sneak peak

Okay, we're still moving out of boxes and things are in disarray, but here is a sneak peak at how things are shaping up. Here's the family room which is the most finished. I LOVE the armoire and the chair.... the curtains are tied up to get the pleats right, but the fabric is perfect.

Across from the armoire is the sofa. (Okay this was not so neatly staged)... but was my little curl-up with a blanket and check email station last night. I'm so happy with the rug and the sofa and how all the fabrics work together....and here's dear husband doing a silly dance in the kitchen last night... The settee to the right will actually be going in our bedroom....

Here's the music room. We'll be moving the piano out from the walls a bit. There are pocket doors that close off this room when we're teaching lessons and the wall opposite the piano has built in bookshelves.

Here's a photo of our wedding print that will be hung between the built ins in the music room. We had everyone sign the mat instead of a guest book and this hung above the fireplace in our old home. The night of the fire, around 3:30am when the fire was contained, two firemen brought this print out to my husband and I where we sat on the curb. I wept as they gave it to me... and it brings tears to my eyes now to think about. I am so happy to have it back.

..and here's our downstairs powder room. The washer dryer is on the opposite wall behind bifold doors. I joked with M. that the room is so glamorous that I could do laundry in a ball gown!

More photos in coming days.... but wanted to give you all a sneak peak. I am exhausted, a bit sore, and still a little nervous/frantic about moving and all..... but I am very, very, very happy. This house is beyond my wildest dreams gorgeous... and I can't believe it's ours!

Moving

The past three days have been an absolute whirlwind. The morning of our move there were so many people at our house getting things ready... Thankfully it was a beautiful day.

Here they are taking the piano off the truck. We lost our beloved piano in the fire-- this is the piano I grew up playing. My parents sat us down and said that it would get played so much more in our new home. It makes me sad that it's no longer at their house, but we've already played it every day since we've been home. It is incredibly special to have it here.

Meanwhile there were three wonderful woman cleaning up the massive mess inside. I swear there was three inches of dust all throughout the house-- from the wood, from tile cutting.... I don't know how these ladies did it, but the house just sparkled when they were done.

... and here were all the salvaged boxes which we unloaded into the garage.... and spent the weekend going through. After the fire, this company came in and cleared out anything they thought was salvageable. They cleaned it and packed it and it's been in storage ever since.

It's amazing because these boxes contained some things that were destroyed, some things that had no value to us and real treasures.

At the end of the day we were exhausted. We finally got the cats moved out of the apartment and into the yellow bedroom. We set up our bed and made makeshift curtains by hanging a duvet cover over the window. This photo makes me smile. It's our cat, Zin, finally at home. You can see our funny curtain (actually I'm thinking I might use the fabric for some pillows or something) and that lump... that's dear husband passed out asleep.

Apartment

Before I share some photos of the move and our beautiful, unbelievable, amazing home. I thought I'd share some lovely photos of the apartment we've spent the last number of months in... just for kicks and laughs. In truth we were very thankful for a fully furnished place nearby that was month-to-month and allowed kitties. That said, it was definitely a character-building living experience.

Here was our kitchen. The cabinets you see. That's it. We stored our dishes in the dishwasher so we would have a place to put food. We once ran the dishwasher after dinner and were awake with the giggles because it was SO LOUD. It was definitely better used to store the dishes than wash them.

Yes, that is a fake plant on the fridge. Came with the place.

Lovely bright red accent wall in the kitchen with an even lovelier painting. The phone did not work. Like the island range? There was nothing on either side of it.

This is one of my favorites. This is the dresser that dear husband and I have shared for the past number of months- we each took a side. He generously let me have the center top drawer too.

Uh yeah, so needless to say we did Not sleep on these sheets, but this is how the bed was made up when we first saw the place. Also, the mattress was literally like sleeping on marshmellows and made a bo--iiiing sound when you sat on it. We knew it was bad when we stayed over at my parents' house on their 20 year old fold out sofa and thought it was the most comfortable thing around.

The sofa. Also please note the industrial carpet and the closet we shared in the back.

Here's standing in the kitchen, looking through the living room (the sofa is to the left) into the bed "room".

Okay. I'll now post some more pleasing photos.....