Room Reveal: Living Room

Time for another room reveal! This time we're in the living room. Or, do you call it a "great room"? I honestly had never heard of that term until about a year ago or so. I don't think we use it much in southern New England. Or maybe I'm just weird. Or maybe I've never lived in a house with a room worthy of such a name. In any case, call it what you will, it's pretty darn great in our eyes. There is still some work to do, mainly in the form of art on the walls and maybe a few window treatments, but this is what we have so far.

Our couch and chaise are awesome but they were an awesomely bad headache to buy. We got them from West Elm during their big Thanksgiving sale (thank you Black Friday) but didn't actually receive our sofa until last week. It was a long wait but patience paid off and because of my "exceptional understanding" and effort to wait it out, we got these suckers for almost 60% off. And they are a dream to lounge on too!

The bright rug is fun and retro. We got it on sale on Overstock.com (seriously!) along with those two yellow chairs which are surprisingly comfy and cute. The table and chairs in the back corner are also from Overstock. Some miscellaneous furniture like the side table and ottoman came from our old apartment. That blue pillow behind Summit's head is actually a bath mat I bought from Ikea and made into a pillow. It works perfect as a floor pillow when we have a lot of people hanging with us in the living room.

Summit approves of the artwork and of course the fireplace which she spends many hours roasting in front of. The picture above the mantle reminds her of hanging with her BFFs.

You might be wondering if we just sit and talk in this room. We do plenty of that but every once in awhile we do enjoy a good dose of reality TV just like the rest of the world. However, I wasn't psyched about the idea of having the TV mounted over the fireplace so James came up with another brilliant solution to hide it behind the fireplace. What a smarty pants! Also, check out the side tables - I snagged those vintage beauties at a nearby consignment shop for $40 a piece. Retro!

Since our foyer leads directly into our living room I figured I'd share a few pictures of that too. The bench and coat rack are pretty functional but the chandelier is my favorite. At some point we have plans for a picture wall above the foyer side table as well.

And finally, the best part about our living room - really about our house...is the view.

Mentionables

Notice how this blog isn't all about home building anymore? I think that means we finally got our life back!

Two things worth mentioning this morning:

1) Today was the first time I woke up in the mood for a run in...oh, I don't know, almost a year! It's also the first time I actually ran since the 2011 Turkey Trot (which at the time happened to be the first time I had run in over 6 months!). So, for a girl who "loves to run" there has been very little actual running happening in the past year. Hopefully this running thing will stick again.

2) Last night I went to see a documentary called Miss Representation with one of my BFFs. The movie was about how today's media have exploited and misrepresented women which in turn has led to the underrepresentation of women in positions of power and influence. It also focuses on how these messages deeply affect girls and young women. The film was really great and a definite must see. I will warn you though, it will stir up a lot of emotion, mostly anger because, yes, the situation really is that bad. Watch the trailer below and visit the website to learn more and find a free screening in your area.

Time to Eat

One thing we missed last year during the height of the building project was good food. I'm not talking about five star restaurant food. I'm talking about home cooked goodness. On an average night we wouldn't make it back to our apartment until 9:30 or 10 at night and let's face it, at that point, we weren't going to bust out a quality home cooked meal. Most of the time, we ate leftovers from the local pizza place or grilled cheese and canned tomato soup. Yum.

It's been so great to have time to explore new recipes and cook meals at home again. We're slowing getting used to cooking with our crazy gas stove. It's like a super machine! But, I love it. Loooove it. Here's a few super yummy new recipes that we tried out this past weekend. The soup was good and hearty but the sweet potato fritters were SO awesome. They will definitely be making it into our usual rotation. Give them a try, I don't think you'll be disappointed!

Creamy Vegetable Tortilla Soup
(photo and original recipe here. Slight variations below).

Ingredients:
4 chopped onions
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 can chopped chiles
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 can black beans
1 can red beans
2 tbsp olive oil
2 14 ounce cans crushed tomatoes
2 14 ounce cans vegetable broth
1/2 cup corn kernels (frozen is ok)
1 8 ounce brick of cream cheese
corn tortillas cut into 2 inch slices
1-2 tablespoons taco seasoning
salt, pepper to taste and other spices (I added cumin, chili powder, smoked paprika)
Garnish with fresh cilantro, sour cream, shredded cheese and avocado

• Saute onions, garlic, pepper and green chilis in olive oil until soft
• Add tomatoes, beans and veggie broth
• Add corn, simmer for 25 minutes
• Add cream cheese, stir to melt
• Add seasonings, simmer 10 more minutes
• Add sliced tortillas and garnish just before serving
  

Sweet Potato Fritters
(photo and original recipe here. No variations below).


Ingredients:
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1 inch slices
2 tbsp melted butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp light brown sugar
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp chipotle chili powder
1/8 tsp garlic salt
10 grinds black pepper

• boil sweet potato slices in salted water for 12-15 minutes until soft
• cool potato slices on cooling rack for 10 minutes
• mix spices together in a mixing bowl
• mix butter and olive oil in small bowl
• gently smash sweet potatoes with a fork, cover with butter/oil mixture and sprinkle with spices, place on lightly oiled baking sheet (I also put foil down b/c it gets messy) spiced side down
  
• smash top of sweet potato, cover with butter/oil mixture and sprinkle with spices
• repeat for the rest of the potato slices
• roast at 375 for 20 minutes, carefully flip each potato and roast for 10 minutes more. Serve hot.
  

A Walk in the Woods

We spent a little family time this weekend in the woods. We've been so busy working on the house lately that we haven't had enough time to unwind and play outside. Temps have been really mild all winter here in the Northeast and we've had very little snow. Summit was happy that she could get in a February swim - not something that happens too often around here! And I was happy to have some time with my family and my camera away from our lovely home. Just a little reminder of how important it is to take a time out and enjoy the little things in life.

Energy Star Certified

I'm sure you're aware of Energy Star appliances and light fixtures but did you know that an entire house can also be Energy Star certified? That's right, and guess what? Our house passed the test!

In order to be Energy Star certified, our home had to pass a number of tests and be issued a HERS (Home Energy Rating System) Index number. The HERS Index is a scoring system established by the Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET) in which a home built to the specifications of the HERS Reference Home (ie a "standard" new home) scores a HERS Index of 100, while a net zero energy home scores a HERS Index of 0. The lower a home's score, the more energy efficient it is in comparison to the HERS Reference Home. Each 1-point decrease in the HERS Index corresponds to a 1% reduction in energy consumption compared to the HERS Reference Home. Thus a home with a HERS Index of 85 is 15% more energy efficient than the HERS Reference Home and a home with a HERS Index of 80 is 20% more energy efficient. Our home achieved a HERS Index number of 48 which means it is 52% more energy efficient than the Reference Home and up to 90% more efficient than existing homes. We'll save over $1000 a year in energy costs compared to existing homes and because we qualified under various state and federal incentive programs, we'll also get a couple big chucks of change back on some of the energy saving investments we made during the construction of the house. Sweet deal!

We worked with a local HERS rater from the very early stages of planning through the building stages and the finishing details to ensure our home met all of the standards and criteria. Some of the major factors that influence a home's energy rating include:

• Effective Insulation Systems (remember the spray foam?)
  
• High–Performance Windows (remember the low E Anderson windows)
  
• Tight Construction and Ducts (see the super-highway of ductwork here)
  
• Efficient Heating and Cooling Equipment (remember we went geothermal)
  
• ENERGY STAR Qualified Lighting and Appliances (well, that's just a given).
  

After the house was finished our HERS rater came to do the final inspection (they literally count every light bulb in the house!) and perform a blower door test and duct test (to test the "leakiness" of the house and ductwork). Together with the results of the tests and taking into account all of the standards of construction (spray foam insulation, energy efficient windows, geothermal heating, etc) they crunch the numbers and issue your home a final rating. 48 was our number which means we passed with flying colors! Yippie. You can learn more about the HERS Index here and the Energy Star Home Qualifications here.

Summit checking out the blower door test and the ductwork test

Our official badge of honor

My Long Distance Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day! My Valentine happens to be in St. Louis this week for work so Facetime is as good as it gets for us tonight. James would die if he knew I was sharing these with you. Good thing he doesn't read the blog all that often, hehe. Happy V Day to you all! xo

Table(s) for Two

We decided long ago that we wanted a rustic farmhouse table for our dining room. Now, I'm not sure if you're in the market for farmhouse tables, but if you look around the web, you will see they are not cheap to buy (see this and this). It didn't take us long to realize that there was no way we were going to drop $1500 or more on a dining room table. So, what did we do? We made one ourselves! It was really pretty quick and easy and because the process went so fast, I didn't really take many pictures of the process. We used FSC certified wood and stained it "weathered grey". James sanded the heck out of the top so it is smooth and glossy rather than rough. I think it makes a nice balance between the "rustic" look we were going for and the "retro" look of some of our other furniture (more on that later). The table is HUGE too - 9 feet long and seats 10 comfortably. You are getting a preview of our dining room chairs and chandelier here too. You'll get to see more when we reveal the rest of the room (ie, when I finish refinishing furniture!).

Of course, we couldn't stop there. James needed a table of his own. Our game room has a long "bump out" section of about 5-6 feet where there are two doors leading to the outside. It is the perfect space for a game table so James decided to build a custom shuffle puck table. Again, if you were to buy a shuffle puck table, you'd drop anywhere from $1200-$4000. Ummm...no. Not in the budget. So James got to work, designing, constructing and painting his own table. Can you tell what teams he routes for (he was a very happy camper last Sunday)?

Cool, right? Both tables have been a big hit already. There's no doubt they will provide both a place to gather and play with friends and family for many years to come!