Saving Floor Space

Dianne had the idea of built-in cubbies and casually mentioned it to Tim, wishing I had thought of it while we were building the house. It didn't take Tim long - two hours later he had a hole in the wall and a plan in his head.

He had to endure insulation, move a wire and the crawl space but after about 10 days - we have nine built-in cubbies for toys. It is in the play area on one side of the wall, leaving room near the bathroom for a magnetic dry erase board for more play. Now the plan is to get two three-drawer storage cabinets off the floor, leaving more play room!

Stay tuned - Dianne has created a "monster," - Tim has already started another project for the loft area but we're still saving floor space!

Borders Everywhere - A Year Later - Part 2

In our old home we avoided putting up wall borders and paper and the only room we painted was Evan's, but that is not the case in this home.

We have borders everywhere, thanks to Tim. He spent Christmas 2006 painting the boys' rooms. Evan's is blue walls, red trim with airplane wall decals and three airplanes hanging from the ceiling. Eric's room is aqua/green walls, under the ocean ceiling border with sea animals hanging from the ceiling.

There's also the race car bathroom complete with orange cones, race car shower curtain and race car ceiling border and soon race car (Cars movie) bathroom essentials like a toothbrush holder. The boys' bathroom serves as the guest bathroom so many visitors have enjoyed "hurrying" their visit.

Dianne is enjoying her mosiac dolphin ceiling border in the master bathroom. And since we're talking bathrooms, the third bathroom is seashells including a sea shell mirror - no wall border though.

Of course any home is a "work in progress," so we still have several things we want to do like making good use of wall space in the loft play area and finishing a patio with a dolphin fountain in the backyard.

Stay tuned - there's always more!

A Year Later - Part 1...

Still here, in our dream home. There is not one thing we would change about it which is an awesome feeling! We moved in on Dec. 2, 2006.

We have some updates. First off is the yard. As with any new home, it takes awhile to establish a yard (it took a good three years in our old home). So, we invested in Zoysia sod which Tim has spent several weekends putting in - many thanks to our neighbors and Steve's Landscaping employees who helped him. Not all of it is in but we're waiting until Spring now to finish it.

Also in the yard are two new structures. Tim has started on a 12x14 storage building. He also completed earlier this year the playground for the boys. The playground has been quite popular not only with Evan but with other neighborhood children as it is one of few in the neighborhood.

We Are In!!!

December 2006 and January 2007 has been all about moving and unpacking. Tim and Dianne's first night was Saturday, Dec. 2, 2006. Evan's first night with his Thomas the Train flashlight, i.e. housewarming gift, was Sunday, Dec. 3. Since then, we have unpacked, made dozens of trips to the county dump, and rearranged knicknacks and kitchen items at least three times!

Our first Christmas was great - complete with a 9.5-foot tree, stockings and NO boxes in sight of the great room. We're grateful for the walk-in storage on the second floor. Of course we had a few glitches - the plumber and heating guy came a couple of times but everything is working now!

Tim continues to wire for the alarm system; Evan has helped hang pictures and paint his room and the baby's room; Dianne is organizing anything she can find! You can see in this photo that Evan enjoyed using the drill to put up the laundry room shelf - like father, like son, I guess!

"First Christmas"

We have made it to moving day on Friday, Dec. 1, 2006! Yea!

This huge box - Portable on Demand Storage (PODS) - was delivered on Monday, November 27 and Dianne just stood there and looked at all our stuff for a minute. It was nice to see the Christmas tree stand and even Tim's heavy work bench. In this picture, you see the POD being lowered to the ground of our driveway (not squishing Tim's truck in the background).

So, this weekend will be about moving in with help from Tim's uncle and two of Tim's coworkers, along with Dianne's mom. Evan will enjoy his "first Christmas" as he unpacks all the toys he has missed for six months. Tim and Dianne will enjoy sleeping in a room with a door as well as unpacking all the winter clothes.

Check this blog sometime later this month for perhaps a final entry.

"Blind" Man

Lucky for us, Chip Conley can really see because he is making sure this blind in the master bedroom works after installing all of them today, Monday, November 27. He is with Carolina Blind Factory in Lexington, NC where the blinds for each window in the house was custom built. What took this company three weeks - including an estimate, measurement, building the blinds and installation - would have taken Tim a couple of months at least, not to mention how long it would have taken us to get the blinds after ordering them. It was well worth our money.

This other photo shows the blinds in the master bedroom. We chose an off-white color to match the trim. After the blinds were installed, it really looked like a home even though it doesn't quite "smell" like one yet between paint touch-ups, water heater and fireplace testing - all of which happened today too.

"Kool" Kitchen Features

In these Wednesday, November 22 photos you can see two of the many upgrades we did in this house. The first one is the pantry with two pull-out drawers on the bottom and shelves on the top. The second photo shows the desk in the breakfast nook. Our plan with that is to put a computer there for paying bills and for the kids to do their homework or play games on while dinner is being fixed. The desk is in the area where we will be eating dinner a lot anyway, so hopefully that will work.

Thankful Feet

These two photographs from Sunday, November 19 and Wednesday, November 22 make our feet happy on this Thanksgiving eve. One shows the carpet in the bedrooms (and up the steps) and the other shows the hardwood in the great room, dining, kitchen, hall and foyer. The Berber carpet was being installed when the photo was taken. The Berber in the kids' room is a tighter weave to withstand play than the carpet in the master bedroom.

The rest of the week entails touch ups, installation of bathroom fixtures and cleaning which means that yes, we are definitely closing on Monday, November 27, 2006. So our hearts are happy too as we have a bunch to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving.

Tim continues to finish his little projects like installation of alarm materials, under the cabinet lights in the kitchen, central vacuum things and speaker panels. He has done tons of work on this house saving us bunches of money - another thing to be thankful for!

Sinks and Floor

In these Monday, November 13 photos, you can see the kitchen sink with the built-in dish drain closest to the camera. The kitchen countertop was "poured," meaning that there are no creases between the countertop and back splash so that is why there is a built-in dish drain. There are two separate sinks, a smaller one for the disposal.

Tim and I picked out this pedestal sink for the upstairs bath which will serve as a guest bathroom for overnight guests.

And continuing upstairs, you can see four days worth of work for Tim in the laminate flooring which he completed Monday, November 13. While he wore himself out, he did an awesome job!

Other happenings this week included the installation of the hardwood floor on the main floor as well as the kitchen countertop and plumbing and electrician work for toilets, sinks, dishwasher, cooktop, etc. Watch soon for a hardwood floor picture.

We are down, believe it or not, to the last week or so worth of work. What remains is closet shelving, touchups, and various little details.