Hello New House!! Looking Forward to getting to know you! :)

Well, here we are! Most of the heavy lifting is done. Thanks for waiting for me and asking about me.

Are you ready for lots of pictures? Need to grab a snack? I'll wait for you....

Let's just start with the main floor today.

Be warned...no decorating has been done yet. I've barely gotten the boxes unpacked and things put away. So you're gonna see a LOT of bare walls.

Here's the entryway.

The double doors on the right lead to my new craft room which is not at all put together. So no pictures yet. ;)

Past the staircase is the great room.

First the family room...

Then the dining room and kitchen...

Check out that rug. It used to nearly FILL our old living room. Looks a little smallish in here, huh?

At the end of the kitchen, near the fridge, is the door to the pantry.

Which now holds all the stuff from the old kitchen cupboards, pantry, food storage room, the china cabinet, the laundry room, and a few other places I had to stash random stuff. Ha! Now it's all in one place. Nice!

In the dining room area is the entry from the garage.

 And in that entryway is the door to the basement, a coat/broom closet and a "small" powder room. Really, it's as big as the main bathroom in the old house.

A few pics of some of my favorite things about the new kitchen.

1)This niche that the builder put in the dining area. It originally had a bench built in too. Sort of a mudroom setup that is all the rage these days. And it was lovely. With the beadboard and built in cubbies perfect for shoes and backpacks and whatnot.

I had two problems with it though. For one thing, WHY would I want the paraphernalia of the day to be dropped off in the dining room?!?! I wouldn't. So we will continue with the current system which involves the kids coming in the door and me sweetly saying, "Take your crap straight to your room and then come tell me about your day." It mostly works.

And for another thing, I knew the minute that I saw it that the space was perfect, practically MADE FOR, my beloved china cabinet. See...

So we had the builder remove the bench and my china cabinet is happy in it's new home.

2) The island. *swoon*

Over 8 beautiful feet of useful space. LOVE it! We've already had the family over a couple times and this entire great room is just working so much better for us. The grandbabies and Jaxon have a blast running laps around the island and hiding in the empty cupboards. Yeah, EMPTY cupboards. There are a few of them. Empty drawers too! It's bizarre to me to have so much room.

This island is the perfect spot to set up our buffet style family dinners. 

It's even got a little beadboard going on. Yum!

3)Check out the built in garbage and recycling center. Oh my goodness!!! I didn't even know I wanted this till I saw it here. This is the last time you'll see our trash and recycling, thank you very much.

4) Possibly THE perfect way to store pans. I am in love with these cupboards on either side of the stove.

There have been just a few things we've done since moving in.

This is Roger's Birthday/Father's Day present for the next ten years this year. His long awaited 50" flat screen television. We must really love him, huh?

We purposely bought a home with a smaller yard and we're so happy with it so far. But smaller yards means closer neighbors. They have all been super friendly and welcoming. But, we were feeling a little like fish in a bowl in the great room. Especially at night with all the big windows.

So we put up curtains. PURPLE curtains! woohoo!!! Purple is my turquoise you know.

They are faux silk and machine washable. This new house is going to be all about LOW maintenance. No dusty window blinds here. I doubt we'll put up any blinds at all. I really wanted to make the drapes for the great room. But there just so many windows and the first month or two here are just going to be too busy for me to handle that project. So we went shopping in the name of a little privacy. And I'm glad we did. I just love the purple curtains. I have the sweetest husband to not only agree to, but to actually like, purple curtains. Don't you think?

And we bought a clock for the family room wall. Because it is exactly 48 feet from one end of the great room to the other. Even my good eyesight isn't that good. It drives me a little crazy not knowing what time it is.

I think that's it for the main floor. What do you think? 

Before we decided to sell the old house I had been collecting inspiration pics for redoing the kitchen over there. Guess what? They all pretty much look like our new kitchen. Dark wood cabinets, gold colored granite countertops, oil rubbed bronze fixtures. I pictured tile floors but I just love these wood floors so much.

I also love the wall color. It's the perfect warm yellow color. Not too bright, not too brown.

I wouldn't have chosen the brown carpet. But I would have been so wrong not to. It's basically the color of dirt. Who could ask for better camouflage?

It's like someone knew what I'd be looking for and also what I needed but didn't know I needed. 

I couldn't be happier.

There are a LOT of fun projects ahead of me. 

Gotta do something about those lamps. My Mom got them eons ago from the hotel where she worked. I've had them forever. Replaced the guts and shades a few times. I like the shape of them, but not the color so much anymore. I'll have to see if I can transform them somehow.

We have a big dining room table in storage. It just needs to be refinished and it's going to be great in here. With both leaves in it just barely fit in the old dining room but it's going to be just right here for our big family get togethers.

And there's a blank wall in the family room...

(Ignore that little table. It's going somewhere else. It's an antique that belonged to my great grandmother.)

I'm going to magically transform a dresser that I got at a yard sale over 20 years ago. I'm gonna make it into a pretty and useful place to store media and blankets for snuggling in front of a movie. Or the cozy fireplace. 

Roger doesn't think it can be saved. But I'm gonna prove him wrong. It's one of my favorite things to do. ;)

I'm also going to fill the wall above it with pictures of our beautiful kids and grandkids. 

So, now you know what to expect for future projects.

See ya again soon with a tour of the second floor. Thanks for still coming around after my long absence. 

This has been a wild ride.

Oh! And if you know of anyone who wants to buy a house, let me know. We have an extra.