A bittersweet good-bye

While we are so excited about our new house, the past two weeks have been bittersweet saying good-bye to our old house.  Technically we aren't saying good-bye - we decided to keep our old house as a rental. (Kenny is convinced the only way to keep our kids in San Diego is to bribe them with housing.)  ;)  But while we still own the house, we have been saying good-bye to living in a house/neighborhood that we loved.  Our first home.  The one I brought all of my babies home to.  It has been a happy and sad time for our family all at once.  

My parents came to help us move.  My dad brought his truck and we spent several days packing and moving all of the small stuff.  My mom brought a quilt my grandma made - the last one she made before she died - to give me as a housewarming gift.  (As if I wasn't emotional enough!)  Our last night in the house we all sat on it together and had root beer floats.  

Addison asked if she could sleep with my grandma's blanket that night.  

We hired movers to move all of the big furniture on a Saturday.  I snapped this picture that morning.  It was the last morning waking up with my kids in our house and Kole's last night in a crib.  The picture is blurry - I was rushed trying to get everything ready for the movers.  But I'm so glad I took two seconds to snap it.  El was getting Kole out of his crib like she did so many mornings.  She always loved to be the first one up and to get Kole out of his crib.  Now when I look at this picture I get a lump in my throat.

My parents took the kids for a few hours that morning so we could help the movers.  The whole time they were loading our furniture Kenny kept looking at me weird.  I asked him why and he said "I'm just waiting for you to break down and bawl."  He knows me so well.  :)  But I was tough that day.  In total work mode - ready to get the move behind us.

 It wasn't until the next day.  When I went back to the old house to double check that we had everything and to clean it up for the renters.  I walked around room to room.

I could see my baby girls running around in dress-ups.  

I could see our evening routine - giving them a bath and putting them in matching p'j's.  I've always loved bath and pj time with little ones.  It signals the day is winding down and we are all home for the night.  Together.

 I could see so many sweet moments between my kids.  Because at times like this you don't remember the fighting.  You remember the laughing and the hugging.

 I could see all three of my babies. 

And how fast they grew right in front of my eyes in that house.  

And the tears flowed.  

And they flowed some more.  

And I called Kenny at work and said "I'm at the old house" and started sobbing.  

He knew it was coming. 

It's not hard to say good-bye to a house.  

It's hard to say good-bye to special memories and to the end of an era.  

A really happy era that I will tuck away and treasure in my heart forever.  

The kids have been feeling it too.  Addison loves her new room, but cried the first two nights we slept in the new house missing her old room.  Grandma's blanket helped.  

Kole keeps asking me when we are going "home."  He says "I'm all done at the lot mommy.  I want to go home to my house now."  

He thinks we are having a little slumber party that's going to end at some point.  

I can go from being blissfully happy in my new house to being in tears at the drop of a hat depending on what I'm unpacking.  

So while we feel so blessed to be in our new home, we are definitely going through a bit of a transition.  

I know it will just take time.

I also know that someday, much sooner than I can imagine, I will be walking through the rooms of our new house feeling the exact same way.

The family room

Happy Monday everyone!  I hope you all had a nice weekend.  We spent ours attempting to sort through a fraction of the massive amounts of boxes living in our new garage.  We're so not settled right now!  Getting my family of five ready to go is almost comical.  We are all running in circles trying to find what we need to get out the door.  Everyone is looking to me - "Mom - where is my other pink shoe?"  "Mom - where are my notebooks?"  "Mom - where is the hair spray?"  I of course have no idea.  I bought a pork tenderloin to throw in the crockpot for an easy dinner and I can't find my crockpot.  I've been in the same pair of jeans for six days now because my box of jeans is also MIA.  It's all in the garage somewhere.  I just have to find and unpack everything.  One box at a time.  Rome wasn't built in a day.  A phrase I hear myself mumbling over and over lately.  :)

In the meantime I'll show you some pics of our family room that I took the day before we moved in.

I shared this picture of my family room light fixture and several of you asked me where I got it.  It's from Jeremiah Lighting by Craftmade and you can find it on-line here.

I fell in love with this fixture the second I saw it.  In the catalog it looks totally grey/silver.  I thought that would be perfect with all of my grey paint and chrome hardware in the kitchen.  But when it came it was actually more of a goldish/silver.  At first I was bummed, but then my electricians hung it and I decided I love it like this even more.  It's hard to tell in my pictures, but it has grey tones in it so it works really well in the space.  I was debating going with more of a light tan couch so the unexpected goldish color of the fixture made my couch decision for me.  Meant to be I guess.  :)

And here is how the room turned out!  This room went through a few transformations along the way that had me a little worried but I'm so happy with the end result.  I really wanted a room that felt big and open, but also cozy since this is where our family will spend all of our time.  I originally had the fireplace in the right corner of the room (I love corner fireplaces), but when we were in the drywall stage and could see the symmetry of the ceiling with the oval window, we decided we didn't want the TV pushed clear over by the french doors.  I had my cabinet guys make the media cabinet a little bigger so we could center it on the wall.  I wasn't that excited about the size of the TV.  I wanted something smaller OR to cover the TV up with fun doors.  But Kenny put his foot down (I think he did that about 4 times during this process - always when it involved TV/stereo decisions).  He got the TV of his dreams and I got the media cabinet of mine.  Compromise.  :)

I was a little worried about the fireplace jutting out from the wall, but I'm going to put some benches or console tables or something along the sides of it to make it work.  Fun future decisions!

A better look at the floors.  I'm glad I have this picture to remember how clean they once looked.  :)

It's a fun space.  We just got the new couch (I'll share pics of it soon) and that's it for now!  A nice blank slate to play with as soon as I'm done unpacking boxes.

So plan on March.  

:)

p.s.  I can't believe how fast Halloween crept up this year!  I just came across this pic from last year of my little witch.  Remember how much fun Halloween was when we were kids?  I need to remember the magic.  I usually hit the end of October and just want to hurry and get it over with so I can eat all the candy and start trimming the tree...

It's official

The porta potty has left the building.  

Or should I say "the lot" as my kids still call our new home.  

We are in!  Totally moved.  

Not even close to settled.  Boxes not even close to unpacked.  

But we are in.

Thank you to all of you who mentioned you were thinking of us.  

Thank you to my parents and extra strength Tylenol for getting me through the week.

Thank you Kenny for letting us build this house.

And for still liking me at the end of it all.  You still sorta like me, right?

And thank you for the farmhouse sinks.

And for the craft room.

You don't need to buy me a Christmas or Birthday present EVER again.  

Except maybe a rug or two for in front of the farmhouse sinks.  

And one for the craft room.  

I'll be back next week with more to share.  

And pics that are a lot more fun than a blue porta potty.

:)  

Checking in

Hi friends!  Just popping in to let you know that we are mid-move and we've just transferred our Internet service to the new house.  Because of this I have limited Internet access for the rest of the week until we have completely moved in.  If I have a minute during one of our trips to the new house, I'll try to post a pic from the day, but it will be a week before I'm back to regular blogging.  Such a bummer because I have SO many pictures to share!  (This has been the case for a year.  So many pictures to share... so little time to share them!)  A cleaning crew came to the new house last week and finally removed all of the paper from the counters and floors and cleaned up all of the construction mess.  SO nice!  Everything is all shiny and new and sparkling clean and now I don't want to move in!  It will never be this clean again!  Ever!  :)  There is still construction going on - fixing up this and touching up that.  But that will be the case for the next month or so after we are in the house.  It's all good.  I'm just ready to have the packing and moving part behind us!  If you've e-mailed me questions I'll do my best to get back to you, but my response might take longer than usual.  Thanks for understanding!  So excited to get back into a regular routine with blogging... and everything else for that matter.  :)

Talk (or type?) soon!  Enjoy your day!

One step forward, three steps back

I have had so much help this past week packing and moving.  SO much help.

Some of my "help" is especially sneaky.  

And especially helpful.  

 What would I do without all of this help?

Perhaps actually get something done.  

:)  

New House Q & A (post 1)

Hi everyone!  Sorry the Q & A took me forever!  You all asked a lot of questions!  Plus I tend to ramble so when you put those two things together you get a Q & A post that goes on for miles.  :)  I split the post in two so if you don't see your question in this post hopefully it will show up in the next one!

My husband and I are thinking about building a house.  We are so nervous!  What advice do you have to finally pull the trigger and just do it?  

Oh boy.  What to say to this one...  I would love to say just go for it!  But I have to be honest.  So my answer is this - take your time to decide if building is the best plan for you.  When I think about our experience building a house, the best way I can explain it is to compare it to being in the newborn stage with a new baby.  It's amazing and wonderful and the best.  It's also exhausting and overwhelming and sometimes not the best.  Building a house comes with a lot of work and it's very time consuming.  You will be taking on as many hours as a part time job (or more depending on the size of your house and how custom you make it) so make sure you are in a position to spend that kind of time on it.  Parts of the process are so fun and exciting, but other parts are exhausting and stressful.  It's hard on your marriage - and not because you want white cabinets and he doesn't - that stuff can be worked out.  It's hard because you reach a point where you are both so exhausted from all of the work building involves that you have nothing left to give.  Kinda like in the newborn stage when you snap at each other not because you are mad, but because you have been up all night listening to a crying baby for weeks and are just plain tired.  Aside from the constant decision making, problems and glitches pop up right and left and you have to solve them (the solution always costs more money).  The never ending finances of it all can wear on you.  You are making a big investment with your hard earned cash and you feel a lot of pressure to get it right and not make mistakes.  Plus you feel rushed.  Time is money when you build and you have to make decisions quickly to keep everything moving.  (I have definitely struggled with the quick part!)  Kenny and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary a couple of weeks ago and you know what we gave each other?  A high five for surviving the past year.   We both agree that if we still love each other after this experience, we're not going anywhere.  :)

Now that I've scared you to death, let me also say that I'm so happy we did this.  I have LOVED so many parts of the building process.  I mean how cool to design a house that is totally and uniquely you!?  I've met so many wonderful people.  Some who will be life long friends.  I adore my house and I feel truly blessed every time I'm in it.  It's an amazing process to see something that was just an idea in your head actually come to life.  Each stage is so exciting.  So to me, all of the headaches will absolutely be worth it.  Did I make mistakes?  Yes.  Are there things I wish I would have done differently?  For sure.  Do I want to do it again?  Not any time soon.  :)  But still SO worth it in the end.  My best advice to you is to just understand what the next year or two will be like for you and your family while you are building before you decide to pull the trigger.  Make sure you are in a position to take on the project (from a time and financial stand point) and if so, JUST DO IT!!  :)  I'm so glad we did!

** Side note - there are SO many things I have learned from this process.  Things that we did that made the process smoother and things we wish we would have done differently.  I'm going to write a post including all of my best tips for building a house.  As soon as I recover from building ours.  :)  


Would you please post a sketch or drawing of your floor plan?  I've been following along and would really love to know how it all fits together.

I totally understand why so many of you have asked this!  First of all, I think the main layout of my house will make a lot more sense when I share more pics after we've moved in.  But as far as sharing a complete floor plan, I've chosen not to.  While I'll share a lot of our rooms/spaces as I decorate them on the blog, I think it's important to keep some things private.  You all know I'm such an open person and I would love to share everything and then some with all of you!  I truly consider my readers to be friends.  But this is our home.  And I can't be naive to the fact that I have no control over who is reading my blog.  So some things about our home I'll share and other things I'll have to try really hard not to.  :)  I hope you all understand!

What is the square footage of your beautiful home?  Bedrooms/Bathrooms?

Hmmm.. another tough question that keeps popping up.  :)  There is a master bathroom, powder bath, shared office/guest bathroom, Kole's bathroom, the girls' share a bathroom, and a small pool bathroom outside. As far as square footage goes - I'll just tell you that our current house we've lived in for the last 11 years is 2300 square feet.  The new house is obviously bigger than that.  :)  It's big enough to have lots of friends over, to make lots of memories in, and to be a marvelous place for my kids to play hide and seek.  How did I do avoiding that question?  I know that's exactly what you all wanted to hear.  ;)

I would love to know where you picked your carpet and what you chose for your runner?

I'd love to share places I shopped with anyone in the San Diego area!  Just send me an e-mail for details. As far as the carpet runner, I let all of you choose and went with the trellis pattern from this post.  

Carpet is being installed today!  You will all be in big trouble if it doesn't look good.  Seriously.  I will hunt you down.  ;)  I will post pics of the stairs when they are done!

I would love to hear more about your paint and lighting selections.

Lots of questions about paint and lights!  Once we've moved in the house and are settled I plan to do a post sharing all of the paint colors I chose (so glad to have paint behind me - that was a time consuming stage!).  I'll answer the most common paint questions I keep getting here and you can e-mail if you are wondering about another color.  If you're not in a hurry, I'll share them all in a month or so.  Same with the lighting.  At some point when I have time I will share all of the lights I chose (lighting was one of my favorite parts of this process - I love fun fixtures!).  E-mail me if you want a light source ASAP and I will do my best to get back to you.  I have some fun lights left to show you!  :)

What color/brand did you end up painting the exterior of the house?

The exterior color of our house is a custom color.  We took the color "Capricorn" by Frazee and made it just a tad darker.

Some of you have asked about Frazee paint.  It's a paint that is made in California specifically for climate conditions in the southwestern US.  There are Frazee paint stores all over California, Arizona and Nevada so that may explain why some of you have never heard of Frazee paint.  Frazee is a sister company to Kwal so if you can't get Frazee you can try getting the same color through Kwal Paint.

I love the wall color in the foyer.  What color is it?

Entry paint is the main color I used throughout the body of my house.  It's "Seattle" by Frazee and I adore it!  It's a great grey.  Not too blue.  Not too green.  Not too purple.  Not too light.  Not too dark. :)  If you are thinking of painting something in your house grey I would recommend painting a big swatch on the wall and then checking it out at different times of the day and in different lighting.  Greys are tricky!  There were so many shades of grey that I loved on-line but when I put them up in my house they just didn't look right.  Then certain greys I picked looked great in some spaces in my house and not great in others depending on the lighting.  So take the time to really test your grey paint and you will be much happier with the end result!

Can you please share the color you are using for Kole's room?  I'm looking for a nice grey with a brown tone and am having a hard time finding it!

Sure!  Kole's room paint is "Himalayan Trek" by Benjamin Moore.  We also painted Kenny's office and a bathroom that color.  It's definitely a brown grey.

 That sometimes looks grey.  

 And sometimes looks brown.  Tricky stuff.  :)  

Fun label hardware for the bench seat drawers.

I love the color of your scrapbook room!  Could you let me know what color/brand it is?

Thanks!  Rather fond of that color myself.  :)  It's "Tinted Ice" by Dunn Edwards.

What are the dimensions of your pool?

Our pool is 42 x 22.

What is a shamu shelf?

A shamu shelf is a shallow "shelf" or spot in a pool.  (I think there are other names for them.)  They are used to lounge in and are great for babies/small kids to splash and play on.  Some of you were asking about our pool layout.  I love curvy pools, but we decided on a rectangle shaped pool and put the hot tub inside of the pool for one reason - safety.  We wanted to be able to cover the whole thing when we aren't using the pool and keep it totally safe for little ones running around.  We made the pool extra wide so we could fit the hot tub, a shamu shelf and still have a lane for swimming laps.  

They just installed the cover last week!  (It's not quite finished - the coping - large blocks - still need to be installed over the ledge so you don't see the mechanics of the cover.)

So now we can go from this...

 To this...

with the flip of a switch.  These covers aren't the prettiest or the most cost effective option, but they definitely give you peace of mind when you have a three year old on the loose.  Which was our goal.  :)

 Speaking of my three year old - he is a huge fan of the turtles!

We took a quick break from packing the other night to swim (we are having a typical San Diego Fall - hot!)  and the pool is definitely a hit.  :)

I will be back soon with a few more answers to your questions!  

Enjoy your day!

New House picture dump

Crazy week so I'm just dumping some new house pics that are on my camera!  Building this house has been quite a marathon and we are in the sprint to the finish line.  Almost there!  Thank goodness because I am OUT of gas.  I'd ask Kenny to carry me across the finish line but he is even more weary than I am.  Guess we will limp together.  :)  

 Quick lunch break to help me get the orb in its proper place.  

They started putting the glass in the front door today!  

I put these fun Hundi Lanterns from Pottery Barn in my hallway.  They were the lights that I had for my upstairs hallway too but the ceiling isn't as high and they were too long.  Still looking for their replacement.  

Here is a look at how my office/scrapbook/homework/craft room is coming along!  We started putting on the hardware.  Ignore all of the blue tape.  And the rest of the mess.  Definitely still a work in progress!

A lot of my lights are clear glass fixtures.  Love that look!  

Hardware and light fixtures were probably my favorite things to pick out.  

This dutch door hardware makes me smile every time I see it.   

I put white porcelain knobs with black plates on all of my craftsman style doors.  Throw back to a different era.  I adore them.

I wanted to put fun fixtures in the kids' rooms, but my kids love their ceiling fans so I searched and searched to find some cool fans for them and finally landed on these...

They are so fun!  The whole thing spins and then each smaller fan on the side spins (together or separate).  Now the kids get their fans and I still get to have a fun light in their rooms.  Win win.  :)

 Here is a peek of my powder bathroom.  

 We wallpapered it today! 

 So happy with how it turned out!

And a quick peek of our family room fixture.  It's galvanized and has a cool silvery gold look to it.  The couches I ordered for this room have a linen fabric that is similar in color.

 I have this room all decorated in my head.  :)  Hope it all comes together!  

Now that I've showed you some pretty pics, want to see some not so pretty ones?  

This is what my garage at the new house currently looks like...

 Yikes!  Scary stuff.  

Two weeks and we are moving in!

Hopefully things will be just a tad cleaner by then.    

:)