365 days of wedded bliss!

I cannot believe it's been a year since we said I do and had a fantastic reception in Atlanta. December 3rd, 2011 will forever be one of my most favorite days of all time!! James and I often say that it doesn't feel like we've married for a year-- on one hand it feels like it was just yesterday that we were dancing in the Buckhead Theatre and on the other it feels like it was years and years ago. I think that's a truly wonderful feeling!

Instead of doing a typical year on review for New Years, I decided to do a 1st year in review on our anniversary.. so here is what happened from Dec 3rd 2011-Dec 3rd 2012:

• we got married (yeah!!)
• we had an AMAZING honeymoon in Harbour Island, Bahamas (if you haven't been there.. go now, but please don't tell anyone- let's keep it our little secret!)
• we had our first Christmas as a married couple and hosted all of the families on Christmas Eve
• celebrated Easter in Tampa
• started construction on the remodel of our home
• celebrated Craig & Michelle Winkler's marriage in San Antonio
• Katherine & Justin got engaged! (yipee)
• ran a 10K (James' first!)
• had a great (hot) weekend in Aspen for Bobby & Megan's wedding
• found out we were pregnant :) and then found out we weren't :(
• we went to MN and SD for a bridal shower and engagement party- so fun!
• lost a feisty woman when we said goodbye to my grandmother Doris
• took a last minute Labor Day trip to Galveston
• Finally MOVED IN to our new home!
• celebrated Katherine & Justin with a great engagement party and ladies tea in Dallas
• sold James' first house (in one day!)
• found out we were pregnant again! due Aug 2nd!!
• enjoyed Thanksgiving in Georgia
• celebrated our 1st anniversary..yipee!

Whew.. no wonder this year has been a whirlwind! Here's hoping that the next many, many years are full of as much excitement, fun, laughter and joy as our very first.

To celebrate our anniversary, we took a very last minute trip to St Kitts (mostly because we found a ridiculous deal!) It was a great trip.. adventurous, fun, relaxing... everything you could hope for! We enjoyed days on remote island beaches, fun dinners at night at the local places and met some really great folks too.

Here is a quick photo from the trip..

 

The Finished Product....Ta Da!

I am late in posting these pictures, but to say we've been busy is an UNDERSTATEMENT! And, that's because we have been busy unpacking and decorating...yeah! :) so, I cannot complain. But, here are lots of AFTER pictures to show how absolutely beautiful the house finally looks finished. We are just delighted!

Living room and kitchen

Kitchen

Dining Room

Master Bedroom

Master Bath

Master Closet

Guest Bath near the Master

Pantry (I love my basket drawers)!

Butler's Pantry

Porch

View to backyard from kitchen/living/breakfast areas

Grass and landscaping :)

Mudroom

Laundry Room

Workout Room

Guest Bedroom near the kitchen

Guest Bath near the Kitchen

I am also working on some before and after collages to give a good side-by-side comparison. And, I will post pictures of the house with our furniture and decorative touches shortly.. just need to finish the last 10 or so boxes! ;)

Moving Day--Times 2

Well, we had hoped and prayed to be moving into our new home on October 13th.. but as with so many times along the way during this process, everything took a little longer than we hoped. When we were delayed by the electrical utility, found a last minute gas leak and didn't get several other items finished on time, we accepted the sad fate that we were not moving in on Saturday. After a huge bit of a breakdown (by yours truly), I made the decision to make the best of the situation that I was not one bit happy with. We decided to tackle the move into two parts - part 1 would be moving everything from our storage units (from my old house) and everything that we could live without for a week into the garage at the new house and part 2 would be actually moving everything from the garage into the house on the following Saturday. With my parents already coming into town, we hated to pass on the weekend of their help! So, on Saturday, October 13th we moved, well.. sort of.. we moved into the garage.

This is what all our stuff looks like in the garage.. Glad it's a big garage!
And, that's James hunting for something in the mess :)

Fortunately, after this setback, it honestly turned out to not be such a bad thing. We had time to see my furniture that had been in storage and to remember what everything looked like! We also camped out in our old house for the week and while it was not ideal, it certainly was better than actually camping!

And, finally the day came when they finished the floors!!! HOOORAY..I feel like there were choirs of angels singing! And, the color is perfect-- looks great.

So, finally on Saturday, October 20th-- after 190 days (6 months, 7 days) from the first bit of demolition began we moved in (but who's counting?!?!)

This process actually began many months before demo, so it truly has been almost a year in the making, but it is absolutely, 100% worth every ounce of blood, sweat and tears. We love our home!

Y'all stop on by!! The welcome mat is out!

And, I just had to share this one funny picture of the "during move" phase.. honestly, we were so busy and so exhausted during the move(s) that this is the only picture I even thought about taking.. But, it pretty much sums up our move(s)..

You know you are 'officially' moving when the dead animals on the wall make the move too!

I promise I will take lots of "after" pictures and do some comparisons to the before pictures....as soon as I finish unpacking the 1,000+ boxes that seem to be everywhere!

Race to the finish

Several weeks ago we had a long conversation with our builder about our expected move in date-- October 13th. It's been a crucial date for us from the beginning for a few reasons 1) Katherine and Justin's engagement party is Nov 3rd and we want to be settled and ready to host guests that weekend and 2) my parents cannot come to help any later in October since my dad has some responsibilities that he has to be in Georgia to handle the end of October. So, during this conversation with our builder we were assured that we would definitely be in by October 13th. Mom and dad bought airline tickets, we booked movers, I told everyone at work I would be out of pocket for several days, etc. So, as we have learned during this whole process, things don't ever always go according to the plan. Now we are a mere 9 days away and it's literally going to come down to the wire for us to be ready to move in. To say we are nervous and anxious would be an understatement! I typically try to pray for "big" things, like health and guidance, but I literally prayed for an electrical green tag last night. I think we need all the help we can get at this point!

So, beyond for waiting for inspections to be complete and to receive our certificate of occupancy, there is still lots happening at the house..

Light fixtures look great and it's fun to see lights actually on in the house! It's the little things sometimes. ;)

Entry way

Dining Room

 The kitchen backplash which we designed, but weren't sure until it was actually in how it would look (kinda scary) looks really good.

Laying it out so the tile guys knew what we were talking about

Herringbone pattern turned out great.

And just when they finished the backsplash, the range arrived and fit perfectly. (whew!)



Viking 48" range- it's awesome!
As James said, "if you can't cook on that, then you just can't cook"

There is a really, really long story to go with the appliances finally arriving, but I am honestly so tired of dealing with it that I don't even have the patience to tell the whole story. So, here is a super-duper condensed version- appliances were supposed to arrive Friday, when they didn't, I called and learned they had given our ovens away to another customer (SERIOUSLY?!?!). Fortunately, after a thousand many phone calls and emails (and much frustration) they found us another set of ovens and they arrived only 4 days late. So, we have ovens and that's all that matters now.

Our ovens (FINALLY!)

Our fireplace stone was delivered to the house next door at first (right in front of the sign with their address on it), but a day later it looks beautiful in our house! 

And we met with our landscaper and the plans look great on paper.. can't wait to see them in place. We are buying a truck load of sod apparently.. yep, a truck load-- like a flat-bed semi truck of grass.. that's a lot of turf!

So, we have 9 days to go and we just need absolutely everything to fall into place (no biggie)! We've begun packing our current house and with every box, I say another prayer for a green tag. By the way, if you wouldn't mind working us into your prayers tonight, we'd certainly appreciate it! :)

Making BIG strides

As we hoped, this week has been a busy week with LOTS of progress. YEAH :)

I know I have said this with each step, but it really does feel like the house is coming together. We felt like we made many decisions in vacuums- like picking the tile for the floor and then picking the granite separately and choosing wall color without either the granite or tile there to compare it to. We just hoped it wouldn't all clash and look hideous when it was all in the house.. fortunately for us, it's all coordinating very nicely (or at least we think so)!

Toasted Almond paint in the living room and our beautiful mantle installed.

Silver Blueberry in the dining room.

Light Sage in the master bedroom

Toasted Almond paint matches nicely with the Tropical Delicatus granite and Jacobean stained cabinetry in the bar.

James enjoying the kitchen..
Island- Carrara marble with Jacobean stained cabinetry,
Perimeter- Antiqued finish Absolute black granite with Garlic Glove painted cabinetry  

Additionally, electrical fixtures are going in..

Fun to see holes become switches and outlets.

Ceiling fans going in on the back porch

And the tile work is almost finished.

Watching the tile work happen was really like watching artists. And the sound track was fun too! (Listen to the video and you will get a feel for how our house sounds like most days!)

Kitchen backsplash

Laundry room

Master bath

Kitchen

Mud room

Guest bath

2nd Guest bath

And outside, the front and backyards have been grated and are ready for sprinkler system and then landscaping.

View from back corner of yard.

Less than two weeks to go!!! Let the countdown begin :)





Multi tasking and making progress

This is a big week with lots going on at the house and we should see substantial progress on several fronts in a very short time frame. After two weeks of watching very painstakingly slow progress of painting, (which overall is a good thing, since the prep work and painting is meticulous and will result in a beautiful job), it was exciting two see so much happening at the house today.

In addition to the painters starting to spray the color on the walls and ceilings, there is also a concrete crew pouring our new driveway.

And the most exciting thing happening today... our beautiful countertops are being installed!!

Laundry room

Bar

My vanity

Black granite with an antiqued finish

And the signature piece for the kitchen.. our Carrara marble for the island. It was really fun (and terribly nerve racking) to watch them bring this HUGE slab of marble into the house.

 

On the truck

Unloading it from the truck (took five guys!)

Rolling it through the house

And up it goes!

Rotating it around

And it's in place!

The pictures don't do it justice, but the house is really coming together wonderfully! We just cannot wait to move in!! :) 19 days and counting!