The little laundry room that could

Before the renovation, our washer and dryer were located in the basement. There isn't a laundry room down there; rather, it's as if a galley kitchen was planned, and at the last minute someone tucked a W/D hookup there and called it a day. Doing laundry pre-reno consisted of gathering up dirty clothes and heaving them over the stair rail. Then eventually when I couldn't postpone it any longer promptly I would head down to pick them up off of the steps and walk them back to the laundry area. Clean clothes would live down there until someone was desperate enough to need something. Except for sheets. I'm fanatical about washing those at least once a week.

I just felt you should know from whence we came. Laundry room-wise that is.

It never occured to us with the renovation we could actually have a laundry room upstairs. It wouldn't be big, our architect was careful to tell us, but certainly big enough. And she was right. Presenting, the laundry room.

The lady of the house, in the library, with a book

Love myself a little game of Clue reference!

First room up on the pictorial tour is the room formerly known as the front room, the den, the living room, the other living room, and the family room. Poor thing, she didn't know what she was supposed to be. As a result, neither did we.

When we planned the renovation, the mister and I thought about rooms we each wanted. He wanted an office. I wanted a room without a TV. Presenting, the library:

Everything in its place (yeah right)

Pictures are coming soon, I promise. We had house guests two days after we moved in, and suspended all but the most necessary unpacking (glasses? yes, we have glasses...somewhere). And it's summer, you know. Which means longer evenings out on the porch, or in the pool. We actually didn't even eat dinner last night until 8pm! Ah, summer...

Still, we have been able to make a few strides in Operation Everything in its Place. Including:

• Finding a home in our home for the fish tank. It used to be on our main level, perched on an old dresser (we no longer have). It's now in our upstairs hallway. I think they like it.
• Purchasing a new washer/dryer for our laundry room. It was just delivered yesterday. It's the least fancy (I think) of the fancy HE machines, top-loader, and it looks great. We'll see how it works.
• Hanging one picture. My birthday present is now hanging on the wall, and so far, it's the only thing hanging. We are not rushing the wall decor decisions.
• Deciding to let the landscaping go for a bit. We're hitting high temps now (hey look: here comes 100 degrees already!). We are going to have someone come out and advise us, but it's not on the top of the list. Trust me, it feels just as good deciding not to do something as it does to do something at this point!

So, things are coming along. This weekend the house should be pretty much all together, and I'll start posting more pictures. After an ice-cold glass of something or other on the front porch.

We shall call this room the library

I've always wanted a library. A room with books everywhere, and comfortable seating, and places to spread things upon (books, puzzles, newspapers, mugs of teas and plates of goodies). A room with inviting furnishings, cozy. No TV. I'm working on ours.

It's a start. It's the first layer, if you will. We need more soft things, and additional table or floor lighting. A throw or two. A puzzle started on that back table perhaps. Photographs on the wall. More books!

With the exception of the storm print, everything in this room is not new. It's lived in, and therefore not is it okay if I put this here? in its demeanor. I think I'd like a new rug, but maybe a new-to-me old rug? One with blues and greens and grays, that's soft underfoot and not Pottery Barn circa 2012. But maybe not. Maybe this doesn't-exactly-match one helps with the intimate appeal of a library. We'll live with it for a bit, and add things over time. And read. Lots and lots.

Box by box, life gets a little more settled

The only boxes and bins left are the ones with all the little stuff in them. Of course. So they take about an hour each to unpack. We definitely slowed down quite a bit today. The kitchen is mostly unpacked. Same goes for the bedrooms. Closets are approaching organized. We have one billion pictures of ourselves, and I'm not quite sure where they all used to go.

Even though everything is a mess, and I'm not sure where things currently are placed is where they'll stay, I've decided to share pictures.

Bay's room. It actually was clean this morning.

Zoe's room. She hasn't seen it yet!

Den.You can see lots of things that will eventually reside elsewhere.

For some reason I can't add a caption to the last photo. That's the front room. The no-TV room. The haven. We need a rug, and that table you can just see crowding the left corner is going to be a game table. I will probably move it 10 times before finding a spot I like.
 
Our first house guests arrive (gulp) tomorrow. Stay tuned for a post I wrote in my head last night entitled, 'Things the mister doesn't want to hear right after we move in.'

PS- if the apocalypse comes, you'll want to find me if you're in need of batteries or brown rice. We may be able to keep a small village going based on current supplies.

Welcome home

It's a mess. There is no cable or Internet. Food supplies are low. We haven't even checked to see if we have hot water. But we're home. Pictures to come tomorrow. The girls' rooms are pretty much finished. Most of the furniture is in the right room (if not in the right place). All of our beds are made up. We are off to a good start!

T-minus 36 hours

Sure, we'll be ready when the movers come on Saturday morning.


We've done some prep over at the house. In the basement we had all the stuff originally in the attic. So, back up it went. I'm proud of us, as we pared it down only to seasonal stuff (e.g., Christmas decor, etc.) and one bed. At least that's what they tell me; I'm certainly not going up there to check on it.

And though you'd be hard-pressed to tell, we've actually started moving a few things in already. Mostly clothes, kitchen items, some books, etc. We're a bit anxious! Tomorrow night we'll need to finalize furniture placement in each room. Success will be having the furniture on the right floor. So long as we (read: the mister and his friends) don't have to move anything up or down ourselves after the movers leave, it's all good. Wish us luck!

So, we had our final inspection today...

WE GOT OUR CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY!
WE GOT OUR CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY!

Twenty-four days ahead of schedule. Ahead of schedule, y'all. If you stalk renovation forums you know this is the exception, not the rule. We are beside ourselves with *giddiness*.

We had our pre-move-in walk-through tonight. It's all minor stuff, including:

• Paint touch-ups, both inside and out
• Our closet shelves need those tiny white caps on the edges that face the wall
• Front walkway step needs re-trimming (or whatever the correct term is for 'fix the edging of the concrete')
• A small chunk of our old sidewalk needs removing
• The front gutter needs relocating
• A hallway light that finally shipped (back order) needs installation

All of this (she types hopefully) will be done by Friday, when the professional house cleaners arrive (part of the service) (which of course we pay for). And so guess what Saturday is?

MOVING DAY! 

Stay tuned for moving day and settling in pics, and many before-and-afters!

When inspectors don't show

The HVAC inspector was supposed to come by today, but didn't. Our builder turned the A/C on in the house in anticipation of his arrival, and by our reckoning, things appear to be in order (read: it was cool). Still, apparently the city won't take our word for it, so hopefully the inspector shows up tomorrow to sign the certificate. Then we can get the CO inspection.

Wednesday is our final walk-through, and Friday the cleaners come to prepare the house for us to move in. We're proceeding as if the inspections will all clear this week, and I am already thinking about sleeping back in our house by the end of this weekend.

In other news, when lil bit and I got home, we trotted over to see how this would look in her and her sister's bathrooms. She was a good sport, tolerating my deliberations about the best place to mount them (though not nearly as impressed as I might've hoped with my 'anyone can do a towel bar' monologue).

Even though things are nearly done and there isn't much day-to-day change, we still check the house out every day (bonus of living right next door). When the mister got home tonight, the conversation went something like this:

Mister: 'Let's go see the house.'
Lil bit: 'Dad, we already went. They haven't done anything new.'
Mister: 'Well, I still want to go see it. Come with me.'
Lil bit: 'Oh wait! Actually, there is something new. Mom got some hookers.'

Perhaps our builder should mention that to the inspectors...it might ensure they show up. :)

Snail's pace toward the finish line

It feels like we're running through deep, sticky, heavy mud these last few feet toward the finish line. All that's left:

- HVAC inspection
- Electrical panel inspection (now that power is restored to the house)
- Final CO inspection
- Bathroom and laundry room hardware installation
- Front door hardware installation
- Final decision on the concrete porch (to stain or not to stain...yes, we are back to that)
- Front gutter relocation
- Final walk-through for the punch list (nicked paint, etc.)

Hopefully, for the certificate of occupancy, we can get by with the 'landscaping' we have (ie, pine straw...and more pine straw). With the power restored to the house, guess what's gone from the middle of our yard?

Beds optional

The carpet is in! Although we have wood floors everywhere else, we like carpeting underfoot in the bedrooms and closets. Soft carpet, that is. Call us old-fashioned. :) Like everything in a renovation, you can spend a fortune on carpeting. One of the mister's favorites was $100 square foot*. Yowza. What we really wanted was something soft that would wear well with the kids. And we found it!

*not even close to our budget