It's Official

Our mortgage was finalized today and the papers were signed. We are officially homeowners!

Room Reveal: Kitchen

Several months ago our kitchen cabinets were installed and slowly, over time, the rest of the kitchen has come together. It's been exciting to see our vision come alive. Yesterday I shared photos of us putting up the tile backsplash and today, we're finally ready to reveal the whole thing. The kitchen is probably my favorite room in the house (our master bedroom is pretty high on that list too). We socked a chunk of our home building savings into this room and decided to do several "upgrades" in the kitch beyond the standard affair. I'm so glad we did because I love every inch of it. Love, love, LOVE! No regrets. And besides, everyone always ends up in the kitchen, right? So worth it. Take a look.

Here's a closer look at a few details...

I think I died and went to heaven the day I met our new 36" Italian gas range.

Does it get any more retro than that?

Still not sure what to put on the shelf here. Our wedding plate looks nice for now.

More wedding details hidden in secret nooks.

Industrial pendants

Summit's "T" Jar has a home too!

Speaking of Summit...

Ready to entertain!

Tile Trials: Kitchen Backsplash

If you remember, James and I tiled the laundry room, powder room and entire downstairs ourselves (with a little help from friends!). What we learned from that process was that tiling isn't hard or scary and it is definitely a DIY project. I wish we had learned that before we hired someone to tile our master bathroom - but more on that later! Anyway, after all the lessons learned from tiling those big areas, we were more than ready to tackle our kitchen backsplash tile and I was definitely ready to finally complete our kitchen.

We found a medium sized glass subway tile in the perfect shade of bluish green in Lowes. While it was the perfect color, the price wasn't so perfect. I was able to save quite a bit of money by purchasing it through a wholesale distributor and a few weeks ago the tiles arrived on our front porch. It feels like I have been waiting and waiting and waiting to do this project but there were a bunch of other slightly more critical projects that had to be finished before we could get started on this one. Luckily, once we started, it didn't take long to get the tiles up and grouted. Like I said, tiling is easy-peasy (term borrowed from my friend Nicole). You should totally try it!

Placing the tile on the Thinset cement. No going back now!

The next step is grouting and sponging.

And then...it's done. And oh so pretty to look at.

What do you think? Do you like the color? It's hard to tell in pictures but it is the perfect shade and the size of the tiles is just right for the square footage we had to cover. Also, it adds a splash of color and retro style to our lovely white kitchen.

Tomorrow I'll reveal the rest of our kitch. All I have to say about it is that I think I'm in LOVE. Hope you like it too!

Room Reveal: Powder Room

We are at a point in the moving process where most of our "important" rooms (bedroom, kitchen, living room, bath) are set up just enough to be comfortable and livable, but are still quite unfinished in terms of decor. We have a long way to go before we're done, but I figured I'd share a few "room reveals" as we get each living area up to snuff. Since our powder room (or half bathroom - what do you call it?) is the smallest room in the house, I figured I'd start there since it didn't take all that much to get it ready for use.

This room is tiny. I think it's about 5' x 5' square. There is not much room in there for more than a small vanity and a toilet. I spent a long time looking for the perfect vanity for this room without much luck. Either they were all too generic, too cheap looking or too expensive for our budget. We considered using a pedestal sink but I wasn't convinced I really wanted one. They are a little too popular for my taste. So...we got creative! I was able to find a tall (almost 31") side table on sale at the Pottery Barn (made out of reclaimed wood - bonus!) and a glass vessel sink also on sale on Overstock.com. We bought a vessel sink faucet and with just a little tweaking, managed to put them all together to make a custom vanity for the small space we had available in this room. We had to make the two upper drawers "dummy" drawers because of the plumbing, but the bottom four still function and are big enough to store extra TP and cleaning supplies.

We picked a dark bluish-grey color for the walls that coordinate well with the tile floor. The color shows up lighter in these photos but I LOVE this color, it turned out to be one of my favorite wall colors in the whole house. We also used it in the laundry room, which is also tiled. We found the mirror, vanity light, and glass shelf at Lowes for a pretty reasonable price and swapped out the vanity hardware to match the fixtures. The light is pretty unique and matches the green glass of the vessel bowl perfectly. I still have to add some artwork in here but besides that, this room is pretty much complete. One down...so many more to go!

First Snow

Last night we finally got a little snow. It's hard to believe but it was the first time it has snowed all winter here in southern New England. This time last year we were swimming in snow. The snowfall only amounted to a couple inches and is mostly melted already, but it was pretty while it lasted. I got out early to snap a few quick pictures while things were still white. And James was excited because he actually got a chance to test out the new snow blower we bought back in October. Here's hoping for a little more of the white stuff before we get too tired of winter.

It's been awhile since I shared any photos of the outside of the house. Check out our deck railing - my dad's awesome handiwork!

First Week

We've been "moved into" the new house for a full week now. It has almost felt like we are playing house or staying at a vacation home or something, but I think it's finally starting to sink in that we are really home. We spent the week moving bit by bit and even entertained guests - on three separate occasions! In down time, we've been arranging items, unpacking new furniture and unfurling our feathers. It feels good to finally nest and we're really excited to move on to the final phase of the project - transforming the house into a cozy home. Here are a few paint shots of the living room, master bedroom and office before any furniture was moved. I can't wait to share more as we settle in.

Revisiting Goals for 2011

Remember last January when I shared 20 goals for Twenty Eleven? Let's look back and see how we did. I can tell you now, there are some that were achieved and some that were a big fat FAIL.

Ringing in a New Year with wonderful friends in the new house!

Goal #1: Read at least 20 books.
I don't honestly know how many books I've read because my Kindle battery has been dead for the past three months because I haven't read a single book in the past three months. I did read a bunch of books in the beginning of the year though and some favorites included: Let the Great World Spin, The Help, Saving CeeCee Honeycutt, The Hunger Games Trilogy, Animals in Translation and A Dog's Purpose. I'm pretty certain I didn't make it to 20 though.

Grade: C

Goal #2: Run 1011 miles in 2011 (Cary).
Ha! No.

Grade: D-

Goal #3: Volunteer somewhere. More than once.
I officially volunteered once this year by taking pictures for the Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven. I unofficially volunteered on a few occasions to take pictures for friends and family as well. All of these were a great use of my time because I got to help others out and work on my photography skills!

Grade: A-

Goal #4: Change up our fitness routine.
I would say I definitely changed up my fitness routine this year. And by that I mean little to no running in favor of swinging a hammer and lifting heavy objects, which resulted in surprisingly large arm muscles. I also took up yoga and am finding that I really, really enjoy the change of pace.

Grade: A-

Goal #5: Stop biting my fingernails (Cary).
Ha! No. Stubby, half-gnawed nails are still in full effect. I blame it on stress.

Grade: F

Goal #6: Go vegan for an entire month (Cary).
Yahoo! A goal accomplished in full. Remember my month of veganism?

Grade: A

Goal #7: Declutter. This applies to our lives as well as our basement.
Technically we are currently in full declutter mode. As we make the permanent move to our new home, we are weeding out all the "excess" stuff that we don't need to bring with us. So, in that way, the physical things in our life are being decluttered. The rest, well, there hasn't been anything in our lives this year to declutter because all of our time has been devoted to homebuilding.

Grade: B+

Goal #8: Participate in a bike race (Cary) and a 5K road race (James).
Big Fat Fail on all accounts. Maybe in 2012.

Grade: F

Goal #9: Complete an ultramarathon (Cary).
Riiiiight. I barely made it to the Turkey Trot this year.

Grade: F

Goal #10: Lose those five pounds that came with 2010 and do it without dieting (Cary).
I haven't had the time or inclination to weigh myself in more than six months. I lost five pounds starving in the first two weeks of my vegan diet, but that doesn't count. Really, I'm over it and what's five pounds anyway? The good news is I didn't GAIN five pounds this year either!

Grade: B

Goal#11: Find a new date night activity.
Technically, we nailed this one. But, unfortunately, that date night activity was a regular Friday AND Saturday night trip to the Home Depot. Yes, seriously.

Grade: C

Goal #12: Restore a piece of furniture. This one is in progress. Remember those thrifty furniture finds? I'm working on them as we speak and I'll be sharing them soon!

Grade: Incomplete

Goal #13: Be smarter about our finances.
Technically, we spent more money this year than we ever have in our entire lives. BUT, I was able to save a TON of money by shopping smart. My two favorite ways to save online: Ebates and our Discover Card cash back bonus points. Check out how much we saved just in the last few months. Also, we purchased a lot of new furniture for the house and didn't pay full price for a single piece of it by taking advantage of all of the holiday sales and coupons. Woot, woot! Can't wait to share our finds with you soon!

Grade: A-

Goal #14: Reinvest in relationships. Honestly, we haven't had a lot of free time to spend date nights with friends and family (unless we happen to run into them at the Home Depot). But, I'm as close as ever with my BFFs and one of them even moved back to CT this year with her hubs and baby. It's been great having them both around more often and has given us an opportunity to grow even closer. We're also really looking forward to life living next door to my brother and his family. It's so great to be neighbors!

Grade: A-

Goal #15: Dress up more.
I think I did a fairly good job with this one. True, there were days where I skipped a shower or showed up to work with brushing my hair, but on the whole, I think my style ranking notched up a little in 2011. James on the other hand...

Grade: A-

Goal #16: Participate fully in the house building process.
Oh. Yes. We. Did.

Grade: A+++

Goal #17: Add three new "green" routines to our lifestyle.
Ummmm...no comment.

Grade: D

Goal #18: Open an Etsy site to promote (hopefully sell!) some of our creative projects.
Nope. Didn't happen in 2011. I'm hoping this is a highlight for 2012.

Grade: F

Goal #19: Practice patience & Communication.
I honestly don't think James and I could have gotten through this year in one piece and our marriage intact without a lot of patience and constant communication. Home building is HARD. Especially when you submerse yourself in it like we did. It's stressful and exhausting and all consuming. I think we did good on this one. Much better than expected actually.

Grade: A-

Goal #20: Reduce stress.
In hindsight, this wasn't a good goal for a year when we were taking on so much. There were times when my stress level was so high that my hair started falling out. No joke. But, I'll be rolling this one over to my 2012 goals. I'm going to make it happen!

Grade: D

Overall, we could have done better but considering the year we had, we didn't do as bad as I expected. I'll try to come up with a list of goals for 2012 soon. You'll probably see a few repeaters on there but writing them down seems to help keep us honest. What are your goals for 2012? Are you a resolution keeper or breaker?

Happy New Year

Guess where we're spending the last night of 2011 (or is it the first night of 2012)?

Happy New Year, friends! Here's to another adventurous year ahead.