New Additions 12.3.09-12.6.09

Ma and Pa VT came over in early December and helped out a TON. We are incredibly grateful to all our parents, who have helped us do just about everything from day one. They help without hesitation and only want some hot cocoa at the end of the day. This weekend in particular, Ron and Tami were non stop helping with new can lights in 3 rooms, the rock wall, tearing out the random sink in the computer room, ceiling fan, detour of a plumbing problem and helping to prep the back rooms for the laminate floors. Because of them, we were able to get everything done before the week was over!
Mike has been in over-drive since his parents arrived Thursday night. Even after they left he jammed out laminate flooring in two bedrooms,the rest of the hallway and installing two new bedroom doors and a new closet door in two afternoons. The office isn't put together at all just yet, but it's painted and the floors are in.... good enough for now!
We've changed our bedroom completely and a little to the bathroom and hallway so you got those pictures on there too!
Every new thing we do makes us fall more in love with our little home!

FINALLY! NEW FURNITURE!! 10/09

MIke and I almost went a year without furniture in our downstairs living room area. We were being too picky at EVERY store we went to. It basically came down to becoming inpatient and tired of looking for a couch that we had no idea what we wanted it to look like. One day in October we got a flier in the mail with 6 different options of furniture, we both agreed on the 4th one down, called to order it that day and it arrived two days later. Risky move, but we're SO glad we did it and we LOVE our new couches!
We also got new bedroom furniture and added more to our TV room. Lawn chairs are OFFICIALLY gone!

Mike's handy work 6.2.09

Picture
Cager got out through a small opening in our fence door twice last week and annoyed some neighbors. Although, when Mike and I came home those two days, he was sitting on the front porch like he did nothing but await our arrival for hours so he could innocently greet us. It was funny until the knock from a irritated lady came to our door saying she didn't get her package from UPS because a black lab wouldn't let him deliver. ANYWHO, I wanted to show off Mike's hard work and new talent he didn't know he had... building part of a fence!

5.30.09

The Van Tassel Sr.'s came up for the weekend and helped with some serious yard work. We're close to owning every yard tool available to man thanks to Mike, our checking account and the Home Depot. It's paying off though.

I also put up some pictures of changes that we've made to the house. Guest, bath, living, mike's "man" room (botson red sox colors) and TV room look a little different. Got rid of the playground that was in the backyard. We took out the blue carpet down the hallway and added laminate flooring that will eventually be in all the rooms. We're also in the process of putting in all new interior doors compared to the old wood ones. Baby steps! 

1.12.09

I FINALLY took some recent pictures of the house and am FINALLY showing them to you! Everything is still half done or less than half. Still blue painting tape in some rooms, touch up paint still needed, still no furniture (in almost every room), still very little decorations, and a few started projects. One being the rock wall. We can't stand the pellet stove situation so Mike's been working on covering it with the rock you see in the picture. It slowly becomes more and more of a home with every little thing we do. Enjoy! 

It's a little hard to really picture it without ever being there, but I'll try.

Starting at picture one is the front door and from there it goes to the hallway then to the back three bedrooms and bathroom.
BR 1: the computer room/Mike's "man" room
BR 2: our highly decorated guest room
BR 3: again, nicely decorated master room
The bathroom is connected to both our room and the hallway

Then it's back out to the empty sitting/living room (or apparently dog room) that is open with the dinning room and beautiful kitchen.

Off the dining room is a door that leads to a small mud room/laundry and the door off of that is the garage.

Going up the stairs takes you to our tv room (we felt the tv didn't belong downstairs which explains why we found a place for it upstairs) and off of that is my scrap booking room! Mike took off the three large closet doors that were in the SB room and made the table you see out of one of them and turned that once closet into shelves for all my stuff! Pretty handy, he is.

Thats  home! 

12.17.08

Still no pictures due to Mike forgetting the camera at his work for a good couple weeks running. :) I think I'll write the word CAMERA on his forehead tonight while he's sleeping. After our company left we took a nose dive in our energy level and have seem to misplaced it still, so things aren't completely put together yet. The essentials are, but there is still a random box here or there throughout the house. Having Winnie has been SO GOOD for Cager. At first he wasn't too sure about another dog, but they seem to become closer buddies everyday.  Our commute is longer to work, but neither of us have had a problem with it. When the weather is clear it's actually a very beautiful drive. We have Penguin Windows coming to give us an estimate tomorrow. We want to replace all the windows and tomorrow we can get an idea if that's a possibility right now!

Hope everyone is enjoying the snow! We are!

11.26.08

Friday the 21st Mike and I got the keys to our new home! It's a HUGE work in progress, but mainly for cosmetic reasons. Mike's parents Ron and Tami came up early on Saturday and have been helping us ever since. We also had Mike's sister Kelsey and our two favorite little ones come over all the way from Kennewick, WA, for a day to help with the work load. We filled up a 24 foot U-haul plus the Escape and drove 30 minutes east to unload it all in a few hours. As of now, we have yet to empty boxes because we've been painting every room in the house. Literally... every wall. The pictures below don't give the ugliness of the chosen colors any justice. We have about a half a day left of painting then we can start making it a home. We love every inch of the place and we are already so proud of the little changes we've done so far. Cager is having a blast in the yard and we've adopted Ron and Tami's 9 year old beagle, Winnie, so Cager has a buddy to play with! 

I will get pictures up soon of the whole house and maybe even a video if I can figure it out!   Directly below is our first night in the house and our first home cooked meal. We wasted no time and started to prime the terribly painted walls so we could paint in the next day or so. 

All these pictures are from when the previous owners lived in the house. We plan on making a few changes:)