The First of Many

Ah, we enjoyed the first of many weekends in our new home.  We moved in Friday night after enjoying a celebratory drink with a few friends.  We both were so exhausted after a long couple of weeks that the only real progress we made on Friday night was putting together our bed and hunting down sheets (any set) to put on it.

After a restful night sleep, we woke up and just took the whole experience in.  Here we were, waking up in our own bed (finally) in our very own house (finally x2).  This was the view from my side of the bed.

Since everything was still in boxes, we decided to meet my sister for breakfast at one of our favorite neighborhood joints.  After breakfast, we ran around picking up things we needed (shower curtain hooks, grout, etc) and headed to Sears to set up our cable and internet.  Yes, Sears.  I tried setting it up with Comcast online but was told because our house is a new construction, we had to do it at one of their kiosks.  Turns out the kiosk was at Sears.  It was fairly painless and we also found out that when you open Comcast accounts at Sears, you are eligible for a $75 Sears gift card.  We’re not usually Sears shoppers but we did eye a few lamps we wouldn’t mind having in the house.

Most of the rest of the weekend involved cleaning, moving things around and hunting for boxes.  The guys only worked a half day Saturday, so there isn’t huge progress, but they did get some important stuff done.

The grey tiled fireplace is on our master bedroom.  We had a box of the tile leftover from the master bathroom project and we thought the tile tied everything together nicely.

The white tiled fireplace is in the living room.  Again, we had a few feet of white tile leftover, so we decided to go white here.  I wasn’t sure I’d like it (it was a Micah and Mom choice) but turns out I do.  They still need to patch up a few holes on the mantel and we need to paint the fireplace a nickel color, but then it’s done.  YAY!

We also decided to use the white tile for the kitchen backsplash.  I debated going with a glass subway tile in grey or white, but they everyone convinced me this would look just as good.  It’s hard to tell how great it will look, but so far, I don’t hate it.  We’re hoping Augustin will finish all his projects before the end of the week.  It’s not that we don’t like having Augutin around (he’s pretty hilarious), we’re just not thrilled with him walking all over the house in his dusty, muddy shoes. 

Especially when the stairs from the 2nd floor to the 3rd floor are finished.  Everyone (including Dadtractor) tried to convince us to do carpets on the staircase but we really lobbied for the wood despite the extra cost.  We’re so glad we put our foot down.  It really does add a little something to the house.  This is an awful picture.  Once we find our camera, I’ll do the stairs and Jose’s work justice.

We also got about half the handles on the cabinets installed.  We got these at Ikea and really like them.  We went with long handles on the pantry and lower drawers and the short handles everywhere else.  Now we just need to figure out how we want to organize the inside of the cabinets. 

We did manage to clean the place up a little bit and make it look more like a home than a construction site.  We moved all of the boxes from the middle of the living room to the craft room and to the wall near the kitchen.  I decorated the tree and even got a few presents wrapped.

I put the dining room table together and Micah took care of the chairs.  I think we should replace one of the white chairs with something with a little more color.  We had hoped to paint one of the walls but it’s proven to be a little difficult.  I’ll explain later. 

I want this chair in Pewter from West Elm but I can’t justify the $500 and it never goes on sale.   Or better yet, maybe something with a print to brake up all the white.  We do want to get a rug which may help with all the white.

I also cleaned off our Ikea couch but left it on the cloth so it would be easier to move around.  We’re still playing with how we’ll set up the space and that thing is heavy.

The place is still coming together.  We’re on the fence about the chandelier in the living room.  We might just remove it, cap the hole and go with floor lamps for a while.  The electrician misplaced it and right now, it’s not in the greatest spot.  We’re hoping to do wall touch-ups once they are done with the mantel and call the space done.  Not done, but more complete construction wise. 

The other side of our open main floor space looks like this.  I was promised all this would be cleared out today and everything but touching up the paint on the second floor would be done (besides tile work).  I’m really hoping this it true because we’re both really anxious to set up our new dining table. 

I guess our two big To Dos this week besides unpacking are a) install the closet organizer in the master bedroom closet, b) figure out an organizing system for the cabinets (and buy it) and c) get the walls in the open space touched up.  I guess that’s 3 things.

Anyone have suggestions about kitchen cabinet/panty organization?

Today Feels Like Christmas

We move in today!!!  HOLLA!  We’re very excited.  Tonight, we plan to grab some takeout, pop open a bottle of wedding bubbly and set up our master bedroom.  If we have some time, I want to find the boxes with our Christmas presents, bust out the wrapping paper and decorations, and start making the place feel more Christmasy.  I know the guys will still be working there until at least Tuesday and have to work around the presents and decorations, but I think they will appreciate hominess. 

Plus, I need something to put under this.

Last night when we were moving boxes around, I found my mini Christmas tree from DC.  I lugged that little thing back with us when we moved.  I decided to set it up to make the place feel warmer.  Since we didn’t have wrapped presents ready, I put a Christmas card we received that day under the tree.  The card was the first piece of mail we received at the house.  Thanks Hamster!

We also found this in the guest bathroom:

and this outside:

(we still have the deck to install and another coat of paint to apply)

and this in a kitchen drawer:

A good present right?  Under-the-tree worthy indeed.

Oh, have we showed you this? 

Have a wonderful Friday!  I know we will. 

Heads Up!

Greetings from a still ridiculously excited Catherine (and Micah)!  So, while we have had permission to live in our house for 2 days, we haven’t actually moved in yet.  Since no one was expecting the good news so soon, no one was prepared for the house to be occupied until today.  The place is still really dusty and I didn’t get to clean much yesterday.  Turned out my sister flew in from Italy yesterday instead of today.  I spent the morning at Lowe’s and the afternoon catching up with her.  It was a good thing I had planned to be off. 

We decided tonight would be out first official night in the house.  We cleaned out the master bedroom and plan to do a quick sweep and mop of it tonight before we set up our bed.  Exciting right? 

I’m still working on our inspiration board for the master bedroom which I will share with you soon, but in the mean time, I have headboards on my mind.  I really want a headboard.  Because of the way our old apartment was set up, we had to have our bed against the window making it our head board.  Every time (or almost every time) we got into bed, I’d mention wanting a headboard.  4 years later, we finally get one.  The only thing now is to decide between the millions of fun options out there.

Option 1 : Purple Lust

Look at this from Living Etc.  I love it. I want it.  And if I had the skills, I’d make it.  

Option 2: Tufted Luck

image

Yes please to either.  The top one is really bright, but I think the contrast between a bright color and our grey wall would give the room a good pop.  I also love the texture of the velvet headboard from Urban Outfitters.  Would it be weird if I rubbed my cheek up against it every morning like a kitty?

Option 3 : Kink Free

OK, don’t get the wrong idea about this look from Sunset Magazine.  I just love the mosaic mirror tile.  I think it looks classy without looking, er, kinky.  I can just see how it would brighten the room and make it look huge.

Option 3: Pieced Together

I really like this one from Chictip.com.  It looks fairly easy to make and it’s got some nice simple lines.  I like the way the white and Granny Smith green pop against the charcoal wall.  You could give this option as much color and texture as you want.

Option 4: A Place for Everything and Everything in its Place

This one, also from Chictip.com, is the more manly of all the options but I still really like it.  It’s so mid-century modern.  My only worry is whether it would be too much wood in the room.  The floors are wood.  I’m also worried that we can’t afford a piece like this.  I guess that is two worries.  I wonder if our table maker Aaron offers layaway.

Option 5: Textured Love

This to me says, “get into bed and relax.”  I could see this behind our heads as we’re cuddled up, reading the newspaper or doing the crossword puzzle on Sunday morning.  **sigh** Apartment Therapy always has good suggestions.

What do you guys think?  Which would you go with?

An Important Conversation

I had an important phone conversation while boarding the bus today and it went like this…

M: Hey Dad, what’s going on?

D: I have some news.

M: What?  Are the electrical changes done?

D: No, not that.  The building inspector just left and he said you can’t move in for 3 weeks.

M: WHAT!!!! 3 WEEKS??????

D: No.  I’m kidding.  He said you can move in today.

M: WHAT!!!! TODAY??????

D: Yep.  The inspector came by about 30 minutes ago to just look over the progress of the house and he said it looked really good.  He said that as long as we pass the electrical inspection tomorrow, you can starting unpacking tonight.  He said we didn’t need to call for a partial final inspection tonight, he’d use this visit as one.  I think he likes me.

M: Huh?  Really?  We can move in?  Is this legal?

D: I asked and he said yes.  He said everything was legitimate.  He even wished me a happy holidays.

M: Holy Sh*t!

D: What?

M: I said, “WOW!”

D: I have to go, I’ll talk to you later.

Did you get that everyone?  We got the OK to move in today and weren’t even expecting.  It’s a Christmas miracle!  I was so excited, I nearly passed out.  I ran up the hill to my parents house and when I got there, Micah was already home.  I literally hopped around for 20 minutes.  When my Mom got home 15 minutes later, I started hopping around and shaking my booty all over again.

We decided we wouldn’t actually move in tonight.  The place is a mess and is super dusty.  I took tomorrow off so I could clean for the inspection Friday but now I’ll be cleaning so we can move in.  We did head over with beer to celebrate with the guys.  They’ve been working really hard and needed an early night.

Tomorrow will involve a lot of cleaning, a lot of shopping for miscellaneous items and a lot of unpacking – I CAN’T WAIT!  

An Update!

The good news?  We got the partial pass on the plumbing inspection!!!  Woo Hoo! 

The bad news?  We failed the electrical inspection.  POOP!  There were two minor-ish problems.

1. No outlet for the dryer.  Apparently the electrician forgot to install an outlet for the dryer.  Dadtractor said it was his fault because he put the washer and dryer in the closet before the electrician came to do outlet installation.  But here’s my question, when he installed the outlet for the washer, why didn’t he assume we’d need one for the dryer?  Hmmm….
2. We have track lighting in our master closet.  I guess you can’t have track lighting in a closet.  Not even one the size of a bedroom.  Again, I have a question.  Why didn’t our electrician know this?  If he did know this, why didn’t he say anything.  I guess that’s two questions.

Lucky for us, these two changes are very minor.  Dadtractor said the electrician will be done with the changes by 1pm (which is in 12 minutes).  They are calling for another electrical inspection tomorrow. 

Oh, we have goodish news also.  The building inspector told Dadtractor he’d stop by today to look over the house and let us know if he sees anything that wouldn’t be up to snuff.  Is our building inspector coming around?  I hope so.  This is goodish news because it gives us a sense of work that may not pass the inspection.  This isn’t completely good news because there could potentially be a lot of things the inspector believes will not pass the inspection.