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House Tour- Organizing our Kitchen

July 25, 2017

Last week, as part of my house tour posts, I shared with you the design and layout of our Kitchen and adjacent Breakfast Area.

Now, I am going to take it all a step further and explain how we keep our kitchen organized.

Sure, it has its moments when you can barely see the island when it’s covered in bags, Autumn’s artwork from school, coupons, dog leashes, and freshly washed dishes. Not gonna lie, the random sock sometimes finds it’s way on there too.

That’s real life! But the best way to combat the mess is approaching the kitchen from several different ways from when you design it to move in and live in it.

As well, finding products that best suit your needs. We have incorporated various products from various brands but the biggest things that really revolutionized how we organized the things in our kitchen came from Rev-A-Shelf. They carry products big and small that will help you better organize your kitchen, as well as improve its functionality.

When designing or remodeling a kitchen, I highly suggest starting out by planning out what you have to store away and what you feature to strategically plan where things go. Like we have a our coffee area where the coffee maker is located on the counter, by an outlet, and directly above is a cabinet that stores our mugs, coffees, teas, and to-go cups.

By having specific places for things throughout the kitchen, things can get organized and cleaned up again rather quickly. There is a spot for everything so things can easily put right back in their spots. And it certainly makes finding things a lot easier.

Some of the ways that we have it well organized is the way that we actually designed the kitchen. We made changes to the style and size of cabinets and the arrangement of them. For example, on the ‘active’ wall of our kitchen, we have a 30″ wide microwave cabinet, a 18″ wide cabinet with a door and drawer above, our stove, another 18″ wide cabinet with a door and drawer above, and a 30″ wide cabinet with 3 drawers. The symmetry looks good and after awhile you get used to taking a certain number of steps to each cabinet that your body gets a nice rhythm to each location.

On either side of the stove we have tools that help us use the stove from oven mitts to spatulas. Being able to reach them from the stove is key. It helps functionally and with safety.

Below those drawers are things that we also use often. Our various cutting boards and baking sheets are stored on the left side of the stove. This makes grabbing a sheet for baking up french fries easy, as well as grabbing a cutting board for making a salad. This location worked well, but the items got mixed together and would fall over making the cabinet a mess. The 18″ High Tray Dividers (597-18-50) has allowed us to store and organized our wooden and plastic cutting boards and our baking sheets and cooling racks separately.

On the right side of the stove, we installed an 14″ wide Tall Base Cabinet Pull Out (4WDB7-18SC-1) that allows for the cabinet to be stocked full of bake wear, but still be well organized and easily accessible. Had we not used the cabinet pull out, it would have meant that things would have been haphazardly stacked up and jammed in there, which would just mean that over time things would get messy. This pull out makes baking a breeze.

Even our decorative floating shelves serve a purpose. They hold gifts, memorabilia from trips, and other things that are special to us. Plus, the lower shelves have various sized small bowls on them that we use for misé-en-place when preparing a meal.

The large cabinet that is directly next to the refrigerator is the work horse of our kitchen. It has 3 drawers that is the work horse of the kitchen. The top drawer is our drawer for all our tools ranging from can opener to pepper corer, the drawer in the middle is for Autumn’s stuff, and the bottom drawer holds our Tupperware.

As the top drawer holds so many tools of various sizes we upgraded the drawer organizer that I picked up from Ikea. I believe that since Ikea has their own line of cabinets, they size their organizers to fit their cabinets, which meant it didn’t fit in the cabinet. It resulted in a lot of wasted space around it (picture on the left), so we swapped that out for the Trimmable Cutlery Tray (4WCT-1).

The middle drawer holds all of Autumn’s plates, bowls, cups, and straws. I would try to keep it nice and organized but it would just end up in a jumbled mess when things would get tossed in there or pulled out for use.

The Medium Trimmable Pegboard System (4DPS-3021) allows us to partition the drawer out into different sections, creating specific spots for the different things store in the drawer.

Besides it staying super neat, Autumn can now easily find stuff so she can help get her own cups of water or snacks. She can even help put things away when we are unloading the dishwasher since she can easily stack the things she is added to the drawer to the things already in there.

Everyone knows the Tubberware cabinet/drawer is the messiest place in the kitchen. It’s the random top throw together, no top matching, miscellaneous, “is this even ours?” place for all the plastic stuff to be tucked away and forgotten about.

First we purged out our collection of random pieces. Then then we used another Pegboard System to help create spaces for the different containers. It’s great how they stay put when the drawer is opened and closed. A little organization went a long way with that space but it is much needed and a big time saver for after dinner next day meal planning.

The island is equally efficient for us. Not only is the sheer size (9′ long!) helpful, but the cabinets and things located at the island is very helpful for the overall function of the space. The island has our plumbing fixtures, which makes doing dishes really easy. Rinse a dish at the sink and then put it in the adjacent dishwasher.

We even organized the sink cabinet by adding 2 organizers and a towel holder.

The Door Storage Trays (6232-14-11-52) mount to door providing a place for things like sponges, dish soap, and cleaning supplies.

The Door-Mounted Dish Towel Rack (563-32) will help us by providing a spot for our towels, preventing clutter on our counters. Plus, then the dogs can no longer yank the dirty towels off the stove handle.

As well, I do most of the kitchen prep on the island. I work directly to the right of the sink, which gives me plenty of room to work. Additionally, I can swiftly dispose of trash right into the pull out trash can that is located in the end cabinet.

The very first item we installed in our kitchen was the 30-Quart Bottom Mount Wire Waste Container. The sleek design and finish is a nice feature in an otherwise forgotten space. The hardware has a no-slam slow closer feature which makes operating the trash can with ease. It’s just as easy to pull out, which is great for Autumn.

In the drawer located above the trash can, we have our cutlery organizer. Locating it there means we can stand right next to the dishwasher and unload the clean utensils right into the tray.

On the other side of the sink is another cabinet that is the same size as the cabinet that holds our trash can. Installing our trash pull out in the equally sized cabinet, inspired us to install another pull out trash container for the dogs’ food. But we actually took it to the next level and got a 2 can pull out (typically used for trash and recycling).

The Double 35 qt. white container Pull Out System (5149-18DM-211) has allowed us to create a doggy station as we have their food in front and all the toys in the back. They are not the kind of dogs that can be trusted with toys just being out in the house as they, especially Kemper, get really focused on destroying and eating them. Let me tell you, a dog eating a rope toy is a mess and a safety issue too. But now everything they need is right where it needs to be. So perfect!

The remaining cabinets and countertop is a 6′ side section where we have the majority of our small appliances.

On the counter we have storage jars for baking supplies. It’s functional but also just pretty. Plus, getting to easily snag a marshmallow every now and then is a perk!

All of our small appliances are in the base cabinets. Yes, I have 5 waffle irons which might seem like a lot but I did make waffles every week for a year. yum!!!

Price modified the ill-fitting utensil tray from Ikea but cutting off one of the short ends so that it would fit. Now we have enough organizational cubbies for the small baking items; measuring spoons, measuring cups, pizza cutter, lemon/lime zester, melon baller, and teeny tiny rubber spatulas. The remaining space in the drawer is large enough for our larger baking tools like a kitchen scale and rolling pin.

And every house has a junk drawer, which is always a big mess of whatever. We all clean and sort them at least once a year and then they get dirty and disorganized again in about 2 days. We minimized out junk area with a drawer divider, allowing us to put all of our foils, wraps, and plastic bags in in the drawer too.

Before we put the baking supplies in the drawer were they currently reside, we had our spices in there. This was a disaster as they would roll around and get jumbled up. Some would even spill out the spices out of their twist tops making a mess in there.

Instead we decided to use two 13 5/8″ wide Door Storage Wire Spice Racks (565-14-52) that we mounted on our pantry door.

Use empty space on the pantry door = Win.

Take everything out of a drawer so I now have extra space to store more stuff = Win.

Organizing all the spices alphabetically = WIN!

I am so happy with how well our kitchen is organized now. All of the various products that we used has helped us make cooking and living in the space a real pleasure by keeping the kitchen clean, neat, organized, and useful.

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I was provided product from Rev-A-Shelf, but I was not compensated to write this post. All options are my own.

House Tour- Our Kitchen

July 16, 2017

They say the kitchen is the heart of the home and that is really true for us.

One of the reasons we fell in love with the house was the kitchen. We couldn’t get over how open it felt, even with the giant island. Oh, that island. I instantly fell in love with it when we saw a model home of this house design in January 2015.

It’s a 9′ long x 4′ deep island… that was more countertop than our previous kitchen, and that is just the island!

We were 99% sure on the house but still compared other house designs from other builders to the openness and layout of this design, prior to us signing the contract on a house. Ultimately, the Monroe model from Ashton Woods won out and we signed our contract in spring of 2016.

Then the real fun began… selecting options and finishes at the design studio.

I normally like white, white, white but when we saw the grey shaker cabinets of one of the kitchens in the design studio, we were hooked. It wasn’t a typical wood veneer finish and the grey was a great option on incorporating some color into the house, besides furniture and decor.

One thing I would not budge on was having white countertops. Our last kitchen has black ones it while the finishes of that kitchen worked together in that space, I hated the dark countertops. It was really tough to photograph process pictures for food recipes, and I just love the look of light countertops. I think they really help with making a space feel larger and brighter. (They look yellowish in the photos but it’s white- trust me, there is no way I would have picked anything else!)

The standard options for both the cabinet style and finish and countertops would need to be upgraded to achieve our desired look.

We picked a blend of upgraded cabinet styles for our kitchen. The grey shaker cabinets that are the majority of the cabinetry in the kitchen was a Level 6 (ouch… $$$), and the white shaker style was a Level 4 (not such an ouch!). Besides the color the biggest difference between them was the drawer style and construction of the door panels.

By blending the 2 cabinet styles we saved $513. The blend works as the white cabinets are only at the island and therefore are primarily visible in the kitchen work area, not particularly visible from the rest of the house, especially from the living room and backyard.

The standard countertop is granite, but the finish options they had were too dark and busy for our preferences. We had the option of upgrading to a composite material or marble. While marble is incredibly gorgeous, we opted for a composite as it was a fraction of the cost. I love how it is bright it is with a nice fleck pattern that is not distracting.

Our builder has a lot of options for cabinet styles to have a custom kitchen that you design to your design aesthetic and needs. Some builders do not have these options so this was one of the reasons we were drawn to them. I really appreciated the ability to customize the kitchen, even when the cost of some of these items we could customize was cost prohibitive.

One of the big things that I wanted to do in the kitchen was to remove the standard cabinet mounted microwave that was mounted above the stove for a microwave that was integrated into a base cabinet($130 add). This one thing great transformed our kitchen by having a hood installed over the stove. We were provided with a $1,458 for removing the 3 cabinets originally spec’d for the wall.

Then we further opened up the look of the wall by removing the cabinets on either side of the hood (receiving a credit for this) and installing floating shelves. The wood finished shelves we installed were from Threshold at Target. They are 4″ shallower than the grey shelves we could have installed at by the cabinet builder, but they only provided a flat price per shelf, so a 20″ long shelf would cost the same as a 8′ long one. We were not paying $468 per shelf that was less than 2′-0″ long! Hell no. So our $30 a shelves are working just fine for us.

In addition do those custom changes we added a tall filler panel next to the fridge and swapped out a base cabinet that came with doors for base cabinet that has drawers. We had wanted to do an integrated trash cabinet but the price exceeded our budget so we installed a pull out after we moved in.

The builder had plenty of options for backsplashes but the ones that we liked were very expensive (go figure!). We decided to leave the wall bare with just paint as we save up for a tile that we like. As well, we have the option of installing a pot filler above the stove as we have a pre plumbed for an utility sink in the garage, and it worked out that the location of that is almost directly behind the stove. So we don’t want to tile the wall yet, just to rip some of it out for the faucet.

The only architectural change we made in the kitchen was that we omitted the closet at the door that leads from the kitchen to the garage. We knew we wanted to put the pie safe there and the closet would not have allowed it. The pie safe works really well there as storage for our Pyrex and it’s a feature right at the entry that we use most often.

The walk in pantry is directly opposite the garage door so it makes dropping off groceries in there really easy.

One of the littlest things in our kitchen is one of my favorite things. We had an air switch installed for our disposal. This is a button that is intergrated into the counter that you press when you want to turn your disposal on and off. I like the look of this and I also like that I don’t need t open and close the cabinet below the sink to use a switch every time I want to use the disposal.

We had some issues with the install of the microwave cabinet which still need to be adjusted by the millwork company, but the responsibility with scheduling them is in my court. Ya know, just been a bit busy lately with a newborn!

We sit at the metal stools and the table in the ‘Breakfast Area’ most often for meals, while our dining room gets used a bit less. As it is getting day to day use we wanted that to look homey and casual. We reused a table and a set of chairs that we had refinished that we had in Boston. I like how both our stools and these chairs are fun colors.

I found beautiful palm prints on Etsy from the WildBOOK store. We wanted something bold on the wall and these worked out perfectly. I had them printed at 24 x 36 and put them into simple white frames from IKEA.

The drapes we have on the slider are from IKEA and also add some fun color to the space. We layered 2 sheers using the VIDGA triple curtain rail system. The inner curtain is FLÖNG, a patterned sheer, and the outer one is AINA, a blue light weight linen. We use the same curtains and set up in our living room as well.

Also, like our dining room, we need a ceiling light junction box relocated. They centered the junction box for the light fixture centered in the space but we prefer the table to be centered on the wall with the palm prints instead. We removed the standard fixture and installed the really affordable pendant that I picked up on an Ikea run recently. The $30 JASSA pendant and the $10 wired SEKOND cord gives the area a more casual look which works well for the feel of the breakfast area that we are going for. When we have the junction box in the dining room moved, we will have this moved as well so that the light is centered over the table and then can hang lower above the table. But the $40 fix works for us now.

I also have high hopes of getting a fiddle leaf fig plant in the corner next to the sliding glass doors, but I am afraid it will feel too trendy and I’ll kill it. I’ll have to figure something out soon. Once I find a great pot for it I will be inspired to get a plant. I am looking for something modern looking. Totally open to suggestions!

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House Tour- Our Dining Room

July 5, 2017

Ever since we moved I have wanted to do a house tour to show how we have been decorating. How we have been making it ‘home’.

I am kicking off with our dining room!

Referencing the plan, you can see that is is the first room you see when you enter the house. Plus, it’s the first area visible when you are approaching the house. At night when the lights are on, it’s very visible.

We really considered that when we were selecting and locating the furniture and decor in the room.

The furniture and decor in the room is a blend of pieces that we have already owned and ones that we picked up when we moved here.

The main element in the room is the dining table with the combination of chairs and bench. We found these pieces at the Tampa location of Nadaeu, a furniture store that imports really cool handmade pieces.

While shopping with a friend, I fell in love with this table and found chairs and a bench to match. Price and I went back for him to check it out and we scooped it all up. And then they held it for us for months since our completion date was delayed. They rock.

I keep various simple runners on the table, along with a handmade bowl, salt and pepper shakers, and slate coasters to protect the table. The bowl is made by one of Price’s uber talented friends who has a pottery studio, Barrel Maker Pottery, in Portland, Maine.

The other piece of furniture in the room is a gorgeous buffet that was a very generous hand me down from one of my bosses in Boston. I was quite concerned about it moving because of the value and how much we like it. Thankfully the movers did a great job with it – just 1 minor knick on a corner.

We tried not to clutter the buffet but have it functional and fun too. We have some wine and booze, a slate cutting board from Crate and Barrel topped with a ceramic jar that Price’s brother made when he was in high school. To go with the alcohol, we have a sign that was at our wedding that says, “Trust me you can dance – Alcohol” from the Etsy shop, DodiDoodles. It’s a fun reminder of our wedding.

Above the buffet is a mirror from Ashley Furniture and a set of copper pots and pans. We picked up the copper pots and pans years ago while at Brimfield, an antiques flea market that is held 3x a year in Massachusetts. We picked this set up for a steal at just $100 5 years ago.

As I previously mentioned, the dining room is at the front of the house so I wanted the window treatment to stand out as it would be seen from the entry, and even the street. My friend, Nichole, and I went shopping at Ikea and stumbled upon the curtains that we felt would look great in the space, while still having an overall connection to the rest of the house by featuring a blue color.

The MJÖLKÖRT curtains are hung closer to the window on the RACKA rod and the denser, thicker SANELA curtains are hung on the outer HUGAD rod. The double rod system allows for the pair of curtains to be hung together but move around independently of each other.

Directly opposite the windows is a tobacco basket with some prints.

The tobacco basket is really old. It used to hang in Price’s mom’s kitchen and we scooped it up from her years ago. I love that it’s a statement piece and it has history to it. You can find old ones at flea markets or antique shops, or you can purchase a new one as many stores have started to recreate the look now.

The art prints are little mushrooms that my grandmother bought for me years ago when we were browsing a small shop, sadly now closed.

On the to-do list is getting a new light fixture. We opted to just install the standard lighting fixture from the builder as any upgraded fixtures from them were $$$ and we didn’t really love any of them. When we find a fixture that we really like we will have that installed. The current location of the fixture is centered in the room, not over the table, as we have the buffet in there, moving the table over closer to the entry. So we will need that relocated which is a bigger deal than just swapping out fixtures so we aren’t in a big rush at this time to take on that project.

Adjacent to the dining room is the entry. There is not much to this area besides a lighting fixture (to eventually swap out) and a side table.

The side table was another piece that was from a boss in Boston. We have located this in various places in our past apartment and condo (entry, bedroom, respectively) but decided that currently works best here now as the wood is similar to the table in the dining room

Above this are 3 prints that feature the town where my husband grew up, Skaneateles, NY. I took the large picture at the bottom of Skaneateles Lake, and the other 2 are professional picture from the north end of the lake, where the town is located.

Besides the light fixture, we are really happy with our dining room. It’s a great place to come together and eat dinner as a family, which we do every weekend. The weeknight dinners are more casual, as we eat dinners at different times, and happen at the kitchen island or at the table in the Breakfast Nook.

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Update lighting as a new lighting fixture can really transform a room. Even changing the existing lighting fixture’s bulb color temperature can make a big change.
Layer curtains for a fun play on patterns and textures.
Display a collection as a focal point. Artwork or dishes make a great feature.
Mix types of seating for versatility and functionality.
Use existing pieces in your home in the room in a new way.
Add a mirror to create a feature that helps brighten the space.
Use a patterned rug to help hide spills and add a fun accent on the floor
Personalize the room with family photos or portraits.
A fresh or good quality silk floral arrangement are great options for bringing nature into the room.
Decorate with wine! Show off your collection of wine or liquor for a fun celebratory feel

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Up next is our kitchen tour!

Our New House!!!!!

February 21, 2017

OMG!!!!!!! We closed on our house on Friday!!!!!!

I am so excited and yet do drained from the whole process.

Typical me was more excited about some bushes getting put in than signing for the house, but I just process things in weird ways.

Now that it’s been a few days and the dust has begun to settle I can enjoy it. We have been busting our butts moving our stuff in from my dad’s house to the new house. Thankfully we had awesome help from family while they were on vacation and from friends, who we then got to share our first meal in the house with (pizza!).

So I am just going to do a photo dump of the house that we moved into now, and then I will be sharing updates along the way once we have decorated and moved in.

Let’s begin….

We selected the ‘Monroe’ model from Ashton Woods (builder) with Elevation ‘C’. We made selections to customize it, like adding in the 3rd car garage option.

We also selected the 3rd option for the lanai (relates to the length of it), added in a slider (in lieu of a swing door and adjacent window) in the breakfast nook, and a 12′ slider (in lieu of 3 windows) in the family room.

As for the inside, let’s head in there.

On the first floor of the house you have the dining room, family room, breakfast area, kitchen, flex space (aka office), and powder room. There also is a walk in pantry off the kitchen, closet off the flex space, and closet under the stairs to the second floor.

You walk right into the Dining Room when you enter the house. It’s full of light from the orientation of the house and the pair of windows.

From there you walk towards the back of the house to the Family Room. You have a view of the 12′ widow slider right upon entry into the house.

The family room is straight ahead, and the open breakfast area and the kitchen are directly opposite that. The room is large- 18′ – 0″ x 18′ – 0″ which will work out for the furniture that we want to put in there. We don’t have large pieces or much but we want the space to feel airy and open.

The Breakfast Area is the ‘every day’ eating area as it’s right off the kitchen and in the midst of the Family Room. We are putting in the small dining set that we had in Boston here and the larger newer set that we just purchased is in the dining room so that will be used for entertaining, when we don’t want to eat outside.

Off the breakfast Area is the Flex Space, which will be set up at an office area in the future.
We will add a counter in here in in the future for a worksurface. There is a closet in there for some storage too.

You enter the Powder Room by passing through the Flex Space. It’s basic now so we need to jazz it up with some linens and accessories. (I had a mirror for this space but now I don’t think it will work so that might go in the guest bedroom upstairs)

The kitchen is the heart of the home. At much as ‘open concept plans’ are so trendy now, they work for us as we spend so much of our time in the kitchen making meals and just hanging out, so it feels great for this space to be so open and integrated with the rest of the first floor.

We selected a lot of options for the kitchen, which I’ll get into detail about in a kitchen focus post. It was important for us to spend our money on those upgrades for this space since it’s so visible to the rest of the house and how much time we spend in kitchens.

I can’t wait to start cooking in here!

Across from the garage door entry, is the walk in Pantry that serves the kitchen. We had them remove all of the standard shelving so that we could put in our own shelving (I hate wire shelving!) so this is a big work in process now as we need to get up all new shelving.

An open flight of Stairs lead you to the second floor…

Our stairs are nice and open allowing a lot of light to come in from the window that is at the landing of the staircase. This was a design change made during construction. There was some drama related to it, but all worth it for this outcome.

The first thing you see when you walk up the stairs is the laundry room so we will have to remember to keep the door closed or deal with some visible messiess. We do plan on adding in some shelving and color to make it ‘pop’ since it is the first thing you see going up the stairs.

Originally the Family Room on the first floor was a 2 story space but we filled it in (an option) to make this large Bonus Room. This is to function as the kids’ place room and our general lounge around room. We have a projector in Boston that we are going to install here so it will be great for movie watching. But we figure it will mainly be used by kids so (hopefully) their toys and mess will stay up here.

The Fourth Bedroom (an option we selected in lieu of an open loft space) is the closest to the stairs, and is directly opposite the bonus room. We are going to use that as a guest bedroom as we didn’t want kids rooms that close to stairs. We already have a bed (queen sized) and side table here, but need to get a dresser (hopefully, I can find something cool off Craigslist) for the niche next to the closet. Eventually we think we will add a small TV on/over the dresser so that people visiting can escape the kids and enjoy some of their normal routine, like getting to watch some news in peace.

Beyond the bonus room is our bedroom. YAY!!!!!

We already have most of the elements for this room with the exception of bedding and some wedding pictures that we never had printed and framed. We purchased a new bed (king sized!) and are reusing a dresser (for Price). Some other elements that are getting re-purposed are some ottomans and a long side table. I just bought some window treatments that will get blended with some we already had so things are well under way for our bedroom.

Besides the kitchen, we put some money towards our Master Bathroom Upgrades. So worth it to us. We layered a few options together to get a great bathroom. We each have our own sinks, a large shower, and a gorgeous free standing tub. I don’t love the color of the millwork in the bathroom (eww!) but it was hard to justify even more money towards a finish change in the bathroom that already had so many big and little changes. We can totally live with the ‘nutmeg’ finish, but I have a feeling I might paint them in the future. At least we have a great bathroom I can escape to for some R&R… ha, hardly!

We have an amazing large walk in closet off our bathroom that we will outfit with come custom shelving (ALGOT from Ikea!). I am not going to have a dressing in our bedroom so it stays nice and open (plus we will have a playard that the baby will sleep in for a while so that will just clutter things up too). I am going to store all of my stuff in the closet so I will be getting my shelving and stuff done rather quickly (hopefully).

Opposite our bedroom are the 2 kids bedrooms, full bathroom, and linen closet.

A linen closet is rather basic, no? Again, we didn’t want the standard wire shelving so we will install shelving in there.

The bathroom is going to be used by the kids and guests so it will have a neutral feel to it. Right now we are going to recycle a lot of what we had for accessories and linens in Boston so it will have the sail cloth shower curtain (already owned) and nautical accessories that I have picked up over the past few years. Anchor all the things!!!!

Autumn’s room (Bedroom 3 on the plan) is the larger of the kids rooms. There was no real reason to give her this room as opposed to the other room we are using for kids rooms, but that just worked well for her room. It has a walk in closet, which is overkill for her needs but I think I am going to make a little play nook in there. Her room is a mix of new and old things with a new bed and an old dresser.

Lastly, is the baby’s room (Bedroom 2 on the plan) that is next to Autumn’s room. We already have most of the furniture for this room- either already opened it or already purchased. We just need to accessorize it with some artwork and get some drapes, but we have time since it’s weeks before the baby arrives and we had Autumn in our room for 6 months, so no real rush anyway.

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I will have updates in the upcoming weeks with process that we have made on the house!

Stay tuned!!!

Keeping a Piece of Boston in our Hearts

October 14, 2016

This past spring we packed up our lives in Boston and moved to Tampa, FL.

We were so eager about the move. It was time for change. It was time for new things. It was something we were excited to do. We took it head on.

So while we have been really excited about this move, we have wanted to bring things that symbolize or remind us of Boston with us since Boston has meant so much to us. We both lived there for 12 1/2 years. Met there, graduated college together there, bought a house there, got our dogs (Boston Terriers!) there, and had our daughter there.

I have been on the search for fun things to add to our house that will bring I was checking out the goodies at Uncommon Goods and I found the perfect thing in their anniversary gifts section. (looking to get more specific? Then look for gifts for HER or HIM)

As soon as I saw the Skyline of Love piece or artwork I knew that it was the perfect fit for us and what I was looking for. It was beautiful, cool, and you could customize it.

There is an (almost) endless list of skylines, from US and International cities, to I bet you’ll find one for you too. This is great for giving out wedding and anniversary gifts. Or to just gift one to yourself!

Don’t want a skyline? Then check out their Silhouette of Love that takes a photo that you send them and they make you a custom silhouette. So cool!!! And the very same artist, Sandrine Froehle, does another custom piece of vintage looking colorful artwork that she creates from your photos. I love her work.

I was so excited with it’s arrival. Opening up the box revealed a beautifully framed piece of art that features the skyline of Boston. I was so excited to see the Custom House on the right side of the skyline as it’s my favorite building in Boston.

The coolest things is there are different things you can customize about the artwork, besides your name and anniversary date. You can pick from 3 different backgrounds and 10 different colors for the hearts. I liked the contrast of the black and white and I thought the red heart was just so classic.

Right now it’s handing out in the loft at my dad’s house as we are stationed there while our house is being built. It’s right when we walk up the stairs so we pass by it like 500 times a day, you know, when you have to go up and down for toddler toys, socks, pillows, new hair clips, to grab the dogs that ran away with a beloved plus toy… ya know!

Even Autumn, err I mean Supergirl, likes it. (She also likes the owl that I catch her snatching up and putting in her room! ha!)

I can’t wait wait for our house to be complete so that we hang this beautiful piece of art up so that we can bring a bit of Boston to Florida.

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This post is sponsored by Uncommon Gifts, all opinions are my own.

Our House: Building Update #1

October 8, 2016

Throughout the process of building our house, I’ll give updates outlining the different stages of construction and our experiences with them.

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Our house is under construction!!!!!!

We are so excited to be in the process of building it.

This first update spans a great deal of time, but future updates will be shorter in time and with more process. The beginning stages take some times as there is time for permitting, surveying, leveling the lost, framing the foundation, pouring it, etc. Once the house is framed the pace tends to accelerate (hopefully!).

So let’s begin!

Monday 4/25/16

We signed the contract for our house!!!

In the following weeks we send emails to our designer, Ali, at the Design Studio asking about some finishes and pricing. We didn’t immediately make an appointment to select our finishes as we still were pricing out our options and we preferred to do that on our time, in private to discuss money without a designer there. We felt it would be beneficial to be more prepared at our design meeting.

While that was happening, an architectural firm was readying drawings to submit to the building department for review for a building permit

Wednesday 5/25/16

We met with our designer at the Design Studio to make our finish selections. (I will do more an in depth recap of that process)

Wednesday 6/1/16

Our plans were submitted to the building department for permitting.

This process typically takes 30 business days for Hillsborough County, where we are building.

Thursday 6/9/16

Price dropped off the 30% check for the design options that we selected that was over our budgeted amount. This is due as we exceeded the original contract amount.

Wednesday 6/22/16

We frequently checked the building department website to check on the status of our permit. We saw that the Graphics Review was now complete and being forwarded on to the plans examiner for their review.

Friday 7/1/16

Our permit was denied! Ugh!

The comments and rejected plans are now going back to the architect to get updated and revised for re-submission.

While this is extremely disappointing as we wanted things to keep moving on, I have worked on plenty of projects that have permit comments. It’s a bummer, but it happens.

Thursday 7/14/16

The comments causing the permit to be denied were addressed by the architect so now they are back in the building department for review.

Friday 7/22/16

We are really excited at this point as the plans have now been reviewed and approved. The next steps in the getting the permit in hand is under way!!!!

Thursday 7/28/16

Our Permit was granted!!!

Tuesday 8/2/16

We met with our project Manager, Chris Bernhardt, to review the process and estimated schedule of building our house. Chris was great to meet with as we did a great job at explaining the process to us. While we are well versed in architecture and construction, we are not that familiar with residential projects. Also, building in Florida is going to be different, in some ways, than what we are familiar with from growing up in the Northeast. There are different codes and practices that are here, like building is done on grade vs on basement foundation or that of a crawlspace (like what I grew up with).

Wednesday 8/10/16

Stopped by in the afternoon to check on progress. Nothing had been done to our lot, except for the flags being installed indicating underground utilities. The lot next door had their slab staked.

Friday 8/12/16

Signed off on 2 revisions to our electrical plan that we made during our 8/2 meeting with Chris. They were electronically sent back to our designer at the Design Studio to be officially added to the contract documents. (Make sure you get everything in writing!)

Saturday 8/13/16

Crews were working on our neighbor’s house (she got her permit before us). No progress on our lot.

Monday 8/15/16

Price stopped by after work and saw that our lot was scraped and leveled. As well the corners of the house were located, per survey.

Excited to see progress but questioning if the location of the corners are correct as they are so close to the black silt fencing.

Tuesday 8/16/16

Price emailed our Project Manager asking about the location of the house as it appears to be so close to the silt fence (property line?) and the adjacent house.

Stopped by in the afternoon (2.30pm) to check on progress. No crews on site, but more slab framing had occurred.

I had a tape measure with me so I took some measurements of our house corners to the house next door. Verified that the location of the house was correct. The deceiving part is that the neighbor next door laid a brick walk off from their lanai in their set back area. Their house and lanai are located right along their set back line (5′ from property line) so this through us off a bit.

Received an email (3.30pm) from our project Manager further explaining what I has just figured out while I was on site. Additionally, clarified that the silt fence is not on our property line, it was set further in.

Saturday 8/20/16

We stopped by the house to see if there was any progress since we had last been there on the 16th. During that time crews dug trenches for plumbing supply and drain lines.

Monday 8/22/16

This visit gave as a real peek at what plumbing lines go into the ground before the slab is poured. Plus, it was fun to space plan where things where as we could identify rooms where things where going, like our sink is in out kitchen island so I could stand there and pretend to see the living room and backyard from there.

We noted that a plumbing line and drain on our lanai was missing.

Tuesday 8/23/16

We stopped by again to see how things were going at the site, in particular we were wondering if the missing plumbing for the lanai was installed- it still had not been.

We emailed Chris about this as we didn’t want to be in the position of having to chip out a brand new slab missing stuff that were always in the drawings. Of course, there are inspections, but I have been on plenty of job sites when things have been missed.

Wednesday 8/24/16

Price stopped by after work to check on things and saw that they had the plumbing for the lanai installed!

Thursday 8/25/16

The plumbing passed inspection and the vapor barrier had been laid down in preparation of pouring the slab.

Saturday 8/27/16

We stopped by the house at 8.30 am to check on the crew pouring the slab. It was exciting to pull up to the house and see 4 concrete mixing trucks right out front of our lot!!

We left shortly after 9 to head back home and get on with our day. They were still hard at work pouring concrete.

Sunday 8/28/16

We were expecting to see the crew again hard at work but they actually wrapped up the day before!

It was so wonderful to see the smooth slab. We had wanted to stick our hands into it while it was wet but it was well worth missing out on that to have the slab done.

The next step is to wait for the delivery for the Concrete Masonry Units (CMU), aka block, for the first floor block walls.

Tuesday 8/30/16

Emailed Chris requesting a project update and the next steps as we saw that the block, had been delivered to the house.

As well, we asked him about the landscaping for the property. It’s a long way away but we were curious to know what plans are included for our property (it varies by building and by house design) and the general layout. We are interested in knowing what would be included since there are plants that we do/don’t want and we want to clarify with the landscaper where we will plan on installing a fence.

Wednesday 8/31/16

Received an email from our Project Manager saying that we just need to wait out the storm to get started- totally understandable.

Chris also included an example landscaping plan and plant list. The plan is not site specific so they would need to make adjustments for our house and the lot (pie shaped). While there is a list of plants on the plan, he clarified that the plants do depend on what the nursery has on hand (due to season and stock). (Good, since we dislike most of them. ha!)

Thursday 9/1/16 Through Monday, 9/5/16 (Labor Day)

Hurricane Hermine and Labor Day Weekend really-wrecked havoc on our schedule. The storm prevented the crews from working on the block walls for the first floor of the house. And then it was Labor Day weekend.

On top of that, the geniuses that delivered the block on site on 8/30 also brought bags and bags of cement, which got ruined by all the rain that fell. So we needed crews to free up and more supplies to get delivered to the site.

Tuesday, 9/6/16

Price emailed our Project Manager Chris (4.30pm) to let him know that we had been by on Saturday and Sunday, the 3rd and 4th, to see if there was any progress (there was none) and to bring to his attention all the cement that has been ruined. Additionally, we wanted to confirm that the lanai has a gas line, as we didn’t see one next to the plumbing.

Chris promptly responded at 5.15pm that he will remind the block installers that the cement is ruined. He also clarified for us that gas line is run later in the project.

Friday, 9/9/16

I stopped by after work to check on progress at the site, the block crew was working on the neighboring house. This was great since we had to wait a bit for crews to be available again since the schedule got all messed up from the storm and holiday weekend. I had a quick chat with one of the guys on site and he said they would be starting on our house on Saturday and it should be done by EOD Monday.

Saturday, 9/10/16

When we did a quick drive by the site mid-morning, we didn’t see any action yet on our house. The crew was next door working.

Sunday, 9/11/16

Since the crews had worked on past weekends, we stopped by to see if they were working. Unfortunately, they were not, but it gave us a chance to walk around and check things out since they did start on our house…

Our excitement was quickly washed away when we were walking around the site and I noticed some trash stuffed in one ofthe blocks. I grabbed it and discovered it was a half eaten pulled pork sandwich. Then we noticed beer bottles in the walls.

We began the process of walking around the site to see what else we could find.

In the end we pulled out about 20 empty and almost empty bottles of Corona from the block walls.

Food was also found in the piles of block that were set up in staging areas around the site. While those could have been cleaned up later on as they grabbed those blocks to use them, they clearly had no intention of cleaning up the bottles in the various walls. Assholes.

We emailed the team about this at 1pm explaining what we saw with pictures. We tried to keep it up beat but clearly we were pissed off, frustrated, and hurt that people would disrespect us and our house this way.

We got calls and emails from the team but I still stopped by the show house later on (around 5pm) in the afternoon and spoke with Renee to confirm that we didn’t want a new crew, which would cause a delay in schedule, but a supervisor watching over the crew would be acceptable. She apologized for the behavior of that crew as we discussed what happened while reviewing photos. (I spoke with Chris the following day and he apologized repeatedly as well.)

I then went back to the house to get out more bottles with a grabbing tool. I was able to get all but 2 broken bottles.

Monday, 9/12/16

Stopped by the house on my way to work to check on things. A crew was there and a supervisor was there with them.

Then my dad stopped by later on in the day and snapped a few pics of the crew working.

Tuesday, 9/13/16

The lintel of the house (the top 2 tiers of block of the first floor) are getting filled today.

Wednesday, 9/14/16

My dad stopped by and snapped a few picture so we could see the progress of the block being done!

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I am stopping this recap at this point to capture the competition of the block. My next update will be about the framing of the interior and exterior walls.

While there have been some schedule delays and issues with a crappy crew, we are so excited that our house is underway. The Ashton Woods team that we have been working with has been great and attentive along the way.

We are looking forward to the next steps of the process.

Picking out our new house!

August 1, 2016

As we are in the processing of building our house, I figure I should recap what we have done already.

Let’s begin with picking out our house!

This whole thing started last January of 2015 when my Dad picked up Price, me, and Autumn from our Royal Caribbean cruise. He suggested that we stop by a new development to check out a model house. Ugh, I was so not in the mood. I just wanted to get back to his house to get settled so that Autumn could have lunch and then take a nap so I could take a break to put my feet up. I like keeping to a schedule so this was messing things up! But he was steering the car so I had no choice!

Thankfully, he brought us there since we walked into the Monroe by Ashton Woods and FELL IN LOVE.

We had already talked about moving South to get out of the cold, out of the more costly Northeast, but this house basically sealed the deal for us when we were toying around with the idea of moving to Tampa. It was a great house at a great place so it hooked us. Our original plan: Move by Spring 2017.

We then returned to Boston and it didn’t stop snowing for the next 6 weeks or so, which made us decide on moving to FL sooner than later. We then notified our offices that we planned on moving and were hoping for transfers to our Tampa offices.

Later in September we came down to look into more developments, builders, and houses. I also interviewed and arranged my transfer. Plus, it was Price’s birthday, so it was a busy trip for us!

We looked at a different development than what we saw the previously winter. We first saw it in a small community called Tanglewood Preserve in Gibsonton, but we then heard about Waterset, in Apollo Beach, FL (where my dad lives).

Waterset had significantly more builders, home styles, and much more in terms of amenities. It was going to be a very large, phased development so we had options on where to pick a home site. The development was located along 2 major roads to take you into Tampa, or south towards Naples, so it made commuting pretty easy.

We were even more set on The Monroe in Waterset at this point but explored the Sandpiper I from Cal Atlantic.

Price and I really liked the house elevation, features, possible upgrades, and price, so we started to explore our options with that builder. We marked up the floor plan with things that we wanted priced out to figure out what options were available and for that cost.

Note: They currently only offer Sandpiper II, but it’s the same elevation as Sandpiper I, with a different floor plan, which we liked 100x more. So if you like that plan, ask and see if it’s do-able.

It was fantastic working with Cory Day, but ultimately we decided that the house was too small for us (we really wanted a 4 bedroom plus an office) and we didn’t like the size of the lots available for the house, while the locations in the community were great.

Life continued on in Boston until we sold out house and moved down into my Dad’s house in Feb/March of 2016.

Again, Price and I looked at other developments, builders and homes to make sure we were going in the right direction.

We did fall in love with The Verona by Homes by West Bay in Waterset. The size (5 bed / 4 bath / 3 car / 3,518 Square Feet) and floor plan were great, plus the ‘Craftsman’ elevation was just so beautiful. But about 100K over our budget (Starting from $352,990, plus structural and finish upgrades). OUCH!

Verona- First Floor

Verona- Second Floor

So again, we are set on The Monroe (starting at 263K), and we’re planning on moving forward.

Then my Dad comes across the Lucaya Lake Club development that features homes by Ryan Homes.

We checked it out and liked the private Lakeside part of the development. The homes there were very close to the amenities and the lake the development would continue to wrap around. This was an 11K upgrade, which included a paver driveway vs. a standard concrete one. Yes this is a lot of money, but even including that the house was in our budget.

There was the Esterto Bay model home there that we got to check out. It was a beautiful. We started to fall in love with that house as well.

At this point we really started to break things down between the Monroe from Ashton Woods in Waterset to the Estero Bay by Ryan Homes in Lucaya Lake Club.

We liked both plans and the elevation options available.

Estero Bay- First Floor

Estero Bay- Second Floor

We really liked the overall layout of the house, with all the bedrooms on the 2nd floor and the layout on the first floor. The amount of windows in the house made it feel really open and bright.

Also, we like that it came with a 3- car garage as standard feature. The more and more that we talked with people that was the #1 complaint about their house as there is limited storage in homes and they will up their 2 car garages with stuff and then have no room to park.

We had little changes to make to the plan, but everything did seem like it had to go through approvals, BUT only after we signed a contract, and we didn’t like that approach. For example, I wanted the kitchen island rotated toward the family room and we couldn’t get a commitment on that prior to signing a contract. Also, no changing to the master bedroom tray ceiling- we didn’t like the shape.

Monroe- First Floor

Monroe- Second Floor

We loved the layout of the house from the moment we walked into it in January ’15.

We did select several options (in highlighted color) to customize it per our liking. The biggest thing is that we filled in the 2-story space to make a big bonus room, and made the as scheduled loft space the 4th bedroom.

There are 4 options for elevations for the house and we picked the one with the full front porch, as we liked that a lot. We wished that we could have merged some elements from the other options, but the elevations are pretty set in stone as they are approved by the architectural review board for the community.

So what made us pick the Monroe?

We made a pro and cons list for the houses and communities to help us figure out the different aspects of the houses we liked. It helped us really evaluate the various aspects of the homes, communities, costs, goals, etc.

Here goes some of the items on our list…

Community…We liked that the Estero Bay was in a gated community, but it didn’t have the amenities we really liked at Waterset.

Options… There were more things that we could customize with the Monroe, while their option were $$, we liked that we had options. The kitchen shown was the kitchen you get for the Estero Bay, you could not really customize the kitchen.

Storage… both provided great storage with having 3 car garages (*Monroe shown does not have a 3 car garage but they still had the option when we chose our house and one lot left that would fit it. It is side by side by side, not tandem like that Estero Bay. Photos to come). We liked the layout of the Monroe just a bit more.

AC… The Estero Bay home has 2 units, compared to the Monroe’s 1 unit (the Monroe unit does split between upper floor and lower floor and has two thermostats, we have yet to experience it)

Lots… There was only 1 lot that could accept a Monroe with the 3rd car garage add on, but it was a fantastic lot right at a park. So nice to open up our front door and walk right outside into a park. The 2 lots available for the Estero Bay with the Craftsman style elevation where not that desirable for us.

Smooth walls… yeah this might sound silly, but we could select an upgrade for smooth walls with the Monroe, while the Estero Bay did not have that option nor would the builder entertain the idea of pricing that out.

Money… We stalked, err checked the Ashton Woods websites for updates, changes, and additions for a year before we found that the last few lots were not selling. We later found that Ashton Woods was temporarily leaving the community post-Phase 3 construction so selling their last few lots would be more desirable for them. Ryan Homes at Lukaya were selling like crazy so bargaining with Ryan Homes would be difficult.

So what were we to do?!?!?!

We went with out guts and picked the Monroe.

(Price hems and haws at things, while I come to decisions faster so I had to pull the finger guns out to make him blurt it out without thinking for-ever! ha!)

We signed our contract at the end of April and now we are abut to begin building and we will get settled before we know it. It is going to be so fantastic!!!

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Stay tuned for more updates on our home building process!

So, we bought a house!!!

April 25, 2016

We signed the paperwork tonight for the house that we are going to build!!!

We are so very excited about this!!!!

This has been in the works for a long time so we are glad it’s finally to this point!!!

The next 6 months will be filled with finish reviews, sit downs with the lead contractor, site visits, and much more until the house is all done. We are looking forward to all of it.

There is a park right next to us! Perfect for the whole family, including the dogs!

See you in November Park Strand Drive!!!

Printcopia Canvas Prints Review & a Giveaway

November 23, 2012

Printcopia is an online photo printing service that creates large format prints, canvas, acrylic, and framed prints. They are your one stop shop for your photo service needs.

I used their services to get an 11×17 canvas print. I’ve used online print services in the past but I really enjoyed getting around their site and the services they offered. One of the coolest things is that they offer is the ability to link to your instagram profile or your facebook profile to upload pictures. I use instagram so much that this is a great way to easily connect my photos to the site.

At first I was going to use a photo that Price instagrammed when we were in Chicago for his birthday but I wanted to maintain the square instagram format so I picked a photo that he took of the sun rising. For a delayed October date we went to the beach to see the sunrise on Day Light Savings day. Some Starbucks drinks, a pastry to split, and the sunrise. Now that we have this print hanging up on our first floor I will always remember our sunrise beach date.

AAAANNNND the GIVEAWAY Details!!!

Mandatory entry: Tell me what photo you would get made into a canvas print if you won? Your kids? Family portrait? A vacation?

Extra Entry: Tweet or hare on Facebook about the giveaway. Come back & leave another comment telling me what you did

Giveaway ends Thursday 29th at 11.59pm

Besides the giveaway, don’t miss out on their Black Friday Sale!!! Right now they are offering 50% canvas prints until Sunday the 25th at midnight. Don’t hesitate, it’s a great deal and this will make for a great gift.

I received an 11×17 canvas print from Printcopia in exchange for an honest review. These opinions are my own.

How To: Labeling Your Garbage Cans

June 21, 2012

Since we moved in I’ve been saying that I would spray paint the garbage cans so there would be no mix up when we take them to the curb. Everyone else’s is marked so this is not a ‘this is mine, don’t touch it!’ sort of thing. You just never know if your garbage can will go blowing down the city block after it has been emptied. I didn’t just want to freehand spray paint the cans with our house number… I wanted to give them some curb appeal!!

Well, after weeks and weeks of saying I would do it I finally got around to doing it this morning before work. Thankfully, it is super hot now so standing out side at 6am was nice as it was already 80 (I love it!!). We were armed with the stencils I made with my Cricut, but you can even make a stencil by hand or just buy some. We also had some painters tape and some Rust-oleum spray paint. It was pretty easy job and I am happy with how it came out. Still there are some things I would do differently:

Wear gloves. I only put gloves on for the last # and now part of my left hand is bright green even after scrubbing the crap out of them.
Make more stencils. I only made one ‘7’ and one ‘fleur de lis’ thinking I would just reuse it. Unfortunately, it was getting tricky at the end to reuse them and not make a horrible mess on the trash cans & my hands (see above). Should have listened to Pricer!
Mask the stencils differently. I would first position the stencils and then put the mask on. I think it would have allowed me to work easier and get crisper lines as the stencil would have been taped right to the can.

I’ve written out directions below on how I would do it next time. Once I sprayed on the first things I realized immediately the mistakes I made setting us up. Follow the directions below and you will have an easy time labeling your trash cans.

Curb appeal… I was thinking of doing a pineapple on the trash cans but our mailbox has a fluer de lis already on it so I went with that. Pick a symbol that you like to enhance the overall look!

Damn… we look good!

Labeling Your Garbage Cans

Supplies

Stencils, sized to fit your trash cans
newspaper
scissor
painter’s tape
gloves
spray paint*
garbage cans
ruler, optional

*I really suggest getting Rust-oleum’s Painter’s Touch Ultra Cover. This works on a variety of surfaces, including plastic, and there were a lot of nice colors. I used Key Lime.

Process

Identify where you want the number and/or symbol to go on the trash cans. Put a strip, or several, of painter’s tape on the trash can to create guides to position the stencils. Use a rule to help center or keep lines level, as needed.
Tape the stencils(s) to the garbage can.
Cut a piece of newspaper the size of the stencil in the center of the piece of paper. Place the newspaper shield over the stencil and tape into place.
While wearing gloves, evenly and gently spray paint the can at the stencil.
Remove the newspaper shield and the stencil gently. Lastly, remove the tape guides from the trash can.

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Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

Complete Chaos

May 18, 2012

So movers came on Wednesday…

The 2 guys form BCB Movers were fantastic and moved the crap out of our stuff. They were so nice and efficient. They even tried to get the box spring up stairs by taking the front door off but still no-go. ugh!

And now we are living in complete chaos…

All of this mess could be why we ate popcorn for dinner last night. Or maybe why I was distracted this morning taking pictures and didn’t know my camera was on manual and they all are a blurry mess.

We still have a few trips left to do to get some stuff at the apartment but we have it all planned out and will turn over the keys on Sunday morning. And then we will take the best nap ever.

Real life and blogging will return next week. Maybe by then I will find the skirt I was attempting to wear today.

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Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

Our House

May 2, 2012

Is a very, very fine house…

(back unit- furthest from street)

WE CLOSED ON OUR HOUSE ON MONDAY!!!!!

HORRAY!!!!!

We’re really excited about the new adventure at hand. We have been discussing where different pieces of furniture can go around the house. What new pieces we can get, what to get rid of. It’s all about making this space our own. I’m super excited about the kitchen and open first floor, Pricer is excited about a man cave, and we are both really excited to have an outside space again. 🙂

Exciting first purchase (besides something I ordered online) for the house were trash cans.

And these are some pics…