Bold is Beautiful

It's been almost two months since we moved into our new house, and with all the traveling and other summer activities, we've been slow in making it "ours." But this past weekend, we made huge progress ... we finally got our main level painted!

And I'd like to take a moment to give a major shout out to Devin Smith, his lovely wife Becca and his dad, who did a phenomenal painting job. They worked so hard and it definitely shows! Even my perfectionist brother would appreciate the perfect edging and ceiling lines. You guys are awesome!

Now, a little background for you before the photos. Keep in mind that Chris and I approach decision-making very differently, so something as seemingly innocuous as choosing paint colors is a major deal. We spent hours at Home Depot and probably grabbed half of the paint swatches to take home. We tried several colors in different spots on the wall, which you can see in some of the photos.

Even after we had decided on colors, I think we were both unsure about how it would look. And since I was banished from the house for the weekend, I couldn't evaluate the colors partway through, so I was even more anxious.

Obviously, when I arrived home on Monday night, I was quite excited to see the outcome. I took some before and after pictures so you can see the transformation...

Front Room




Kitchen


Living Room




Dining Room/Kitchen


So, hopefully you can see why we LOVE it! It's warm and comfortable and has a little Mediterranean/Tuscan feel. We're both into bold paint colors (obviously) and this house, with its many windows, is perfect for it.

Next up on the home improvement agenda ... the nursery.

Oh by the way, in case you're interested, we have four unopened gallons of the red paint, two semi-gloss and two eggshell. It's Behr Premium (with primer included) and the color is Chianti. I'm going to sell it on Craigslist, so let me know if you want to buy it!

14 Days and Counting ...

It's not that I mean to go so long between posts, it's just that lately life is getting in the way. This past Saturday we moved our whole life into a POD and since then, we've been staying with some good friends up in Monument. (More on them in a later post.) Of course, since both Chris and I continue to work full time, we are having to spend our evenings over at our house moving out what's left and cleaning the place. We haven't been getting home before 10pm for the past 3 days. In the midst of this, I somehow caught a cold. I'm not sure how much more of this insane pace of life I can take. Thankfully, we close in two days.

Anyway, all that to say, I've been intending to post these pictures since I took them. When we were over at our new house for the inspection a couple weeks ago, I took some photos. All I had was my iPhone so I apologize for the fuzziness, but I think you'll get the idea.

So, here's our home sweet home...

This is the front room, taken from the top of the stairs. It has vaulted ceilings and big windows so it gets lots of light. We have something VERY cool in mind for painting this room.

Here's the kitchen. It's at least twice as big as our current kitchen with loads more cabinet space. This might be the part of the house I'm most looking forward to. Oh and those beautiful appliances come with it. However, that light fixture in the foreground (which is actually in the dining area) will be one of the first things to be replaced.

Here's the basement. You're looking at the big living area, but there are also two bedrooms and a nice sized bathroom down there too. This is where Chris' office and the guest room will be.

This is the back deck. It's west facing, so it gets sun all afternoon. I'm already planning our summer bar-b-ques.

Here's the view from the back deck. In the winter, we can see Pikes Peak, but when those trees are full, I'm guessing our mountain view will be obstructed. (Although I think from the master bedroom we'll still be able to see it.)

There's much more to show you, but you really should come get the personal tour. I'm most excited because we'll finally have room to host people, one of my favorite things! We'll have lots of space for out of town guests too. So you really have no excuse.

It's a Brick House

Well, hello there. Guess what? I have MORE exciting news to share! God just keeps pouring out the blessings.

We found a house! We put an offer on it yesterday, found out this morning that there was a competing offer and found out this afternoon that they accepted our offer!

You guys, this house it BEAUTIFUL. Seriously. I'm still having a hard time grasping the fact that, barring any unforeseen obstacles, in a little over a month it will be our home!

I looked at close to 40 homes over the last few weeks. After so many, all the homes were starting to blur together. At each house we visited, I would have that vague, undefined feeling of "This isn't it." I just couldn't picture us there.

And then we saw this one.

When we visited, the agent was actually having an Open House. We wandered around and right from the beginning, it felt different. I could see us there. I could picture us moving in that day. Chris liked it too, but of couse he was more reserved. (He had to balance out his emotionally-charged, impulsive wife.)

After spending quite a bit of time there, we left and continued to visit homes, but suddenly, we were comparing everything to that house. It became the standard, and nothing else seemed to measure up. So we went back.

The next day, we decided to drive around and scope out the neighborhood. And the Open House was happening again. So ... we stopped by for the third time. This time we started dreaming about where we'd put our furniture. What color we'd paint the walls. Where the dogs could stay.

From there, we met our agent to complete the paperwork for the offer. That was yesterday. As of this evening, we are officially under contract!