I Married a Tree Hugger

Adding a Garage

2021-05-13T13:12:00.001-04:00

Building on our Garage

Decked Out

2021-03-17T14:02:00.002-04:00

Completed Deck and Pergola

Pergola and Deck

2021-03-17T13:16:00.003-04:00

Pergola and Decked out

The deck and pergola were completed the summer after our second child was born. It was a busy summer! We stained all the pergola beams, support beams, railings and the deck boards, which kept us all very busy.

We went with regular deck boards for this project, as composite materials were really pricey. After living with the deck for 6 years now, we have had to sand and re stain it every 2 years. The deck also gets really hot under foot in the summer months, but is helped by the sail canopy we put up. We later added some amazing planted boxes to finish the bottom of the deck.

Enjoy a few photos below of the project!

Our Craftsman Home, Exterior updates

2013-09-10T22:55:00.001-04:00

Built in Fireplace Inspiration

2013-09-10T22:47:00.004-04:00

When we were planning our dream home together, we knew we wanted a beautiful focal point of a fireplace in the living room. It was on the wish list from day one. We started with simple drawings and measurements of the wall in the living room. Many craftsman homes have the fireplace centered on a wall between two windows, and that was our jumping off point.

Below are a few photos that inspired our fireplace and built in shelves. Towards the bottom of the post are recent photos of our finished living room as well. We are so happy with how it turned out!

Be inspired by these awesome craftsman fireplaces.

Here is our finished fireplace and shelves.

Cheery Yellow and Gray Bathroom

2013-08-13T13:33:00.001-04:00

Cherry Yellow and Gray Bathroom

Before Nolan's birthday party I wanted to change up the bathroom one the main floor. It is the one bathroom down stairs and most people would be using it during the party. There was nothing wrong with how it looked before but I was ready for a change. The shower curtain had been living with us for the last 8 years (since college) and it was time to tell it to move on out already!

So on my day off a few weeks back, a girl friend of mine and I hit up our local Home Goods for some great deals on home décor. I fell in love with this yellow and grey geometric shower curtain. I mean, I fell hard, so in love! The lighter grey in the curtain matched the grey wall perfectly. It was destiny.

The grey went with the wall color and the pops of yellow are so fun and cheerful! I also bought a cheap $2 candle at the grocery store to add another pop of yellow.

The bathroom now feels fresh and modern with the new curtain addition. The walls were always grey and really nothing much else changed in this room. It is amazing how one accessory can change a room.

This piece of art has been in the bathroom for quite a while but it feels more at home in there now. I bought it at BBB about 7 years ago and I am still happy with it. It is simple and the black and white goes with whatever I put in the room.

The cabinet and sink combo were from Lowe's and cost about $200. We found a coordinating mirror in the same dark wood finish. The bathroom is small so we mounted the toilet paper holder on the side of the vanity. The top of the sink is white porcelain and is in a great rectangle shape, again modern and fun!

We found a rectangle light fixture to echo the vanity shape. It has a steel frame and a soft woven fabric over the top (feels like lamp shade fabric) in white. It is called Canarm Olson 2 light vanity light in pewter. We got her from lighting universe online.

While at home good I grabbed a yellow chevron hand towel. It doesn't match the curtain in pattern how ever it does have the same shade of sunny yellow. We really love the rectangular vanity top. The top flows right down the side of the sink without any seams or joints, which makes it very easy to wipe down.

A nice close up of the shower curtain. It has 3 different grey tones and 2 yellow tones set on a white back ground. Geometric and cheerful!

Main level Bathroom:

Toilet: Dual flush in white by American Standard elongated $248.77
Faucet: Delta “windemere” in chrome $69.00
Shower Tub and Surround: Aqua in White $294.87
Tub/Shower faucet: American Standard in chrome $38.27

Shower curtain from Home Goods $12

Wall Color: Essential Grey by Sherwin Williams #SW6002
Flooring is a laminate by Starloc in Mountain Travertine

All the trim: Sherwin Williams, Pure White #SW7005

Small Laundry Room, Big Color

2013-08-04T14:03:00.003-04:00

Small Laundry room, big color

Last weekend we had about a hundred guests here for Nolan's first birthday party and that was good motivation to get lots of projects done on the house. We finally finished the laundry room just in time for birthday bash.

The laundry room took us a lot longer than we thought (DIY with a wee one means not a lot of time between getting home from work and going to bed). The project took about 3 months from start to completion.

We had a pretty good sized to do list in this room. It was a blank slate, with just 4 walls and a washer and a dryer to start with. We started with building a riser for both the washer and dryer, painted the back wall aqua, then added 2 upper cabinets and handles, and finally built a top from left over flooring.

Check out the photos!

Obviously, I am not afraid of color. The mudroom (show to the left of the photo) is bright orange wall and the new wall color for the laundry room is "Aqua" by Crayola Paint. So cheerful isn't it?

The room started out with just the washer and dryer and now it is finished! The riser underneath has made laundry even less of a chore!

Kyle built the riser as a simple box with braces underneath to handle the weight of the appliances and painted the whole thing white to match the washer/ dryer and also the cabinets above.

We were originally going to just make a simple plywood top but man did it look terrible. So we kept the plywood and put left over hardwood from our living room over top. The wood flooring top really warms up the room and looks great next to the aqua wall.

Had to add a few accessories to the room. The vase was just sitting in the basement and the fake plant (yes fake plants, sorry) is from IKEA. The are just decorative but they make the room feel more inviting.

The cabinets were simple stock (unfinished) cabinets from our local home improvement store. The cabinets were pine and came totally unfinished so we put on 3 coats of left over white paint (same as all the doors and trim in the house) and the riser that Kyle built.

We picked up another pack of LANSA handles from IKEA. These are exactly the same handles that we have in the kitchen. We wanted the same handles in both because from some angles you can see both rooms.

We had a spare piece of wood that we painted white (same as the trim and door color). I painted 3 black bird across the white plank. Then Kyle added 3 simple oil rubbed bronze hooks. Now we have room for the broom, the mop and the duster.

Kyle built it, I painted it. It was a coordinated effort! We are both happy with how it turned out. It is functional but also pretty, just what we were going for!

So there you have it, the final Before and After shot of the laundry room. The roughed in photo with just drywall was taken about 2 years ago. Might have taken a while but it was the last untouched room in the house.

Next, we changed things up in the downstairs guest bathroom and added closet organization to all the bedrooms this weekend. But we will save that for next time!

Baby Food for 3 cents, what!?

2013-06-11T16:34:00.001-04:00

I had no idea when I set out to make a list of Nolan's baby food, that it was so inexpensive. I of course knew it was cheaper than buying jarred baby food but I seriously had no idea how much money I was saving by making it my self.

The least expensive food at get this, 3 cents a serving (1 oz) was parsnips! Anything that was bought fresh (not frozen or canned) was clearly cheaper but some fruits and veggies that I wanted were not in season here in Michigan so frozen worked just fine. Now that it is summer and fresh fruits are abundant, we can save even more!

Below are the first 12 foods we tried with Nolan. The total prices per serving are approximates based on what I paid for them that day.

Foods we tried in order of starting and recipes

1. Sweet Potatoes

Roasted in the oven for 1 hour until tender. Scrap flesh out of the skin and puree with blender. May need water to thin it out so it is not too thick for baby. Put in ice cube trays and freeze

One sweet potato will make about 12 servings depending on the size
Sweet potatoes around here are about $0.89 cents per lbs.

total: 8 cents a serving

2. Carrots

Wash, peel, chop into chunks. Steam over water using double boiler or steam basket until very, very tender. Puree until smooth. Put in ice cube trays and freeze

One bag of large carrots should make 12 servings of food
Usually cost $1 for the bag which gets you about 4-5 large carrots

total: 8 cents a serving

3. Parsnips

Wash, peel, chop into chunks. Steam over water using double boiler or steam basket until very, very tender. Puree until smooth. Put in ice cube trays and freeze

Two large parsnips should make 12 servings

Very inexpensive, costing about .40 cents a pound

total: 3 cents a serving

4. Peas

I typically use a large bag of frozen peas because they are already shelled. I put the peas in a large pot with enough water to cover and heat on simmer until very tender but still bright green. Puree immediately until very smooth. Put in ice cube trays and freeze

One large bag of frozen peas shelled (2 pound bag) makes 28 servings

Costs $1.99 per bag

total: 7 cents a serving

5. Peaches

        I buy two bags of frozen peaches (1 pound bags). I steam them on the stove with a little water for about 10 minutes until very tender. You could also steam them in the microwave too. Puree until smooth. Put in ice cube trays and freeze
                1 (12 oz) bag frozen peaches makes 12 servings
                Cost per bag $2.74

total: 22 cents a serving

6. Pumpkin

Buy can of 100 % pure pumpkin, open can, pour into ice cube trays and freeze! So easy. You could go the more difficult route and but a whole pumpkin, maybe after Halloween when all the pumpkins are cheap this would be a good idea, plus you could toast the seeds, yum!

1 large can of Libby's 100% pure pumpkin puree makes 24 servings

Costs $3.00 per can

total: 12 cents a serving

7. Pears
Either use fresh pears, frozen peeled pears or canned (no sugar added) pears. For fresh pears, wash and peel the skin for younger babies. Bake in 350’ oven on baking sheet to bring out the sweetness. Roast for 15 minutes or until very soft. Let cool a little, then puree. Put in ice cube trays and freeze

4 fresh pears (any variety) makes about 16 servings

total: 16 cents a serving

8. Bananas
Take very overly ripe bananas. Take out only as much as you want to feed baby at that meal because it will turn brown quickly out of its skin. I usually do half a banana with a meal and wrap the other half in plastic wrap. Mash the banana until smooth (it is easier to mash if it is super ripe). Serve immediately. In my experience banana doesn’t freeze well due to the oxidation (turning brown).
- Bananas between .35 and .69 cents a pound. I get a few for us each week and a few for Nolan for the next week when they are nice and soft

               2 bananas at $0.52 lbs, 2 bananas costs me $0.46 today which is 4 servings for him

               total: 11 cents a serving

9. Butternut Squash
Buy whole butternut squash, wash and peel outer skin. Cut down the middle to expose the seeds (looks like pumpkin seeds). Scoop out the seeds and guts. Roast cut side down on baking sheet at 325’ for about 1 hour. Puree until smooth for younger babies, leave chunkier for older babies. Put in ice cube trays and freeze

1 large butternut squash (4 lbs) makes about 24 cubes

Cost per lbs $0.99

total: 16 cents a serving

10. Green Beans
                Buy fresh greens beans or frozen. For fresh green beans wash thoroughly and pick through to remove steams. I like frozen green beans because they are already de-stemmed and washed. I put then in a pot of boiling water. Cook until very soft. Drain water off. Green beans have enough water in them and you don’t need to add any. Puree until very smooth (takes longer than most veggies because of the skin). Put in ice cube trays and freeze
                                1 bag of frozen green beans (32 oz) makes about 24 cubes

                 Cost per bag $2.19

                 total: 9 cents a serving

11. Peaches, Bananas, Strawberry Mix
                This is a bag of frozen fruits that has all the fruits cut up already. I placed the fruit in a glass bowl in the microwave, covered and cooked on high for 5 minutes. No water added. I let it cool and poured into ice cube trays and freeze. So easy!

                  One bag (14 oz) makes about 12 cubes
                                  Cost per bag $ 3.25
                                 total: 27 cents a serving

12. Peaches and Mango Mix
We took one bag of frozen peaches and one bag frozen mango chunks. Heat they up together in a microwave safe glass bowl, cover and cook for 10 minutes on high. I did add a little water, maybe ½ cup, but depending on the fruit you may not need it. Cook additional 5 minutes if not easily mashed with a fork. Then puree till smooth. let it cool and pour into ice cube trays and freeze.

              1 (12 oz) bag frozen unsweetened peaches and 1 (12 oz) bag frozen mango makes 24 cubes

               Cost per bag $2.74 each

                total: 22 cents a serving

A few more baby food purees:

Berry Mix and Oatmeal: Great for breakfast for baby and it looks beautiful!

Frozen berry mix ( I used, blackberry, raspberry, strawberry and blueberries) steamed in the microwave until very tender. Pureed until smooth. Mix up baby oatmeal and pour into ice cube trays, only fill up about 3/4 of the way. Then spoon berry mix over top and freeze.

Pumpkin, Apple Oatmeal: another great, flavorful breakfast food, and it couldn't be easier!

1 cup of pumpkin puree (I use canned pumpkin by Libby's) and 1 cup of applesauce (no sugar added please) and 1/2 cup baby oatmeal. Stir together and spoon into ice cube trays. Freeze. So easy, no cooking at all.

Picture not available

Making Baby Food is Simple

2013-04-14T14:49:00.001-04:00

Making baby food is not rocket science. It is easy, gives your little munchkin nutritious foods and costs you much less money! What's not to love! Well it does take a few general pieces of equipment and a few hours a month of time to make.

We started Nolan with solid foods (anything other than breast milk or formula) at just before 6 months old. Your kiddo should be able to sit up unsupported and it is recommended by pediatricians that they be at least 6 months old. We chose Sweet Potatoes as Nolan's first intro to food because it is a vegetable, is easily digested, has lots of great vitamins and bonus, it is actually sweet tasting.

He took to it really well and never wastes a drop but some babies are slow to warm up to the idea of food. Tread slowly and don't push them to fast. If you start food too early, some babies will still have the reflex to push things out of their mouth (so as not to choke). This will be a very messy endeavor if baby is still pushing food out. You may want to wait another week or two till baby shows you he/she is ready. We started Nolan at about 5 1/2 months when he was very eager to take food from us, watched us intently when we ate and no longer seemed satisfied after his meal time.

So congratulations if you are thinking or making baby food at home! I will tell you I am so happy we decided to do it. I love knowing that he is eating 100% whatever veggie or fruit, without anything added or taken away. My take on making his food is simple...

1. Wash the food
2. Heat (steam and baking usually)
3. Puree
4. Then freeze, done!

See, simple! Now for some photo documentation...

These are my latest creations. I still generally do single ingredients and blend them on his plate if I feel like it. I typically have one bag in the freezer for each fruit of vegetable. At meal time I aim for one veggie and one fruit

This is pretty much all I use for making baby food at home. The number one item is the stick blender. A food processor would be great, but I don't have one. A steamer basket, a cutting board, a bowl, shard knife, spatula, peeler, fork, measuring cup and also a baking pan. Aside from the stick blender these are pretty basic kitchen tools. Oh and a set of ice cube trays is very important, man I almost forgot!

Here we have mangos, parsnips, carrots, sweet potato and avocado. I haven't been brave enough to give him mango so we ate those but the rest have been a success. I wash all the raw veggies before doing anything else

I choose to cut up the carrot to reduce my cooking time and hopefully save some nutrients that are lost during extended cooking processes. I peeled the carrot and chopped it up

I steamed the carrots over a steam basket (double boiler) until they were very, very tender. You could also roast you carrots in the oven or heat them on the stove in the water too. I took my trust stick blender are blended it till it was a big blob of orange and had barely any chunks at all. Babies digestive systems need all the help they can get, so blend it up very fine

Parsnips may sound like an odd choice for baby food but they taste almost like a carrot , have a mild sweet, root flavor and puree up nicely. Nolan preferred these to carrots. This one parsnip cost only 20 cents but it only made 6 servings too

Here is the finished parsnip. Not much there but it was only one parsnip (think one carrots worth) but he loved it! It has the feel of a white yukon potato with the nutrition of carrots

Here are the finished products from my very first batch of baby food. On the left: Carrot, then sweet potato and on the right parsnips

My next venture was to try pumpkin. For this I chose to buy a can of already pureed pumpkin. I am not interested in peeling and cutting up a whole pumpkin! What are the ingredients in the can you ask? Just pumpkin, not even any water added. Pumpkin is the perfect consistency and is already 100% mushed up. I open the can and potion it off in my ice cube trays! Please make sure it is 100% pure pumpkin and not pie filling.

Peaches were not in season when I wanted to start them for Nolan so I bought a bag of unsweetened peaches. I steamed them with a small amount of water until super tender and then turned on the blender. That's it!

One bag of peaches made 11 servings and cost around $1.49. It took about 10 minutes to make (mostly waiting for them to get soft on the stove)

Peas are a great way to start babies on green veggies .They are packed with vitamins and nutrients but they have a hint of sweet. The trick is steam them in water until very soft but don't over cook them and have all the nutrient slip out in the water. They should squish easily between your fingers and be bright green. I drain them and puree immediately. Pease need a little water added to them to keep them from being too thick.

It is still winter here in Michigan so many fruits are not in season. When nothing in the produce section looks good, I go frozen. This is the first medley of fruits I have made. I bought a bag of ready cut fruits from Dole, poured them in a microwave safe glass dish, covered the dish so it could steam. I heated it without any added water for 5 minutes. It was perfectly soft, I pureed it with my stick blender and it was done!

That one bag cost $1.99 and made 11 servings. He gobbled it up! It is probably the sweetest thing I have every fed him, so of course it was a hit. It only took me 10 minutes to make this (and I ate breakfast while it was heating up!)

Here is a typical meal for Nolan these days: One cube of peas, one of carrot, a small glob of applesauce and leftover sweet potato glob. Some meals he cleans his plate and cries for more, other times he is content with a few cubes.

When it is meal time for Nolan, I take 1-3 cubes of food and heat them in the microwave. Some choose to let the food come up to temp in the fridge but I never seem to think that far ahead. Nolan seems to prefer his food warmed up and not room temp ( I suppose I do as well). So the microwave works well for quick heat ups.

My recommendation is to do as much or as little as you want for making your own baby food. I think I take the middle of the road approach with buying some fresh fruits and veggies and some frozen bags. I started Nolan on solids during the late fall and winter when many foods were not in season so going frozen was a great option. Do what feels right and you have the time for.

I find I spend about 2-3 hours a month on making baby food and I save our household easily $80 a month or more. Plus I get the added satisfaction of knowing I made it for him. When he looks at me with a grin and goes "mmmmmm", I know it was the right decision for us.

First bites of food just before 6 months! Sweet Potatoes are a great first food

He loved every last drop!

Recipes to follow on next blog post!

I am compiling a list of all the foods we have tried with Nolan, the amounts they make and their cost break down.

Casual, Comfy, Craftsman Living Room

2013-03-25T22:14:00.002-04:00

I L.O.V.E our living room. Which is a good thing considering we spend probably 80% of our waking time at home in this room. I set out to have a living room that felt relaxed, comfortable, inviting but still have some structure. I knew from the start of planning our home that I wanted the living room to have a "beachy feel". Actually that is a lie, I wanted my future living room to be "beachy" since I was 10 years old and designing my future home in the SIMS.

There are a few things we would still like to do with the space but it's well on its way. I have always felt a room, or a home for that matter is never "done". A home is always evolving to fit the needs of the family and needs to grow and change. I think this room wont be close to done until our children are older and not trying to rip everything off the shelves.

Here is the photo tour of our living room...

This is the view of the living room when you come down the stairs. Every morning I get the walk down the stairs and see this cheerful room. The fireplace is a great focal point and we love the built in shelves on either side.

As you walk in the front door entry way and turn slightly to the left you will see the living room. Beyond that towards the right is our apple green dining room.

This is one of my favorite photos of the living room. The sun light was perfect and because Nolan was down for a nap, the room the very clean. Also, my favorite daytime cooking show "The Chew" was on, it was a good day

A closer look of the fireplace. We have approximately 12 inches of space around the fireplace insert that is tiled. Having 12 inches around allowed for minimal waste with the tiles and I felt the scale was right. We picked a very inexpensive ($2 a sq ft) in green/blue glass squares.

You can see the moulding details around the fireplace surround. All the shelves and trim are white painted MDF. We of course stuck with the craftsman look for the fireplace.

Our couch is from a furniture company called Fenton Home furnishings in Frankenmuth and Fenton, MI. The brand is Palliser and the model is called "Jura". We love it. It has clean lines, is comfortable and one weird bonus, it has a ridge along the back the is the perfect size to set a drink on. I'm not sure if that is a wise place for a cup, but I do it anyway.

With a comfy couch, you need a place to put your feet up. We lucked into this glass and distressed wood coffee table at World Market for $199. Because of the distressed wood finish, it is very baby friendly and doesn't show chew marks!

The coffee table has a drawer inside that you can put anything you want! We chose to put our wedding album, Nolan's baby book and a birthday card for Kyle that I made when Nolan was a month old. Eventually we could have mementos from family vacations, photos and so much more! -I sound like an infomercial for this table.

My view while sitting on the couch. Pretty perfect if you ask me.

The right side shelf. A few wicker baskets with baby items and a large sturdy basket on the floor for baby toys

The bottom shelf has been striped of all fun, decorative items now that Mr. Nolan is crawling and on the move. We tried to keep all the items on the bookshelves meaningful. The trio of photos on the top are from the Red wood forest where my cousin was married. There is also a photo from the day Nolan was born and a photo book that guests signed at our wedding. A few good books and 2 storage boxes from IKEA and done.

Another look at the fireplace. The fireplace has an electric insert (we are an electric only house, no propane or natural gas). We have been very glad this is electric with a crawling baby around, since it is not wood or gas, we don't have to worry about any parts or flames for him to be hurt by.

The logs are molded and can not come apart and the fireplace can only be turned on with a switch on the wall and is is not hot to the touch. We can enjoy the look of the fireplace and not have to worry about the baby, or gate it off.

These photos have a special place in our hearts. We purchased these 4 paintings on our honeymoon in Bermuda hoping that they would one day have a place in our home. We bought 4 RIBBA frames from IKEA and pop em' in. It took a little time to secure them to the wall and keep the same size around the frames.

I feel like any art is great to hang in our home, but especially meaningful art. These paintings will be hanging up for many, many years

Mr. Nolan would like to demonstrate the baby friendly nature or the living room and more specifically the coffee table. Yes, someone is teething.

Choosing Geothermal

2013-03-17T13:35:00.000-04:00

Guest Post from Kyle:

How much does it cost to run your house on geothermal? That’s a great question, a difficult question at that. Most companies tell you that you will save average 30-70% on your current heating and cooling bills.

While we were saving up for our house we spent a few years living in a 2 bedroom 1 bath apartment of about 950 square feet. It was a 2^nd story south-west facing unit, making for some hot summers and breezy winters.

We were fortunate enough to get some of the heat from the unit below us in the winter. Using a programmable thermostat, we would let the unit get down to 58 degrees before the heat would kick in. We kept the unit on a 4 degree setback. During the evenings when we were home, the unit was set to 62 degrees and 58 degrees during the day while we were away. Blankets and sweatpants were quite common in those days. During the summer using a 7 degree setback we would leave the unit at 85 degrees during the day and 78 at night.

Water use was normal for a 2 person household. Daily showering and 1 or 2 dishwasher loads each week. We lived near family and would do laundry often at a relative’s rather than pay the $3 per load.

For the two years that we lived there our average cost for heating/cooling, water, and electric was around $83 per month or about $1,000 annually. Which, wasn’t terrible but we had to spent about $20-25 each year plus a few hours to seal up all of the openings around the unit to help cut down on heat loss during the winter.

For our house we had kicked around the idea of doing a propane furnace (natural gas not available) with an a/c unit. Then we remembered our frugal heating/cooling methods from the apartment living and thought that we likely be too cost focused that we wouldn’t keep the house at a comfortable temperature. We quickly threw that idea out the window and moved on to geothermal.

Our house is much better insulated than that old apartment unit but is also larger. Total conditioned space at our house is about 2,100 square feet. We opted for forced air rather than radiant heat. We have the house set to stay between 70- 73 degrees year round. In the winter the house stays at 70 degrees (no setbacks) and 72-73 in the summer (1 degree setback), making for a comfortable temperature year round. We also have a heat recovery ventilator that constantly brings fresh air in the house.

Below are a few pictures of our loop field.

Loop trench with pipes laid. About 5-6 feet deep.

Trench making the shape of a "J" in the yard. Goes out from the house about 350 feet.

This is the view from the road during the digging of the loop field. The loop goes out from our house and heads towards the road and then curves back slightly.

Piping showing 2 going out and 2 on the return.

We utilize a two 50 gallon water heater setup. One is wired and heated at about 120 degrees with the other one being a preheat tank. During the summer and winter months when the geo unit runs more frequently heating the preheat tank to a max of 150 degrees. This makes for plenty of “free”hot water being available during these months.

With having a baby, our house is occupied 24 hours a day as little Nolan is watched at home. We also have the pleasure of doing about 5 loads of laundry a week as we elected to do cloth diapering.

For us, geo was the best choice and we haven’t had to spend much time worrying about how much our utilities would cost from month to month. One year cost of operating our house on 100% electricity was about $130 per month or about $1,600 annually. Monthly kWh usage ranged from a high of 1,736 in the middle of winter to a low of 596 during this past summer.

Additional pros of geo are that electric rates are fairly consistent compared to propane or other fuel choices. During the summer months there is a higher tiered rate for electric use over 600 kWh (only 1 month during the summer exceeded 600 kWh).

This definitely ended up being the right choice for us. We haven’t had any second thoughts about going with geo. If you’re thinking about geothermal for your house it’s good to ask around of other people who have had geo installed and learn their results. If there’s anything we can help with please feel free to ask.

-Kyle

Modern Green Nursery

2012-07-24T14:42:00.003-04:00

Modern Green Nursery

The nursery is complete! We started with the apple green walls and just let it go from there. I had wanted a nature inspired modern nursery for our little guy. I had originally thought about having tree decals on the walls or painting tree limbs. Now I would call the theme "Eclectic Nature Nursery"

The changing table is a dresser from IKEA and is great for storage and seems to be the right height for changing a diaper. We just added a changing table pad for around $15 and a soft cover. I added a few baskets for his newborn diapers and the changing area is complete.

The dresser fit really well between the window and the area where the vent is in the floor.

We created a collage above the changing table. The leaf painting was made by my cousin, and it completely inspired a bit of an orange theme in the room. We have two frames up that I left empty to add photos in later.

I just thought this was such a sweet saying to hang in a nursery.

The last frame in the collage is a fun print I saw online of an orange fox. I thought it worked well with the orange leaf painting and cute little plush owl pillow.

Wicker storage baskets by the changing table for teeny tiny newborn diapers and itty bitty socks!

This is probably my favorite addition to the nursery. I bought him from Edynsgarden on Etsy.com for a cool $18 total with shipping. I had my eye on this cute plush owl pillow for months, then one day I said "okay, our nursery NEEDS this owl".

The top drawer of the dresser has our cloth diapers that we will use once he outgrows the newborn disposable diapers. We also have boxes of wipes and a small box of rattles and toys.

I love all the fun colors the cloth diapers come in! We went with Bum Genius free time all in one diaper after much research. We plan on diapering with disposables for the first few weeks (plus we were given lots of newborn diapers at my shower) and then switch to the cloth after that.

These cloth diapers are all one piece, so no folding or stuffing. They just need to be washed in the washer every other day of use and then dried. They fit babies better if they are over 8 pounds but they do make newborn sized ones too. This color is called "Ribbit"!

We added a super cheap (and I mean cheap, its particle board) book shelf from Target for $15. It fits the space and is added storage in the awkward little nook.

The orange lamp is another HomeGoods find and the book is a classic "The Very Hungry Caterpillar".

We added some of our favorite childhood books that we can read to him.

The teddy bear is Kyle's from when he was a baby and I love that now it has a place in our nursery.

I love the clean lines of this two tone crib. It is Mercer by Babyletto and we found it at Walmart.com. I think cribs are so over priced, and this one was no exception. It is adjustable in height and coverts to a toddler bed and has a nice drawer that pulls out on the bottom for added storage.

The crib is over near the window, across from the changing table and fit pretty well in the space

I found the bird painting at HomeGoods for $30 and I loved it! I was looking for something to fill the space above the crib and the fun oranges and blue birds were perfect. After we have his newborn photos done we might put a photo above the crib.

I am very pleased with how well everything fit in small room. I think the room is only about 9x10 with a few cut out spaces.

Just this last weekend we bought the chair from IKEA. It's not a rocker but it does bounce a little with your feet. The thing I love about it, it fits my shape perfectly! It hits my neck, lower back and knees all at the right height which is ideal for a nursing chair.

Soon I will be enjoying my new little man while sitting in this very chair. Such an amazing thought!

Get it Done

2012-07-15T17:56:00.002-04:00

Things are coming along nicely here at our little home. Kyle has been checking items off the to do list right and left! He's unstoppable. We have just a few weeks left until our due date for our little man, so the pressure is on to finish up little projects. We are hoping to get most of the items completed so that when he arrives we can just enjoy being a family.

Kyle has been like super man! It has been averaging 95 degrees here in Mid Michigan most days but that hasn't stopped him from being outside.

View from the under side of the house looking up at the gorgeous blue sky. We love the dentil blocks and the decorative brackets up at the peak of the roof line.

Our view from our front porch is pretty amazing. Fresh country air and all the wild flowers in the front yard. Still waiting on the grass to fill in the yard. Its pretty tough to grow grass from seed when its 90+ degrees out and we haven't had rain in weeks but we have a couple little patches.

The decks have been power washed and ready for stain. All the exterior paint on the porches are done. The beams and columns are all a nice crisp white that really stand out from the red color of the house siding.

So happy with how the house is coming together. Its such a great feeling to know that we are making it our own and really making it feel like home.

Items Done on the Outside of the House:

Exterior columns and beams painted

Dentil blocks stained

Mail box installed and post stained

Porch steps installed (finally!)

Power washed the house

Stained the exterior decks
Starting growing grass around the house

Items Done on the Inside of the House:

Hanging some art and photos

Installing window coverings

Decorating the shelves in the living room

Almost finishing the nursery

Installing custom closets in the master bedroom

More Photos of our progress...

Making out master bedroom feel like a retreat with calming colors and a light airy feel.

Finally having art work from Bermuda where we went on our honeymoon almost 3 years ago. These 4 frames are from IKEA and have a prominent place on the wall of our living room. Now we can enjoy them everyday.

I love the pops of color from the paintings and they really take me back to our honeymoon.

Loving our new couch. Its big (can fit 7 adults pretty comfortably) and has a great modern feel. It is made by Palliser called Jura.

So excited to meet him soon! And I promise to share photos of the completed nursery very soon. Its coming along great but we are waiting on the rocker and I need to hang a few more photos before I share the final product.

Coastal Blue Guest Bathroom

2012-05-27T10:33:00.001-04:00

We are head over heels for this bathroom! I wish it wasn't our guest bathroom and soon to be kids bathroom. The blue color on the walls are by far our favorite wall color in the house. I think another reason for our love of this bathroom is that we picked out and found most of the finishes our selves. We got a great deal on the vanity, which included the top, all the hardware and the mirror.

I knew I wanted a crisp white shower curtain for this bathroom. I think it gives a fresh, light feel to the bathroom. This is the only room in the house that doesn't have a window, so we wanted to make sure it didn't feel dark.

We went with a curved shower rod for around 20 bucks at our local home improvement store and we grabbed two shower hooks in a matching chrome finish for around $13 each hook. The chrome matches the knobs on the vanity and the faucet.

Hey, it wouldn't be a proper bathroom with out a toilet right! We went with dual flush toilets in all the bathrooms. This one is by American Standard in white ceramic.

The inside of the tub/shower combo. We went with a plain white surround for both the bathrooms (just not in the master bath). It has plenty of shelves for storing body wash products and a big tub for bath time.

We tried to keep a nautical feel for the bathroom. I think the blue walls dictated the style for the bathroom. The wall color along with a white marble vanity top and white trim, makes the bathroom feel like a coastal retreat! We have plans to add some art work to the walls soon, I am thinking maybe something in black and white with anchors.

The vanity in this bathroom required an 8" spread for the faucet, making this faucet the most expensive one we have of the 4 in the house. 8" spread faucets are generally more expensive than 4" spreads. The spread refers to the distance from handle to handle. We accessorized with items we already had, a glass jar for cotton balls and a rattan basket I have had since college.

This photo shows the flooring in the bathroom. We went with a click down vinyl tile called Star Loc. You can glue it down, grout it or just click them together. We went with large rectangular tiles in a staggered brick pattern. I love real ceramic tile but unlike tile, this isn't cold under your feet and the installation cost was much lower than tile.

We have a skinny linen closet next to the toilet. Right now it is 100% empty but it has the potential to store all the towels and kiddie bath toys that we could ever have. We plan to add some inexpensive wire coated shelves in the closet and a hamper for used towels.

This wall sconce was exactly what we were looking for in this bathroom. AND we got it at the hardware store for only $19.99. We just were not finding what we were looking for when it came to lighting for this bathroom, until we checked out the outdoor lighting section. This lamp has seeded glass and we added a vintage inspired bulb called an Edison bulb.

The bulb will burn an image in your eye for a good minute if you stare at it... but it looks really cool! We have CFL's (compact fluorescent light bulbs) in all our light fixture because they are more energy efficient than incandescents. This light fixture is the only exception in the house. The bulb was also pricey, around $10 for one light bulb and it doesn't have the long life expectancy of the CFL's. All that said, we love how it looks in this bathroom.

Here is a view of the bathroom with the wall light on. You can see the exposed bulb in the light. Don't stare for too long!

We are so happy with how this bathroom turned out. It is fresh and light, even with out any natural light in the room. I also love that this room is 97% done, leaving us to tackle the many other rooms in the house that still need some lovin'.

Our Basement flooded, no joke

2012-05-14T12:04:00.001-04:00

If those clouds look dark and ominious, thats because they are. The are signaling a fun night ahead for Kyle and I and a flood of water in our new basement.

When I got home from work on Thursday evening the clouds were already moving in. Kyle had been doing some painting on the outside porches so I thought I would snap a few shots before the storm started.

The red siding looked great against the dark smokey skies. You could almost smell the rain about to start. The outside of the house is almost complete now that Kyle is done painting. Next on the agenda, seeding the yard with a little grass so we don't have mud everywhere and sealing the decks.

The back yard as the storm clouds moved in.

Not sure why I took a photo of the septic tanks before the rain started but it proved to be a good comparision to what it was about to look like. Please take note of where the lid is on the upper septic tank lid... please see the below photo that was taken about an hour later

You may notice that the one lid seems farther away than before. Well it is. It is a good 5 feet away from where it should be. It should be screwed into the top of the septic tank. Thats why we soon heard the over fill alarm on the spetic tanks buzzing. It sounded like a bug zapper buzzing on the outside of the house and this red light was going off. The alarm is warning us that the level of liquids in the tank has gotten too high and its time to get it pumped. So while the back yard looked like this...

...the basement looked like this.

Not only did the spetic tanks flood with the water from the back yard because they were not on properly, but the check valve that keeps things from flowing back to the house was stuck in the open position, allowing water to flow back to the house from the tanks. AND, the future bathroom plumbing in the basement was never capped off properly, SO... all that water had a perfect channel to flow right back inside. It was the perfect storm of mistakes made on our septic and plumbing.

The two white pipes are the future plumbing for the basement bathroom. That stream of brown water is flowing from the pipe to a bucket Kyle grabbed so he could bail us out bucket by bucket. The tops of the plumbing pipes had just duct tape over top and were never properly sealed and capped off.

Kyle rigged up a system to divert the water in one stream into the bucket. He then was throwing the buckets of water out the window. Mean while I was running boxes of our stuff upstairs and away from the growing pool of water.

I learned two lessons after that night. 1: Even a brand new house can have a flooded basement and 2: Every homeowner needs a Shop Vac. they are a good investment.

A big thank you to my parents who came over and brought 2 Shop Vacs, rags and hand sanitizer!

Modern Craftsman Kitchen

2012-04-28T17:07:00.005-04:00

Modern Craftsman Kitchen

UPDATE 2023

We have lived here for 10 years now, and I can honestly say the kitchen cabinets are holding up very well (especially considering we are raising 3 kids here).

Even being white cabinets, they look pretty good after all these years. No fading at all, just the typically jammy handprints and coffee drips from normal family life. They wipe up easily. There have been a few water spills over the years that have warped the baseboards (MDF) and hopefully this summer we will replace those affected but honestly no one sees them as they are under the cabinets in the toe kick part.

The stove has held up well, just need one burner element replaced. Fridge, oven and built in microwave are also fingers crossed holding up well. The dishwasher needed to be replaced last year, after 9 good years of daily use, the motor gave out.

I would say one of the only negatives would be the cabinet under the sink has gotten some water damage and is showing some wear and tear. We love our apron front black sink but sometimes the water goes over the edge and drips down the front, like it could with any sink, but I think with the apron front, we don't notice it to wipe it up right away.

Still love the dark gray wall color (Sherwin Williams 7669 Summit Gray)

****************

Since moving into the house about 8 weeks ago, the kitchen has been one of our favorite rooms. We have so much storage and so much space to prep food and cook. The kitchen can easily accommodate many people around the island. We still haven't filled many of the shelves and drawers!

The kitchen cabinets are a shaker style cabinet from Aristokraft. The door style for the white cabinets are called Winstead and the darker brown cabinets are Sinclair. We love how the wood floors warm up the modern feel of the kitchen.

The kitchen is very open from the dining room to allow for easy entertaining and socializing while preparing a meal. We have a large island with two ceramic pendants and a large bank of windows on the East wall.

One of the favorite areas of the kitchen would have to be the stove top that is almost like a fireplace hearth the way it surrounds the cooking area. We had always wanted a two tone kitchen, utilizing white cabinets as well as darker wood cabinets. Originally we had thought about darker cabinets for all the base cabinets and white for the uppers but we decided we liked more of the white and used the darker cabinets more sparingly.

To the left and right of the stove top we have a 12 inch counter top area and shallow cabinets up above. For the left side we have a simple spice rack and up above in the cabinet we have baking supplies.

We tried to keep the crown mouldings very simple in the kitchen to reflect the shaker cabinet style and craftsman heritage of our home. As we mentioned before our handles are all stainless steel pulls from IKEA. Their sleek profile fits in the kitchen very well and they were inexpensive at $7.99 for a two pack.

On either side of the stove top we have two cabinets the pull out and house all our cooking oils and spices. These cabinets are actually base cabinets with the toe kicks on the bottom cut off. This is the only area of the kitchen where the back splash tile goes all the way up the wall. We also have an exhaust fan and lighting up underneath the cabinet above the stove top.

This is the view of the kitchen when you walk in through the mudroom and pantry area. If you turned to the right you would walk towards the dining room. The island has been used almost everyday for food prep and since we don't have the dining room table we have been eating at the island too (while standing mind you, since we don't really have room for stools).

Next to the fridge we have a long area of counter top and prep space. We have been using it mostly for breakfast prep and the toaster sits over here most days. We have really enjoyed the back splash, it was the perfect style and color for our kitchen. The tile is made by Bliss, the color is Iceland and it has stone, matte and clear glass and white marble.

We found these awesome jars at Target for storing the flour and sugar. I love that these glass jars have a wide mouth at the top that makes scooping out of them really easy. They were one of the first accessories I bought for the new kitchen and they are functional and good looking!

In planning the kitchen we originally thought about having small cabinets on what is now the wall of windows. We are very glad we went with just windows on the East wall. We have plenty of storage in the kitchen (especially with the island and our walk in pantry). We just love how much light comes in and our beautiful view outside.

On the East wall we have our dishwasher and our amazing black cast iron farmhouse sink. The sink is by Kohler and will probably out live our great-great grand children! We have loved having this sink as part of our kitchen. Our only complaint is that because it is in a shiny black finish, it shows water spots like crazy. The only cure seems to be wiping out the sink each time you use it (not going to happen!)

In a few years when we finish the detached garage, the windows in the kitchen will look on the garage. We also have a really nice view of wildflowers and shrubs just beyond the driveway. Very enjoyable to look out when doing dishes and see so much wildlife and beauty.

We chose a stainless-steel goose neck faucet by Delta for the kitchen sink. It swivels to reach each side of the sink and the nozzle pulls out for even more reach. It has been a great detail in the kitchen and has been really handy for cleaning large pans and reach to the counter to fill a big pot of water.

There she is in all her white glossy cabinet glory! We have loved every minute in this kitchen so far and can't wait to make many memories with family and friends as we host parties and gatherings for many years.

Updated: our paint color for the kitchen: Summit Grey by Sherwin Williams. SW7669

If you have any questions on our finishes, colors or anything about the kitchen, please feel free to leave a comment.

Nursery Ideas

2012-04-26T13:18:00.002-04:00

That's right its time to start planning the nursery. I wasn't sure if we would share pregnancy related news here on the blog since our blog is mostly about building our dream home. But this little one, and hopefully his adorable nursery will be a big part of our home so it made sense to share the news on the blog as well.

Kyle and I are both beyond excited for his arrival in August. We are due in August and we did find out we are having a baby boy! Things have been going very smoothly so far but I am starting to feel like we are running out of time to get things done around here. I'm sure many new moms feel this way, that there is so much to do before the baby gets here. Over the last few weeks here at the house, very little has been done and it is so frustrating.

Our drain field finally went in a few weeks ago (we live out away from any public sewage system so we have a drain field behind the house). For the first 6 weeks that we lived here we just had the septic tank but now the field is in and that's where the progress has stopped. They still need to level out the yard and re-grade the slope of the property. Because of the settling dirt we have to climb up 2-3 feet to get up the porch to get inside the house. This is getting more and more difficult to maneuver ever week for me.

The other frustration is our furniture that we ordered almost 8 weeks ago still isn't here! We have been unable to have parties and enjoy the house because we have still zero places to sit down. Hopefully another week on the couch and no expected time line on the dining room set yet. The whole dining on the floor, like we were in a hip sushi restaurant, is no longer fun. I am ready to sit at a real table and sit in our dining room.

Enough complaining! We don't have much in the nursery yet but I have some ideas that hopefully we can get started on here soon.

First off I love the serene nature of this nursery inspiration. I also love the white slate board crib and the window shade with the little owl and birds.

The color on the walls of this nursery are close to the green in our nursery and I hope to recreate the birch trees on our wall.

I love everything about this modern nursery. I love the re purposed retro dresser for the changing table and the nature theme with the owl art work. I also love the mobile above the changing area to keep baby entertained.

This compilation has all the colors I am thinking about for our nursery. The green from our wall color and modern touches that feel appropriate for a nursery but maybe a little more sophisticated.

As it stands now this is the only item in the nursery. It is a smaller version of the dresser we bought for our bedroom at IKEA. The plan is for this dresser to have a changing table pad on top and maybe some art work on the wall behind it.

Our current nursery... a big green, blank canvas. I am hoping to have a nature theme for his room. I plan to have a wall with silhouette birch trees and art work with foxes and owls. The walls are an apple green and I want to introduce small pops of orange and aqua blue. The furniture will be white for the most part.

Here is my mood board for the nursery. I want clean lines, retro colors (green, orange and aqua) and I want to keep it eco-friendly and fun.

Just one more cute ultrasound photo of him sucking his thumb!

Our Master Bedroom

2012-04-14T13:59:00.000-04:00

Things are slowly coming together here at the new house. Our sectional and our dining room set are still not here however our master bedroom is really looking great! About a month ago now we bought our dresser from IKEA and that was just the start of making the bedroom feel like home.

Last weekend we added a colorful duvet from Bed, Bath and Beyond. It has reds, yellows and teals in a paisley pattern. We picked up two nightstands from IKEA that we assembled in about 30 minutes each. The biggest change came when we added our new closet system (also from IKEA, man do we love that store!)

The walls of our bedroom are a soft green/blue called Sea Salt, very soothing. Now it feels balanced with the colorful duvet and my new fun lamp. This photo shows the height of the room and the beam that runs down the center of the ceiling.

I love lamp, truly I do. I fell in love with this peacock colored cutie last weekend! I found her at the clearance center at Art Van for $35.00 and with our new nightstands she has a spot to sit.

The night stands were only $60 each from IKEA and were super easy to assemble. They match the dresser we bought last month and we plan to buy one more dresser in this collection for in the closet.

All the drawers have these cute striped prints in the inside. The nightstands don't provide much storage, just enough for my glasses my charger to my cell phone, but it does provide a place for a glass of water at night and a spot for the lamp.

We also now are the proud owners of window coverings! We opted for black out honey comb shades for the master bedroom. We still need to get a new head board and add some pillows that coordinate with the new bedding. I am thinking a nice tall head board that takes advantage of the tall ceilings.

The closets are still a work in progress but we are just happy to not have all our clothes on the floor in bags. I have taken the left side of the closet, Kyle has the right and we share the middle with lots of shelving.

The bottom four shelves pull our for folded shirts and pants and we have lots of storage above. We plan to add trim for the gaps between the units to finish it off and possibly adding hooks for hanging belts or scarves.

Here is Kyle's side of the closet with all his suits and shirts. We have most of our folded stuff in the dresser in the bedroom, and if we need more space we will be putting another shelving unit in the closet.

It feels like a grown up bedroom and closet now! Kyle had been hanging his suits in the basement since we moved in so I would say this is a huge step up for us.

Stay tuned for more updates as we make this house feel like our home. We have so many ideas to make it feel comfortable and inviting that we can't wait to share!

A Place to Sit

2012-03-20T20:10:00.001-04:00

We are feeling more and more settled in the house everyday but we are a long way from having it furnished. Every weekend we have been checking out furniture stores (including my favorite, IKEA). We have already purchased our sectional for the living room and the dining room table and chairs but it will be another 3-5 weeks before those arrive.

Last weekend we went down to see some wonderful friends in Canton for lunch and then spent the next 4 hours at IKEA. We purchased a new dresser for our bedroom, curtains and a duvet (which I changed my mind about and we will return next time), a few bathroom decor items and a pantry organization system.

Hemnes IKEA 8 drawer dresser. It fits the space in our bedroom perfectly. Love, love, love it!

Meet Omar, IKEA's awesome pantry storage shelves

Kyle assembled the pantry in a few hours for all 4. We bought 4 units and stacked two on top of each other since we have the height in the room. They went up rather quickly and you can adjust the shelves which is extremly practical

Here is the completed pantry on one side of the room. It can hold so much food, its great! Sure beats having your boxes of food on the floor of the pantry, which is how we had it for the first 2 weeks we lived here. The other side looks the same except it is holding about 40 rolls of toilet paper from Sam's Club (not that attractive for photos)

For the first time since we moved in, Kyle and I were able to have dinner sitting down (not on the floor). I assembled a pair of deck chairs that were a gift from my mom and dad, Kyle put together the matching table and foot stools. We sat in the sunshine on our front porch and ate an actual meal together!

These are officially the only chairs at our house, good thing it has been so warm this March in Michigan

Our first meal on the porch, a homemade Caprese Salad. We had these two fresh big tomatoes that were crying out to be paired with fresh mozzarella and basil

So delicious! A great way to welcome in the first day of Spring!

We are so in!

2012-03-12T21:50:00.003-04:00

We are officially living in our house (technically for almost 2 weeks now)! I have been wanting to share the news with the blog readers but alas we do not have internet yet. Because we built a custom home, we had to have all utilities brought to the house; electrical, water, sewage and you guessed it, cable and internet.

The cable company will have to dig a trench and bury the lines from the road to our utility pole then the wires can travel underground to their final destination in the house. I'm not in a big hurry to have cable TV again but I am missing the internet something fierce. I suppose I could blog from my cell phone but I do not have the patience to type an entire post with my thumbs. So this post is coming to you from the pirated internet of Kyle's parents house.

It is so wonderful to be in the house! This is the first house Kyle and I have every owned. We have been renters for the past 5 years so this homeowners thing is a whole new exciting adventure! We have mostly been cleaning since we moved in. It is incredible how much dust and dirt is still finding its way out from the nooks and crannies. Also we had brand new carpeting go down a few weeks back and no matter how much we vacuum those little carpet fiber thingys are still everywhere!

View of the house from the end of the driveway. It will look so much better when the grass and wildflowers start growing back. Right now its looking pretty barren.

Aside from cleaning we have been furniture shopping. As you may remember we sold almost all of our furniture when we started this house. We put everything but our bed on Craigslist and watched all the hand-me-downs and college apartment stuff go to new loving homes.

We have already made two grown up purchases for the new house:

A new mattress and box spring! Our bed was so cheap and uncomfortable before. Now we have a nice Serta mattress and I don't have back pain every morning! Yea Haw for not feeling like an arthritic lady anymore!

And last weekend we purchased our dining room set. We ventured out of Lansing to an outlet mall called Birch Run where a Pottery Barn outlet store just needed us to visit. It was so much fun to browse the selection but we just didn't really find what we were looking for. We were hoping to score a couch and dining room table but we struck out. We may however be going back for area rugs, they had great deals on Jute rugs. I fell in love with a 9x12 Jute woven rug for $99 bucks!

Not wanting to drive home empty handed, we googled local furniture shops while we were out on that side of the state . We came across Fenton Home furnishings in Frankenmuth, MI. What a great find! They sell a huge selection of great furniture and we had wonderful time working with a designer named Allison. We ordered a counter height dining room table, 4 chairs and a two person bench. It will be a few more weeks till it will arrive at our house so we will have to be patient and continue to eat dinner on the living room steps.

New dining room set by Winners Only. It has a great sturdy, solid wood design and the chairs are incredibly comfortable.

Many more items on the shopping list but for now the big items are getting checked off the list each weekend. The we can finally entertain and have friends and family over (and they can have somewhere to sit down).

Then we just need to hang some art work, get some lamps, new bedding for our bedroom. Lets just say the adventure isn't over, it's only begun! We have big plans for this house.

Wood Floors Unveiled

2012-02-21T16:54:00.000-05:00

All the flooring is finally in the house. Our wood floors actually went in over a month ago but have been under wraps until all the contractors were done in the house. Last week carpet went down in the remaining rooms which meant everyone was pretty much done working inside the house.

As soon as I knew not many more contractors would be walking through the house, I wanted to rip the paper off the floors! I have been anxious to see them in their full glory. The wood floors had this thick protective paper covering them to prevent scratches and dings.

So last weekend we did a major cleaning of the house and took all the paper off! Ohhh, they look so beautiful, I love these floors. The rich brown and red hues are warm and inviting but I still got the darker wood look that I wanted.

From the second floor landing looking into the living room. The floors are from Mohawk, and we selected a line called Santa Barbara. The winning color was Mocha. See our post on how we chose the color here

Having the hardwood floors on the main floor is so inviting and so practical with all the traffic in the entry way, living room, dining room and kitchen

The living room feels complete with the floors unwrapped and we could really see how it looked with the fireplace and all the white built ins

You can see some of the color variance and textures in the wood floors

This is a close up of the floors. The are "hand scraped" so as to look aged, like they have always been here. They also have some manufactured dings and worm hole type areas

The installers did a great job staggering the floor boards and the joints. They also paid special attention to scattering the boards that are darker or lighter to give it a random effect

I just loved this photo of Kyle sweeping the floor. The light was just filtering in the room in a magical way (really highlighting the dirt on the floor too). There was so much to clean up to get the floors looking good

This is the wood floor in the dining room. We tried to hold the wood sample up to each room color to see how they looked side by side. I especially like how the crisp white trim looks with all the wood

We did end up with a few scratches even with the paper on the floor. Some can just be filled in will a wood pen color stain matcher but some others will need the floor boards replaced. We had our brand new stove dragged across the wood floors on two spots in the dining room by a contractor so those ones will be swapped out

Seeing the wood floors all together was just the right pick me up. After weeks of waiting to hear if we can move in, its been a bit discouraging. most everything is done but we are waiting to see if we have been given occupancy and can move in. The waiting continues...

Built in Fireplace with Shelves

2012-02-03T18:56:00.000-05:00

We are finally in the home stretch of the house! Another week away from moving in to our dream home. We had a small set back this past week. Kyle and I went to visit the house (like we do every night after work) and I heard water dripping... not a good sound. Turns out we had a plumbing leak in the master bathroom, down to the bedroom on the first floor and to the basement. Awesome.

The leak had been found and repaired. A hole was cut in the wall behind our master bathroom vanity to get to the pipe and also a large hole in the ceiling of the downstairs bedroom. We just have to have the drywall guy mud and tape the hole and our painter will need to come back to repaint the ceiling in that area. On a positive note about the water leak incident: the carpet had not yet gone down in that room so no flooring was damaged.

I wanted to share an area of the living room with you that is 100% done and lookin' good. Our fireplace and built in shelves are perfect. I am really looking forward to putting books and pretty accessories on those white glossy shelves.

Staying true to our love of craftsman, the fireplace has clean lines and nice trim details.

We have 3 shelves on either side of the fireplace, plenty of room for all my pottery bowls and books! The shelves and all the trim in the house are painted with a glossy acrylic paint to make them really shine

Once the paper comes off the floor we will be able to see the gorgeous wide plank woods floors next to the white trim. We opted to go with an electric fireplace because we didn't want to add in propane since we already have geothermal as our heat source. Although I love the look and sound of a wood fireplace, I didn't want to deal with the clean up and messing with the indoor air quality

This tile was a bargain from Home Depot. We had been looking all over for the right tile (in our budget). The only tile I found I liked was $43 a sq ft (waaaayy out of our budget). These 12"x12" sheets were only $4.20 a sq ft. Score!

The moulding details really make the fireplace one of a kind. We designed the trim work with our carpenter. I found inspiration from other fireplaces I had cut from magazines or found on other blogs.

I can see us sitting in front of the fireplace, drinking hot cocoa. We will most likely be sitting on the floor for a while since we have zero living room furniture.

One day a flat screen TV will adorn the wall above the fireplace. Even though it will be a while before the living room design style comes together, I am just so pleased with how it looks. The finished product is just what we wanted.

Aaaa-mazing Master Bath

2012-01-22T12:39:00.001-05:00

Well the house may not be done but its sure lookin' good. We are over budget and 2 months behind schedule but I can forget all about that when I walk into our gorgeous master bathroom. I love everything we picked out for this space and I have zero regrets with this space.

This was our original thought of how the master bathroom sink area would look. We have lots of storage with the linen cabinet for towels and extra toiletries. The linen cabinet was something we added last summer to the plans after thinking about more storage for the bathroom. Originally we just had double sinks along the entire wall. So we gave up some counter top space for the vertical linen cabinet. Good choice we think.

So here we are standing in the master shower looking at the vanity as it is today. We have two custom frames for mirrors above the sinks and soon the vanity light will go in the center

Oil rubbed bronze robe hooks are just within reach outside of the shower. We had thought about having chrome fixtures but after seeing the dark cabinets in the room we made all the fixtures ORB

This is the nook where the toilet will be, its next to the shower but tucked away a bit. This is also the best view of the floor tiles. Currently most of the floor is covered by paper to protect it till move in day. We went with a large rectangular beige ceramic tile in a brick pattern for the bathroom floors

This just makes me so happy! This copper metallic hexagon tile is perfect for the shower floor. About a month ago we found out the tile for the shower we ordered was back ordered so we had to change all the tile in the bathroom. It ended up working out better than we could have hoped for.

We love the way the copper tiles on the floor pull out the veins of brown in the cream/beige wall tiles. We went with a 9x12 wall tile in a brick pattern to give the shower more of a custom feel. We love rectangular tiles and they make a bigger statement that traditional 12x12 tile

We have dual shower heads! That was on our must have list for the new house. A soaking tub just wasn't important to us but a large walk in shower was a priority! We have two chrome shower heads and maybe one day we will add a rain shower head in the ceiling.

This is the wall niche in the shower for storing all our shower stuff. It is the same wall tile and trimmed out with bull nose trim to finish off the edges. We have two 12x12 boxes and a 6x12 niche on the bottom for razors and soaps

Here is the view from the bathroom looking into the walk in master shower. The shower is 7 feet by 5.5 feet and it feels huge! We are so happy with our decision to have a long rectangular window in the wall of the shower, it lets in a nice amount of natural light.

We found the counter tops for a steal at Menard's. They are called Golden Delight and are solid granite and came with a 4 inch back splash and two white ceramic sink bowls.

The bathroom is almost finished. We just need the mirrors in and the a few lights installed. We have a light between the mirrors and a pendant that hangs from the ceiling. One more shower head needs to be installed in the shower and this baby is done!

We are about 2-3 weeks away from move in at this point. So fingers crosses no more delays.

A New Year and a Look Back

2012-01-04T12:59:00.002-05:00

We begun this journey of blogging about our new house almost one year ago. Officially our first post was on January 18th, 2011. Now we are getting very close to moving it to the house we have been pouring our energy in for so long.

I wanted to take a look back on how far we have come over the last year.

Memories of house building that we are ready to leave back in 2011...

1. Closing on the bank for the construction loan: We didn't close on our loan until about a month ago which means at that point we were about 80% done with the house and 4 months into construction. We did not intend on this happening. We started with one bank but they refused our appraisals on the house so we had to switch to a different bank. We ended up with a lower interest rate but it created several sleepless nights.

2. Overages and Busting the Budget: Pretty self explanatory with this one. We found our selves paying more than we agreed to in several areas on home building even when we didn't change anything. (exhale slowly and let it go...really let it go)

3. The sinking porch of Casa de Schafer: Well this one we are still dealing with unfortunately so we can't quite put it behind us. Yes our side porch and now our front porch, are sinking a little. The supports were not dug down deep enough and as a result the ground is settling and taking the porches with them. Don't fret my friend, its being taken care of.

Things we are most looking forward to in 2012...

1. Living in our dream home and everything that entails! Making dinners together again, having a home office that isn't our bed, and having all our family and friends over.

2. Decorating! I have so many ideas pinned on Pinterest and in my design boards in Picasa. Also all our photos and framed art are in storage and I am so excited to get them up on the walls.

3. Being homeowners. We have never owned a home, we have just rented for the last 4 years (and lived for free with Kyle's parents for the last 6 months). and so the adventure will continue...

Paint Color Updates

2011-12-28T19:37:00.001-05:00

Lots of fun things happening at the house over the last few weeks. To recap: Painting finished up (except for some minor touch up work), Granite counter tops were installed in the kitchen and master bathroom and flooring was delivered.

The most dramatic changes took place when the painting wrapped up. Its incredible how a little color can transform a space. The majority of the house has neutral beige and grey (which I love as a neutral) with a few punches of color. Kyle is still wrapping his head around the in-your-face orange of the mudroom but I am head over heels for it. I have a few photos of each room for your sampling delight. I must warn you, it's already dark by the time I come home to visit the house and as a result the following photos and pretty terrible.

The lovely exterior hasn't changed much lately. It still needs crisp white paint for all the areas you see that are tan (that's just the primer color). And of course we need front stairs so people can actually walk to the front door. The chicken coop type plank is getting old

Terrible lighting photo #1. The staircase rails are stained "rich mahogany" and are looking so beautiful. I can picture garland wrapped around the railings for Christmas next year!

A little close up view of the railings. The stain has a warm, inviting feel with red under tones. I like the contrast with the dark stain and the bright white spindles. We decided to have the rails and newl post in the dark stain because these are the areas most people touch and the stain will hide hand oils better than if we went white.

Looking from the living room to the foyer. New stair treads are down and are awaiting carpet next week

Granite counters are here! Looking great, although one cupboard door got damaged during the installation. Put that on the too do list of things to fix this week

The view of the kitchen from the now Green dining room. Sorry for the general lack of lighting in the photo ( I did warn you they were awful photos). We are still waiting for lighting to be hung throughout the house.

My beautiful cast iron farmhouse sink is now nested in place with the grey counter tops. Look at all the counter top space and wide expanse of windows! I am a happy girl.

I couldn't resist another view out the window in the kitchen. The back splash will be joining the kitchen in a few weeks too

Parakeet green dining room! I know its intense for some. We had one wall that was green at our old apartment and I loved it. I think with trim and hardwood floors it wont look so shockingly green. I also have plans for artwork to go between the door to the office and the wall near the kitchen

This photo does not do justice to what Kyle calls "Hunters Vest Orange".

I think the Tangerine color works in this space because there is not a lot of wall space and most of the hallway is white trim or the white lockers

The down stairs bathroom is now a classy grey. Soon a white sink and toilet will join and I am thinking a black oval mirror to complete the crisp modern feel

The fireplace is nearly complete. The built in shelves are looking amazing with their new coat of glossy white paint

We just picked up the glass tile that will go on the face of the fireplace and it will go on in a few weeks with the rest of the tile in the house

Here is the tile for the fireplace we got for a steal at Home Depot for $3.97 a sq ft. It is a clear glass with a very slight hint of green sea glass. We needed about 12 sq ft (and we threw in a 13th tile just in case)

The upstairs South bedroom in Essential Grey

I L-O-V-E the grey with the white trim! All this room needs is carpet (next week) and a light fixture and its done!

Caution: another crazy color. This one is called Nervy and frankly I was terrified when it first went on the walls. It's grown on me now but its not for everyone. I have a pattern picked out for curtains with pale blue, burnt orange and a hint of lime green

Our lovely master bedroom with its new coat of Sea Salt. Love this color too. It seems to be everyones favorite in the house

Its hard to see the color on the wall in this photo of the master bedroom. The beam on the ceiling is stained and is in the basement waiting to be installed next week possibly, then carpet and done!

Flooring will hopefully be installed next week and then tile. Its all coming together and we are nearing completion!