Our first thanksgiving in the new house

There's nothing I love more than food and family, which is why I love Thanksgiving so much! The new kitchen is a dream to cook in, and the open floor plan made it so easy to talk to people from the kitchen. My mom, sister, brother, and our friend Mandi came over to celebrate. Of course we ate too much, but that's part of the beauty of this holiday. Then there's leftovers for a week which I love even more. I made a turkey and stuffing casserole tonight, mmm. We also played a good game of Cranium, and danced in the family room. Coco can really bust a move. I'm so grateful at this time of year to refelect on my blessings, and to express gratitude for all I've been blessed with. I love my family so much and am so grateful to have them so close.

Basement up and running

Our friend, Christian Beck who helped Marty put in the laminate flooring in the basement, gave us a pool table that someone had given to him, so now we have a working game room! The two of them spent 4 hours playing last night. Some other friends have an air hockey table that they plan to give us when they get tired of it. Now all we need is the flat screen TV and surround sound speakers and we never have to leave the house again! :o) Our dream of having a game room in the basement is coming true a lot sooner than we thought. I'm so glad we decided to finish the basement! Marty also enjoys coming down to work in the mornings. Can't wait for our house warming party next week (Friday Dec 5th 6:30 pm). Hope to see you all there!


Christian chillin' in the game room


Guy playing pool with a short stick


Marty hard at work

Laminate flooring goes in

Coco now has no safe place except for the laundry room where she doesn't slip and slide all over the place when overly excited. Marty and our friend Christian Beck started laying the laminate flooring last night after work, and I think they'll be finished tonight. Of course Coco had to supervise to make sure they were doing it right, because how could I tell? I'm positive it would've taken at least twice as long if Marty and I were doing it by ourselves. Christian helps his dad install wood floors so he's got considerably more experience, plus the right kinds of saws! We'd like to have our house warming party in a couple weeks but wanted to see if we could get this floor finished first. We still have to paint the trim in the basement, but we might be able to get that done before the party too, we'll see.

From dreams to reality

My friend Kirsten thought it would be cool to see the computer generated pictures from the design program I used to design the house, and then look at them next to the completed project so here they are. Amazing how close they are!

You can see I added a window where I thought I'd have a hutch. I love the window so much better!

You don't even want to know how many hours I spent on this program, working on the floor plans! Glad that's behind us now.

The kitchen looks pretty much identical, just with more lighting. Don't worry I don't usually have them all on at the same time.

Notice I got rid of the 1/2 wall, and Linoleum flooring in the kitchen. Also the kitchen wall color is now a sage green, not a blue.

Where we started

Our little cabin on Bank Road

Sarah B. thought it would be fun to post some pictures of the cabin, just to show what a small space we lived in to save up to build our house. The cabin had a loft where we slept, a place for our desk (no dining table), a small kitchen with very limited storage, and a small living room with just enough room for our couch and TV stand. Of course we had a bathroom and 1 closet as well. It was about 350 sq ft. It was definately cozy! In the new house, our garage is actually bigger than our whole cabin!

We spent just over 3 years in the cabin, saving for, planning, and designing the new house. We've been in the new house for just over a week but it feels like we've lived here forever. Maybe because I've been seeing it on paper, and imagining it for so long. Whatever the reason, it just feels like home. We love it. My mom and I made dinner together in the new kitchen--ahhh what a joy! We used our china for the first time, and sat down all together at the dining room table. It was so nice. Then mom grabbed her flashlight, and with her dog Dodge at her side, headed back home.

Front door/office area under the loft

Kitchen/Living room

Back porch/yard

Dinner anyone?

The dining set came today and it's even more beautiful than I remember. Of course there's no scratches on it, like the display model (that we were going to get), and the microfiber fabric coordinates perfectly with our new furniture. I can't wait to have our first thanksgiving here. It's hard to believe that Marty and I have been married for 3 years and this is our first dining table. Marty was going to surprise me and have dinner all ready for us so we could eat at the new table, but some friends from out of town are taking us out to eat. I told him I'd definately take a rain check. Speaking of rain, this weather here is down right depressing. It's very dark and dreary. It's been pouring down rain all day! Welcome to winter in Washington. At least we have a nice dry house to hibernate in :o)

ALL MOVED IN!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry to keep you all deprived of picts of the house. We didn't take many of the unpacking stage because everything was such a huge mess. We started unpacking Thursday night and moving over the big stuff. Marty's parents came up to help, and we just worked and worked and worked! While everyone else went to bed, I'd be up till 3 am putting things away. We just have a few more boxes of photo albums that will go down in the basement once we have shelving up. We have a place now for everyting, its amazing. I want to wait until we get the basement flooring in before we have the house warming party. Hopefully we can pick up the flooring this weekend. We have the upstairs though and it has plenty of room!

How nice it is to have a place for guests to stay, a great kitchen to cook in, comfortable seating for everyone, a bedroom you can stand up in, a closet for just clothes, a washer and dryer, and room for Coco! I could go on and on, I just love every inch of this house. There are little things I may have done differently, but for the most part everything turned out just the way I had wanted. Its a little surreal though looking at the finished project and being able to remember so clearly what it looked like 7 months ago--all trees and bushes! You're all welcome to stop by anytime. I don't think we'll be leaving the house much, so there's a very good chance you'll catch us at home. Or just give me a call. Hope to welcome you into our new home soon!

Unpacking--what a mess, and view when you walk in the front door

Living room, Coco's corner, and hallway to the bedrooms.

Kitchen--I made my first meal in it last night! I love this kitchen!

Cozy seating by the fire, and a beautiful view of the trees from the dining room

Future nursery, guest bedroom, and master bedroom