Settling into our new home...

I can't believe it has been 3weeks since my last post...As it always does, moving and settling in has taken longer than I had hoped it would...I had grand dreams that I would be finished by now and just adding tiny touches to the interior decorating....Oh I am so silly and optimistic...I do not even have curtains in the living room yet lol.

So besides moving furniture and packing and unpacking boxes we have started working on some wonderful new memories in the new house.

Here is Sara taking her first nap in the new house.
It is hard work being this cute and getting underfoot :)

We were so happy that Mic was able to leave for Prom from here,
even if we did only slide in by 3 days....Doesn't she look gorgeous..

We have also had a couple of award nights at the school...She made A/B Honor roll for the entire Senior Yr....Last night was Band awards and she received her Senior Plaque, her pin and School Letter....Tonight will be the last time the seniors perform with the School Band..

Only 10days till Graduation night.

These next couple of pictures were taken thru the glass from the back door and the quality is pretty bad....But I had to share....The other morning while making coffee I looked up and saw 6 turkeys making their way across the hay field...it was 5 hens and a gobbler, as you can see he was putting on quite a show for his ladies with his tail all sprayed out.

This picture gives you an idea just how far from the house they actually were....Sadly I have not seen them again since, I am hoping it is just a timing thing and that they stay on the property so come Turkey Season they will not end up in someones freezer.


Only 4 days left until Mum and Aunt Nina arrive to visit with us from Australia...I can't wait...Though I hope they don't get to bored out here in the sticks.

Kelsie

PS: As I have time and feel inspired I will do a room by room review of the house (and the contractors work) now we are living in it.

TODAY IS MOVING DAY.....

To celebrate moving day here (finally) are pix of the completed kitchen...well there are some minor things...Like the corbels still need to be stained, the outlet covers on the island are still white and the cabinets are waiting for Tom to come back and do the touch ups on the paint that got chipped during installation...BUT that is ok...TODAY WE ARE MOVING IN...Tonight I get to finally sleep under our new roof and cook (reheat ) in my new kitchen.

So that all being said, not sure when I will have time to post next as our internet service will be limited for a few days...In the mean time you can enjoy all the pix of my pretty shiny new kitchen.




Don't forget to check out how the kitchen rated on HGTV.com Rate My Space

It's mine all mine...well ours!

This view of the house seem to be appropriate for the crazy Topsy turvy week it has been....Each night I have crawl to my bed exhausted and unable to think straight let alone write anything...I know I owe many of you emails and believe me when I say that I appreciate all the lovely comments and support everyone has given us during this adventure...(though the adventure is not over, this was just chapter one lol)...Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Finally with the dumbster removed we can see the back of the house.

Anyway in the last post the big question was, did we pass final inspection...YES and did the final walk thru with Leon of Built Wright Custom Homes on Thursday evening....So the house is now officially OURS and we are super excited....Now the long haul of trying to get moved in around a toddlers sleeping schedule (that changes daily) and David's uncooperative work schedule (that seems to be designed just to be the most inconvenient this week)

I have been trying to take final photographs of the kitchen for Leon's scrapbook before we move in, and I got some really nice ones on my Nikon 990, but alas I forgot to format the memory card to that camera last time I cleared it and now my computer will not read them...So I will try again today (if baby will let me)

She is slowly getting better and I will be glad with the antibiotics are almost over...I hope this is the last bout for the season...and also that the new house and super filtered A/C unit will help keep her allergies at bay from now on.

I finally got all the USA Graduation Announcements done and in the mail yesterday morning...Mic looks so gorgeous in her hat and gown....For those of you in Australia, yours are coming too, just have to have time to get to them....I do not know what I was thinking taking on building a house during the same yr as having one child graduating high school and the other one hitting the terrible 2's.

So on that note, much to get done today...

Week 16_While we wait....

So today was supposed to be the final inspection...Did the inspector come by?? Did we pass?? Who knows...We have not heard yet, leaving me wound a little tight right now...Can you imagine that, me wound tight??...because I am usually such a level heading, go with the flow type gal...*watch the sarcasm drip from your monitor here*

So while we wait, I thought I would share a couple more pictures of my kitchen with yall...Below is the view of the kitchen from the front door.


...I had hoped to be sharing photos of a completely finished kitchen by this point...but the cleaners did not show up on the weekend so
A: The blue plastic on the appliances can't be removed yet
B:And the corbels should have been stained to match the espresso cabinets , but the painters will not do the final little bits until the cleaners have been.


The white power outlets will be switched out with black ones...I did not even think about them until after I saw black backsplash in place...oops...So right now the remaining 2 are on special order and should arrive any day now...Another thing with the black splash, it actually cracked while being installed, so will be completely replaced by the end of the week...Since this is only cosmetic it has no baring on the final inspection.

As you can see, we finally have the fan inside the ceiling tray installed...I think it looks really pretty...though the glass is white and does not match the kitchen/dining glass, I will have to shop around to find a suitable glass light shade to replace it, but this was the only fan that I like the style and the metal finish matched the rest of my fixtures, never know I might learn to live with the mix of white and amber shades.

Bath vanities are in place and looking very nice. Really glad I opted for the espresso cabinets in the bathrooms, I think they needed the darker color to ground the space...The cultured marble tops are "light coco"...wonder if the mix of the 2 make my bathroom Mocha?? (ok...that was a lame attempt at humor)
Besides being on edge about the inspection, it has been a pretty stressful couple of days around here....The baby has been sick...Nothing too serious, but a sick toddler is never fun...and then this weekend really provided me with good photos to show you why we are so anxious to get the house finished and move out of the mobile home.

We had a severe storm move thru the area and our place took more damage during it that when the hurricanes came thru in 2004...Below shows the south side with the skirting torn away, the table and BBQ's where all around the corner, behind the house before the storm.


You can see here the buckling in the skirting along the back of the trailer...All in all made for a pretty scary Sunday...Worst still the baby and I were not home, but at Church when this took place, leaving Mic to have to ride it out by herself....She was cooler about the whole thing than me though...even while I was calling her to check she was ok.


I am grateful this is all that took place on Sunday, and in no time at all David had it cleaned up and the skirting back how it should be...I count us very blessed.

Week 15 - Under Ground Power - Counter tops

I am happy to report that the permanent underground power has been put on at the house. I am told that when the electricians come back to do their final stuff they will take the temp pole with them. YAY no more ugly power pole to mare my landscape..

Other super exciting news is my gorgeous Uba Tuba granite counter tops got installed yesterday...Lots of pictures to share because they are just sooooooooo pretty....


I guess I should mention the floor since I forgot in the last post and you can see it in this photo (though they are covered in dust right now)...Very pleasantly surprised on how good it looks, and the installers did an amazing job matching up the edges so you can not tell at all where the joints are...We chose to go with vinyl (lino for you aussies) through-out the house for a couple of reasons...the first one being cost...with the money we saved in the floor budget, it allowed us to afford to get the granite counters in the kitchen...Later we intend to up-grade the floors to a floating wood laminate floor and this brings us to the second reason for our current floor, it will act as the moister barrier between the cement slab and the floating floor system..saving us a step and money down the road..Third reason being, that having a toddler, we do not want to be worrying about her damaging expensive flooring..In the mean time it does not hurt that the vinyl turned out looking pretty too :)


But back to the counter tops...Is that not a thing of beauty...Note we have an under mount sink...It is also a full 2 inches deeper than my current sink...yay.


As suspected the counters really did help to define the cabinets against the wall...Going to see how it looks after the range hood and the fridge are in place before making the final decision on painting that wall.


For the island (and bathrooms) I chose these delicious espresso cabinets. The gaping hole is where my dishwasher goes..


And finally, last night we went over to check out how the lights look...Not all the fixtures have bulbs in them yet, but we did get to see how well the recessed lights in the kitchen illuminate the space...and though I did not take a photo the ones in the living room ceiling tray are also very pretty...As David said last night, now we can the light switch, it feels like our home.