Office Decorating Project

We have a lot of large blank walls in the house, so we recently decided to add a little decoration to the office. We got the gorgeous pillows from Joom on Etsy and the picture frames from West Elm. Which leads me to ask, how much is too much? We thought 4 large frames would do the trick, but we find ourselves wanting to run out and get more. Will these pictures still be on the wall in 30 years? Like when I finally had to send my parents some new framed pictures because for the last 20 years, the only one they displayed of me was my senior high school portrait. gag. Better yet, will we replace these in later years with family portraits where we are all wearing snowflake sweaters, or khaki pants and white tshirts? You betcha!

This leads to the next conundrum. What happens when we have a second child? We won't have any wall space left.

Soaking up the Sun

Here is an example of our upstairs Living Room getting beaten with sun prior to getting blinds.

The dogs didn't mind it too much.

The space is so open, I'm having trouble picturing how to place the furniture that we want. The futon is there now as well as the old tv and stand, but this is temporary until we get real furniture. But how about that electric fire place? We'll be setting the mood all winter with that.

No More Fish Bowl

Three quotes and four weeks later, we have blinds! This lovely picture illustrates how empty our upstairs living and dining room really are.

We got plantation shutters for this room, blackout cordless honeycomb for Baby G's room and regular honeycomb for the office and guest room. We still have the downstairs living room and our own bedroom to do. It's all on the 5 year plan. There is of course a list of things we need, and it is prioritized, but now seeing this picture, I wonder if a rug or two shouldn't move up on the list.

Let the Nesting Begin

This week-end DG started cleaning out the garage which is still filled with unpacked boxes. Our hopes are to be able to park in there before snow hits. We got into an organization mode and even decorated the guest bedroom by putting in a book case and hanging pictures on the wall. It's the one room in the house that we never go into, and the one room that is closest to being finished. It's nicer than our bedroom. I go in there once a day just to look at it and enjoy it.

And as an added bonus to our guests, the room comes equiped so that you can totally Rock OUT during your stay.

We'll keep the fire on for you.

Welcome to our new guest house in the back yard.

We have started collecting hand-me-downs for the baby girl from all of our friends. This little gem came from David's boss. David picked it up, hosed it down and proceeded to assemble it in the back yard. We figure we'll just keep it out there for when we have kids over.

I think David's afraid that he might have to sleep out there some night, as I am growing so big, I'm slowing creeping over to his side of the bed and taking over. But with a bed of tree bark, plenty of windows and a cozy fireplace, what more could you ask for in a log cabin? Now if only we can convince the dogs that it is not their new out house.

Sold!

I just got home from the closing of our last house. It is bittersweet as it is the place that DG and I fell in love, got engaged, had our rehearsal dinner and conceived our child (sorry no link). But on the other hand, I am very glad to not pay two mortgages anymore! Now we can start the process of furnishing our house.

House Project Numero Dos

First we spent the entire Memorial Day week-end planting a small patch in the front yard which DG outlines here. That was project numero uno. The second project my dad handled when he was here last week-end.

Ta daaaaaaaaa. Presenting our new ceiling fan in the master bedroom. So pretty, yet a tricky little bugger to install. You see, the entire inside of the house had 70's brown support beams running the lengths of the high ceilings. In the redo, they lowered the ceilings to cover up the horrendous look of them, while adding steel for added support. The plate next to the fan was the original location of the bedroom light. Dad measured 5 times and found the support beam the first time. Then he drilled through the metal, all so that he wouldn't have to stay up at night worrying about the fan falling on his new grand baby.

I say tricky, but honestly I spent the entire time laying on the couch eating bon bons while he did all the work. Thanks Dad, now we can all sleep cool through the summer.

The Kitchen that Could

Day 1, the entire kitchen was unpacked...with room to spare! What on earth can I fill all that extra space with? Cheez-Its? White Cheddar Popcorn? Cans of Beans?Well, there is not THAT much extra, but at least I don't have to keep anything in the garage.

Oh and there's so much room, we could have a dance party in the kitchen, or a dance contest, or a twister game. I don't hyperventilate anytime anyone is in the kitchen when I am preparing a meal. Nice.

We're in!

After 12 hours of moving and 3 days of unpacking, we are in our new house.

Saturday morning we got up early, literally when the sun woke us up due to no window coverings in our new house. We headed back to our old place to clean for 3 hours. *sniff* It was so sad.

As many of you already know, the sale of our house fell through. But we are confident that it will go again. The Skyland neighborhood is the last Goldmine in Denver and one of the last affordable areas with rising home prices. It is listed here as one of the next up and coming neighbor hoods in the country in a survey by Business Week.

We so badly had wanted to keep our house and hold onto it for several years, but we just could not make it work. The person that ends up buying it is going to make great money on it. Since we were so involved with our Neighborhood Association, we also know how many people in that neighborhood are fighting to make it an even better place, planting trees, encouraging new businesses, fighting crime etc. Though in the 4 years that I lived there, not once did I have a break-in or car theft where my friends living other more affluent neighborhoods had all of the above. We also knew the names of EVERY neighbor on our block, can you all say the same? Oh and did I mention that a police officer lives across the street?

Good-bye Lovely House

Tomorrow is moving day for us and we have been reminiscing all week about how much we love our house and our block. The backyard is so gorgeous right now with all of the flowers blooming that I don't want to leave it. I walk around it several times a day when I need a break, just to look at all of our plants. We are going to miss our great neighborhood, and sleeping in the back yard in the middle of summer. We are also going to miss how close we are to the best park in Denver and I've been loving my routine of swimming several days at week at the local rec center.

All the neighbors have been coming by to wish us farewell. We can only hope that our new neighbors will be so great.

Taking a Break from Packing

Last weekend, DG and I started packing in the wee hours of the morning to the late afternoon. We would take a break and then get back to it until the sun went down. Seen here, I am in my "packing outfit" which consisted of an oversized South Korean t-shirt that my brother gave me and a New York Yankees hat that DG put on my head earlier in the day. I don't EVER wear hats, much less a Yankees hat, but it was better than the alternative which was my greasy unwashed hair. I grew up knowing that the Red Sox were the better team, much like being a democrat was better than being a republican. So I apologize for any offense you may have towards the hat.

How Do You Pack?

I move on an average of every 4 years, each time fairly seamlessly. I have to say however, I've pretty much lost my gusto to pack. It would be fair to say, that as I've gotten older, my "stuff" or my taste has gotten better, but does that mean that I should run out and buy double walled boxes with excessive amounts of peanuts and bubble wrap? I am happy lining my hand me down boxes with crumpled up newspaper wrapping everything nicely in paper, and writing FRAGILE on the side of the box. But if I were to lose say an old vase or dish set, I would be distraught for a couple of days.

As it turns out, two of my good friends are moving too. How are you packing Amy and Joy?

Inspection Issues

We had the inspection at our new house last Saturday. It lasted for 3 hours during which DG met a bunch of neighbors and learned all about everyone's business. In the meantime there were several LARGE issues that needed attention before moving in. It felt like a laundry list of items when we sent it back to the owners requesting that they take care of it all. We've been holding our breath all week, and as it turns out, they agreed to do EVERYTHING!!! This is very exciting news. Here are the 3 main items:

1) We paid an extra $200 to have the sewer line scoped. They could barely get 30' in before they hit a clog. This is due to all of the construction work they just finished in the home. They have to clean all the lines and do a final scope to confirm the integrity of the main sewer line. Flushing toilets are good. We give a poop about the stoop.

2) The brand new furnace is in the lower level in the laundry room. Code requires that you need a fresh intake and outake area for air circulation. We requested that they drill these holes to the outside of the house to make it up to code.

3) Finally, the big one: Radon. We paid extra to do a Radon test in the lower level. Radon is a radioactive gas found naturally in soil. 4 out of 10 homes in the Denver metro area have radon. Prolonged exposure to radon is the #2 cause of cancer. EPA regulates that anything above a level 4 should be looked into. Our test came back at 13.1. They need to hire a professional radon company to come in, drill holes under the house and install vent fans. Hopefully it will be tested again afterwards to prove mitigation.

36 hours later...

3 days after we put our house on the market and we are under contract! *phew* AND we are able to close on both houses on the same day. Just in time before the snow gets here.

Barring and inspections issues we close the first week of May. I need to go start packing!

What a Girl Wants

The kitchen that I've always deserved!

Stats of our new home:
4 bedroom
3 bath
2,250 sq. ft.
10,400 sq. ft. lot
Completely renovated

Holy crap we are excited. Come visit us as the guest bedroom suite has an attached full bath. No seriously, come visit. But if you stay longer than a week we start charging rent.

Under Contract

And...we have a house! We are closing in 3 weeks *gulp* and putting our home on the market tomorrow. Details to come.

P.S. Happy Easter!

April Fools

I know we got at least one of you out there, but I won't name any names. No, David and I didn't win Powerball and up our limit on our home.

Though we did find the most beautiful home yesterday that was having an open house. It was a mere $200,000 over our budget, and only had 2 bedrooms, but the house was huge and if we sold our house, and sold our first couple of children, I think we could do it.

Our New Home

We went out home shopping again this week-end and found exactly what we are looking for. It's a little above our price range, but we are going to make it work because of the dreamy kitchen. GO HERE to check out the great pictures.

The Search Goes on

We found out late in the afternoon that we did not get the house. As the woman, I am prepared to let it go and continue shopping. I love to shop. I'll shop all day for houses until I find that perfect fit. As the man, DG wanted to drown his sorrows in a bottle of vodka. He was sad, very sad and a bit more discouraged than me. No tears though, we will find our house, I just know it!

Bidding War

Can't talk now, we're in a bidding war over a house, in Wheat Ridge. *gulp*

David and I saw the house on Sunday and we both immediately had feelings for it. Having seen 26 homes now, the little butterflies in our stomach were telling us something. It has so many positive features, including a remodeled kitchen with stainless steel appliances, maple cabinets and granite counter tops. Also, the front and back yard have been professionally landscaped. One issue is that it only has 3 bedrooms and other is that it is on the border of Denver. We would no longer be Denver residents able to ride our bikes downtown. We're willing to make the sacrifice however.

Oh yeah, and it already has a contract out on it. We are the full price, close in 3 weeks, backup offer.

Shopping for a new Home

DG and I decided last year that we were going to put our house on the market in the spring. Well spring has almost sprung and so far we've gone out and looked at about 18 houses and have found absolutely nothing we want to buy. Every house has something that is not quite perfect. The house is really nice, but it is across the street from a major church and one block away from a major street; or the neighborhood is great which knocks the price of the house up, but the home hasn't been decorated since 1969 so it means a total gut and redo.

As we entered a house last week, I thought I had stepped into Vegas in the 70s. Every wall was mirrored floor to ceiling and had electric blue carpet throughout. The basement had hot pink carpet with red lighting down the stairs. One room had a parquet dance floor and another room had a built in couch, with mirrored walls, and lighted flower boxes filling the entire wall with fake green shrubbery. This of course was in front of the fully stocked bar with disco lights above it. As I was expecting Frank Sinatra to pour me a drink and start dealing some cards, the Mickey Mouse phone in the room rang.

Needless to say, I was cackling like a hyena when we left. And the search goes on...