Movin' on Up!

Quite some time ago, when we first purchased this house, I showed you these picture of our upstairs:

Left side.

More left side.

Right side.

More right side.

That was waaaaaay back early last spring (April?). Since then, my AH-mazing dad (seen in "More left side") has taken this big open space and created TWO bedrooms. You see, the house was listed as a two-bedroomer, but one bedroom was in the basement (which is now our den) and the second was the massive upstairs bedroom, shown above (when we first looked at it there were a few beds set up sort of dormitory style). With a little one, this just wasn't going to work, so my dad sat down, created a new floor plan, and set to work. (I've recently informed my father he NEEDS to start a blog to showcase all the awesome stuff he's done in our house and his own, and maybe try some how-tos. He's got mad skillz when it comes to this stuff.)

Anywho, this is what where we're living now:

Left side, our bedroom.

Just had to show these off--they're pillows I made!

Other side of our bedroom.

Right side, Lizzie's bedroom.

I know, her window is crazy big (and beautiful, my dad and DOH installed this new one). Currently, there is a heavy bookshelf in front of this window prevent any little people from tumbling out.

Her closet and the chimney (which she thinks is so cool; she asks if Santa is going to leave her presents in her room ALL the time).

More chimney! What Lizzie's room lacks in width is made up by height. She has an awesome vaulted ceiling and when we get the ladder back down and she's a bit older, she'll have access to the loft that's just above our room.



The beams that go over her room. She now has a beautiful light-up paper star hanging from there as her bedroom light.

While anything was better than living in our old apartment, it was really nice to move ourselves to the upstairs bedrooms after a couple of weeks of all of us sharing a bedroom (and bed, most nights). It felt so good to be able to spread out and have our own rooms again! And, on top of it, they are such beautiful spaces. The last time I got to pick the color of any room, let alone two (and, of course, we've chosen colors for other rooms, too, but they're waiting to be painted), I was ten, so it was lots of fun deciding what we were going to do (seen in this post here).

A lot of things have changed since I last posted a "tour" of the house, so I might have to do that again, soon, or at least post the rooms that have changed. A lot still needs to be done both inside and out (the garden is INTENSE here--I ought to post some pictures of that, too), but slowly and surely we're getting there. My hope is that everything basic that we want to get done inside will be done by Christmas, if not sooner. Here's a short list of what we (and when I say "we", it's a combo of me, DOH, and my dad) need to complete:

• Repair the ceiling over the dining area (there was some water damage).
• Install the new side door.
• Paint the new stair treads and banister.
• Paint the upstairs bathroom and tub.
• Paint, stencil, or wallpaper the sections of the main floor that are currently covered in the hideous grandma wallpaper.

It's really not that much to get done, for which I'm thankful, considering I grew up in two houses that had to have MAJOR renovations done (like, entire sections of houses needing to be rebuilt and rewired). Also, a little more decorating needs to happen, so I'm looking forward to slowly but surely picking up a few pieces to add some character to the rooms in this house.

But regardless of what does get done and when, I'm eternally thankful to have this house, beautiful lot, and my family living in it. It doesn't get much better than that.





Things Slow Down...And I Don't Mind

Door to our sauna.

So...We're still all sleeping on our mattress in the basement.

(I failed to mention this before, because I didn't think we'd still be down there after nearly a month in the house.)

We're relying a lot on our own manpower, and my dad's. He's renovated two homes, plus does home inspections--he's our expert, but is a busy, busy dude, so his help comes in spurts. So, while a lot of work has gotten accomplished (like, turning a large, open room into two, functional bedrooms), we've sort stalled. My dad's business has picked up more lately (yay!), DOH is working his butt off before he starts his new job in about a week and a half, and I have a three year old who makes it just a bit difficult to get much done.

So, we're left to the basement, all crammed in with the few boxes left to be unpacked (of course, it is a finished basement, and we have use of the rest of the house, but after nearly two years of our own bedrooms with Lizzie very rarely coming into bed with us, it's an adjustment, for sure). And while, had I foreseen this situation prior to moving in, I would have dreaded it, in reality, I'm really okay with it. Really.

There is something cozy about all of us snuggled in bed, waking up together on the days DOH is home, and sharing that extra time together that we ordinarily wouldn't get. What's more, after five years of dorm/apartment living, I cannot be anything but thankful for our home, no matter how...uncomfortable...the conditions currently are. I spent nearly half my life living in a house that was perpetually being renovated, so, this sort of semi-nomadic feeling (DOH and I have decided it feels like we're camping, which makes it a little bit more fun) is something I'm totally used to, if not entirely fond of.

The construction project that is our bedrooms (then will be our stairway, and part of the living area, and the upstairs bathroom, though those are all minor), will eventually come to an end, and we'll move our things up there, go back to having our seperate bedrooms, and things will resume a more normal, less camp-y feel, but I know I will look back on this very brief period in our first family home and feel a strong sense of our family, how much we love one another, and how very lucky we are to have what we have.

Whoa.

I went to the new house this weekend with my mom and we walked around the yard for a bit, trying to figure out what the different plants that were popping up were, and deciding what work needs to be done.

Holy fuzzibuns there is a lot of work to do.

While there is a lot of gorgeous plant life beginning to crop up (pictures at another time--maybe next weekend?), like peonies (YAY!), roses, tulips, and bee balm (my favorite flowers), the garden has not been tended for a couple of years and there is a lot of much needed raking, cutting back, and just plain old weeding and plant removal that needs to be done. And besides that, the stone walls that surround the property (so charming) need to be fixed up a bit along with the brick walkway coming up to the front door.

Granted, some of this stuff can be accomplished by DOH. He made quick work of the stone-ringed fire pit this weekend and did a great job, but he's not much of a gardener. And while I'm not much of one either, I think I have more ambition to become one than he does. Which means much of this work will fall on me.

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. Though much of my undergraduate work will be done after tomorrow (I can't believe I just wrote that--whole other post going on there), I don't have this endless amount of time to work on the gardens at the new house between now and when we move in. And though I don't expect to have everything done by the move in date (that would be stupid, considering how much we have to get done inside the house before we do actually move in), I want to get started as soon as possible, because I want to have a good sense of what everything looks like when it's decently groomed so I know what I want to keep and what I need/want to go. Plus, I am planning on (who knows if this is what will happen) having my graduation party in July at the new house. I'd like everything to look...nice (read: perfect).

Of course, I'm putting too much pressure on myself (something I am really excellent at). It's not like it's imperative that I get all my gardens in perfect order now (or any time soon or...ever). But I want to get started. I want to do it all. But it's so much. And I'm feeling overwhelmed by it, especially when I think of it in conjunction with all the cleaning/painting/fixing/spending of money that we have to do. It's enough to bowl a girl completely over.

This whole house buying thing, while totally awesome, is also a lot of work (if you weren't already of aware of that fact). I'm thinking some lists are in order (the cure for all things overwhelming--thank God for stickies on my computer).

Fresh Paint

The last time I got to paint a room I was ten. My parents had been renovating our house for nearly and year, and it was finally at the point where it was sort of becoming a livable space. Finally, I was going to be able to have my own room with a four poster bed and a beautiful view of the lake. I chose to sponge paint my room blue. "It'll be like living in a cloud," I had said. It was nice...until it wasn't any more. It felt very juvenile at one point, particularly when my sensibilities were becoming more sophisticated (or so I thought). My parents toyed with the idea of letting me paint my room again towards the end of high school (red, with a kind of Far East/Indian theme), but they were a bit preoccupied with making the rest of the house suitable for the presence of people who weren't limited to our small four person family. My bedroom just wasn't top priority.

Now, some years later, I've finally come to a point where not only do I get to paint my bedroom, but an entire house. While the downstairs areas will likely be left for another time (except for the basement), the upstairs has to be reconfigured, so we'll get a chance to do fresh paint right away. So, we'll be painting a hallway and two bedrooms (ours and Lizzie's).

I had two clear ideas on what colors I wanted our bedroom and Lizzie's room to be. First of all, our bedroom. What woman doesn't want a little something from Tiffany's? I know that it's not likely DOH is ever going to pick up something for me that comes in the signature little blue box, but why not pay homage with a spiffy coat of that beautiful blue?

 

When we were in Home Depot yesterday (killing time while we waited to hear back from the buyer), I picked up a bunch of different paint swatches. While "Tiffany Blue" is a trademarked color, I did find something that I thought was, if not the exact same color, was strikingly similar:

 Pretty close, eh? And, of course, the color looks much more vibrant and rich in person (this is Glidden paint, by the way). Computers never quite do color justice. I finally convinced my husband this was the color to go with. He was a little reluctant at first (and this was without me pointing out that it was the color of a Tiffany's box), but I think in the end he realized it was best to just go along with me. Besides, it's a lovely color, it's soothing, but not boring, and I don't think it will overwhelm what will a rather small bedroom. 

Lizzie's room, now that was a bit of challenge. Of course, like many little girls her age, she loves pink. I'm not doing a pink room. The hope is that we'll be in this house for long time and while I expect that we'll probably be repainting rooms, including Lizzie's, at some point, I don't want to have to repaint every year. I would like to give her room a fun color that has some longevity, regardless of where her tastes and interest go. This led me to the color. It looks cute with pink, girly stuff, and it still works with less girly stuff (and, if Liz ever has to share her room with a male sibling for a bit, the green could work for him, too).

Then question was, what kind of green. I immediately wrote off any sort of dark green. It would overwhelm the room and look too adult and/or masculine. I also didn't want to do a pastel green--that would be too babyish after a while, or, if going in another direction, it might wind up looking to sophisticated for a little girl's room. When I found my "True Turquoise" with the Glidden paint, I also found "Fresh Green Grass": 

  

I looooove this color (again, though, it looks way nicer in person). It's crisp, fresh (as the name suggests), and the perfect color for a little girl's room. 

I'm so excited to get started on painting. Our move in date is June 1st, and we're PUMPED. This means we'll be getting the painting done pretty soon (probably as soon as the closing is official). This is going to be pretty awesome.