2013 has not been a banner year. It's been one of the hardest, darkest years as well as one of the most exciting years. My emotions have been to all kinds of extremes and I wish that as the year comes to a close, I was at a place of peace.
2013 was filled with a lot of hard work, devastating losses and frightening realizations. The only bright spot of this year had been our house -- and it's really more than bright, it's brilliant. But our house aside (because this blog is dedicated to how much I love our house), I don't recall a lot of good from this year.
Evan and I both developed unhealthy habits and paid the price by gaining weight. We worked a lot, which meant I don't have a lot of great memories of times with friends or family. Working so hard also threw into stark realization who my true friends are understanding there were times when I needed them to give more because I simply ran out of hours in the day. And, I also realized there's a whole lot of friends who fade away if I don't take the initiative to reach out.
We lost our baby puppy in a truly heartbreaking moment leaving both of us raw and depressed for months. God, I miss him. And then there's the guilt. The guilt I feel with losing him the way he did, the guilt I feel in not being a better wife, the guilt I feel in letting myself down.
To say I will be glad to see 2013 pass is truly an understatement. I desperately need 2013 to come to an end for my health and sanity.
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I hope that 2014 brings wisdom to know where I want my life to go. I hope that 2014 brings wonderful memories with family and friends. I hope that 2014 brings the start of healthy, sustainable habits and with it a healthy life. I hope that I'm a good wife, friend, daughter and sister. I hope 2014 brings adventure, joy and happiness.
before & after: landscaping part 2
I have a ton of pictures for this one, so let's dig in.
Starting off where my last post left off, we're turning the corner into our backyard from the east.
Ta da!
Starting off where my last post left off, we're turning the corner into our backyard from the east.
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| The "nook" under our great room windows |
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| With knockout roses, a dwarf butterfly bush and a maiden grass. This is another example of how small our baby plants look. |
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| Looking up at the house |
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| After -- can't wait to see how the bushes grow in! |
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| Although not an exact angle from the before, you get the idea |
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| Looking down into the yard |
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| During install - the outline of the patio |
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| Concrete is poured and plants are being installed |
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| After with everyting in. Don't mind our little spot of dirt. |
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| Looking a little west at the other side of the patio |
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| The original covered patio |
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| After with the expanded patio |
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| A great view of our new patio and west side of the yard |
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| On the west side of our house |
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| After with sky rocket junipers and lilac to help provide some privacy |
Ta da!
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| Backyard before |
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| The best view of our backyard. I seriously can't wait to see it in bloom! |
before & after: landscaping part 1
Apologies for being MIA for so long. But I'm back and with my first before and after post!
As I mentioned before, costs aside, we were thrilled to be able to design our own landscaping with the help of the phenomenal B&D Landscaping. As I previewed in my Landscaping Adventures post, we approached landscaping with a lot of excitement ... and a lot of trepidation. Making some very large, expensive decisions before we knew what the neighborhood would look like was intense. Now that it's installed, I think we made some really smart decisions like adding an extra patio and spending more money on the front than in the back.
We also made a couple of questionable decisions. Due to our budget constraints, we had to purchase very young plants. As you'll see in the pictures below, they're teeny. I know that they'll grow, but I wish that we would have found a little more room in our budget to purchase larger, more mature plants so we wouldn't have to wait as long for the yard to take shape.
We still have some additions to make -- we have a ton of perennials being installed in the spring -- but the majority is in and looking great.
Because I've taken so many pictures I'm breaking it into two separate posts, starting with the front yard. So, without further ado ...
West side of house
Front of house
As I mentioned before, costs aside, we were thrilled to be able to design our own landscaping with the help of the phenomenal B&D Landscaping. As I previewed in my Landscaping Adventures post, we approached landscaping with a lot of excitement ... and a lot of trepidation. Making some very large, expensive decisions before we knew what the neighborhood would look like was intense. Now that it's installed, I think we made some really smart decisions like adding an extra patio and spending more money on the front than in the back.
We also made a couple of questionable decisions. Due to our budget constraints, we had to purchase very young plants. As you'll see in the pictures below, they're teeny. I know that they'll grow, but I wish that we would have found a little more room in our budget to purchase larger, more mature plants so we wouldn't have to wait as long for the yard to take shape.
We still have some additions to make -- we have a ton of perennials being installed in the spring -- but the majority is in and looking great.
Because I've taken so many pictures I'm breaking it into two separate posts, starting with the front yard. So, without further ado ...
West side of house
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| Before - look at all that dirt! |
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| Halfway through install |
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| Ta da! |
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| There are a couple knock out rose bushes and a dwarf globe spruce |
Front of house
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| Before -- not very welcoming |
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| Looking down the yard |
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| Halfway through install |
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| The finished product! |
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| The area right in front of our front door -- a dwarf butterfly bush and dwarf globe spruce |
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| In front of our office window -- moonshadow euonymus. This is a great example of where more mature plants would have been better |
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| Looking at the far corner of our front yard -- more of the same with some blue mist spirea |
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| Looking back into the yard from the east |
East side of house
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| We installed a breezway to have an easy walkway from the front to back |
So there you have it. Evan also added some uplighting and lanterns along our entryway. We love it and can't wait to see how it grows and matures.
moving forward
First, thank you so much for the outpouring of love and kindness after my last post. It's been a difficult month for sure and has impacted me a lot more than I thought it would.
Beyond our grief, we've been working to turn our new house into our home. Most of our furniture has been delivered and the landscaping has been completed for the season (although there's still more to do in the spring). We're still hanging art and accessorizing, so more on that later. But the landscaping ... it looks amazing!
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| Sneak peek of the front of our house during install |
I'm glad that we opted to add the extra patio in the back now as we're really able to see how the yard will come together. This past weekend we moved 15 tons of rock and 4 tons of mulch into the front and back yard and Evan installed lighting.
The lighting has really made all the difference, especially at night. Around the neighborhood, our neighbors have also been installing landscaping and lighting and I love how everything is coming together. The lighting at night really makes the block look special and it's wonderful to not drive up to a street full of dirt -- helps with that whole "homey" feel.
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| About half of our 15 tons of rock |
I've been working to get some good pictures and will do a before and after post soon. And then I can't wait for spring to show what it looks like blooming and growing!!
goodbye sweet dudley
It’s been a tough week at Here to Home, and it’s been something I’ve dreaded writing about. But I think there’s a level of comfort that comes from talking about it and at this point, I’ll take any comfort in whatever form it comes in.
A week ago, Evan and I came home to find our sweet puppy Dudley had passed away. He was 7-years-old, very healthy and hadn’t given any indication that anything was wrong. The best guess the vet can give us after performing a necropsy is that he died of a stroke.
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| Dudley enjoying his favorite pastime, squeaking his toys |
Dudley’s sudden and very unexpected passing has absolutely rocked our world as he was such an enormous and important part of our family. We loved him with our whole heart, and he was loved by many of our friends and family – it was tough not to love him as he was the happiest, cutest puppy I’ve ever met.
Evan and I have been struggling this week working through a lot of emotion. At the top has been heartbreaking sorrow and a lot of grief. We feel so guilty for not being home and staying out later than normal that night. I don’t know if our being home would have made a difference or if we could have prevented his death, but it breaks my heart to think that it could have. We also have a lot of guilt around him dying alone. We desperately hope that he wasn’t in pain or afraid, but instead passed very quickly and painlessly.
More than anything though I miss him, I miss him so much. Moving into our new house, we had so much excitement about Dudley finally having his yard, about where Dudley’s new favorite spot would be … it’s been devastating realizing that he lived there for approximately 2 weeks. We’re doing our best to work past our emotions, honor his memory, remember the thousands of amazing times we had together and figure out what it means to suddenly be a family of two. I know it takes time to heal, but I hope it comes quickly.
I know these posts are never fun, but if each of you could think of us and him, we’d appreciate it.
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| Our sweet Dudley bear |
the awesomeness of backsplash
It's been an insane couple of weeks here as we're moving into our new house and I'm starting a new (dream) job. I finally feel like we're starting to make a dent and with our final major delivery being this Saturday, may feel encouraged to unpack my dozens of accessorizing boxes.
As I get ready to do a couple of before and afters, I realize I've been horrible with taking photos -- both before and after. This is completely counter to my normal disposition to grab my camera every time Dudley, our dog, strikes a cute pose (which is pretty darn often). I'm a little sad and a lot shamed that in my desire to document here to home, I've lacked some critical documentation.
Our kitchen is nearly done, but I'm excited to post some in progress photos as I try to catch up with life.
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| Well that's a lovely white fridge |
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| Yep, those are pizza boxes. We'd hate to actually cook in our brand new kitchen. |
This photo is taken at the end of our first week, after the backsplash was installed. In my opinion, it's made all the difference between a kitchen that screams builder grade vs. gourmet kitchen. We debated long and hard about what backsplash we wanted. Originally, it was 100% subway tiles. But, as you can see, our cabinets aren't exactly white -- which made finding a tile that matched exactly (per my husband's mandate) a little difficult. We then ran the gamut between glass, stone, mosaic and stainless and lucked out in finding a gorgeous tile that combines stainless steel, brushed steel and a couple different colors of glass.
Also, if you look closely you'll notice some paint smears and a peek of our lovely pendant lights.
There have been a couple other changes; some are documented, others I need to get on. But I hope to soon be able to post a before and after on our kitchen.
beautiful views
I snapped this photo while waiting for our painter to arrive this morning.
I continue to be completely awed by two things. The first is how insanely close we are to the foothills. The second is the incredible speed at which houses are built. This photo was taken from the same place just over a month ago. Crazy.
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| Clouds rolling in over the foothills |
I also realized while I was downloaded this photo that all of my plans to take a load of "before" photos of the house flew right out of the window when they delivered the wrong fridge on closing day. I'm a little sad that a majority of my "before" pictures will now include some furniture, etc. Oh well, I guess it's better than nothing.
overwhelmed
Walking into our new home, I knew that I'd feel excited and proud. The feeling I wasn't anticipating was overwhelmed. Having lived in our townhome for 9 years, we knew where everything went, had a home for everything, and had a system for mail, cleaning, etc.
We're starting fresh with our new place. On one hand it's great because it means we can try a new system without the constraints of habit. On the downside (and I'm feeling a lot of the downside now), it means that nothing has a home and that we have piles of mail, trash and orphaned items all throughout the house. It also means that our house is a mess. I know, it hasn't been a week since we moved in, but everything still feels very temporary ... and messy.
I think after all of our planning I expected to walk into our new house knowing where everything should/would go and that after a couple days of unpacking, we'd be good to go. That hasn't been the case. Top that off with a slew of delivery nightmares, puppy problems and some unplanned expenses, our move-in week hasn't been as exciting or smooth as we thought it might be.
Hopefully over the next week things begin to fall into place, until then I'm going to go be overwhelmed on our temporary couch with a glass of wine.
We're starting fresh with our new place. On one hand it's great because it means we can try a new system without the constraints of habit. On the downside (and I'm feeling a lot of the downside now), it means that nothing has a home and that we have piles of mail, trash and orphaned items all throughout the house. It also means that our house is a mess. I know, it hasn't been a week since we moved in, but everything still feels very temporary ... and messy.
I think after all of our planning I expected to walk into our new house knowing where everything should/would go and that after a couple days of unpacking, we'd be good to go. That hasn't been the case. Top that off with a slew of delivery nightmares, puppy problems and some unplanned expenses, our move-in week hasn't been as exciting or smooth as we thought it might be.
Hopefully over the next week things begin to fall into place, until then I'm going to go be overwhelmed on our temporary couch with a glass of wine.
officially ours
Our dream home is officially ours. We closed on Tuesday and have spent the last few days dealing with delivery nightmares, contractors and moving. It's been exhausting.
But our house, our amazing house, turned out perfectly. There are a couple minor things that I may have changed (the tile in our laundry room and guest room, as previously mentioned), but they're minor compared to the rest of it. I can't believe it's ours.
The next few weeks will be filled with more deliveries, unpacking, organizing (and reorganizing), and starting installation with our blinds and landscaping, as well as getting a couple rooms painted.
There's so much to share and I'm excited to walk through the progression from day 1.
But our house, our amazing house, turned out perfectly. There are a couple minor things that I may have changed (the tile in our laundry room and guest room, as previously mentioned), but they're minor compared to the rest of it. I can't believe it's ours.
The next few weeks will be filled with more deliveries, unpacking, organizing (and reorganizing), and starting installation with our blinds and landscaping, as well as getting a couple rooms painted.
There's so much to share and I'm excited to walk through the progression from day 1.
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| Standing on our front porch (a little worse for the wear between moving and delivery disasters) |
getting close
We had our walkthrough yesterday and I'm getting pretty excited for Sept. 3. Almost everything was done and we finalized our punch list. There's a lot going on in terms of finalizing choices, furniture, etc., but instead of going on about those, thought I'd do a couple sneak peek photos of how the house is coming together.
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| Looking at our microwave and oven |
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| Our range and hood |
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| Half the kitchen |
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| Looking into the great room |
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| Looking back to the front door |
chaos
Life has been a little chaotic as of late. Between my regular job and catering all weekend for the past 18 weeks, I'm getting a little burnt out. I'm simply exhausted. Aside from recently purchasing nightstands and a dresser, we haven't had much time or energy to focus on house stuff, which is both a curse and blessing.
Tomorrow we're two weeks out from moving in and I'm finally feeling the stress of packing up at my dad's, moving and unpacking. And because I don't have anything to share that isn't whining or bitching, I'll share a photo I took while sitting on our back patio looking at Red Rocks.
Tomorrow we're two weeks out from moving in and I'm finally feeling the stress of packing up at my dad's, moving and unpacking. And because I don't have anything to share that isn't whining or bitching, I'll share a photo I took while sitting on our back patio looking at Red Rocks.
it all started with a coffee table
This coffee table to be exact
Isn't it beautiful? I absolutely adore it. It's been the constant that we've built our great room, and much of our main level, around. But as beautiful as it is, it's also been a constant headache as we've spent months trying to find furniture to compliment (but not match) it.
It's our first foray into what I've deemed "grown up design," which means we're really designing a room vs. buying a set of furniture from a store. Not that there's anything wrong with that -- our first house was decorated beautifully and we received loads of compliments on our matchy match sets. But for this house, we (ok, I) really wanted to flex our (my) decorating muscle and see how we (I) can make our rooms feel even more chic by buying complimentary vs. matching pieces.
I have to say that I'm super excited about how the great room is panning out. With the few updates to the kitchen we're making we've managed to make a really awesome contemporary meets industrial space. The only hang up for me right now has been the curtains ... and the fact that we can't afford a new dining room set, but back to curtains ... Because the dining room is connected to the great room (see our floor plans), I really think we need to use the same color curtains throughout. The challenge comes in because we're using a darker accent paint color on our two-story fireplace and bringing it into the kitchen and dining room, and I'm really not sure how a charcoal curtain will look on a dark wall, in a small space with our current, dark dining set.
I wish I could figure out a Photoshop mock-up to get some opinions, but the few skills I have aren't cutting it. We're hoping to visit tonight and take pictures so I can attempt to mock-up how it will look, but in the meantime wanted to post one of my favorite things we've bought for our new place.
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| Arhaus Dalton Coffee Table |
It's our first foray into what I've deemed "grown up design," which means we're really designing a room vs. buying a set of furniture from a store. Not that there's anything wrong with that -- our first house was decorated beautifully and we received loads of compliments on our matchy match sets. But for this house, we (ok, I) really wanted to flex our (my) decorating muscle and see how we (I) can make our rooms feel even more chic by buying complimentary vs. matching pieces.
I have to say that I'm super excited about how the great room is panning out. With the few updates to the kitchen we're making we've managed to make a really awesome contemporary meets industrial space. The only hang up for me right now has been the curtains ... and the fact that we can't afford a new dining room set, but back to curtains ... Because the dining room is connected to the great room (see our floor plans), I really think we need to use the same color curtains throughout. The challenge comes in because we're using a darker accent paint color on our two-story fireplace and bringing it into the kitchen and dining room, and I'm really not sure how a charcoal curtain will look on a dark wall, in a small space with our current, dark dining set.
I wish I could figure out a Photoshop mock-up to get some opinions, but the few skills I have aren't cutting it. We're hoping to visit tonight and take pictures so I can attempt to mock-up how it will look, but in the meantime wanted to post one of my favorite things we've bought for our new place.
floor plans
As I don’t have any décor pictures to share yet, I thought it would be a good time to share the floor plan we chose.
I know we’re bias, but I think it’s one of the best plans of the entire collection – it’s laid out so well. It works great for us giving us ample living space on the main level. One of our favorite things is the two-story great room, which connects to an upstairs loft, maximizing and connecting the areas we can entertain. It’s only three bedrooms, which suits us perfectly as we are not having kids and really only need a guest room for a handful of times throughout the year. The remaining bedroom will be dedicated to Evan for a man cave for man … stuff.
We’ve added some options to our house, most of which I’ve circled. On the main level we also added an outdoor covered patio and upgraded to their gourmet kitchen, which includes a range and wall oven/microwave as well as a hood. I can’t wait to see it!
On the upstairs level, we added a couple things as well. I'm absolutely in love with the alternate master bath we chose, which added a bathtub as well as an extra west-facing window. The views are amazing and I can't wait to take my first bath in our new home.
I know we’re bias, but I think it’s one of the best plans of the entire collection – it’s laid out so well. It works great for us giving us ample living space on the main level. One of our favorite things is the two-story great room, which connects to an upstairs loft, maximizing and connecting the areas we can entertain. It’s only three bedrooms, which suits us perfectly as we are not having kids and really only need a guest room for a handful of times throughout the year. The remaining bedroom will be dedicated to Evan for a man cave for man … stuff.
We’ve added some options to our house, most of which I’ve circled. On the main level we also added an outdoor covered patio and upgraded to their gourmet kitchen, which includes a range and wall oven/microwave as well as a hood. I can’t wait to see it!
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| Main Level floor plan |
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| Upper Level floor plan |
We elected not to finish our basement right away. For starters the 2,150 square feet upstairs are way more than enough for us right now. We also are pretty sure we'll do something custom when we do finally finish it, which, to be honest, I'm not even sure is an option through the builder. If it is, I'm sure it's beyond expensive. We did, however, add the rough-in plumbing to make finishing it down the road a little easier.
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| Basement floor plan |
So there you go, our new home. Now, if we could only move in and start replacing blue prints with actual photos. Only 28 days!
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