Christmas 2018 and Charlie

Christmas came and went and was everything we could imagine it could be. The kids had their Christmas Choir Concert with JOY Co-op and we all wore pink (except for the boys) . . . 

We decorated the house in creams, gold, and silver . . .

 

We attended our Church's Christmas Eve service (and again wore pink . . . because we looked so cute the first time around) 

And then on Christmas morning we surprised the kids with a puppy!!

We gave him to Capri, because Capri loves animals more than any of us and was so good with Charity. To follow our family theme of "C R R" names, Capri named him Charlie Rawrf Ridley. 

We had to take him back on Christmas morning because he was only 5 or 6 weeks old, but we got to bring him home on January 19th - the first blizzard of the year!

Capri bonded to him right away and they are still best friends. 

He is growing so fast! He is now bigger than Capri, which is no surprise, since Capri is still very petite. 

New Years Eve Chris and I were invited by my sister to attend a Great Gatsby themed party in downtown Grand Rapids. We dressed up with our siblings and enjoyed a glamorous night away from the kids!

And here we are in 2019 excited to tackle more of our house remodel and spend more time enjoying our pond and yard this year! Charlie is fitting right in with the family and has added to our home decor with his pretty cream fluffiness!

The projects we finished are the dining room table that Chris made for me for Christmas (note the new chairs from Target and jute rug from rugsusa.com):

And of course, I had to get a new centerpiece . . .

The kids got their own little craft table, too!

The other project we finished is we finally got the fireplace insert in and have been keeping warm using the fireplace and saving on propane! Yay! No picture yet because the fireplace is in a constant state of looking messy because of how much we're using it.

We also finished the herringbone brick floor and step in the mudroom, as well as the floor trim. I'll post pictures of that as soon as we get the door trim, bench, and shelves finished!

Still waiting to trim out the laundry room and add shelves (although we got that tiled), add a cement countertop to the bathroom vanity upstairs, and add the backsplash/shelves/walnut-covered-hood-vent/pot-filler to the kitchen. After that we need to start working on the outside of the house and also refinish some of our furniture to keep it looking fresh.

And that's the update! :-)

Welcome to My Office

This desk is now the third piece of furniture that Chris has built from scratch for me. The first being our first bed, the second is our TV cabinet, and now this desk. Coming soon will be our dining room table and I CANNOT WAIT!

We ordered the copper legs on Amazon here and the walnut top was built with the scraps of rough hewn walnut that was left in our barn when we purchased the farm. I love the copper legs that match with some of the other copper accents in our room, including our copper sputnik light. But most of all, I love that the desk is a piece of history from our home (or at least our barn). 

I found the navy velvet swivel stool from Marshalls, as well as the pin board, stapler, and box. The metal magazine file, the navy chalkboard, copper calendar, copper clock, and letter holder are all from Target.

I tried to get a wider angle of the room, but I lost my 18-55 lens and only have my telephoto lens now, so this is the best I could get, but next to the desk is our bed, and in front of our bed is a little seating area which is perfect for the kids to sit there when they need to ask me questions while I work. Or sometimes they just bring their school to my desk and do their work right next to me while I'm doing mine since the desk is so big!

My seating area isn't exactly finished yet, but this little arrangement is working well for now. These chairs I found at Goodwill for only $8. The black frame of the chairs are actually walnut, so eventually I'll scrape the paint off and then sand and stain the chairs to match the desk. I love the copper-colored velvet roses on the upholstery!

And it looks like I found a place for old blue boy for now. ;-) 

Hope you enjoyed my "office" tour. :-)

Meeting Deadlines

When we closed on this house at the end of September of 2016, Chris said we would be moved in and the house would be finished by the end of December 2016. Boy did he underestimate the work this house entailed. 

We moved in to the house on April 30, 2017 and the downstairs had plywood floors, walls freshly drywalled without primer, and some electrical outlets and switches. Drywall dust was everywhere. 

Somehow we lasted for 6 whole weeks without a kitchen sink, let alone a kitchen, and got by with a microwave and fridge in our garage. Those were cold mornings that were spent pouring cereal for the kids in paper bowls on folding tables amidst our stacked up furniture in our garage. What an adventure that was. 

As hard as living without the downstairs was, I have to admit that the excitement of the new adventure outweighed the anxiety of living with drywall dust and no kitchen. Plus, we were finally all together again. From August 2016 through April 2017 Chris spent every waking moment at the farm and the kids and I were usually at the rental house 25 minutes away. Living without a kitchen was a small price to pay to have Chris come home to us every night. 

When we signed papers for the renovation loan with the bank on September 30, 2016, we signed something saying we would have it all finished by September 30, 2017. Obviously we needed more time and the bank gave us an extension. Our second deadline was April 30, 2018. With only touch ups left, we contacted the bank to say we were finished in time for the deadline and they scheduled the inspection. The inspection was this morning, on May 7, at 9 AM. 

Below are photos I took this morning at sunrise. 

We still have more to do, but what we told the bank we would do is now done. 

Chris is building a door for the entrance to the master bath - he's building it out of the walnut from our barn. It will be amazing.

We have a door that we will put here for the closet that is a door original to the house. We just need to clean it up and hang it.

Notice the missing backsplash in the kitchen? We are also missing open shelving and then we decided to take the microwave out and put a walnut covered hood up, plus a pot filler over the stove. Cannot wait for those changes!

Chris and I designed the island as we did the other kitchen cabinets. Chris built the island out of the walnut scraps of wood we found in our old barn. It's pretty cool to have a piece of history of the house in our kitchen!

As you can see, we have a lot more work to do in the mud room, but for now it's looking a little cleaner now that the walls are painted.

My pink laundry room and entrance to the basement is starting to take shape. We bought some retro penny tile for the floor and then we can trim out the space and build more cabinets for the side of the stacked w/d.

These back panels on the island pop open so we can use the empty space for storage.

The door we used to go between our kitchen and mud room was the former back door that is original to the house. I love the old look of it and how much character it adds to the space! The rug beneath it, along with the rug we have under the piano are mid-century rugs I found at an antique store.

And for our guests who have nervously watched their kids use our stairs without a banister, and for those who have had to witness Cecily tumble down them due to lack of carpet and handrail, here is an exciting change! The handrail is finally up!

Well, it took us 19 months, but I think it is safe to say that our house remodel is about done. And now to sleep. For a long time.