#99

I haven't done a recap of where I am in my 101 in 1,001 list in awhile, and some new developments have taken place. Specifically, I will be able check # 99 off of the list this August when I BECOME A MOMMY! So excited to announce that J and I are expecting a baby! :) :) :)

 

SO, with the move in 9 DAYS (OMG!) and a baby on the way, it is safe to say that I'm not going to achieve all that is on here by November. I'm okay with it because such happy things are on the horizon! I will hold myself to # which is putting money in savings for each item that I don't complete. I may even cut the list off early and make a master to do list of things we need to get done before the little lentil bean arrives- a brain dump if you will.

 

We couldn't be more excited for the blessings on the way! See- I told you things were about to get more interesting 'round here.

The Packers

And no, I don't mean the Green Bay variety. We won't talk about that certain football game in which they beat a certain team... I mean J and I. The Packers. 

We've been spending all of our spare time cleaning, sorting, and packing up all of our belongings. Our place is an absolute trainwreck right now. I'll start a packing project and then poop out halfway through it. Boxes...everywhere! You don't realize how much crap you accumulate until you have to move it. Since our wedding in November, 2008, we have only unpacked about 5 wedding gifts (kitchen utensils that I didn't own and a dustbuster). We were in search of a new house and I didn't want to unpack it all just to move it a short time later. That short time ended up being over 2 years! Everything else is still piled in the closets and corners waiting for the new house- I am so excited to unpack it all b/c I probably forgot what is in all of those boxes! I really hope there is not a fire or power outage in the middle of the night, because we do not have safe exit paths established at this time. :)

 

To make the packing more exciting, I channeled my college days by making a mix tape playlist for the special occasion. (Am I the only one that made mix tapes just for random occasions in college?). The theme: we're moving, we're getting our own house and good riddance to the apartment and crap landlord playlist for my iPod. Highlights include:

Movin' Out- Billy Joel

Bust a Move- Young MC

Bye Bye Bye- 'N Sync

Movin' on Up- The Jeffersons theme song

Old Apartment- Bare Naked Ladies

Our House- Crosby, Stills and Nash

Hangin' Around- Counting Crows

We Gotta Get out of this Place- The Animals

Coming Home- Cinderella

I Like the Way you Move- etc. 

Quite the mix and oh so fun to dance around to. I enjoy playing certain songs loudly so as to alert my upstairs landlord of our current state of emotions. Anyone have any songs we should add?!

 

Until next time...

Makeover

My husband has lived in our current rental for about 6.5 years now. From the day he moved in this chair and it's lime green companion have been sitting out in the 3 season room (which is really only a 1 season room and/or storage closet here in Ohio).

Pretty dreadful... It was his grandmother's chair and the mismatched pair of them lived at J's mom's house for years. They were going to get rid of them right around the time that J moved into this place and he couldn't bear to part with them. He is a sentimental guy when it comes to hanging onto stuff, so I couldn't blame him for wanting to keep something around to remind him of his grandparents.

Still- and call me crazy- I couldn't quite see the orange and lime green duo fitting into the color scheme at our new house. I have had an itch to do something with these things for years now, and after being inspired by some great furniture makeovers I've seen out on the blogosphere I had high hopes to reupholster these things. When J and I started making a list of the things we'd need for the new house, we quickly realized that we were seriously lacking some seating options. Because we have a living room which is the first room you see when you walk in the front door, we needed something cute. I'm also a believer that you should fill your house with things that tell a story about who you are, and after a little persuasion J agreed that O.J. and Mr. Lime (as I've come to call them) needed a facelift. After getting some estimates (too afraid to DIY these!) and scouring the web up and down, I finally settled on this fabric.

Waverly Cross Section in Charcoal

We are debating on whether to have them reskirted or to "show a little leg" and maybe paint the legs black (or another fun color, even!). What do you think? Any suggestions for pillows to go with? I'm thinking a bright, solid color.

In a few days, O.J. and Mr. Lime will be packed on a truck and sent in for surgery. They'll leave our rental and will be coming home to a brand new house. Bonus- two less pieces of furniture for us to move since they'll be at the shop for a month or so. I can't wait to see the outcome!

The Framing Begins...

 We left off in my last post when a big ole' pile of dirt starting looking a little more like the future foundation of our house. In just one week's time, we started seeing the blueprints turn into something a little more real. 

The foundation walls were poured and we started to see the "guts" of our home take shape. Funny how the little things excited us at this stage. See that little black hole in the wall below? That's the other end of our garage drain and it thrilled us! We're easy to please. 

We left town for a weekend and didn't get the chance to drive by, so when we returned you can imagine our surprise when we saw this:

 Whoa! We have a second floor! And a garage! And a chimney and window holes! It wasn't exactly safe walking around the lot at this point, but we did manage to get a few shots of the framing that was happening inside. If you walked into our garage and through the laundry room, you'd arrive in this area below. I was standing in the kitchen area looking to the opposite wall where our fireplace would soon be. That big hole on the back wall is for the sliding doors that will eventually lead out to our patio.

And here is the view from the sliding door area. Dining room to the left, basement steps straight ahead and hallway to the right. Aren't those ceiling beams sexy?

And one more angle from the dining room. The front door/foyer area is to the left. Our future living room/someday maybe office is on the far left wall and you can see the family room area in the back right corner. Our builders put up some protective boards around the huge hole in the floor where the steps would eventually be. 

And last but not least. Baby's got back!

See the sliding door area and three windows in the family room area? To the left of that we have a kitchen sink window and another for the laundry room. Upstairs from left to right- bedroom 4, the transom that goes above the main bath shower and the two on the far right are bedroom 3 and our master bath. WEEE!!! Looking good! I must admit that I got a little worried when I came home and checked out the photos from this angle. See that big blank spot on the second floor to the left? We worked very hard with our builder to draw up plans that really maximized the square footage we had available. I wanted to add a "FROG" (Finished Room Over Garage) or bonus room over the garage/laundry area which could serve as a fifth bedroom. future playroom or even my own she-cave (I agreed to let J claim the basement as the future man cave. We've gotta have SOMEWHERE to hide all of those mini football helmets and old Star Wars collectibles, right?!).

Hope you're enjoying the progress of our build! I promise we'll get into more fun stuff like decor and lighting fixtures and all of that soon. More to come!

Can you dig it?

Sneaks in and pretends it hasn't (again) been weeks since she last posted...

So, back in August my husband and I bought a little piece of land that was once a field full of daisies. The daisies were cut down, and some random bits of building material started to appear in their place. 

A day later, most signs of green were gone and the field became a big old pile of dirt and gravel. 

A peek inside the big hole where all of that dirt used to be, and you find the area that will soon become our basement.

Footers were all in place and our little front porch staked it's claim in the former daisy field.

Not to be outdone, the garage area also marked it's territory and proudly displayed it's original earth (which was left in tact to better support the two cars that will someday sit upon it. 

 J inspected the plans carefully and made sure all of dirt was where it was supposed to be.

And that, my friends, is how our lot began it's journey toward becoming a home. With a few set backs due to the cooooold temperatures we've been having here, the drywall took a little longer to set than our builder planned. We will be in the house the first week of March. I am going stir crazy trying not to scratch the itch that is wanting to pack up every last bit NOW. I figured it was a good time to show you some photos on the progress. Promise that the pictures will get more fun as the house takes shape and the decorating begins. Stay tuned!