Basement Project

Been busy with little design / construction project in our basement the last couple of weeks. Barefoot Dad is finally going to get a home office. He really needs it! He gave up his when Baby C was born + truth be told he deserves a man place. A place to escape from the sorority house feeling he sometimes gets living with 4 girls!

The two contractors are finishing up today then we have the floor guy coming + we are going to tackle the painting ourselves. It turned out to be a pretty cool space. I will show more pics when it is finished, but here is a sneak peak of one of the sliding barn doors. My vision for the space was rustic with an urban / modern edge. Think Soho loft meets country barn. Rod + Pete, the contractors totally got my scratch pad drawings, internet print-outs + verbal descriptions. They were amazing at putting the vision to life. So now Barefoot Dad will have a place to call his own, a place to organize his office on wheels, and a place to escape the girly madness upstairs :)

Neighbors

Little did we know when we moved that these three gals would be our neighbors...boy did we luck out! Basically BP and BB have three big sisters, and I have three great mothers helpers right nextdoor. BP and BB worship these girls and to be honest they are incredible role models. Not only are they adorable, but super smart, athletic, funny, outgoing, and well mannered. Poor Barefoot Dad because sometimes he comes home to six girls giggling at the kitchen table eating chocolate chip pancakes. Or he takes six girls to The Creamery for ice cream. Or there is a knock on our door at night to use our internet and then we talk and snack until very late. God bless him!

Since school let out in the city it has been a non-stop girl party here on our mountain. BP even had her first real sleepover at their house and did not miss us one little bit. And these three girls come with great parents who have a lot of advice on raising girls which is much appreciated!

It's the Little Things...

It's the little things in life that make me smile. Like shelves in our laundry room. They are old cedar doors cut in half and hung. Not only do they smell good, but they are very practical and recycled!

Serena & Lily

We are living in a sea of "decorator's white," and have been sticking paint swatches up in every room of our house. With Spring on the way we are considering painting some rooms. All the woodwork in our house is painted HC-78. The HC stands for historical color, and the real name is Litchfiled Gray. I call it oatmeal. This color is a design challenge because you have to choose the right shades to coordinate with its brownish tones. On a positive note, I like the oatmeal color on all the woodwork because it is softer than bright white, and hides everyday smudges and fingerprints from the girls. With that being said, I was having a hard time finding the right colors to paint the rooms until I found the above company, Serena & Lily. When I received their catalog in the mail I immediately knew their color palette would be perfect for our house. BP has asked for her new room to be pink so I think Serena & Lily's "Shell" will be perfect. And BB of course has no color preference or at least she has not expressed it yet, so I think Serena & Lily's "Bluebell" will look great with the bedding she already has. For our room I am loving S&L's "Air" because it is subtle and soft and is the color of the sky, which is what we see when we look out our bedroom windows. I am hoping the paint samples are in our mailbox today.If you have time to drool check out S&L's website for beautiful bedding, toys, furniture, and other accessories.

Worth the Wait

I have decided not to post any pictures of our new house. It's just not us to do that. And besides I want everyone to come visit us and see our little piece of heaven on a big mountain. We are pretty much unpacked and we have been comfortable since our first night. I am so comfortable that I never want to leave "my mountain". My sweet husband actually said to me this morning, "Your car is right there (pointing out the kitchen window) do you want me to show you how to turn it on?" I had to take BP to shcool this morning and run some errands with BB. I laughed at him and said, "No, I should be ok, but you could clean the snow off for me." We all are amazed by how fast our new house became a HOME!

The above picture I took from the front porch as the sun rose this morning. I can walk around the house and look out each window and take in a breathtaking view. Mountains, valleys, farms, deer, wild turkeys, and the other day I saw my first ever bald eagle. We watch the sun rise, the sun set, the storms blow in, the storms blow out, the fog roll in, the fog roll out. It is all so different from on top of a mountain. Oh, and I cannot forget to mention the wind. Wow, do we have some crazy wind up here! I saw the listing agent in the grocery store just an hour ago. He lives across the hill from us and he said, "Are you getting used to the wind yet?" When I laughed he quickly added, "even on the hottest day in July there will be a beautiful breeze". Well that is a pleasant and reassuring thought. The one good thing with the wind is that it blows all the snow off the mountain and we never seem to have as much snow as everyone else. I just cannot put BB down outside or she will also blow away!

Our new home was definitely worth the wait!