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Now that we’ve been unpacked and settled in our house for a few weeks, we’re ready to disrupt the peace with our first house project…built-in bookcases!

We are really excited to add a little architectural interest in the living room, and more than anything – more storage! Plus it will be cool to know we’ve added our own mark in this room with something we did ourselves.

Because the floors are floating, Page will have to actually cut into them (trying not to think about that) to place the bases for the bookcases, otherwise over time, the weight of the bookcases would warp our floors. We’ve picked out some pre-built, unfinished cabinets for the bases (helllloooo storage!) and then Page will build shelves on top of those, and frame it all in with some molding to match the existing baseboards. As for me, I have the job of priming and painting all the pieces.

Here are our cabinets, in our basement, in all their “before” oak-colored glory….

They will go on either side of the fireplace on this wall, go up to the ceiling, and the width will stop short of the speakers.

Wish us luck! 🙂

From the beginning, I knew my office would be what I deemed Manolo blue. And so, I began to gather some fun items to start pulling it together.

Several blue accents, but overall I love the clean, white workspace…

So glad I went with the “small” version of this light – it was much bigger in person than I had imagined, but I love it and it looks cool both in the day…

…and at night (especially from outside!)

The last items I need to add are this Ikea chair and ottoman that wouldn’t fit in the car during our last furniture excursion to Mecca. In the meantime, I’ve looked elsewhere but can’t find anything I love as much, and for this price point, which I’m pretty tied to considering it’s just an occasional reading spot and not a daily use living room piece. So far, I love working in here and am looking for any excuse to go to a city with an Ikea to finish this room up! 🙂

A few weeks back, I posted about some upcoming guests and our desire to get the guest room together in time for their arrival. As you can see in this before pic, we had not accomplished – well – anything, as of a couple weeks post-move-in.

So we moved out all the random stuff we had been storing in here, and up the curtains went and in moved the red hutch (previously in our townhouse kitchen). A mirror went on the wall, and a lamp I had victimized with my white lacquer spray paint phase earlier this fall set up shop as well.

We had a new bed delivered and I ordered a comforter and bedskirt from O.co and bedding from my true love for all things housewares, West Elm. The room was functional by the time our guests arrived mid-January.

Unfortunately, my favorite thing for this room didn’t get here in time for our guests and a few weeks later, my mom came and stayed and bless her for helping me with this much-needed bit of character in the room. The room is the smallest of our bedrooms (since it is the least used) so we didn’t want to spend big bucks on a headboard, nor did we want to take up valuable inches with one. The solution? An awesome red headboard wall decal from Blik.

Get it level…(with the help of the iPhone – there really is an app for everything!)

Smooth it out…

…and admire!

Ta da! Love the character it brings to the room, and I couldn’t have asked it to match any closer with the repurposed red hutch (which you will notice still has our wine glass racks beneath…someday we’ll get those hung elsewhere!)

Might not hurt to steam some of that bedding, either. Just keepin’ it real. 🙂

I still want to do something fun with the lamp base, add at least one end table, and get some art up on the walls, but for now I’m happy that progress has been made!

Over a year ago, I set out to design a photo wall. After going back and forth on several ideas, I decided to do all Ikea Ribba frames in white and created the above arrangement on my computer to get a feel for how I wanted to arrange it. Then, we decided to start looking for a house and given that the frames are “less than easy” to hang, they went right into a moving box for several weeks until now. I ordered my prints from scrapbookpictures.com  – I love the quality of prints for the price, and that they offer all of the unusual sizes I needed for these frames. I highly recommend them!

I knew from day one when we looked at this floor plan, that I wanted the photo wall to go on the entry hall wall between the front door and the kitchen. Here are a couple of before shots to give an idea of the space…

With the frames purchased, the prints inserted, and a wall and a plan, I got to work.

I just happened across this pin on Pinterest and it was a HUGE help. The idea is to drill a screw into the end of a paint stick, then hang your frame on the paint stick as you position it on the wall. When it’s exactly where you want it, lightly press on the frame so the screw behind it makes a small hole in the wall. Use this hole as your guide to place the hanging nail. Especially when you’re trying to perfectly line up a bunch of frames hung with wire, this tool was invaluable. We ended up using our new paint stick tool for a variety of projects around the house as we settled in.

And here is the finished wall! The only bad thing about its location is the lack of a good angle to get a “finished” photo. So here’s a glimpse coming in the door, and a couple segmented shots from inside the powder room…but you get the idea, right? 🙂

This post could also be called, “I’m learning how to use my new camera flash…so bear with me”….it could also be called, “Damn, I wish I had moved the trash can out of sight earlier!” But here it is, “My favorite spot”.

I suppose it changes from time to time, but the kitchen ranks very high on my list of favorite spots in the house. There were so many decisions to be made in this room, and it’s fun to see them all come together (hooray for granite and subway tile!). I like the clean white and the crisp grey in here, but wanted to use some hits of my favorite color for some interest, both in decor items and cooking tools like my buttercup beauty.

Aside from the aesthetic, I like that I have room to cook and entertain in now, and there is a place for ALL of our dishes, drinkware, serveware, and all the other hostess things I seem to “need” (thanks in part to Starsky, our new hutch!) I like the window and the view, I like the gas stove (my ONE demand), I like the speakers Page installed in the ceiling, I like the island for prep space and for setting out food, and I love that there’s space to actually have a “workflow” in here when cooking and baking. It’s not what I would call a “large” kitchen, but it works perfectly for us – and a huge step up from the dark (windowless) corner kitchen we’ve been using the past three years.

There is little on my “to do” list for this room – I love everything about it. As we figure out which cabinets get used the most and how to get everything organized for the long haul, I would consider finding a new spot for the microwave and adding a range hood over the stove…but really, that’s about it.

Here are a couple glances back at how this room came to be…I so love that we were able to see this house appear out of nothing. Makes for some cool memories.

Framing (early October)

Drywalled and cabinets in (November)

Final walk-through (December)

My husband, Page, is a web designer “by day” but also runs a freelance design business out of our home that has (knock on wood) been busier than ever in 2011. Workflow doesn’t slow and deadlines don’t disappear just because you’re moving to a new home, so getting him set up and productive again was at the top of the to-do list after we closed.

He is really excited about this space (which is quickly becoming an office/man cave) and I’m really excited FOR him. Finally, he has a place to shut the door and do whatever he needs to do to make the web magic happen – be it blaring some music, taking a brain break with the Xbox, making phone calls to clients, or hunching over pages of coding.

So here are the quick iPhone “before shots” from the night we closed…you’ll notice he already has the ladder in there to get to painting and the door off the hinges in anticipation of fitting a new couch through the frame.

He wanted to go darker with the color in here and chose a color, “Storm”, that is several shades darker than our color throughout the rest of the house. I like the drama it adds to the room. He ordered some blinds for the window and added a rod and curtains.

The first couch he ordered to put in here just BARELY wouldn’t fit through the door frame, so back it went and option 2 turned out to be just as awesome.

Some green Crate & Barrel pillows and some organization from IKEA brought in his favorite color, and a new Expedit shelf now houses his books, files, and vinyl collection. The dude is ALL about lighting, so a few cool lamps rounded out the vibe.

Black Friday brought a “couldn’t pass up” deal on the TV that can double as an extra-large monitor when needed.

And what’s a good work space without some tunes? After inheriting these Polk speakers from my dad, my only contribution to this room was to paint the previously oak finish the same color as his walls…he did everything else!

Page is constantly scribbling out bits of code and navigation ideas for his clients’ sites, so these three “notice boards” from IKEA were a great addition for him – and a little more modern than a traditional whiteboard.

My favorite part of this room though might be the closet that keeps all of his ski/golf/sports gear all out of sight. 🙂 Can’t wait to see the next web creations that come out of this room!

The best gift I got this Christmas? It has been the gift of calm and contentment. When my parents offered to drive our way for Christmas this year, we jumped at the chance – not only did it mean less driving on a particularly busy holiday week, but it was the extra push we needed to knock out the remaining “to do” items around the house. It was so great to have the bustle of people around the house, and to have more space for them than in years past. I found myself so many times just sitting on our couch, relishing the merriment and that there were more than five consecutive minutes I could sit on the couch and relax! There is still some decorating left to be done, but the basics were all accomplished. There was nothing left to hang, nothing left to unpack, and no more projects on the “to do” list (well, until January, anyway). After weeks of living in craziness, it was so lovely to be able to clean, put away, and then indulge in our new space with loved ones. And RELAX. And aside from glitter getting everywhere (Page’s pet peeve for years lol) – we did just that.

Week 10 is complete…and the house is nearly complete as well. I was flipping through previous weeks’ posts and it was fun to see the progress in pictures. It’s hard to believe we will take one more “finished” photo next weekend before we close! Here’s a peek back at the past nine weeks…

During this weeks’ progress, our pillar has been built on the front patio and the stone to be added to it and the front of the house is in that pile you see on the driveway. Most of the sod has been planted, and if you squint (ha!) you can see one of two tiny sticks (aka trees) in our front yard. Because so many contractors have to come and go, the front door paint is the very last thing they’ll do…can’t wait to see it finally turn green! 🙂

Inside the house, the carpet has gone in, tile has been finished up, appliances have been delivered and the lights work and the water runs. A cleaning crew has been through (thankfully!!), and we’ll do final walk-throughs with both an inspector and the builder to cite any touch-ups this coming week. Assuming all goes as scheduled (fingers crossed, saying prayers!) we’ll turn our very own key in the lock a week from Thursday.

Just like that. Surreal!

It has been quite a journey and while the last three months have flown by, it also seems we’ve been immersed in this project forever! It’s crazy to think that less than ninety days ago, we were standing on what would become our lot, feeling almost out-of-body as our realtor negotiated away on his cell phone as we tried to close the deal. We sat at our kitchen table into the early morning hours that night writing up our offer and purchase agreement and within 24 hours the experience had begun.

We’ve learned a lot, and there are a couple things we might approach differently, but overall we have no major regrets and would do this all over again without hesitation. I overuse the word experience lately when referring to this build, but that’s exactly what it has been. It was an endeavor neither of us had taken on before and we have been in a head-on crash course and loving ALMOST every minute of it. 🙂

I look forward to posting some pics of moving weekend, an excursion to Ikea for the long-and-still-growing list of needs, and eventually some “before” pics of each room (because you KNOW there are projects to come once we get our foot in the door…did someone say “built in bookcases”?) Thanks for all the facebook replies and comments – we’re awfully excited and can’t wait to share more as our life in this house unfolds.