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!

Update: Kitchen Light Fixtures

Long time no talk...  Although I've been traveling a lot this year, we've managed to get a few things done.  Mostly light fixtures, which makes me very, very happy!

We need to take care of the kitchen ceiling since the old light was so large, but I couldn't wait to get the new fixture up so you'll just have to imagine it's finished.  First, the lovely old kitchen fixture - the ballast (?) was going bad and it wasn't turning on consistently so we had to replace it anyway:

So I understand those large, fluorescent, ceiling fixtures were popular at one point, but why this painted wood frame overlay???  At least it wasn't difficult to take down (thanks to Jonathan, as usual).  And here is the new fixture that is so non-offensive hopefully nobody will notice it:

The eat in had a light fixture that I think literally came from the set of "Golden Girls" (the ring was on the ceiling, but I am really bad at remembering to take pictures before we start tearing things down...):

And again, a new light fixture that will hopefully blend right in:

We're not doing a big kitchen remodel right now, but next up in the kitchen is paint and adding knobs/pulls to the cabinets to freshen things up a bit.  We do have some other priorities first though, so news at 11.  Also, more light fixtures to come in other rooms!

Sneak Peek: Master Bedroom

It's amazing what some paint and new switches will do to a room!  Recall the old switch plates and registers were mostly painted mauve to match the walls and the switches were that cream color (with the requisite mauve splotches from where they missed their target)?  We wanted to freshen that up with new white switches and plates, which also meant matching registers.  Jonathan was a fabulous electrician and only electrocuted himself once (that he admitted to) - the wiring in this house is really odd and he did a great job figuring it all out.

We love it!  The color is a little off due to the time of day and the work light we had on - the walls are light grey and dark grey:

Did you notice that we took down the dentil moulding (Does that have a "u" in it?  I've seen it both ways, but don't like using the word "mold" to describe something in the bedroom.) from under the crown?  It was really pretty, but just didn't suit our taste for the master bedroom.  Luckily it was a separate piece from the crown moulding so it came down easily and in full pieces, but I did then have to stain the underside of the crown (which, of course, I subsequently splotched intermittently with grey paint...).

Also, the curtains on the slider are temporary and will move to a light color wall, but we had to put something up ASAP because I haven't found the right curtains yet and we weren't fond of this beauty they left behind:

The curtains and finding stuff for the walls are Jonathan's favorite parts, I'm sure...  So, it's getting there - one room at a time!

Welcome!

This post is slower coming than I'd hoped.  We just moved in yesterday and have spent today unpacking, but with a few hiccups I am just now sitting down to show you our new home.

First, some photos that show you why we fell in love with this home - a ranch with an awesome deck and incredible view from the back yard.  The home is on .49 acres at the back of a small court / cul-de-sac and backs up to a golf course.  We are situated so that we shouldn't get golf balls in the back yard and we have that great row of hedges between us and the course.  The back deck has easy access from all wings of the home - great for summer entertaining!

Ok, now I'll share the photos that require some imagination...  The foyer opens into an amazing living room, with sliding doors onto the deck.  While it could use some updating, the great bones in here are unmistakable!

And finally, let's take a trip back in time...  Here are some photos of the dining room, kitchen, master, and den.  (There are 2 other bedrooms I didn't include, as well as 2.5 bathrooms.)  Be sure to check out the light fixtures!

I'm afraid that's all the photos to share right now...  After we finish unpacking we'll start with little updates to bring this home out of the 1980s (to be fair, I think the mauve in the master bedroom is probably from the '90s...).  We've already started on the master, so stay tuned for more photos as we finish the rooms!

Thanks for coming.  :)