Doing a Little Built-In Dance

I have been horrible about blogging ... horrible I say.  But, I have been doing great at making progress on our living room built-ins.

Here's a snapshot of where we are:

Before

In progress

Aaa, Nice

Where we are Now

Look at those beauties.  I painted all day 2 Saturday's ago.  We were so giddy we couldn't wait to bring them up .. so we installed them on Saturday night.  Woke up Sunday and but the books back on them.. look at all that STORAGE!

Storage Solution: Built-Ins

The first time we stepped into the open house of our home, I automatically thought that if we bought this place it would need built-ins around the fireplace.  Being built in 1951, it is bare on storage.  Yes, we have an unfinished basement, but I wanted places to store books and movies and pictures and clickers and all that stuff you use and never know where to put at the end of the day. 

Upon our return from Park City, UT from skiing, Hubs immediately decided to tackle the built-ins on MLK day.  He modeled it in Google Sketch-up first to minimize any waste.  It also gave us a chance to tweak the scale and size and determine construction sequencing.

Since most of our furniture is coming tomorrow, here is a peak at what we have been working on over the past 2 weeks.  Much more progress has been made over the past 2 weeks, I just haven't taken any pics.. oops.  I plan to 1) show how we made them and 2) get these babies painted and upstairs this weekend.

At Home Depot cutting the boards to size (saves time)

First bit of work

Weekend Arrivals!

We were supposed to only get our coffee table on Saturday, but a phone call from Ethan Allen yesterday revealed...

ALL 3 PIECES ARE COMING!  Yayyyyy!

Now if we could just get that chair!

Dreaming of New Master Bedroom Furniture

We bought some living room furniture.  While sitting on every single couch in C&B, I found and fell in love with a Master Bedroom set.  Hoping it is something we can grab this spring!  I did get the duvet cover .. on a fantastic sale.  I typically don't like to copy something exactly, but I couldn't take my eyes of this.  Our room is tiny .. it isn't a grand MB, so I think the destressed white wood would keep it light, airy, and happy.

Harbor Bed Set at C&B

Living Room Revamp

After we moved in, we quickly realized we would need to get new living room furniture.  Our couch didn't fit at all and we have been since living with half a couch (without the chaise lounge).  So in between unpacking during our first weekend at our new place I went on a mission to find our new furniture.  Surprisingly, Hubs was totally into it (up until the third trip back to the stores).  I didn't know what we would do, but we decided to just head to Crate & Barrel and Ethan Allen for at least some inspiration and price points.  Both stores are not cheap, but we wanted something quality that could last a very long time. 

Our first stop to Crate & Barrel was an immediated success.  We fell in love with this perfect size leather chair.  We knew all our furniture needed to be 'small in size', as in not clunky, due to the size of our living room.  We found a couch that seemed 'kinda cool' too, but I was unsure about the comfort level and wear and tear of the couch (we literally sat/plopped on every single couch .. testing is a must!).

C&B Briarwood Leather Chair - Leather: Cuero

Then it was on to Ethan Allen.  Ethan Allen has a reputation for great quality furniture.  And, the price tag isn't any more than you would find at Crate & Barrel (I was surpised by this fact).  They have a ton of items, only some displayed on the showroom floor.  When you plop on the furniture, you just feel the quality.  We didn't spend much time in the store the first day .. VT was getting ready to play in their Bowl Game.  So, that night, I decided to skim through their catalog and found 2 couches that I liked - their lines, size, etc.

So, the next day we headed back.  Ethan Allen had one of the couches on the showroom floor, in a fabric though that was difficult for Hubs to see past.  But, when you sat on it, it felt great!  Plus, it had the lines and legs I love.  Another feature both of us love is the fact that the back cushion is attached to the couch.  Our back cushions on our current couch are always a mess.  That second day wasn't quite the 'ah ha' moment we were hoping for - we (I made us) went back and forth between the stores unsure of what our decision was going to be.  We needed to sleep on it.

Bryant Sofa

Here is the link to the Bryant Sofa on Ethan Allen
Here is the link to the Cassidy Coffee Table on Ethan Allen
Here is the link to the Peter Sofa Table on Ethan Allen

Finally, the third day was a charm.  We (I) immediately decided on what I liked.  The Crate & Barrel chair and the Ethan Allen couch.  We also decided to add in an Ethan Allen coffee and sofa table to the purchase and a Pottery Barn rug they had in stock.  How successful of us!

Color Scheme of Living Room

C&B Leather Chair in Cuero

 

New PB Rug already in House

All of our furniture is expected to arrive mid Feb... I cannot wait.

New House Photo Session

We have been in our new house for a little over a week!  1 whole week that flew by.  Unfortunately, I didn't take one single photo of the house until yesterday.  Ooops.  Bad blogger, very bad.  But, before we get too far in updates, tweaks, and renovations, I better document the current state of affairs of so called house. 

Front of House

Backyard - standing on steps looking left - we did yard work this weekend, thus the bags of leaves

Left side of yard

Looking back at house from far right corner

Looking back at house from far left corner

Hey Grouper... look at me (not) - he's too interested in playing outside

Front Door

Living Room

Dining Room

Kitchen Left Side

Kitchen Right Side

Back Porch

Office

Guest Bedroom

Bathroom

Master Bedroom 

Basement

Yay House!

Recap: New Home

This is the last recap of the last week of 2012.  The day after Christmas required major hustlin'.  It is difficult to get back in the groove so quickly after eating a delicious meal and relaxing with family.  Nonetheless, Dec 26 was Go Time.  We headed back up to the condo to collect the last of our items .. lucky for us (not) it was a raining/sleeting mess.  And, we definitely underestimated the number of items and time required to pack those remaining items.

We cut it close, as in we had an hour to go by the bank to get the down payment check and head out to Fairfax to our closings.  We made it though right at 3PM for the closing on the condo.  I was kinda worried about leaving Grouper in the car for 2 hours while we closed on both properties - it was cold outside!  But, I reminded myself that 1) he has fur and 2) he lovessss being outside in the freezing cold.  So we completed condo closing at 3 PM and house closing at 4 PM and were out the door and headed to our new home by 5 PM! 

I must say, it was definitley like Christmas all over again when we walked into our new home.  Pretty cool.  Grouper was quite confused though.  We left him outside in his brand new fenced backyard while we unloaded some essentials for the evening.  I wish I took a picture of his face - his expression had confusion written all over it - as in 'Why are you guys not coming outside with me too.'  We have never had a fenced yard and always had to accompany him during his outings.  Plus all the new smells... sensory overload.  But, he has adjusted quite well.

We celebrated that evening with beer and dinner out at our new local tavern.