Welcome Home!

I know. I know. These are long overdue. Some of your polite e-mails nevertheless have me feeling very guilty. I'm not including pictures of every single room in the house. Perhaps as each room is finished, I will post more. We still have a little work to do in the boys' room (painting built-in beds, installing window treatments, saving up for Cole to upholster an enormous window seat cushion) and window treatments to hang in Eva's bedroom and the guest bedroom; but, as of this week, most of the little details have been wrapped up. Here are pics of the completed rooms:

FRONT DOOR (ABOVE): Last week the boys and I planted the Japanese Maple that we bought for Brian for Father's Day. If it survives (it seems to be doing well), it will reach about 12 feet tall. The boys remember the name of the variety but I've forgotten. It has leaves with wine tops and bright orange undersides. It has a very open, vase-like habit and will be a beautiful focal point in that front bed, which just happens to have the perfect southeastern exposure for a Japanese Maple in our climate.


LIVING ROOM
This picture was taken looking from the landing in the stairwell into the living room.


KITCHEN
The kitchen is part of the great room which includes the dining and living rooms. It's my favorite room in the house--perhaps because I spend more time in there than anywhere else. Either that or it's my favorite because it was finished first!


DINING ROOM
This seems to be everyone else's favorite room in the house. No sooner have we cleaned up one meal than the questions start coming: "Mom, what's for . . ."


This is a small seating area that we made in the dining room with two chairs and an antique desk. It's probably the coziest spot in the house. It's even next to the fireplace! The two chairs flank part of an antique desk that I bought for Brian when we were in Alaska. The other bench-half of the desk is in our entryway. The desk was made from solid pieces of pine (not planked). Those trees had to be ENORMOUS. The desk was in an elementary school built in 1880 in New Hampshire.


MASTER BEDROOM
This picture is taken looking from the bedroom out toward the side yard. When we lay in bed at night, we can see the stars through the transom windows. That is perhaps my favorite "feature" of the house and it was entirely by accident.


This picture looks toward the opposite side of the bed. The gold "thing" in the foreground is actually a naugahyde family heirloom bench that my dad and four uncles sat on for many meals. I painted the wood frame black and it added just the right funky touch in our bedroom. I'm all for good taste but sometimes what a room needs is a little bit of bling-with-a-(his)story, you know?


These paintings were given to us by the Allens in Panama City. They knew we enjoy California missions and wanted to give them to us from their amazing art collection. They're now in our bedroom directly across from our bed.


MASTER BATH
This is a view of the vanity and the shower. Our cabinetmaker made the vanity using two huge porch posts from an old house in Georgia. Brian spent quite a bit of time sanding those enormous heart pine posts and then priming them. We went with an open vanity because we were afraid that the bath might seem a little cramped otherwise and I think it was one of the best decisions we made in the bathroom.


This is one of my favorite hangouts late at night but, unfortunately, the shade that will cover that window is on backorder until mid-October. I've been known to singe my hair on the requisite candles that must accompany the bath as Brian is adamant that the lights cannot come on. I'm not too worried. Our nearest neighbors seem to go to bed early.


COMPLETED EXTERIOR
I really like the way our exterior came out. When you're building, you never know how it will really look when it all comes together; but I enjoy turning the corner onto our street and seeing that welcoming front gable with the four big windows. It is finally feeling like home!