Freezing Cold!!

Here's a question... We have lived in our wonderful Venice for almost 10 months now, we've been lucky in that we have no real major (or minor) complaints EXCEPT..

WHY IS MY MASTER CLOSET LIKE A MEAT LOCKER????

For an Energy Star Certified home it sure is breezy & cold in my closet! You can feel the air flowing under the door. It seems both bedrooms across the front of the house also stay on the cool side... Anyone else with this issue or suggestions on what could be causing this???

Late holiday post...

I know the holidays have passed, and all of our decorations are now taken down and put away... but I'm finally getting around to posting a few pics of the house all decked out. We don't have NEARLY enough decorations to make me happy, but luckily everything is on sale now and I can pick up new stuff for NEXT YEAR!! Here are a few pics:

pinterest craft! 

entry way

Definitely need to invest in a LOT more lights. Wreaths on the lower level windows but they don't have lights, will need lights or wreaths for upper level next year too.

failed attempt at cinnamon ornaments. at least we had fun doing it!!

one of my favorite new decorations!!

the tree, christmas eve when i got home from work

New Years Eve dinner. So much to celebrate in 2012!

Nothing very impressive but we were excited! Hope everyone has a fantastic 2o13! I'll keep posting updates as we complete our "projects"... next up I think will be closet organizers ;)

Wisteria Lane

Being the first to build in a development certainly has its perks! We had our pick of lots, models, colors, etc and found just the perfect combination for our family. We are old(ER) than most first time home buyers and we've only got one child left at home so we went with a smaller floor plan, obviously, the Venice. Because its on the lower end of the price range we were able to load it with "extras" to make it unique. Six months into it, we are still unique in that we remain the only Venice in the place. What's upsetting to me is the fact that while there are restrictions on colors and elevations in order to keep things appearing too "cookie cutter" every single house on the street I face is a Rome! Not a bad floor plan, actually very nice, but 8 or 10 in a row makes me feel like I'm living on Wisteria Lane or that I should suggest renaming our community Stepford. Despite the attempts to make them look different it feels like we are becoming the epitome of a suburban bedroom community. :(

Projects, projects, projects...

A few pics of the decorating projects I've accomplished this past weekend... I'm REALLY excited about the valances I made (with Mom's help!) for the morning room...

and... thanks to my favorite store IKEA, I have bathroom storage :)

I did some other "random" shopping at HomeGoods yesterday and found this cute little stool for my flying pig ;) (that story was posted previously!!)

and a really, super cool table lamp... now to find a chair to put next to it...

no really exciting news going on here, just learning to live in our fantastic new house. Hard to believe it's been almost 5 months already! We're settling in and it's finally starting to feel real ... can't wait to decorate for Christmas time

HOLIDAY weekend? what's that??

So... with a couple of days off together what else was there to do but cross a couple more little projects off of the "honey-do" list ;)  

DH installed a ceiling fan in the great room (it kinda looks like the rotor blades on the helicopter!!) and pendant lights above the kitchen island and sink...  

My contribution to the weekend of projects was my undying gratitude (as always) LOL, I'm always grateful for DH's skill around the house as well as his great attitude when it comes to my "lists" ... However, I DID have a little bit of a contribution as well. I re-covered the lampshades on our fabulous bargain find $15 Target clearance lamps... I also put my many hours of web surfing on Pinterest to good use when I made Braided Spaghetti Bread to reward my man's hard work :)  

Here's the proof!!

awesome new ceiling fan

kitchen pendants

lampshade project

 





spaghetti baked INSIDE garlic bread!! Pinterest makes me look like such a great mom/wife!! This was a winner :) 











Even the "braided" outside crust looked pretty good for a first try!!


So, that was our thrilling "Labor Day" weekend... Tomorrow's agenda ~ light fixture in the craft room and organizing THAT nightmare!!!

Finally!! Some pictures!!

Now that school is back in session and my life has SOME sense of a regular schedule, I took a few photos of what we've done to the house so far.  As most of you know, we painted and bought new furniture but DH has also installed crown molding the kitchen/family room and the front living room. We are debating putting it in the morning room as well but the angles in there look like they might be a real bi...  challenge. 

We really are completely in love with the way things are coming together. Yes, I still have pictures to put up and chachkis that haven't found a home yet, but I think the major items have been accomplished. My craft room is a shambles. I've been so busy with the "public" parts of the house that I haven't even attempted to put my sanctuary together. That's next on the list...  

Last Friday night we had our first big soiree here. A fun open house with many, many friends showing up. We shared laughs and food and drinks (mostly drinks!!) and I can't think of a better way to celebrate this new phase of our lives. The house certainly lived up to it's "entertaining" potential as we envisioned it when we first walked through the model :) (did any of you know that whipped cream vodka is AMAZING in root beer??? tastes just like a root beer float!!) and soaking fresh strawberries in chocolate vodka (overnight) and dipping them in melted chocolate is like heaven in your mouth??? (like i said, there was a LOT of drinking going on Friday!!)

Here are the promised pics  

Kitchen view from family room

Morning room from family room (LOVE my IKEA rug!)

Family room from kitchen (&DH's smartTV!)

can you tell i <3 IKEA??

Family room from hall... more IKEA stuff :)

Front entry/living room

View from living room

Living room (minus the rug the cat ruined!!)

BAR (fave consignment find!!)

Morning room again

DD's room

Master bedroom

gentle reminder ;)

 

 

 

Master bedroom from other side

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crazy Summer!

Wow! the past 2 1/2 months have been ridiculously busy! Since closing, we have painted (the entire downstairs, bought furniture, gone to Charleston & the Outer Banks, taken the DD to Carolina Panthers Junior TopCats cheer camp, planned an open house for next weekend, gone to 4 concerts AND still worked full time!! I've taken very few pictures of the house but I promise now that school is about to start (next week) and our schedules become a little more regular, I will get on this and post some of the things we have done!  

This past weekend the DH began installing crown moulding on the first floor. I have to admit that I never really considered it a big deal and didn't understand why he was so insistent on doing it... UNTIL I SAW IT UP! WOW, it really does make a difference. I looks fantastic already and he's not quite done (another pic to post once its complete). We painted the DD's room (twilight meadows from Lowes) and put a really nice monogram detail (from Dali Decals) on the wall now she's in full "middle school mode" and decorating the rest of her room with brightly colored accessories and animal prints :)  We painted the accent wall in our bedroom a dark purple (valspar ~ purple rain) and silvery gray (valspar ~ silvery mist) with black furniture and silver accessories.  The small front living room, hallway and great room are all painted in a medium gray (valspar ~ opera glasses) and the morning room is a shade darker (valspar ~ bell tower stone). Our master bath is painted in a bluish purple (valspar ~ blue hydrangea) but I really don't think it's what I was looking for. I just can't bring myself to tell the DH that I'm going to want to change it ... maybe it will grow on me ;).  I haven't decided yet what I want to do with the powder room or the other bedrooms. I'm sure the DH is happy that I don't have any painting projects planned because he has his own "honey do" list, like the crown moulding that's going up!

Our open house/housewarming party is next weekend. After that I'll post some pictures of everything...