Jan 21, 2012- HOME!

With the help of these little movers, lots of friends and my mom in particular, we got mostly moved over to the new house this week.   . We did our final walk through on Tuesday, finalized our loan the same day, and were able to get keys to the house that night. Because the builder was still finishing the wood floor we couldn't really move in, but we could hang blinds, paint rooms and move in a few things over the next few days.... and so we did.  Jake and I were a sad crew moving as I am super pregnant and Jake the night before we moved sprained his foot horribly.  Jake pushed through the pain though limping carrying box after box loading a few trailors full, then Saturday lots of friends showed up to move heavy furniture and carry things up and down stairs which neither Jake nor I can really do On Friday and Saturday we moved the majority of our belongings over, and finally Sunday night, we slept in our new house.  I was at the house Saturday alone most the day unpacking and I kept tearing up so grateful that this beautiful home is for my wonderful family.

The front of the house.  The construction zone sign and saw horses have been removed since.
Jake and I loved the beams on this house (in pictures) when we were picking out a floor plan.  We had never seen them in person on any of the builders homes and so we are glad in the end we like the way they look.  We also tried to mix box the timber style and craftsman style the builder offered for exterior styles, I was also nervous how this would look  but am very pleased with the light colors, shakes and batten board and timbers all together.

 The front porch is one of my favorite parts.  Orange Door. Cream Batten Board.  Timbers.  Can't go wrong. I can't wait to sit here in the spring and watch the kids play in the culda sace with the 14 kids under 8 that live in the other four houses.  
"Come by and say hello"  I'm going to tell everyone.  "I'm the house with the orange door that says hello"

 The kitchen and dinning area. I am so pleased with the dinning area.  In our old home the dinning area was in between the kitchen and living area and I hated having to walk through the crumbs and around the table to get around the house.  I was worried too that the dark floors and dark cabinets would be too dark, but the stainless appliances, and brushed nickel fixtures and cream counters brighten the space for now well.  All the windows don't hurt either.

Who is coming for dinner first?

I finally have space to seat an entire additional family.

 Jake trying to work in his office amist boxes.  This is really the last room that needs a lot of unpacking.  While boxes and furniture were being moved over, I was busy unpacking all the rooms.  But Jake has to do his own office- not that I am not willing to do it for him- but because he will want to do it a certain way and organize himself.  He was debating working today as it is a holiday, thinking we might do something fun.  When I said like "unpack more" when he was thinking"take kids to the museum"  he  decided he would go ahead and work today instead.  His office is one of our favorite rooms in the house too.  It is suppose to be a formal living room, but we but glass double doors on the space so that it could be used as a home office.  It has a nice vaulted ceiling, tons of sun all day and the best view of the mountains of any room.  I think it will be much better to work in than the basement.  In fact he is already "whinning"  it is too bright compared to his usual work conditions.

Living area.  You can see the kitchen in the back, the stairs that go to the basement to the right and lots more great windows.

 Living room other way.  Jake and I even had a minute last night to sit with our laptops after the kids were asleep on the couch last night side by side.... just like normal.  The kids have already taken to using the fireplace as their personal show stage.  I'm sure we will not go the duration in this house without somebody getting stitches from playing on the fireplace.

Kate and Sam's room.  They are thrilled to the moon with their room.  With their bunk bed in particular.  They didn't go to sleep until around ten last night. Then played "adventure" all morning in it. Bonus the sun comes up on the other side of the house, and I am hoping that since the sun doesn't rise in their windows like the old house we might just eeek out a few extra minutes of sleep.  Kate and Sam are excited for me to paint a wall like I told them I would and keep reminding me it is not done yet..  I set their room up and hung all their clothes and even found a few decorations I put up before we showed them the room.

Marianne's room.  Notice it is the only room that does not have gray walls  That is because mom and I painted it peach.  I'm been aching to make my girl a room seeing as how most her life thus far (she is 17 months old remember) she has shared a room with us.  Call it catching up on some nesting.  In addition she will share the room with the new babe- so I imagine I'll spend a lot of energy in the room over the coming weeks getting it just right for my girls.

Kids bathroom.  

Master Bedroom.  Can I tell you how wonderful it is to sleep in our bed.  In California we slept on the mattress on the floor, mostly because we were renting the home and I didn't want to get my nice bed and then just move it again and again and risk it ruin.  One tortuous part of moving was that we set this bed up at the beginning of moving- the three long exhausting days working and moving into the house it sat in our room, beautiful and calling our names and we couldn't just crash in it with so much to do. The room is put together, but there are still tons of boxes to unpack and decor to come, but for now it is still my favorite room in the house... did I already say that about another room.... well, the new bed, tray ceiling and mid century modern side tables and dressers I've been collecting make me melt each time I enter.  I even made the bed this morning.  

Master bath.  I showered this morning in the shower, and I almost didn't want to just because it is so perfect and clean.

Basement tv room.  Though it currently doesn't have a tv in it.

 Mud room-  This space obviously needs work, hopefully even a built in bench with hooks someday.  For now the fact that this space exists is awesome.  A dumping ground is essential to a well run home right?  Not pictures to the left and right are the laundry room and a half bath.

The kids breaking in their play room in the basement.  How would we live without a playroom in the basement?  We added the playroom and tv area in the basement last minute to be finished.  Without it the home was 1895 square feet with a 1993 square foot  unfinished basemen.t Which we would hope to finish someday soon, but would have been unused for the next several years.  Not to mention we would have to live surrounded by all those toys.  As we unpacked all the toys it is clear there are way too many.  Last minute we decided to finish 450 square feet of the basement family room and play area bringing our finished living space closer to 2400 square feet with around 1550 square feet we will have to finish on our own. That seems a little more manageable yes?   In the future we will finish what is left, the 2nd family room, three more bedrooms and a full bath.  But for now the home is very comfortable  and it is nice to know we have room to grow as our kids do.

 Jake says his favorite part of the new house in the fireplace and mantel.  Even though I am the one that insisted we add the fireplace.

 This glass cabinet is (another) one of my favorite parts of the house. It is such a small detail but I love it.  The clean glass with the pecan cabinets.

Here is the view from the backyard.  There is an (empty) field behind us... there are actually several old cars- part of a farm.   People always say how that is too bad, but really I prefer a field of ghetto cars to homes with people who can look in my backyard. Plus there will be a better fence up some day.  Plus the yard is 1/3 of an acre so there is at least some distance between us and the cars.  You can also see our new church being built next to the field.  If we were up for hopping fences in our dress clothes we would be at church in about three minutes.  Instead we will walk the street and it will take us about ten minutes. Sam was watching the excavators this morning.  The mountains aren't horrible either.

The front door view.  Yeah for the culda sac!  Great neighbors, nice mountains.  Oh what fun it will be to landscape this spring... right....and mostly letting the kids play free.

Here is the basic floor plan of the home- though several things are different including some extra square feet added to the master suite bath, a moved closet in the master suite, a different kitchen layout, and a different basement layout a bit for the finished tv and play room.

I can't even write how thrilled we all are.  To be in a place of our own again.  It has only been about 13 months since we owned a home, but it has been remarkable how much being home owners is a part of us.  We don't have much to do without yard work or home projects or browsing the aisles of home depot looking for something fun to try.  It has always been a part of us since the first fixer upper we bought before we were married and I think it is part of our couple identity.  It is so wonderful to be in a new home with nothing that needs to be done, but I am a little glad we have part of a basement to finish an large yard to work on and I'm sure other projects to personalize the home for us to work on together. It  has seemed like a long wait getting into this house, perhaps because we have been thinking about a possible forever house for a few years.  One in which our family no matter how big could fit.  A few moves to California and to my parents seem to make the 13 months seem like even more.. because who moves three times in one year?  This is the third home we have owned.  With each we have taken a picture on our closing day on the front porch.  The first home is just Jake and I looking like we are 15 or something, we are not even married yet.  The 2nd home it is just the two of us again, but you can see I look like I might be pregnant-  and I am with Kate.  We haven't taken our first front porch picture as a family yet.  But is crazy how much life has changed since the last time we bought a home.  With the last we didn't have one child yet, and this time our fourth is about to join us.  I can't wait to take the picture this week and have all the kids around us documenting how different things are this time. 

The kids keep saying funny things about the new house Sam keeps saying everything is "GORGeous"  and Kate keeps telling me "everything is new like a queen house".  I'm glad they are so happy.  I feel the same way.  That this home is more beautiful than one I could have imagined we would be so blessed to have. The first house was a super fixer upper and the 2nd was a foreclosure.  It seems so different this time.  Everything is new.  Clean.  In perfect repair.  There won't be any suprises next week when we find a leak in the roof or a broken furnace.  I won't have to live with the flooring I know somebody likely had a cat on. It is just right and just for us.  It feels so special. I'm so excited to live again like normal with my little family in this space.

Our first day in our new home seems like a great place for a new better family life.  Last night we had a family devotional which included dedicating our home, songs, talking about our family and explaining some new family rules to the kids.  Last night they were not doing very well with the new rules.  But today they are and have even reminded me when I forgot.  I feel so blessed to have a wonderful home to raise and be with my even more wonderful family.  

I have a billion more things to say on the subject of HOME.  but I'll stop for now and hopefully get some groceries to fill the pantry up....