We finally moved into our new house at the end of April. We could not be more thrilled because as you remember, it took 16 months from when we sold our previous home in Windsor to completing this one. We were SOOOO excited to be moving out of our yucky rental in Evans and into a BRAND NEW home. Feel free to scroll past all the pictures of our new home....I doing this more as documentation for me. Please excuse the three million times I say how happy and/or excited I am. It's just the truth!
This is our field of dreams that was covered in snow when we were ready to break ground. We had a few weather related delays-there was a random week of bitter cold temperatures. But heck, after you've waited that long-what's another week or two?
This is the day we broke ground. You can see the beginnings of the foundation being dug.
It was absolutely beautiful the week they poured the foundation. Which was a stroke of luck because we needed the concrete to be a certain temperature. Then the week after it snowed again....
It was fun to finally see walls go up!
Wrapping the house....
In went the siding, windows, and doors....
The day they painted. All that was left was to add shutters.
I about cried when they put my kitchen cabinets in. I couldn't believe this was finally happening!
Here is our kitchen sink. I chose a black Silgranite sink to match the grey granite counters. So far I've been very happy with it, and love that it's just one big tub. I hated scraping food chunks out of the side that didn't have the disposal. Gross! And so far it's stayed pretty clean. I think it would be frustrating if you washed a lot of dishes by hand, since you don't have a "rinse" side. Luckily I hardly have any dishes nice enough to wash by hand :) And, it's more difficult to fill up pots since you don't have the middle divider thing to set the pot on while it's filling. BUT I LOVE that it's big and deep, and I can fit a lot of dishes in it.
I am so happy to have a real entry way. Our old house you just opened the door to stairs, so it's nice to have a "landing zone" for coats, shoes, etc. We didn't have one single coat closet in our old home, so there was no where to hang coats and put a vacuum or mop. I also really like our big window that makes it nice and bright-and I can also see who's at the front door.
The hallway-so exciting I know. Someday I'd like to replace the lights from the builder grade lights which are there currently. That was one of the hardest part about building a house: making decisions about what things to cut from the budget, and what things were important to keep.
This is the big boys' room....
....and the twins' room.
Here is Ethan and my room. Again, I love the big windows that make it nice and bright, and we have beautiful views of the mountains. The ceiling also vaults to 10 feet, so it feels bigger than it really is.
Our master bathroom. One HUGE oopsie that was missed along the way was that the shower was actually supposed to be a bath. By the time we caught the mistake it was too late, and we would've had to re-do the floor (and plumbing, etc.) under the floor. The tile is gorgeous in there-and I love the built in cubbies for shampoo, etc. But we have to use a shower curtain (I loathe keeping shower doors clean) and it tends to leak if we're not careful. So perhaps one day down the road we'll be able to fix that. But by then I probably won't care anymore and will be used to it.
Our living room. We have wood floors in the main living areas, carpet in the bedrooms, and tile in the bathrooms. I love that wood floors are easy to keep clean-you just wipe up any spills-but they scratch easily and you can see every little crumb. Since we are surrounded by dirt and mud, I feel like I'm constantly cleaning up. But I'm sure it does stay cleaner since I'm forced into cleaning every evening after the boys go to bed.
PS My dad installed a central vacuum system for us. I AM IN LOVE!! How did I ever survive without this before?
Our kitchen. Ethan thought I was absolutely crazy for wanting white cabinets and white appliances. Everyone that I talk to that has stainless appliances says how hard they are to keep clean-you can see every little fingerprint, etc. And with four (soon to be five!) little people in my house, I figured anything to mask fingerprints would be better! Ironically, I do think white is easier to keep clean. You always see when it's dirty, so you wipe it up right away. Or, again, after little people go to bed. I'm also hoping it's more "timeless" than certain colors of wood-since I won't have money to re-do it anytime soon!
So far I have LOVED my kitchen. The boys are able to sit at the island to eat snacks, and I love having that space to prepare food where I can see the whole living/dining area. I was completely overwhelmed at first by having BRAND NEW appliances that are not 15+ years old. I mean, really, I've never had a water/ice dispenser in my refrigerator, a built-in double oven, and a dishwasher that actually gets the dishes clean!
Another favorite feature in the house is the lockers/cubbies in the laundry room. Each boy has their own space to hang up coats and (eventually) backpacks. There is also space above and below to store shoes/gloves/hats/sports stuff/whatever boys like to collect. I also have a large space on the top to store rarely used things.
The other side of the laundry room. I am so glad to have storage above the washer/dryer, and a sink to wash muddy shoes/clothes.
Another view of the kitchen, with the boys running like crazy people in there. They were so cute sliding all over the wood floors and chasing each other up and down the hallway.
I had to post a picture of the day we moved in. We had 154 boxes, not including a lot of the basement and most of the garage, which Ethan moved in his pick-up and trailer. We are still un-burying ourselves from boxes. I think it will take a lifetime...
One of the first rooms that was put together-the boys' bathroom. Notice the FIVE towels. Good thing they're boys and don't need a big bathroom!
We are SO very thankful to be blessed with this house! I can't wait to make many, many, memories here! Now, onto the landscaping.....
