Closing and the last 12 days

Closing went so quickly.  We were worried that since it wasn't until 1pm we would be bored and anxious until then.  We were so busy all day long from 7am until we finally laid our heads down at 11pm.  

I do believe we had the quickest closing attorney out there.  Shout out to Dodds and Hennessey!  They were great.  It took us all of 29 minutes to close on the house. 

We had been planning for several months for my sister-in-law Alinda (Chris' sister) and her son (our nephew) to move in with us sometime in February.  They were going to bring my brother in law Greg (Chris' brother) with them to help with some of the projects around the house.  They ended up coming on closing day instead of a few days later which actually worked our great because we have 4 more hands to help unpack boxes and get things in order. 

Everyone that comes by the house keeps telling us that we have gotten so much done but we are still living in chaos so it doesn't feel that way.  I've taken pictures today of how the house looks.  The only thing I did was put a little windex to the storm door because we had not cleaned it since we put it up. 

Here is what we have accomplished: 
*All blinds are up.
*All ceiling fans have been installed.
*Only one set of curtains have been put up.
*The fence is 98% complete.
*All furniture is in the house.
*The apartment has been cleaned and the keys have been turned in.
*Replaced outdoor lights
*Installed Storm Door
*Installed Baby Gate

Here is what we still have to accomplish:
*Complete the HDMI to the TV on the porch
*Curtains up
*Crown molding
*Determine which rooms we want to paint a different color and paint them
*Hang art work
*Finish decorating
*Put Cabinets in the Laundry Room
*Finish sealing grout
*Kitchen backsplash
*Install garage opener

I'm sure I've forgotten about 8 projects.  We will probably delay the housewarming until May simply so we feel like the house is put together by that time. 

Here are some things I love:
Our Dining Room - I love that room. It is so elegant and classy and our craigslist furniture fits in their perfectly. 
I continue to love Magic Erasers.  No worries about marks on the walls during the move I've been walking around magic erasing the walls to keep it looking new. 
Our Bathroom - I took a bath the first night we moved in because my muscles were so sore.  I sat there looking around thinking, 'I don't even think I've stayed in a hotel with a bathroom this nice.'
Our Back Porch - We have a screened porch and an open patio.  I'm so glad we spent the extra money on both. 
Natural Gas - I love it!  Cooking with it is great.  The gas dryer drys our clothes quicker than it takes to run a load in the washer. I use to wait on clothes to dry after the washer was done.  Now it is the other way around.   We connected our new grill directly to the natural gas outlet we had them install during building.  That is nice! 
Our Kitchen - The kitchen has always been my favorite and it still is but I'm in love with my convection oven.  If you have to replace your microwave anytime soon and you like to cook, I encourage you to spend the extra money and get a convection oven.  It is great!  I have made pizza, pork chops, garlic bread, and then of course we have used it a lot as a microwave. 
Our Fireplace - I'm so glad Chris was so passionate about getting the fireplace.  There is nothing better than waking up in the morning while everyone else is asleep, getting coffee, turning on the fireplace, and enjoying some Amy time.  By the way, I mentioned in a previous post that Chris was admanant that we would need a blower to enjoy the heat from the fireplace.  Not true.  That bad boy puts off some heat so unless you plan to move somewhere freezing cold . . . a blower is not necessary.  It heats up our open floor plan very quickly. 

Enjoy these pictures. I've been sick this week and dragging with little energy.   I know some of them are bright but I was too lazy to close the blinds. :)

The new storm door.  Along with Buddha Frog and Maxwell blessing and protecting our home. 

The first foyer.  Chris hates this rug.  We will get a new one but need one there since this is a high traffic area. 

The second foyer.  We decided to put my Mom's piano in this room.  I love it! We need to finish the crown molding and put up art work. 

The view from the foyer into the family room.  We have gotten so many compliments on this sofa table.  Can you believe that came from one of my Daddy's storage sheds? Think American Pickers!

I love the ceiling fan we picked for this room.  We still have to determine artwork and finish decorating the entertainment center.  We also need to buy a rug for the floor. 

The dining room is almost complete.  We need to complete the crown molding and paint the room a different color.  This is a room I need to get a picture of at night so you can see the colors of the rug and window treatments. 

My office is a hot mess right now but at least I can work from it.  I have so much to do with this room.  Blinds, bookshelfs, paint the desk, put up art.  The furniture piece you see in the corner is not going to be in the office long term.  We just had no clue where to put it when we moved in so it is holding hard drives and curtains right now. 

My kitchen.  This is a picture while standing at that sofa table in the family room.  It will be done after we put in the back splash, more under counter lighting (we only have two under counter lights right now and need two more) and figure out if our pull out trash can will fit in one of our cabinets.

 We replaced the outdoor lights that were standard with these pretty quickly after moving in the house.  We love the lighthouse look of these and they are motion detectors. 

Our three rocking chairs barely fill up the front porch.  We may get a swing or another rocking chair to balance it all out.  That is low on the priority list right now. 

The garage is still a mess but actually looks better today than it did last Saturday. 

 

The last few weeks before closing we went all over town trying to find outdoor furniture.  We ended up buying a couch from Home Depot but buying 3 extra chair pieces to make it a wrap around on the porch.  We still have room for a bistro set which we are going to get from Lowe's that will allow us to eat outside on pretty days.  The TV has been installed on the screened in porch but the company that did the surround sound and cable has to come back to finish up the HDMI cable so the cable will work on the porch. 



 



Kudos to Chris and his brother Greg for building a great fence.  It looks so good but is not finished just yet.  They still have to finish up the caps on the top of the posts.  Eddie and Cooper love their yard.  While it took longer than hiring a fence company, it saved us a lot of money doing the labor ourselves. 

 

That's about it for now.  I'll take some more detailed pictures of the rooms after we get everything finished. 

 

We are still very happy and in love with the new house. 

 

Until next time . . .

Amy