I haven't posted on this blog in a LONG time. A lot has happened in the last year or so, but one of the most notable is the purchase of our new house. In every other place we've lived, I've had boxes unpacked, pictures on the walls, and photos taken within two weeks (or less, in some cases) of moving in. While that was still my goal this time, too, it didn't happen - mostly because we were waiting on the delivery of new basement furniture.
We've never had two living spaces before (living room and family room), so we needed additional furniture to fill our new finished basement. Because of who I am, I'm not satisfied taking "final" pictures when something is only half-finished, so you all have had to wait. But now we are FINALLY about 99% of the way settled. When we cleaned the house to host friends for the 5th Annual Labor Day Brat Fest, I thought it was the perfect time to take pictures.
I will share some tidbits along the way. I hope you enjoy the tour!
We have already started to investigate what it would cost to covert our garage to a 2-car. We know it will be a hefty price tag, but it would be so nice to have. We've also considered a more simple option in just widening the drive way so at least we could park side-by-side, and adding a storage shed somewhere on the property, but we'll see.
This picture above doesn't show them very well, but we recently purchased new end tables (along with the basement furniture). Now the only thing in our living room that is second-hand is the brown slipper chair (in the forefront of the picture) that mom made me buy at an auction. She thought it would be perfect for my first apartment and I thought it was ugly. When the bidding started at $100 and kept getting lower because no one was raising their hand, she started to hyperventilate. I finally had to raise my hand before she had a stroke next to me. "Sold, for $5!" I guess it wasn't so bad after all, considering we are still using it 19 years later. :)
My husband said the only way I could buy the compass was if I promised to display it correctly. The back of our house obviously faces east.
This is our first house with a fireplace. It is a double-sided fireplace so it can be enjoyed in the dining room as well. I can't wait for chilly weather.
Two bedrooms on the left, broom closet (with mirror), bathroom, then bedroom on the right.
Nathan's room. It is significantly smaller than what he used to have, but he likes how cozy it is. He is the fourth generation to have use of this bedroom set. We did replace all the knobs on the furniture because some refused to remain "tight" and a couple went missing, but it still looks really nice and we are so grateful to have this set for him.
We did not know this when we put in the offer on the house, but the main bath has a heated floor! I'm really looking forward to that on winter mornings.
Leah's bedroom. When we were preparing to paint our bedroom, I asked the kids if they wanted a certain paint color in theirs. Nathan didn't, but Leah said she wanted teal. We agreed on an accent wall rather than the whole room.
At the store, she picked out her preferred color, but reluctantly agreed when I said this color would be a little richer looking than her choice. As the first roll of paint was going on the wall, I said, "So, what do you think?" Her reply was "Eh, I don't like it." In typical Leah fashion, she had the perfect length of pause which was just long enough to give my heart time to sink, and then she said, "I don't like it because I LOVE IT!" Stinker. (Phew!)
When I used this eggplant wall color in our last house, I really wanted to find some orange accent pieces because I thought it would look really nice with the purple. I didn't have any luck then, but this time around when shopping for new curtains, I stumbled across this perfect terra cotta color. They were full length curtains which were too heavy for our small room, so I turned them into valances instead.
Cabinet space in the kitchen is manageable, but drawer space was really lacking. I only had three small drawers for utensils which was not enough, so we found this buffet at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. It's perfect for that little bit of extra drawer/cabinet/counter space we needed.
Our two closest friends now live about a half mile away from us, giving us the opportunity to host some of our summer Margarita Monday gatherings. I never thought I'd be one to have a mini bar in my house, and this probably hardly counts as one, but it's nice to have a place to keep these items together but out of the way of most of our other meal prep space.
Looking into the dining room you can see the flooring Matt and I installed over Memorial Day weekend.
We won't always have two tables in our dining room, but we do now. It's not worth explaining why. In the picture below, you can see the second side of the fireplace, and the built in cabinet that we are using as a pantry. Normally I would not have my pantry items exposed like this, but we are waiting for new cabinet doors, drawers, and a counter top to be installed. (This is the reason I said our house is 99% finished.) The upside to having our food exposed is that we can look at it all the time. It will make finding stuff much easier once the doors are added.
This is our second bath, just a half bath that is primarily Leah's to use. Since this photo was taken, the dated lilac wallpaper border has been removed. Ahhh.
The half bath is at the top of the stairs leading down to ... drumroll ... THE FINISHED BASEMENT! We love having this space. It's what sold us on this house.
Looking this direction (toward the desk), on the right is our laundry room and then a walk-in storage closet.
To the right when looking at the basement stairs is a storage room/work shop.
Pictures specifically from the special trips we've taken as a family (Disneyworld, Disneyland, Hoover Dam, Louisville Slugger, Churchill Downs).
We purchased the matching couch and loveseat, then while waiting for them to be delivered, a coworker of Matt's asked if he'd be interested in purchasing a leather chair for $40. Umm, of course! (She was moving and they were losing a finished basement, so they had to downsize furniture.) We like having the extra seating when friends come over.
We decided that the "theme" of our basement was going to be about spending time together as a family, and focus on the special trips we've taken together. My idea was to decorate with license plates from the states we've visited, and then Matt's idea was the family photos from those trips. I love how these tie in together.
(Note: We discovered it's pretty hard to find out of state license plates, especially looking for more modern plates...like those we would have seen during our travels. If anyone wants to try to help us find Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Nevada, and Washington DC, let me know.)
The less glamorous, but just as valuable, sections of the basement are the storage room/work shop...
(Picture above taken on Sunday, and picture below was taken on Monday after Matt built a new workbench and hung peg board for his tools.)
...the laundry room...
...the little room for our sump pump which also doubles nicely for some extra storage...
... and the walk-in storage closet.
Finally, we'll end with some pictures around the outside of the house. We've done almost nothing with landscaping this summer. Next summer we'll have a number of hostas to thin out and we'll really evaluate what's in our yard and what we want to keep. For now, it is what it is.
Almost time for our guests to arrive.
Thanks for joining us on the tour!
