Our New House

I had been waiting to post photos of the house until I crossed more projects off my list, but I've decided that the project list may never get done, so I might as well post now, before I have my hands even fuller :)

The entire upstairs was (uncharacteristically) relatively picked-up and clean the other day, so I snapped some photos... you'll have to wait for the basement-- it's still pretty much a catch-all for boxes, winter clothes, baby gear, etc, etc!

First, for some 'before' shots

Boxes, boxes, everywhere!

My dad and brother working on plans for shelving/work space in the garage

The garage was perhaps the most dramatic project in terms of what it looked like and how functional it was before vs. after.  We've never had a garage before and were eager to have a space for things like bikes, lawn mower, the car, etc.  They tore down the existing shelves (which were rickety and bowing in the middle and wouldn't really hold much of anything), and put in slat wall, a portable storage shelving unit, and built a work bench for Daniel's projects and tool storage.

This was the one and only light in the garage... they replaced it with a florescent fixture that makes such a huge difference in how well you can work in there!

Progress... we put up an ad on Craigslist for free shelving and someone had picked up all the old stuff in less than an hour!

Replacing the light fixture..

Here's part of the work bench.... it really is a wonderful space!  Thanks, Dad and Derek!!  I'll have to get out there and take some better 'after' photos... I didn't realize until I started this post that I never took good photos of the completed project.

As we started to make progress inside, it seemed like the outside got worse!  I finally spent a couple hours breaking down boxes and gathering bubble wrap, packing peanuts and trash.  Another quick ad on Craigslist and all of that was gone in about 20 minutes!  I love Craigslist!

We celebrated Father's Day in the midst of all the mess!

Here's a pic of the basement.... I will say, it doesn't look that bad anymore, but why do basements become catch-alls for everything that you're not sure what to do with??

OK, now for a few 'afters':

Here's our bedroom.  I love all the natural light, though I will say that it has been making it hard to keep cool during this really hot summer we've been having!  Hopefully it will serve us well during the winter.. which I hear is actually the season to fear around here! :)

Here's the baby's room, which is still very much in-progress.  Currently there are no doors on the room (we converted it from a dining room), but since this photo was taken, we did get some shelves up above the changing table and moved Rosie's bed out of the middle of the floor!  Once my mom gets here and we actually get some things hung on the walls (for those who don't know, I basically don't do any decorating/hanging of things on my own-- I just wait for my mom to tell me where to put it and then I never, ever move it :) ), I'll take some more photos of this room. 

Girls' bathroom (unexciting :))

This is the entryway and what you see as soon as you open the front door.  Again, I loved all the light in this house!  Out that sliding door is the back yard.

The kitchen.  I am LOVING the gas range!  It even has a 'quick boil' function (which is basically just an insane amount of gas that heats a pot really quickly), and between that and the Instant Hot water dispenser that my dad installed, I've hardly noticed that it takes longer for water to boil up here.  I have had a few flops on the baked goods front, though,... still trying to figure out the magic formula for altitude adjustment!

I actually have a little curtain on that window now, it looks out into the front yard, which I love, because I can see/hear the girls playing or riding bikes in front of the house.

Living room/dining room.  We hung that light fixture to define the space a little since it originally was just a living room.  Since we needed the separate dining room for Baby's room, we were glad that the area was roomy enough for couch/seating + our table :)

Still to come: photos of the girls' room + basement + yard (which is basically a hot mess, but slowly but surely getting better :))