Moved In: Second Floor

Here are photos of the second floor of the house, starting with the kitchen. I really love the dark cabinets, especially since our neighbor installed stainless steel pulls and handles on the cabinets and drawers.




This is the pantry and the ladder-shelving I bought to match the cabinets. I got the idea from the beautiful shelving in the model home.

Eventually I'll replace the red barstools with dark mission-style stools, but they look ok for now.

No photo journal of my home would be complete without a shot of my PEZ collection.

This is the dining room. I have a different lighting fixture to install over the table, but my friend who is installing it is just looking for a convenient time to do it.

This is the living room. I have plans to get a nice huge television and a new L-shaped sofa, but...that's what tax refunds are for.

This is the window-seat area, which I really like a lot.

Aunt Linda and Uncle Dave gave me beautiful teak furniture for the porch. Soon there will be big hanging plants out here, and someday a big stainless steel grill.

That's all for tonight! Stay tuned!

Moved In: The Third Floor

I apologize for taking so long to post photos of the house since we moved in! We actually had everything set up within a week of closing, but I got busy with projects at school and didn't take time to do this until today. Here are some photos of the third floor rooms, excluding Zach's bedroom and bathroom.

My office came out better than I expected. It needs to double as a guest room and I was worried it would be too cluttered and cave-like. I think it will be okay though:

This is the staircase leading down to the second floor. It was hard to get a good angle to show that it is hung with all my favorite records, but anyway, that's what's going on with all those frames on the wall. If my sister sees this---sorry, yes, that's your Beach Boys record. I guess I'm not giving it back!

This is my bedroom closet....

And one wall of my bedroom with a view into the bathroom. I got the TV armoire off of Craislist, one of my best buys this summer.

This is my bed, which I really love---I need a bigger piece of artwork behind it eventually.

This is the bathtub in the master bathroom.

And another angle on the master bathroom....

More photos coming soon :)

Construction is Complete!

Construction is complete on my townhouse! For the next two weeks there will be a series of cleaning, inspections, and touch-ups. Aunt Linda and Uncle Dave are walking thru with me tomorrow morning to check for any defects that I should point out during my official orientation walk-thru on Tuesday afternoon.

Since Wednesday, they added the porch railings:










































Something else that was missing on Wednesday, which I didn't notice was lacking, was all of the wooden blinds in the windows. They look great!




















I am wondering if there is anything else major that I didn't actually notice as it was being added...



















The remaining trim was painted under the kitchen counter, and I think that completes all of the jobs I was watching for.



















It won't be long now! My closing date is on September 2nd.

That Looks Like a House.

It is not 100% finished, but for the most part it looks like it is! They still need to put railings on the balcony, paint some woodwork, clean, do inspections and touch-ups, all of that stuff. But things are looking good! We have a beautiful refrigerator:

























A stove (still in its blue protective wrapping)....
























Carpeting everywhere.....



















Running water....



















A washer and dryer.....




















And landscaping.

























It will be finished this week :)

Getting Very Close...

Today as I was driving by the property on my way to Home Depot, I noticed something on my front sidewalk, so I stopped to take a picture...























As I was photographing the refrigerator, a worker came around the corner with the kitchen stove on a dolly. I didn't take a picture because he did not look like he would have enjoyed being in my blog. But I did take a picture of the washer and dryer in my driveway!

























And the rolls of brand new carpeting ready to be installed:





















Inside, padding had been installed on all the floors:

























And on both of the staircases. This was about 11am, so I am sure that tomorrow I will have a very complete-looking house to show you!

Electricity!

The cabinets in the new kitchen don't come with knobs and pulls---they look very nice, but won't stay that way for long with our fingerprints all over them. Aunt Linda found a great deal on stainless steel knobs for the cabinets, and I found a great deal on matching pulls for the drawers, so I swung by the property today to make sure I knew exactly how many I needed to buy. As I was entering the garage, I noticed this:
























We have electricity! It was great to enter the house and find it nice and cool inside with everything lit up and the air conditioners on.


















I am probably replacing the chandelier in the great room with a different fixture that I bought for my current house. I also need to buy four ceiling fans with light fixtures--so if you see a good sale on them, let me know.
























I also took time to check out the views from all of the windows. I photographed all of them, but I'll just share two here. This is the master bedroom on the first floor:




















The view from the master bedroom on the third floor, which is mine, is not as nice in my opinion, but I have a very nice view of the trees from my office window:

























Anyway, I got the proper count--24 knobs and eight pulls--and bought them today.



















Here's what they look like against the cabinets:

Almost Done!

I went away for a week, and came back to find that the townhouse is almost done! I am very glad to report that the weird blue color on the shutters was indeed primer--look how beautiful the real color is!



















And of course you can't miss all of the landscaping. They did a great job.
























Here is the view down our sidewalk--I am amazed how quickly is has come to look like the artists' renderings!
























The front door is painted:

























The chandelier is in place in the dining room--obviously it will look less awkward when it isn't tied up like that.




















My bathroom is pretty much done:
























The guest bathroom is done, and so are the other two full baths.























You've seen this view before, but now the tile is revealed!
























I can't tell you how excited I am! :)