Thankfulness

We spent Thanksgiving with my dad and step-mom in Las Vegas this year.  Before we left I called him to lament that the forecast listed highs only in the low 50s.  What kind of Vegas weather is that?!?  Then I looked at the Denver forecast and started counting my blessings!  We came back late last night to snow and a thermometer that read 19*...

This morning we've graduated to 25*, and with the sun it definitely feels warmer than that.  Thankfully!

We picked up the dogs from the sitter this morning and headed over to the house.  It looks amazing!  All of the coverings are off the floors and counters, so it's ready for our walk through on Monday (get that blue tape ready!).

View from the front:

Note that the kitchen still has the builder appliances in it - we're selling those immediately and having our favorite GE Cafe series put in:

Here's the laundry room - I just love this tile:

I think that's it for now.  Maybe when we close I'll get fancy and post a video tour!

Whoops!

I missed last week's post, which is indicative of how much busier life is getting as we approach the holidays!  I haven't been traveling as much lately, though this week I was in Boulder for work.  It was COLD!  We had a blizzard pass through on Monday night, which was embarrassing for Denver - downtown didn't even get snow sticking on the streets and the next day it was 50* again.  I heard it was pretty bad outside of town, but there was no sign of snow in Boulder either.

With the colder weather settling in we are starting to think we won't have landscaping this year.  I'd rather wait and have everything live than have to ask them to replant half of the yard next spring, so the yards will be nothing but mulch and gravel for now.

Another whoops happened last week.  Our builder sat us down when we stopped by before seeing the house and said, "Now tell me what you had envisioned when you ordered the rough cut cedar mantle."  My response, "Um, I didn't?  We had always wanted the white mantle."  She laughed and said, "Thank God!  It does NOT look good in there!  I'm having them fix it!"  Needless to say, Boulder Creek Builders has been pretty awesome so far, and we've also been really pleased with our construction manager, Chris.  He has a great attention to detail.

Without further ado, here are last week's photos with the wrong mantle:

And this week's, with the correct mantle - much better!

In other news, the house appraised at slightly more than what we paid, so the remaining big hurdle is Monday's inspection.  Fingers are crossed!

Clarity

It's cold!  Not just "you'd better wear a sweater" cold, but "bring out the down jacket, hat, and gloves" cold!  We even had some snow the other night (though it was pretty much gone by the time we woke up).  For some reason the cool air makes everything look different, more clear.  I love fall and winter afternoons when the sun makes shadows longer - the air is still so clear, but everything looks a little golden.

I snapped a quick photo in the new neighborhood.  This is a new park a few blocks from us, you can see they are still planting, that faces the mountains.  Just gorgeous!

In the theme of clarity, the house is moving along and the tarps have been removed so we were able to see all of the progress!  Mostly it appears that they put in countertops, some light fixtures and most of the switch plates.  They were working on gutters when we left.

One of the most exciting changes for me is the landscaping!  They still haven't planted anything but our fence is up and we have mulch and stone down now.  (Keep in mind that we went with the basic, included landscape package, which we will probably rip out and re-do next year.  I want more patio space to entertain, but we didn't love the really expensive packages they offer.)

So, onto what you're really here for!

Next week most of the flooring is going in so it's going to look really different!

Southern Hospitality

Last week I went to Charleston and Savannah for work - what beautiful cities!  The way the moss drips from the trees overhead reminds me of how I wilt during the oppressive humidity of summers in the South.  Thankfully we've moved past those days and last week it was a gorgeous 70* and sunny.  The buildings lining the side streets and alleys there remind me of every John Grisham novel I've read and I wonder if maybe I had attended law school in the South and saw how picturesque my office could be I might have actually practiced.  But then I remember that humidity issue, so probably not.  Maybe we'll just go back for a visit sometime!

I flew home on Thursday night and it took all of our willpower to not leave work early to check on the house on Friday!  We went on Saturday morning, when the workers are still there with their radios playing Mariachi bands and a paint-splattered microwave plugged into an extension cord sitting in the middle of the living room floor.  We found a lot of progress: paint, cabinets, fireplace, metal roof...  Unfortunately everything was still tarped from the paint so it's not pretty, but here are a couple of new photos:

We're expecting countertops to go in this week and what started as a hole in the ground is starting to look like a real home.  The inspection and appraisal have been scheduled, and we are set to close on December 11th!

Snowy Walls and Mountains

It's starting to cool off here.  In a city that boasts 303 days of sun per year we just had 3 of our 62 overcast and rainy days.  And this native Oregonian LOVED IT!!!  I said to Jonathan, "Come outside and watch this storm."  He replied simply, "Pluviophile alert."  The weather here changes quickly, though.  Today we're back up at almost 70 degrees and that gorgeous ball of fire is very visible!  The storm we got in Denver brought a nice first heavy snow in the mountains - a timely reminder that it's going to get cold soon and all of our winter clothes are in storage.  Luckily we don't have much more than a month until we can move into our beautiful new home!

Speaking of, we went by the house today and saw lots of progress.  There is "snow" on the drywall now (texture) and the tile is beginning to go in.  Our cabinets are scheduled to be delivered this week and as soon as that happens we'll get a close date.

This is our master bath tile (obviously dirty and without grout):

They said things would move fast and they are right.  It's such a fun and rewarding process, and I don't even mind the wait because every weekend is like Christmas when we see the progress!

Meeting Northfield

So we moved to Denver!  The market here is crazy - completely crazy.  We put an offer in on a cute little 4/3 ranch in a new and growing neighborhood called Northfield.  The appraisal came in low (there was an issue with whether to include new builds or just existing homes).  The sellers wouldn't budge so we went undercover and met with he builder to determine what we could build that same home for.  We walked away with a complete price list and started analyzing (2 MBAs, remember???).  Within a day we knew we wanted to build our own home. The builder had a floor plan that we liked even better than the one we were going to buy and they had even started to build it!  (Well, there was a hole in the ground.)  We turned in our deposit check and began one of the coolest adventures we've had yet!  Here are a few photos of the hole we bought, and its journey to the baby house it is today - I took photos every weekend, so the growth between each photo happened in just one week!

Starting at this point I began to also take panoramics of the great room.

We are ecstatic with the progress!

Saying Goodbye

We left our beautiful pond in Louisville.  It was a difficult decision for us, but ultimately we were presented with a great opportunity to move west, try something new, and be closer to my family.  We stopped some renovations and hustled hard to get the house ready, and we ended up selling the home after only 48 hours on the market (before we could get professional photos!).

We truly loved this home, the evenings on the back deck with a bottle of wine watching the sun set over the golf course, the smell of Kentucky summers, the way our dogs could move room to room following the sun around the house, the great room with a fire in the winter, the perfect kitchen window for my African violet, and all of the blood, sweat, and tears we put into it.

I wanted to share some parting pictures.

Exterior - we painted and freshened up the landscaping:

I love this open entry and great room.  New floors, too.

Don't ask about the wallpaper that used to be on these walls, or how long it took to remove.  It now has a fresh, neutral grey paint:

The kitchen was another fun room.  Remember everything was almond?  We painted and it looks AMAZING!  (Well, compared to what it was before...)

Powder room:

Guest rooms and guest bath - mostly fresh paint, and new carpet:

The paint in the den is not green, I promise!  It's a cream, with fresh carpet as well.

We got a new bed!  I love it!  It was perfect in the master, which also has fresh carpet.

Hope you enjoyed the final home tour of the Gateshead house.  We were sad to see it go, but hope someone loves it as much as we did!