Our House!

     It's a work in progress but I thought I'd take a moment and share with you some pictures of our new place. It was built in 2003 but the basement was finished later. Here are some pictures of the outside and main floor. In the basement, it has a two bedroom mother-in-law apartment along with a guest room, office, and half bath. I'll try and post some pictures down there in the future. It's amazing how much there is to do when you own a home! The list just never seems to end! But we are enjoying our place and the close proximity to everything. One of the main reasons why we bought this house was LOCATION! Time is money and we both decided we'd rather have a smaller and older house, closer to work, and a bit higher in price than have to commute 30-40 min. each way. We realized when we bought this house that it wasn't brand new, things are worn, needing repair and TLC. We have been trying to tackle things one project at a time as our budget will allow. Brandon is a very handy guy and I have to hand it to him he has really surprised me with his handyman skills! His new Little Giant ladder is his pride and joy and boy it's really come in handy!

Looking up the street to the north, there is a really nice park just a block up this way perfect for kids. I'm going to whip out the rollerblades and go for a ride

Looking south, nice view of the mountains.

Couple of nice medium size trees give us a little bit of privacy.

We have been busy with yard work, the front bed was quite overgrown and we had a grub problem with the grass. We also have cleaned all of the windows inside and out...I don't think they had been cleaned before. We are in the process of replacing the two in front and the two in the master bedroom. The ones in the front will really help with the western sun, controlling the amount of heat in the afternoon and overall will be better quality. Another project I have is to replace the light fixtures on each side of the garage, maybe in a month or so. I really like these spot lights underneath the eaves, they look really cool at night!

My favorite part about owning a house is the garage. Those who know me know I am a little particular about my cars. When I was raised, we were taught to take really good care of our cars- inside and out. No eating, I keep towels on the floor, etc. Luckily, I married a man who does the same thing so it works great! Now after we wash our cars they actually stay clean for several days!!!

Here is our back deck. We live on a hill so these trees below are also ours. We also have a nice view of Timp too which you really can't see from this angle. Brandon made the comment that in the winter the trees will look really cool covered in snow. The playground in the background is ours so hopefully it will get a lot of use when we have kids. The previous owners left a sandbox which you can sort of see in the corner there, but we got rid of it. We would like to get a table, chairs, and umbrella maybe next year and our little grill will stay where it's at!

Me painting the entryway. The previous owners had applied a brownish/reddish glaze to this wall and it was just too rustic for me. So, I applied a primer and painted it "Crisp Kaki" to match the rest of the house.

Making our first dinner in the house (okay the crock pot is making it!)

My office! You might be wondering why I have a tablecloth on the desk. Well, I'm building up the motivation to refinish it. It's been through some wear and tear over the years but the desk has sentimental value to me. My dad bought me this Ethan Allen desk in high school and I've used it ever since. It is actually a very beautiful desk with nice lines.  Refinishing furniture is time consuming so I'm waiting until I get some other projects completed before I take this on.

Tobias also resides in here too!

Our bedroom, it looks a lot smaller than it really is in this picture. I love the vaulted ceilings

Master bathroom. It's a little smaller than we would have liked but we get up at different times so it's really not a problem. 

Family Room

A view from the family room into the entryway

I'm planning on adding a console table on this wall and doing some more with the ledge up above. We had new carpet put in the family room and hallway, and will eventually replace the carpet in the three bedrooms down the hall.

Here's a shot down into the kitchen.

We put in a tile back splash and plan to do the same thing on the opposing wall where the stove is. It's a glass and travertine mosaic tile

For those of you who visited us in our condo you know we didn't have a kitchen table so we ate most of our meals on the couch or at the bar. We've had to get use to the idea of eating at a table! We of course plan on getting a few more chairs over the next few months.

This wall was originally a brownish glaze as well but it didn't really go with the whole look of the kitchen and countertops so I had this idea to paint it a grayish/charcoal color to tie in with the backsplash and countertops. Lets just say it ended up looking more blue than I had hoped. Instead of repainting it I decided to sit on it for a few days. Well, it began to grown on me and now I really like the color. I think it will look even better once we have the tile installed on the wall adjacent to it.

I had been eyeing these Pottery Barn drapery panels for awhile with the grommet holes at the top. They were the perfect color and I loved the vertical lines (they help play up a room's height). Anyway, as my luck would have it when I went to order them it said they were on back order until July 2011!!! CRAZY! So I checked out eBay and found the exact color and length I wanted brand new for a little cheaper. SCORE!

By all means this is not a glamorous or flattering picture of me but I thought I'd show off my "Farmers Do It In The Dirt" shirt. I'd thought some of you would get a kick out of it! Brandon has a matching one too!