Our new house
A week ago we were living in a completely different house. We haven't moved, but it feels like everything we own has found a new location in our house. Last Monday, thanks to our friend Jason we moved all of our family room furniture down into the new basement. It almost didn't happen when they realized the couch wouldn't fit around the corner at the top of the stairs, but luckily it was able to be dropped through the window well. (It's never coming out in one piece again.)
Then on Tuesday morning, I picked up Steve's mom Kathy from the airport. This last week has kind of all run together as we tackled the huge task of putting our house back in order and doing some major cleaning. I had made a huge list of things that would be great to work on while she was here and we accomplished nearly all of them. It was an amazing week and there is no way I would have been able to do all of this by myself, so I am extremely grateful for Kathy's help. We couldn't get her to stop working...she was a machine. Our neighbors must have thought we hired some professional help for the week as she was frequently seen outside washing windows, cutting back dead plants, watering new bulbs, stuffing our car full of trash for the dump, stuffing our other car full of cardboard and concrete for recycling, and cleaning our garage, including scrubbing the floor. And that was just what could be seen from the outside!
Some of you might not know or remember what our house looked like before, but even if you did, you can't possibly imagine the amount of work it took to get it looking this good again. The pictures don't really show you the hours we spent making decisions, carrying things from one floor to the other, putting together new storage pieces, sweeping, dusting, mopping, scrubbing, organizing, and throwing out. It was a huge undertaking and really felt like we were moving into our house all over again. Here are some pictures to show you what it looks like now. We aren't sure how much is permanent, but for now this is how things look until we live in our space for a while and decide what we like, how we are using the rooms, and what else we want to get rid of or buy.
We'll start in the baby's room. Steve and I actually worked on this the weekend before Kathy got here. It is pretty well setup, except for putting things up on the walls. And we won't have all the baby accessories (swing, bouncy seat, pack-n-play, etc.) in the room eventually, but they are in the room for now.
Keeping on the main floor, here is what our family room looks like now. We are still struggling to know what to call this room. This room feels the strangest of all because it has nothing in it that used to be here, except the rug. It definitely feels weird to have such a "playroom" where our cozy family room used to be, but it is feeling more normal day by day. And it is a really nice place for Anya to play.
Moving downstairs, here is our reorganized and mostly clean storage room.
In a picture, the bathroom looks pretty much the same, but Steve did an amazing amount of work on it this weekend and it is almost done.
Kathy was our first guest in our basement guest room. The room is cozy (and bright yellow), but she said the setup worked out fine. We're mostly done in here, but still have some finishing things to get done eventually.
And now for the room that feels like we aren't even in our house anymore...the basement family room. It has only one new storage cabinet and otherwise everything we previously owned, but it really feels like we are in someone else's house when we spend time there. We are really happy with this room but are still figuring out what to do with all the space.
So, I'm sure you'll still be hearing about our adventures as we finish up the things that still need to be done, but for now we are so excited to have most everything put away and cleaned and we'll worry about getting the rest done along the way.
This coming weekend we will have 11 people, including us, staying in our house, so that is one major reason we have pushed so hard to get everything in order. And I'm only a few weeks away from my due date of April 19th, so that is the other reason I have been so frantically wanting to get this done. I am exhausted and it is probably a good thing that Kathy left today so that she and I can both get some rest. Thank you, Kathy, for all that you did for us. I never dreamed we would work this hard, but I am so appreciative of everything you did for us.
I want to end this post by saying what an amazing husband I have. I never knew that our basement would look this nice when it was done. It has been an enormous project and I really don't feel like the final product looks like we did it ourselves. Steve has put so many hours into this project and although he has enjoyed a lot of it, I know he is excited to enjoy our new space and move onto some other projects. Thank you, Steve, for creating this wonderful addition to our home while still holding down a full time job and being an amazing dad and husband all at the same time.
Then on Tuesday morning, I picked up Steve's mom Kathy from the airport. This last week has kind of all run together as we tackled the huge task of putting our house back in order and doing some major cleaning. I had made a huge list of things that would be great to work on while she was here and we accomplished nearly all of them. It was an amazing week and there is no way I would have been able to do all of this by myself, so I am extremely grateful for Kathy's help. We couldn't get her to stop working...she was a machine. Our neighbors must have thought we hired some professional help for the week as she was frequently seen outside washing windows, cutting back dead plants, watering new bulbs, stuffing our car full of trash for the dump, stuffing our other car full of cardboard and concrete for recycling, and cleaning our garage, including scrubbing the floor. And that was just what could be seen from the outside!
Some of you might not know or remember what our house looked like before, but even if you did, you can't possibly imagine the amount of work it took to get it looking this good again. The pictures don't really show you the hours we spent making decisions, carrying things from one floor to the other, putting together new storage pieces, sweeping, dusting, mopping, scrubbing, organizing, and throwing out. It was a huge undertaking and really felt like we were moving into our house all over again. Here are some pictures to show you what it looks like now. We aren't sure how much is permanent, but for now this is how things look until we live in our space for a while and decide what we like, how we are using the rooms, and what else we want to get rid of or buy.
We'll start in the baby's room. Steve and I actually worked on this the weekend before Kathy got here. It is pretty well setup, except for putting things up on the walls. And we won't have all the baby accessories (swing, bouncy seat, pack-n-play, etc.) in the room eventually, but they are in the room for now.
Keeping on the main floor, here is what our family room looks like now. We are still struggling to know what to call this room. This room feels the strangest of all because it has nothing in it that used to be here, except the rug. It definitely feels weird to have such a "playroom" where our cozy family room used to be, but it is feeling more normal day by day. And it is a really nice place for Anya to play.
Moving downstairs, here is our reorganized and mostly clean storage room.
In a picture, the bathroom looks pretty much the same, but Steve did an amazing amount of work on it this weekend and it is almost done.
Kathy was our first guest in our basement guest room. The room is cozy (and bright yellow), but she said the setup worked out fine. We're mostly done in here, but still have some finishing things to get done eventually.
And now for the room that feels like we aren't even in our house anymore...the basement family room. It has only one new storage cabinet and otherwise everything we previously owned, but it really feels like we are in someone else's house when we spend time there. We are really happy with this room but are still figuring out what to do with all the space.
So, I'm sure you'll still be hearing about our adventures as we finish up the things that still need to be done, but for now we are so excited to have most everything put away and cleaned and we'll worry about getting the rest done along the way.
This coming weekend we will have 11 people, including us, staying in our house, so that is one major reason we have pushed so hard to get everything in order. And I'm only a few weeks away from my due date of April 19th, so that is the other reason I have been so frantically wanting to get this done. I am exhausted and it is probably a good thing that Kathy left today so that she and I can both get some rest. Thank you, Kathy, for all that you did for us. I never dreamed we would work this hard, but I am so appreciative of everything you did for us.
I want to end this post by saying what an amazing husband I have. I never knew that our basement would look this nice when it was done. It has been an enormous project and I really don't feel like the final product looks like we did it ourselves. Steve has put so many hours into this project and although he has enjoyed a lot of it, I know he is excited to enjoy our new space and move onto some other projects. Thank you, Steve, for creating this wonderful addition to our home while still holding down a full time job and being an amazing dad and husband all at the same time.
posted by Lara at 4:00 PM
8 Comments:
Wow it really does look good. The biggest change I see in the pictures is of the old family room. Wow
Congratulations at being nearly done and making it look so wonderful before the friends arrive. I can tell you all worked very hard, and it looks great! Can't wait to see it in person.
holy...crap...
It'll be really interesting to see it all in person (in only like three weeks!!). It really looks like a completely new space. What's the resulting loft going to be?
There should be a HGTV show about stuff like this, i.e. "Here comes baby, so finish your basement and completely reorganize your house whilst entertaining everyone you know", or you know something more concise.
AMAZING!!! You should both be VERY PROUD of your work and how it turned out. Have you ever tried to figure out what you saved with all the "sweat equity" you put in? Obviously, it would equate to thousands of dollars and for such a professional looking result. CONGRATULATIONS!!!
I loved the final pictures and of Anya painting. Can't wait to see it in person myself. It won't be long...
oh my FREAK! it looks so amazing. i'm super impressed. can't wait to hang out there.
Wow - the basement looks amazing!! I'm sure Mark is looking forward to Steve's show-and-tell of all the tools you guys used to get it done!
We're looking forward to seeing your new house this weekend! Only one concern - I didn't see the ping pong table anywhere?!
Oh man...you almost made me cry with your statements about Steve. You really do have a great husband and I'm sure if my Steve and I were able to come out next weekend that the Steves would have a great time talking tools and home improvement/destruction. Maybe in October... :)
That does look completely different even from just a week ago. You guys must be exhausted!
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