More House Pictures

Thanks everyone for your super sweet comments on yesterday's photos!  I gotta give my man credit though, he does a huge chunk of the decorating.  And he largely influenced the paint color choices as well.  He's definitely made me more of a risk taker over these past 5 years ... just wait 'til you see the color of our bedroom.  But first.

Den
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After:

Remember how I said the old owner loved yellow?  Did she ever!  The old den was a super-bright, sunflower yellow.  Not a bad color in and of itself, but it didn't seem to suit a lower-level TV room.  Our goal was a color similar to what we had in the house we rented, but this came out much greener.  We love this room though.  Our furniture barely fits (notice we ditched the coffee table and opted for more floor space for the kiddos), but it's a cozy place for watching movies.  This also doubles as our playroom.  It's a challenge having a space for kids that doesn't scream "daycare" or something.  Ergo the baskets.  Love those things.  And that built-in bookshelf.  The fact that we can fit all our books on there, and still have space leftover, is major. 

Half-Bath
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After:

There's also a half-bath downstairs.  Not much to look at, not really sure why I'm including it ...

Boys Room
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After:

Remember Jack's nautical nursery from days gone by?  Well we've big-boy'd it up a step or two.  In case you didn't notice, Jack is officially in a "big boy bed."  We made the switch a few weeks before we moved because, frankly, it was getting too difficult for me to read him books in bed.  Okay, and maybe because I came across the quilt for super-cheap at "The Christmas Tree Shoppe" and decided we needed to use it right away.  And maybe I went out a few days later and bought another one so that the boys can have matching nautical/patriotic quilts when they get bunk-beds someday.  Maybe.  Anyway, the transition was a piece of cake.  He still calls it his "new bed" and loves it to pieces.  The cutest part of the story is that it's actually Jon's old bed and before that it was his dad's.  And the matching dresser as well.  I love the tradition!

We have Jude's crib in here too.  They do share a room occasionally, but for the most part Jude's been sleeping in the nursery-to-be, just because he tends to take shorter naps, is the first to go to bed at night, and is the first up in the morning.  But when the new baby comes I think we'll just have to deal with it. 

Anyway, this is one of our favorite rooms.  Three years ago I said I'd never go with a theme, but I don't regret it.  It's just been too fun finding little nautical treasures to add to their room.  These boys are bound to love the sea!

Boys' Bathroom:
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After:

Again, not much change.  We just removed the plastic dinosaur accessories and changed the light blue to a more turquoise.  Oh, and added a 1 year-old pounding the toilet with a hammer...

Master Bedroom
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After:

Deep breath.  This is the room I'm least sure about.  I'm going to let it go for now and hope it grows on me.  See, I have always wanted a teal wall in our bedroom since we received the bedding as a wedding gift.  But it's so much easier to imagine something than to actually do it.  I love the teal wall, and I love the other paint color as well, I'm just not sure how I feel about them together.  Yet.  This room is already on the darker side, and I don't think the paint color helps much.  Then again, it's a bedroom.  We spend very little time in here, and the time we do spend is typically sleeping.  Regardless of the hue, what this room really needs is some decorating.  I think a spree at Home Goods is in order ASAP.

Master Bath:
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After:

Basically all we did here was switch our the burgundy paint for some teal (which you can't even see) and put up our own plant because we liked their idea.  Oh, and added a curtain.  Because without a curtain you can literally see into the shower from the backyard.  Weird.  This bathroom is tiny.  But I will say we love the big shower.  The shower door ... not so much.  It's just a bit awkward having a completely clear glass door.  Especially when your toddler likes to come sit on the toilet while you take a shower and talk about what you're doing, your lack of clothing, the bubbles in your hair.  Yeah.  Gotta get some frosting for that bad boy.

Nursery (Sneak Peak)
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After:

This is the beginnings of Sister's room, although Jude is sleeping here for now.  Okay, deep breath again.  It looks a little strange now.  And the paint color isn't exactly what I was picturing in my head.  But stick with me and I think it will all come together.  And in case you're wondering where I'm going with this, here is my stack of inspiration:




I've already made the cribskirt.  Next up is a quilt and bumper.  I've never done anything like this, and it's definitely testing my sewing skills.  But if it all works out I think it could be fabulous.  And if nothing else special.  Baby Girl needs something of her own, and I'm totally enjoying being the one making it for her.  So when I'm not sewing, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my vision translates well in reality. :)

And that's it!  We're adjusting to life in a split-level.  Some things I love - having the TV on a separate floor from the main living space, which is on a separate floor from the bedrooms.  Only 6 steps for Jude to fall down at a time instead of 12.  The charms of a 1960s built home.  Other things are less than like-able - the fact that noise carries so easily ... especially during naps.  And the wood floors, while charming, are really creaky in some spots, like right in front of the boys' bedroom door.  And they seem to creak even louder at night and during naps.  But overall, we're so very, very happy.  Now that we've settled into the house, we can't wait to take on our new life here in Maryland!

Feels Like Home To Me (House Pictures!)

We've been in our new home for 6 weeks now ... wow, it seems like longer!  And we're finally feeling settled in.  Even though it still smells like someone else's house (does that ever go away?!), it's definitely our house to us.  And can I just say how much we love being homeowners!?  I mean, maybe this is still the "honeymoon" phase, but we've already been to Lowes' more times than we can count, dumped more money than we expected to at this point, have wasted more time on seemingly little projects that no one will ever notice, haven't got to any of the big projects we intended to by now ... and we still LOVE it. 

And that's just the house.  I can't say enough about the charming little neighborhood, the convenient shopping, the pleasant local grocery store, and our wonderful new church!  But I'm gushing, aren't I?  I suppose I should provide a little balance and let you know that the mosquitos are awful here, we have a mole problem in our yard, I have yet to see the neighbors to the right of us (and the neighbors on the left have only waved once), and our latest power bill was OUTRAGEOUS.  But hey, we OWN that central air unit, and the air it pumps out, and all the rooms it cools off ... and that's pretty cool!

Back to the house.  Just in case you're curious, we painted all the rooms but two (which I'll explain later), not necessarily because the colors were bad or because we wanted to drop hundreds of dollars on paint, but mainly because the former walls were dingy, the previous owners had triplet boys who left fingerprints and scratches in a number of places, and by the time we finished repairing and patching all the holes from pictures, curtain rods, random decorations, etc. the walls definitely needed freshening up.  Plus we wanted to make it our own.  I'm just saying that because I'm so afraid someone out there is going to be all like, "Why would she change from that lovely color to that hideous shade?!"  Eek! More on all those "shades" later.

But moving on to pictures, because I know that's what you've all been waiting these past 6 weeks for.  Even though things aren't quite where we want them yet ... we realize it could be months, or years, before that happens.  So here we go, photos of the fourth nest we've shared as a married couple, the VERY FIRST home we've "owned" and living proof that I have very little decorating skills ...

The Living Room
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After:

Before, the room was a beige color.  We went with a light yellow.  I never intended to have a yellow living room, but we wanted it to look okay against the dining room (which is next).  One of the first things we did was remove the drapes.  It helped brighten up the room, but I still think we need something there to keep it from looking so plain.  The previous owner stopped by a few weeks ago to pick up some mail and I was so afraid she'd notice the missing drapes (I made Jon pull them out of the trash can before she came).  Instead she just said, "Is that yellow?  I love yellow!"  Phew.

That's a gas fireplace which we cannot wait to use this winter.  Jon is thinking of converting it back to wood burning, and I can't say I disagree with a nice crackling fire.  We love the picture window.  It does feel a little bit like we're living in a fishbowl, especially when we forget to shut the blinds at night, but the boys love hanging out on the couch and watching for Daddy, the mail truck, the garbage truck, and everything else that drives, walks, bikes by. And of course, we can't live in such proximity to "The Sailing Capital of the World" without paying proper homage to the sea.  So this is where all the nautical stuff went.

Dining Room
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After:

They carried over the beige and burgundy look.  Not bad, just not us.  We took down that drape too.  My Blue Willow dishes were passed down from my Aunt Jani, and I've been dreaming of a goldish-yellow dining room for ages now.  Not long after we painted we realized those are Naval Academy colors, too. :)  That's the hutch we picked up whilst antiquing shopping over our anniversary this year.  I'm so glad we were able to find a place to fit it in this house!

Kitchen
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After:

This is one of the rooms we haven't done anything with.  Our plan is to do a big renovation sometime in the next year.  The kitchen's not bad, but it's not great either.  And our big thing is re-sale.  I love how bright and sunny this room is (there's a sky light you can't see), and the big greenhouse window over the sink, which makes it nice to watch Jack while I'm washing dishes.  The previous owners had a table in here for an eat-in kitchen, but our plan is to add more cupboards and counter space against that wall and just eat meals in the dining room. 

Office
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After:

I know, I know, who's the one that works from home here?  Clearly, this is not my office.  But every man needs his cave ... and a place to display all his Coast Guard paraphanalia.  And hubby was generous enough to give me a little nook over in the corner.  It's been great, and I've got a lot of work done at my quiet little desk.  It was a little weird unpacking my "office box" since most of it was stuff I had packed up back when I had a "real" office, you know, at my place of employment.  All my pictures were of baby Jack, since I've been working strictly from home since Jude was born.  Looks like my frames could use a little bit of updating.  I think this is one room where I prefer the old color to our choice, but I do think the gray/blue suits Jon's style a bit more.

Spare Room
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After:

This is the other room that we haven't done much with.  The previous owners used this as their theater room ... but they took the screen and sound system with them.  We would much prefer a guest room.  So we're currently seeking a contractor to demo the theater wall and put in a double closet.  But for now this room is just a mess.

Deck

And then there's the deck.  We love this whole outdoor-living area... Well, we would like it a lot more if it wasn't for the bugs and the heat wave!  But come cooler temperatures we'll be eating out here more often, and roasting marshmallows will become a regular occurence.  There's also the fabulous "playground" that you've seen before.  Basically, the yard is what sold us.  It's big and lush and flat, with lots of mature trees ... which will produce many piles of leaves this fall I'm sure!  The landscaping is going to be one of our major projects over the coming months.  And by "we" I mean "Jon."  While it isn't horrible, it's a bit more "wild" than we'd prefer.  I think if we can cut some things back and tone it down a bit, the yard will seem even bigger.  And Jack needs all the space to run that we can muster.

I think that's enough for now, stay tuned tomorrow night for pictures of the other two floors!

(Not So) Moving 2011, Part II

So I left off our current moving adventure by mentioning the family cold.  Cold is an understatement.  I can't remember the last time I was this sick!  It started out with a headache, then a sore throat, but not just any sore throat.  It was worse than the strep throat I used to get as a kid.  Then stuffy nose and runny nose and aching face, eyes, ears, nose, jaw ...  Eventually it moved down to my chest and I was left with a horrible, keep me up all night, cough.  The kind of cough that just maybe makes pregnant women with weak muscles pee their pants occasionally.  Maybe.  And it was 10 days of this miserableness.  Ten days of me thinking, "Oh Lord, please don't let my boys catch this!" 

The tenth day was the first night I went to bed feeling like I would actually sleep through til morning, and then both boys were up crying.  Every.other.hour.  It was pitiful.  Jude had a raging fever.  Jack kept crying "boo boo in my eye" and then I'd have to go in with a hot washcloth to melt the crusties out of the corners of his eyes.  Both kids' sheets were smeared with green snot... by 4am I couldn't get out of bed one more time.  So I tucked Jude in with us.  Except Jude doesn't like to sleep next to Mommy, he likes to sleep on Mommy.  Everytime I'd slide his limp body onto the mattress he'd perk back up and quickly crawl his way back onto my chest.  And there he laid, and drooled, the wee morning hours away.  Too sick to even notice the swift kicks his annoyed little sister was giving him.  Too sleepy to consider that his mama had a major neck cramp from trying to keep his hair out of her mouth all night.

It's been pitiful.  Jack, who normally says "Good morning Mama!" as soon as I open his door has instead switched to "Boo boos in my eye, I got boo boos in my eyyyyyye!" each morning (but then he says "Good morning Mama!" after we get him all cleaned up).  Jude has developed an obvious fear of warm washcloths and prefers to keep his boogers in his nose and eyes and snot running down his face.  After three days of no nap we finally realized that Jack can't do cough medicine, even the natural kind.  Apparently it makes him a little hyper.  And Jude eyes were so red and rashy I've been too embarrassed to take him out in public.

Oddly enough "the sickness" did nothing to curb Jude's appetite ... or his eating enthusiasm.

So you may be wondering what this all has to do with moving?  Well nothing really, except that it all started the day we moved.  And we've been fighting it ever since.  So you can imagine how easy it's been to unpack and set up when either you or your offspring are feeling pretty crummy.  And you can imagine how much you'd rather hide away in your house when everyone is "off" and cranky.  As much as I'd love to meet all our neighors I was so afraid one of them would stop by and catch me in my "no make-up, hasn't had a shower, my whole family is sick" state.  So I was pretty excited when the lady across the street knocked on our door just as I was ready to head out for the first time in a while - cute clothes, make-up, hair and all - to introduce herself and share some homemade, real Greek baklava.  Ahh, neighbors who bake!

Anyway, back to moving.  Nonnie came to save the day again.  She was so effective last time that we decided to book her for our current move a year in advance.  She and I tore through boxes in record time, and had the whole kichen finished by the end of the day.  Which is saying a lot, because we went from this:

More cupboards than I could fill, loads of counter space.

To this:

To "not enough cupboards and counters."

Which  means we still have a lot of this:

Lone box that I've put off unpacking and random catch-all corner until we figure something else out.

And in case you're wondering how we fit it all in, well we also have this:

Blessed storage space in utility room where we put everything that doesn't fit anywhere else.

This moving, this constant restructuring, rethinking, rehabiting thing, is tough.  In many ways, it's a change of lifestyle.  For instance, just think about how much of an impact electrical outlets have on our way of life. Our new master bathroom has one plug (one PLUG, not even one outlet).  A bathroom with one plug, I'd like to smack the person that designed that.  And it's not even near the sink.  So I have to keep my electric toothbrush in the other bathroom.  Which means I shower, wash my face, do my hair and make-up in one bathroom.  And then walk to the other one to brush my teeth.

Or our single car driveway.  Which means we're constantly tossing keys back and forth, switching cars in and out, so that the one with carseats is ready if we're taking kids.  Or the truck is out if we need to make, yet another, trip to Lowe's. 

And, after 5 years of enjoying its use, I'm adjusting to life without a garbage disposal.  Even though I never grew up with one, garbage disposals just seem to come with the whole "kids and crumbs" territory.  And I keep learning the hard way, the nasty, soggy food stuck in the drain way, to remember we no longer have one.  And we have to re-train Jack to first scrape his plate off in the trash can before taking it to the sink. 

Then there's the dishwasher that, when open, blocks access to 50% of my cupboard space.  So now we unload the dishwasher onto the counter, and then unload the counter into the cupboards.  Double the work, double the fun!

The "can't breathe through my nose" pose.

And that's just around the house.  These days, attempting to run an errand takes on a whole new meaning.  We rely on our Garmin for everything - Target, the mall, grocery store, the doctor's, church.  I've come to completely depend upon the little British navigator's voice pointing me in the right direction, even if it's just for some milk!

I decided to take the kids on a walk the other day.  I figured we'd meander our way around the neighborhood and check out the pretty houses.  And we did.  And then we ended up on the busy road that runs next to the Country Club where all the retired men are driving by in their convertibles saying things like, "Hey wanna give me a ride in the stroller too?"  And then I couldn't find a side street to turn down, so we ended up braving the giant hill.  Middle of the day, pregnant lady, pushing a double stroller, up a hill.  Long after we got down the other side I finally consulted Google Maps on my phone and realized I would need to turn around and do the hill again, or end up headed straight for the highway.  By the time we got home I was hot, sore and close to tears of exhaustion.  So much for a nice little walk.  Note to self, print out map of neighborhood before setting out on next walk. 

Still dealing with "boo boos in my eye."

You see what I mean?  Little things.  Seemingly insignificant things that all add up into one big overwhelming adjustment.  But it's good to.  Especially for people like me, people that order a mango gelati everytime they go to Rita's, people that could leave their couch in the exact same spot until it falls apart, and then replace it with a new couch in the very same spot.  People that get really upset when they find a hole in their bedsheets because no other set could possibly be as wonderful as the ones we've been using since we got married.  Those kind of people.  I could happily dwell in a rut for the rest of my life.  But instead I married a Coastie and I get to experience moving, and change, and restructuring on a daily basis.  And I know it's so good for me.

Yes, moving is so much more than unpacking boxes and picking paint colors.  But we're also having a lot of fun doing those things too.  And we really, really just LOVE our new house and town.  We haven't had a chance to do any major exploration, but so far we like what we see.  And soon, after a little more time to settle, we'll have plenty more to talk about!