

Kitchen counters after working to make the surface level.

 

Guest bath after the 'cavern clay' walls were finished.

 

Final color added to the office.  Yes, the 'stonebriar' and 'whole wheat' are VERY close in color.

The 'garden sage' wall in the master bedroom.
That's the wall where the bed will go.

 

Master bath with 'whole wheat' to compliment the 'honeycomb'.

The mantle after stain, before clear coat...top view.

 

The mantle...front view.

Tomorrow I start cleaning the bedrooms and bathrooms.  We're going to borrow my father-in-laws' carpet cleaner and hit the floors before we start moving anything in.  So my plan is to track down his equipment and at least get it to the house.  I guess I need to start packing since none of my stuff is finding it's way into boxes on its own.  Thankfully I have most of the next 3 days off work.  Cleaning and packing is all I have to worry about!

Day of Rest...Or Not

Another productive day....though no days seem to be as productive as we would like.  Church this morning then on to more work on the house.

This morning I did the final touch-ups on the 'honeycomb' walls in the master bath and then took the color into the hall to paint the back wall of our built-in book case.  Then I had to run away for an hour or so of work.

My in-laws came over after church and painted too.  They were able to get the 2nd coat of paint on the 2 'whole wheat' walls of the office and the 3 walls of the same color in the master bedroom.  THEN then moved onto the hallway and got both 1st and 2nd coats of paint up.  Whew!  What a HUGE help they have been!

When I returned from work I painted the 2nd coat of 'honeycomb' in the book case, edged and rolled the 1st 'whole wheat' coat on 2 walls of the guest bath, and edged and 1st coated the 'cardboard' wall in the guest bedroom.

I'd like to know who comes up with the names for paint colors.  Cardboard?  Really?

Andy has spent the day completing the installation of the cement board on the kitchen counters, finishing the drywall installation and patching on the kitchen walls, the fabrication of our cabinet above the microwave, and cutting, sanding and staining the beautiful wooden piece that will be our mantel.

Here are some photos of our adventures today:

Fireplace without ugly rock (though you can still see where it was)
and the piles of new rock stacked and ready to go up!

The mantel after sanding, before cutting and staining.



'Honeycomb' wall inside the book case.



'Cardboard' wall in the guest room.

 

The beautiful flowers my mother-in-law brought as a housewarming gift.

The next few days will be a little slower on progress as Andy and I try to get some work done.  I'll still be painting each day, but I think it might be time to think about packing.  So when I'm not at work or painting, I'll be packing boxes.