And it starts...

Things are coming along... slowly... but they're coming along. Since the weather has begun to cooperate, we've been able to get some renovations started on the outside. We started a few weeks ago out front with a complete change.
That bush had been dying a very slow death and simply had to go. We're slowly working on transplanting other plants into the front beds and can't wait to see the finished product.Into the back yard. A piece of our flowerbed was rotting, so Bryan had to replace it. It looks pretty laughable at the moment, but we're waiting to see how much it will weather in the next year or so. We figure it if still looks ridiculous, we can always power wash each piece, and it'll blend better. The first picture also KIND OF gives you an idea with the heinous amount of weeds we were dealing with. I really wish I could find my before picture of this side bed because it was HORRENDOUS. Like OMG I'm embarrassed to show you HORRENDOUS. Now... it's gorgeous, and we really hope to be able to stay on top of it to cut down on the work next spring.

Power washing works miracles!

The deck has had quite the makeover. We power washed it and couldn't believe the difference! We got the new stain/sealer on the main part of the deck, and Bryan is currently working on the railing. It's BEAUTIFUL!After power washing the back patio and the pillars, things were looking pretty rough. Luckily they all cleaned up nicely and look great with a new coat of paint. It's amazing what some paint can do! Back patio. The concrete needed to be repainted. We've since purchase two large outdoor storage bins for the girls' plethora of outside toys. It looks TONS better.

We've definitely been busy, but there is still SO MUCH to do. It feels great though seeing our hard work pay off!

Home Show

So, we went to our local Home Show this past weekend and learned loads. We went last year and just kind of rinky dinked around, but it felt really great to go this year with legitimate questions and ideas of who we wanted to talk to and what we really truly wanted.

We spoke to 3 different builders to kind of get a feel for how much time it takes a home nowadays to go up, financing, and experience with the particular style we want. After looking at what seems like hundreds of home plans, we found one through David James Homes, a local builder here in the NRV, and we spent some time talking in detail to their representative about financing. Here it is in all it's glory... well the outside of it anyway, which will actually look NOTHING like this:

This plan may change 30,000 more times but currently we are smitten. :) Basically here is what we're looking at:

1st floor: 1401 sq ft, dining room, living room, kitchen which is open to brunch room and great room, full bath, 4th bedroom/study, garage

2nd floor: 1562 sq ft, master suite w/trey ceiling/walk in closet/separate shower and bath, two bedrooms w/walk in closets, full bath, laundry, and bonus room over garage

Unfinished basement: 1042 sq ft

They've actually just constructed this exact house (with some custom changes) here in The Burg in the craftsman style, and I literally could die. We went over and looked at the outside of it the other day... a family has just moved in, and I wish it had been us! :)

Here are some pictures from Facebook of that particular house. Bryan and I have literally already picked out the girls' room and where we want to put this and what we want to put there... heaven help up. There is so much to do before we even for sure choose this house and apply for permits... like get our current home ready to sell! MINOR DETAIL.

The weather, starting tomorrow through early part of next week, is supposed to be BEAUTIFUL... like 80 degrees on Friday BEAUTIFUL, so my plan is to get some much needed things done outside. There is tons to do, so hopefully Bryan is up to it! :)

New Year Updates!

It's the new year, and we are in full renovation/updating/decluttering mode. Our list has been solidified on what needs to be done, and the goal is to cross something off our list each weekend. Listing date is just over a year from now, so we need to get on it. I've been working on updating some decor around the house... slowly. Here is our master bedroom. Bryan picked out the color and I love it! A couple of years ago we updated the bedding (IKEA) from blue stripes to the red. I finally, just a couple of weeks ago, picked up this ADORABLE pillow from Target. I think it brings the colors together great. Of course the personal photos will need to be removed and the paint will need to be touched up, but the master is already looking great and needs very few changes!
Next up... the living room. Bryan removed the random hooks that were in the ceiling FINALLY... after nearly 6 years. We're on top of things like that. My mom was AMAZING and got us gift cards for Christmas... we've used one of them for prettying up the joint. Today I popped in to Target and picked up all new throw pillows, a couple of cloth bin/basket things for under the end tables (for toy overflow), and that adorable fireplace guard screen thingy. It's all coming together nicely. I'm slowly coming to the realization that I'll have to remove all of our personal photos of our adorable girls, and I'm heartbroken. Needless to say that will be a last minute change.And finally the play room! I think we're for sure leaving it like this. The girls' toys can't be hidden, and while this is actually our breakfast nook... some things can't be changed. We have kids, and they aren't going anywhere. Future owners are going to want to know they have room for kids... right?

Oy Vey and Oy Yay!

It's been a while. We are busy little bees and things are only getting busier. After a lot of discussion, Bryan and I have realized that getting our current home ready for a Spring 2011 listing is unrealistic. We traveled tons this Summer and lost too many weekends, Fall is jam packed with football season weekends, and the Winter is when Bryan gets disgustingly involved at Alpha... there is just too much going on, and we didn't manage our available time very well. Then here on the home front my dining room has been turned into a Kindercare. :) Right now I'm just not willing to hide these things in order to show a home. We're enrolling Reese in Montessori school starting this coming January, so this decor is sure to slow down.... until Summer at least... when we can use the garage as an option. :)

We have, however, made some progress in looking into what we want. We've looked at hundreds of layouts online and ended up buying a home plan book from Lowe's. We have our list of must haves:

~ at least 2000 finished sq ft. (per covenants, but we're planning on more)

~ an option for an unfinished basement (which does not count in the 2000 sq ft and is something we will finish on our own... family/bar area w/spare bedroom/bath)

~ master bedroom on main floor w/other bedrooms upstairs

~ space for playroom

~ large laundry/mud room

Not too crazy... at least we don't think so. :) This is what we stumbled upon in the book. It's the only house out of the hundreds of homes listed that filled all the requirements, and we love it. A sign perhaps?

Changes... we really like the contemporary craftsman style homes.... particularly the color combinations and pillar options. We'd like to swap out the lighter siding and darker shutters/trim for a darker siding and lighter shutters/trim... like the one below... just maybe not the green.

And the pillars on this home are beautiful! Craftsman style, but not as chunky as on the one above.Here are the floor plans for the main and upper floors... this home does have a basement as an option... and it has additional unfinished living above the garage.(Hopefully you can click on the images to get a better view.)

Now as long as this home isn't going to cost us 30 million dollars we're good to go. Only time will tell. We really need to get the biggest bang for our buck in our current home. We won't be able to even pretend to afford a home like this if we don't take our time, do these projects right the first time, and show how great our home is now. And that my friends is going to take us AT LEAST another year. New goal... listing Spring 2012. :)

Updates

Hello world! We've finally returned from 2 months of sheer chaos. We're talking vacations out the wazoo, baby showers, baby births, 1st birthday parties, regular birthday parties... you name it, and we've done it the last 2 months. We've even managed to get A FEW of the items on our renovation list crossed off. Don't get me wrong, there are still SO MANY things left to do, but we've made some progress.

Let's start with the kitchen area. Our current kitchen has a really cute breakfast nook built into it. When we first purchased our house, we used it as a sitting area. Then came our daughter and a play room. She quickly collected an obscene amount of toys, and the nook became the dining room, while the dining room became the playroom. With this whole house selling and building thing that is currently underway, we knew we needed to convert the dining room back to the dining room and the nook back to the play room. Here is the nook as the dining room.


And here it is converted into our girls' playroom. Our oldest has pretty much reigned control in here, while our youngest has all of her toys currently in the living room, but you get the idea. We're really happy with the way it all turned out

From the nook, we naturally move into the kitchen. Here are the before and after photos of the kitchen.

Again... we're really happy with the way it all turned out. I miss my rusty color tremendously, but there is something about a fresh new light color that makes it look larger and most importantly... clean! Well, minus the dishes that are piled in the sink.

While we've: repainted the sides of the cabinets, painted the walls, added window treatments, repainted the baseboards, replaced the faucet, and removed and repaired the hooks in the nook... we still need to: repair the floor, make a final decision on whether or not we'll replace the dishwasher to match, replace the lighting, repaint the ceiling where if you remember there was a leak from our upstairs bathroom, and repair the silverware drawer.

We're also nearly complete in the dining room... pictures to come!

Seriously?

So the renovation in the kitchen has been going remarkably well. Perhaps that's because all I've done so far is prime and paint. :) Bryan is currently in search of the flooring, so we can repair a section in the breakfast nook. Thus far the only place we've successfully found it is in Arizona, and they think it's humorous to charge nearly $170 for shipping. BARF. We've chosen lighting fixtures that we'll be updating but haven't chosen a new faucet yet. We're also still playing with the idea of replacing the dishwasher... just so things will look cohesive, but we're not completely sold on that idea.

On to my bump. Sooooooo I've basically spent the last two weeks priming/painting one wall a day in our breakfast nook and kitchen. Today's wall was the one over the kitchen sink... note the above picture. Nice color huh? So anyway... I've been doing the first coats on the walls while the girls are down for their afternoon nap, and then the second coat comes when they go down for the night. The coat at lunch time went up without a hitch... or so I thought. It was difficult to reach the portion of the wall above the cabinets, so I stood on the countertop. Fast forward to 630 this evening when I was removing my soup from the stove only to hear a dripping sound. I opened the cabinets below the sink to find this:

EGADS! That perpendicular pipe is supposed to be STRAIGHT... not all jacked up like ours currently is. Apparently you're not supposed to stand very close to the sink for an extended period of time. Needless to say there was water and garbage disposalled food all over everything that was underneath the sink. A grand time was had by all.

Now as I type this, Bryan is returning home from Abingdon A DAY EARLY because his wife is a moron. Thank you and good night.

On a lighter note... I can't wait to show you what everything looks like completed. While I miss my rusty red color, this nice calming khaki brings a sense of freshness. It's so much airier in there. I can't wait to have the windows open once it's warmer outside! SIGH.

Houses Houses EVERYWHERE

Bryan and I do quite a bit of driving around searching for exactly what we want. We have quite a few floor plans that we acquired from a recent home show and have also bought a book full of floor plans, but honestly... it's more fun to actually see homes in person even if we don't get to see the insides. We recently discovered this Craftsman style home to the right. I love it! It's in a cute little neighborhood, and I'd love to just uproot it and place it right on our land. :)

Then there is this bad boy. It's a monstrous house literally the size of 3 of our houses currently. Again the Contemporary Craftsman style is so clean and period looking. Ahhhhhh... I just want to be building already! HOWEVER we are busy little bees over here at 311. I'm currently priming the breakfast nook/kitchen with the hopes it will be completely painted by the end of this weekend. I can't wait! Bryan is in search for some replacement pieces for our floor. There are light fixtures to be bought, ceiling touch ups, and then the nook will become the girls' modified playroom. This place is going to look beautiful! :)